seems to have passed into Complete Reality Taoism from Chan, but a
parallel idea occurs in certain pre-Chan Taoist scriptures. The formation of
the embryo represents the initial awakening of the mind. Nurturing the
embryo, a term frequently found in Chan, refers to the process of
development and maturation after awakening.
17. "Concentrating the spirit on where the celestial mind rests when the
embryo leaves the shell" is a typical Chan Buddhist formulation, here
expressed in the terminology of Taoism. The Northern Taoist master Liu I-
ming also uses the metaphor of the dung beetle in his Awakening to the Tao,
where he uses it similarly to describe the creation of
1.
the transcendent being by concentration of spirit: "In the midst of
ecstatic trance there is a point of living potential, coming into being from
nonbeing, whereby the spiritual embryo can be formed and the spiritual
body be produced."
18. This passage shows that the division of so-called higher and lower souls
is regarded as hot a primal metaphysical reality but a temporal psychic
phenomenon. When the text says that the light, clear energy characteristic
of the higher soul is Obtained from cosmic space," it refers to the
equanimous spacelike awareness taught in Chan Buddhism and Complete
Reality Taoism. This spacelike awareness contains everything while resting
on nothing; it is the basic experience of the Chan master or Taoist wizard
