Alchemical Classics III: 大成捷要 [柳華陽] The Essentials of the Shortcut to the Great Achievement by Liu Hua Yang

Alchemical Classics III:
大成捷要 [柳華陽]
The Essentials of the Shortcut to the Great Achievement by Liu Hua Yang
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Liu Hua Yang together with Wu Shou Yang [伍守阳] make up the so-called Wu-Liu School with its main focus on Internal Alchemy [nei dan 內丹]. The former is also the author of the Scripture of Wisdom and Life [hui ming jing慧命經].
The following chapter ‘Severing from Food’ originates from the alchemical classic ‘The Essentials of the Shortcut to the Great Achievement’ [da cheng jie yao大成捷要]. It details vital and indispensable requirements for meditation and stillness cultivation practices. It is a pure translation, whereas the first fifteen chapters from the very same classic are interspersed with explanations by our teacher Li Shi Fu, which can be found on the Five Immortals Temple webpage for free (http://fiveimmortals.com/the-essentials-of-the-shortcut-t…/…). In Li Shi Fu’s own words this scripture is worth being translated…

…in order to transmit it to everyone with destiny in each and every country in the West, in order to explicate the upright principles of cultivation, in order to ignite a Heavenly light, as well as to make it unlikely for anyone to end up in misinterpretations and in losing one’s direction and way.

绝食腥荤香辣
Severing from Food:
Fish, Meat [1], Fragrances [2] and Spices
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By Shang Yang Zi

入手下静，先绝食腥荤香辣之物。盖腥荤之物，味主沉浊，食之必至后天之气，粗而难伏。香辣之物，性主轻浮，食之必至先天之气，散而不聚。要知存乎理者，禁食腥荤香辣，专持清斋素食淡饭，以除原味。不食过饱，过饱则伤神。不食过饥，过饥则伤气。饮食要调合得中，饥则加餐，食可则止。此节即饮食之道，后世修真，不可不知也。

注：此乃上阳子研修体证

When one begins to put effort into [the practice] of stillness, at first one must sever from [certain] foods: fish, meat, fragrant, and spicy products [3]. This is because fish and animal products are chiefly sinking and turbid in flavour. Those foods inevitably will make the Post-Heaven Qi unrefined and difficult to subdue[4].

Fragrant and pungent-spicy products’ inner nature is chiefly light and floating [5]. Those foods inevitably will make the Pre-Heaven Qi, dispersed without being able to accumulate.

For those who [seek to] know the existing principles, they are forbidden to eat fish, meats, fragrant and pungent-spicy [foods], and they [must display] special perseverance in a clean, vegetarian, plain, and bland meals, in order to eradicate all former and original flavour [and preferences] [6].

One should not eat past fullness, since eating more than one’s fill will then injure one’s Spirit. One should not eat oneself into starvation. Excess hunger and starvation will then injure one’s Qi. Food and beverages must be regulated, harmonized and moderate. When one is hungry one should increase meals, once having eaten enough, one should stop [eating].

This section is the ‘Dao of Food and Beverages. For future generations who cultivate the Truth, it is unacceptable not knowing [about these principles].

Annotation:
This content originates from investigation, cultivation, experience and verification by
the Shang Yang Zi [7].

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[1] In Chinese, 腥 [xing]; whose character stands for things alive, for something that has life; of the animal type. It denotes the fishy taste, chicken duck, poultry, meat and fish. The meat foods contain dregs, impurities and foreign matters. This category of foods is notorious to lead to internal Qi turbidity [nei qi hun zhuo 内气浑浊] and uncontrollable rhythm of your beating heart.

[2] In Chinese, 荤 [hun], whose Chines character indicates plants of the pungent type. Ninety-nine out of one hundred people in Chinese society misconstrued the character as representing meat, whereas it depicts the pungent group of vegetables such as leeks, chives, the onion family in general and coriander or cilantro. Those are known to actively move Qi [dong qi 动气] and, thus, counteract any ambition to let the body enter a more calm state.

[3] These include dispersing vegetables such as chives, onions, garlic, chillies, leeks and ginger, and other pungent-acrid foods as well as food products that have are carrying blood such as meat and fish.

[4] Furthermore, they are unclean and turbid and carry a great energetic field, namely that of the animal inevitably leading to a coarse post-heaven Qi, i.e. heavy breathing (is this your or Li Shifu’s comment? That “coarse” might be misplaced due to an error in punctuation, he didnt say there was a punctuation mistake, but he often mentions that lots of meat makes the breathing heavy). It will be difficult to meet the requirement of regulation of one’s the breath to the attributes of thin, even and long [xi jun chang细均长]. The blood has attached the life-factor of the dead animal; it embodies the biological field of the animal which is incompatible with one’s own body. Therefore the macromolecules are hard to break down for the digestive tract.
The other aspect at play is the equality of all living entities. In Daoism all life-forms are respected and valued. Therefore one of the five basic and foundational precepts in Daoism is to not kill life, since it is unthinkably hard to obtain a life-form in this world. When one eats meat a foreign energetic field enter one’s body and influences one’s own field.

[5] Fragrant and pungent-spicy products are utilized as medicinal substances under different circumstances as they disperse outwards and upwards. In Chinese medicine terms they release and effuse the exterior and induce diaphoresis, i.e. driving out pathologies through the skin via their stimulating effect. Furthermore the effect of the pungent group of vegetables is to outthrust macules [fa zhen发疹] and lead to the eruption of poisons through the skin.

[6] One’s preferences are hard to lose like the die-hard longstadnding habits. But one must let go of one’s food desires. If one eats a bowl of noodles but adds a ton of condiments, how can one let go of dietary cravings?

[7] Shang Yang Zi [上阳子] is the Daoist appellation of no other than Chen Zhi Xu [陈致虚](1290~?), a famous Daoist and internal alchemist. His style name was Zi Guan Wu[字观吾]. For more information on him see Hudson, C. (2008). Spreading the Dao, Managing Mastership, and Performing Salvation: The Life and Alchemical Teachings of Chen Zhixu (PhD dissertation) Indiana University. Retrieved from https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/304607092.html?FMT=ABS

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Post-Scriptum I: Eventually Purple Cloud Press intends to separate original text and commentary more clearly and make the whole work (100+) chapters available to the English-speaking world.