The Heroic March Scripture is a Buddhist text that came into vogue
among Chan contemplatives in the tenth or eleventh century. It has
continued in popularity because of its detailed descriptions of
meditation states, highly valued in the absence of expert teachers.
Eventually certain formulations of this scripture were also taken over
by Taoist yogis borrowing techniques from Buddhism.
8. The Yin Convergence Classic (Yinfu jing) and the Plain Questions of the
Yellow Emperor (Huang Di suwen jing) are Taoist texts, both considered
very old. The former work is also attributed to the Yellow Emperor
mentioned in the title of the latter. This legendary figure of high antiquity is
one of the great cultural heroes of Taoism and Chinese culture in general.
One type of Taoism, called the Huang-Lao teaching after the names of
the mythical founders known as Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) and Lao-
tzu, was ostensibly concerned with immortalism.
Note that here "long life" and "transcendence of life" are presented as
rooted in psychological experience. It is common among Complete
Reality Taoists to understand immortality as higher consciousness, with
no necessary relation to the longevity of the physical body as measured
in terrestrial time. Nevertheless, the mental ease resulting from the
experience of spiritual "immortality" is also said to generally preserve
and enhance physical health by freeing the individual from destructive
stress and tension.
