On Clarity and Turbidity

The cosmos generates qi (炁, vital energy). Qi has its limits. The pure and light rise upward to form Heaven; the heavy and turbid sink downward to form Earth. The balanced and harmonious accumulate between Heaven and Earth to nurture all things.

The essence of Heaven and Earth is yin and yang; the concentration of yin and yang becomes the four seasons; the diffusion of the four seasons produces all beings.

Purity is yang: upright, auspicious, bright, correct, focused, life-giving, unified. When Heaven receives it, there is clarity. When Earth receives it, there is peace. When spirits receive it, there is efficacy. When grain receives it, there is growth.

Purity is good; turbidity is evil. Purity to the utmost leads to immortality; turbidity to the utmost destroys life. This is the extreme of purity and turbidity. The nature of Heaven and Earth is that good brings forth good, evil brings forth evil, the upright brings forth uprightness, the crooked brings forth crookedness. Purity can govern turbidity, but turbidity cannot govern purity. Thus the law of Heaven and Earth is that good should restrain evil, the upright restrain the crooked, the pure restrain the turbid. One cannot let evil restrain good, falsehood restrain the upright, or turbidity restrain purity.

Heaven causes people to do good, and thus gives life. The Way of Heaven is the teacher of all things. Heaven sets the law not by clever words, but by achievement and fulfillment. The true Way is what fosters good and removes evil.

Those who are pure and clear love purity and clarity. When the human heart is upright and tranquil, with utmost sincerity it resonates with Heaven, without malice. Auspicious responses arise, bringing forth goodness. This is the work of creation.

Practitioners draw upon Heaven’s pure qi within themselves. Cultivation has no fixed path; all true teachings are cultivation; skillful means are cultivation. People are born endowed with this Way. By walking in it and aligning with virtue, by practicing with perseverance, one naturally turns from turbid to pure, and ascension can be hoped for. Therefore the Way is within ourselves. Grasp its essence and cultivate it, and in time one may become true. But if one does not know the secret of true cultivation, and only toils at outward forms — submitting memorials as if to seek responses, treating breath and movement as if issuing commands — then the heart grows more deluded, the practice more distant, the true self more dispersed, and the true self more exhausted.