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The Joint Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian Paths of Spiritual Cultivation

The dual cultivation of mind and body forms the foundation of Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian spiritual training. Some say that the Buddhists cultivate mind exclusively, the Taoists cultivate body exclusively, and the Confucians are concerned only with building harmonious social relationships. They think that these paths are incompatible because they don’t understand the deep teachings of these three wisdom traditions.

As far as I know, while the Buddhists focus on cultivating mind (and recovering original nature), they have secret teachings on cultivating the body. They emphasize cultivating the mind because they believe that it is best for their followers to begin spiritual development by returning to the original mind and letting original nature shine. The Taoists emphasize cultivating the body, but cultivating original mind is essential to their teachings. They focus on cultivating the body because they believe that it is by recovering the original body that the practitioner can build a strong foundation for the root of life and eventually attain original mind.

If you attain the highest level of cultivating the mind but neglect the body, you won’t be able to keep original mind for long. If you can’t keep the original mind, your cultivation will come to nothing and you won’t be able to transcend samsara. If you manage to reach the highest level of cultivating the body but neglect to cultivate the mind, then the true energy of life cannot be held in the body for long. If you can’t preserve the body, how can you penetrate the secrets of the celestial, terrestrial, and human realms?

The Buddhists have secret teachings on cultivating mind to attain life, entering the western realm, and merging with the void. On the other hand, the Taoists have teachings on how to cultivate the body to attain nirvana and be liberated from suffering in samsara. Buddhism and Taoism both have methods of single and paired cultivation as well as techniques of spirit travel. The Buddhists, after reaching the state of Chan stillness, can send the spirit out of the body through the top of the head. They have techniques that enable yin and yang to copulate and male and female energies to interact. The Taoists also have techniques that reach the same goals. Consider this statement made by Lu Dongbin: “To cultivate the mind exclusively at the expense of neglecting the body is the first mistake of spiritual practice.” And Zhang Ziyang said, “If you understand original nature, you won’t throw away your life energy. And, if you practice the paired method of cultivation, you’ll be able to attain the great medicine, prevent the essence of life from dissipating, and become a realized being.”

Attaining a deep state of absolute stillness, emptying the five senses, completing the pill and accomplishing its great return (to the dantien), facing the wall for nine years, attaining omniscience at age sixty, and becoming one with original nature at age seventy—these practices all require cultivating both body and mind. Only when you have completed these stages of spiritual development can you enter the ultimate realm and merge with the void. Both the Buddhists and Taoists agree on this.

Bodhidharma once said, “The three families—Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism—are built on the same foundations. Don’t think that mind and body are unrelated.” Body and mind must both be cultivated jointly, and understanding the natures of qian and kun is the key to everything.

If you understand the teachings of the three paths—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism—you’ll know that they are not contradictory. They may use different techniques, but they all lead to the same goal. A great Taoist teacher once said, “Let me tell you about the three paths. When separate, they are three; when combined, they are one.” If the Tao does not manifest itself through differentiation, the power of creation and transformation cannot be realized. If after differentiation the aspects of the Tao cannot be merged again, then they cannot return to the one source. Thus, the three paths build three types of foundations. Buddhism specializes in recovering the original mind; Taoism specializes in building the foundation of life; and Confucianism focuses on building a harmonious society. But, without original nature and original life, how can a harmonious society be created? Many practitioners of these three paths don’t understand the essence of the teachings. They believe that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are contrary paths. They inflate the differences and misrepresent the teachings. They voice their opinions, criticize each other, and stir up conflicts among the Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian communities. The three spiritual traditions have spawned many illegitimate children who have nothing but negative opinions of each other. These children don’t understand that the three different paths lead to the same goal. Unable to see beyond their own perspective, they are convinced that a path different from theirs must be false. Such people need to look into the source of the traditions before they criticize or even talk about other spiritual paths.

In my opinion, there are three approaches but one source and one goal. In one path, life is recovered by cultivating original nature; in the second path, original nature is attained by cultivating life; and in the third, life and original mind are cultivated through building a harmonious society. Although these are three distinct approaches, they all lead to the one undifferentiated source. Ponder this saying: “When naughty children turn off the lights, people will attack their own family.”