Daoism Series 17
性命双修
Dual Cultivation of Inner Nature and Life-Destiny [Excerpt]
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The following is an excerpt from chapter 49 of the Comprehensive Mirror of True Immortals Who Embodied the Dao of All Ages [li shi zhen xian ti dao tong jian 历世真仙体道通鉴] [3].
紫陽常云:道家以命宗立教，故詳言命而略言性。釋氏以性宗立教，故詳言性而略言命。性命本不相離，道釋本無二致。
Zi Yang [i.e. Zhang Bo Duan] frequently said:
The Daoist family established its teachings through an ancestral aim in the life-destiny, that is the reason why it talks in detail about life-destiny but talks only briefly about inner nature. The Shakyamuni clan establishes its teachings through an ancestral aim in the inner nature, that is the reason why it talks in detail about the inner nature but talks only briefly about life-destiny. Inner nature and life destiny are originally not separated from each other, the Dao and Shakyamuni are originally not two different expressions.
彼釋迦生於西土，亦得金丹之道，性命兼修，是為最上乘法，故號曰金仙傅大士。詩云：六年雪嶺為何因，只為調和氣與神。一百刻中為一息，方知大道是全身。
That [above-mentioned] Shakyamuni was born in the Western territory [1], he also obtained the golden elixir’s Dao. The simultaneous cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny is the highest level of the dharma. This is the reason why he is called ‘Golden Immortal Teacher and Great Adept’. A poem reads:
For what cause did he spend six years in the snowy mountains? It was only for the regulation of Qi and Spirit. When there is only one breath within one hundred quarters of an hour [2], only then is one aware that the great Dao is one’s whole body.
鍾離正陽亦云:達磨面壁九年，方超內院；世尊冥心六載，始出凡籠。以此知釋迦性命兼修分曉，其定中出陰神，乃二乘坐禪之法。奈何其神屬陰，宅舍難固，不免常用遷徙。一念差誤，則透靈別殼異胎，安能成佛，是即我教第五等鬼仙也。
Zhong Li [Quan], [knows as] Zheng Yang, also said:
Bodhidharma faced the wall for nine years, only then did he surpass the inner court ; the Revered One of the World deepened his heart-mind for six years, only then did he begin to exit the cage of the ordinary. Thereby, this informs one of Shakyamuni’s concomitant cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny. Amidst his stabilization, he exited the Yin-Spirit, thus it is the meditation method of the two vehicles. Nevertheless, as this Spirit pertains to Yin, it is difficult to secure and consolidate its residence. Inevitably, it requires frequent transmigrations [of the Spirit]. Yet, with the mistake of one single thought, [the transmigrating Spirit] passes through the divine, and [enters] another husk and a different embryo. How could one be able to become a Buddha? It is namely the fifth rank of ghost immortal of my teachings.
[1] I.e. the silk road and beyond.
[2] The sentence most likely is a reference to embryonic breathing [tai xi 胎息].
[3] This work is also known by the name of Comprehensive Mirror of the Perfected Immortals and Those Who Embodied the Dao through the Ages. Scroll 49 was authored by Zhang Yong Cheng [张用成] , which was completed in 1294.
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Post-Scriptum:
This full article will appear in Purple Cloud Press’ forthcoming publication of 《The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao》 by Xing De/Li Shi Fu, a manual for refining one’s Inner Nature based on Liu Yi Ming’s 50 Barriers. Li Shi Fu is abbot of Five Immortals Temple (www.fiveimmortals.com).
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