The Taishang Shengxuan Sanyi Rongshen Bianhua Miaojing·Volume One 太上升玄三一融神变化妙经·卷上

Scripture Name:Taishang Shengxuan Sanyi Rongshen Bianhua Miaojing(The Supreme Sublime Scripture of the Three Ones Merging the Spirit, Transforming and Marveling) Author: Unknown Date of Compilation: Approximately the Tang Dynasty

Textual Origin: Believed to be a revised version ofShengxuan Neijiao Jing(The Inner Teaching Scripture of Sublime Mystery). Consists of two volumes. Source of the Base Text: Included in theZhengtong Daozang(Orthodox Daoist Canon), under the category of "Authentic Texts" in the "Cave of Truth" section.

At that time, the Primordial Heavenly Venerate sat upon the Throne of the Mysterious One, Adorned with Seven Jewels, existing in the state of Nothingness, Spontaneity and Transcendence. He focused his spirit, wandered in profound contemplation, and calmly roamed the realm of the Mysterious and Silent. For all the worthy sages, celestial beings and mortal assemblies, he expounded the Great Dharma—explaining the karmic conditions of gradual and sudden cultivation, advancement and retreat. In serene stillness and non-action, he perfectly observed all infinite dharmic doors: the void and the solid, emptiness and existence, truth and falsehood, good and evil, purity and turbidity, nobility and humility, internal cultivation and external practice, literary refinement and martial valor, all dharmas great and small—countless in number, beyond full enumeration.

Each being, bound by their habitual karma and deeds, embodies distinct manifestations: now united, now separated; now existing, now perishing; now arriving, now departing; now emerging, now vanishing; now advancing, now retreating; now being born, now dying; now having form, now formless; now true, now false; now noble, now humble; now suffering, now joyful; now poor, now wealthy; as males, as females; as literati, as warriors; now beautiful, now ugly; now fortunate, now calamitous; dwelling in mortality, dwelling in sainthood. Such boundless karmic retributions and various causal conditions are beyond exhaustive description. All arise from the dharmas great and small practiced in past lives; the fruits of those cultivations determine the diverse karmic retributions beings endure today. Failing to comprehend the Mahayana teaching of non-action, they struggle to attain liberation, clinging to Hinayana doctrines—with limited knowledge and vision, their minds fettered, unable to understand and awaken to the profound principles of the Mystery, to penetrate non-action, to merge emptily with the dharmic nature, to focus the spirit in clear illumination, and to practice non-action in their observation.

Seeking liberation yet clinging to every dharma they encounter, they fail to recognize the original purity of the true nature. They arbitrarily generate greed and attachment, binding themselves to karmic conditions through stubborn clinging. Unenlightened to the supreme, perfect and complete Great Dao of the ultimate truth, they lack the spiritual powers, merits, virtues and wisdom that lead to liberation. Their biased attachments breed discrimination and even slander, failing to perceive that the rational nature is inherently the single vehicle, without duality. Temporarily following mortal transformations, their movements and stillness alter karmic causes and effects, leading to divergent experiences of suffering and joy—all rooted in the habitual karma of past lives, manifesting as present retributions.

At that moment, among the assembly, the Lord of the Mysterious One emerged from the crowd. Circling the treasure throne, he clasped his fists in reverence, bowed his head, and spoke: "O Supreme Great Dao, Sovereign of Nothingness! Your divine wisdom is lofty and vast; your mysterious penetration is unobstructed. As the great sage who governs all—heaven above and earth below—you merge emptily with the Dao-nature, manifesting infinite dharmic doors, stabilizing emptiness and existence. You perfectly observe all karmic retributions, distinguishing their manifestations, illuminating karmic causes with mystical insight. Out of compassion, you transform and deliver beings, opening wide the dharmic doors. We earnestly pray for your benevolent salvation. By the merit of countless kalpas and the blessings of past kindness, we are fortunate today to behold the august countenance of the Supreme Great Dao, to hear you expound the teaching. We sincerely wish that all sentient beings may attain fulfillment: guide the multitudes of deluded ones to quickly reach the shore of the Dao, and gather together in the Mahayana. May the dharmic form be majestic; may merits be fulfilled and virtues perfected. May we master the essential principles of non-action and mystical liberation, the root source of the Mahayana; may wisdom and virtue be complete, supporting the Dao to spread its transformation, universally delivering celestial and mortal beings, and rescuing all infinite sentient beings. We earnestly wish for attainment, to enter the dharmic door together, to serve your august countenance with reverence, to receive the Great Dharma directly, to make offerings and practice rituals. May all our wishes be fulfilled, merits and virtues accomplished, and wisdom and practice perfected. We earnestly pray that you may widely transform all beings, leading them to embrace the Great Dharma; we solemnly wish for attainment, for unity with the Dao."

The Primordial Heavenly Venerate then addressed the Lord of the Mysterious One: "Excellent! Excellent! Your question is of the utmost importance, supreme and essential. The karmic conditions of the Great Dharma are profoundly subtle, beyond all thought and conception. Return to your seats and listen attentively—I shall expound to you the Supreme Great Dharma, which perfects all infinite dharmic doors.

There is success and failure, birth and death, emergence and vanishing, advancement and retreat, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, length and shortness, foolishness and wisdom, light and darkness—all arising from the diverse habitual karma of past lives. Cultivating minor dharmas is like tending to the branches and leaves of the Dao. The merits and virtues gained from such practices only yield temporary blessings in the celestial and mortal realms; once the karmic fruits are exhausted, they decay and perish. Beings cannot escape samsara through the six realms, enduring endless karmic retributions for good and evil deeds—being born and dying repeatedly, cycling through life and death, accumulating good and evil karma, trapped in infinite retributions, unable to attain liberation. Without the supreme karmic affinity for the Great Dharma, they cannot be delivered instantly, cannot abandon all karmic paths, cannot leave behind the three evil paths, five wretched realms, nine dark abysses, eight difficulties, three bitter paths and five sufferings, cannot transcend the three realms, and cannot escape the cycle of life and death.

Liberation lies in non-action. All cultivated teachings of conditioned existence yield finite blessings, which ultimately decay and perish, returning to the same state as dust and earth. Failure to attain true liberation stems from the mind's inability to penetrate the truth—clinging to conditioned pursuits of merit and reward. When those karmic fruits are exhausted, all returns to dissolution. Such arduous efforts cannot escape the impermanence of transformation; beings drift along with the currents of past karma, lacking freedom, bound by external constraints, without rest.

As for the great practitioners of superior wisdom—those who comprehend the Mystery and awaken to the Dao-nature—their cultivation of merits and virtues is free from craving for rewards; their minds are unclinging. Though they practice all conditioned merits, they only use these visible dharmic manifestations to uphold the teaching and guide the ignorant, leading them to escape suffering and attain liberation, to gradually gain benefits and enter the dharmic door. Through these merits, they adorn themselves with good fortune and virtue, forming affinities with the Dao. The karmic causes and effects of their cultivation safeguard the root of life, seeking rebirth with the fruits of meritorious karma. As guides and teachers, they transform all beings through various karmic conditions, dedicating all merits to heaven and earth, gods and spirits—delivering the six realms, redeeming nine generations of ancestors, seven lines of descendants, all past deceased beings, and sentient beings trapped in sin, leading them out of the sea of suffering, into the Dao, and to liberation.

Alone, they abide in non-action, returning to the root and reverting to the origin; they calm their spirit and consciousness, purifying their qi and nature, protecting their body and mind. Internally, no thoughts arise; externally, no defilements cling; the mind abides nowhere, and practice is perfectly fulfilled. They do not generate dharmic forms by clinging to any dharma, nor do they become fettered by adhering to any teaching. They do not stir a single thought of craving for blessings, merits or karmic rewards. Their cultivation and practice appear as if they are not cultivating; their virtuous deeds and meritorious acts seem as if they bear no fruit. They dare not seek rewards, but dedicate all merits to the celestial and mortal worlds throughout the universe. They earnestly wish that through these merits, all sentient beings in the six realms may be adorned with good fortune and virtue, attain liberation together with them, enter the realm of ultimate truth, and reach the shore of the Dao as one."

The Supreme One continued to address the Lord of the Mysterious One: "You and your disciples—all who assist in propagating the Dao, awakening the deluded multitudes, serving as the great dharma boat for all men and women—shall be like the great dharma ocean, embracing and containing all rivers; like heaven and earth, sheltering all creatures. Bestow benefits upon all, teach and transform celestial and mortal beings, responding to conditions and adapting to their nature. Observe the sharpness or dullness of their roots, their foolishness or wisdom, their purity or turbidity, their clarity or confusion. Guide them through gradual or sudden awakening, measuring their capacity of body and mind, teaching in accordance with their karmic conditions, leading all to grasp the essential purport.

Small awakening leads to minor transformation; great awakening leads to profound transformation. The turbid shall be transformed in their turbidity; the virtuous shall be transformed in their virtue; the evil shall be transformed in their evil. Use skillful means to guide them gently, leading them to cross to the other shore—to encounter the Dao, to behold the Dharma, to dissolve karmic bonds, to perfect the Mahayana dharmic body, and to attain the majestic, supreme Dao."