Threefold Teachings on Inner Nature 云宫法语

Composed by Wang Kesun in the Yuan Dynasty.

Completed in the Wuxu year of the Dade reign period (1298), it consists of two scrolls and is included in the Tai Xuan Section of The Daozang.

Threefold Teachings on Inner Nature

The book is divided into seven sections: the Innate Section, the Acquired Section, the Nourishing Life Section, the Understanding Goodness Section, the Practicing Virtue Section, the Subtlety of the Dao Section, and the Spiritual Transcendence Section. Each section compiles discourses on nature and life from the three teachings with brief explanations and elaborations, aiming to integrate the theories of nature and life in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and rectify their prevalent flaws.

The author holds that: "Confucian scholars regard nurturing and following one’s innate nature as the priority, and understanding and establishing one’s life destiny as the paramount pursuit", thus their merit ultimately culminates in assisting heaven and perfecting the transformation of all things; "Taoists and Buddhists illuminate the mind to perceive the nature, cultivate life to restore its primordial state, and ultimately attain the subtle existence and true emptiness, uniting with the Dao and attaining the true reality."

He also states: "The Dao of Confucianism is attained through rectifying the mind and making the intention sincere; the Dao of Buddhism and Taoism is also attained through rectifying the mind and making the intention sincere. When all human desires are purged and the principle of heaven prevails, this is the key to the state where a single thought ceases to arise and the complete true self reveals itself naturally."

The author’s intention is evidently to base himself on Confucianism and integrate it with Buddhism and Taoism, with its core insights echoing the practice of Internal Alchemy in the syncretic context of the three teachings.