plumnovel Chapter 185 Knowing is easy, doing is hard
Chapter 185 Knowing is easy, doing is hard
After Chen Chunan spoke those words, he himself understood.
One is active and the other is still; the Earth element (己土) and the Earth element (戊土) also alternate between active and still.
There is nothing, where can the dust be.
If one understands its purity, then one's own earth will be absorbed. Isn't this exactly in line with the difference between the primordial spirit and the conscious spirit?
But is Yi the primordial spirit?
Taoism believes that the primordial spirit is a spark of innate spiritual light, born from the union of parents and descended from heaven.
Therefore, everyone possesses this treasure, remaining unmoved, pure, and without action.
The monk said that in Buddhism, the conscious mind is the mind, and the primordial spirit is the nature.
This method of mine involves three aspects: mind, nature, and intention.
What he said largely matches what the monk said.
Sexuality is the foundation of the primordial spirit.
The concept of consciousness as the mind seems to conflict with the concept of the mind-monkey, which represents the mind of the Tao.
However, upon closer examination, this reasoning makes a lot of sense.
Consciousness is formed by acquired knowledge and is derived from the six senses.
The six senses are sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought.
From the moment a person is born, they begin to understand the world. The six senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought—are the foundation of human cognition.
The personality formed on this basis through understanding the world is called the "consciousness spirit".
According to Freudian psychoanalysis, consciousness is the ego.
To restrict one's primal instincts by recognizing the rules of the world.
The balancing force between the instinctive desires of the ego and the moral perfection of the superego.
But human suffering often stems from cognition.
The more you know, the deeper your pain.
Therefore, Zhuangzi said: "My life has a limit, but knowledge has no limit. To use the limited to pursue the unlimited is perilous."
How can this pain be eliminated?
Lao Tzu said: "Embrace simplicity and hold fast to the uncarved block; reduce selfishness and desires; abandon learning and be free from worries."
The Taoist practice of eliminating consciousness requires eradicating the six senses and reducing selfishness and desires. Therefore, eliminating the six thieves and extinguishing the six desires is the only way to bring the restless mind back to its right path and transform it into the Taoist mind.
The monkey's act of beating up the six thieves, including Yan Kanxi, is exactly in line with the principles of simplicity, selflessness, and freedom from desires, and the absence of worries about worldly affairs.
Just as Chen Chunan was beginning to understand, he heard the monk say, "The Heart Sutra says: 'Form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness—the five aggregates—are all empty.' How can I still claim that the five aggregates are empty?"
Seeing that Monk Mingxing seemed somewhat dejected, Chen Chunan comforted him:
"Buddhists do not cultivate the physical body; this stinking bag of skin is not yours to begin with. Why not just regard it as an external thing? Originally there is nothing, so where can dust settle? You are attached to that eye; isn't that clinging to appearances?"
Chen Chunan was unaware of the power of the Heavenly Mandate and simply assumed that the monk was overly concerned.
But the monk Mingxing had his own suffering, for Heaven regarded all spiritual cultivators as great thieves and wanted to eliminate them as soon as possible.
What's even more frustrating is that this Eye of Heaven is the will of the cultivator who failed to kill Yu Chen Dao Ren, a great cultivator who had just undergone tribulation.
The killing intent it contains towards spiritual cultivators is almost instinctive.
This murderous intent was passively influencing the mind and nature of the monk Mingxing.
Now, whenever he sees a cultivator above the Nascent Soul stage, he instinctively feels murderous intent.
But he was a Buddhist disciple.
Buddhist precepts forbid the wanton killing of animals.
The monk's mind was disturbed by this Eye of Heaven, and he was already showing signs of becoming possessed by demons.
If it weren't for the fact that the Eye of Heaven had only entered his body today, and that he hadn't been so proficient in Buddhism and had once attained the Arhatship, he would probably have already gone astray.
The Buddha told Subhuti: "All forms are illusory. If you see all forms as non-forms, then you will see the Tathagata."
Mingxing silently recited the Diamond Sutra, attempting to use the concept of non-phenomena to clear away the influence of the Heavenly Eye on him.
After a few breaths, the monk Mingxing calmed down.
Today's discussion with Chen Chunan was indeed quite fruitful.
Since these eyes are integrated with this body, I can simply abandon this wretched shell of a body.
However, now that I have fallen from the Arhatship, if I were to voluntarily pass away, I fear I would only be able to become a ghost and enter the cycle of reincarnation.
This is not what I wanted. It would be more prudent to first find a way to restore my original status before dealing with this matter.
After the monk Mingxing understood, his expression returned to calm, and a radiant light emanated from behind his head.
This extraordinary sight amazed all who were listening to the sermon.
After the initial surprise, the group became quite dejected.
They were somewhat unsure what the two meant by "consciousness" and "primordial spirit".
Yuan Shen and Shou Jing could barely understand a fraction of it.
The Nascent Soul entering the Divine Transformation stage is similar to an infant growing into an adult.
The cultivation of the Nascent Soul stage lies in knowledge and understanding the Dao; perhaps this realm can lead to the realm of spiritual awareness.
However, the essence of the primordial spirit realm lies in choosing one path and mastering it.
Just like Ling Xuzi, who was about to become a Nascent Soul cultivator, he had mastered fire magic and cultivated the Golden Crow Primordial Spirit, so he planned to follow the path of fire.
By adhering to this principle consistently, one can ascend to the Great Way.
Even those with all five spiritual roots must distinguish between primary and secondary ones. If one cultivates all five simultaneously, it is like trying to pursue the infinite with the finite, which is doomed.
Therefore, this step also requires cleanliness.
Lingxuzi's understanding became clearer and clearer, and he was overwhelmed with excitement.
"Having attained purity, I have achieved unity; having attained purity, I have achieved unity! My Way is complete!"
Lingxuzi's magical power surged, but he then suppressed it.
Now is not the time to make a breakthrough.
Chi Mianxi, who is also at the Nascent Soul stage, has a cultivation level that is now similar to the others because it was forcibly instilled into her.
I could only barely understand the phrase "embrace the spirit and guard the oneness," and "quiet and inactive."
But she is a dragon, specializing in physical cultivation, and follows the path of dragon transformation.
Whether you understand or not, it won't have much of an impact for now.
Even Chen Yunling, the only one who gained the most, was still quite confused because her cultivation period was still short.
But since she was Chen Chunan's personal disciple, she didn't understand and asked him directly for clarification.
She rose and bowed to Chen Chunan: "Master, true feelings, true nature, and true intentions—to suppress true feelings, one must understand the Dao; to suppress true nature, one must replace human feelings with the Dao. Then, is suppressing true intentions simply about tranquility and non-action?"
Chen Yunling suddenly asked a question, and Chen Chunan subconsciously replied, "It's not about being quiet and inactive, but about having a firm Daoist mind and not being moved by external things. At the beginning of your cultivation, birth, old age, sickness, death, greed, anger, ignorance, and resentment—all these empty phenomena—can disturb your will to cultivate. They can cause you to develop feelings of fear and laziness. If you let these feelings run wild, it will be very harmful. Therefore, you need to maintain consistency."
"Then what is the relationship between emotions, nature, and the primordial spirit?"
"In my view, intention is the purity and stillness of the primordial spirit, nature is the true nature of the primordial spirit, and emotion is the function and manifestation of the primordial spirit."
"Ah? But, emotion is the restless mind, and also the Dao mind. How can the Dao mind be the primordial spirit?"
"It is not the Dao heart that governs the primordial spirit, but the Dao heart that controls the primordial spirit."
The primordial spirit is an innate spark of light, as still as a newborn child, and is therefore easily obscured by the gods that govern it later in life.
Therefore, it requires the unity of mind and will to manifest. For example, Master Mingxing must have attained the Arhatship before truly manifesting his primordial spirit. However, in our Daoist alchemy, reaching this stage is already considered achieving immortality. It's just that we are still far from reaching the Celestial Immortal realm.
After listening to her master's words, Chen Yunling seemed to understand something, but she couldn't quite grasp the method.
He could only frown and ponder deeply.
Chen Chunan shook his head upon seeing this. Anyone can talk a few words about grand principles, but how many people can put their knowledge into practice?
I can't do it myself; if I could, I would have already gathered the three natures and manifested the infant long ago.
...
Several people listened to and discussed the Dao, and each gained something from it.
However, with the news of Chen Chunan pioneering a new path spreading, undercurrents were already swirling in the outside world.