Chapter 4: Tian Bing (Heavenly Endowment) from The Xuan Gang Lun by Master Zongxuan
Not knowing the Supreme Ultimate, not knowing the Prior, how can Fangzhu gathering water be mere empty words?
Understanding clearly the principle of inheritance and burden, the感应 of the utmost essence appears before your eyes
Chapter 4: Heavenly Endowment The Dao is originally without movement or stillness, yet Yin and Yang arise from it. Qi is originally without clarity or turbidity, yet Heaven and Earth take form from it. Pure Yang shines brightly above; there is no Yin above the Ninth Heaven. Pure Yin dwells in darkness below; there is no Yang below the Ninth Earth. Yin and Yang mix and steam to generate all things; those that generate all things are precisely between Heaven and Earth. Therefore, the phenomena of Qi and images change and adapt, with obscurity and brightness having their categories. Yang, through brightness, is upright; its essence is true spirit. Yin, through obscurity, is crooked; its essence is demons and spirits. Thus, those who receive Yang's spirit to be born are wise and sagacious, while those nourished by Yin's demons are stubborn and vicious. The wise and sagacious are benevolent and harmonious because Yang loves life. The stubborn and vicious are rebellious and perverse because Yin loves killing. Whether good or bad, when the two Qi blend equally, they produce the ordinary person. The three types each have their specific endowments, so how can teaching be applied? Teaching is applied only to the ordinary person. Why? Because the wise and sagacious know without being taught, and the stubborn and vicious do not change even after being taught; these are all because they received the pure Qi of Yin and Yang. It is also like fire that can be extinguished but cannot be made cold, or ice that can be melted but cannot be made hot. This is the nature of things. The ordinary person, when doing good, responds with harmonious Qi; when doing evil, harmful Qi gathers. Therefore, accumulating good brings surplus blessings, and accumulating evil brings surplus disasters. With blessings and disasters, teaching is established. Rough Explanation The Dao originally has no movement or stillness, but Yin and Yang arise. Qi originally has no clarity or turbidity, but Heaven and Earth take form. Pure Yang is above, so there is no Yin above the Ninth Heaven; pure Yin is below, so there is no Yang below the Ninth Earth. Yin and Yang mix, generating everything in the world, so Yin and Yang are between Heaven and Earth. Therefore, Qi and images can change and adapt, and obscurity and brightness have corresponding categories. Those belonging to Yang are bright and upright, their essence being true spirit; those belonging to Yin are obscure and crooked, becoming demons and spirits. Thus, those who receive Yang's spirit to be born are wise and sagacious, while those nurtured by Yin's demons are stubborn and vicious. The wise and sagacious are benevolent and harmonious because Yang loves life; the stubborn and vicious are rebellious and perverse because Yin loves killing. Thus, good and evil combine to form humans. The three types each have their specific endowments, so how can teaching be established to transform them? The object of teaching is the ordinary person. Why? Because the wise and sagacious understand without instruction, and the stubborn and vicious do not change even after instruction; this is because they received the pure Qi of Yin and Yang. Just as fire can be extinguished but cannot be made cold, and ice can be melted but cannot be made hot, this is the principle. Only the ordinary person, when doing good, responds with harmonious Qi, and when doing evil, gathers harmful Qi. Therefore, accumulating good brings surplus blessings, and accumulating evil brings surplus disasters. With blessings and disasters, teaching is established. Practical Cultivation Implications Qi is divided into Yin and Yang; Yin Qi is mostly harmful, and Yang Qi is mostly life-giving. This distinction is made from the perspective of human good and evil. Yin and Yang are relative, but no matter how they are relatively divided, there must be a principle. The principle here is: what is beneficial to humans is called Yang, and what is harmful to humans is called Yin. But more importantly, no matter which relative division method is used to distinguish Yin and Yang, when it comes to Pure Yang and Pure Yin, their concepts are consistent. Because both Pure Yang and Pure Yin are Wuji (the Ultimate Void), no matter which perspective is taken, Pure Yang and Pure Yin at the edge of this perspective are the same thing. This can be deeply understood through the Five Arts of the Dao. People receive Qi differently, and their nature is hard to change. Establishing teaching to transform sentient beings is not designed for those with extreme Yang Qi or extreme Yin Qi. Because most humans are a mixture of Yin and Yang, belonging to the fluctuation between good and evil. (I speculate it likely follows a normal distribution.) Because those with more Yang are good without needing teaching, and those with heavy Yin remain unchanged even after teaching. For example, everyone studies from childhood and is taught to be good people. Yet, even among children with excellent grades, some later become criminals, and some enter government positions and become corrupt despite excellent academic records. Even massive education and moral instruction cannot solve this. During the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, the country vigorously investigated and executed corrupt officials. Countless people were killed from top to bottom, yet the corruption could not be completely eradicated. This is Heavenly Endowment. In modern terms, it is like having defective genes. As recent scientific research on genetics has found, some genes can lead to criminal behavior. However, it is important to note that these are only minority phenomena. Most people can still be transformed, which is why teaching exists, to practice the way of moral transformation. Master Zongxuan provides a good explanation of Heavenly Endowment. Just like fire, you can only extinguish it, but you cannot make it cold. Although there are low-temperature flames, that is a luminous phenomenon, which is not the same principle as the fire mentioned by Master Zongxuan here. The fire described here is something with high-temperature motion. You can slow down its motion, but once it slows down, it no longer emits light, and the flame is extinguished. Thus, it is called Heavenly Endowment. Master Zongxuan's discussion of Heavenly Endowment here acknowledges the existence of this phenomenon. However, the meaning of this chapter is that although Heavenly Endowment exists, it does not mean that teaching is impossible. Even if a minority of people do not need teaching or cannot be taught, there are many more people who need teaching. This is very helpful for modern educational theory. Because recently there has been a debate: if genes determine human nature, is education meaningless? Master Zongxuan actually expressed this viewpoint over a thousand years ago, which is a statement transcending time. Because good leads to a response from harmonious Qi, and evil leads to a response from ominous Qi, doing many good deeds naturally brings blessings, and doing many evil deeds brings misfortune. As the ancient saying goes: Good and evil have their retribution; it is not that there is no retribution, but the time has not yet come. From a realistic perspective, many years ago, many people wanted to be officials, believing that being an official meant making money easily, and feeling that many who made money faced no consequences. But in the past two years, with the Chinese government's vigorous reform of official conduct, previous corrupt officials have been brought to justice one by one, resulting in no good endings for them. Similarly, many people feel psychologically unbalanced because many businessmen made fortunes through improper means, such as selling counterfeit goods or passing off inferior products as superior. But as time progresses, we now see that these people, having long been accustomed to such practices, could not adapt to legitimate business operations. Thus, they continued in counterfeiting and smuggling, until finally they were caught. Many merchants who accumulated much evil have Buddhist halls in their homes and often chant sutras and worship Buddha to repent, generally believing that this can redeem sins and erase bad karma, leaving them unscathed. But this is useless. In one sentence: What goes around comes around.
Chapter 4: Heavenly Endowment The Dao is originally without movement or stillness, yet Yin and Yang arise from it. Qi is originally without clarity or turbidity, yet Heaven and Earth take form from it. Pure Yang shines brightly above; there is no Yin above the Ninth Heaven. Pure Yin dwells in darkness below; there is no Yang below the Ninth Earth. Yin and Yang mix and steam to generate all things; those that generate all things are precisely between Heaven and Earth. Therefore, the phenomena of Qi and images change and adapt, with obscurity and brightness having their categories. Yang, through brightness, is upright; its essence is true spirit. Yin, through obscurity, is crooked; its essence is demons and spirits. Thus, those who receive Yang's spirit to be born are wise and sagacious, while those nourished by Yin's demons are stubborn and vicious. The wise and sagacious are benevolent and harmonious because Yang loves life. The stubborn and vicious are rebellious and perverse because Yin loves killing. Whether good or bad, when the two Qi blend equally, they produce the ordinary person. The three types each have their specific endowments, so how can teaching be applied? Teaching is applied only to the ordinary person. Why? Because the wise and sagacious know without being taught, and the stubborn and vicious do not change even after being taught; these are all because they received the pure Qi of Yin and Yang. It is also like fire that can be extinguished but cannot be made cold, or ice that can be melted but cannot be made hot. This is the nature of things. The ordinary person, when doing good, responds with harmonious Qi; when doing evil, harmful Qi gathers. Therefore, accumulating good brings surplus blessings, and accumulating evil brings surplus disasters. With blessings and disasters, teaching is established. Rough Explanation The Dao originally has no movement or stillness, but Yin and Yang arise. Qi originally has no clarity or turbidity, but Heaven and Earth take form. Pure Yang is above, so there is no Yin above the Ninth Heaven; pure Yin is below, so there is no Yang below the Ninth Earth. Yin and Yang mix, generating everything in the world, so Yin and Yang are between Heaven and Earth. Therefore, Qi and images can change and adapt, and obscurity and brightness have corresponding categories. Those belonging to Yang are bright and upright, their essence being true spirit; those belonging to Yin are obscure and crooked, becoming demons and spirits. Thus, those who receive Yang's spirit to be born are wise and sagacious, while those nurtured by Yin's demons are stubborn and vicious. The wise and sagacious are benevolent and harmonious because Yang loves life; the stubborn and vicious are rebellious and perverse because Yin loves killing. Thus, good and evil combine to form humans. The three types each have their specific endowments, so how can teaching be established to transform them? The object of teaching is the ordinary person. Why? Because the wise and sagacious understand without instruction, and the stubborn and vicious do not change even after instruction; this is because they received the pure Qi of Yin and Yang. Just as fire can be extinguished but cannot be made cold, and ice can be melted but cannot be made hot, this is the principle. Only the ordinary person, when doing good, responds with harmonious Qi, and when doing evil, gathers harmful Qi. Therefore, accumulating good brings surplus blessings, and accumulating evil brings surplus disasters. With blessings and disasters, teaching is established. Practical Cultivation Implications Qi is divided into Yin and Yang; Yin Qi is mostly harmful, and Yang Qi is mostly life-giving. This distinction is made from the perspective of human good and evil. Yin and Yang are relative, but no matter how they are relatively divided, there must be a principle. The principle here is: what is beneficial to humans is called Yang, and what is harmful to humans is called Yin. But more importantly, no matter which relative division method is used to distinguish Yin and Yang, when it comes to Pure Yang and Pure Yin, their concepts are consistent. Because both Pure Yang and Pure Yin are Wuji (the Ultimate Void), no matter which perspective is taken, Pure Yang and Pure Yin at the edge of this perspective are the same thing. This can be deeply understood through the Five Arts of the Dao. People receive Qi differently, and their nature is hard to change. Establishing teaching to transform sentient beings is not designed for those with extreme Yang Qi or extreme Yin Qi. Because most humans are a mixture of Yin and Yang, belonging to the fluctuation between good and evil. (I speculate it likely follows a normal distribution.) Because those with more Yang are good without needing teaching, and those with heavy Yin remain unchanged even after teaching. For example, everyone studies from childhood and is taught to be good people. Yet, even among children with excellent grades, some later become criminals, and some enter government positions and become corrupt despite excellent academic records. Even massive education and moral instruction cannot solve this. During the Ming Dynasty, after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, the country vigorously investigated and executed corrupt officials. Countless people were killed from top to bottom, yet the corruption could not be completely eradicated. This is Heavenly Endowment. In modern terms, it is like having defective genes. As recent scientific research on genetics has found, some genes can lead to criminal behavior. However, it is important to note that these are only minority phenomena. Most people can still be transformed, which is why teaching exists, to practice the way of moral transformation. Master Zongxuan provides a good explanation of Heavenly Endowment. Just like fire, you can only extinguish it, but you cannot make it cold. Although there are low-temperature flames, that is a luminous phenomenon, which is not the same principle as the fire mentioned by Master Zongxuan here. The fire described here is something with high-temperature motion. You can slow down its motion, but once it slows down, it no longer emits light, and the flame is extinguished. Thus, it is called Heavenly Endowment. Master Zongxuan's discussion of Heavenly Endowment here acknowledges the existence of this phenomenon. However, the meaning of this chapter is that although Heavenly Endowment exists, it does not mean that teaching is impossible. Even if a minority of people do not need teaching or cannot be taught, there are many more people who need teaching. This is very helpful for modern educational theory. Because recently there has been a debate: if genes determine human nature, is education meaningless? Master Zongxuan actually expressed this viewpoint over a thousand years ago, which is a statement transcending time. Because good leads to a response from harmonious Qi, and evil leads to a response from ominous Qi, doing many good deeds naturally brings blessings, and doing many evil deeds brings misfortune. As the ancient saying goes: Good and evil have their retribution; it is not that there is no retribution, but the time has not yet come. From a realistic perspective, many years ago, many people wanted to be officials, believing that being an official meant making money easily, and feeling that many who made money faced no consequences. But in the past two years, with the Chinese government's vigorous reform of official conduct, previous corrupt officials have been brought to justice one by one, resulting in no good endings for them. Similarly, many people feel psychologically unbalanced because many businessmen made fortunes through improper means, such as selling counterfeit goods or passing off inferior products as superior. But as time progresses, we now see that these people, having long been accustomed to such practices, could not adapt to legitimate business operations. Thus, they continued in counterfeiting and smuggling, until finally they were caught. Many merchants who accumulated much evil have Buddhist halls in their homes and often chant sutras and worship Buddha to repent, generally believing that this can redeem sins and erase bad karma, leaving them unscathed. But this is useless. In one sentence: What goes around comes around.