Ten Regulations of the Dao Gate

Presented by Zhang Yuchu, True Man who Succeeded to the Teaching of the Dao, Embracing Nonbeing and Manifesting the Ancestral Radiance, Leading Daoist Affairs.

   We have humbly heard that the sages established teaching through the spirit way, and the Supreme Lord made emptiness and nonbeing the root. Its wide spreading and grand dissemination, since the dusty kalpas, has grown ever more manifest. Tracing its origin: though divided into the Three Treasures of Dao, Scripture, and Master, it began when the Supreme Lord conferred the five thousand words of Virtue and the Way on the Pass Warden Yin—the purpose of nonbeing and non-contention. At the start of the three dynasties of Yin, Guangchengzi received the Dao-seeking of the Yellow Emperor at Kongtong; tracing further upward, the Dao was established and issued from the Supreme Lord alone. Those who cultivate within and accord with the way of inner sage and outer king leave the sayings of Guan, Wen, Zhuang, and Lie; those who order the world and verify the transformation of purity and nonbeing leave the fine governance of Gai Gong and Cao Shen. By the time our Celestial Master founded the teaching in the Eastern Han, and Immortal Master Ge and Xu Jingyang developed the lineages in Wu and Jin: the teachings were divided into Orthodox Unity and Complete Reality; the methods into Qingwei, Lingbao, and Thunder. If one does not investigate the source to seek the streams, one forgets the root and chases the branches. The flourishing of our Dao was already praised in Song and Yuan; especially in our dynasty, by imperial grace the Ancestor Emperor Gao personally annotated the upper and lower chapters of Virtue and the Way, establishing a model for the Dao Gate and clearing and ordering the Daoist tradition, with the utmost honor and reward—saying that the establishment of the Daoist teaching existed since antiquity: the Yellow Emperor visiting Guangchengzi at Kongtong, the Celestial Master refining elixir at Longhushan, commanding ghosts and spirits, averting disasters and warding off calamities—therefore through the ages it has never worn away, and prayers have always been answered, nothing left unattended. In the first year of Yongle, by imperial holy grace the teaching was clarified and the instructions grew ever more earnest, requiring all to follow the Ancestor Emperor's established statutes. Looking at this, the glory of our Dao could hardly have been hoped for before. In the summer of Yongle's fourth year, by holy grace we were commissioned to compile the Daoist canons and enter the cabinet to classify them. We, your minister Yuchu, of unpure talent and shallow learning, tremble lest we be unworthy; we merely carry on the remains of the lineage—how could we bear so great a task? Though we bow with humble awe, we cannot refuse the imperial command: twice receiving the issuance of the edict, often receiving summons to the imperial chamber. Measuring our dull inadequacy, shame and fear grow; reckoning our encounter, joy and terror mingle. We also note that our Dao since recent ages has seen the mysterious bonds decline daily, the Dao's transformation fail to spread, the name survive while the substance is lost, the leadership decay and authority collapse—ever harboring thoughts of revitalization, never fulfilling the will to rouse and promote. Now, by good fortune, we meet a sage and brilliant sovereign: spirit and wisdom rule heaven; arms are stowed and culture cultivated; success is made where difficulty was hard. Holy virtue joins heaven's heart; auspicious omens appear one after another; imperial plans persuade all within Huaxia, and virtue and the Way thus prosper. Truly a once-in-a-millennium encounter for the Dao Gate, establishing canons of great peace that will not perish for ten thousand generations. Therefore day and night we gathered and selected the fixed regulations of former ages and the inherited rules of the many masters, composing the Ten Regulations of the Dao Gate, with the intent of stimulating the lingering custom, illuminating the sagely governance, forever as models for later ages and ancestral patterns of the Mysterious Gate—hoping above not to fail the court's honor and reward, and below to provide a path for Daoist disciples to learn. May the transformation of the Dark Origin be grandly expounded, the lineage of purity and nonbeing ever expanded, invisibly assisting the state's fortune, greatly reviving the teachings of the masters—with deep hope for the future, that it may forever serve as a rule thereafter.
   The source and lineages of the Daoist tradition begin from the Supreme Lord. Before the three dynasties, the Yellow Emperor sought the Dao from Guangchengzi—that is the Supreme Lord; and it is said he was born at the end of Yin and served at the start of Zhou, as Clerk Below the Pillar under King Wen, and as Keeper of Archives under King Wu. What he wrote were the upper and lower chapters of Virtue and the Way; his disciples included Guan, Wen, Zhuang, Lie, Kangcang, Bai Ju and their kind; their sayings covered cultivation and regulation, ordering and pacifying, enriching the state and strengthening the army, managing the world and transcending it—each had their share. As the Grand Historian noted: the Daoist stream concentrates spirit, their words are broad and easy to apply—so one may know. Therefore saying that one ranks Huang-Lao before the Six Classics is fine; but equating Huang-Lao with Legalist names and punishments is an error. The so-called Yuanshi and Lingbao: from the chaos at the start, the three qi of Mysterious, Primordial, and Commencement transformed and generated—rooted in one. Later explications and transformations came through the Celestial Master, Perfected Lord Xu, Immortal Master Ge, Perfected Lord Mao and other immortals. Ages having passed long, people no longer investigate the source. Each honors its lineage: the Celestial Master's is called Orthodox Unity, Lord Xu's Pure Clarity, Master Ge's Lingbao, Lord Mao's Highest Clarity—all are different names for establishing the teaching, and all their roots were received from the Supreme Lord. As for transmissions of talismanic registers, scriptural teachings, liturgical grades, and Dao methods: though transmitted long through the ages, each honors what it has heard; additions and deletions may differ, but the source and course are one. Inward cultivation includes the transmissions of internal and external alchemy. What appears in the classics—the various masters never spoke of cinnabar and herbal arts as the sole meaning of cultivation; they spoke of the spirit and qi of nature and destiny. Since Qin and Han, methods specialists competed to emerge; those like Wencheng and Wuli who used metals, stones, grasses and trees merely brought death upon themselves and drew calamity—hence the world calls them mere techniques. Outwardly applied, there are matters of prayer, expiation, sacrifice, and invocation; since Kou, Du, Ge, Lu and their school, the theories flourished. Later masters amplified and debased them, competing for fame and profit, so the world called them heterodox. Yet neither of these two was clearly displayed at the Supreme Lord's beginning. Those later who did not investigate the root or explore the source drifted on and forgot to return, dazzled by the strange and losing the common—so they receded ever further from the Supreme Lord's purpose in establishing the teaching: the wonder of emptiness, nonbeing, purity, stillness, nonaction, and silence. All who study our Dao must root themselves in the scriptures, explore sources and streams, and return to the correct—not be swayed by heterodox theories and licentious words, lest mutual agitation deeply lose the ancestral way. The scripture says: emptiness and nonbeing, natural—the Dao issues from there; true one, not two; the essence of nature is pure and clear, complete in round brightness by itself—this opens the source of establishing the teaching, and is the root for entering the Way, which should be attended to first. The Dao Gate's scriptures and registers, the Supreme Lord's Three Caverns' various classics, were orally proclaimed by Yuanshi Tianzun, Lingbao Tianzun, and the Supreme Lord's Virtue-Virtue Tianzun, transmitted through kalpas and expounded by many masters. If Yuanshi expounds scripture, one should take the Highest Grade of the Salvation of Humanity as chief among all classics. If Lingbao expounds scripture, one should take Contemplation and Inner Contemplation as essential. If the Supreme Lord establishes the teaching, one should take the daily use of Virtue and the Way as the rule. Inwardly cultivating oneself, the Forty-Nine Chapters of the Void Emperor, Cavern-Ancient Great Penetration, Clear and Quiet Life-Heaven and other scriptures are the most expedient essentials. Outwardly saving the world and redeeming the unseen, the Yellow Emperor's Yin Talisman Scripture, the Jade Pivot, the Northern Dipper Disaster-Averting and Suffering-Relieving, the Five Kitchen Life-Spirit scriptures, the Jade Pivot Audience-with-Heaven and Nine-Darkness repentances—all are ladders and rafts for entering the Way, paths for cultivating perfection. Therefore, those who follow the Way must first reverence the spirits, burn incense and cultivate, accumulate recitations of scriptures and instructions, take refuge in the Great Dao, begin by abstaining from the karmic filth of the present, and summon the good causes of blessings. The scripture says: all immortals and true persons, by supreme essential words, attained the fruit of the Way. The immortal masters said: scripture gathers the mind, scripture fixes the thought—so that morning and evening one can burn and recite without pause, eliminate demonic barriers, and broaden Daoic affinity; this is truly the foremost matter among expedients. All who recite must fast body and mind, wash the heart and cleanse thought, hold the spirit and recite silently, sincerely as if face to face with the High Emperor; silently meeting with mind-spirit, with single thought, each word and character true, tuning sound and correcting breath, spirit fluent and qi harmonious—only then may there be merit: the jade voice gathers qi, numinous resonance interacts of itself, and heaven and land are at peace, customs are transformed and people altered, blessings gather and calamities disperse, and living and dead both receive benefit. If one recites with the mouth but against the heart, form lingering and spirit gone, without sincerity and reverence, hand idle and feet restless—even reciting thousands of scrolls daily, what benefit to oneself? How could it dissolve disaster and scatter calamity? If reciting for others, one should still hold reverence and preserve sincerity, to obtain the householder's respect and communicate the sincerity of faith, so as not to receive fasting offerings and alms in vain. To析 blessing and diminish sin requires natural response. If in speech and exchange, in laughter and banter, thought is not concentrated and one recites amid foul熏, this not only does no good for the householder but brings fault upon oneself. All such matters need strict discipline and guard. Moreover, ages being distant, the text of the scriptures is often erroneous, with many later masters' annotations; mistakes are inevitable, and so light disrespect arises. If there are doubts and confidence is not firm, hold to a single sincerity—be careful not to associate with the frivolous and wild, who lightly produce contempt and abuse and bring guilt upon themselves. As for the Supreme Lord's various scriptures and registers: what the Celestial Master received was the League-Wealth All-Power Register; what Immortal Master Ge received was the Middle League Four-Immortals; what Perfected Lord Mao received was the Highest Clarity Great Cavern. The remaining talismanic registers are even more numerous—all for blessing the state and enriching the people, pacifying the household and protecting oneself. Therefore, those through the ages who revered, venerated, and took refuge all received responses; whenever they prayed and knocked, signs followed at once—the proof of the Supreme Lord's establishment of the teaching is indeed not false. However, with deep ages and distant years, there may be errors in strokes and characters, and wrong punctuation; these cannot all be criticized or condemned. Learned and virtuous masters should carefully examine and arrange, submit to the Daoist authorities for correction and printing—still an aid to good results.
   Sitting in the garden and guarding stillness is the root of entering the Way. The Supreme Lord established the teaching to save people—for transcending illusion, realizing life and death. If one does not fully investigate the original, or penetrate nature and destiny, what kind of student of the Dao is that? The scripture says: accumulate good thoughts and good deeds, cut off worldly desires, raise no false thoughts, have no attachment, not cling to being or nonbeing, forever cut off arising and ceasing—this is called a true person. Recent ages take Chan as the school of nature, Dao as the school of destiny, Complete Reality as dual cultivation of nature and destiny, and Orthodox Unity as only studying the liturgical teachings. Who knows that the root of studying the Dao is nothing other than nature and destiny? Though the liturgical teachings are established, they too are only the learning of nature and destiny. As for cultivating oneself and benefiting others, redeeming the unseen and saving the visible—if one does not clearly understand the foundation of nature and destiny, how can meritorious practice be complete? Moreover, since high antiquity, the Supreme Lord has transformed and appeared through kalpas; the cultivation and attainment of the many masters all came from the work of stillness and concentration, so that Daoic merit was accomplished and spiritual penetration free. By the beginning of Song and Jin, when Ancestor Master Zhongyang Wang met the transmission of Zhong and Lü, the teaching of Complete Reality was first established. The scripture says: nourish what has no body—therefore the body completes perfection. This teaching still takes sitting in the garden and guarding stillness as essential. The Five Ancestors were the Supreme Lord, Eastern Hua, Zhong, Lü, and Hai Chan; the Seven Perfected were Qiu, Liu, Tan, Ma, Hao, Sun, and Wang; below them stretched on to Wang, Miao, Qi, Wan and their generation. Only now are many who study it, all taking true merit and real practice as root. On first entering the Way, first seek a clear master and pay respects, open the ground of nature, sincerely guard the Ten Precepts of Cultivating Perfection, the ancestral hall rules of Master Bai and Venerable Master Feng and other texts, gather and train body and mind, uphold integrity, and fully master the classics. Once the gate of entering the Way is known, then choose a place bright and beautiful in mountains and streams, complete in form and firm in qi, establish a hut: thatch the head with a bundle, just enough to shelter from wind and rain; eat in the wind and sleep in the open, footprints of water and traces of cloud. Next gather Dao companions—only true, plain people; morning and evening as companions, supplying food; grass clothes and wooden meals, a basket and a gourd's drink—only enough to stop hunger and ward cold. Wait until one hundred days for the foundation, ten months for the fetus, three years for the round. When the round is complete, whether remaining in the circle or emerging from concentration, only cut off human affairs, let feelings end and conditions cease, free in coming and going. If able families bestow fasting grain, robes and bowls according to one's share, self-sufficient only—do not covet excess, nor assume boastful words to shock the world and chase empty fame. Mending rags against cold, begging for food and converting clothes—true merit and bitter practice, like dead wood and cold ashes—are matters within the work of grinding body and mind, lest one fail the Four Enthusiasms or bring calamity to nine generations. If one retreats into laziness, grass demons make obstacles. Companions supporting the circle should do their utmost in care through cold and heat, illness and hardship—this also accumulates one's merit and completes others' good; one must not borrow Chan's shouts and blows, contend in self and other, and invite worldly criticism. As for the alchemical classics studied, only the Stone Wall Record, Dragon-Tiger Classic, Cantong Qi, Wu Zhen Pian, Cui Xu Pian, Huan Yuan Pian, Zhi Xuan Pian, Song of the Great Dao, Master Cui's Mirror of the Medicine Entrance, and the Four Hundred Words of the Golden Elixir—along with the Recorded Sayings of the Various Immortals—are ladders inviting people to cultivate perfection and enter the sage path; one should study them attentively so as not to go astray. Heterodox gateways and side paths must not be allowed to pass the eye or fix the mind—mistaking oneself and deceiving others, even slandering the classics to prove them wrong—this will surely bring hidden punishment.
   The practice of fasting rites is the ancient rite of looking up to heaven and offering seasonal sacrifices. Since Lingbao Tianzun received Yuanshi's expounded scriptures, establishing the root of the teaching, its categories are most numerous and its texts most vast. But since the Three Masters—Grand Pole Master Xu, Immortal Master Ge, and Zhu Yang Master Zheng—came Du, Ge, Lu, Ning, Xiang, Kou were the most renowned. From these divided the schools of Lin, Tian, Jin, Bai and other masters; thus Eastern Hua and Nanchang divided. Though the lineages differ, the source is one. Talismanic registers and formula secrets are not far apart—all later masters established gateways to guide those who came after; originally there was no second Way. Besides these few lineages called orthodox, there are many more who cannot serve as masters. The world transmits the Inner Texts of the Three Registers, Jade Books and Jade Mirror, Dao Gate Fixed Rituals, Established Rites and similar books, which already have fixed norms. All who practice must broadly consult and investigate, clearly understand the root of nature and destiny, and accumulate true merit and real practice. Whenever practicing, one must fast, be pure in form, cleanse self and purify heart; first refine oneself, then one may redeem spirits. Only through fasting can one communicate with spirits and gods; outwardly cut off dusty affairs, inwardly refine form and spirit. Talismanic registers, tallies and such must not be rashly given. Whenever ascending the altar for audience and rites, one must accumulate a single sincerity—careful thought and silent holding, modeling the multitude—so above one may move heaven, earth, ghosts and spirits, and below not fail the suffering of the unseen. As for the Three Registers: Golden Register only emperors and kings may establish; Jade Register only empresses and consorts; Yellow Register scholars and commoners—great and small each according to rank, without presumption against the fixed rules—all follow the ritual models established by the Ancestor Emperor and strictly observe them as standards. Talismanic registers, tallies and such must not be added, reduced, or altered. The altar rites and liturgies all set images of yin and yang, take models from the warp and weft—with no rash construction. If one does not take sincerity, reverence, fasting and solemnity as root, but only pursues the din of bells and drums, the dazzle of banners and flowers, laughter in speech, and lightness in gesture—how can one face the High Emperor and communicate sincerity to the three realms? Not only will one fail to summon auspicious omens, but one will also increase karmic sins. The tradition says: ghosts and spirits do not constantly enjoy offerings; they enjoy those who are truly sincere. Sincere, then there are spirits—the principle is very clear. Therefore the grass of streams and marshes, the duckweed and waterplants, can all be offered to ghosts and spirits and presented to the High Governor. This is why the high-merit and refined masters must choose fellow Daoists who are upright, pure, versed and thorough to share the altar—so as not to leave fault upon oneself and also to help the householder diminish sin and obtain blessings. Besides cloud-music, the other cymbals, drums, bells and chimes must not be used mixed—that is very blasphemous. As for disciples like Zhao Guizhen and Lin Lingsu, who were once esteemed and honored by world-rulers, and were immediately proud with wealth and status, losing the distinction of ruler and minister, setting up boastful words, not keeping to compassion and frugality—they too were much criticized in their time and by later ages; let this be a sharp warning for the future.
   The transmission of the Dao method: Qingwei begins with Yuanshi Tianzun; Divine Firmament begins with the Jade Clarity True King. Since transmission through the ages, Qingwei from the Two Masters Wei and the following had Masters Zhu, Li, Nan, Huang—transmission still flourishing; talismanic registers, scriptural way, fasting rites and thunder methods were mostly developed by Master Huang. Divine Firmament from Masters Wang and Wang had Masters Zhang, Li, Bai, Sa, Pan, Yang, Tang, Mo—expansion still thorough. As for the texts of heavenly thunder and Fengdu, Peak: each taught and received; sometimes one general had several different schools, sometimes one school's talismans and incantations differed—hence errors, loss of truth, concealment of the true and production of the false, often mutually generating slander and confusion.
   All who practice must put precept-conduct first, then investigation as duty: first seek clear masters in mountain valleys, men of grass clothes and wooden meals, to open the root of the myriad methods; carefully nurture the incense and fire; keep only one method, one register, one office. If one can morning and evening refine spirit and nurture qi, cultivate without pause, interact with spirits and gods, and have no faults in word and deed—why fear the method not being efficacious or the generals not protecting? Even with a small office and specialized method, it will be verified. If one only pursues empty fame, chasing fame and profit, insisting on seeking a current notable as master, boasting and dazzling the world, not cultivating incense and fire, neglecting cultivation—though wearing many methods, one is merely a peddler; registers and offices valued for height and grandeur, comings and goings for show, indulging in wine and food, boasting of fulfilled desires—no different from alley shamans. Never attending to the spirits and gods, casually boasting of talismanic efficacy, gathering companions to mutually deceive—worst of all using thanks to masters and rewards to generals as pretext to extort wine and food—this truly errors in prayer and strongly violates the teaching's model. Also casually assuming the role of master, leading the blind with the blind: inwardly without meritorious practice, outwardly entangling in right and wrong—this is a great taboo. If one is truly a practitioner of high conduct, only pursue emptiness and guard stillness: not a single thought arise, ten thousand conditions silent; nature-heaven and Dao-method, mind-ground and thunder—not falling into the mold of ten thousand conditions, only investigating the upward true lineage—this is a high practitioner. Again, matters like orb-light and possession, descending generals with the planchette, and water-gazing—are heterodox sayings unsuitable for practitioners of the correct method; one must not be blinded and confused by them, nor deceive the crowd and harm the Way. All who practice talismanic water must keep benefit and relief in heart, and also use cinnabar and medicines; they must not rashly receive wealth, lest they provoke enmity with ghosts and spirits and the methods fail. One must not casually transmit the Dao method or lightly reveal the mysterious pivot. Even if people entering the Way or revering the teaching are improper in word and deed, or neglect the incense and fire, one should still treasure and keep it secret, careful not to transmit rashly—much less with market butchers and fishermen, grasping for profit and show, casually accepting disciples, with empty talk and deceiving words bringing on oneself the reprimand of the rules, with罪 unpardonable.
   Abbots and leaders. In famous mountains and blessed lands, retreat huts and purification centers, forests and monasteries, the abbot—whether selected by alternating terms or recommended by the mountain—must be an elder of high years and virtue, upright and straight, dignified in word and deed, broadly learned, worthy as model of the forest and refuge of the blessed land, so as to exemplify the juniors and standard the earlier cultivators. Whoever lives there must be compassionate, frugal, of great virtue and broad measure, fair in rules. First open methods of guidance to lead the foolish and gather the multitude; then carefully attend to burning and cultivation, requesting blessings and diminishing sin. Enriching the state and praying for felicity—none greater than repaying the root; venerating scriptures and expounding the teaching—none greater than pushing sincerity. In gathering the multitude, first strictly enforce precept-conduct and rules as essential, warning of the retribution of sin and blessing; fields and grain entrusted to storehouse managers, taxes to foundation managers; food and construction each carefully overseen; morning and evening with spirits and gods as careful, repair of the halls in mind. Worthies and feathered guests from five lakes and four seas, whether hanging bags and settling beds, wintering and summering—set up a reception manager to broadly receive them: plain food and coarse clothes, lodging as conditions allow; ensure body and mouth are at ease, free and without care, so that progress in the Way has foundation and body and mind need no worry. Those who cultivate ascetically should still be provided for. Lay donors entering the mountain, joyful in giving as conditions allow: whether establishing fasts and jiao, recommending ancestors and redeeming parents, practice according to power, following the fasting rules—for great and small alike benefiting all, without judging the thickness of offerings. The scripture says: all blessings come from a joyful heart; all giving generates joy; every kind of good result, boundless recompense. For officials and nobles visiting as guests: one plain meal, lodging if night falls; do not interfere with official business or stay so as to invite trouble. On new and full moons, proclaim the rules and open instructions, encouraging all to cultivate the original family style and fulfill the original lineage's work: do not covet wealth and status, do not love noise and clamor. Yet they compete in imitation—fine clothes and rich food, broad halls and fine carpets—forgetting the public for private gain, riding in and out, attended by servants, associating with the powerful—until teaching fails, the source polluted and the stream muddy; worst of all indulging in sound and sex, outwardly decorated and inwardly perverse, without fear of incense and fire, spirits and gods, numinous altars, ancient sites; privately keeping secular family, defiling the spirits. Superintendents of abbeys should report to the authorities for punishment and sending down the mountain—do not be obscure and partial, breaking the rules. Junior disciples who do not follow, the frivolous kind, who do not study the lineage and only seek stubbornness and violence, bring fault upon themselves and must be judged according to the statutes, so that rules are strict and teaching pure. If all are tolerated with feeling, the guilt will be shared. Recently in prefectural and county Daoist offices the models are still flawed and the discipline not vigorous—all should be rectified and observed according to the fixed norms.
   Cloud-and-water pilgrimage. Those who leave home: above they part from parents' affection, below they abandon ancestral lineage; their will is on leaving the world and dust—so they must take transcending illusion and realizing life and death as their heart. If they still, as before, are muddled in the net of dust, rushing day and night without end of coming out—how are they different from the secular? The scripture says: the student of the Dao takes purity and stillness as root. Seeing heterodox ways, as seeing enemies; keeping far from loves and desires, as avoiding filth; cutting the root of suffering, severing the tie of affection. Therefore after leaving home, cutting feelings and severing love, abandoning the false and returning to the true—one must take clearly understanding the mind-ground and cultivating the nature-heaven as duty; uphold precept-conduct, grind body and mind: a straw hat and a basket, solitary cloud and wild crane. Or meeting famous mountains and cave-heavens, hang bag and settle bed, visit clear-eyed masters, inquire of the Way close to the master, thoroughly investigate the root of nature and destiny, deeply explore the essentials of virtue and the Way, penetrate the lineage's gate, savor the milk of the method—without fixing mind on profit and fame or leaving heart on wealth and status. Though hunger, cold, wind and heat cut the body, do not change one's integrity; though hardship and poverty vex the mind, do not steal one's will. Endure humiliation, hide filth, be humble and gentle in word and deed, low, soft and weak, spirit pure and single, mind holding soft deference, nature guarded against hardness and strength—dwelling in mountains, forests, cliffs and caves, places sparse of human traces: grass clothes and wooden meals to nurture life, nesting in trees and caves to guard the Way—each according to master's instruction, cultivating the original. When going out to seek, eating in wind and sleeping in rain, enduring cold and hunger, wearing straw sandals and carrying a staff, pack and bowl on head—fearing not ten thousand li of distance, one must climb to the gate of great masters, and with one word sudden awakening, the fruit of ten thousand kalpas complete. In all comings and goings, follow the hall rules of Master Bai, Venerable Master Feng, the various masters, and the forest's models; all faults judged and punished according to them. Those who are not truly enlightened, accumulated in practice for long, nature-heaven bright and polished, sand and dirt ground away, who love to be masters and grow proud—choose carefully whom to follow; do not only chase empty fame and flatter the notable, grasp at fame and profit, not investigate actual practice, until earlier work is all wasted and karmic barriers remain alone. Cloud-friends and mist-companions must also have wills joined and Dao the same, so no demon-mindedness arises, and together achieve the Dao-vow: choose first, then associate—still self-discipline. If master and friend are found, with firm mind and bitter practice, broadly benefiting all beings and redeeming the dim and sunk—then serving the Three Realms and transcending spirit to the Eight Extremes will not be difficult.
   Establishing abbeys and converting people is the foremost duty of continuing those who leave home. In famous mountains, cave-heavens, blessed lands, ancient sites and numinous altars—all are places where immortals and true ones of old left traces. If the incense and fire are to last long, converting people must come first: choose families of good instruments, with pure and good disposition, so they can be trained. If one is not a vessel of the Dao and method, collecting indiscriminately, or if unteachable, they will be violent and do wrong, not keeping precept teaching—only leaving blemish on the Mysterious Gate, and moreover affecting rise and fall. Many have impure backgrounds and low origins—worst of all bringing disgrace to the cap and robe; one should be especially careful. Only when the person is right, then hear words and observe deeds, examine thoroughly, register them in the winter-age roll; elders and juniors each by age order, without favoritism or muddling the records. When the assembly examines them on the Dao Gate classics and scriptures—must be proficient and thorough. The register-keeper compiles the names, submits to the Daoist authorities; when the ordination document opens, report the names according to rule, and the court grants them—only then may they wear the cap and robe as Daoist priests. After wearing cap and robe, the register-keeper often adds and binds the hall elder; morning and evening teach and admonish: keep the pure rules, reverence the spirits and gods, burn and recite scriptures and instructions. All belonging to the lineage's liturgical canons and books, fasting and jiao Dao methods, wording and placards—must be thoroughly mastered; quietly investigate in comings, goings, speech and silence; practice as habit, with strength left over. If the Confucian study of nature and principle, the Buddhist Chan school, can also be fused and understood as one—so much the better a high practitioner. On leisure days, perform ritual services, burn incense and wave the whisk, discuss the Dao and investigate the true; or compose poems and play the qin for self-joy; or wear the method and sit in the circle for self-investigation. When responding to conditions with scripture and jiao—must fast and hold sincerity, following former instruction. Mallow soup and oyster food, paper quilts and cloth robes—ordinary matters of leaving home; do not mix with the secular, casually breaking the rules: playing dice and drinking, associating with the wicked, elder and junior estranged, branches and lineages divided, examinations failed, performances uneven—treating liturgical canons as empty formalities, karma as empty talk, singing and speaking of lascivious words, sinking in the realm of profit and fame, grasping at wealth and status, indulging in confusion and splendor, not investigating the original family style, daily sinking into ancestral foundations—lightly punished and allowed to reform; severely, one follows the precepts, sent down the mountain and removed from the register—so as to stimulate the future, and let the four directions keep to the rules.
   Gold, grain, fields and revenue—mostly lands bestowed by successive dynasties, or ancestral properties set by earlier virtuous masters, or gifts from successive donors—specially for supporting the multitude and the incense lamps. The permanent storehouse sets managers for income and expenditure. In each hall, follow the permanent fixed rules; elders and juniors take turns managing. Accounts of rent, gold and grain in the storehouse ledger: the chief overseer and head seat supervise; hall elders manage; those below only take turns by winter-age seniority. As for annual taxes and corvée, temple construction, hall and courtyard repair, spring and autumn sacrifices, seasonal recitations, auspicious and inauspicious mourning and congratulation, fire and theft—must put supporting the multitude first, lasting as the goal: income and expenditure open and shared, clearly recorded; do not call private public, each hoarding private wealth, dividing and claiming, spending at will. Ensure the old are settled and the young embraced, incense and lamps unfailing, sacrifices timely, repairs diligent, taxes prepared—so above and below are harmonious, incense and fire long-lasting, public and private free from urgency, abbey free from rise-and-fall worry, illness mutually supported, death frugal in farewell—none may forget the public for private, cheat and keep for self, grasp at clothing and food, deceive the spirits and gods, let rents vanish, repairs fail, sacrifices neglected—so that corvée and service pressed, above and below unrested, worst of all stealing and wrong-doing against the teaching's Dharma, without fear of heaven's principle, failing the donors' vows. In the public storehouse the many offices act; the abbot and assembly examine and punish—by weight of fault: worst replace the person, lighter fine double the amount, the sum into the public store. In the halls, elders act; also with the household assembly examine; light and heavy handled as by the permanent, reported to the abbot for fair dismissal. If the many offices mutually cover for each other to hide their private interests, and elders indulge and do not speak, secretly protecting neighbors—public discussion should still be held to clarify stay and go, punish one to warn a hundred. Permanent fields and lands by rule may not be sold; no private contracts, no ruinous trading. For the corvée they must fulfill: follow the fixed system, set foundation Daoists to answer—so not all are polluted and mixed with the prevailing frivolous ways—be careful, the spirit's inspection is bright, each should strive.
   Repair of abbeys. In famous mountains and blessed lands, places of true spirits and incense and fire—mostly official halls built in Song, Yuan, and our dynasty: above praying for felicity and blessing the state, below lodging the multitude and settling beds. Often after warfare they fall into ruin and fail. In each abbey: hall buildings, dharma halls, fasting halls, official quarters, cloud halls, Dao residences, side corridors, kitchens and storehouses—all indispensable. Though households have fields and grain, or those put in charge are not the right people, swallowing rents into private purse, doing wrong at will, destroying images, collapsing buildings—many such; often using corvée as excuse, worst of all pawning permanent vessels and houses, until reduced to rubble and brambles, never thinking of clearing and repairing all their lives; or each having private wealth, dividing stoves, and so imitation becomes custom. By imperial grace we recently cleared and ordered: all belonging to earlier true immortals' ancient sites and numinous altars—how can they be neglected? They must be repaired in season. Whether household fields and grain, waste and ripe unequal, taxes light and heavy, or property gone with taxes remaining, at all times inspect the fields personally, report to the authorities, set up stone stelae—lest they perish. With the public storehouse managers, open income and expenditure jointly: put repair and supporting the multitude first. Set up one annual manager, one storekeeper: each year mend leaks and rot, reinforce walls and fences, purify roads, solemnize altars and halls, renew registers in the forests—so spirits and gods have a place to lodge, and the four assemblies also find ease. If fields and grain are insufficient: draw on scriptures and jiao, or on donations and endowments; the multitude manage and repair as convenient. Nor may one, under this pretense, associate with officials and nobles outside, lure merchants, press people to act—not from a good vow—and so invite trouble, becoming the abbey's burden instead. If fields, grain, incense and flowers can support repair—do not fatten self, but still cut and dig mountains and forests, harming feng-shui, stripping trees for food. Fellow officers and households should mutually watch and report to the Daoist authorities for judgment and decision. Only if one repents and reforms may one remain. If stubborn and disobedient, let the authorities decide—intent on replacing and renewing, constant repair, so it does not collapse, and forever reviving the earlier norms. All in the Mysterious Gate should each keep these regulations.