Excerpt from an old meditation text…..

The German translator Richard Wilhelm, who presented to the world the first English translation of the old Taoist meditation text—-the Secret of the Golden Flower—-in 1929 (and just before dying in 1930), also introduced another text that, he wrote,  “combines Buddhist and Taoist directions for meditation”.    Wilhelm published a portion of this meditation text—–the Book of Consciousness and Life or the Hui Ming Ching—-in the 1920s in the fifth German edition for the Secret of the Golden Flower.  That same excerpt is in the 1962 edition published here (and which I have had for many years).    This text (which Wilhelm only publishes the introductory section of) is described in this quote provided on page XV (“Forward to the Fifth Edition” by Salome Wilhelm in 1957):

The Hui Ming Ching, or Book of Consciousness and Life, was written by Liu Hua-yang in the year 1794.  The author was born in the province of the Kiangsi, and later became a monk in the monastery of the Double Lotus Flower (Shuang-lien-ssu) in the province of Anhui.  The translation is from a new edition of a thousand copies printed with The Secret of the Golden Flower in 1921 by a man with the pseudonym of Hui-chen-tzu (“he who has become conscious of truth”).

Wilhelm describes how he became acquainted with both this text and the Secret of the Golden Flower (which Carl Jung, in his foreward, asserts was very important to him in his own work).  From page 3 of the 1962 edition of The Secret of the Golden Flower (A Chinese Book of Life), translated and explained by Richard Wilhelm and with commentary by Carl G. Jung:

This book comes from an esoteric circle in China.  For a long time it was transmitted orally, and then in writing; the first printing is from the Ch-ien-lung period (eighteenth century).  Finally a thousand copies of it were reprinted in Peking in 1920, together with the Hui Ming Ching, and were distributed among a small group of people who, in the opinion of the editor, understood the questions discussed.  That is how I was able to get a copy…..

The oral tradition for these texts goes back to the 8th Century and is traced to a Taoist sect called the Religion of the Golden Elixir of Life.  This was founded by a famed Taoist adept named Lu Yen (or Lu Tung-pin).   Lu Yen identified with the much older teaching perspectives of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, the esoteric and philosophical core of Taoism.

Here (taken from pages 69 t0 79) are the verses that were published from the Book of Consciousness and Life  (only a portion of the full text):

~ Cessation of Outflowing

If thou wouldst complete the diamond body with no outflowing, Diligently heat the roots of consciousness and life.  Kindle light in the blessed country ever close at hand, And there hidden, let thy true self always dwell.

~The Six Periods of Circulation in Conformity with the Law

If one discerns the beginning of the Buddha’s path, There will be the blessed city of the West.  After the circulation in conformity with the law, there is a turn upward towards heaven, when the breath is drawn in.  When the breath flows out energy is directed towards the earth.  One time-period consists of six intervals.  In two intervals one gathers Moni (Sakyamuni).  The great Tao comes forth from the centre.  Do not seek the primordial seed outside!

~The Two Energy-Paths of Function and Control

There appears the way of the in-breathing and out-breathing of the primordial pass.  Do not forget the white path below the circulation in conformity with the law!  Always let the cave of eternal life be nourished through the fire!  Ah!  Test the immortal place of the gleaming pearl!

~The Embryo of the Tao

According to the law, but without exertion, one must diligently fill oneself with light.  Forgetting appearance, look within and help the true spiritual power!  Ten months the embryo is under fire.  After a year the washings and baths become warm.

~The Birth of the Fruit

Outside the body there is a body called the Buddha image.  The thought which is powerful, the absence of thoughts, is Bodhi (liberation).  The thousand-petaled lotus flower opens, transformed through breath-energy.  Because of the crystallization of the spirit, a hundred-fold splendour shines forth.

~Concerning the Retention of the Transformed Body

Every seperate thought takes shape and becomes visible in colour and form.  The total spiritual power unfolds its traces and transforms itself into emptiness.  Going out into being and going into non-being, one completes the miraculous Tao.  All separate shapes appear as bodies, united with a true source.

~The Face Turned to the Wall

The shapes formed by the spirit-fire are only empty colours and forms.  The light of the human nature [essence], shines back on the primordial, the true.  The imprint of the heart floats in space; untarnished, the moonlight shines.  The boat of life has reached the shore; bright shines the sunlight.

~Empty Infinity

Without beginning, without end, Without past, without future.  A halo of light surrounds the world of the law.  We forget one another, quiet and pure, altogether powerful and empty.  The emptiness is irradiated by the light of the heart and heaven.  The water of the sea is smooth and mirrors the moon in its surface.  The clouds disappear in blue space; the mountains shine clear.  Conciousness reverts to contemplation; the moon-disk rests alone.