Discussion on Orthodox Taoist Beliefs Part VII: Divination, Cultivation, and 'My Fate is in My Own Hands'

 The Inner Chapters of Baopuzi • Yellow and White: "My fate is in my own hands, not in heaven; the returned elixir becomes gold for billions of years."

 The West Ascension Sutra: "My fate is in me, not belonging to heaven and earth."

 The Cloud Collection of Seven Signs: "My fate is in me, longevity is achieved by oneself."

 The Guidance of the Lord of Fate: "My fate is in me, why seek from heaven?"

 This is the orthodoxy of Taoism. As for later generations, worshipping heaven and gods with reverence is a correct worship; worshipping them in delusion is an incorrect worship, because my fate is in me, not in heaven and earth. If one cannot uphold this view, it is a heretical view.

 However, among the Five Arts of Taoism, there are the Art of Life and the Art of Divination. These two arts can measure the hidden and perceive the subtle, know the past, understand the future, and deduce human fate with no error. Can this be proof of determinism?

 No. The study of numerology and divination, although it can explore the subtleties of human life, cannot determine one's fate.

 As for what is called Yi (Change), the Commentary on the Appended Phrases states: "It encompasses the transformations of heaven and earth without exceeding them, and completes all things without omitting any." Seeing the function of Yi, what it encompasses is heaven and earth, and what it delineates is all things.

 Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs. If a person identifies with all things and exists within heaven and earth, then they are like straw dogs, their fate being fixed and unchangeable. If a person is different from all things, they can emerge from within heaven and earth and become unpredictable. This is what is meant by "the unpredictability of yin and yang is called the divine."

 Since one cultivates, one must break free from fate. Why then are there the Five Arts?

 Because the function of the Five Arts is twofold: one is to verify the Dao, and the other is to verify cultivation. To verify the Dao is to understand the transformations of heaven, earth, and all things, which ultimately do not depart from the One. To verify cultivation is that the achievements of the cultivator are all deduced through these arts. If one can distance oneself from fate, then one departs from the transformations of heaven and earth; if one cannot depart from fate, then one is close to the completion of all things, which can be verified.

 Thus, the bondage of fate is like a rope. One who follows the Dao should naturally cut it. However, whether one succeeds or not can be deduced using these arts.

 People use these arts in the world, ostensibly to seek auspiciousness and avoid inauspiciousness, yet they fail to understand the word "seek" (qu). What is meant by "seek" is not entirely auspicious; what is meant by "avoid" is not entirely inauspicious. For example, if a person has no minor illnesses at a certain time and suddenly suffers a major illness, the illness falls like a mountain, and the severe cases die. Yet those who often have illnesses rarely suffer major illnesses upon them. The principle is the same.

 Long-term divination may be accurate but not necessarily ultimately auspicious; long-term divination may be erroneous but not necessarily entirely inauspicious. It is merely the principle of yin reaching its extreme and yang arising, and yang reaching its extreme and yin arising. Is there anything in heaven and earth that escapes this?

 Thus, when things reach their extreme, they reverse; when they reverse, they reverse again. Reversing in this manner, one ultimately cannot attain it. Therefore, fixation is not true; change is ever-present. The presence of change again proves that fixation is not true, thus giving rise to further change. Fixation and change generate each other, repeatedly giving birth to all living things. Birth after birth is what the Dao of Immortality values. Its unpredictability is the Dao; thus, this Dao gives birth to the foundation of Immortality.

 Once the foundation of Immortality is established, how can fate be determined? Thus, heaven cannot kill it, earth cannot measure it, and yin and yang cannot complete it. This is what the gentleman knows.