Cultivation

Qi WuHuo sat beside the stone table as the old man poured him a cup of tea.

The tea's fragrance entered his mouth. He felt it split into two streams: one settled his heart and calmed his spirit, while the other flowed between his brows, soothing the scattered thoughts that had been giving him a splitting headache. The pain gradually eased, no longer as unbearable as before.

The old man waited until he had recovered, then murmured:

"The Dao arose from nothingness, giving birth to Qi. From Qi, Yin and Yang were produced."

"When Yin and Yang joined, they formed the Three Treasures. From the Three Treasures, all things flourished anew."

"Remember this well. It is the General Principle of my lineage..."

Qi WuHuo asked, "The General Principle?"

The old man stroked his beard. "It commands all methods and unifies the myriad. That is what we call the General Principle."

"Though it is not a cultivation method, it points straight to the Great Dao."

"You must remember it well, lest you take a wrong step and be unable to make amends for the rest of your life. That is why I'm telling you in advance."

"As for what I'll teach you..."

The old man stroked his beard and pointed at Qi WuHuo.

"The Great Dao under Heaven follows this course: One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, and Three gives birth to all things."

"The Qi of Heaven and Earth divides into Yin and Yang. Within the body, the heart is one's nature, and the kidneys are one's life. The heart is Li and Yang; the kidneys are Kan and Yin. Yin and Yang give birth to three kinds of Qi: the Three Treasures of essence, Qi, and spirit."

"Cultivators must understand this process of creation, then reverse it and cultivate against its flow."

"Return Three to Two, transform Two into One, and return One to the Dao."

"The first practice of my Daoist school is Life Cultivation. You nurture essence, Qi, and spirit to the limits of life, then unite them into Yin and Yang. This is the Primordial Qi Yang God. The Primordial Qi Yang God must then unite the Two into One; only then can you say you have entered the Great Dao, passing from being into nonbeing."

"Your spirit has already been nurtured well. Next, you can nourish your essence, then transform it into Qi."

Qi WuHuo asked, "Does Qi mean the breath we inhale and exhale?"

The old man smiled and shook his head. "Breath? Wrong."

"The Three Superior Medicines are spirit, Qi, and essence, hazy and indistinct, dark and mysterious."

"This essence is not sexual essence."

"Qi is not breath."

"Spirit is not the thinking mind."

"Those belong to postnatal methods."

"In our Daoist school, qi is postnatal, while Qi is prenatal. The two characters are pronounced the same, but in the Daoist canon their meanings are worlds apart."

"Cultivation concerns Qi; regulating the breath concerns qi."

"Refining essence to transform qi is the way of martial artists. Refining essence to transform Qi is the Daoist secret."

"Qi is the Mother of Elixir, and 'elixir' means perfect union: One gives birth to Two, Two to Three, and ultimately all return to the emptiness of the Great Dao."

The old man had said he would teach only one move. But in cultivation methods and Daoist traditions, a single poem could contain an entire transmission, every character carrying its own meaning. So he had carefully explained the foundations instead.

"The first stage of Daoist cultivation is called Complete Three Talents, also known as Planting Three Flowers."

"Whether you seek the Dao or immortality, you cannot bypass this first step. People have essence, Qi, and spirit; you must cultivate each to the utmost limit of your body, attaining Complete Essence, Complete Spirit, and Complete Qi."

The old man pointed to Qi WuHuo's upper, middle, and lower dantians.

"We call it 'Complete' because people experience all kinds of things in life—illness, staying up late, sitting for too long, injuries. Their essence, Qi, and spirit are inevitably damaged; they are no longer in their prime."

"This stage requires gradual nurturing."

"It takes a long time to achieve."

"Once your essence, Qi, and spirit are perfected, you can unite them into Primordial Prenatal Qi. And even if you fail to unite them into Primordial Prenatal Qi, you can still live to the limit of human lifespan."

Qi WuHuo asked, "The limit of lifespan?"

"Yes. It varies with each person's body, but is roughly between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty years. Then you can live your life free of worries, illness, and pain, and pass away in your sleep. When you die, your hair will still be black, your teeth intact, and your skin unwrinkled. That is another reason we call it 'Complete.'"

"You can attain Complete Longevity."

Qi WuHuo pondered, then asked, "What if someone tries to unite them without attaining Complete Essence, Complete Qi, and Complete Spirit? Can it be done?"

The old man smiled. "Cultivating the Great Dao is arduous and takes a long time. Naturally, some people want to find a shortcut. Most cultivate one of the three—essence, Qi, or spirit—to an extremely high level, then make the other two depend on it. That lets them cross the stage of Complete Three Talents in a short time and produce divine abilities and spells."

"It is fast, but it cannot last."

"They may dominate a region for a while and call themselves True People, but the further they advance in cultivation, the more the flaws in these shortcuts show. They may be unable to advance for thirty or even fifty years."

"That is why they are called the side paths and the Left Path."

"Though they have all sorts of divine powers and abilities, their lifespans may not be much longer than those of cultivators who properly complete the stage of Complete Three Talents. They may even be shorter-lived. Many cultivators cannot endure the loneliness or resist the temptation to show off before others, so they take this path and eventually die with regrets."

"WuHuo, remember..."

The old man pointed to a nearby tree.

"Our goal is cultivation, the realm itself. Like this tree, we must root ever deeper and stretch ever higher. The many divine abilities and methods are merely fruit borne along the way."

"To chase divine abilities alone is like a tree using all its nourishment to grow fruit. How could it ever become a towering tree that reaches the sky?"

"You cultivators must remember this, take it as a warning, and be cautious!"

The old man stroked his beard. "All right. Sit cross-legged here. I'll teach you a formula for Breath Nourishing Qi. First, build up your postnatal Qi. Only then can you gather it into Primordial Prenatal Qi, and only then might you attain the stage of the Three Flowers Crowning the Head."

Qi WuHuo sat as the old man had instructed, with the five centers of his body facing the sky.

Then the old man pointed at his dantian without touching him. Qi WuHuo felt the flesh and blood within his body flow, naturally giving rise to wisps of breath. They settled into his body alongside the movement of his blood and Qi. The old man said, "Preserve your spirit and contemplate."

"Remember, the words essence, Qi, and spirit do not mean what ordinary people think they mean."

"In Daoist texts, essence is purity without admixture, Qi flows freely through the blood, and spirit is numinous activity."

"They are Primordial Essence, Primordial Qi, and Primordial Spirit."

"Primordial means the beginning of the origin: everything that is innate."

"At the heart of it all is the Primordial Spirit."

"Use Spirit to Control Qi; use Spirit to refine essence. Remember how they circulate."

The old man did not transmit the method in writing.

Instead, he guided Qi WuHuo through an experience of how the Great Dao flowed. After that, Qi WuHuo's body would naturally know how to preserve his spirit, how to contemplate, and how to regulate and circulate his breath.

Qi WuHuo's spirit followed the old man's guidance and flowed along.

The old man said, "Martial artists cultivate by swallowing meat and strengthening their bodies. Once their blood and Qi grow powerful, they naturally sense the flow of breath. When it reaches its utmost, their powerful bodies nourish their minds, spurring their spirit. But my lineage's cultivation is entirely different."

"When the heart is empty, spirit gathers. When spirit gathers, Qi collects. When Qi collects, essence is born."

"To give birth to the myriad from the One, and gather the myriad back into the One—all of it is my [Spirit]."

In a trance, Qi WuHuo entered a state of meditation.

His spirit was powerful, and drawing in and circulating his breath came easily. Before he knew it, the Golden Crow had set in the west and the Jade Rabbit risen in the east. The world had grown dark; night had fallen.

When winter snow melted, the cold was far more bitter than when it fell.

On winter nights, even night watchmen wore thick clothes and drank strong liquor to ward off the cold. Qi WuHuo sat outside in nothing but slightly heavy cloth robes.

The wind outside was biting, yet warmth flowed within his body.

Water and fire crossed within and without, while his spirit rose above them, watching it all unfold. His breath grew long and even, gradually settling into stillness, until he seemed to merge with the mountains, rivers, and trees.

People were, after all, part of Heaven and Earth.

Before sunrise, birds were already calling in the sky.

A sparrow landed in the courtyard and pecked at grass seeds. It hopped onto the boy's shoulder, then turned around and preened its feathers with its beak. The boy's black hair fell loosely, beaded with morning dew. His eyes opened naturally, and he saw the sun rise above the horizon, purple qi rising with it.

The boy sat quietly beneath the plum tree, bathed in sunlight.

The sparrow preened on his shoulder.

All things beneath Heaven and Earth were still.

The old man stroked his beard and asked with a smile, "Have you grasped it?"

PS: The Daoist cultivation passages are based on notes by Min Yide, the eleventh-generation patriarch of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage.

The commentator on the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Yin Symbols is Yu Yan, a Song-dynasty commentator on the Classic of the Way and Virtue.

The fifth patriarch of the Daoist Southern School was the True Person Bai Yuchan.

Reference text: Subtle Classic of the Jade Emperor's Heart Seal.