Hua Hu Ching THE UNKNOWN TEACHINGS OF Lao Tzu BY Brian Walker HarperSanFrancisco A Division of
HarperCollins Publishers HUA HU CHING: THE UNKNOWN TEACHINGS OF LAO TZU. COPYRIGHT c 1992
BY BRIAN BROWNE WALKER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA. FIRST HARPERCOLLINS PAPERBACK EDITION PUBLISHED IN 1995 AN EARLIER EDITION
OF THIS BOOK WAS CATALOGED AS FOLLOWS: LAO-TZU. (HUA HU CHING. ENGLISH) HUA HU CHING :
THE UNKNOWN TEACHINGS OF LAO TZU / [TRANS LATED BY] BRIAN WALKER. P. CM. ISBN
0-06-069274-X (CLOTH) ISBN 0-06-069245-6 (PBK.) I. WALKER, BRIAN BROWNE. II. TITLE. BL1900.L42E5
1994 299'.51482-DC2O 93-31043 95 96 97 98 99 HAD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedication

This book is dedicated to a mob of unruly angels. It is as much theirs as it is mine: To my parents, Bud and Joan, who gave
me life, love, and an understanding of the spiritual importance of silliness;
To the memory of my maternal grandmother, Cynthia Pace Radcliffe, who walks beside me wherever I go, fire eating fire;
To the memory of Edward Abbey, bone of my bone and blood of my heart: Hoka Hey, Grandfather!
To Jim Harrison, the Conquering Lion of Northern Michigan;
To Stephen Mitchell, bridge across time for so many sacred flames;
And, finally, with a large and unyielding love, to my gentle, graceful daughter, Sofia Sofia Muhammad Ali: dance
on, little laughing crow.

Acknowledgments

I have come to think of Lao Tzu less as a man who once lived and
more as a song that plays, eternal and abiding. I am deeply indebted to Martin Gray, George Robinson, and
Master Ni Hua-Ching, for bringing me into the presence of the song once again. Jamie Potenberg and Stacy
Feldmann designed this book, provoking appreciative murmurs all the way from my house to the Realm of the
Immortals. Russell Chatham made it possible for them to do so, for which I thank him. My heartfelt appreciation
goes also to my father and mother, without whose generous support and gentle teachings none of my books
would be. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my beloved teacher and provocative friend, Valerie Haumont,
who has led me to and traveled with me through a generous assortment of the Ten Thousand Spiritual
Supernovas, Endless Voids, and Black Holes. In those illuminating and terrifying places I gained the
understanding necessary to write this book. May I yet have the grace to come to live it. The flute of interior time
plays, whether we hear it or not. What we mean by love is its sound coming in.
ROBERT BLY, BOOK OF KABIR
On waking after the accident I was presented with the "whole picture" as they say, magnificently detailed, a
child's diorama of what life appears to be: staring at the picture I became drowsy with relief when I noticed a
yellow dot of light in the lower right-hand corner. I unhooked the machines and tubes and crawled to the picture,
with an eyeball to the dot of light which turned out to be a miniature tunnel at the end of which I could see
mountains and stars whirling and tumbling, sheets of emotions, vertical rivers, upside down lakes, herds of
unknown mammals, birds shedding feathers and regrowing them instantly, snakes with feathered heads eating
their own shed skins, fish swimming straight up, the bottom of Isaiah's robe, live whales on dry ground, lions
drinking from a golden bowl of milk, the rush of night, and somewhere in this the murmur of gods-- a
tree-rubbing-tree music, a sweet howl of water and rock-grating-rock, fire hissing from fissures, the moon settled
comfortably on the ground, beginning to roll.
JIM HARRISON, FROM THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF RIVERS

The Tao te Ching of Lao Tzu is among the most widely translated and cherished books in the world.
Singular in its lucidity, revered across cultural boundaries for its timeless wisdom, it is believed among
Westerners to be Lao Tzu's only book. Few are aware that a collection of his oral teachings on the subject of
attaining enlightenment and mastery were also recorded in a book called the Hua Hu Ching (pronounced "wha
hoo jing"). The teachings of the Hua Hu Ching are of enormous power and consequence, a literal road map to
the divine realm for ordinary human beings. Perhaps predictably, the book was banned during a period of
political discord in China, and all copies were ordered to be burned. Were it not for the Taoist tradition of oral
transmission of sacred scriptures from master to student, they would have been lost forever. I am permanently
indebted to Taoist Master Ni Hua-Ching for sharing his version of these teachings with the Western world after
his emigration from China in 1976. My work here is largely based upon his teaching. I bow also to Stephen
Mitchell, whose recent translation of the Tao te Ching moved, shaped, and informed me. I encourage readers of
this volume to also study Stephen's book; his elucidation of the Tao and how it manifests in the world is
exquisite. It would be a profound pleasure to me if my work one day met the high standard he has set with his
own.
--BRIAN WALKER BOULDER, COLORADO 1 OCTOBER 1993