Personal Guidance Part 2.

Mr. Cheng, male, from Busan , Korea. The followings are excerpt from his practice diaries.

I have always liked Duke Zhou (周公) since I was a child, therefore when I was in the fourth grade, I borrowed the Confucius classics, Four Books and Five Classics (四书五经), from an old gentleman in my neighborhood. The old gentleman was a Confucius scholar, I studied from him and due to his influence, I started to develop a deep passion for traditional Chinese culture. I did not follow my father’s expectation and entered a Buddhist University instead, then, I began cultivation.

The Buddha said, “all is created from the heart”, I thought then where do our hearts come from. This was the question I have been pondering on. After meditating on it for 9 months, the following was my conclusion:

心心本是空，莫问何处生。
夜月照天地，寒风摇竹林。

(Roughly: Hearts are originally empty, do not ask where they are from. The moon shines on the ground, the cold wind shakes the bamboo forest.)

Beginning in 1991, I was the Abbot of two thousand-year-old temple in Korea (Guangde temple and Duoshuai temple), even though I came to China to study, my positions were held for me until 2009. When I was an Abbot, I always had this empty feeling about my lack of real achievement as a cultivator, so in order to search for the great Dao, I decided to come to China. I didn’t find any high level teachers nor any suitable methods however, so I entered the Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine University to study TCM. 5 years of undergraduate, 3 years of Master and another 3 years for doctorate. Then I entered another doctoral program at Shandong University to study Pre-Qin dynasty literature.

I wanted to write a thesis on “the link between Man and Heaven and Earth”, among the relevant literatures there are “Zhou YI Can Tong Qi”, “Ling Bao Bi Fa”, “Zhong Lu Zhuan Dao Ji” and “Wu Zhen Pian”, after reading them I realized that if I don’t know Dandao, I could not appreciate the Chinese Culture and Chinese Medicine at a profound level. Motivated by this, I began to search for people who has this transmission, I managed to meet the author of “Notebook on Internal Viewing and Observation” (内证观察笔记), he recommended “Opening the Dragongate” (Da Dao Xing) and “Walk on the Great Path” (Xing Da Dao). I was extremely excited after I finished both books, and with his introduction I was able to meet Mr. Shen Zhigang.

From April 9th to April 19th, I went to Lanzhou and studied with Shen laoshi for 10 days.

Shen laoshi taught me the core materials of internal alchemy, setting up the stove and installing the cauldron and the gathering of internal medicine. I had quite an experience only after a few days. I have studied Chan Buddhism for more than 20 years but I have never understand completely what the Buddha meant by “micro white brightness”, I can only interpret it superficially but I had never had actual experience of it. After coming to Lanzhou for three days, I have experienced “micro white brightness” and there is a series of transformations in my body too. I could feel the vibrations in my organs when I worked on the five elements. I was happy, excited and energized every day. I couldn’t even fall asleep for a few nights.
Learning dandao has filled the empty part of my heart. After the 10-day class, I left the following poem in my notebook:

炼三宝，贵在呼吸；
修内丹，全凭口传。
世面言丹法，皆是口头禅；
明师引入门，无非真实法。

寻大道之颂
——4月26日炼安神祖窍后而作

大道本无言，无名而无形。
若无借言说，不能显大道。
昔伏羲作易，后昆晓乾坤。
老子著经也，全彰道与德。
二圣明根源，兹以知还本。
人皆有性命，由此修大道。
魏老人撰书，凭易参同契。
丹道据天道，有钟吕传道。
灭邪小儒骇，传世为真宝。
谁知长生药，只在自身中。