The Scripture of Forty-nine Chapters

A text attributed to: Virtuous Supreme Lord 道德天尊(one of “three pure ones”)

The Scripture of Forty-nine Chapters, by Ultra Supreme Emptiness Emperor, the Heavenly Lord

Chapter 1: Cultivating Merits

The Heavenly Lord said:

If any one wishes to cultivate Tao, he should firstly cultivate merits. All the supreme emperors of various heavens, the lofty honored ones of various heavens, the Real Persons in various heavens, and the divinities and immortals of various heavens, had been cultivating merits diligently, so that they had ascended the positions of Sage and Reality, and their ranks were granted according to their merits recorded by the heavens.

If one has accumulated fully one thousand merits, both his body and his divinity (souls) will become immortal; if his merits are near but less than one thousand, his divinity will become immortal but his physical body will decay; if his contributions benefit trillions of people, he will be a guest of the Jade Pure Pellucid One (The Original Universal Lord). He will slough off his mundane body and become an immortal person, and the immortal person will then become a Real Person.

A Real Person is unhindered, and is thoroughly dissolved in the Nature; when his body disperses, he is the diffuse uncreated(pre-cosmic) energy; when the energy converge, he appears as a person. He has unrestricted supernatural abilities, and can transform himself into anything or even be formless; he can fly through the Three Realms, and travel all the dark and bright regions freely.

When I was living in the mundane world, I made contributions to the world, and then when I ascended to the heaven, the gods of heavens announced my merits.

If anyone can vow to pull and relieve all living beings from their sufferings and his heart never retrogrades (keep practicing it and never regret), he will naturally achieve the true Tao.

Chapter 2: Keeping the precept of being vegetarian

The Heavenly Lord said:

The precept of being vegetarian is the fundamental of Tao, and is a bridge of truth, which across the ocean of births and death, between the ferry and the other shore of liberation.

If you wish to learn Tao, you should be a vegetarian and keep the precepts, and your every single thought should be righteous and Real, then the evils and delusions will vanish of themselves.

Most living beings had abandoned the pure realm and are indulging in meat-eating, this defiles both their bodies and minds. They are like the hungry ghosts who eat dead bodies but cannot extinguish the fire that are burning their hungry intestines so that they can never eat their fill; they are also like the flies and worms who scramble for putrid and stinky things and stay still on them as if those are sandalwood.

In a meat eater’s body, the three palaces are turbid, and the six viscera are defiled, the dark souls (PUG) of the dead bodies (that he ate) are exciting and thriving, and are always willing to guide him to the place of death.

Therefore, you should cut off the root of desires, enter into the pure and tranquil state, do not put any living being into suffering, do not commit anything evil, do not produce any delusions, and do not arouse any evil from your heart.

You should regard the precepts as the laws of the world, when you want to violate any of them, you should be aware of the punishment with fear. You should uphold the teachings of precepts sincerely and respectfully, keep the precepts solemnly as if they are in front of you, and as if you are facing something that you fear. You should keep your heart righteous and solemn, eliminate all thoughts, and listen attentively to the non-dual, then you will be able to experience the Correct Truth, and become my disciple.

Chapter 3: Knowing the Origin

The Heavenly Lord said:

The empty and inexistent Original-Thusness (nature), is where Tao comes. It is real, uniform, and non-dual. The nature of it is pellucid and luminous, and it is round (perfect), bright, and self-sufficient.

Not falling into any views, being free from dust and defilements, having nothing more to learn, having nothing more to cultivate, understanding the Center completely, not going, coming, or staying, no choosing or excluding, neither joyous nor suffering, no death or birth, and no past or present, is the true thorough heartfelt-realization.

Observe all phenomena and realize that they are equal to the emptiness, eliminate the worldly delusions, and unite your body with the Original-Thusness.

Chapter 4: The response to Virtue

The Heavenly Lord said:

If a person has one Virtue, his one hundred divinities are all peaceful; if a person has ten Virtues, the god in charge of lives will grant him an additional lifespan; if a person has one hundred Virtues, his name will be recorded by Eastern Glory Heavenly Emperor; if a person has one thousand Virtues, his blessings will be so great that can benefit his seven generations of ancestors, and when he dies, his souls will become immortal. When one has fully ten thousand Virtues, the Jade Seal (FU) will descend to receive him, thousands of divinities will come to visit him, and he will ascend to the heavenly Emperor’s palace in a daytime.

Chapter 5: The power of Law(*) can protect you

The Heavenly Lord said:

You know that you should pity others but do not know that you should also pity yourself. Your body is illusively made up of the four grand elements: the Earth, the Water, the Fire, and the Wind. People use clay to make containers and bake them in fire to make them hard. Likewise, your body is a container and the Law is the fire, which can protect your body and make it indestructible.

(* Law: The fundamental principle of Universes, and the teachings/techniques relating to it)

Chapter 6: Accumulating virtues is accumulating treasures

The Heavenly Lord said to Wonderful Practice Real Person:

If you ascend to a mountain of treasures and see that there are myriads of lovely treasures here and there, will you leave the mountain without taking any of them?

Wonderful Practice Real Person said:
If I return without taking any of them, it is called a waste.

The Heavenly Lord said:
Good indeed! A person, being alive in the world, is like being in a mountain of treasures — the many and various virtuous relationships (advantageous conditions for doing good deeds) are all treasures. If you do not carry out virtuous deeds, in the future when you leave the world, it will be like ascending to the mountain of treasures but returning with nothing in your hands, how regretful it is!

Chapter 7: Eliminating the defilements

The Heavenly Lord said:

Your body is not pure, it is polluted by various defilements.

When there are dirtiness accumulated on one’s body, he will wish to bath, but his heart being defiled and his six-roots(*) being polluted, he does not wish to clean them — because he is deluded and perplexed.

The defilements on a body should be washed using worldly water, and the defilements on one’s heart should be washed using the holy teachings (Lit. speeches of Law). When one’s six-roots are clean, and both his outer and inner part are thoroughly illuminated, and he is free from all defilements, then, he is able to practice the Non-Action (non-doing/Moe-Whai).

(* The six roots: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind)

Chapter 8: Tasting Tao

The Heavenly Lord said:

After eating honey, your mouth is filled with sweetness, and your tongue has the remaining flavor. Tasting my words is like that, and much greater than that.

Chapter 9: Cutting off Causes and Relationships

The Heavenly Lord said:

All living beings are producing causes from causes, and producing relationships from relationships. Because of the causes and relationships, they have tied myriads of knots of afflictions and committed countless actions, therefore they are fallen into births and deaths and are rotating ceaselessly on the wheel of reincarnations. They are like bubbles in a wave, which appear repeatedly and disappear repeatedly.

You should know that the origin of all is empty; living beings produce various views by themselves, and adhere to all by themselves. One’s various relatives are the roots of afflictions, and are equal to prisons. Without realizing the true Heart, one is like a greatly sinful person, whose body is being bound since the non-beginning and unable to untie himself.

Now for the sake of you, I will eliminate your previous and succeeding causes, and cut off all your relationships: You should understand that the causes are not causes and the relationships are not relationships. Without causes and relationships, there comes the pellucid and bright stillness — in such a state you do not go or come, do not depart or attach, then all will be liberated and will transcend the Three Realms.

Chapter 10: Reforming yourself

The Heavenly Lord said:

All men and women should bow, pay homage to, and devote their lives to the Three Treasures (*). They should wash away their defilements to make the grounds of their hearts clean; they should repent and reform themselves, and vow not to commit the bad deeds any more, then they will be able to be my disciples.

(* The Three Treasures: Tao, Scriptures, and Teachers [of Tao])

If a man or a woman, when he examines his innermost heart(Lit. Center) in the present of the Three Treasures, he really has nothing to repent since he was born, then he is my true disciple.

Chapter 11: Giving

The Heavenly Lord said:

When you have more than you need, it is not difficult to give;
When you are in insufficiency, it is difficult to give.

To give what you do not desire is not difficult,
To give what you love very much is difficult;

All blessings come from joy;
All givings can arouse joy from the hearts [of both the givers and the receivers]

All your possessions and even your life are temporarily lent to you, when the time limit comes, you will lose all of them. Therefore, you should give what you have to others, make offerings to the Three Treasures, and give the teachings of Tao to awaken and enlighten all beings, then you will gain many and various virtuous fruits, and will gain boundless recompenses of blessings.

Chapter 12: Diligent Practice

The Heavenly Lord said:

Those who know about my Tao may not be able to practice it; those who practice my Tao may not persist for long, so that it is difficult for them to reach Tao.

If you can know about the Tao, practice it diligently, and persist for long without laziness, as if you are crossing an ocean and seeking to reach the shore everyday, and remain the same from the beginning to the end, then Tao will be gained by you.

Chapter 13: Refining yourself to remove the defilements and become Real

The Heavenly Lord said to Wonderful Practice Real Person:

Before your coming into being, the ‘You’ — it is in chaos and is not anything; it does not look or listen, and is united with the True Eternalness; it has neither name nor appearance, then who is the Wonderful Practice Real Person?

I now will expound for you the principle of the uncreated: All the various forms and appearances are illusory and false, if you are sentimentally attached to this illusory body, it will simply bind your True Self.

It is like refining a sword, after melting it and removing its impurity, the fine steel will finally be produced.

On the path to Tao, if you can be brave, staunch, upright, and unstoppable, you will become a wonderful container (of Tao).

Chapter 14: Expounding the Teachings

The Heavenly Lord said to Wonderful Practice Real Person:

If one follows my Tao, that is called a virtuous deed;
If one deviates from my Tao, that is called a vicious deed.

The best ones accumulate Virtues;
The next best accumulate Merits;
The next make virtuous speeches.
Although the levels they achieve may be different,
They will all return to Tao.

All living beings, due to their upside-down states and false thoughts, commit the deeds that will lead them to hell without awareness of it, and enthusiastically throw themselves into the river of love.

You should expound for all living beings the teachings of Tao, use skillful means to receive and lead them, to make all of them gain blessings and achieve the Non-Action.

Chapter 15: The Achievement of Reality

Wonderful Practice Real Person asked the Heavenly Lord: “What is called ‘Real Person’? What Tao should one cultivate to gain this fruit?”

The Heavenly Lord said: “One should practice asceticism absorbedly, cut off all mundane desires, arouse no false thoughts, be free from defilements and attachments, refine his body and convert it into the essential energy, refine the essential energy and convert it into a divinity, and refine the divinity and make it united with Tao. When one’s body is dissolved into the Original-Thusness (nature), all things are belong to his body of oneness; his one body can manifest all phenomena, he is not restricted by existence or inexistence, and he is forever free from births and deaths, then, he is called a Real Person.”

Chapter 16: The differences among the three vehicles

The Heavenly Lord said:

As a learning practitioner, his eyes do not look at the illusory world, his ears do not listen to the illusory world, and his heart does not perceive the illusory world. He refrains from all actions to eliminate all situations, and then will reach Tao.

As a learnt practitioner, he looks but does not see; he listens but does not hear, and his heart has nothing to perceive. He acts but does not go with the action, to observe all the beautiful subtleness.

As a practitioner of the great vehicle, he is free from seeing and sees everything, free from hearing and hears everything, free from knowing and knows everything. Both his inner part and outer part are thoroughly communicating and connected to the undividedness, therefore he can understand the universe and travel around limitless realms.

Chapter 17: Persuading others to do virtuous deeds

The Heavenly Lord said:

Giving money to others is less good than giving virtuous words to others. The gold is costly, but it will be used up; however, the virtuous words in one’s mind are treasures for his whole life. All divinities, immortals and Real Persons achieve the fruit of Tao by the aid of the supreme pivotal words.

If you can preach this teaching universally to all living beings and make them uphold and practice it, you will gain immeasurable blessings.

Chapter 18: The order of priority between hardship and enjoyment

The Heavenly Lord said:

A commendable person who studies Tao cuts off his various loves and desires, rejects all meats and greasy foods, keeps being a vegetarian, and keeps his mind pure and pellucid, to research and experience the unsurpassed Tao — this is called “seeking enjoyments in hardship”. If one can understand those enjoyments, he will not even notice the hardship.

Most living beings love richness and high positions, they are deluded by sounds and phenomena so that they give loose to their passions and desires. They seem to be enjoying, but in fact they are producing sufferings.

As for my Tao, the joy comes after the hardship;
As for most living beings, the sufferings come after the enjoyments.

I now have told you this, you should realize it and be cautious.

Chapter 19: The non-dual gate

The Heavenly Lord said:

My Tao does not discriminate between the near and the distant;
My eyes do not discriminate between the noble and the poor.

I regard all living beings equally. For those who have the nature of virtue, I will help them to achieve the virtue; for those who have the nature of Tao, I will help them to achieve Tao.

If there is a selection, there is a gate of the dual.

Chapter 20: No Killing

The Heavenly Lord said:

If you wish to learn my Tao, be careful not to even think of killing.

All living beings love to be alive and fear for death.

My life is his life, thus we should be careful not to despise the lives of other beings.

Some people’s mouths and stomachs desire fleshy and greasy things so that living beings are killed and eaten as food. However, if you can have mercy in your heart and consider their fears and pains, you cannot bear to eat them — this is to prove that you are carrying out the merciful and compassionate practice.

Chapter 21: Purity and Tranquility

The Heavenly Lord said:

A commendable person who studies Tao sets his base on purity and tranquility. He keeps the abstinent precepts perennially, has hardly any illusory thoughts, and sings in harmony with the Ultra-Emptiness. He regards all evil theories as his enemies, and keeps himself away from loves(attachments) and desires in a way like evading smelly and dirty things. He eliminates his root of sufferings and afflictions, and cuts off his relationships with loves and attachments.

Then, although he is in the dark and turbid ocean of existences, he will naturally be in a pure state like a white lotus, which grows from dirty soil but comes out upright from the water without being soiled. His five Tzorngs(*) will be clean and peaceful, his three fields(*) will be glorious and pure, and Ultra-Mystery Real Person will naturally become his neighbor.

(* The five Tzorngs: the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys)

(* The three fields:
1. The upper elixir field in one’s head;
2. The middle elixir field in one’s heart;
3. The lower elixir field near one’s navel)

Chapter 22: No Dishonesty

The Heavenly Lord said to Wonderful Practice Real Person:

The teachings of the Great Vehicle can help one transcend the Three Realms. If one does not practice my Tao, it is because he thinks that my words are dishonest. In fact, I had achieved Tao because of my honesty.

The faith is a treasure of one’s heart. All Real Persons achieve the fruit of Tao by the aid of their faiths.

Chapter 23: Kindness and Compassion

The Heavenly Lord said:

Kindness and compassion are the true nature of you all living beings. You should always treat all beings with kindness and compassion and should not have the heart to hurt them. You should regard the sufferings of others as if they were happening to yourself, and wish to save and protect the living beings and make them all peaceful and happy.

All living beings are trapped in sins and sufferings due to their foolishness and ignorance; however, if you do not save them and pull them out from the sufferings, you are as foolish and ignorant as them.

You should always practice with your great compassionate hearts, and then you will achieve the unsurpassed Tao naturally.

Chapter 24: All things return to the One

The Heavenly Lord said:

All rivers, which have myriads of branches, return to the ocean;
All things, which are various and tangled, return to Tao.

Living beings are attached [to various things] so that discriminations arise. However, there is a perfect and penetrating truth, which you will find out when you master and digest the meanings of all things without missing any of them.

Chapter 25: Cutting off Impurities and Turbidities

The Heavenly Lord said:

All living beings come from impurities and turbidities, and leave with impurities and turbidities. If anyone of them can have pure faith in my teachings of precepts, reject defilements and attachments, and cut off messy thoughts, he will be free from the turbid waves and enter the gate of my Law. They will be free from both coming and going, and will transcend the worldly time completely.

Chapter 26: Washing your Heart

The Heavenly Lord said:

If your six roots (*) are not clean, you should wash your heart, because if your heart is free from defilements, you will also be free from defilements naturally. Your heart is like a president who rules all, and taming your heart is like taming a fierce tiger, relaxation or negligence can cause your body to be harmed.

(* The six roots: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind)

Chapter 27: Achieving the Reality

The Heavenly Lord said:

A commendable person who studies Tao is pure and empty so that he can embrace the oppositions, save others from dangers, relieve others from sufferings, be kind to everything, and eliminate all venomous and vicious thoughts. He regards all living beings as his own relatives, so that he always wishes to give foods and clothes to those suffering from hunger and cold, wishes to give treatments and medicines to those suffering from diseases, and wishes to reconcile those who have hatred and enmity towards each others. Practicing with such a kind and compassionate heart, he will gain immeasurable blessings, and will become a Real Person in the future.

Chapter 28: Possessions are the Sources of Troubles

The Heavenly Lord said:

Possessions are the sources of troubles, and accumulating possessions is accumulating the causes of misfortunes.

Possessions are the roots of loves and desires, and can cause all sins.

Only if one does not regard possessions as possessions, he will be able to enter the realm of Tao.

Chapter 29: The Unsurpassed Words which Benefit All

The Heavenly Lord said:

All living beings are being pulled by loves and desires like stepping on a violent fire and having no chance to rest — and from being young to being old they never realize it by themselves. However, my words are like delicious dew, which can be sprinkled upon all and make their hearts gain the refreshing coolness naturally.

Chapter 30: Forbearance

The Heavenly Lord said:

Forbearance is a treasure of your body, be careful not to compete against others. When any demons come, I just defeat them by sitting with forbearance. Not competing against the demons, the comers will of themselves turn their weapons back. Hurting others is hurting yourself, however, I have actually gained the peace and tranquility by not hurting anyone. By forbearance, all Real Persons had achieved their supremeness.

Chapter 31: Cultivating the Farmlands of Blessings (*)

The Heavenly Lord said:

A person’s lifetime elapses as quickly as a thunderbolt, and in such a spring dream, a baby becomes an elder swiftly. Therefore you should cultivate virtues heroically. There is nothing more tragic than living in the world without cultivating the farmlands of blessings — such living beings, their eyes being dim, what can they depend on?

(* “Cultivating the farmlands of blessings” means doing virtuous deeds, preaching virtuous teachings, making offerings to holy ones, etc. By doing them living beings can gain many blessings, therefore it is called “Cultivating the farmlands of blessings”.)

Chapter 32: The Correct Thoughts

The Heavenly Lord said:

If you have no incorrect thought in your mind, your one [correct] thought can spread all over the universe. In all universes there are sages and holy ones.

You should always regard all equally, and carry out the unsurpassed practices diligently, then you will naturally see the Elder of Emptiness and Nothingness, and enter into the Great Vehicle after a long practice.

Chapter 33: Being Free From Existences and Inexistences

The Heavenly Lord said:

Most living beings, being delusory, incorrectly perceive many and various existences; however, my Tao is originally free from existences.

Some living beings, being upside-down, incorrectly perceive various inexistences; however, my Tao is also free from them.

It is neither exist nor non-exist, and it is both exist and non-exist — those who understand this can transcend all.

Chapter 34: Giving the Words and Being Free From Sins

Wonderful Practice Real Person asked the Heavenly Lord:

What kind of giving is most meritorious and virtuous?

The Heavenly Lord said:
Giving my words to others is most meritorious and virtuous.

Wonderful Practice Real Person asked:
Being in the world, what is one’s treasure?

The Heavenly Lord said:
Having no sin in one’s body, is his most precious treasure.

Chapter 35: Accepting the Retributions that come with your Conditions and Relationships

Wonderful Practice Real Person asked the Heavenly Lord:

Can one know the causes and relationships produced in his previous lifetimes?

The Heavenly Lord said:
Ponder upon the repayments and relationships you have in this lifetime, then you will know the causes and relationships produced in your previous lifetimes;

Cultivate causes and relationships in this lifetime, then you will gain the corresponding repayments and relationships in your next lifetime.

The uncreated energy of Oneness is impartial, what one planted will naturally grow. If one planted a seed of bramble, how can he expect that it will grow up into a forest of lofty trees?

Chapter 36: The Greatest Power

Wonderful Practice Real Person asked the Heavenly Lord:
What is the greatest power in the world?

The Heavenly Lord said:
The power of kindness and compassion is the most vast and great power. The hearts of kindness and compassion can melt all; the practices of kindness and compassion can tame all. Vicious ones cannot compete with it, and atrocious ones cannot fight against it — wherever it proceeds, it is always invincible. Thus, this power is vast, great, and boundless.

Chapter 37: Corresponding to Tao

The Heavenly Lord said to Wonderful Practice Real Person:

If you wish to learn my Tao, your mouth should be free from gossips, your Heart should be free from the appearances of others and yourself, and your body should be free from defilements and attachments, then you will correspond to the Tao of Non-action.

All beings are illusory created; they fall into various appearances because of their various causes. You should realize that enjoyments are equal to sufferings, and terminate all of them by One thought to reach the Non-action.

Chapter 38: The Heart is the Source of Afflictions and Happiness

The Heavenly Lord said:

You should not have any thought of harming anyone in your Heart. Although others may not know what you think, the divinities know them all. Harming others is harming yourself, and wronging others is wronging yourself. Heavens and hells are all created by the Heart.

Chapter 39: Tao and the Teachings

The Heavenly Lord said:

My Tao is like a burning torch from which everyone can get fire, yet the fire will never be exhausted. Whatever the fire is given to, the fire can make all of them cooked (mature/perfect).

My teachings are the sources of springs, which can irrigate the withered and dying beings, and can moisten and nurture all.

However, being obstructed by delusions, living beings go in the opposite directions from Tao.

Chapter 40: Entering into the Beautiful Marvels

The Heavenly Lord said:

For anyone who enters into a gate of my teachings, if he can learn to the point that there is nothing more for him to learn, practice to the point that there is nothing more for him to practice, and perfect all to the point that there is nothing more for him to perfect, then that is called Entering the Gate of Myriad Beautiful Marvels — a state in which he can thoroughly see all without any obstruction.

Living beings are grasping various things and unable to let go, so that some of them mistakenly guess the beginning and ending of all, and claim that their theories are the topmost truths, but in fact, they are still deluded by various phenomena.

Chapter 41: Avoiding High Positions and Great Wealth

The Heavenly Lord said:

The purity and tranquility are the bases of Tao, while high positions and great wealth are the disasters for Tao cultivation.

You should not dislike being poor and unknown to public, because inside them are excellent flavors.

The foolish and ignorant are attached to worldly desires, like the moths flying into the light of fire without awareness of the danger, and are killed subsequently.

Chapter 42: The Equality between the Good and the Bad

The Heavenly Lord said:

You should be careful, refrain from loose speeches and false speeches, do not deceive or delude living beings, do not allow your heart to contain any evil or poison, and do not plot anything bad. You should regard others as if they were yourself.

However, the good are originally not different than the bad — if you can realize this, you will be able to achieve the unsurpassed Tao.

Chapter 43: Fill It Up First, And Then Give Benefits To All

Wonderful Practice Real Person asked the Heavenly Lord:

It is known that the King of Holy Beings can profit all, and save and pull living beings from sufferings — He is never tired of doing such things, and each of His thoughts is continuously mindful of it, therefore He can achieve the Reality. If anyone can also think of doing that, will he get the same fruit-repayment?

The Heavenly Lord said:
Now do not use your holy energy indiscreetly. You should first practice diligently to fill up your Center. When you see the source of Tao — the origin of outflows, you will naturally be able to give inexhaustible benefits to all.

Chapter 44: Being Free From Appearance

Wonderful Practice Real Person said:
The King of Holy Beings has a wonderful appearance with the 72 characteristics and emits forth the light of nine colors — It is by this appearance that the immortal persons of all heavens see, glorify, pay homage to, and bow to the Heavenly Lord, who is unsurpassed and rare.

The Heavenly Lord said:
I am formless, but you illusively see the form; I am free from appearance, but you illusively see the appearance. All junior cultivators can only see me with their physical eyes so that they cannot see the Reality thoroughly. If anyone observes me according to the light of nine colors and the 72 characteristics, he is away from the inexistence and attached to existences, therefore he is not qualified to hear the unsurpassed meanings.

Chapter 45: All Rely On Tao

Wonderful Practice Real Person said:
All living beings with eyes can see many and various phenomena, but they cannot see the subtle and wonderful Laws.

The Heavenly Lord said:
My Tao is like the sun, whose light universally illuminate all, so that people can differentiate many and various appearances and phenomena. Without light, eyes cannot see. Therefore, you should practice Tao carefully, and never stop in the middle of the practice.

Chapter 46: Renounce Bravely to Study Tao

The Heavenly Lord said:

A commendable person who studies Tao should be careful not to be distracted. He should renounce all worldly defilements, and cut off his attachments to loves and relationships. His heart should be like a pile of cool ashes which is free from violent fire. He should practice ascetically and diligently, regardless of misfortunes and difficulties. He should be like an arrow, which goes forward and never returns once it is shot. If one can practice in this way, I guarantee that he will surely achieve Tao — the Reality.

Chapter 47: The Warning of Demons

The Heavenly Lord said:

Studying Tao is very difficult, because ghosts, spirits, and demon kings prevent people from achieving the perfection. They only want people to die and do not like anyone to achieve the Tao of immortality.

Furthermore, when you are about to achieve Tao, some heavenly immortals will come to test you. They may use what you desire to test you, may use what you dislike to test you, may use what is difficult to you to test you, or may use what you are afraid of to test you — All those are what your heart has not yet understood thoroughly, or what your conventional consciousness is not aware of.

If you pass the test, the heavenly beings will nominate you, and the demon kings will be convinced and respect you. That is called the Achievement of Tao.

Chapter 48: Turn Your Mind Towards Tao

The Heavenly Lord said:

A superior person is greedy for virtues, while an inferior person is greedy for money.

Most living beings cannot rest in the daytime and cannot sleep well in the nighttime just because they worry that their money and possessions are not enough.

If you can turn this mind towards Tao, is it possible that you will fail to achieve it?

Chapter 49: The Encouragement For The Practice

Wonderful Practice Real Person said:
Studying Tao is very laborious, it is like climbing a mountain carrying a heavy burden, so that one may get bored with it and stop the practice.

The Heavenly Lord said:
You should practice diligently, then when you have ascended to the peak, the hardship will cease. At that time, when you look down, you will find that everything is subtle and exquisite.