Summarized from the Introduction of:
Liu Yiming's View of the Human Being
The Mysterious Barrier
The One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier (xuanguan yiqiao) is the spaceless and non-material center of the human being. Liu Yiming agrees with earlier Neidan masters in saying that this center is neither in the body nor in the mind. The One Opening harbors the Precelestial Breath of True Unity. With the shift from the precelestial to the postcelestial, the precelestial True Yang becomes concealed within the postcelestial Yin, and the recognition of the spaceless center is lost. In the images of the Yijing (Book of Changes), True Yang becomes the solid line (⚊) found within Kan ☵, surrounded by two broken Yin lines. The purpose of Neidan consists in recovering the Yang within Kan ☵ and in using it to replace the Yin within Li ☲. This allows Qian ☰ (True Yang) and Kun ☷ (True Yin) to be reconstituted and then newly joined to one another. Their conjunction occurs in the One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier.
This page is part of a series on Liu Yiming. See the complete index.
Nature and Existence
Nature (xing) and Existence (ming) are the two main poles of one's life, and the core of Neidan: "The Way of the Golden Elixir is the Way of cultivating Nature and Existence". "Nature" refers to one's authentic, inner Nature, which is innately awakened. "Existence" refers to one's life as an individual being, including one's function in existence as a whole. According to Liu Yiming, the shift from the precelestial to the postcelestial involves that both Nature and Existence take on two aspects, which he calls "true" and "false". One's true Nature can be hidden by one's false personality; and one's true Existence (or "true destiny") can be concealed by "following the course" (shun) of life. The gradual process of Neidan provides a means for "inverting the course" (ni), making it possible first to "return to one's destiny," and then to "see one's Nature."
Body and Mind
On this subject, see also the chapter "True and False Body and Mind"
Cultivating the Tao
Teachings on the principles of Taoism and Taoist Alchemy, by the great Taoist master Liu Yiming (1734–1821)
In Liu Yiming's view, the ordinary body and mind are "illusory" (huan). Their authentic counterparts are the "dharma-body" (fashen) and the "celestial mind" (tianxin). The celestial mind is "utterly empty and utterly numinous, silent and unmoving," and "pervades throughout by responding to impulses". The dharma-body (a term that in Buddhism means the awakened "body" of the Buddha) has "no head and no tail, no front and no back; it stands at the center and does not slant". With the shift to the postcelestial domain, "the dharma-body is buried and the illusory body takes charge, the celestial mind retires from its position and the human mind takes power". Neidan makes it possible to attain "the utmost of quiescence," which is a property of the celestial mind. The practice is concluded with the birth of the Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai), which in Liu Yiming's view is equivalent to one's dharma-body, or "true body".
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