Yellow Emperor's Scripture on the Hidden Talisman

An English translation of 黃帝陰符經

From :
https://universalalphaomega.blogspot.com/2022/05/yellow-emperors-scripture-on-hidden_16.html


The beginning chapter -- The Divine Immortal embracing the ONE reveals the Way

Behold Heaven's Way (Dhoe), and act according to Heaven's motions, that is all.

In Heaven there are five thieves, those who see them will be thriving. The five thieves dwell in the Heart and carry out their motions in Heaven, thus the universe can be grabbed into your hands, and all creations can happen within your body.

The Heaven’s essence is in every person. Every person’s Heart is a pivot. By establishing Heaven’s Way, every person is shaped.

At the pivotal time that Heaven launches a killing, the stars and constellations move. At the pivotal time that Earth launches a killing, the serpent rises from the land. At the pivotal time that Man launches a killing, the Heaven and Earth are overturned. When Heaven and Man launch together, the base of all transformations is established.

The Heart generates both cleverness and clumsiness, it can be calmed and concealed. The leaking from the nine holes (*) is controlled by the three pivots, it can be intense or mild.

(* The nine holes of the human body : Two eyes, two ear holes, two nostrils, mouth, the outlet of the genital, and anus)

When Fire(*) is produced from Wood, if a disaster comes, it can be defeated. When Evil emerges from within the nation, a wrong action at that time will lead to a dike breaching.

(* The five circulations : Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Soil, also known as the five types of energy, or the five basic elements. )

If one understands these, and forges and refines himself accordingly, he is called a Saint. Heaven gives life, and Heaven takes life, this is the principle of Dhoe.


The middle chapter -- Enriching the Nation, Appeasing the People, and Preaching the Law

Heaven and Earth steal from (stealthily deprive) all things. All things steal from Man. Man steals from all things. If these three types of stealing are well settled, the Three Entities (*) can be appeased.

(* The Three Entities : Heaven, Earth and Man.)

Therefore it is said: Ingest at the right time, your body containing hundreds of bones will be recuperated. Act at the pivotal time, all the creations will be well sustained. A person who knows his own holiness becomes holy. His mind being free of unholiness is the reason why he becomes holy.

Days and months go by as the sun and moon move. When a certain number and size are reached, the Holy Work is born and the Luminous Divinity comes out. The stealings that happen at the pivotal times are unseen and unknown to the world. A highly moral person who gets it ( by ‘stealing’ ) can strengthen his body. An amoral person who gets it would slight his own life.


The last chapter -- Strengthening the Army, Gaining Victory, and Demonstrating the Technics

Blind people usually have good hearing. Deaf people usually have good vision. Cut off the energy supply to one sensory channel, the Army (of energy) will be ten times stronger. If the Three Outflows are reversed all day and all night, the Army will be ten thousand times stronger. The Heart can be activated by things, and can die because of things. The key is at the Eye.

The Heaven, being merciless, grants great mercy. At this time, the flashing thunder and the fierce gale are both about to unleash their power. The ultimate bliss is achieved by preserving. The ultimate tranquility is achieved by saving up.

The most confidential thing that comes from Heaven, is used universally in all beings. Grab it, and control the prime energy. Birth is the root of death, and death is the root of birth. The benevolence comes with the penalty, and the penalty comes with the benevolence.

A fool may become wise by studying the writings and theories about Heaven and Earth. However, I study the writings and theories to master the timings and substances and therefore become philosophical. While others are foolish because of worrying, I am free of foolishness and therefore become holy. While others wait for sacred dates to do worship, I do not wait for sacred dates but cultivate every day.

Hence, sink Water into Fire, let the annihilation happen by itself. The Way of Self Thusness (*) is tranquil, and from within it the Heaven, Earth and all creations come into being.

(* The Chinese term 自然, which is often translated to ‘nature’, literally means Self Thusness — It is that way by itself, independently and unconditionally. It is not created, and it is not conditioned / restricted by time, environment, or anything. )

The Dhoe of Heaven and Earth is omnipresent and embraces everything, so that both Yaam and Yeong can receive nourishment and grow. Yaam and Yeong push each other to construct everything, in this way all the creations and transformations are well arranged.

A Saint knows that the Way of Self Thusness should not be violated, therefore he does not interfere with the ongoing creations and evolutions, but keeps himself in the ultimate calmness for a period of time that cannot be measured by any calendars.

So here is a Miraculous Vessel, inside which myriads of things manifest. The Eight Trigrams (*) and the Gup-Tzee system (*) contain the mysteries of gods and secrets of ghosts.

(* The Eight Trigrams : An energy model consists of eight fundamental energy forms that construct the whole world. These eight energy forms are depicted as Trigrams and called ‘GWA’s (卦).

A Trigram is formed of three parallel lines, each line is either whole or broken. A whole line represents Yeong, symbolizing the energy of the sun; and a broken line represents Yaam, symbolizing the energy of the moon.)

(* The Gup-Tzee system : A cycling time system in which every 60 years is called a Gup-Tzee (甲子). Each year in a Gup-Tzee is supervised by a deity, so there are totally 60 deities who supervise all the years. )

Once these mechanisms about time and energy are understood, the technics to perform miracles can be mastered, so that the interactions and mutual invigorations between Yaam and Yeong can be clearly manifested in the world.


(End of the Translation)
(Translated into English by Silfong Tsun)
(Translation first done in 2006 / 2007, Last revised in May 2022)

 

There was a time when I read texts like this and soaked in everything they said, almost taking the claims at face value and assuming that whoever wrote the work had justification for making them that I would learn about later.

Now, before I accept any claim, I question what has lead someone to accept it, and whether the arguments that convinced them are convincing to me. For instance, I stop at the second sentence here:

What lead the author of these texts to make this claim? Have they seen Heaven? Been there? Do they infer the existence of the five thieves from activity on earth and, if so, how was this inference made?

 

Hello friend of Tao,

I am not sure if you expect a mundane answer based on atheism and historical materialism, or a true answer based on religious faith. If you want the latter, here is it :

Some holy knowledge can be taught openly in Heaven, but not in this mundane world. This is why religious texts in this world usually use metaphors, analogies, etc., trying to impart the secret knowledge. As it is written in the Bible :


5 And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

[ Numbers 12:5 - 12:8 KJV ]


God told Moses how to become holy and unite with God, in plain and explicit language, because Moses was so devoted.

But what about other people, who are not as sincere and devoted as Moses ? For them, dark speeches, such as metaphors, analogies, etc. are used.

So if one seeks the true meanings of a religious scripture, he should not rely on mundane mindsets and logics. The correct way, as the ancient sages told us, is that we should be humble, keep ourselves pure by observing precepts, accumulate more virtuous merits, and pray for divine revelation.

 

And specifically for your question, you don’t need to be in heaven to find out the five thieves, you just need to look up and behold … Isn’t this explicit enough ?

 

A finger pointing at the moon?

 

No, not for me, sorry. Too many mystics disagree on what they see when they look up to Heaven and behold.

This was the major issue of Anthroposophy, which created perhaps the most rigid system of documenting mystical insight in history, approaching the internal experience of divinity with the same tools we use to approach the external, natural world.

Members ended up disagreeing on core observations, splitting the movement into pieces. I think it is a perfect demonstration of why merely looking up and beholding isn't explicit enough.

 

Here's a great paper on why the epistemology of mysticism, specifically the mysticism of Anthroposophy, is not really up to par:

https://web.archive.org/web/20020420035401/http://waldorfcritics.org/active/articles/Hansson.html

It's not just because we dismiss anything that isn't materialistic. It's a lot more nuanced than that. It deals with our ability to peer-review findings through intersubjective agreement and to confirm the findings of other mystics.

 

You think the mystics disagree on what they see when they look up to Heaven and behold ?

Is it possible that they saw the same things, but told you in different languages ?

For example, they saw an apple, one mystic told you “Lacus” in Latin, another mystic told you “obuolys” in Lithuanian, and then you thought they do not agree with each other ?

And even further, is it possible that each mystic builds a unique narrative system to describe what he saw, but actually they are talking about the same things ?

 

Those are all possible, but I have seen no evidence for any of them. I did search for it, for awhile, talking to monks of all sorts of faiths, reading tomes on the neuroscience of mystical experiences, debating with scholars with PhDs on studying mysticism across a variety of religions, etc.

I even practiced mysticism myself. I had my own visions, traveled higher realms, told the future with the help of spirits, and was a devout practitioner of both hesychasm and zazen for awhile.

From all of that, I can comfortably say that mystics don't agree. Some mystics are dualists, some mystics are monists, some mystics are pluralists. It's not just a difference in the language they use, but a product of which particular mystical practices they adhere to and the tradition it's a part of. I've seen mystics try to find common ground with other mystics under the assumption that they were describing the same experiences using different languages or narratives, and it usually doesn't work unless they're both relatively new to mystical practice.

The perennial philosophy isn't the common core to all mystical traditions; it's just its own, separate mystical tradition.

 

1 . Supernatural experiences and dreams are not really reliable because they could be illusions. There are too many factors, both inside and outside our bodies, can create extraordinary experiences and dreams to mislead us. However, there could be some extraordinary experiences that you believe they are real, because you experienced them with your physical body when you are awake, not when you are sleeping or meditating. But still, you would not be able to figure out the truth via those “very real” experiences.

2 . It is quite natural that different living beings, with different sensory capabilities and different perception levels, perceive a same thing very differently.

For example, a hot and bright lamp, a human being sees that it is a lamp emitting yellow light, an animal with monochromatic vision sees that it is an object emitting white light; a bee sees that it is an object emitting ultraviolet spectrums; a blind snake senses that it is a group of infrared thermal radiation.

If all these living beings, each writes a report on what they perceived, and you analyze all the reports, what conclusion can you reach ? Will you think that they agree with each other ?

 

"... He who is called Krishna is also called Siva, and bears the name of the Primal Energy, Jesus, and Allah as well - the same Rama with a thousand names. A lake has several Ghats.

At one, the Hindus take water in pitchers and call it 'Jal' ; at another the Muslims take water in leather bags and call it 'pani'. At a third the Christians call it 'water'. Can we imagine that it is not 'Jal' , but only 'pani' or 'water'? How ridiculous! The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences. Let each man follow his own path. If he sincerely and ardently wishes to know God, peace be unto him! He will surely realize Him."
(Ramakrishna Paramahansa)

 

Well said. I guess you know something about Comparative religion & Religious Symbolism ?

 

The spirit runs like a clear, quiet stream through the heart of mundane existence -- simple, unchanging and pure, imo

 

I cannot 'attain' it. I can only want and pray for it, that a small part will be granted to me -- a touch of the divine

Nothing else matters

 

I don't understand why you bothered with this response. I already agreed that it's possible that all of these experiences are just different interpretations of one underlying truth.

I just don't see any good reason to believe that.

 

What are the "three outflows"? I'm familiar with the term in Buddhist doctrine, but expect it to mean something else in Taoism.

 

Is there a Buddhist term officially translated to ‘three outflows’ ? What is the corresponding Chinese ? Is it 三漏 or 三流 ?

 

Could be illusions? Interesting everything you are talking about here and every religion is based off these illusions and the supernatural, and yet they are not reliable, I agree.

language translations are translated through the process of “ thoughts about thoughts” I can find time inside my pet rabbits mind and it can tell me if it is hungry or hot. I have found time inside the minds of many alien and familiar minds to find thoughts about thoughts. Even though an animal has a different perspective we have common minds that can create these translations.

There are many paths to understanding things and figuring things out. Through evolution we have closed off many parts of our brains that teach us about ourselves caused by technology and medicine. examples of this would be mitochondria, pheromones and our bodies ability to heal itself.

The truth, what truth? There are at least 8.5 billion truths, all personal truths nothing backed by any real proof. I will take my chances with the minds that teach me thoughts about thoughts because they also want to figure themselves out.

powessy

 

I don't know the Chinese translation, if any. In the Pali texts, the word is "āsava". The three outflows are usually enumerated as "sensual pleasures", "existence", and "ignorance".

I was just struck by the similar-sounding translated word. I know very little about Taoism, beyond having read the Yijing and the Dao de Jing. Good to have you around!

 

Well said. For example, both of us look at a same apple, we both say its color is red, but are you sure the ‘red’ you see is same as the ‘red’ I see ?