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

Chapter 63 Warmth and Care
But Jiang Tong'er sincerely asked the master to teach him the five steps of alchemy, 'warming and nourishing'.

The master sat on the cushion, looked at the boy, and said, "Tong'er, the word 'warm' is important in this step. Tong'er knows what this warming is for."

Jiang Yuan bowed and said, "Master, if you ask me, this should be the medicine in the warm cauldron."

The master laughed and said, "Why do you say that?"

Jiang Yuan said: "After the cooking is completed, the cauldron is sealed to prevent the medicinal qi from leaking out. These four herbs are refined into the tangible with the intangible. The purpose of warming and nourishing them is to store the medicinal qi of the four herbs inside so that the six steps of the alchemy can be completed easily."

The master sighed and said, "Good boy! You really know the golden elixir and understand the Dharma nature. You are right. Warming and nourishing is the key to easy 'copulation'. However, this warming is not only to warm the Chinese medicine in the cauldron, but also to warm the great circulation in your body."

Jiang Yuan asked: "Master, there are 360 ​​acupoints in the Great Circulation of Heaven in the body. How should we 'warm' them?"

The ancestor said: "There are words for the temperature of fire, and there are explanations for the intensity of fire. What is the meaning of warm fire?"

Jiang Yuanyi recalled the secret method of fire control, which has an annotation on fire intensity. He said: "Master, warm fire is the same as 'slow fire', and the emphasis is on 'cooking', 'slowly' and 'nurturing'."

The master smiled and said, "Nourish with a gentle fire. This gentle fire is used for the primordial spirit. You don't need to use your true breath to assist it. On the one hand, warm the medicine in the cauldron to make the medicinal qi stored inside. On the other hand, warm the large Zhoutian acupoints to make the orifices in the body open. If the warming and nourishing is sufficient, when your orifices are like boiling soup, it means success."

Jiang Yuan asked: "Master, if there is no true breath to support it, how can the Yuanshen Sect use the gentle fire?"

The master said: "This slow fire is not used to generate true fire. The Yuanshen and the five people in the body are enough to generate slow fire. However, you need to calm your mind. If the Yuanshen is tired and the essence is insufficient, you need to adjust it."

Jiang Yuan suddenly understood what he said and bowed, "Master, I understand now."

This warming and nourishing is for the five people's primordial spirits. It is to warm and nourish the medicine in the cauldron and the acupoints in the body. He can assist with it. Because he has no control over the speed of warming and nourishing, so when he has free time, he goes to the Wuzhuang Temple in Wanshou Mountain to guard the mountain.

The master said, "Go, go! Just go east and take the jade whisk with you."

Jiang Yuan then bowed and went outside.

He returned to the quiet room, took the jade whisk and jade talisman, and walked out of the Sanxing Immortal Cave.

It won't take long.

Jiang Tong'er approached the Sanxing Immortal Cave and was about to go out when a voice suddenly arose from behind.

"Big Brother, Big Brother! Walk slowly!"

He looked back and took a closer look, and saw that fate was really coming.

Jiang Tong'er picked up the whisk and asked, "Junior brother, you have been practicing for two or three hundred years. Why are you so impatient and restless? What's the matter?"

Zhen Jian approached and said, "Brother, you don't know, I have some enlightenment from reading Zen books, and I asked you to solve my doubts several decades ago, but I didn't expect that you would be stopped by the ancestor when you were practicing. Now I see that you are going out, and I don't know when you will return, so I stopped you."

Jiang Yuan was horrified when he heard this. How could he allow himself to be distracted when he was refining the spirit decades ago? If anyone had disturbed him, he would have died and his spirit would have become empty. It was fortunate that the master protected him.

He said: "Junior brother, you don't know that it was a difficult time for cultivation and you couldn't afford to be distracted."

Zhen Jian apologized, "It was fate that caused this. I was foolish and almost caused trouble for you, Senior Brother."

Jiang Yuan shook his head and smiled, "There is a reason for this. Junior brother, if you don't come, you can teach others to come. This is a great favor from Master. Junior brother, what have you learned from studying Zen?"

Zhen Jiandao said, "To be honest, Senior Brother, I read Zen books and often meditate in silence. I know that my body is damaged by money, sex and alcohol, and it is difficult to practice. So I simply gave up practicing. I have the Taixuan Qingsheng Talisman given by my master. I will never go out. I have a false immortality and concentrate on Zen meditation. Now I have some enlightenment, so I come to ask Senior Brother to solve my doubts."

Jiang Yuan asked: "So, tell me."

Zhenjian bowed and said, "Brother, I have been meditating for a long time, and I often have feelings. There are others hidden under the spirit of heaven, and I feel that I am not myself. I am like the external appearance of greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. Recently, I have had many such feelings."

Jiang Yuan heard this and clapped his hands and laughed, "That's you! Congratulations, congratulations!"

Zhen Jian didn't understand what he meant and asked, "Brother, what do you mean?"

Jiang Yuan smiled but said nothing, and walked out. But Zhen Jian didn't understand, and there was a hidden inspiration that he couldn't catch.

……

Jiang Tong'er left the Sanxing Immortal Cave. He did not go down the mountain. He sat on the mossy stone first to communicate with his soul and taught his soul to warm the cauldron and the acupoints in the body with the five people.

Yuanshen acted immediately after receiving the order, and worked together with the five people to slowly raise the fire to simmer the food in the cauldron.

Jiang Tong'er only felt a warm feeling in his abdomen. The movement of this fire was different from that of burning gold when cooking. This slow fire was created by the magical power of the primordial spirit and drew in essence.

The secret of top-grade fire control contains theories on the uses of various types of fire.

The boy thought to himself, "The seven steps of the golden elixir, the key is only three steps, which are the golden tripod and jade furnace, the four great medicines, and the secret of the fire temperature."

The cauldron, the medicine, and the fire.

These three steps are the most important, and the rest are extended into three steps.

Jiang Yuan taught his soul how to refine a slow fire and warm the cauldron. He stood up and went down the mountain to Wanshou Mountain.

The five people here serve as the primordial spirits and warm the cauldron, so he needs to rely on his feet to go down the mountain.

It is said that he was a child in the past. He went down the mountain to Hangu Pass. He still needed the magic power of the ancestor to guarantee him, so that he could take the Golden Road directly to the destination without being disturbed by demons. When Qianniu went west, Laojun was by his side. When he returned to the mountain, the ancestor Jinlu came to pick him up and taught him not to be harmed by demons.

Today, the boy is about to master the art of alchemy and has some magical powers. He is incomparable to the past. He is not afraid of the demons along the way, but the demons should be afraid of him.

Jiang Yuan was walking on the mountain path, jumping over the earth slope. Not long after, he heard the cry of a deer. He looked carefully and found that it was a white-haired antler deer.

The white deer came down from the cliff and quickly approached him, holding the spiritual fruit in its mouth.

Jiang Tong'er recognized the deer. In the past, when his mind was first settled, he went down the mountain to pick up the Zuo family. This deer had served as his means of transportation. Even after not seeing him for hundreds of years, the deer had become somewhat spiritual and still recognized him.

The white deer lowered its head, placed the spiritual fruit in front of itself, and laid on the ground with its front legs.

Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "I am going to Wanshou Mountain. Would you like to be my help?"

The white deer did not move, but cried out.

Jiang Yuan gently stroked the white deer's body. He took the spiritual fruit and ate it in one gulp to quench his thirst. He then sat on the white deer and went down the mountain.

But I saw that good boy, wearing a purple gold crown, a purple robe, holding a whisk in his hand, shoes on his feet, plump and graceful feet, a Yu Ding jade talisman tied around his waist, and riding a white deer. He was indeed a Taoist immortal.

……

The slanting moon and three stars in the fairy cave, in the quiet room.

The master was touched and looked down the mountain. He was delighted and said to himself, "When the boy returns, the teaching will be complete. I will have intercourse with him and the nine transformations will become the elixir. There must be no problem. This boy has really inherited my true teachings."

"Although the true vision in the palace hurts the foundation, the ups and downs can easily make it easier to see the heart and nature, and finally see the original spirit. If you teach me to practice well, I will get the side door and the true fruit in the future. I hope that you can understand it with a word of enlightenment from this boy."

"None of the remaining disciples are useful. None of them can grasp the key points."

"As the boy said, the Tao is always there."

"Stop, stop, stop! As long as the boy is here, it's enough! Now the boy has magical powers and the Three Treasures. If we go to Wanshou Mountain, no demon will dare to stop us."

The master didn't look any more, just closed his eyes and meditated quietly.

(End of this chapter)