Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 8: The Ways to Become an Immortal

"Huangjing is sweet and mild in taste. It is mainly used to nourish the middle and replenish qi, eliminate rheumatism, and calm the five internal organs. It is a common medicine. After ten years, it will conceive spirituality. Long-term consumption can make the body light and prolong life without hunger. After another hundred years, it can be said to be affected by the release of qi of Wu Ji. It is a magical medicine to replenish the Huang Palace. Eating it will drive away all evils and prevent all diseases. After a thousand years, it belongs to the category of Zhi grass, which has absorbed the essence of the earth and can be called Wu Ji Zhi. Taking it can regulate the five internal organs, fill the muscles, strengthen the bone marrow, double the strength, and keep young for many years. White hair will turn black and fallen teeth will grow again..."

Chu Tai first read a passage and then asked, "Sir, how do you determine the age of Polygonatum odoratum?"

Taoist Fu Guang took a look and said with a smile: "The so-called hundreds and thousands of years in the book refer to the number of years that the medicinal materials have been 'cultivating' like cultivators like us, not the actual number of years they have lived."

"So the first sentence of the record of Polygonatum in the Zhicao Jing is that it is an ordinary medicine, followed by 10 years of spirituality. This sentence is actually wrong nowadays. With the collision of the two days, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth is much more active than before. Many Polygonatum that have grown for more than five years in the mountains will also give birth to spirituality and become spiritual medicine."

Chu Tai heard this and said, "So, the so-called ten thousand year cold iron and thousand year fire copper also refer to the result of these materials being affected by special vitality and spiritual power under specific circumstances? It has nothing to do with the length of time they have existed?"

"Most of them are like this, but gold, silver, copper, iron and other things, even if they don't have spirituality themselves, but most of these minerals have gone through tens of thousands of years, and in the long time, they have gained some spiritual concepts. After a little purification, they can be used as materials for refining tools. This is why people like us who practice can extract the essence of the five metals from them."

After listening to Taoist Fuguang's explanation, Chu Tai pointed to a passage in the Zhicao Jing and asked, "Sir, in this passage, nine steaming and nine exposure can double the medicinal properties of Polygonatum odoratum. If a hundred-year-old Polygonatum is properly prepared, it can keep your face young and stop hunger, and replenish all deficiencies. If a thousand-year-old Polygonatum is properly prepared, it can stop cold and heat, replenish essence, and expel the three corpse worms. If you eat it for a long time, you can become an immortal. Is it true that eating it for a long time can make you immortal?"

"Of course it's true."

Taoist Fu Guang looked at Chu Tai with a surprised expression, then smiled and said with some pride: "Don't think it's difficult to become an immortal. The great heaven we are in is called Dongji Chenguang Great Heaven. The land under our feet is Shenzhou. It was conceived from the chaos that was broken by the Daluo Heavenly Light in the past. Later, the immortal saints came to the world and established the laws of heaven and earth, and the legal principles of human ethics. The whole earth has been illuminated by the Daluo Heavenly Light from the distant past to the present."

"Compared to the many rigid requirements for cultivators on other lands or in the stars to achieve immortality and ascend to heaven, as long as we concentrate on practicing, we can hope to use the Daluo Heavenly Light to ascend to heaven. Therefore, there are many ways to become immortals, and there are countless lower-level achievements that can reach the threshold of ascension."

"How easy is it?"

Taoist Fu Guang reached out and took a volume of "Biographies of Immortals" from the side, let Chu Tai flip through it briefly, and then began a brief introduction.

"In today's world, those who enter Taoism can draw talismans to sense spiritual inspiration, practice the art of inhaling and exhaling vital energy, or sit in meditation, contemplate, eat and drink, listen to the breath, fast, keep one's mind focused, and stay in bed, etc. However, according to the way to become an immortal, it can be divided into five ways from the highest to the lowest, namely heaven, god, earth, scattered, and ghost."

"Among them, the Celestial Immortal is the highest and the most difficult to attain. Even the lowest level of Celestial Immortal requires the practitioner to achieve the primordial spirit, conceive a baby, and then follow the Heavenly Talisman to enter the 72 Palaces as a Heavenly Official. Nowadays, many successful side sect practitioners accumulate good deeds day and night for the sake of that Heavenly Talisman."

"Below the celestial immortals are the gods. The lower level of this method is the most widely spread today. To put it simply, it is a combination of faith and practice. If there are good men and women who offer incense and candles to the Dao Lords, the True Lords, and the Immortals, they can see the light of the world, do good deeds, and accumulate virtues. They can enter the state of inaction and receive blessings naturally. If they can fast for a long time and recite the sutras and spiritual chapters a thousand times, they can communicate with the gods, and ten thousand times, they can communicate with the truth. They can generate water and fire in their bodies, ascend to heaven, and enjoy the immortal career. I asked you to recite the Heart Purification Mantra and the Body Purification Mantra more often. The method of stabilizing the Three Treasures can also be classified under this category."

"Below the immortals are the earthly immortals. The so-called earthly immortals are mountain people. The methods of this way require the use of land for cultivation, or to plant spiritual roots, or to open spiritual pools, or to condense spiritual realms. In essence, they are all about establishing a relationship with the same place, gaining longevity, and obtaining supernatural powers. But success or failure depends on the land. If the way of earthly immortals cannot be passed on, they will be trapped in one place and not free. Nowadays, many side sect cultivators who are confined to one place have mostly taken this path." "Below the earthly immortals are the scattered immortals. Here, scattered means scattered, which corresponds to the orthodox Xuanmen and the true flow inheritance, and does not refer to other things. Most of the lower-level achievements are from cultivators who do not understand the great way. They get a method from the Tao and a technique from the method. They have faith and determination, and they will never change throughout their lives. Or they work hard to cultivate the five qi in their hearts, make mistakes and misunderstandings, and their bodies are solid, so the eight evil plagues cannot harm them; or they specialize in one of the five elements, refine it to the purest and purest, change as they wish, combine the three treasures inside, and show supernatural powers outside. They are called immortals, but in fact they are almost elves."

At this point, Taoist Fu Guang paused, pointed to the Zhicao Jing and said, "The method of becoming an immortal recorded in this book is the merit of the lower level of the scattered immortals. It is to stabilize the body and prolong life by means of the method of eating and drinking. If you become an immortal in this way, you will have some magical powers and can live freely for hundreds of years. However, if you do not continue to practice hard, your life will end. If you accumulate virtue and do good deeds, you may further stabilize and purify your body, and you may be able to ascend to heaven under the influence of the Daluo Tianguang."

Hearing this, Chu Tai was surprised and said, "From what you said, sir, it seems that as long as all living beings live long enough, they can become immortals through the Daluo Heavenly Light?"

When saying this, Chu Tai originally thought that Taoist Fu Guang would say that this was just an exaggeration, but unexpectedly the Taoist actually nodded.

"It is theoretically feasible, but now that our Eastern Heaven is expanding, the world is getting bigger and bigger, and the Daluo Heavenly Light scattered between heaven and earth is becoming scarcer. It is very difficult to completely rely on time to feel the Heavenly Light between heaven and earth, baptize oneself, and become an immortal."

"As far as I know, the only place in the world that can do this stably is Kunlun Mountain. It is said that Kunlun Mountain receives the Daluo Heavenly Light from above and has a vast amount of weak water below. As long as you climb up Kunlun Mountain and pass the Liangfeng Mountain Stream, and are cleansed by the Heavenly Light and Qi, you will be able to live a long life. If you continue to climb up to Xuanpu, you will be able to control your magical powers and drive the wind and rain. If you continue to climb up, you can directly enter Daluo Heaven and enjoy the immortal career."

After saying that, Taoist Fu Guang explained to Chu Tai the last method to become an immortal.

"Ghost Immortality is the lowest level of the five methods of becoming an Immortal. Most of the low-level achievements are from people who practice cultivation but do not understand the great way and want to achieve success quickly. They only cultivate a strong and stable Yin spirit. When the Qi is exhausted, the Yin spirit comes out and they are called Ghost Immortals."

"Can this be called an immortal?"

Chu Tai was shocked, and Taoist Fu Guang continued to explain.

"Of course not three thousand five hundred years ago. At that time, these ghost immortals were just pure ghosts to those of us who practiced immortal arts. People like me who had achieved a little bit of success could easily suppress them."

“However, after a spirit has achieved this kind of inferior merit as a ghost immortal, it has devoted itself to cultivation, borrowed people to cast spells, performed good deeds, absorbed the wonderful energy of human essence, purified its yin spirit, achieved a glazed Dharma body, absorbed the Daluo Heavenly Light, was granted the Immortal Scroll, entered the Heavenly Palace, and paved the way for future generations. This kind of merit has become the lowest level of merit that can be achieved on the immortal path.”

Chu Tai frowned: "So, we, the Great Heaven, divide the immortal achievements based on whether someone can become an immortal by this method?"

(End of this chapter)