Chapter 50: Beyond Life and Death (第50章：貴生)

出生入死。
生之徒，十有三；死之徒，十有三；
人之生，動之死地，亦十有三。
夫何故？以其生生之厚。
蓋聞善攝生者，路行不遇兕虎，入軍不被甲兵；
兕無所投其角，虎無所用其爪，兵無所容其刃。
夫何故？以其無死地焉。
☸

Translation

One comes into life and enters death.

Three in ten are followers of life.
Three in ten are followers of death.
Three in ten are those whose attempt to live merely drives them to the grounds of death.
Why is this? Because they live too "thickly" (clinging to life).

But I have heard that one who is skillful in protecting their life
Can travel the road without meeting rhinoceros or tigers,
And enter a battle without being harmed by weapons.

The rhinoceros finds no place to thrust its horn.
The tiger finds no place to use its claws.
The weapon finds no place to insert its blade.
Why is this? Because he has no "place of death" in him.

✦ ◆ ✦

📜 Liuren Perspective

In Liuren Fajiao, "Protecting Life" (攝生) is achieved through Fa-body (法體) cultivation and internal protection seals. The "Thirteen Gates" mentioned here refer to the various internal and external ways that energy leaks and spirit is lost.

A master who has "No place of death" (無死地) is one whose internal Qi is so unified and whose Fa-protection is so complete that external negative forces (tigers, horns, blades) find no "resonance" or "opening" to latch onto. This is not mere physical luck, but the result of spiritual density.

When we perform rituals for Disaster Avoidance or Protection, we are essentially "closing the places of death" in the practitioner or the recipient. By not clinging "thickly" to the physical self, the spirit becomes elusive and untouchable by the harms of the world.

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