Chapter 284: The Supreme Being Forgets Emotions Technique
I remember in a past life when I was writing books, my younger brother asked me, “Big Brother, why do I sometimes feel confused when reading your stories, yet find them peaceful and interesting? Why is that?”
I replied, “Actually, this is a very normal thing. When I write, I use the principle of ‘overcoming hardness with softness’ from Tai Chi. You can simply understand it this way: you’re used to reading those satisfying ‘cool texts,’ or articles you think you’ll enjoy. This makes you unable to control the impulse to rush to the next part, which generates the emotion of impatience.”
I did the opposite. I subtly implanted what I know into the book. During this process, there was nothing in the book that would make you feel impatient like in those satisfying ‘cool texts,’ nor were there any secret manuals or anything to entice you to keep reading and generate desire.
I am downplaying that aspect for you, allowing your inner heart to slow down, to calmly view the writing, to let you relax and be happy like me. During this process, I then let you unknowingly learn many things and acquire insights that will be helpful to you.
I slow down your mind. When you get used to this, your mind will become stable. You will even be able to face situations without rushing and think calmly. This is my method. Without you knowing, I guide you to eliminate impatience and transform it into the calmness that should naturally belong to you.
For this reason, I’ve held back many things I could have written. It’s all to patiently guide you through this process of tempering your temperament. But I won’t let you go through it in vain; I will teach you genuine knowledge later on.”
Hearing me say this, he was very curious about what else I knew and asked, “Big Brother, can you show me something impressive?”
I replied, “Yes, but I don’t know if you’ll understand it. Hahaha.”
“Big Brother, please tell me. I think you explain things so clearly that I’ll probably understand some of it. After all, I call you Big Brother, so I can’t be too stupid. Hahahaha.”
Seeing his playful way of speaking, I laughed and said, “Hahaha, alright, then listen carefully. Today I will teach you the fundamental knowledge within the ‘Supreme Forgetfulness Art’.”
“Holy cow, holy cow, Big Brother, you know even that?”
“Otherwise? Just listen.”
“Okay, okay, I’m listening, Big Brother. Please continue.”
I adjusted my state of mind and replied, “I will first tell you the original text of the ‘Supreme Forgetfulness Art.’ This was not written by me, but by the Tang Dynasty Taoist Lü Dongbin. The original words are:
Tai Yi San Qing ordinary mortals begin, Spiritual Platform illuminates, body naturally light. Discard the three thousand kalpas of the mortal world, leap into the void’s purity. Meditative focus on Dantian, concentrate thoughts, mortal world’s past events appear in eyes. Mysterious Pass gathers spirit, transforms into Qi, Qi flows through meridians, connects Primordial Spirit. Calm heart, peaceful breath, soothe distracting thoughts, return to the Origin to remove inner demons. Observe light, gather essence, enter the Great Void, concentrate spirit in Qi cavity, mind and spirit become tranquil. Gather Qi, refine spirit, follow nature, swallow fluids, refine essence, inner Yang is born. When Dantian gives rise to Qi cavity, refining essence into Qi, Foundation Establishment is achieved. Qi is full, opens the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, Heavenly Cycle operation, Spiritual Energy is abundant. Internal vision of Niwan Palace, Spiritual Light appears, Silent Cultivation has Dao, enters Heaven’s Gate. Supreme Forgetfulness is not unfeeling, see through mortal emotions, condense Dao Heart. Cultivation Level is shallow, insufficient to worry, sever inner demons, magic naturally forms. Heaven and Earth in hand, cultivate with focus, myriad laws follow the mind, allowing me to act. The path of cultivating immortality is long and arduous, since ancient times few have lacked inner demons. So-called illusions are intricate, myriad scenes are like truth. Myriad Forms are all empty, Spiritual Platform is clear, possessing Prajna, myriad evils are avoided. Wonderful methods, wonderful sounds, myriad laws are empty, truth and true form reside in the heart. Vast Qi is like a rainbow, piercing the sun, severing evil, techniques permanently exist. Heavenly Cycle’s Great Evolution, spiritual eyes open, see through the void, behold the Great Dao. Water and fire in harmony, all illnesses disappear, high virtue and long life equal to heaven. Dual Cultivation of Life and Spirit, Essence, Qi, and Spirit, carefully guard and conceal, do not leak. Eliminate evil desires, attain coolness, then appreciate the bright moon on the Dantian platform. Yin and Yang harmonize, Unity of Heaven and Man, then one can plant a Golden Lotus in fire. Gather the Five Elements, know their interaction, observe Heaven’s Will, then one can forget emotions. Supreme Forgetfulness is for the sake of being sentient, ascending to immortality, Dao Without Limit.
Can you understand this?”
“This… Big Brother, I don’t understand…”
“These words, I will explain them to you in simple, colloquial terms, extremely simple.
Tai Yi San Qing ordinary mortals begin, Spiritual Platform illuminates, body naturally light. This means that no matter how amazing a person is in this world, they were not amazing at the very beginning; they were ordinary people. Only after their minds become clear and enlightened do they become extraordinary.
Discard the three thousand kalpas of the mortal world, leap into the void’s purity. This means that after getting rid of the messy distracting thoughts of mortals, the inner heart becomes pure.
Meditative focus on Dantian, concentrate thoughts, mortal world’s past events appear in eyes. Mysterious Pass gathers spirit, transforms into Qi, Qi flows through meridians, connects Primordial Spirit. Thoughts do not run wild; it’s about mindful guarding of the Dantian. However, it doesn’t mean you stop thinking or forget the past; you can still recall past events. But after you are no longer controlled by distracting thoughts and your inner heart is pure, your Primordial Spirit manifests its power and automatically operates the Qi meridians to regulate your own meridians.
Calm heart, peaceful breath, soothe distracting thoughts, return to the Origin to remove inner demons. Observe light, gather essence, enter the Great Void, concentrate spirit in Qi cavity, mind and spirit become tranquil. It’s all the same thing, it’s about calming your heart and breath, having a mind without distractions, eliminating those inner demons, and then your mind and spirit won’t run wild. This is called ‘Returning to the Origin.’ At this time, a person can see themselves behind their ego. By seeing the patterns of the ego and not treating the ego’s thought habits as reality, one enters the so-called Great Void. Continuously maintaining this state, not letting yourself randomly generate distracting thoughts, is concentrating your spirit, naturally leading to a tranquil mind and spirit.
Gather Qi, refine spirit, follow nature, swallow fluids, refine essence, inner Yang is born. When Dantian gives rise to Qi cavity, refining essence into Qi, Foundation Establishment is achieved. I won’t explain these few lines. We’ll move on.”
“Huh? Why not, Big Brother?”
“No reason, hehehe, I’m just not telling you, yahahahaha.”
“Okay, okay, please continue, Big Brother.”
Qi is full, opens the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, Heavenly Cycle operation, Spiritual Energy is abundant. Internal vision of Niwan Palace, Spiritual Light appears, Silent Cultivation has Dao, enters Heaven’s Gate. These later parts are all the same. Once the Primordial Spirit takes charge, the Heavenly Cycle operates automatically, and the Spiritual Energy doesn’t easily leak out, so it becomes abundant. Being able to internally observe one’s own thoughts and not be troubled by them means transcending the ego and remaining constantly pure. This constant purity, being uncontrolled by the ego, is the condition for entering the Dao, which is entering Heaven’s Gate.
Supreme Forgetfulness is not unfeeling, see through mortal emotions, condense Dao Heart. Cultivation Level is shallow, insufficient to worry, sever inner demons, magic naturally forms. Heaven and Earth in hand, cultivate with focus, myriad laws follow the mind, allowing me to act.
The seven emotions and six desires of the past were actually driven by the ego. Once you understand them clearly, you won’t be controlled by these feelings, but it doesn’t mean you become devoid of emotion. Regardless of your cultivation level, don’t worry. As long as you sever those messy things in your heart, meaning the demonic thoughts, then it will naturally be achieved.
Achieving this means standing outside the ego, standing between Yin and Yang, which is having Heaven and Earth in hand. Right and wrong are no longer determined by past perceptions or external factors, but you can arbitrarily change your thoughts to give them the direction you desire. This is essentially standing outside of right and wrong, good and bad, where the mind transforms the environment.
The subsequent lines are all about the same thing: they say the path of cultivation is very long and one must persevere. Who doesn’t have some trivial matters in their heart? What you believe to be true or false, what you consider false or true, all seem like real events. But when you stop treating them as real, myriad forms become empty. This is still about not taking the ego as real. Then, after the Primordial Spirit operates, the body becomes healthy, less prone to illness, and all evil Qi is repelled. All these good things are illusions. The truth lies after transcending the ego.
Continuously maintaining the goodness after transcending the ego is what is right. Then, your body becomes healthy, you gain longevity, and your soul and body are both good; your Essence, Qi, and Spirit become incredibly abundant. However, you must persevere and abandon evil thoughts and desires, then you will be free and powerful, hahaha.
The Yin and Yang mentioned here refers to using both non-discrimination and discrimination for your own benefit. Non-discrimination is called Heaven, and discrimination is called Man. The Unity of Heaven and Man is the unification of non-discrimination and discrimination, and the unification of awareness and thought. This way, no matter what happens, good or bad, you won’t be contaminated by it. The Golden Lotus symbolizes purity, meaning untainted.
Once you understand the source of emotions, and then step out and stop taking emotions as reality, you naturally won’t take feelings as reality either.
Supreme Forgetfulness is for the sake of being sentient, ascending to immortality, Dao Without Limit. However, these people appear unfeeling, but it doesn’t mean they truly become unfeeling. It means they know that these feelings are generated by the ego’s perceptions. After no longer being controlled by these emotions, they step out and then engage in sentient actions. This is essentially like being an immortal.
The most profound essence of the entire text is:
Supreme Forgetfulness is not unfeeling; it appears unfeeling but is actually sentient. This is exactly the same as my concept of ‘awareness is unfeeling’ and ‘awareness is sentient,’ with absolutely no difference.
I’ve explained it so briefly and simply. Do you understand, younger brother?”
“This… I… I think I understand, and yet I don’t, Big Brother?”
Hearing this, I rolled my eyes. “Alright, go play. If I explain it any simpler, I won’t be able to explain it anymore. I said, transcend the ego, see the true self, then transcend again, and control the true and false self. Can you understand that, damn it!”
“Big Brother, I…”
