"Zongxuan Xiansheng Xuangang Lun": Chapter 17 - Clear Conduct and Chaste Mind

Conduct should be clear, mind should be chaste. Speech should not exceed conduct, and conduct should not shame the mind. Then one can wander at the crossroads of four directions. The crossroads of four directions are the thoroughfares of the Dao. Persisting in this conduct, heaven and earth will love you, deities will protect you, violence cannot be added, and ghosts and spirits cannot disturb. If speech is clear but conduct is muddy, if reputation is clean but traces are dirty, although ugliness is hidden externally, the heart feels ashamed internally. Those whose hearts feel ashamed internally, heaven and earth detest them, deities punish them. Even with strong effort in the Dao, it cannot be achieved. Therefore, better to receive others' condemnation than to incur heaven's retribution. Others' condemnation can be resolved; heaven's retribution cannot be escaped.

Explanation: Actions should be clean without dragging mud and water. The mind should be chaste and noble, without dark and strange thoughts. Speech should not exceed one's actions, and actions should not shame the mind. In this way, one can wander at the crossroads of four directions. The so-called crossroads of four directions refers to the thoroughfare of entering the Dao. Doing so continuously, heaven and earth will delight in you, deities will protect you, violent and cruel matters will not befall you, and ghosts and spirits cannot encroach.

If one speaks beautifully but acts filthily, although ugliness is not exposed externally and is concealed, the heart will feel ashamed internally. When the heart is ashamed, heaven and earth will not delight in you, and deities will detest you. Even if oneself is very strong, it is useless. Therefore, better to be scolded by others but not incur heaven's retribution. Others' condemnation belongs to human affairs and can be eliminated, while heaven's retribution is inescapable.

Analysis: This text has much in common with Wang Yangming's later theory of unity of knowledge and action. Speech should not exceed conduct--practice what you preach, do not say what you cannot do, do not constantly boast with a compassionate and benevolent demeanor while secretly doing filthy things behind the scenes. Such behavior will incur heaven's retribution. When people do wrongful deeds, they naturally produce a sense of shame internally. Once this heart arises, heaven and earth gain knowledge, and thus heaven's retribution follows. However, those who commit great evils and do wrong without feeling shame do not fall within this discussion.

In cultivation, one should speak less about matters beyond one's realm, and especially should not pretend to understand and recklessly guide others. Because doing so itself destroys one's cultivation, leading to failure. On the internet, it is easy to find people speaking fluently about how to cultivate. But most of these people actually have little cultivation. In life, they are mostly show-offs and frauds, or people at the lower levels of society seeking psychological comfort online. All such people have poor fortune, have not found the path of cultivation, or only empty knowledge of cultivation methods without having practiced even half a bit. All of this results from grand talk, leading to yang dispersal and yin flourishing, making it difficult to enter the door of cultivation.

Some religious believers have written many texts and spread them widely, appearing almost sage-like, but in the end they are still plagued by illness and pass away helplessly. Regardless of the various ranks and levels within religions, in the present world they have not achieved health and peaceful passing without illness. All of these are caused by empty talk, allowing external evils to attack. Even if one recites many mantras, reads many scriptures, and practices many methods, it is useless, because all are caused by oneself. Like a dike of a thousand li, it collapses from an ant hole.

Therefore, the Taisheng Gan Ying Pian also says: Fortune and disaster have no door; only people invite them themselves. Cultivators should be most cautious, guarding against danger and preventing it at its beginning. Only then is one on the path of cultivation.