《道德「經」》

George Field, Diagrams of the Universal Harmony of Colours, 1817

There is a developmental link between 明代《性命圭旨》the Ming Dynasty text entitled《性命圭旨》 ‘Xingming Gui Zhi’ – or the ‘Principles of Inner Essence and Longevity’ – by 尹真人 Yin Zhen Ren and 趙避塵，亦稱千峯老人，道號順一子， Zhao Bichen’s famous manual entitled《性命法訣明指》 ‘Xingming Fa Jue Ming Zhi’ – or ‘The Secret Cultivation of Essential Nature and Eternal Life‘.

《性命圭旨》the Xingming Gui Zhi has been a very influential and much-respected book of Daoist self-cultivation techniques since its inception during 明代， the Ming Dynasty.  Although the actual author of this work is not ascertained, it records the Daoist methods of inner self-cultivation of 氣 the vital force in 內丹 (nèidān shù) the energy centre(s) so that a state of robust health and longevity (immortality) can be attained.  趙避塵, Zhao Bichen of 北京鳳凰嶺桃源觀，原名妙峰庵，是北京市海淀區鳳凰嶺內的一座道教全真派宮觀，– Tao Yuan Guan, the Tao Yuan Temple in Beijing is the Founder of 千峰道家修行, the Qianfeng School of Daoist self-cultivation, and his famous manual 《行明法覺明》‘Xingming Fa Jue Ming Zhi’ is believed to have been authored (by him) in 1933.  However, a close and careful reading of both manuals suggests that the latter was influenced by the former. 趙避塵 Zhao Bichen’s manual has become a highly influential text in its own right, but it shares many common features with《性命圭旨》the Xingming Gui Zhi.  The two books serve as depositories of information for the practice of self-cultivation that achieves two clear and distinct aims, namely:

1. robust health, 強健的健康/健康的身體 and
2. longevity. 壽ㄕㄡˋ

Both integrate Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism and perceive these three and distinct schools of thought as sharing a single and identical essence – it is this essence that is cultivated in the furnace or stove (through meditation & visualisation).  Both share a common strength of effort (功理 – ㄍㄨㄥ ㄌㄧˇ) and a common direction of development (功法 – ㄍㄨㄥ ㄈㄚˇ) terms in which "功" means "gong", a high-level or advanced type of spiritual meditation, a kind of cultivation energy, more powerful than 氣; and the advanced practice that cultivates such energy. Their shared connection is seen even in the similarity of the two titles – 《性命圭旨》 ‘Xingming Gui Zhi’ and 《性命法訣明指》 ‘Xingming Fa Jue Ming Zhi’. 

रहान्नि Rahānni. The Occult Anatomy of the Human Figure, Frontispiece for Yoga for You, by Claude Bragdon 1945

《道德經》第五十六章

知者不言，言者不知。

塞其兑，閉其門，挫其銳，解其分，和其光，同其塵，是謂玄同。

故不可得而親，不可得而踈；

不可得而利，不可得而害；

不可得而貴，不可得而賤。

故為天下貴。

Dao De Jing Chapter Fifty-six — C. Ganson

56

Whoever knows does not speak;

whoever speaks does not know.

So, stop the senses.

Close their doors.

Solve their riddles.

Subdue their light.

Be one with humble dust.

This is mystic unity.

It is beyond love and hate,

beyond profit and loss,

beyond honour and dishonour.

Thus it is the most valuable treasure

in all the world.

Dao De Jing Chapter Fifty-six — James Legge

56 (The mysterious excellence)

He who knows (the Dao) does not (care to) speak (about it).

He who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it.

He (who knows it) will keep his mouth shut and close the portals (of his nostrils). He will blunt his sharp points and unravel the complications of things; he will attemper his brightness, and bring himself into an agreement with the obscurity (of others).

This is called 'the Mysterious Agreement.'

(Such a one) cannot be treated familiarly or distantly; he is beyond all consideration of profit or injury; beyond all consideration of nobility or meanness: - he is the noblest man under heaven.

Dao De Jing Chapter Fifty-six — Arthur Waley

56

Those who know do not speak;

Those who speak do not know.

Black the passages,

Shut the doors,

Let all sharpness be blunted,

All tangles untied,

All glare tempered.

All dust smoothed.

This is called the mysterious levelling.

He who has achieved it cannot either be drawn into friendship or repelled,

Cannot be benefited, cannot be harmed,

Cannot either be raised or humbled,

And for that very reason is highest of all creatures under heaven.

道門秘傳內經圖真蹟

內丹術