Longhu Mountain Zhengyi Morning and Evening Liturgy Explained (3): Mouth-Purifying Divine Incantation
Vermilion-cinnabar mouth spirit, vomit foulness and remove miasma. Tongue spirit straightens the ranks, connects life and nourishes spirit.
Luo-Qian tooth spirit, repels evil and guards the true. Throat spirit Huben, qi spirit draws the liquid.
Heart spirit Danyuan, orders me to communicate with the True. Contemplate spirits and refine liquid—the Dao-qi forever remains.
This incantation is fairly simple; it comes from the Huangting Scripture, and its order is lips → tongue → teeth → throat → heart.
Why recite the Mouth-Purifying Divine Incantation?
People usually eat, and the mouth inevitably has foul qi; so before upholding any incantation one must cultivate the habit of first rinsing the mouth with water.
Even after rinsing, the body-spirits may still be unsettled; so one must recite the Mouth-Purifying Divine Incantation, and by swallowing the liquid make the qi flow smoothly—thereby achieving mind pure and mouth pure.
Why does the Mouth-Purifying Divine Incantation come after the Mind-Purifying Divine Incantation?
If the mind is not still, the mouth spirit must also be unsettled; if one does not first still the mind, of what use is purifying the mouth and drawing qi into the mind? Therefore, first purify the mind, then purify the mouth.
Most people only know to recite as written—but do they know why it is so?
Why is the mouth spirit called vermilion-cinnabar? Lips that are deep red indicate heavy fire; white color indicates anemia; black color indicates a problem with the heart. Only vermilion-cinnabar color—that is, red and fresh—where qi and blood are fresh and bright, is the healthy color. Hence its spirit is vermilion-cinnabar.
Why is the tongue spirit called Straightening-the-Ranks? "Ranks" in classical Chinese represents order and smoothness. If the order of the tongue, whether thick coating, thin coating, or other strangeness, is unhealthful—it is a sign of ill health, hence Straightening-the-Ranks. At the same time in cultivation, the tongue has another function: pressing the tongue tip against the upper palate, bridging the heaven-and-earth bridge, as a transitional bridge so the qi of the Small Heaven can resonate and circulate.
Why is the tooth spirit called Luo-Qian? Luo means arranged; qian means many. Teeth should be arranged there in great number to be good—too few will not do. Hence the tooth spirit is Luo-Qian.
Why is the throat called Huben? Huben are the king's attendants and guards. When people catch cold, the tonsils inflame first, just like Huben. The tonsils are part of the body's immune system, mainly helping the body fight infection. In earlier years Western medicine did not understand this and thought tonsils were useless, so they liked to remove them from tonsillitis patients; modern medicine has progressed and no longer does so. Huben have killing force; modern scientific research has also found that the damage to the frontal lobes of murderous psychopaths is connected to changes in the amygdala.
Why is the heart spirit called Danyuan? Dan means red; yuan means the original beginning. Danyuan indicates that the heart can be responsible for the qi-and-blood movement of the whole body. >
Another question arises: why this sequence? Why extract them from the Huangting Scripture in this way?
Vermilion-cinnabar is the image of red fire; the tongue lying flat is the image of earth; teeth hard and firm are the image of metal; the mouth generating liquid is the image of water; the throat curved with protruding tonsils is the image of wood; the heart spirit is again fire image.
Thus it is the image of the five phases generating each other in sequence, beginning with fire and ending with fire. But why must it be so?
Because the heart spirit's name Danyuan has special meaning. According to Volume Twenty-Four of the Cloudy Bookcase, Seven Leases: "Danyuan Star is the Dipper Lord of Heaven, in charge of fate and registers. Above it totals the registers of the nine heavens; in the middle it unifies the ledgers of ghosts and spirits; below it governs the life registers of students of the True and the common people—all heavens and all lands are without exception under its general rule."
Therefore: "Heart spirit Danyuan, orders me to communicate with the True."
Thus this process is: "Contemplate spirits and refine liquid—the Dao-qi forever remains."
When one has finished reciting the earlier incantations, on reciting this phrase liquid will usually naturally generate in the mouth. So one should recite in order, and at "qi spirit draws the liquid" swallow. If one does not swallow at this step, the five phases cannot generate smoothly, and cannot form the transformation of water generating wood generating fire; the effect will naturally be greatly reduced.
One last question: in what direction is this incantation best recited? If at the altar, can one face the altar to recite?
If the above is clear, the reader will understand of themselves.