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Wei Shiyiniang was a poor woman from Chang'an in the Song Dynasty. She married the son of the Zheng family in her village. The Zheng family enjoyed associating with martial heroes (Youxia), and Wei's repeated admonishments led to marital discord. During the Zhenghe era, her husband went to the border city to serve in the military and there were no letters for a long time. Her brother-in-law (husband's elder brother) had bad character and often teased her with words; Wei refused him with a serious expression. Recalling that she had loved Daoist Nun Zhao since childhood, and knowing that the Nun possessed techniques to transmit, she sought refuge with the Nun. The Nun happily took her into the nunnery and taught her magical arts. At dusk, the Nun descended the mountain, leaving Wei alone overnight, warning her: "Do not drink alcohol or engage in lust." Wei thought, how could such two things exist in the deep mountains? When the night watch was nearing its end, a man climbed over the wall. Wei quickly rose and asked, but he did not answer. The man approached and embraced her; she firmly refused. His requests became more insistent. Wei drew her sword to strike, but he drew his sword to thrust back, which was very sharp. Knowing she could not win, Wei dropped her sword and begged pitifully, saying: "My fate is thin, I have long abandoned worldly desires, how can you bear to disturb me? Moreover, my master has clear prohibitions. I swear I dare not violate them!" He placed his sword against her neck to force compliance. Wei extended her neck to accept it. The man retracted his sword and laughed, saying: "I know your heart will not change!" Upon looking closely, it was Daoist Nun Zhao. From then on, she was fully instructed in her arts.

Three: Prohibit Rigidity, Violence, and Cruelty
Rigidity (Gang) is a virtue. Without rigidity, a person becomes soft and cowardly, unable to rise, achieving nothing. This "rigidity" is indispensable. However, if rigidity lacks propriety, it flows into violence, becoming perverse and self-willed, unaware of yielding, disregarding right and wrong, caring not for others' opinions, being disrespectful to parents-in-law, disharmonious with sisters-in-law, disrespectful to the husband, abusive to children and nephews, and harsh to servants and slaves; this is called a "fierce woman." Thus, rigidity followed by violence often leads to cruelty and lack of benevolence, and stinginess without grace.
A person must possess a benevolent heart before having the capacity to embrace all beings as one's own siblings. Holy Mother Yuanjun views the world as one family and China as one person. All creatures in heaven and earth are protected and cherished by her, like newborn infants. How could she ever harbor a single thought of hatred, flowing into cruelty?
Guanyin Bodhisattva is called "Ci Hang" (Compassionate Boat) because she achieves her nature through benevolence, saving all sentient beings, and acts as a compassionate mother during great kalpas; thus, her spirit remains immortal through kalpas. If one is rigid and violent, one loses the virtue of Kun Yin's gentleness and obedience; if cruel, one lacks the vastness of Kun Earth's nurturing generation. Such a person, what use is heaven selecting you, what benefit is earth keeping you? It would be better to die quickly than to hope for longevity.
One must only prohibit these: For those with violent tempers, cultivate harmony and slowness, appearing gentle and pleasant like the spring wind, having no conflict with all things; for those who are cruel, transform into kindness and compassion, benefiting things like timely rain, so that no one fails to receive their grace. Manifested outwardly thus, inwardly the nature is spiritual, bright, free, lively, and full of endless vitality. Would Ci Hang Guanyin wait in vain for you?

Four: Prohibit Vexation and Anger
Vexation arises when one encounters troublesome matters and generates resentment. In a lifetime, who does not have affairs to attend to? One must proceed slowly. Not calculating merit or fault, not shunning hardship, not fearing trouble, only then can affairs succeed. If vexation leads to resentment, what matter in the world can be accomplished?
Regarding cultivating nature, one must endure patience. Because the mind has been wandering for a long time, once one attempts to hold and preserve it, it is like a living dragon or active tiger; resisting it refuses to submit, and even if subdued, it is unstable. To resist and then subdue requires patient cultivation, neither binding nor restraining, forgetting nothing, assisting nothing, letting nature take its course. Cultivating one part today yields one part; cultivating one part tomorrow yields another part. When cultivated to ten parts, naturally the time of perfect brightness arrives.
If one feels vexed because purity is difficult to achieve, how can the nature become perfectly bright?
Anger is resentful hatred when things do not go as one wishes. Consider: can all things in the world go as one wishes? One need not be angry for things to go as wished. How lacking in thought this is; one should simply accept one's circumstances. Moreover, those with severe anger have poisonous hearts and often enter the bellies of venomous snakes after death. Xia La transformed into a snake due to anger; Empress Xi transformed into a python due to anger; these are clear evidence. However, anger may arise from vexation, and vexation may arise from anger; both burden the mind and must be urgently prohibited.

Five: Prohibit Worry, Thought, Fear, and Shock
Overthinking injures the Spleen; worry and thought cause Qi stagnation and failure to extend. Fear injures the Kidney; shock causes Spirit to scatter and fail to store. Worrying endlessly before events arrive and fearing incessantly as events approach are the beginnings of obscuring nature and tools for depleting Jing and Shen. If not prohibited, they often result in internal injury diseases.
The method of prohibition is only to stabilize and empty the mind, leaving no external objects within. When worry arises, contemplate reason; if reason cannot dispel it, let nature take its course; what benefit is there in worrying? Furthermore, humans generate fear because they dread disaster affecting themselves. If one is unashamed before Heaven and unguilty before people, and one owes nothing to others, others will surely not harm one; what is there to fear? Even if sudden calamity strikes, life and death are destined, so one should accept it calmly. Sages do not startle when Mount Tai collapses nor fear when saws are applied to their necks, because their Spirit is stable and solid.
Previously, Wanchui tested Qingniao Gong with color, sound, smell, taste, touch, joy, anger, worry, thought, sorrow, fear, and shock. Two traces remained unextinguished, resulting only in becoming an Earth Immortal. If practitioners do not exert effort here, they remain ordinary people; how can they expect achievement?!

Six: Prohibit Excessive Reckless Gazing
The eyes are the chief of the Six Thieves. Seeing form/color, the mind is dragged by form, and Hun (Ethereal Soul) leaks from the eyes, injuring the Liver. Generally, Hun hides in the Liver at night and resides in the eyes during the day. Reckless gazing causes Hun to leak from the eyes, leading to many dreams at night. Sages have no dreams because they can gather their gaze inward, preventing Hun from galloping outward during the day and preventing the mind from being led by form. Therefore, to gather the mind, one must first control the eyes.
Method: Frequently reflect the gaze into the aperture of the Xuanqiao (Mysterious Pass), keeping this spiritual nature bright and unobscured, thereby nourishing the Spirit that remains unmoving. Naturally, the eyes will not gaze recklessly, the mind will not move recklessly, Hun will not wander outside, Spirit will not gallop outside, and Pre-Heaven Qi will return to the body.

Seven: Prohibit Excessive Reckless Listening
The Kidneys open into the ears. Reckless listening moves the mind with sound, and Jing (Essence) leaks from the ears, injuring the Kidneys. The Kidneys are the True One Water of Pre-Heaven, capable of irrigating the Ying and Wei throughout the body. Injury to the Kidneys leads to emaciated skin and flesh, essence depletion, and deafness.
If one can constantly condense the ears to listen inwardly, not only will the mind not be moved by sound, but the mind will be nourished, and Jing will frequently condense in the Kidneys, bringing one close to immortality.

Eight: Prohibit Verbose Arrogance
Speech easily attracts blame. Nan Rong repeatedly recited the poem of Baigui, praised by Sages, because he could speak cautiously. Verbose speech is insufficient to nourish Ren (Benevolence) in our hearts. Thus, when Sima Niu asked about Ren, the Sage told him to be cautious in speech, controlling the exterior to nourish the interior. Speech is the voice of the heart; the Heart stores Shen (Spirit). Verbose speech injures Shen.
Keeping one's mouth shut like a bottle allows Shen to reside permanently in the Heart. Nature is not confused by speech, and in social interactions, one does not lose one's temper to others.

Nine: Prohibit Stinginess and Hoarding Wealth
Wealth is used for daily needs; no one in the world does not need wealth, but one must not be deluded by it. If one is purely stingy, sparing not a single coin, then although gold piles up like mountains, can one buy off Impermanence (Death)? Rather than accumulating wealth to be rich and acting as a miser for one family, is it not better to disperse wealth to accumulate merit, thereby forming karmic connections with Immortals in the Dao?
Since ancient times, Immortals and Truths have all achieved their status by widely planting fields of merit. Ancients said: "If one is stingy with wealth and cherishes treasures, thousands of Immortals will not come." Great Persons regard riches and honor as floating clouds and view gold and jade as dirt. Untainted by dust, attached to nothing, even this body is not mine, let alone external wealth. Therefore, those entering the Dao should break through this barrier and not be fooled by it.

Ten: Prohibit Killing Living Beings
Heaven and Earth have the heart of loving life; Sages have the bosom of loving things. Heaven and Earth create them, yet I kill them; this greatly violates the Harmony of Heaven and Earth. Sages love them, yet I harm them; this greatly contradicts the Benevolence of Sages. Moreover, humans and beasts share the same life and destiny, loving life and hating death. Humans and beasts share similar emotions; having life, they fear injury. Do beasts not fear death just because they have life? Extending oneself to things, one inevitably finds oneself unwilling to kill.
Ancients said: "If you wish to prolong life, you must release life." Since I wish to learn the Dao to seek longevity, I should extend my heart to cherish the lives of things. Although the lives of things are in human hands, enjoying killing and harming life often results in tragic retribution. The story of saving an ant leading to selection as Zhuangyuan (Top Scholar), and releasing sparrows receiving the reward of a bright pearl; since antiquity to the present, many have gained fortune by releasing life. Can humans not show mercy to things to nourish their own benevolence for life?

Eleven: Prohibit Indulgence in Meat and Strong Flavors
Meat and strong flavors are foods that nourish humans, but those who observe fasting and abstain from meat have not been heard to suffer injury. This shows that health preservation does not depend entirely on flesh and blood.
In ancient times, wearing grass clothes and eating wood fruits, people lived long. Since the rise of fire cooking and consumption of meat, people began to die young. Why? Fatty and sweet foods are items that stir Fire; eating too much easily leads to indulging desires and damaging Jing. Grain food obtains the neutral Qi of Heaven and Earth, possessing the purest and cleanest flavor, making it best for health preservation. Moreover, eating meat to supplement my flesh makes one feel reluctant in heart. Buddhists abstain from meat and strong flavors, likely not to indulge the palate and increase karmic slaughter.
Lady of Southern Peak warned Yang Xi: "Do not wish to see flesh and blood. If seen, avoid it; better not to see. Dead things are corpse Qi; touching them most harms the Dao." Entering the Dao values abstaining from meat and strong flavors.

Twelve: Prohibit Slacking on the Dao and Despising the Master
Nothing in Heaven and Earth is more precious than the Great Dao of Golden Elixir, which can exit the mortal cage, resolve life and death, and transcend nine generations of ancestors. Ancient people encountered it once in ten thousand kalpas; is it not a trivial matter?
Although noble like Emperor Wen of Han, he still lowered his status before Heshang Gong. Although wealthy like Ma Danyang, he still humbled himself before Wang Chongyang. Although martial like Han Zhongli, he still bowed his head before Wang Xuanfu. Although literary like Baopuzi, he still knelt before Zheng Siyuan, let alone inferior ones. Therefore, seekers of the Dao cannot rely on personal wealth and honor, display personal power, or trust in personal learning. One must be humble and sincerely seek, like Wu Chongxu performing menial labor, asking earnestly for twenty years, before obtaining it.
Those who transmit also do not do so lightly. Baopuzi said: "Receiving the secret of Zhenyi requires a covenant document, drinking the blood of white animals, on a prosperous day, accepting with white silver and white silk as agreement, carving gold contracts and dividing them. Speaking lightly and transmitting wildly, spirits will not protect." Chongzi said: "Since ancient times, Immortals transmitting the True Dao must perform pure and quiet Zhaijiao rituals according to regulations, present gifts of faith, prick blood to swear to Heaven, report to Shangdi, Santai, Beidou, Nanchen, Sanguan, Sisheng, Wudi, Siming, etc., requesting permission to descend and approve, before transmission can occur." Whenever one person is transmitted, all gods and sages in Heaven and Earth are informed. If evil types act fraudulently and transmit privately, master and disciple alike suffer punishment; can one not be cautious! Since messengers do not transmit lightly, how can transmitters be disrespectful? Baopuzi said: "The grace of a enlightened teacher is indeed greater than Heaven and Earth, heavier than parents; can one not revere him?!"
From this, it is visible that seekers who meet a true master should revere and respect him, diligently seek and ask earnestly, persisting for a long time without slackening, so that they may finally hear the core methods and find the path to ascending to Heaven.