Journey to the West: Beginning with the Apprenticeship of Bodhi Patriarch

Chapter 57: Learning the Heat

However, in the library, Maitreya Bodhisattva was amazed by the wonders of Buddhism from the East, and also felt that this Dharma was difficult to practice, as it emphasized the heart, awareness, and enlightenment.

Maitreya Bodhisattva clasped his hands and asked, "Master Guangxin, may I ask if you can cultivate Zen?"

Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "I haven't mastered Zen yet. Maitreya Bodhisattva knows that I am practicing the Golden Elixir Orthodox Way."

Maitreya Bodhisattva asked again: "How did the True Man realize Zen?"

Jiang Yuan said: "I have inherited the Dharma from my master, and I also had a dream, so I got the Zen Dharma."

Maitreya Bodhisattva clasped his hands together and bowed, worshipping Jiang Yuan's spirit. It was indeed as the Buddha had said, a true 'spiritual child'.

Jiang Yuan returned the greeting with a bow.

Maitreya Bodhisattva asked again: "Master, if I teach you to travel, can I accompany you?"

Jiang Yuan said: "Since the Bodhisattva is practicing with me, if you want to follow me, it's fine."

Maitreya Buddha smiled and nodded, his heart filled with joy.

Jiang Tong'er didn't say much. He talked with the Bodhisattva for a while, then returned to the quiet room to learn the timing of the fire.

……

Wait for the child to return to the quiet room, rest for a while, and when his spirit is sufficient, practice the timing of fire.

Jiang Yuan calmed his mind and responded to the spirit in the Niwan Palace, asking the spirit to come out.

The primordial spirit in the Niwan Palace came out as soon as it received the order, without any delay. He only saw a "little man" walking out of the Niwan Palace. The "little man" was indeed amazing. He could feel, could teach him to move, teach him to think, and he was clear-headed and not disturbed. This was his true self, his primordial spirit.

He made his soul learn the temperature of fire, and after receiving the order, he called five people to come and work with him in moving fire.

Jiang Yuan entered into a state of meditation, slowly inhaling true breath, but when the true breath entered his body, his soul was not yet ready, and the true breath disrupted his soul's formation.

He was in chaos, so he taught him to calm down. After two or three hours, he finally rested. He thought to himself, "This fire is not as easy to master as I thought. There is a cycle of precision. Only when the soul and I are of the same mind, and the five of us work together, can we learn the fire. Otherwise, it will never work. Fortunately, I had some tricks when I burned Jin Gong, otherwise I might not be able to do it for a hundred years."

Jiang Yuan knew that if one wanted to learn the control of fire, one had to practice more before he could master it.

He did not think much about it, and ordered his soul to practice this skill with him.

True Breath Inhalation and Exhalation...

The spirit turns into fire...

As expected, Tong'er failed again.

But he did not lose heart. After a rest, he started to learn the skill again.

……

The warm breeze comes, the fragrant wind sends the rain away, then the golden wind goes away, and the cold north wind stops, the cycle repeats over and over again. Time passes quickly and ten years have passed without you noticing.

Jiang Yuan practiced the control of fire in a quiet room without taking a step out.

Outside the quiet room, Maitreya Bodhisattva was sitting cross-legged, waiting for Jiang Yuan to complete his practice, but the boy had been practicing for an unknown period of time.

The Patriarch came out of the meditation room and saw Maitreya Bodhisattva sitting cross-legged. He went up to him and asked, "Maitreya Bodhisattva, why are you here?"

Maitreya Bodhisattva said: "Brother Daoist, our Master Hou is out, follow him to practice."

The master said, "I don't know how many years it will take for my boy to master the fire. What are you waiting for?"

Maitreya Bodhisattva clasped his hands and said, "Brother Daoist, you don't know that I will never be able to understand the subtleties of Zen, so I want to glimpse a little bit of the subtleties of Zen from the words and deeds of the real person."

The master sighed, "My boy is practicing the golden elixir path, how could he know Zen? How did you learn it? I am afraid that you have seen too much and have mistaken Buddhism for the golden elixir path! Maitreya Bodhisattva, what did my boy tell you? Can you tell me a little bit?"

Maitreya Bodhisattva then relayed Jiang Yuan's words to the Patriarch. Upon hearing this, the Patriarch nodded and said, "Don't establish words, just point to your original mind, see your nature and become a Buddha, it's more important than enlightenment, didn't the boy make it very clear?"

Maitreya Bodhisattva turned his smiling face into a sad one and said, "Brother, there is no instruction here on how to cultivate. There are no scriptures to read. How can one cultivate to success?"

The master laughed a few times, pointed at Maitreya Bodhisattva, and said: "Maitreya Bodhisattva, this is just a blind spot! Why do we need to practice? Why do we need scriptures? What the boy said is very clear, it is about enlightenment, in Zen, not practice. This method cannot be practiced, and scriptures are not required. You think it is the Buddhism from the East, how can it be the same as the Buddhism here?"

Upon hearing this, Maitreya Bodhisattva's body was filled with infinite light, and he suddenly understood something. His worried expression disappeared, and he smiled. He clasped his hands together and bowed: "It is indeed my blindness. I would like to ask you to clear up my confusion!"

The master nodded without saying anything.

Maitreya Bodhisattva leaves.

The master looked at the boy's quiet room and knew that the boy was ready for the task. He went to the Yaotai and began to preach the great doctrine.

……

In the quiet room, Jiang Yuan became more and more proficient in controlling the fire, but it was still not enough to use the fire to cook the four medicines in the furnace.

This recipe requires him and his soul to be of one mind, and the five of them to work together, so that the temperature can be adjusted to the exact degree. Otherwise, the temperature will be wrong and the great path will not be achieved.

After stopping the fire, Jiang Tong'er sighed, "The fire is indeed difficult. If I learn the full fire, and burn the elixir successfully, not only will the elixir be successful, but I will also burn into a mixed primordial body. The primordial spirit, the five people, and I will be inseparable."

He deeply felt the power of the golden elixir. Every step has its own secrets. When the tripod is set up, the two energies of heaven and earth enter the body, and the elixir is made. The herbs are collected and gathered to form the innate medicine in the body. The fire in this recipe is not only to burn the medicine, but also to teach him not to be distracted.

The remaining four steps, refining, warming and nourishing, and intercourse, will transform it into a golden elixir, which will surely have miraculous effects.

By practicing here, you will reach immortality, step by step, and then the golden elixir will be completed.

Jiang Yuan felt something in his heart, so he gathered his thoughts, rested, and then practiced fire again.

……

There are no Jiazi in the mountains, and it is so cold that I don’t know the year.

Another ten years passed.

Jiang Yuan learned the best fire for more than 20 years, and finally gradually mastered it, teaching the soul to use it, the five people worked together, and the three were one. Often when the child inhaled and exhaled the true breath, the soul taught him to cooperate freely, the five people gathered their strength, the soul started and stopped the two fires, and when the civil and military moved, the child also mobilized the true breath to match it.

This recipe requires mastery of fire control. He once studied under Jin Gong, so he had a foundation in this area. Only then was he able to learn kung fu for twenty years and master the fire control.

When the fire and temperature are right, he has completed the third step of the alchemy. When the remaining four steps are completed, he will obtain the golden elixir.

Jiang Yuanfang stood up and walked out, looking calm. Twenty years of hard practice were just like floating clouds to him. He had wasted a lot of time practicing this way, but he could not accomplish much in twenty years.

The boy left the quiet room and went to the master's quiet room.

When he got closer, he saw that the door of the master's room was wide open, and someone was waiting for him.

Jiang Tong'er stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Master, I have learned the skill."

The master opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Yuan, nodded and smiled, "Boy, the elixir has made further progress. I thought it would take you forty years to learn the fire, but I didn't expect it to take you twenty years to succeed."

Jiang Yuan said, "Master taught me how to burn a golden man in the past. I already have the basics, so it's not difficult."

The master said, "Now that I understand the nature of fire and fire, what do you think?"

After thinking about it, Jiang Yuan said, "Master, in the golden elixir path, the fire temperature is of utmost importance! This fire temperature teaches the primordial spirit, the five of us, and I, to never leave again, to be one with the primordial spirit, and to be the beginning of perfection, the state of elixir success!"

The master was very happy when he heard this, and said to himself: "Good boy, good boy! The elixir is about to be made. Those who practice the right way should avoid practicing the fire without knowing the harmony and separation of the three. If you don't know the appearance of perfection, there will always be shortcomings. The boy has realized something, which makes people happy. You can teach the method of cooking here."

　Ask for monthly tickets and follow up

　　
　
(End of this chapter)