Chapter 10

While husbanding the Spirit and Instinct to embrace Unity - Can you keep them from separating?

Gather the vital Qi until it becomes extremely subtle - can you be like an infant with an open fontanel?

Wash the mysterious mirror - until it is without faults!

Caring for the Empire - can you be free from cunning and planning after advantage?

Opening and closing the gate of Heaven - can you be passive like a female bird?

Bright clarity penetrates in all directions - can you be renounce "doing"?

Nourish that which comes forth - Create without taking possession.
Act, but without expectations and claims.
Progress, but do not harm others or dominate them.

these describe the mysteries of Virtue.

-Translation by Shi Fa Jun, inspired by Johnathan Star translation
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Husband the Spirit and Instinct to embrace Unity - each of us is kind of like a cartoon character with a little angel and a little devil resting on our shoulders. There is one aspect of our Spirit that is continually urging us to evolve to grow ever higher, to accomplish the mission of our soul. To do this, we can forsake all other things and work with our eyes only on this one goal. The other Spirit is the little Devil that tells us to "live for today" to "make sure we get ours" and, in extreme forms can make us forsake our integrity for self-centered pleasures.

The Master tells us here that in order to truly embrace Unity we need to husband these two aspects of our soul and keep them from separating. This is actually a very rarely practiced art. If you look around, it is likely that you can see there are generally two types of people in the world - those that live for the moment, and those that live for the future or the past. Often individuals who are living in either style will tell you that theirs is either more fun or more virtuous. The problem is, that neither of these temporal points of reference actually exist.

If you think about the future, one can ask (as many zen masters and new-age teachers have) "when will that future happen?". Well, it doesn't ever actually happen some where else - it can only happen now. That future "out there" doesn't really exist, only our thoughts about it exist. The same is true for the Past - when did the past happen? Well, it happened now. Not, of course, from our perspective in this moment - but when it was happening, it was this moment and now it exists as a thought trace in this current present moment.

At the same time that we can go on with the game about the fact that the past and future don't really exist in any real sense, neither does the present moment - because, well, what will it be when it's tomorrow? Of course it will be the present moment, but it will be a present moment that is dependant upon the one we are experiencing now, which will by then have become the past. Whew. That's a lot of convoluted thinking, in my opinion, but i think it's necessary if we are going to recognize that these two points of view have no existence in and of themselves.

They do, however, have existence in relationship to each other. In Buddhism, these two points of view are reflected by the Sudden Awakening School, and the Gradual Awakening School. One says "you are enlightenment right now - wake up to that fact and cease your suffering!" the other says something like "well, you are suffering, certain actions led you to that state and other actions will lead you from it toward a liberated state". In much of the advanced Buddhist training that we can engage in, we realize that neither of these Paths can be engaged in all by itself.

If you just "live for today" because you are already enlightened, there isn't really anything to keep you from engaging in actions that produce suffering and unhappiness, because, when taken to extreme, the belief is that this is the only moment that exists and so what one does doesn't actually matter. At the same time, if you "live for tomorrow (and through that also redeem yesterday)" you miss out on the only time you actually have to experience life or make any worthwhile change. The two streams must be fused if one is to partake of Reality and grow the Spirit into it's most artful form.

Fusing the Spirit and the Instinct also means that if we are living here in bodies, we must take care of those bodies - but not in a way that demeans the Spirit. The higher ethics of a human, and the instincts that keep one alive are both there to serve the evolution of a being and must be kept in a subtle balance. This a high art that is not often seen in the world around us.

Next the master gives us further practical instruction -
"Gather the Vital Qi until it is extremely soft - can you be like an infant with an open fontanel?"

The substance of our Life is a subtle vitality that permeates our entire being. In many of us, we allow its circulation to become ragged and ridged. This is reflected in the distorted and stressful patterns of our minds. Actually, the two are mutually interdependant. If you want to calm the mind, you can calm the Qi - by practicing smooth, slow breathing, or smooth movements or internal energy meditation. At the same time, if you calm the thoughts, the qi will calm too - when you enter into meditation, the breath begins to slow and the subtle energy realigns of its own accord.
When our vitality becomes soft like this, we begin to breathe like a baby. There is no obstruction to the flow of air and vitality all the way down below the navel. The image for the Chinese character for a baby here is interesting - it pictures a child with the fontanel (sutres of the skull) still open. This has a special meaning in Daoist training, because it is known that infants, while their fontanels are still open, are able to travel in the Spirit body at will. Most of us lose this capacity because we block the flow of energy through the body and thus lessen the amount that we have available for higher spiritual functions. We are so busy repressing our negative emotions that we don't have the resources left over for higher awareness.
When we cultivate our breath and our subtle energy until it is very soft and flows deep down below the navel, we begin gathering a great deal of energy into the body and this allows the spirit to learn to soar. When we soften the belly so that the emotions flow easily and without restriction, we regain our connection to Heaven through the top of the head.

"Wash the mysterious mirror - until it is without faults!"

Esoterically, this instruction is perfectly placed in this chapter, because the "mysterious mirror" refers, at times, to the energetic center in the middle of the brain, through which a master can learn to view the interior of his or her own body, and view the subtle nature of reality.

The Mysterious Mirror, also refers to the nature of our mind. When the mind becomes still and quiet, it is like a still pool of water that reflects the sky perfectly. When the mind is not still - it is like a lake that is disturbed by ripples. The image of reality is distorted. To wash the mysterious mirror, all we need to do is begin to teach the mind to rest. We cannot still it by reaching in and trying to pat down all the ripples - this just makes more waves. We can, though, remember the true nature of this magickal mirror and know that it will return to its reflective quality if we simply stand by patiently.

"Caring for the Empire - can you be free of cunning?"
We all have an Empire to care for. We may not feel like it is that much, but the master calls upon us to take our job very seriously - we must act as if we are sacred priest-kings or queens who's destiny and passion it is to take care of all the members of the kingdom. As we do this, though, we must be free of searching for advantage. They say that power corrupts, but we must be incorruptible. This is how we truly become a sacred ruler. When we embody this freedom from cunning and desire for power, we can see the world around us transform into a sacred realm full of beings we can care for.

"Opening and closing the Gate of Heaven - can you be passive like a female bird?"

The Gate of Heaven in the body is the top of the head where the spirit can travel in and out, it is also here with us in each moment. Jesus said "the kingdom of heaven is all around you". We can open this gate into spiritual unity at any moment we choose. How do we do this? By our very ability to rest.
Many authors translate this line with an emphasis upon the passivity, but I like including the etymology of the character, which refers to a female bird. What is a female bird like? Is it passive? Does it cease to fly because it is female? No, she takes a mate, she nourishes her young, she gives birth.
To give birth, one does not need to somehow operate the process and make sure the body does it right. Bodies give birth to life. They do this just by resting. The female bird here is able to fly, and she is pregnant with power, simply through her being. She is passive, but not in any lazy way that we might think. She is Yin - feminine rather than masculine.
If we wish to open the gate of heaven in each moment, it requires that we become Yin to Reality. If we are going out and searching for Life, we actually scare it away - like animals in the forest. If we cling to the classically "masculine" desires for accomplishment and attainment, we push away some of the greatest accomplishments that we could gain. By opening as Yin to Life, we open the gate of Heaven and can begin to fly!

"Bright clarity penetrates in all directions, can you renounce doing?"

The last lines go on to tell us the specifics of this. Our brightness radiates out in all directions. There is no where that our consciousness does not reach forth to - but at the center, there is emptiness. This light emerges, but we do not call it "ours" - that would limit and hold it back. The light emerges and we let it continually emerge. Filling not only one direction, but all directions of space. Within and without are permeated. Up and down, left and right, none are rejected or avoided.

This is called the way of Mysterious Virtue.