Lu Yan (829-874)

The Celestial Mind

Naturalness is called the Way. The Way has no name or form; it is just the essence, just the primal spirit. Essence and life are invisible, so they are associated with sky and light. Since ancient times, those who realized spiritual immortality all communicated their teaching verbally, transmitting it from individual to individual.

In obedience to a directive, I am acting as a guide to liberation. Herein we will bring light to the source message of the golden flower of absolute unity. The absolute unity refers to what cannot be surpassed. There are very many alchemical teachings, but all of them make temporary use of effort to arrive at effortlessness; they are not teachings of total transcendence and direct penetration. The doctrine transmitted here brings up working with essence and does not fall into a secondary method. That is the best thing about it.

The golden flower is light. What color is light? It is symbolized by the golden flower, which in Chinese characters also conceals the words one light within. This is absolutely unified real energy of celestial immortals.

The whole work of turning the light around uses the method of reversal. The beauties of the highest heavens and the marvels of the sublimest realms are all within the heart; this is where the perfectly open and aware spirit concentrates. Confucians call it the open center, Buddhists call it the pedestal of awareness, Taoists call it the ancestral earth, the mysterious pass, the primal opening.

The celestial mind is like a house; the light is the master of the house. Therefore, once you turn the light around, the energies throughout the body all rise. Just turn the light around; this is the unexcelled sublime truth.

The light is easily stirred and hard to stabilize. When you have turned it around for a long time, the light crystallizes. This is the natural spiritual body, and it steadies the spirit. This is what the Mind Seal Scripture refers to as “silently paying court” and “soaring upward.”

The transmutations of spiritual illumination are all guided by mind.

The Original Spirit and the Conscious Spirit

From the point of view of the universe, people are like mayflies; but from the point of view of the Way, even the universe is as an evanescent reflection. Only the true essence of the original spirit transcends the primal organization and is above it.

Vitality and energy degenerate along with the universe, but the original spirit is still there; this is the infinite. The production of the universe all derives from this. If learners can just preserve the original spirit, they live transcendentally outside of yin and yang. They are not within the three realms.

This is possible only by seeing essence. This is what is called the original face. What is most wondrous is when the light has crystallized in a spiritual body, gradually becoming consciously effective, and is on the verge of moving into action. This is the secret that has not been transmitted in a thousand ages.

Lu Yan (829-874)

Excerpted from The Secret of the Golden Flower – The Chinese Classic book of Life

This particular translation finally makes clear the ancient lay manual of Buddhist and Taoist methods for “turning the light around.” The golden flower opens up for us at last in this piece.

“The golden flower symbolizes the quintessence of the paths of Buddhism and Taoism. Gold stand for light, the light of the mind itself; the flower represents the blossoming, or opening up, of the light of the mind. Thus the expression if emblematic of the basic awakening of the real self and its hidden potential.”

The teaching of the Golden Flower contains a number of meditation techniques and is pure poetry to read at times.

Dedicated to the Light within,

Elana, Scribe for Daily Zen