Gautama Dhamma

A first glimpse into my forthcoming book on the universal ladders of ascent and the Buddha’s greater gate.

Chapter 3 — Xian: The Immortals of the Dao

Walking the Mountain Path to Heaven

Epigraph:
“Ren fa di, di fa tian, tian fa Dao, Dao fa ziran. 人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。” (道德經 25)
“Man follows the law/dharma/fa by which Earth follows. Earth follows the law by which Heaven follows. Heaven follows the law we call Dao. Dao is ziran — the cosmic natural law, the self-arising order.”

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Daoist adepts dream of immortality by following the law of Heaven and Earth. They discipline the body, refine breath, avoid coarse foods, seeking to extend life until their years shine like the sun and moon. To them, ziran — cosmic natural law — is the ultimate teacher.

But cosmic law is not compassion. As the Dao De Jing also says: 天地不仁，以万物为刍狗 “Heaven and Earth are not humane; they treat all beings as straw dogs.”

This law is predation: the strong consume the weak, the weak sustain the strong. It is not moral, not just, not kind — it simply is. Plants devour energy from soil and sun, animals devour plants, men devour beasts, and all are in turn devoured by time.

To align with this law is not to escape, but to consent to its cycle. The longevity that Daoists seek is not true immortality, but extension within the prison. Their so-called “immortality” is only delayed death, a few thousand years or much longer, but still under the dominion of dissolution. Worse, it is self-annihilation disguised as transcendence: by merging into cosmic law, they lose the values of the race of man — kindness, justice, truth — and return to the indifferent order that treats all as straw dogs.

In this, the Daoist path shows its pathos. It promises ascent but delivers absorption. It preserves form for a season, but sacrifices the eternal spark.

The Buddha saw this clearly. To follow cosmic law is to become fuel for it. To follow the path of manussa — the Noble Path of values, purity, and liberation — is to ascend beyond it.