" There is a jewel within the field of elixir what need is there to search any more. When seeing phenomenon, there is no discursive thoughts; what use is meditation!"

—-by The Immortal Lu Tung Bing, Founder of the Complete Reality Taoist Sect

" If anyone can reach this level of mastery, they wouldn't be concern with mere achieving just health and longevity; they would be able to banish diseases and extend their lives forever without aging. Of course the techniques of cultivation implies in this two lines have myriad levels of meanings and interpretations. "1

Taoist cultivation has its purpose of enlightenment and awakening to one's true nature. Their method is a two steps hop.

First step is to realized and achieve the immortal body—in this way the long arduous journey of self discovery is much easier.. Don't dismiss this as easy. Two things you must resolve—physical survival of absorbing energy and cutting off attachment to the world fame, desire and fortune. That is the line " a jewel within the elixir field (Dan Tein) means, that he had accomplished the inner crystal of the Alchemical stone which will allow him to absorb the primary energy—sunlight—without eating any secondary foods. Just eating regular food like vegetable and meats both requires the body to accumulate waste and toxin from the food source. Remember that even vegetables except for fruits are not meant to be eaten. All life wants to survive. Any fruits have a intrinsic property of inducing diarrhea, so that the animal will help to eliminate the seeds and help to spread the plants. According to the Taoist there is no eating immortals—and if I like to take a moment to answer the reader's question, no, I am not an immortal, for immortals generally don't live in the city and have a family. Immortal could be killed so they tend to live in very remote places like the Himalayas, Huai Shen—flower mountains…I have met a Western writer who claimed he teaches the immortal practice but as I talked with him, I realized that he did not even know the most basic characteristic of immortality. In one of the Buddhist sutra, the Buddha hinted at immortality by telling Ananda that " a yogi who has one tenth of the thousand of a thousandth of the Buddha's accomplishment can easily live for a thousand years."

Imagine the freedom that Master Lu experienced.

Yet, as you can see in the story later, he has not stop cultivating his awakening.

"One day, as Master Lu surfing on his spirited sword in the sky, he noticed a mountain peak is glowing with golden aura. He decided then that there must be a holy sage living in the mountain. As he descended he discovered that there was a temple of the Wang Lung monastery—resided by the Abbot Wang Lung, an enlightened great monk of the Lin-chi School of Chan Buddhist Sect.

Lu was very curious as he observed how the abbot seemed to be just a plain old man without any kind of the magical aura that should surround a holy sage. His speech and talks did not seem to have any earth shaking impact on his audience. Furthermore, he noticed that the abbot did not even possessed at the his own level of Alchemical mastery.—when I meet with a fellow Taoist practitioner of either Qigong or Taiji or meditation, I can almost tell from the first glance their level of mastery, the talking and playing with our hands later on is just to assess and confirm my initial assessment. So far, it has been 100% correct.

But where then did the golden halo and light that surrounds the mountain originated! And why did all this people gathering here listening to this ordinary old monk!—here is a wonderful pointer to discover a true master, the more ordinary their appearance are the more they have great ability. Where the teacher that puff up his/her chest and tell me all about their trophy from different tournament and books that they have written, 10 out of 10 they are either fools or charlatans.

" there is a thieve amongst us today trying to steal the dharma, no talks today." Abbot called out--almost sounds like the famous Soup man from New York, no soup for you.

The old monk has seem the Taoist standing there and issued this challenge.

For an immortal to be called a thieve who has the ability to turn lead to gold and just absorb sunlight is a great insult.

So Lu walk to the front of the alter and announced his name which is quite famous all over China as one of the eight immortals.

" Ha, it is just you. You are nothing better than a corpse squatting ghost."the Abbot scolded—for him, Lu is merely squatting on his immortal body like a ghost for he had not come to complete awakening of the true matter of life and death.

" Old man, I am a true man who has the elixir of ageless eternal life. How dare you with your ordinary rotting flesh compare to me!" Lu retorted.

" Ah, even if you could live eighty thousand kalpa—800,000,000,000,000,000,000 years—you still will not escape falling into the realm of empty unconscious annihilation." The abbot replied with a small chuckle.

Enraged, Lu threw his sword flying toward the Abbot—just to scare the old man a bit so that he has to duck. Instead, the sword turned around and directed to Lu. With a mantra, Lu managed barely to drop the sword between them. More surprising still, when Lu tried to retrieve the sword, it will not return back to him.--now the sword in Martial Art represents the spirit of the swordsman.  when an Taoist immortal concentrated all his spiritual essence and power into his sword, it become magical. How extraordinary this is indeed—to be defeated by an old man, an ordinary monk with no apparent supra normal power.—this is very similar to my own real life case, I went to a monastery for a 7 day meditation retreat and  happened to run into this cook. After we talk a little I discovered that he practice the Martial Arts as well.
So I never missed a good chance to learn and so far except for my teachers I have not been defeated. Well, I was knocked down flat in a split second. That was a truly wonderful experience to be defeated by an ordinary temple cook. I have learned more about the Taiji push hands and ontological principles from this cook and he is a truly wonderful man, humble and non-assuming and utterly open with his own cultivation.

Now Lu is intrigued—what hidden power does the old monk possessed.

" Ha, lets stop all this silly games. Now let me ask you,

What truth have your realized." Asked the Abbot.

" A single millet contains the universe,
The mountains and rivers are cooking in the cauldron." Answered Lu—notice how he has to honestly reveal his realization, do not just take this as mere poetry. It is a statement of his true experience and if someone can even have half of such mastery that person has  already achieved a very high level of the Taoist practice.

" I will not ask you about the how to cook the mountains and river,

but tell me how does a single grain of millet contains the universe?" probed the Abbot.

The two started to bantering back and forth, with the Abbot pressing Lu deeper and deeper into seeing the truth. Suddenly, Lu reached a point of a step beyond the hundred foot pole. He is truly completely awaken.

Spontaneously, he wrote this verse

" Throw away the Alchemical Gourd, shatter the string less lute,
now I no longer long for the gold in the mercury. Ever since I saw Wang Lung, I finally realized that I had been always mistakenly cultivating the mind the wrong way."

Immortal Lu bowed deeply to the Abbot. For a Taoist to be awaken with a Buddhist teacher is remarkable. Lu vowed that he will forever served as Dharma protector of all who strives to be awakened.—as far as most Taoist concern Immortal Lu is still alive after 1000 years, he can walk like an ordinary Chinese man just brushing against you. Imagine what scientist would not want to have a subject like him to study the blood, the brain and every thing. But an immortal would always be hidden for he is not trap by the net of samsara.

Here is the essence of the Tao of life. Even if you can live a long time with health, wealth and all the sensuous delights. If you have not realized to the core of your true being than annihilation will still be unavoidable.—I know some of you will say 800 thousand kalpa is a long time, I will worry about that when the time come. But for a immortal a hundred years seems like a single day—that was certainly the case for me, a whole month off in the summer seems just like a week.2
 
 

Footnotes

Return to front Page 1 | Related readings | Email to Dantao School