The Relationship Between Self-Cultivation and the Dao

When physical hindrances arise, affecting meditative concentration, it is then necessary to deliberately cultivate the body. However, when the body is healthy and free from hindrances, there is no need to deliberately spend time and effort cultivating it. If meditative concentration remains unaffected and unimpeded, disregard the body; forgetting the body is essential for attaining meditative concentration. If the mind constantly holds onto the notion of the body, it hinders meditative concentration first, and second, makes the view of self difficult to sever. By emptying the body, forgetting the body, and ceasing to dwell on or attend to it, meditative concentration arises more easily, and the view of self is more readily eliminated.

Modern people approach spiritual practice in precisely the opposite way from the ancients. The ancients paid no heed to the body, disregarded it, and did not expend time or energy on it. As a result, they attained deep meditative concentration and realized the Way swiftly. In contrast, nearly every modern person is utterly subservient to the body, treasuring it excessively. They excuse themselves by claiming that caring for the body is for the sake of spiritual cultivation, yet in the end, they fail to achieve the Way, and the body is not necessarily well cared for either. After all, karmic obstacles remain present; no matter how much one nurtures and preserves the body, it still suffers from numerous ailments. Even if the body is well maintained, the inner view of self increases substantially. Because the view of self remains unbroken, suffering in future lives remains endless. Consider: is it worth it? For the sake of a body lasting mere decades, one delays the work of the Way—discarding pearls for sand. How foolish!