The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao: Foreword [excerpt]

修道四十九関
The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao -forthcoming publication

Foreword [excerpt]

By Mattias Daly – translator of Master Ren Gang’s The Heart Treatise of Taijiquan forthcoming Purple Cloud Press

Many Daoist meditation enthusiasts east and west are familiar with a famous line attributed to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) immortal Lü Dong-Bin, who is one of the godfathers of inner alchemy. Variously paraphrased, this sentence’s meaning is to the effect of ‘the cultivation of mind nature in the absence of the cultivation of life essence is the foremost mistake made in spiritual practice.’ This line is often wielded when speakers take aim at the emphases some Buddhist teachers place upon probing the depths of the mind’s original nature and eliminating attachment to our transitory human bodies. It is certainly the case that some practitioners misinterpret Buddhist teachings on detachment to the body and fail to take care of their health, to say nothing of restore their life essence. Daoists, and indeed plenty of Buddhists, fairly note that those who skew their values in this way greatly increase their susceptibility to chronic disease in later life, in addition to undermining their chances of reaching the loftiest heights of spiritual attainment. However, just as one can interpret Buddhist teachings in a way that veers towards totally ignoring life essence, it is also all too easy for Daoist teachings to be viewed in such a way as causes clinging to impermanent aspects of our physical and energetic being and closes the gate to true enlightenment.

With these two extremes in mind we should return to Immortal Lü’s admonition and view it in its original context. Lü’s famous statement may have first appeared in a poem attributed to him entitled Song of Realizing the Dao This poem is found in a Yuan Dynasty anthology of inner alchemy poems called Echoes of the Crane’s Call which itself was included in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Daoist Canon. In full—although sadly stripped of its elegance by the process of translation—the poem reads:

悟真常，不達命，此是修行第一病。只修真性不修丹，萬劫陰靈難入聖。
達命基，迷祖性，恰似鑑容無寶鏡。壽同天地丈夫兒，把握陰陽為本柄。
性命全，玄又玄，海底洪波度法船。生擒活捉蛟龍現，始知匠手不虛傳。

Awakening to the true and eternal, but not consummating one’s life essence, this is the foremost mistake of spiritual cultivators. Those who merely cultivate true nature without cultivating the elixir become yin-spirits who fail to enter sagehood for myriad kalpas.
Consummating your life essence while losing your ancestral mind nature is just like looking for your face’s reflection while not possessing a precious mirror. Great ones who live as long as the heavens and the earth hold firmly on the fundamental handle of yin-yang.

PS: If you are interested in more of Mattias Daly’s endeavours please check out his interview in the Purple Cloud Podcast.
https://purplecloudinstitute.com/podcast-episode-14…/
You can also support Mattias’ next work on gofundme.

PPS:The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao are as of now scheduled for a mid-Nov release. You can find three more Barrier excerpts, the foreword and many appendix entries can be fund on this website.
The 49 Barriers will be embellished by 49 illustrations as well as the front and back cover of the book by Jen King, whose prints of the Barriers and her Nei Jing Tu can be ordered from her website.