Xing (essential nature) breakthrough is most important. Ming (eternal life) can be taught. Respect the mud and enjoy the lotus. Expect the mud to get heavier, so you get more nutrition for the soul. You need to be more sensitive to the intuitive mind and to the true soul purpose.
The evidence that you are not yet there is:
- Struggle with emotions - this shows you haven't found your life's purpose
- If you haven't delivered the physical product – i.e. you haven't achieved an optimum level of physical healing and health.
So what is the secret of cultivating Xing? The most challenging issue is finding the soul purpose of going home. If you don't break through the Xing level you can never achieve immortality. Xing cultivation includes theoretical, philosophical, and psychological components. You must learn the dialectical Tao to understand who you really are.
You must defeat and go beyond the intellectual mind.
There are big challenges all the way through. You must have absolute loyalty of spirit to body - dragon to tiger. You must build up a sacred trust, companionship, and sacred commitment. This is a sacred soul mate relationship. You may not find a human soulmate, but you must find your own soul mate, within, for alchemy.
There is a sacred relationship between Yuan Shen and Yuan Qi and total loyalty to Yuan Jing. The sacred commitment of Yuan Shen to Yuan Qi and Jing allows formation for setting for internal alchemy. When you truly understand this, then you have a purpose, and you can sit without aching or being distracted by the 10000 things.
If your quality of cultivating Xing is low, then you cannot have quality meditation and cultivation – you will only get minimal results. Do you have a strong understanding to support commitment and loyalty? What do they mean to you?
Ming is like a girl. Xing is like a boy. When they meet and get interested, they then start dating, understanding, and misunderstanding. Both cultivate, both demonstrate great health, when they are attracted, they decide to commit, build a home, have a baby, etc. What if a man is always attracted outside? What if he has 1 % commitment to Tao, what if he has a second of doubt? If the boy (mind) has external seductions, then the sacred commitment is no longer validated. That 1% will bring you to ordinary category, because the boy has a need… the need to entertain, judge, etc.
The need decreases the purity of the mind. Then you are impure, therefore you cannot call yourself a true soulmate. This sets up the ground for argument, betrayal, and results in delaying the journey.
"Need" is the most challenging element of Xing cultivation.
Have need and having no need are both having a need. Do nothing and do something are both doing something. You must go deeper into the soul to breakthrough and ask, “Do I know my true soul purpose in this lifetime journey?” Look deep, deep, deep inside soul and ask the question until you loyally come with that “yes”. Then nothing in this world can take away that commitment.