The Jade Emperor’s Mind Seal Classic: The Taoist Guide to Health, Longevity, and Immortality

112 Pages·2003·1.84 MB·English

by  Stuart Alve Olson

THE JADE EMPEROR'S MIND SEAL CLASSIC
- A Taoist Guide to Health, Longevity and Immortality -
The Jade Emperor's
MIND SEAL CLASSIC
- A Taoist Guide to Health, Longevity and Immortality -
Translation and Commentary by Stuart Alve Olson
The Jade Emperor's Mind Seal Classic
Copyright 1992 by Stuart Alve Olson
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles or reviews.
For information address:
Dragon Door Publications
P.O. Box 4381
St. Paul, MN 55104, USA
First Edition, February 1993
Second Printing, May 1993
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 92-73714
ISBN 0-938045-10-5
Printed on recycled paper
Dedicated to the memory of Liang Shu-wen
Acknowledgements
Much appreciation goes to Master T.T. Liang for first
giving me his copy of the Jade Emperor's Mind Seal Classic,
for helping me initially with some of the more difficult con-
cepts expressed in the work and for his contribution of the
cover calligraphy. But mostly I wish to thank him for his
years of instruction, guidance and friendship, which has
made life itself more enjoyable. He is truly a living immortal.
To Professor Wu Yi, who first taught me about Lao
Tzu's thought during my residency at the City of Ten-
Thousands Buddhas, my deepest gratitude for all his patient
tutoring.
Without question I must thank all the monks at the
City of Ten-Thousand Buddhas. They changed the course of
my life and by pure example revealed to me the meaning of
self-cultivation. To them I bow in deep respect.
To my wife, Loa Lian-hwa, for patiently typing out the
first draft of this work and for her constant insistence that I
finish this project before daring to enter my files of numer-
ous other unfinished materials. To her I yield and say thank
you.
To John Du Cane, who again through his editing allows
me to say what I mean, so that I may mean what I say. No
easy task.
Again, many thanks to the "book wizard" Randy
Scholes for his book and cover design and to Mike Urseth
for getting it all into and out of the computer the way it is
supposed to be.
To The Minneapolis Institute of Art and The John R.
Van Derlip Fund for permission to use the photographs for
the cover art and frontispiece.
Finally, I wish to acknowledge the indispensable help
given so generously during the many phases of this book by
Jay and Page Cowles, Joanne Von Blon, Harry Cunliffe,
Richard Peterson, Larry Hawkins, Lara Puffer, Fred Marych
and, possibly, by the Jade Emperor himself.
THE JADE EMPEROR'S
MIND SEAL CLASSIC
Introduction
13
Historical Background
17
The Jade Emperor's Mind Seal Classic
41
Commentary
45
The Three Treasures of Immortality
89
Chinese Phonetic Text, for Recitation
108
Translator's Afterword
111
The Jade Emperor seated in his court passing judgements.
Introduction
To my knowledge this is the first English translation of this
popular Taoist text. Admittedly, when I first read through
the text, I was not all that enthusiastic about translating it. It
appeared to be no more than a jumbled collection of Taoist
aphorisms, disjointed and unclear in purpose. For one reason
or another I kept finding myself returning to it as a reference
while working on other Taoist works. Eventually I realized
why Taoist monks, especially of the Chuan Chen (Complete
Reality) and Lung Men (Dragon Door) sects of the White
Cloud Monastery, in Beijing, found it so valuable in their
daily rituals and festival ceremonies. The text is, without
question, a very concise overview of what each Taoist aspires
to spiritually.
Hopefully, as readers, you will come to share my belief
in the importance of this text. I have, with limited knowl-
edge, attempted to make clear the entire text, from the title
to the passages. The real difficulty in doing this however is
that the verses of the text are in the framework of mystical
experience. The language of the mystic is very difficult to
adapt into everyday language, for the very nature of mystical
experience is beyond normal mundane experiences and lan-
guage. Therefore, in order to further clarify the text I have
added a work from the Lung Men sect, Three Treasures of
Immortality, a discourse with various verses from accom-
plished tao shih (Taoist masters) of the past, which reveals a
great deal about Taoist thought, especially in connection
with this text.
The Chinese Phonetic Text, for Recitation has also been