Selections from Spiritual Literature

Jade Emperor's Mind Seal Classic, trans. Hua Ching Ni

The precious immortal medicine is contained within you:
shen as spirit and mind,
chi as general vitality,
and ching as sexual energy.
They are one energy manifested in different forms.
To maintain integrity, do not employ them in isolation.
Before manifestation, this high potency of life
is whole and subtle.
In your cultivation, return to the subtle breath
before you were born.
After a certain length of time, wholeness can be seen;
it will become the foundation of your spiritual empire.
You then can have a personal audience with
the Jade Emperor who sits firmly on the throne within.
With him, you ride on the natural cycle of universal energy
and are able to ascend from the lower sphere of nature
to the high Heavenly realms.
For the person of high intelligence,
this is easy to fulfill;
but for the ignorant it is difficult to accept.
In the early morning's dawn,
inhale and exhale the clarity and purity.
Like the fetus,
rest in the mysterious womb of the mother.
In this way you gather your own subtle essence
and enjoy steady subtle growth.
As the integrity of your life is restored,
you will find the true fulfillment of immortality:
all things are only temporarily named.
The truth of immortality is dependent
on your integrated new life of wholeness.
Your integrated new life of wholeness
is able to penetrate the densest stones
and soar freely in the ethereal sky.
This integrated new life cannot be drowned,
nor can it be burned in the hottest fire.
In general, spirit must integrate with form,
subtle essence depends on vital chi.
Once achieved it becomes undecaying and unwithering
like an evergreen.
In the beginning these three are not separate;
as one, their subtle power is beyond the mind's grasp.
Only when they are completely integrated
do we have the precious Immortal Medicine.
When they are separated, there is no power.
For the achieved one,
the seven orifices communicate with each other,
each imparting its own subtle light.
Once you gain immortality,
your body becomes light.
Your inner Sun and Moon will shine
in the "Golden Court" of your life being.
You will glow with an auspicious light
and be filled with the most precious harmony.

From Self Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness

As for this sparkling awareness, which is called "mind,"
Even though one says that it exists, it does not actually exist.
(On the other hand) as a source, it is the origin of the diversity of all the bliss of Nirvana and all of the sorrow of Samsara.
And as for it's being something desirable; it is cherished alike in the Eleven Vehicles.
With respect to its having a name, the various names that are applied to it are inconceivable (in their numbers).
Some call it "the nature of the mind" or "mind itself."
Some Tirthikas call it by the name Atman or "the Self."
The Sravakas call it the doctrine of Anatman or "the absence of a self."
The Chittamatrins call it by the name Chitta or "the Mind."
Some call it the Prajnaparamita¨ or "the Perfection of Wisdom."
Some call it the name Tathagata-garbha or "the embryo of Buddhahood."
Some call it by the name Mahamudra or "the Great Symbol."
Some call it by the name "the Unique Sphere."
Some call it by the name Dharmadhatu or "the dimension of Reality."
Some call it by the name Alaya or "the basis of everything."
And some simply call it by the name "ordinary awareness."

It is the self-luminous existence-consciousness which reveals to the seer the world of names and forms both inside and outside. The existence of this existence-consciousness can be inferred by the objects illuminated by it. It does not become the object of consciousness.  --- Ramana Maharshi