Contents
Although brief, the Qingjing Jing is philosophically complex. It synthesizes Daoist and Buddhist theories of psychology, cosmology, ontology, and teleology.
The Qingjing Jing is described by Komjathy.
An anonymous text probably dating from the 9th century, this is one of a group of Tang-dynasty (618-907) works that could be labeled "Clarity-and-Stillness" literature. Emerging under the influence of Buddhist insight meditation (vipaśyanā) and expressing a form of wisdom (zhi 智) based on the practice of observation (guan 觀), the text combines the worldview of the Daode jing 道德經 (Scripture on the Dao and Inner Power) with the practice of Daoist observation and the structure (as well as some content) of the Buddhist Panruo xinjing 般若心經 (Heart Sutra of Perfect Wisdom; T. 250-57). It emphasizes the dual cultivation of clarity/purity (qing 清) and "stillness/tranquility" (jing 靜). (2004:47-8)
These Daoist keywords are guan 觀 "scrutiny; careful observation; insight meditation; contemplation", qing 清 "clarity; purity; cleanliness", and jing 靜 "stillness; quiet; calm; tranquility". The Daodejing (45, tr. Mair 1990:13) is the locus classicus for qingjing: "Bustling about vanquishes cold, Standing still vanquishes heat. Pure and still, one can put things right everywhere under heaven."
Kohn summarizes the Qingjing jing.
The text first describes the nature of the Dao as divided into Yin and Yang, clear and turbid (qing 清 and zhuo 濁), moving and quiescent (dong 動 and jing 靜), and stresses the importance of the mind in the creation of desires and worldly entanglements. It recommends the practice of observation to counteract this, i.e., the observation of other beings, the self, and the mind, which results in the realization that none of these really exists. The practitioner has reached the observation of emptiness (kongguan 空觀). The latter part of the work reverses direction and outlines the decline from pure spirit to falling into hell: spirit (shen 神) develops consciousness or mind (xin 心), and mind develops greed and attachment toward the myriad beings. Greed then leads to involvement, illusory imagining, and erroneous ways, which trap beings in the chain of rebirth and, and they sink deeper into the quagmire of desire, causes them to fall into hell. (2007:801)
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