Year 469 of the Ming, Start of Spring.
Jùqǔ Mountain, Si Wuyai.
A raw spring wind still bitten with cold.
On the cliff plateau, snow lay thick and pure, a world wrapped in silver and white, silent except for one voice that spoke slowly and without hurry.
“The forty-eighth point: ‘heavenly time and earthly favor.’ I must say a word about this one in particular. This point is not something I thought up entirely on my own — I surveyed many scriptures, compared and integrated, and added some of my own experience to form it.
“When considering heavenly time and earthly favor, I also brought in some of the Lingbao ritual ideas of union between Heaven and Man.
“I think: the Three Purities share the same origin, myriad methods return to one. Whether it’s Shangqing preserving the spirit or Lingbao ritual, they all require stirring sympathy between Heaven and Earth; therefore they can learn from one another.