Seeking Teachings

 

Cultivating the Tao

Quoted from:

Cultivating the Tao: Taoism and Internal Alchemy, by Liu Yiming (1734-1821), page 159

In the past, when my master Xianliu was traveling from place to place in Sichuan in order to seek teachings, he went back and forth between Baishi and Guiqing for more than ten years, but he was unable to attain thorough understanding. Later he went to Hannan and became a disciple of Honggou Daoren. In the course of eight or nine years, his commitment became increasingly solid and his practice became increasingly painstaking; nonetheless, he could not obtain the awakening. Then he traveled to the Agan village in Fulan, Gansu, and encountered Yu Zhangren. Their destinies crossed with one another, and he finally comprehended the Great Tao.

Even my master Xianliu, who studied the Tao with commitment and sincerity, and with uncommon effort, had to spend more than thirty years undergoing hardship as an itinerant student before he could smell a fragrant wind. Those reckless people who want to obtain in the evening what they studied in the morning, or today what they studied yesterday—how foolish they are!

Source: Xiuzhen houbian (Further Discriminations in Cultivating Reality), sec. 26.

 

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