The Book of the Supreme Venerable Sovereign’s Spontaneous Arising from the Root of Emptiness

The 1-volumed Book of the Supreme Venerable Sovereign's Spontaneous Arising from the Root of Emptiness ( 《太上老君虛無自然本起經》 Taishang Laojun Xuwu Ziran Benqi Jing ), by an anonymous author, describes the generation of the universe and cultivation of the Dao. Based on "one generating two?two generating three and three generating the myriad things" in the Book of Dao and its Virtue, it proves the trinity of Dao. The red breath of the Dao's origin changes into yellow breath of Man's origin and in turn white breath of breath's origin. These three, containing and mixing with each other, form the so-called Chaos from which all things are generated. The trinity of the Dao manifests as emptiness ( 虛 Xu ), non-being ( 無 Wu ) and the void ( 空 Kong ). Formless bright essence is emptiness. Immaterial and invisible breath is called non-being. Non-existence of all things is called the void. Cultivation is aimed at being identical with Dao by attaining the features of emptiness, non-being and the void. Only by beginning with emptying the mind of desires, sights and voices, can one return to Dao. The way of pertaining to Dao should starts at seeking spiritual nature and cutting off desires. Collected in the Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era ( 《萬曆續道藏》 Wnali Xu Daozang ), the book is reference material for the study of Daoist cultivation. 太上老君虛無自然本起經