Qiuzu Chuixun Wen — Attributed to Qiu Chuji, Patriarch of the Longmen Lineage

This is a morality text (勸善文) attributed to Qiu Chuji 丘處機 (1148–1227), styled Changchun 長春 ("Perpetual Spring"), the most famous of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen Daoism and founder of its Longmen lineage. Like much of the "patriarch's instruction" genre, its exact date and authorship are uncertain — such texts were commonly transmitted and expanded within the monastic tradition long after the patriarch's death — but it circulates widely to this day among Quanzhen clergy and lay believers as a foundational statement of monastic discipline.

The text is prose throughout, cast as a direct address from the patriarch to "the disciples of later generations" in his teaching. It rebukes laxity, drunkenness, false alchemy, and heterodoxy among Daoist clergy, then sets out the Three Vehicles (三乘) — three tiers of practice, from inner cultivation of the Upper Vehicle down to charitable works of the Lower Vehicle — as the proper path for one who has left the household. One translation note: 出家 ("to leave the household") is kept literal throughout, as it is the technical term for entering monastic life that this text repeatedly returns to.

Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese of the Daoist Canon, which is printed in full below the translation. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of this text.

Translation

Know this, disciples of later generations in my teaching: you who have awakened, having entered the true teaching of the Mysterious Gate, must possess roots of goodness reaching back through former lives. First, to verify the fruit of blessing in this present life; second, to cultivate against falling in the kalpas to come. If you hold a true heart turned toward the Way, you should obey the laws of the Most High. Yet how is it that disciples do not awaken to themselves, and seek only to use the Daoist teaching to get through their ordinary lives? They do not know that the mysterious statutes carry their prohibitions, that every grain of rice and every copper coin is bound up with consequence — the fat of common people, the sweat and blood of farmers. Without setting the mind to the work, these are hard to digest; without merit, how can one rightly receive them?

You, foolish and deluded, do not measure yourselves; unwilling to cultivate and hold to practice, you say instead that our teaching brings no merit, and turn your intentions toward heterodox paths — leading to lechery, theft, and depravity, harming others to benefit yourselves. Some indulge in meat, wine, and gambling, ruining the teaching and disgracing the lineage; some practice false arts of alchemy, deceiving and confusing people; some give their faith to side gates, and slander the true teaching. Such shameless conduct, unbearable in every kind — how could this be the doing of the true teaching?

And to say nothing of you later students: even the spirits of Heaven, when they transgress, are demoted from their posts; the spirits of Earth, when they transgress, are reduced in rank; immortals, when they transgress, fall back into the dust of the world; ghosts and spectres, when they transgress, are annihilated without trace; rulers, when they transgress, lose their kingdoms; ministers, when they transgress, are punished; scholars, when they transgress, are stripped of their reputation; commoners, when they transgress, have their blessings taken from them. Every transgression and evil returns to its doer — how much more so for you who commit sins: how could there be no retribution?

You disciples of later generations in my teaching should, in quiet moments, examine your own hearts: for what reason did you leave the household? It was because you saw through worldly ties, the wheel of rebirth, and suffering, that you entered the Way. How then can you instead commit further faults, piling up your karmic debts?

The Dharma has Three Vehicles. To follow our teaching and practice it, advancing according to one's strength, holding fast with resolve, and cultivating with hard-won determination — this is the true path of one who has left the household.

As for the Upper Vehicle: cultivating the real and nourishing one's nature, applying hard resolve to fathom the mystery, one verifies the wondrous Way of Emptiness and Nothingness; one brings forth the true breath of Heaven and Earth, removes the grievances and sins of the dusty world, practices expedient means widely, and greatly accumulates hidden merit. One need only wait until three thousand deeds of merit are complete and eight hundred good acts fulfilled, and then the body transcends the Three Realms, and one's rank is set among the celestial immortals. Some ride simurghs and cranes to pay court at the Golden Gate; some mount coloured phoenixes to attend the Turquoise Pool. A thousand Perfected revere them, ten thousand sages protect and uphold them; they share a single body with Heaven and Earth, a single brightness with sun and moon — is this not the great hero among those who have left the household?

As for the Middle Vehicle: holding the heart steady, expounding the teaching, performing rites of repentance and reciting the scriptures, chanting the statutes and rites of the Most High, venerating the precious titles of the Celestial Worthies, praying earnestly before the sages with a sincere heart, keeping fasts and precepts devoutly in the temple, purifying body and mind, and spreading abroad the great Way — with a single thought pure and true, ever preserving the true Dharma — then at the moment of passing into extinction, good spirits will of themselves protect and escort one, whether sending one to an emperor's palace, or to be born into an official household, or to become a ruler whose name ascends to the Nine-Fifth throne, or to become a minister of state ranked among the Three Terraces. At that time the ten thousand people will revere and look up, the four seas will turn and submit — surpassing all others among men. Is this not honourable indeed?

As for the Lower Vehicle: repairing shrines and building temples, printing scriptures and casting images, mending bridges and repairing roads, refraining from killing and releasing living creatures, giving out tea and dispensing medicine — extending the root of compassion, and cutting off all thought of stinginess and greed. Some give relief to the poor and suffering, keeping the heart humble and low; honouring their teachers and respecting their friends, receiving all who come and go, loving the aged and having compassion for the poor. When their merit and conduct are complete, golden lads will of themselves come to guide them; they will be transformed and reborn as human beings, coming to birth in a wealthy and honoured household, enjoying its benefits without limit for a whole life — is this not joyful indeed?

Such is the practice of the Dharma of the Three Vehicles — each sentence of it clear and plain. If there are those who will not reflect, who will not rid themselves of wine, lust, wealth, and anger, they would do better to return to lay life and go home, taking suffering for pleasure, following their hearts' desires and doing as they please — would that not be pleasurable? Why then cling so long to the Mysterious Gate, lost and unreflecting? Creating boundless sin and transgression whose fruit and retribution are impossible to escape — when the time comes to pass from this world, on whom will you lay the blame?

Those with sincere resolve may enter deeply; those without karmic affinity from former lives may as well withdraw quickly. Otherwise your sins will only double. I feel deep compassion for this, and so I set down this instruction. Should there be those who see this instruction, let them turn their hearts; those who hear this instruction, let them turn their thoughts. Let them reestablish a resolute will, thoroughly correct their former faults, advance with courage and vigor, and take up the work of the Way. Let those who hear it awaken, let those who see it be opened. To awaken is the heart that turns its light within; to be opened is the intent that reflects it back.

If one does not awaken early, one will surely lose one's true nature forever; once fallen onto the dark road, one sinks forever in the sea of suffering, transformed into another kind of creature — and when that time comes, what use is regret? Let the wise and understanding consider this carefully: if this present life is missed, the great Way is hard to encounter again.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Daoist shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The text is continuous prose throughout — a single address in the patriarch's voice — and is presented that way, broken into paragraphs at its own natural turns (the opening rebuke, the catalogue of transgressions, the Three Vehicles in turn, and the closing exhortation) rather than at any division marked in the source.

A genuine translation-status check was performed before the claim below was written: Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 update of the survey of Daoist texts in Western languages were both searched for this title, its variants, and any DZ number, and neither lists a translation of it (they record the well-known Changchun zhenren xiyou ji and other Qiu Chuji materials, but not this text). Two web searches were run under the Chinese title and under attempts at its romanized and English titles; they turned up only the Chinese original circulating on Daoist devotional and reference sites, with no published English rendering. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Qiuzu Chuixun Wen. We state this as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty.

A note on terms. 出家, literally "to leave the household," is the standard term for entering Daoist or Buddhist monastic life; it is kept literal here rather than smoothed to "monk" or "renunciant," since the text plays directly on the household one has left and the household-life one is tempted to return to. 九五 ("Nine-Fifth") and 三台 ("Three Terraces") are technical terms of, respectively, the Yijing's hexagram positions (the fifth line of the ninth position traditionally signifying the ruler's throne) and an ancient asterism read as an office of the highest ministers; both are kept in their literal, slightly cryptic form, as the text itself gives no gloss.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation and editorial work.

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Source Text: 丘祖垂訓文

Classical Chinese text of the Daoist Canon, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

丘祖垂訓文

吾教後輩門人知悉：爾等悟士，既入玄門之正教，必通夙世之善根。一證今生之福果，二修來劫之不墮。若有向道之真心，當遵太上之法律。奈何門人不自知覺，只圖道教以度平生？不知玄科而有禁戒，粒米文錢俱皆有所關係，乃世人之膏脂，農夫之血汗。非用心以難消，豈無功而可受？汝等愚迷，不自揣量，不肯修持，反言本教無功，便隨外道有意。以致姦盜邪淫，損人利己。或葷酒賭博，壞教敗宗；或燒煉假術，騙哄迷人；或信投旁門，譭謗正教。似此無賴，種種不堪，豈是正教之所為乎？且莫說爾等後學之輩，即天神有過，則謫其位；地祗有過，則降其職；神仙有過，則墮其塵；鬼祟有過，則滅其跡；君王有過，則失其國；臣僚有過，則加其刑；士人有過，則削其名；庶人有過，則掠其福。一切過惡，各有所歸，何況爾等作孽者，豈無報應乎？吾教後輩門人，當自閒處揣心：出家所為何故？蓋為看破塵緣、輪迴、苦惱，方才進道。豈可反造愆尤，重增孽債？

法有三乘，遵依本教而行，量力而進，立志而守，苦志而修，方是出家人之正路也。夫上乘者，修真養性，苦志參玄，證虛無之妙道；發天地之正氣，除塵世之冤愆，廣行方便，大積陰功，只候三千功滿，八百行圓，然後身超三界，位列天仙矣。或跨鸞鶴而朝金闕，或駕彩鳳而赴瑤池。千真恭敬，萬聖護持，與天地同體，日月同明，豈不為出家人之大丈夫哉？夫中乘者，秉心演教，禮懺誦經，諷太上之法科，禮天尊之寶號，信心懇禱于聖前，虔誠齋戒于廟中，清靜身心，闡揚大道，一念純真，常存正法，運用滅度之時，自有善神擁護，或送皇宮，或生官府，或為君王而名登九五；或為卿相而位列三台，那時萬民敬仰，四海投歸，人中殊勝，豈不尊乎？夫下乘者，修宮建廟，印經造像，修橋補路，戒殺放生，施茶舍藥，推慈悲之本，絕慳貪之意。或周濟窮苦，低下為心，尊師敬友，接待往來，愛老惜貧，待功行圓滿，自有金童接引，轉化為人，得生富貴之家，一生受用無窮，豈不快哉？如此修為三乘之法，句句分明。若要不省者，不除酒色財氣，不如還俗歸家，染苦為樂，隨心所欲，任意所為，豈不樂哉？如何久戀玄門，迷而不省？造下無邊罪孽，果報難逃，過世之時，看待推誰。有志誠者，可以深入，無夙緣者，可以速度退。不然造罪加倍，吾甚憐憫，為此訓焉。倘有見訓者，回心，聞訓者，轉念。重整剛志，痛改前非，勇猛精進，承辦道業，聞者省悟，見者開發，省悟者，回光之心也；開發者，反照之意也。如不早覺，必永失真性，一墮冥途，常沉苦海，化為異類，到此之時，悔之何及？聰明達人，仔細思之，今生錯過，大道難遇矣。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this text (article 丘祖垂訓文, revision of 12 July 2009), inspected from a witness copy captured on 8 August 2026. Chinese Wikisource transcriptions are published under CC BY-SA 4.0 and the GFDL; the text itself is a historical Daoist devotional text and is in the public domain. The wiki header and license templates have been removed; the text is otherwise complete and unaltered.

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