Discourses on Cultivation by Master Xujing 三十代天师虚靖真君语录

Composed by Zhang Jixian, the Orthodox Heavenly Master of the late Northern Song Dynasty, and compiled by Zhang Yuchu, the Forty-Third Heavenly Master in the early Ming Dynasty.

Seven scrolls, included in the Zhengyi Section of The Daozang.

Discourses on Cultivation by Master Xujing

This book is a collection of literary works by Zhang Jixian, containing nine essays and more than two hundred poems, odes, and hymns. Most of the contents discuss the theories and methods of Dao cultivation.

Volume One includes nine prose pieces such as Discourse on the Mind, Dharma Address at the Altar Opening, and Reply to Lin Lingsu. In Discourse on the Mind, it expounds the method of cultivating the mind, stating: “The mind is the foundation of all dharmas, the master of the nine apertures, the root of life and death, the source of good and evil. It is born together with heaven and earth, and is the ruler of the divine beings.” It further states that if one can maintain right mindfulness, calm the mind, and abide in the One and in emptiness, one may transcend the mundane world. If a single thought arises, one falls into the suffering of transmigration.

Volumes Two through Seven consist entirely of poems, odes, and hymns. Among them is Song of the Great Dao, presented by Zhang Jixian to Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, which praises controlling the spirit and abiding in qi as the essence of Dao cultivation. There are also forty-eight Golden Elixir poems, all expounding the teachings of Internal Alchemy.