Nan-po Tzu-k'uei (1) asked Nu-yu (2) "Sir, you are old but have the look of a child. How is this?" "I have learned Tao," replied Nu Yu. "Can Tao be learned?" Nan-po Tzu-k'uei said. "Ah! How can it?" replied Nu Yu. "You are not the type of man. Pu-liang I (3) had the ability of the sage but did not know the teachings. I knew A the teachings but did not have his ability. I wanted to teach him so he could become a sage. But that was not such a simple case. It seemed easy to teach the doctrines of a sage to a man with his ability. But I still had to wait to teach him. It was three days before he was able to transcend this world. After he transcended this world, I waited for seven days more and then he was able to transcend all material things. After he transcended all material things, I waited for nine days more and then he was able to transcend all life. Having transcended all life, he became as clear and bright as the morning. Having become as clear and bright as the morning, he was able to see the One. Having met the One, he was then able to abolish the distinction of past and present. Having abolished the past and present, he was then able to enter the realm of neither life nor death. Then, to him, the destruction of life did not mean death and the production of life did not mean life. In dealing with things, he would not lean forward or backward to accommodate them. To him everything was in the process of destruction, everything was in the process of perfection. This is called tranquility in disturbance. Tranquility in disturbance means that it is especially the midst of disturbance that [tranquility] becomes perfect."





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