Qing (Affection) · Internal Edition¶

I. What Qing Is: The Core Definition¶

Qing is a form of antimatter energy embedded in LIFE's antimatter structure — energy that LIFE must pursue and satisfy in order to maintain the bonds of heaven, earth, immortals, and humanity. LIFE must have qing; without qing, LIFE perishes. The divine and the Buddha have qing; Immortals have qing; birds and beasts have qing; plants have qing; demons and ghosts have qing as well.

(Chanyuan Corpus · The Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Qing Formation: The First)

Qing is the seasoning of LIFE, the harmony and expression of nature (xìng). All things contain qing; all living beings are beings with qing. Qing is the total expression of the Tao of nature.

(Chanyuan Corpus · Heavenly Revelations · Qing, Love, Nature, and Color and the Tao of Nature)

II. The Structure of Qing: Consciousness, Structure, and Energy — Essentially Energy¶

Consciousness, structure, and energy are the three elements constituting the universe. Nature (xìng), love, and Tao are LIFE's three great treasures: nature is the characteristic of structure, love is the characteristic of energy, Tao is the characteristic of consciousness. So what is qing?

Qing encompasses all three characteristics — consciousness, structure, and energy. It has elements of consciousness, elements of structure, and above all elements of energy. That is, qing is a need of consciousness and a need of structure, but its essential nature is energy — an antimatter energy that consciousness and structure require in order to function.

Therefore qing is inseparably linked to nature, love, and Tao: wherever there is nature, there is qing; wherever there is love, there is qing; wherever there is Tao, there is qing. Conversely, without nature there is no qing; without love there is no qing; without Tao there is no qing.

(Chanyuan Corpus · The Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Qing Formation: The First)

III. Why Qing Exists: The Cosmic Web¶

Qing is the bond and bridge connecting living beings across all of nature. Wherever there is life, there is qing.

(Xuefeng Corpus · Miscellaneous Essays · Ghost Qing, Human Qing, Immortal Qing)

Qing forms layer upon layer of trigram formations: the divine have divine qing, demons have demonic qing, Immortals have immortal qing, humans have human qing, ghosts have ghost qing, beasts have beast qing, birds have bird qing, trees have tree qing, grass has grass qing, flowers even more so. This forms the levels and rungs of LIFE, constituting the cosmic web, binding each level of life to its own space so that all levels flourish and maintain order across countless ages.

(Chanyuan Corpus · The Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Qing Formation: The First)

IV. The Level of Qing: Qing Domain Determines LIFE's Level¶

Where qing is fullest and richest, there is greatest closeness to heaven; where qing is most sparse and impoverished, there is greatest closeness to the lower realms. The broader the qing, the closer to heaven; the narrower the qing, the closer to the lower realms.

All living beings have qing, and the content of one's qing determines one's level of LIFE. The narrower the qing domain, the lower the level; the broader the qing domain, the higher the level. If a person has qing for only one or a few people, their domain is narrow and their LIFE level is low. If a person has qing for all people, their domain is broad and their level is high. If a person has qing not only for people but for all living beings, for rivers and mountains, sun and moon and stars — that person is no longer an ordinary mortal; they have reached the level of a celestial being.

As a seasoning for life: too little qing and life has no flavor; too much qing and life becomes bitter.

(Chanyuan Corpus · The Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Qing Formation; Chanyuan Corpus · LIFE · Analysis of LIFE's Three Treasures: Qing, Love, and Nature)

V. Ghost Qing, Human Qing, Immortal Qing¶

Ghost qing is heart-rending affection — loyal unto death, absolutely one-to-one, tragic in outcome.

Human qing is lingering affection — filled with joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, and desire; shifting as conditions shift; impossible to block and impossible to hold; debt-like in its entanglement; destined for reincarnation, endless encounter, endless repayment without end.

Immortal qing is affection that holds only joy, freedom, and happiness — free of debt, eternally flowing without break, fragrant and graceful across time and space, bringing beautiful longing and ease of body and mind without trouble or pain.

The hallmark of immortal qing is that it is neither one-to-one nor wandering and fickle, but at ease in all conditions, following affinity, following nature, following the moment: "When the wind comes through sparse bamboo, the wind passes and the bamboo holds no sound; when the wild goose crosses the cold pond, the goose passes and the pond holds no reflection."

To have ghost qing is to be denied human qing. To have human qing is to be denied immortal qing. Without immortal qing, LIFE cannot rise to the immortal realm.

(Xuefeng Corpus · Miscellaneous Essays · Ghost Qing, Human Qing, Immortal Qing)

VI. Qing and Love: The Distinction¶

Qing is an expression of a person's psychological state. Humans have eight forms of qing: joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, grief, worry, fear, and shock. What we commonly call qing refers mainly to familial affection, friendship, romantic love, and gratitude.

Love (ài) is an expression of a person's consciousness state. Love has only one form of expression: joy.

Psychological state and consciousness state are entirely different. A psychological state shifts with external conditions — you do me a favor and I feel qing toward you; you irritate me and I feel resentment toward you. A consciousness state is a mode of being that expresses LIFE's essential nature and does not change with external conditions — as with a parent's love for a child: no matter how the child changes, that innate love is difficult to alter.

(Chanyuan Corpus · LIFE · The Difference Between the Qing Domain and the Love Domain)

VII. The Qing Formation: The Hardest Trigram Maze to Escape¶

Of the thirty-six trigram formations, the hardest to escape is the qing formation.

As long as there is someone we are attached to, someone we think about, someone whose relationship with us we wish to protect — we are inside the qing formation.

When the day comes that we carry no attachments in our hearts — that our hearts are without hindrance, without fixed abode — that qing fills the mountains and rivers, that qing is set toward the Celestial Islands, that we are at ease wherever we are, transformed by affinity, moved by nature, accomplished by timing — that is the sign that we have escaped the formation.

To rise to the immortal realm, one must escape human qing. Without escaping human qing, immortal qing cannot be entered. Without immortal qing, LIFE cannot ascend.

In a word: release human qing, take up immortal qing. Specifically: soften the bonds of parents and children, deepen the bond with the Greatest Creator and the Buddha; soften the bonds of siblings and friends, deepen the bond with all things in the cosmos; soften the one-to-one bond of romantic love, deepen the qing of the immortal realm that follows affinity freely; soften the bonds of teacher and student, deepen the bond with Tao and truth.

(Chanyuan Corpus · The Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Qing Formation: The First; Chanyuan Corpus · The Thirty-Six Trigram Formations · Escaping the Qing Formation)

VIII. The Supreme Tao Cannot Be Sought Through Qing¶

Qing is necessary — like blood in the body, one cannot live without it for a day. Where there is qing there is heaven; where there is none there is the lower realm. But to reach heaven, one must resonate at the same frequency as heaven and its beings — qing alone cannot get you there.

The Supreme Tao cannot be sought through qing. True affection is beautiful, but it cannot reach the Tao. No matter how sincere the qing — if someone drinks arsenic, they die; no matter how sincere the qing — marriages still end; no matter how sincere the qing — if LIFE's structure does not change, a person remains a person and can never become a Buddha or an Immortal.

The Supreme Tao is reached by perfecting LIFE's antimatter structure and resonating at the same frequency as one's destination — not by the sincerity of qing alone.

(Chanyuan Corpus · Spreading the Way · The Supreme Tao Cannot Be Sought Through Qing)

IX. Qing Debt¶

Qing debt: receiving another's help, or physical, psychological, or spiritual solace, without returning equivalent compensation — this creates qing debt.

Qing debt divides into interpersonal debt and romantic debt. Interpersonal qing debt arises when someone has helped you and you have not returned the help in kind. Romantic qing debt arises when someone has given you physical, spiritual, or emotional solace that you have not returned.

Qing debt also includes the qing of unresolved affinity (qíng yuán): when one feels indebted or cannot let go because of deep mutual feeling — that too is qing debt.

As long as such debts remain unpaid, reincarnation is inevitable; there is no possibility of reaching the heavens.

(Chanyuan Corpus · Spreading the Way · Qing Debt)

X. Emotional Dependence Obstructs Entry into Advanced Civilization¶

The primary factor obstructing humanity's entry into advanced civilization is emotional dependence between people. Within the family structure, every person is in a relationship of mutual emotional hostage-holding: parents hold children hostage, children hold parents hostage. The result: no autonomy, no independent consciousness, no personal freedom.

When every person is independent — when there is no emotional dependence between people, no marriage and family structure — each person is born free and independent, not relying on any other, and the result is that everyone lives with joy, freedom, and happiness.

The Thousand-Year World is exactly this state, and this is why all living beings there have become Immortals, and it has become heaven.

(Chanyuan Corpus · Inverted Thinking · Emotional Dependence Obstructs Human Entry into Advanced Civilization)