Chapter 7: Blind Men Touching an Elephant
I suppressed my inner excitement and spent half an afternoon browsing through this "supplement" to get a general idea of it. Since it's a supplement, many parts only recorded the methods of supplementation and revision without explaining what they were supplementing or revising, making it seem disjointed and incomplete. It really cost me a lot of brain cells. However, I roughly understood about 70-80% of it.
According to one of the records in the "supplement", "In the summer of the first year of Chengsheng (a reign title), I observed a shallow blue fire-like aura at the west suburban tomb. At noon, I went to investigate but didn't find anything. At midnight, I went again and saw it. I used the 'Xuan Water' method to suppress it, but it retaliated and bit back...". Based on this passage, I analyzed that the person who wrote this page should be a Daoist from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period. "Chengsheng" is the reign title of Emperor Yuan of Liang, and the 'duster' mentioned must not be something held by a Buddhist monk.
The entire page records what appears to be a supplement to a book called "Wu Xing Guan Qi Shu" (Five Elements Observation Method) written by his master. Based on various secondary details and my own "brilliant" reasoning, I deduced that this person is an aura-observing Daoist, and the records on this page are likely events or insights he encountered during his observations.
The so-called "observation of aura" is not limited to simply "observing", because many of the methods recorded here involve modifying or even reversing the aura. If we only consider simple observation, it can be divided into five categories or levels. The most basic level is observing blood aura, which includes all living things that breathe. The method of observation only requires the naked eye.
The next level is sensing soul aura, which refers to the residual aura left behind by living beings after they die. I think this "sensing soul aura" should be a method for seeing ghosts. Observing this type of thing cannot be done with just the naked eye; it requires "sensing", although there is no clear record of how to do so.
The next level up is observing spirit aura, which refers to the aura emitted by living things such as plants and animals, or even inanimate objects like rocks and wood, that have absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth over a long period. This type of aura has a certain influence on external events. For this stage, the "supplement" records an event: "I observed the spring aura outside Xu Fei's palace, and with my spiritual eyes, I saw a patch of yin soil three feet underground, as big as a winnowing basket. I moved the 'Kunlun Jiuyang Song' (a type of pine tree) to suppress the evil influence of the yin soil...".
As for the more advanced "participating in heaven and understanding earth" in the art of observing qi, there is no clear record in "Supplement to the Canons". It only mentions one sentence: "The qi of heaven and earth, observe it and damage yang, move it and shorten lifespan, be cautious!" It seems that if this heavenly and earthly qi is moved, it's probably not a matter of "reversing yin and yang, lying down for half a year".
In addition, I also found that the difficulty of the Taoist's observation or subjugation of some things is often proportional to the color of the aura emitted by those things themselves. After summarizing, I found that the aura can be divided into five levels from low to high.
Generally speaking, animals and plants (including humans) emit their own colors before practicing qigong.
Slightly iridescent with a general silvery white color.
Higher is red.
When cultivated to a certain extent, it will emit a blue aura. Once the blue is basically a threshold, in order to cross this threshold, humans must respond to difficulties, and plants and animals must pass through tribulations.
If it succeeds by luck, then comes purple. It is said that Taishang Laojun is "Purple Energy Arrives from the East".
The highest is said to be only a few bodhisattvas and Buddha who have reached that state, which is "colored gas". Everyone should have seen pictures or stickers of bodhisattvas or Buddhas, and there is usually a five-colored halo behind them. In fact, it's the gas after artistic processing. Why is it said to be processed through art? Because the gas wraps around the whole body, if it's emitted, it won't just emit from the head.
It was already evening when I went down to eat, and I made do with eating a bit. The cook team leader kept muttering on and on in his Sichuan-accented Mandarin about who had taken his peanut oil. I pretended not to hear him, quickly ate a few mouthfuls, and hastily went back upstairs.
I picked up the paper again, and after reorganizing it, I was still unable to grasp its entirety no matter how much I referenced and compared. The half-remembered "Breath Gathering Method" and a few incomplete incantations were my harvest for the entire day. The Breath Gathering Method is literally a technique that absorbs and condenses external energy for one's own use; in simpler terms, it's the foundation of the "Observing Qi" technique, playing a crucial role throughout the process. I found that observing qi isn't an easy task - phrases like "Blindness for three days; lying down for half a year" appear multiple times throughout the entire "Supplement to the Legacy". Therefore, I deduced that if one exhausts their absorbed energy and still tries to force control over it, they will end up harming their own vital energy.
I put the paper under my pillow, closed my eyes to rest my tired brain, who knew I fell asleep in a daze. Since we were stationed in the deep mountains, every time it got dark, a large mosquito with a black base and white flowers would arrive at our dormitory on schedule. So every night, not using a mosquito net was impossible to sleep, strangely that night I slept with my arms and legs exposed for a whole night, and there wasn't even a single bite on me.
