The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao

Description Profound, accessible, and a welcome addition to the Daoist texts now becoming available to Western practitioners. —Bill Porter, author of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits This is a welcome addition to the literature of the Dao. —Deng Ming-Dao, author of 365 Tao Four people, Liu Yi Ming, Xing De, Johan and Jen, representing generations of lineage, have created an aid to present and future Daoists. May this nourish all those on the path to realization. —Josh Paynter 理文,translator of the Daoist Morning and Evening Altar Recitations 修道之人須簡樸素行，財富所積，乃十方血汗，非可輕易空受，須隨緣淡泊，一絲一線，當思來處不易，一飲一食，須知成就惟艱，如能修持到道成德備之時，不但消化十方債賬，無始劫以来之宿孽，皆一筆勾銷。 People who cultivate the Dao must be of simple, unadorned and plain conduct. What is accumulated as wealth and riches [comes from] the blood and sweat of the ten directions.None of this can be lightly, easily and vacantly received. One must comply with fate and be indifferent and tranquil. With just one strand of silk or one thread, one should contemplate that they did not come easily from their source. With each drink or meal, one must be aware that they were difficult to achieve. If one is able to cultivate and uphold [this practice] until one attains the Dao, and is equipped with virtue, then not only will the accounts and debts of the Ten Directions be eliminated and transformed , but also the past karmic transgressions going back aeons without beginning will be written off in one stroke. ______________________________________________ Excerpt of the Commentary on Barrier 28 by Xing De ________________________________________________ This barrier deals with the desire to accumulate more and more wealth and riches. This is ‘accumulating dirt into a mountain’. Or rather, with human beings it is not a piling up of dirt, but of karmic afflictions. This barrier is about creating an abundance of wealth and keeping it all to oneself. You need to earn some kind of livelihood, to guarantee your survival in this world at the lowest, most basic level. But you should only act as a caretaker and store-room clerk for riches. Your consumption of goods in society should be at the lowest level, shunning luxurious and valuable items. You should: 检素抱朴。 Keep to the unadorned, and embracing simplicity. One should accumulate merit and repay your debts and not create any new debts, but eradicate the old. One ought to live a simple life, without seeking material gain, and you will achieve merit: ‘through asceticism and benevolent conduct, accumulate Gong and amass Virtue’. Your lifestyle and requirements must be simple. In the sitting room of the Five Immortals Temple there is a notice which reads: 一粥一餐当思来之不易。 [When served with] one [bowl of] gruel or one meal, one ought to remember that it did not come easy.