The Rootless Tree, the Boat on the Sea of Bitterness, the Blooming Immortal Flower, and the Gathering of Great Medicine

"The Departed Self of the past endured ten thousand calamities without wearing away, bearing the wounds of this life. It was the root."

"The Self of Dao of the future changed without end, extending this life's span. It was the leaf."

"So long as the root did not perish and the leaves did not run out, life would flourish without end."

"Amid fleeting mortal affairs, this life's self rode a boat across the Sea of Bitterness, braving wind and waves to bloom into the most dazzling immortal flower in the Human World."

"A flower was a tree's spirit made radiant. The human body was like a tree, and the human True Spirit was its flower."

Lin Xian recited the Nirvana Sutra, sensing the past and comprehending the future. An insight stirred in him, and he seemed to become an Undying Immortal Medicine: rootless in appearance, yet rooted in truth.

Age and decay were like plants withering and flowers fading. People gave up on themselves and waited for death, never knowing that the human body held great medicine of its own.

Just as plants withered and flourished again, even the Supreme Bone, once dug out, could one day regenerate.

An old tree could be grafted with tender branches, a plum tree joined to a willow, a mulberry to a pear, and burst with life again in its twilight years.

A great realization came to Lin Xian, for several Undying Immortal Medicines truly lived within him. He really could graft them onto himself.

This was no metaphor, but reality.

Man was yang, woman was yin. The self was Lesser Yang, the universe Lunar Yin, the flesh Solar Yang, and the Primordial Spirit Lesser Yin.

Yin alone could not give birth; yang alone could not grow. Only by harmonizing Yin-Yang could one attain