The Theory of the Matrix of Eternal Life
Original article by Grandmaster Zhang, written in 1999
Editorial Note
This text presents a traditional framework of Chinese internal cultivation, expressed through both classical terminology and references to modern scientific concepts. The scientific references included are not intended as formal statements of modern physics or empirical science, nor should the content be interpreted as medical guidance or claims.
This article reflects an advanced theoretical perspective within traditional Chinese cultivation and is intended to be read within its original context.
The fundamental question of eternal life
To realize eternal life, one must first clarify whether there truly exists in the world a matrix of eternal life. One must also clarify whether the human body itself possesses such potential. Otherwise, after pursuing it for a long time, it will be like “drawing water with a bamboo basket”, wasting wealth and ruining one’s life.
Then, does there truly exist in the world a matrix of eternal and everlasting life?
Prenatal Qi as the origin of all things
Traditional Chinese doctrines of internal cultivation hold that the “Innate Qi” (先天之炁 xiāntiān zhī qì) is the origin of all things in the universe. All things are transformed from this Qi; it passes through ten thousand kalpas without being destroyed, transcends all categories and abides alone. Whoever is able to obtain this Qi, and operate it according to a definite procedure, will be able to attain eternal life.
Modern physics and the scientific parallel
By no mere coincidence, modern nuclear physics likewise holds that there indeed exist in the universe photons and neutrinos whose lifespans are infinitely great. The essence of the universe is photons plus neutrinos. Everything in the universe, including mental and spiritual phenomena, is transformed from them.
Ordinary physics tells us: “Matter is composed of atoms, and atoms are composed of an atomic nucleus and electrons rotating outside the nucleus.” Nuclear physics further discovers that the atomic nucleus is composed of elementary particles, and within these elementary particles there are photons and neutrinos. Positive and negative photons, positive and negative neutrinos— their rest mass is approximately zero, and their lifespan is infinitely great.
Other elementary particles also have relatively long lifespans. For example, the lifespan of the proton reaches 2×1030 years, and the lifespan of the electron reaches 5 x 1021 years. Their lifespans are astonishingly great, yet after all they are not infinite. Only photons and neutrinos have infinite lifespans.
According to statistical tables of elementary particle lifespans, anti–elementary particles already existed before the birth of the universe. Therefore, nuclear physics holds that the essence of the universe is photons plus neutrinos, and everything in the universe is transformed from them.
Qi as the matrix of eternal life
Although traditional Chinese cultivation studies and modern nuclear physics employ different modes of expression, what they speak of is the same thing: namely, that there indeed exists in the universe a matrix of eternal and everlasting life.
From the perspective of cultivation and nourishment, this kind of matrix is called Qi (炁 qì). That is to say, the selection of the subject of eternal life is not a simple fantasy, but truly has its scientific basis.
Historical evidence from Chinese civilization
From practical evidence as well, in Chinese history for which there are written records, the longest-lived individuals are An Qisheng (安期生 Ān Qíshēng) and Zhang Guolao (张果老 Zhāng Guǒlǎo). Both of them lived for more than 3,000 years.
Guang Chengzi (广成子 Guǎng Chéngzǐ), the teacher of the Yellow Emperor (黄帝 Huángdì), was already 1,200 years old when the Yellow Emperor sought instruction from him. Peng Zu (彭祖 Péng Zǔ), who later went into exile in India, had lived in China for 760 years before his exile. Laozi (老子 Lǎozǐ) lived for more than 700 years.
From the Tang and Song periods onward, the average lifespan of practitioners of internal alchemy and cultivation was over 100 years.
Notable masters and lineages
For example, Lü Dongbin (吕洞宾 Lǚ Dòngbīn) lived for more than a thousand years, and after a number of years would often reappear to deliver and guide people. The “Sleeping Immortal of Mount Hua,” Chen Tuan (陈抟 Chén Tuán), lived for more than 150 years. Zhang Sanfeng (张三丰 Zhāng Sānfēng) lived for over 140 years.
The Five Patriarchs of the Southern School of Internal Alchemy had an average lifespan of over 110 years. As for the successive patriarchs of the Northern School, apart from the founding generation, which emphasized cultivation of nature (性功 xìng gōng) and therefore left the human world early, all the others lived beyond one hundred years of age.
Although people of the present age have not seen them active in the human world, each of them, before departing, left behind precious experiences of cultivation and attainment of the Dao through written texts or oral transmission.
The universal attraction of the way of eternal life
The Way of eternal life has attracted countless people, from emperors above to commoners below.
The earliest Shang-dynasty Yin king (商代殷王 Shāng dài Yīn wáng) studied Peng Zu’s methods of cultivation and attained a high lifespan of over 300 years. Emperor Wu of Liang (梁武帝 Liáng Wǔdì) practiced the Huamen nourishing-life methods and attained a long lifespan of 83 years.
Throughout ancient and modern times, in China and abroad alike, there have also been many people who abandoned royal power for the sake of eternal life.
Renunciation and the pursuit of the Dao
For example, Gautama Buddha and his great disciple Ānanda, as well as the later Bodhidharma (达摩 Dámó), were all heirs to royal thrones, yet they abandoned kingship to pursue eternal life and cultivation.
The Vajrayāna master Padmasambhava likewise gave up his status as a prince of his own country and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the cultivation of Vajrayāna, attaining the Dao and departing thereafter.
The Yellow Emperor (黄帝 Huángdì), revered as the ancestor of the Chinese nation, sought the Way of immortals while conducting military campaigns, fighting on one hand and searching for the immortal Dao on the other. He left behind the Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》 Huángdì Nèijīng) and attained the Dao before departing.
Liu Haichan (刘海蟾 Liú Hǎichán), Zhang Liang (张良 Zhāng Liáng) and Laozi (老子 Lǎozǐ) likewise withdrew from official life to cultivate and attain.
Historical consistency and credibility
Examples such as these are everywhere throughout Chinese history. All of these people were individuals of intelligence, status, and learning. They most certainly did not abandon the greatest worldly benefits of human life to pursue something blindly on the basis of a simple belief or fantasy.
Of course, those who walk this path are not necessarily all able to succeed. Since ancient times there has been the saying: “Those who seek the Dao are as numerous as ox hairs, while those who attain the Dao are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns”.
Scientific attitude and transmission to the world
From a scientific perspective, as long as there is even a single successful case, it is worth studying. Since there are “phoenix feathers and unicorn horns,” this means it is not illusory.
What remains is how to transmit the successful experiences of those rare few to all under Heaven, to universally relieve living beings from suffering, and together board the Dharma boat to ascend to the other shore.
Longevity and the responsibility of modern science
According to the principles of life, as long as one finds the secret to eliminating the factors of aging, it is possible to greatly delay the process by which people move toward death, and even to take life into one’s own hands, achieving long life without aging.
For rapidly developing modern science, human longevity is an unavoidable subject. The spirit and enterprising resolve expressed in the saying “My fate lies in me, not in Heaven” are precisely what contemporary human body science ought to possess.