THE CLASSIC OF PURITY (Khing Käng King)
Attributed to Ko Hsuan (c. 250 CE)
The Supreme Tao is formless, yet It produces and nurtures Heaven and Earth.
The Supreme Tao has no desires, yet by Its power the Sun and Moon revolve in their orbits.
The Supreme Tao is nameless, yet It ever supports all things.
I do not know Its name but for title call It “Tao”.
Tao manifests both as the pure and the turbid, both as movement and stillness.
Heaven is Pure, Earth is turbid.
Heaven moves, Earth is still.
The masculine is pure, the feminine is turbid.
The masculine is active, the feminine is passive.
Manifesting from Its Radical Essence, Tao flows forth even to the last of things, bringing forward Heaven and Earth and all that is between.
The pure is the cause of the turbid, and movement of stillness.
When man attains the power to transcend that which changes, abiding in purity and stillness, Heaven and Earth are united in him.
The Soul of man loves purity, but his mind is often rebellious.
The mind of man loves stillness, but his desires draw him into activity. When a man is constantly able to govern his desires, his mind becomes spontaneously still. When the mind is unclouded, the Soul is seen to be pure. Then, with certainty the six[1] desires will cease to be begotten and the three[2] poisons will be eliminated and dissolved.
The reason men do not possess the ability to achieve this is because their minds are not clear and their desires are unrestrained.
He who has the power to transcend his desires, looking within and contemplating mind, realizes that in his mind, mind is not; looking without and contemplating form, he realizes that in form, form is not; looking at things still more remote and contemplating matter, he realizes that in matter, matter is not.
When he has clearly thought about these three he perceives only a void, but when he contemplates the void, he realizes that the void is also void and has become a nothingness. The void having vanished into nothingness, he realizes that the nothingness of nothing is also nothing, and when the nethermost nothingness is reached, there is truly to be found a deep and unchanging stillness.
In this profound stillness how can desires be begotten? When desires are no longer begotten, then there is essential and unchanging stillness.
Truth is essentially unchanging.
All things in Heaven and Earth are in essence unchanging.
The unfoldment of man’s mind leads him to this unchanging Truth .
In unchanging Stillness, unchanging Purity and Rest are found.
He who attains Purity and Stillness enters into the Immutable Tao.
Having entered into the Immutable Tao he is named Possessor of Tao.
Although he is named the Possessor of Tao he knows that he does not possess it.
Only when he can transmute all living things can he be truly named the Possessor of Tao.
He who is able to understand this can lead others to Sacred Tao.
[1]‘The six desires’ are those which have their inlets in the eyes, ears, nostrils, the tongue, the sense of touch, and the imagination. The two last are expressed in Chinese by shän, ‘the body,’ and î, ‘the idea, or thought.’
[2] ‘The three poisons’ are greed, anger, and stupidity.