the one opening


 

The Spirit

of the Valley never dies:

it is called Mysterious-Female.

The gate of the Mysterious-Female

is called root of Heaven

and Earth.

 

This is the opening

that generates Heaven, Earth,

and humans; this is the hometown of Saints,

Buddhas, and Immortals. You arrange the furnace

and set up the tripod here; you collect the Medicine and

refine it here; you coagulate the Elixir here; and you

deliver it here. Being is here, Non-Being is here.

The beginning and the end of all

operation are here.

 

This Opening

is the place where the four

elements do not stick: it is in the realm

of Empty Non-Being, “silent and still.” Neither can

you find it by using your intention, nor can you guard it by

not using your mind. If those who cultivate themselves want to

find this One Opening, they must begin by looking for it.

Only when they truly know it and clearly see it, they

can begin to collect the treasure of Heaven.

Those who not know this Opening may

strive in one thousand different ways

and toil in ten thousand different

manners, but they will never

see any progress or

improvement.

 

How could students

not strive? How could they not

exert their minds to inquire

into the principles?

 

Liu Yiming

 

unearned suffering is redemptive

 

My personal trials

have also taught me the value

of unmerited suffering. As my sufferings mounted

I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond

to my situation: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform

the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter

course. Recognizing the necessity for suffering I have tried to

make of it a virtue. If only to save myself from bitterness,

I have attempted to see my personal ordeals as an

opportunity to transform myself and heal the

people involved in the tragic situation which

now obtains. I have lived these last few

years with the conviction that

unearned suffering is

redemptive.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.