Tai Shang Xin Fa Preface 太上心法序

Those who are good at nourishing the Tao must first nourish the mind. Those who are good at method-abiding must be righteous. Those who are good at self-cultivation and self-righteousness must change their minds.

The essence of action lies in the heart, the essence of the way lies in oneself, and the essence of self-cultivation lies in mindfulness. When the heart is calm, water and fire will be self-determined, and yin and yang will be self-contained. Self-regular characters will respond by themselves, and evil will be far away. Self-cultivation of body and mind, self-return of human heart, self-ordering of respect and inferiority. All three are one. Consistent and divided into three.

There is no Tao without being able to stand up, and there is no righteousness and evil without the Tao. If you want to do it, you have to keep it. If you don’t stand up, you can’t obey the way. If the way does not stand, there is no way to establish roots. The root is the way. Taoist self-cultivation is also called the way. It is easy for ghosts and gods to know the state of people, but it is difficult for people to know the state of ghosts and gods.

Therefore, those who keep the Tao nourish their minds, those who nourish their minds rectify themselves, those who rectify themselves cultivate their bodies, and those who cultivate themselves change their careers. If the general does not follow, if it does not match, there will be losses in three things. It is a misunderstanding of the Supreme Being, and a violation of the Tao by inhumans. In general, the talisman incantation is a handed down ritual, and it is the noble teaching of the Supreme Being. However, there is no way to get better.

Apertures are the pivotal organs of the human body. When the sky has an orifice, it inspires all things, and when the earth has an orifice, the river and sea return to its source. If the human body has an orifice, it will move the spirits and spirits, and it will be the main entrance of heaven and earth, and the ultimate way of yin and yang. The five directions and five qi, all phenomena and all spirits in the three realms, respond according to the feeling, and they are all obtained by self-cultivation and self-cultivation. If you don’t nurture your heart, your heart will be evil. If you don’t correct yourself, you will be sidelined. If you don’t cultivate your body, you will lean in.

The heart is not nourished, and the way is not firm. If you are not upright, you will be incompetent. If you don’t cultivate yourself, you will fail. One of three, three of one, lies in virtue. Kindness and justice, forgiveness, compassion, loyalty and goodness, the conduct of this way is also the benevolent of virtue.

Therefore, in the Supreme Being, there is a question of severity within, and an answer of severity outside. Follow the way and follow the way. People who learn later, can’t use it with one heart. Heaven moves silently without words, earth occurs without words, Tao is all-encompassing without words, and the way responds without words.

Heaven descends with qi, earth rises with qi, Tao is born with qi, and the way is transformed with qi. The general of the sky, the god of the earth, the talisman of the Tao, the seal of the method, and the way to enter the Tao, follow the way. When the sky moves silently, thunderstorms arise in spring and summer; when the earth occurs, the roots and seedlings of the fruit grow; the Tao is all-encompassing, from above to the sky, from below to the earth, and from the middle to people, all-encompassing; Respond, take the righteousness as the thought, and take the divine energy as the main thing. Heaven will abide by the method, the gods of the earth will guard the body.

There are no branches and vines at the beginning, but only one word, and everything can be reached. Take the Tao as the door and the way as the household. No obstacles, no evil servants. The real person judged this and thought it was a precept.


Translation by XuanMenJun玄門君

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