The Golden Pass and Jade Lock Secrets 重阳真人金关玉锁诀

Composed by Wang Zhe in the Jin Dynasty, this work is a single volume included in the Zhengyi Section of The Daozang.

Divided into fifteen sections, the text uses concise language to expound the foundational tenets of the The Quanzhen Dao and the basic norms for introductory cultivation practice. Its content falls into three categories. First, it elaborates on the daily practice rules for Quanzhen Daoists, covering sections such as dwelling in a hermitage, wandering as a mendicant, studying scriptures, preparing medicinal remedies, building hermitages, and choosing spiritual companions. It stipulates that Quanzhen Daoists must leave their families to live in hermitages, observe precepts rigorously, investigate the principles of life and innate nature, dispense medicine to relieve the suffering of others, live in frugality, and associate with virtuous and wise companions.

The Golden Pass and Jade Lock Secrets

Second, it expounds the essential tenets of Internal Alchemy cultivation, including sections on meditation, calming the restless mind, refining one’s innate nature, harmonizing the five kinds of qi, and unifying life and nature. It holds that Dao cultivation should focus on purity of mind and freedom from excessive desires, stabilizing the mind and abiding in one’s true nature, as well as refining qi and nourishing the spirit; forging and cultivating life and nature is the fundamental of Dao practice.

Finally, it discusses the realms that Dao practitioners should attain, including sections on the sage’s Dao, transcending the Three Realms, methods of nourishing the body, and transcending the mortal world. It argues that only through years of unwavering dedication and persistent accumulation of merits and virtuous deeds can a Dao practitioner transcend mortal status and become a sage. The so-called transcendence of the Three Realms and the mortal world does not refer to the physical body ascending to immortality and escaping the mortal realm, but rather having the spirit roam the heavenly realms while the body remains in the human world; the physical form dwells in the mortal dust yet the mind is enlightened beyond all material attachments. Hence it is stated: "To cast away all thoughts and worries from the mind is to transcend the Desire Realm; to free the mind from all worldly perceptions is to transcend the Form Realm; to not cling to the view of emptiness is to transcend the Formless Realm." Transcending these Three Realms allows one’s spirit and true innate nature to abide in the immortal realm. This stands as an important revision of the early Taoist doctrine of physical immortality by the Quanzhen Dao, which incorporated the ideological insights of Chan Buddhism.