Under One Person: Starting from the Inheritance of Gods

Chapter 14: Spiritual Root Origin
Meng Fan listened to Yue Huyang's slow explanation: "The book Journey to the West actually talks about the way of golden elixir, the way of creation, and the way of Yuanhui."

"The book expounds on knowledge about yin and yang, the five elements, fire temperature and medicine, the laws of nature and human affairs."

"If someone has a discerning eye, they will realize that Tang Monk and his three disciples and their mounts represent the principles of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements; their brocade robes, the golden cudgel, the nine-ring staff, the crescent-shaped staff and the nine-toothed rake represent the merits of the Yuanhui."

"The thousands of demons and obstacles and the mountains and rivers represent the difficulties of cultivating the Tao; the customs documents and the Three Canons represent the proof of liberation from the difficulties."

"Its purpose is to explain that through these, people can escape the cycle of life and death, transcend the mundane world, become saints, possess an infinite life body, become an indestructible being, and achieve a golden body of enlightenment."

Meng Fan asked curiously, "According to Journey to the West, can one really cultivate to become an immortal?"

Yue Huyang touched Meng Fan's little head and said with a smile: "How is it possible? It has been so many years since someone has ascended to heaven and cultivated to become an immortal."

"These are all legends. We don't need to think about those unrealistic things."

"However, we can still learn a thing or two from the concepts in Journey to the West."

Yue Huyang continued to preach, and exclaimed: "The beginning of this book specifically says that the spiritual roots nurture the source and the mind cultivates the great way. It is extremely profound. How concise? How bright?"

"Some people may try to guess Journey to the West with their minds, but they not only do not understand the spiritual roots, but also do not understand the mind. Little do they know that the spiritual roots are the spiritual roots, and the mind is the mind."

"The cultivation of the mind and nature mentioned here specifically refers to using the mind and nature to cultivate the spiritual roots in order to generate the Tao. It is not that you can achieve the Tao just by cultivating the mind and nature. These two sentences are not only the outline of the opening, but also the main point of the whole book."

Meng Fan blinked his eyes, somewhat confused, and asked, "Then Master, what is a spiritual root?"

Yue Huyang explained: "The so-called spiritual root is actually the original Qi between heaven and earth, that is, the source of Qi that gave birth to heaven and earth, human beings and all things."

"In ancient times, Confucianists called it Haoran, Buddhists called it Yuanjue, and Taoists called it Jindan. Although the names are different, they all describe this Qi."

"In modern times, we narrowly refer to it as the innate Qi!"

"The innate Qi is the spiritual root, also known as the root bone or nature. If you want to practice, you must first be able to obtain Qi. Without this innate Qi, everything else is just empty talk!"

After Yue Huyang said this, Meng Fan immediately understood.

Then, Yue Huyang continued: "In the story of Journey to the West, the first thing is to explore the origin of this Qi."

"It describes the mathematical principles of heaven and earth. There are twelve periods in one cycle, and the chaos is first divided. The beginning of heaven is Zi, the beginning of earth is Chou, and the beginning of man is Yin. This shows that the three talents of heaven, earth and man are all born from the same Qi."

“Since the three talents are all born from the same Qi, then when the sky obtains the Qi, it becomes pure and tranquil; when the earth obtains the Qi, it becomes peaceful; and when people obtain the Qi, they become lively and agile.”

"The spiritual root of a person is the innate void of one Qi. This Qi is vast and boundless, unfathomable, silent and motionless. It senses everything and responds to everything. That is why it is called the spiritual root."

"And this spiritual root, in Laozi's mouth, is called: Tao!"

"I do not know its name. I call it Tao. If I force myself to call it Da, I will call it Da. Da means to pass away, passing away means to go far away, and going far away means to return. Therefore, Tao is great, the sky is great, the earth is great, and man is also great. There are four great things in the world, and man is one of them. Man follows the earth, the earth follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature."

"The immortality of the Grain God is called Xuan Ni, and the gate of Xuan Ni is called the root of heaven and earth. It is as long as it exists, but it is not used diligently."

"As long as the saints live, the thieves will never stop. Some people believe that in Laozi's understanding, the heaven and earth are filled with endless innate Qi, and humans, as one of the four great beings in the domain, can use it at will, or steal it. This is the concept of the saint thief school."

"Of course, this is just one person's opinion, just one of our ancestors' understandings of the Tao Te Ching."

"That's what I said, one word can have a hundred interpretations." Hearing this, Meng Fan scratched his head, feeling the urge to grow his brain.

Yue Huyang also saw Meng Fan's confusion and laughed, "Let's get back to the topic of spiritual roots!"

"This spiritual root is neither colored nor invisible, nor is it real nor empty. It seems to be ethereal, deep and boundless. It is both nonexistent and existent, both empty and real. That is why it was born in the Flower and Fruit Mountain in the Dongsheng Continent."

"Dong refers to the direction of the birth of qi, Sheng indicates the prosperity of the birth of qi, and Shen refers to the incomparable wonder, that is, one and divine, so the ancient name, Chixian Shenzhou, means this."

"Aolai Country refers to the origin of nothing, the vacuum and the absence of things, which is the essence of Qi; Huaguo Mountain refers to the flowers representing Yin and the fruits representing Yang, the blossoming and bearing of fruits, the combination of Yin and Yang, which is extremely wonderful, that is, the combination of the two, which is the wonderful use of Qi."

“Qi is the nameless beginning of heaven and earth; the combination of the two is the mother of all named things.”

"The Flower-Fruit Mountain is in the sea. The sea is where all waters converge. It symbolizes Qi as the door to all wonders. It possesses all virtues and all principles. It is the foundation for becoming a saint, a Buddha, or an immortal."

"Therefore, Huaguo Mountain is called the ancestor of the Ten Continents and the source of the Three Islands."

"There is a fairy stone on the top of the mountain, which means there is a kind of Qi that is integrated with the universe, without any division, and is naturally without gender or difference, symbolizing the existence of Wuji."

"According to the 365 degrees of the celestial sphere, the 24 qi, the nine palaces and eight trigrams, they are all wonderful existences contained in the vacuum. They are inseparable from matter, and the development and changes of organisms are unpredictable. They are the innate among the innate."

"Feeling the essence of the sun and the moon, nurturing the immortal fetus within, it is a mysterious existence that hides the vacuum, and the interaction of yin and yang gives birth to a qi, which is the innate in the acquired."

"In fact, the process of conceiving a stone monkey is very similar to the process of a fetus being born and growing."

"When sperm and egg meet, yin and yang combine, the qi of heaven and earth is used to create the human fetus. The essence of the sun and the moon are the source of qi for the mother and the fetus, and also the mother qi of all things. The acquired person contains the innate qi and feeds back to the fetus."

"It laid a stone egg, which was as big as a ball. The wind blew it and it turned it into a stone monkey."

"Stone is the essence of earth, a solid and durable substance, and an egg is a very perfect object; the monkey belongs to the zodiac sign of Shen, which represents Gengjin, and gold is also a solid and indestructible substance. Both symbolize the innate spiritual root."

"Its nature is strong and powerful, perfect and unobstructed, and comes from a kind of Qi, which cannot be compared with any acquired impurities."

"All five senses and limbs are intact. He bowed to the four directions and sent two golden lights out of his eyes, shooting into the Dou Palace."

"This sentence can be interpreted as: Spiritual roots are the wonderful existence of the vacuum, with all the Qi of yin and yang, the five elements and the four images complete. They are born from creation, are divine and beautiful, and penetrate the heaven and the earth. Naturally, they also have the ability of heaven and earth to create all things, and have become one with heaven and earth."

"The things below are born from the essence of heaven and earth, so there is no difference."

"Because the spiritual root exists in the human body, everyone has it, and everyone is perfect, and the status of a saint or sage does not increase or decrease, but ordinary people use it every day without knowing it."

"Taking bait and water as food, the golden light subsides: the innate person is in the acquired, his knowledge is broad but his spiritual roots are dim, the truth becomes false, and then the evil and the good are not distinguished, the principles are mixed, and birds and beasts live together."

"As Mencius said: What makes humans different from animals is very small, common people abandon it, while gentlemen preserve it."

"There is no difference between the two!"

“However, although the innate spiritual roots are obscured by the acquired ones, they have not completely disappeared in the acquired ones. As long as there are people with ambition and good at studying the source of the Tao and returning to the origin, they can still be found.”

"And this process is to find the roots and obtain Qi!"

(End of this chapter)