Scripture of Purity and Tranquility

Scripture of Purity and Tranquility
Translated by Livia Kohn

The Great Tao has no form;
It brings forth and raises heaven and earth.
The Great Tao has no feelings;
It regulates the course of the sun and the moon.
The Great Tao has no name;
It raises and nourishes the myriad beings.
I do not know its name
So I call it Tao.
The Tao
Can be pure or turbid,
Moving or tranquil.
Heaven is pure, earth is turbid;
Heaven is moving, earth is tranquil.
The male is pure, the female is impure.
The male is moving, the female is tranquil.
Descending from the origin, flowing toward the end,
The myriad beings are being born.
Purity the source of turbidity.
Movement the root of tranquillity.
Always be pure and tranquil;
Heaven and earth, return to the primordial.
The human spirit is fond of purity,
But the mind disturbs it.
The human mind is fond of tranquillity,
But desires meddle with it.
Get rid of desires for good,
And the mind will be calm.
Cleanse your mind,
And the spirit will be pure.
Naturally the six desires won't arise,
The three poisons are destroyed.
Whoever cannot do this,
Has not yet cleansed his mind,
His desires are not yet driven out.
Those who have abandoned their desires:

Observe your mind by introspection
And see there is no mind.
Then observe the body, look at yourself from without
And see there is no body.
Then observe others by glancing out afar
And see there are no beings.
Once you have realised these three,
You observe emptiness!
Use emptiness to observe emptiness,
And see there is no emptiness.
When even emptiness is no more,
There is no more nonbeing either.
Without even the existence of nonbeing
There is only serenity, profound and everlasting.
When serenity dissolves in nothingness
How could there be desires?
When no desires arise
You have found true tranquillity.
In true tranquillity, go along with beings;
In true permanence, realize inner nature.
Forever going along, forever tranquil
This is permanent purity, lasting tranquillity.
In purity and tranquillity,
Gradually enter the true Tao.
When the true Tao is entered,
It is realised.
Though we speak of "realized,"
Actually there is nothing to attain.
Rather, we speak of realization
When someone begins to transform the myriad beings.
Only who has properly understood this
Is worthy to transmit the sages' Tao.
The highest gentleman does not fight;
The lesser gentleman loves to fight.
Highest Virtue is free from Virtue;
Lesser Virtue clings to Virtue.
All clinging and attachments
Have nothing to do with the Tao or the Virtue.
People
Fail to realize the Tao
Because they have deviant minds.
Deviance in the mind
Means the spirit is alarmed.
Spirit alarmed,
There is clinging to things.
Clinging to things,
There is searching and coveting.
Searching and coveting,
There are passions and afflictions.
Passions, afflictions, deviance, and imaginings
Trouble and pester mind and body.
Then one falls into turbidity and shame,
Ups and downs, life and death.
Forever immersed in the sea of misery,
One is in eternity lost to the true Tao.
The Tao of true permanence,
Will naturally come to those who understand.
Those who understand the realization of the Tao
Will rest forever in the pure and tranquil.
*
The text first describes the nature of the Dao as divided into Yin and Yang, clear and turbid (qing
and zhuo ), moving and quiescent (dong and jing ), and stresses the importance of the
mind in the creation of desires and worldly entanglements. It recommends the practice of
observation to counteract this, i.e., the observation of other beings, the self, and the mind, which
results in the realization that none of these really exists. The practitioner has reached the
observation of emptiness (kongguan ). The latter part of the work reverses direction and
outlines the decline from pure spirit to falling into hell: spirit (shen ) develops consciousness or
mind (xin ), and mind develops greed and attachment toward the myriad beings. Greed then
leads to involvement, illusory imagining, and erroneous ways, which trap beings in the chain of
rebirth and, and they sink deeper into the quagmire of desire, causes them to fall into hell. (Kohn,
2007: 801)
The qingjing jing is a very short (391 characters) but popular Taoist text of unknown authorship,
dating from the fist half of the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE). It is included in the Taoist Canon
(Daozang) under the full title of Tai-shang Lao-chun shou chang ching-ching miao ching, also
abbreviated as Ching-ching miao-ching. Several commentaries were written on it, the earliest by Tu
Kung-ting; others by Pai Yu-chan of the Sung dynasty (960-1279 CE) and Li Tao-tsun of the
Yuan period (1271-1368 CE). Because the present text has a postface written by Ko Hsuan, he is
sometimes considered to be the author. But because of the inner criticism (analysis of the
contents) it is quite certain that the small scripture could not have been written before the Six
Dynasties (420-589 CE). The main argument is heavy reliance on Buddhist ideas.
The main theme is how to gain "purity" (qing) and "tranquillity" (ching). If a person's mind is able to
rid itself of all desires, the mind will become tranquil; if the mind can be settled, the spirit will
spontaneously become clean. Then the six desires will not arise, and the three poisons will be
destroyed. Through inner vision into one's mind, one realises the nomind; through outer vision of
the body, one realises the no-body; by looking at these things from a distance, one realizes the nothing condition. If one understands these three, one only sees "emptiness" as the nature of reality;
then all delusions and defilements disappear and one reaches the state of everlasting purity and
tranquillity. This short text, as popular among Taoists as the Heart Sutra among Buddhists, is often
used in recitation, and is still often reprinted for free distribution, together with a short commentary.
It is important in Taoist spirituality.
(Pas, 1998)
Though we speak of "realized,"

Actually there is nothing to attain
This is an old hat error that translators make constantly. Should be
Though we speak of obtained dao

what is obtained is that the tangible
is nothingness. .
this error is made due to its irresistible appeal for the western mind: "there is nothing to attain".
Yay! Cool! Told you so!

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Translated by Livia Kohn

Those who have abandoned their desires:

Though we speak of "realized,"

This is an old hat error that translators make constantly. Should be

Though we speak of obtained dao

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