Once you have entered the door to the Way, you should understand this principle and apply it diligently. Then the work will naturally make great progress.
Having spoken thus, the grand master stood up and bade everyone good night. It was already one o’clock in the morning.
The next day, everyone rose early in the morning, and the three old men taught Liping some traditional shadowboxing exercises. After break-fast, the Wayfarer of the Infinite and the Wayfarer of Pure Emptiness went off somewhere, leaving the young apprentice alone with the Wayfarer of Pure Serenity. This old man had once been an instructor at a military academy and was adept at both inner and outer exercises. Vigorous and brusque, he was extremely strict and demanding toward students. He called Liping to him and spoke in the following terms:
Today you’re starting a new lesson. You’ve passed through repentance, so now you will go through the second barrier, which requires learning to sit cross-legged in a dark room.
The praxis of the Dragon Gate sect makes a particular point of seeing to it that the foundation is solid, and requires us to make it sturdy. This exercise of cross-legged sitting is essential training for beginners and must be practiced all your life. Every step of the training involves this exercise, so if you learn it properly you can derive endless benefit from it.
There are three styles of cross-legged sitting. One is natural sitting, which is also called informal sitting. Then there is single cross-legged sitting, in which you place one foot on the opposite thigh. Finally there is double cross-legged sitting, in which you place both feet on opposite thighs. Natural sitting is earth; single cross-legged sitting is humanity; double cross-legged sitting is heaven. When the diverse hand positions are added, the postures of cross-legged sitting are innumerably various. Today, though, I’ll just talk about natural sitting.
Once seated, keep your upper body straight, with both eyes looking directly ahead, gradually collecting the light of the spirit. With the tongue against the upper palate and the lips shut, let the teeth be lightly closed. Place your hands on your knees, palms down. Still the spirit and meditate quietly, gradually eliminating all random thoughts.
“There are few disturbances inside a dark room,” the mentor concluded, “so it is convenient for doing this exercise. Why not go there for now?” The old master’s manner was dry and sharp. When he had finished, he stared directly at young Liping. Getting the message, the boy realized he had no choice but to follow his mentor’s directions.
This time Liping first got a bunch of dry hay and spread it on the floor of the shack before locking himself in to practice cross-legged sitting. Luckily, the teacher had not presented him with a whole lot of other requirements, letting him suit himself. Being young and still in the process of developing physically, Liping was flexible enough to be able to do all three styles of sitting. He could not, however, maintain them for very long.
Having already cultivated hidden practice in this dark room for two months, although Liping still could not enter into total stillness, nevertheless he had learned to adapt to the environment. On this particular day, he slacked off quite a few times in the course of sitting, but on the whole he persevered, undergoing a variety of experiences as he sat. After a few days of practice, his work in sitting had progressed considerably.
One day the Wayfarer of Pure Serenity called Wang Liping to him and asked him what he had gained from his practice. After giving a detailed account of the process and his experiences, the youth finally said, “I can’t clear random thoughts from my brain, and I can’t attain stillness. Please teach me some method of handling this.”
This was precisely what the old wizard had in mind. “To clear away random thoughts,” he began in reply, “first use formal judgment to deal with them. As soon as a random thought arises, immediately pass judgment on it: either declare it right, or declare it wrong, or declare that this is as far as it goes. Having made this determination, stop right away and do not allow rumination to go on and on. Then random thoughts will vanish by themselves, and in this way you can enter into stillness.”
Returning to the dark room, Wang Liping sat cross-legged, adjusting his body and tuning his breathing, and began to quiet his mind. Now when he was assailed by random thoughts, he used this method to get rid of them. After repeating the process several times, he found that it actually did work. Liping felt happy inside. After another few days of practice, these random thoughts became fewer and fewer day by day, gradually tending to thin out as the exercise of entering stillness gradually developed. Even though he was only thirteen years old, with little experience of the world and relatively few desires—so his mind was much more pure and innocent than that of an ordinary adult—nevertheless he still had to get rid of random thoughts that occurred to him.
After seven times seven days sitting in the dark shed, Wang Liping had accumulated quite a bit of experience in quiet sitting and had learned an effective exercise. At this point, he had learned the better part of the exercise of repentance, and his wildness had mostly been reined in. Now in his everyday speech and behavior he was rather like a child of the Way. Within a few months, it was as if he had changed into another person.
On weekdays, Wang Liping continued to attend school, so that he would not foul up his ordinary education. After school, he’d go visit the Taoist masters to practice his exercises.
At first, Liping’s parents were worried about the change in their son, but when they found out the reason, they realized that the three old men were of impeccable character: they cured the boy’s ailments, taught him spiritual exercises, and initiated him into the true Way. When they learned all this, Liping’s parents were more than relieved: they were thoroughly delighted.
To return to the story, after Wang Liping had sat for seven times seven days in the dark shed, the three masters called him to them. “Today,” began the Wayfarer of Pure Serenity, “we are going to give you a new lesson. Sit here in this room for four hours. After you’re finished, you can go home.”
After forty-nine days of sitting in the dark, Liping thought, he would certainly have no problem sitting for four hours. Figuring it was just a test, he got up on the platform and sat in the lotus position facing his teachers. After adjusting his posture properly, he closed his eyes and began to sit quietly.
For the first hour, Wang Liping sat immobile as a statue made of stone. Another hour passed, and he still held firm. After that, however, he had to summon up his strength, wondering when the time would be up, telling himself he had to persevere because his teachers were watching.
The minutes crawled by. Liping’s legs began to go numb, just like the first time he had practiced sitting cross-legged. His aching thighs felt swollen, but his hips were still bearable, and as long as he kept his waist straight, there was no problem. After a while, however, even his hip bones began to ache, his waist and lower back began to burn, and his whole body broke out in perspiration. Sweating beads as he struggled to maintain his upright position, finally the youth blacked out and collapsed.
“Sit up right!” barked Wang Jiaoming, the Wayfarer of Pure Serenity, like an army drill instructor.
Coming to, the young apprentice sat up again, but his legs were so numb he couldn’t cross them.
“Resume the double cross-legged position,” demanded the mentor again.
But Liping’s legs would not even follow his own commands; he was at a loss. The two mentors took some rope and bound him hand and foot, tying him up into the proper position so that he could go on sitting cross-legged.
Although still a boy, young Wang Liping had a strong will. His eyes filled with tears, but he refused to let them out. Gritting his teeth, he went on sitting. Later in life his eyes would again fill with tears as he spoke with gratitude of the unsparing efforts, relentless severity, and spiritual kindness of his Taoist teachers.
After six months of strict