《太上老君说常清静经注(王元晖)》

The Shenxiao Jing (Scripture of the Divine Empyrean) says that the Celestial Emperor of Wondrous Non-Being brought forth the Three Qi (vital energy)—the three primordial energies that constitute heaven, earth, and the myriad things—and the Three Treasure Heavenly Lords: the Heavenly Treasure Lord of Mysterious Qi, the Numinous Treasure Lord of Primordial Qi, and the Divine Treasure Lord of Initial Qi. They are the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). The Jade Emperor is the ancestor, abiding at the origin of the Great Void.

The scripture further says that the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning descended and transformed into Yuchen Dahun, who dwells in the Purple Jade Treasure Palace and bears the honorific title Great Emperor of the Northern Pole. The Great Emperor of the Northern Pole is the fifth transformation of the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning. At the beginning of the Chiming era, when the charts were opened, he was called the Divine Duke of Highest Clarity; after the Kaihuang era, he was called the Great Emperor of Northern Yin. When his merits were complete and the world was at peace, he took his place in the court of Purple Tenuity in mid-heaven. Looked up at from below, he seems motionless, and so he is called the Pole Star. At times he transforms into the Heavenly Sovereign Great Emperor among the stars. In Daoist teachings he is called the Most High Lord Lao; in the celestial realm he is lord of all the heavens; and when born into the human world he becomes the teacher of the sovereigns of successive ages.

The Hunyuan Tu (Diagram of Primordial Chaos) says that in the remote age of the Three Sovereigns the Most High Lord Lao repeatedly transformed himself to teach the people of the world. In the earliest period he was called the Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Myriad Methods, also the Celestial Master Who Penetrates the Mystery, or the Great Master of the Methods within the Mystery. In the middle period he was called Master Pangu, also Great Master Yougu. Later, in the time of the Heavenly Sovereign Fuxi, he transformed into Yuhua Zi; some accounts say that in the time of Nüwa he transformed into Yumi Zi. In the time of the Earthly Sovereign Shennong he was called Dacheng Zi; in the time of the Human Sovereign Xuanyuan, Guangcheng Zi; in the time of Shaohao, Suiying Zi; in the time of Zhuanxu, Chijing Zi; in the time of Emperor Ku, Lutu Zi; in the time of Emperor Yao, Wucheng Zi; in the time of Emperor Shun, Yinshou Zi; in the time of Yu of the Xia, Zhenxing Zi; and in the time of Tang of the Shang, Xize Zi.

Although Lord Lao took form in age after age, he did not pass through what is ordinarily called a birth. When Yangjia of the Shang dynasty was on the throne, he separated off his Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy) and lodged them as an embryo in the womb of the Mysterious and Wondrous Jade Maiden for eighty-one years. In the gengchen year of King Wuding of Shang, on the fifteenth day of the second month, at the mao hour, he was born at Quren Hamlet in Lai Township, Ku County, in the land of Chu. His surname was Li, his given name Er, his courtesy name Boyang, and his posthumous title Dan; later generations called him Laozi.

In the time of King Wu of Zhou, Lord Lao served as Keeper of the Archives and was later promoted to Historian Beneath the Pillar, the official in charge of the classical texts. In the twenty-third year of King Zhao of Zhou he passed through Hangu Pass and enlightened the Pass Director Yin Xi; in the twenty-fifth year he descended again to the Black Sheep Market in Shu, met Yin Xi, and together with him crossed the Flowing Sands. By the time of King Mu of Zhou he had returned to the Central Plains. In the twenty-first year of King Ling of Zhou, a gengxu year, Confucius was born. In the seventeenth year of King Jing of Zhou, a wuxu year, Confucius asked Lord Lao about ritual; on his return he sighed that Lord Lao was like a dragon, too profound to fathom. In the forty-first year of King Jing, a renxu year, Confucius died.

In the second year of King Lie of Zhou, a dingwei year, Lord Lao passed through the state of Qin. Duke Xian of Qin consulted him about calendrical methods and the reckoning of Heaven’s mandate, and he then departed by San Pass. In the eighth year of King Xian of Zhou, a gengshen year, he traveled east. In the ninth year of King Nan of Zhou, a yimao year, he again left by San Pass and ascended in flight to Kunlun.

In the Qin period Lord Lao descended to the bank of the Yellow River in the region of Shan. He called himself the Elder by the River, also known as the Lord by the River, and transmitted the arts of the Dao (the Way) to Anqi Sheng. Emperor Wen of Han delighted in the learning of Laozi and sent an envoy to consult the Lord by the River. The Lord by the River said, “The Dao is exalted, and De (Virtue/Power) is to be revered; they are not something one can ask about from far away.” Emperor Wen went in person by carriage to pay his respects. He said that the lands and people of the realm all lay under the king’s authority, and that the Lord by the River, though he possessed the Dao, was still his subject; if he would not come when summoned by the king, why set himself so high? The emperor added that he was well able to make a person poor and low or rich and noble.

The Lord by the River at once clapped his hands and leapt up, rising slowly into the air until he hung in the void more than a hundred zhang above the ground. After a moment he bent down and replied, “Now I do not connect with Heaven above, I am not entangled with human beings in the middle, and I do not dwell on the earth below. How can I count as one of your subjects? How could Your Majesty make me rich and noble, or poor and low?” Only then did Emperor Wen understand that he was a divine being. He stepped down from his carriage, bowed, and apologized. The Lord by the River transmitted to Emperor Wen the essentials of the two Jing (scriptures/classics) of the Dao and the De.

Thereafter Lord Lao appeared again in different ages and transmitted scriptures and methods. In the time of Emperor Cheng of Han, at Quyang Spring, he transmitted the True Scripture of Great Peace to Yu Ji. In the time of Emperor Zhang of Han he transmitted the One Hundred and Eighty Great Precepts to Yu Ji. In the time of Emperor An of Han he transmitted the New Code of Transgression and Blessing to Liu Tu. In the time of Emperor Shun of Han he transmitted the scriptures and registers of the Celestial Master’s Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen). In the time of Emperor Huan of Han he descended to Mount Tiantai and transmitted to Ge Xiaoxian the Shangqing, Lingbao, Dadong, and other scriptures. In the time of Emperor Ming of Wei he descended to Mount Song and transmitted new codes and precepts, together with Fulu (talismans and registers), to the Celestial Master Kou Qianzhi.

In the time of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Lord Lao descended to Yangjiao Mountain and told Ji Shanxing the talismanic sign that the Duke of Tang would receive Heaven’s mandate. In the first year of Tianbao, under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he descended to Danfeng Gate, and the emperor personally offered sacrifice at Xingqing Palace. Afterward he told Tian Tongxiu that the Numinous Talisman of the Golden Casket was hidden at Hangu Pass, and he told Wang Yuanyi of the matter of the True Talisman of Wondrous Treasure. In the second year of Zhenghe, under Emperor Huizong of Song, he descended to the Huayang Grotto-Heaven and transmitted to Master Liang the Scripture of the Heavenly Youths Who Protect Life, with Added Lines.

The scripture says at the end that Lord Lao appears in every age. Even before the dusty world had taken form he was already carrying out his teaching, and he will endure through a future without end. His concealment and his manifestation cannot be fathomed, and his transformations are inexhaustible. He accords with the Dao of Wuwei (non-action) and natural spontaneity, and through countless cosmic ages he continues without break. In secret he assists the norms of the world. The Dao he practices is profound and more profound still. Everywhere he saves the beings of Heaven and the people of the world, more than can ever be told in full.

Chongzhenzi says: When one speaks of the essentials of longevity and of nurturing one’s nature, the key lies in “preserving the three and embracing the one.” The “three” refers to Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and Shen (spirit), together called the Three Treasures. Elder Xiangchuan says: Jing can transform and generate Qi, and Qi can transform and generate Shen. They nourish and protect the whole body; nothing is more important than this, and they are the foundation of cultivation.

Diagram of the Three Treasures of Primordial Unity

Tan Jingsheng says: “Preserving the three and embracing the one” means refining Jing into Qi, refining Qi into Shen, and refining Shen to unite with the Dao (the Way), until one fully penetrates the mysterious and subtle and accords with what is natural. The scriptures say that Heaven has three treasures: the sun, the moon, and the stars; human beings have three treasures: Jing, Qi, and Shen. The Shen of the heart acts through the eyes, and this is called seeing; the Jing of the kidneys acts through the ears, and this is called hearing; the hun (ethereal soul) of the spleen acts through the nose, and this is called smelling; the po (corporeal soul) of the gallbladder acts through the mouth, and this is called speaking. When the spiritual intent in one place is stirred, all spiritual intents are stirred along with it; when one orifice opens, the nine orifices open together. Guard a single pass, and the other passes can all be made secure. Once one turns onto this path of cultivation, the true essentials become easy to grasp.

Diagram of Inner Contemplation and Quiet Stillness at the Beginning of Perfection

Diagram of the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir (Jindan)

Bai Yuchan says: The mind of no-mind has no form, yet within emptiness it can nurture a spiritually luminous infant. When one who studies immortality cultivates to a state as pure and unmixed as an infant, it is like the moon reflected in a cold pool—serene and bright.

Chapter on Transmitting the Scripture and Verifying the Dao

Immortal Ge Xuan said: “I obtained this scripture (Jing) because I had once recited it ten thousand times. This scripture is cultivated by beings of the celestial realm and is not transmitted to those of shallow understanding. In former times I received it from the Sovereign Lord of Eastern Florescence; the Sovereign Lord of Eastern Florescence received it from the Sovereign Lord of the Golden Portal; and the Sovereign Lord of the Golden Portal in turn received it from the Queen Mother of the West. The Queen Mother of the West transmitted it entirely by word of mouth, never setting it down in writing. Now that I am in the human world, I have written and recorded it. Those of superior capacity who comprehend this scripture may ascend to become celestial officials; those of middling capacity who comprehend it may take their place in the immortal ranks of the Southern Palace; those of lesser capacity who obtain this scripture may prolong their years and increase their lifespan in the human world, come and go among the Three Realms, and ascend into the Golden Gate.”

The Perfected One of the Left Mystery said: “When those who cultivate the Dao (the Way) recite and uphold this scripture, they receive the protection of the beneficent deities of the celestial realms in the ten directions. Thereafter the jade talisman can guard and sustain the Shen (spirit), and the golden liquor can refine and nourish the bodily form, so that both form and spirit attain a subtle and wondrous state and unite with the Great Dao as true reality.”

The Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Perfected One said: “If a household possesses this scripture and can comprehend the principles within it, calamity will not encroach, and the host of sages and perfected ones will guard the gates of the house. Those who cultivate and practice it may have their spirit ascend to the upper realm and pay homage to the Supreme Venerable. When merit is fulfilled and cultivation has borne fruit, they can commune with the Sovereign Lord. If they persist in reciting and upholding it without ever turning back, their bodies will ride the purple clouds and ascend.”

Transmission of the Scripture

Su Shangqing said: “The youth transmits the scriptures and seeks instruction from the Utmost Person; facing circumstances with a mind free of attachment, one may long remain at peace. Serving the scriptures in cultivation, there will in the end come a day of riding the wind and driving the clouds; at that time one may mount the luan bird and step into the Yuchen, the jade palaces of the celestial realm.”

Opening the Scripture

Qiu Changchun said: “When a person leaves the household to cultivate the Dao, the words of the teaching say that, above, one must be loyal to the sovereign and, below, filial and respectful toward one’s parents. If above one does not revere the sovereign, and below one does not revere one’s parents, that is to be neither loyal nor filial. Words that esteem oneself as exalted and regard oneself as standing transcendent above the world do not accord with the Great Dao, nor do they readily admit one to the path of the immortals; this is in fact to forget one’s own root.”

The Perfected Yin said: Although the scriptures of the immortals run to tens of millions of scrolls, loyalty and filial piety are the most fundamental. Whether in heaven or in the human world, doing good and helping others comes first.

Bai Yuchan said: Mulberry fields turn into seas, and the seas turn back into fields; in the blink of an eye a hundred years have passed. If only one can set in motion the crucial mechanism of the Mysterious Pass atop the head, who cannot become a Daluo immortal?

Wuzhenzi said: Even if your intelligence surpasses that of Yan Hui and Min Ziqian, if you have not met an enlightened teacher, do not force yourself to guess. Without oral instructions for the cultivation of the Golden Elixir (Jindan), where would you go to congeal the spiritual embryo?

Liaozhenzi said: To cultivate the Great Medicine, one must use the three—Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and Shen (spirit); by nature they are mutually intimate and answer one another. By harmonizing the workings of Qi so that they return to their original authenticity, one then tempers the practice day after day.

Liaozhenzi said: In cultivation, one must work diligently in a state that seems to yield no merit; only by going beyond purposive practice does one accord with the Dao (the Way) of the sages. Refine the Dantian (energy center) into a precious supreme treasure, and let the sun and moon—the crow and the hare, which in antiquity stood respectively for the sun and the moon—course between east and west.

Bi Yuanshu said: A single grain of the Golden Elixir shines bright and dazzling, as large as a pellet and like an orange. Every person originally possesses a perfect foundation, and at night that numinous radiance often fills the dwelling.

Chen Niwan said: Within a single year, a child is born from the embryo; the child in turn begets grandchildren, and the grandchildren beget further descendants, generation after generation. The subtle mysteries of the Golden Elixir’s transformative nurturing are inexhaustible—how could they be lightly told to others?

Lü Dongbin said: Alone I climb the high mountain and gaze upon the cities of the eight directions; the dark clouds disperse, leaving only a bright moon hanging on high. Though the people of the vast universe are numberless, how many are truly men of aspiration, able to shoulder great affairs?

Commentary on the Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao

Bai Yuchan, Qiongguanzi of Hainan, divided the chapters and corrected errors

Annotated by Wang Yuanhui, Yinweizi of Zhongnan

“Tai” means non-being, “shang” means the supreme and utterly boundless, and “shuo” means to reveal and impart instruction. “Chang Qingjing” (Constant Clarity and Stillness) speaks of the void Great Dao (the Way): it naturally generates Heaven and Earth, Yin-Yang, and the myriad things, and has done so from antiquity to the present. “Jing” means the heart-mind. The Great Dao is mysterious, profound, and far-reaching; it is the gateway to the many wonders.

Shao Yong said: “Within Taiyi (the Supreme One), Heaven and Earth differentiate the work of creation and transformation, while human beings establish the principles of affairs from the heart-mind. Heaven and humanity do not rest on two different principles. The Dao is not empty talk; what matters is whether a person can realize it and put it into practice.”

Chapter One: The Pre-Celestial Great Dao

The Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) speaks. Note by Wang Yuanhui: for the records concerning Lord Lao, see the preceding section, “Origins.” In the versions now extant, the two characters “Taishang” do not appear.

The Daodejing (Classic of the Dao and of De [Virtue/Power]) says: When the Great Dao issues from the mouth, it is so plain as to seem without flavor; look for it and it cannot be seen, listen for it and it cannot be heard, yet put it to use and it is never exhausted.

The Exalted One of Fuxi’s Age said: “Once you have grasped the meaning within the qin, why weary the mind listening to the sound of the strings?” This borrows the sound of the qin to show that, in apprehending the principle within, one need not cling to outward forms of sound.

The Great Dao has no form; it is the beginning of non-being. It gives birth to Heaven and Earth without any human arrangement, operating of itself and spontaneously.

The Shenxiao Jing says: The Great Dao is empty, still, and formless, yet in its application it is inexhaustible.

The Exalted One of Fuxi’s Age said: “Once you have grasped the meaning within the qin, why weary the mind listening to the sound of the strings?”

The Great Dao has no form; it is the beginning of non-being. It gives birth to Heaven and Earth without any human arrangement, operating of itself and spontaneously.

The Shenxiao Jing says: The Great Dao is empty, still, and formless, taking Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy)—the spiritual power and primordial life-energy spoken of in Daoism—as what is real. Shen is not vague and indistinct, nor is Qi a swirling chaos. Shen gives birth to the myriad spirits, and Qi gives birth to the myriad qi; the myriad spirits return to the One, and the myriad qi unite in the One. Shen is the pivot by which the Great Dao sets transformation in motion; Qi is the key by which the Great Dao turns. When the pivot is set moving and the key revolves in transformation, the Three Realms come into being. The Primordial Ancestral Shen transforms and gives birth to the myriad perfected ones; the Primordial Ancestral Qi transforms and gives birth to the many heavens.

The Great Dao is without partial or selfish feeling; it is the beginning of being. It sets the sun and moon in motion, so that Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) and Jingming (Pure Brightness) shine everywhere without end.

The Astronomical Treatise of the Jin (Jin Tianwen Zhi) says that heaven is like a round canopy and the earth like a chessboard. Half of the celestial sphere lies above the ground and the other half beneath it. The sun and moon of themselves move eastward, while the celestial sphere rotates westward.

The Han Armillary Sphere (Han Huntian Yi) says that one circuit of heaven measures 365 and one-quarter degrees. The celestial sphere is round as a pellet, high in the north and low in the south, shaped like a canopy. The North Pole stands 36 degrees above the ground, and the South Pole sinks 36 degrees below it. The straight-line distance between the north and south poles is slightly less than 182 degrees; measured along the curve of the heavens, the distance is slightly more than 182 degrees. The point exactly midway between the two poles is called the celestial equator, 91 degrees from each pole.

At the spring equinox the sun travels on the celestial equator. At the summer solstice it travels to a point 20 degrees north of the equator, 67 degrees from the North Pole and 115 degrees from the South Pole; this path of the sun is called the “black path” (heidao). After the summer solstice the sun gradually moves south, and at the autumn equinox it returns to the equator, just as at the spring equinox. At the winter solstice the sun travels to a point 24 degrees south of the equator, 67 degrees from the South Pole and 115 degrees from the North Pole; this path is called the “yellow path” (huangdao). After the winter solstice the sun gradually moves north again.

The moon’s orbit lies close to the sun’s, and the two orbits cross as they pass: one stretch falls inside the lunar path and another outside the solar path. Where the two paths intersect they coincide; farther from the two poles they stand 6 degrees apart. This is the general configuration of the orbits of the sun and moon.

The Han Treatise (Han Zhi) says that the sun moves one degree each day and the moon thirteen and seven-nineteenths degrees each day, so the sun is the slower and the moon the faster. The sun belongs to Yang and the moon to Yin (Yin-Yang). The moon cannot give light of itself and becomes bright only by borrowing the light of the sun; therefore, when the moon meets the sun, the last day of the month (hui) and the first day (shuo) come about. The light of the moon also appears in a fixed sequence. On the third day the moon first shows a faint gleam, called fei. Around the eighth day the moon has traveled about 80 degrees and its bright portion reaches half, called the upper chord (shangxian). The fifteenth day is full moon (wang), for the moon stands opposite the sun and the lunar face appears round and bright. From the sixteenth day the po begins to appear, meaning that the moon’s dark side gradually comes into view and its brightness slowly withdraws. Around the twenty-third day the dark portion reaches half, called the lower chord (xiaxian). By twenty-seven and a half days the moon has completed one circuit and has already reached a position about 27 degrees behind the place attained by the sun; after traveling another two and a half days, it meets the sun again on the new-moon day (shuo) of the next interval.

It further says that the earth stands at the center and the celestial sphere revolves around the earth. When the sun is above the ground it is day; when the sun is below the ground it is night. This is the pattern of the motions of the sun and moon.

The Shenxiao Jing (scripture) says that after chaos differentiated, the pure and subtle Fanqi (梵炁; Qi, vital energy—the primordial Qi of Prior Heaven spoken of in Daoism) unfolded. What was large and conspicuous became the sun and moon, and what was fine and minute became the stars. Yunfang says that the sun and moon are condensations of the Jing (essence) and Qi of Yin-Yang, and that they generate the myriad things. Rising in the east and setting in the west, they divide day from night; moving north and south, they determine cold and heat. Zhu Xi says that Kunlun is vast without limit and, downward, deep and broad without end; that Yin and Yang revolve without cease; and that cold and heat alternate in their coming and going.

The Great Dao (the Way) has no fixed name. It is the source from which the myriad things arise, and it continually nourishes them. The two Qi (vital energy) of Yin-Yang intermingle and circulate, and from this the myriad things are transformed and nurtured, gradually growing pure and full.

Laozi said, “The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of the myriad things.” The Book of Changes says that the Way of Earth is deep, substantial, and vast; Yin and Yang move without cease, and cold and heat come and go in turn.

The Great Dao has no fixed name. It is the source from which the myriad things arise, and it continually nourishes them. The two Qi of Yin-Yang intermingle and circulate, and from this the myriad things are transformed and nurtured, gradually growing pure and full.

Laozi said, “The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of the myriad things.” The Book of Changes further says that the Way of Earth is encompassing, deep and substantial, vast and luminous, and that the myriad things depend on it in order to grow; thunder stirs the myriad things, and wind and rain moisten them. Zhu Xi said that the virtues of yuan (origination) and heng (penetration) enable living beings of every kind to multiply, while the virtues of li (benefit) and zhen (correctness) make the foundation of life secure. Without sincerity and trustworthiness, the nature of the Five Constants cannot truly stand.

I do not know what it was originally called, and can only force a name upon it, calling it “Dao.”

The Left Immortal Duke of Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate) said: Wuji (the Limitless) and the Great Dao transform and proceed together. They lay the foundation of Heaven and Earth, spread Qi to the four directions, and embrace the purest and most substantial Dao and De (Virtue/Power). Vast and boundless, it cannot be explained by any name. Thus Laozi called it “Dao,” the Spring and Autumn Annals called it “Yuan” (the Origin), and the Book of Changes called it “Taiji.” Zhang Zai said that when the transformation of Qi circulates, the name “Dao” arises; he also said that when the transformation of Qi circulates, the names of the Dao of Heaven, the Dao of Earth, and the Dao of humanity likewise arise.

Chen Zi’ang said: Confucius exalted Taiji, while Laozi prized the profound and mysterious principle; what the followers of the Golden Immortal of the West (a Buddhist designation for the Buddha) honor as doctrine is “wuming” (a Buddhist term meaning benightedness, a failure to perceive how things truly are).

Chapter Two: Natural Creation and Transformation

Before the Dao has manifested as Qi, it appears as clear Qi belonging to Yang; turbid Qi belonging to Yin also begins from this. Qi has both movement and stillness: Yang Qi moves and Yin Qi is still, and from this arise the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity. Heaven is clear and Earth is turbid; clear Qi becomes Heaven, and turbid Qi becomes Earth. Heaven moves, and Earth…

Before the Dao (the Way) has yet manifested as Qi (vital energy), clarity and turbidity, Yang and Yin, together with movement and stillness, are already contained within Qi. Yang Qi stirs into motion while Yin Qi remains at rest, and from this the three powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity are generated. Heaven is clear and Earth is turbid: clear Qi condenses to form Heaven, and turbid Qi condenses to form Earth. Heaven moves while Earth is still; Heaven is round and revolves without cease, enclosing Earth from the outside; Earth is motionless and square, situated at the center of Heaven. Men belong to the clear and the moving, women to the turbid and the still. Qian represents the male and Kun the female; the two match and unite, mutually generating and nurturing each other. Qi flows gradually from the root toward the extremities, and thus the myriad things come into being. The three powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity thereby transform and give birth to the myriad things.

The Guanzi says: “That which is empty and without form is called the Dao.” The Treatise on the Pitch-pipes and the Calendar in the Book of Han states that Taiji (Supreme Ultimate)—the fundamental state of the cosmos before differentiation—contains the three and unites them as one, namely Heaven, Earth, and humanity. The Liezi says that within primordial Qi (the original Qi constituting Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things), what is light and clear becomes Heaven, what is heavy and turbid becomes Earth, and the harmonious Qi becomes humanity. Zhu Xi says that when the Qi of Heaven and Earth unite, changes such as cold and heat, dryness and dampness, wind and fire thereupon arise; human Qi changes along with these, and the myriad things are likewise brought forth through transformation. The generation and transformation of the myriad things all arise from the gathering and dispersal of the three kinds of Qi, so that production and transformation are without end. Wuzhenzi says: the Dao gives birth to the One Qi out of emptiness and non-being; the One Qi then produces Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang unite to form the three bodies, and the three bodies continuously transform and generate, so that the myriad things flourish in abundance.

Clarity is the root of independent existence; movement is the foundation of stillness.

Master Shao says: the Limitless advances to become Taiji; at the outset it is wholly undifferentiated, empty and still, not yet divided. The movement of Yang and the stillness of Yin are both contained within Taiji. Yang movement and Yin stillness cycle back and forth without end; the very substance of Taiji thus resides within Yin and Yang. Buddhists say: “The source of flowing water originally lies in the sea; when the moon sets, it has not left the sky.” Another version reads: “Stillness is the root of movement.”

If a person can constantly maintain clarity and stillness, Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things will all return to the self.

The Scripture of the Great Cavern says that human beings are formed by receiving their endowment from Heaven. Li Shaowei says: “I am Heaven and Earth; Heaven and Earth are I.” Celestial Master Liu (Tianshi) says: “The Dao does not deliberately pursue emptiness and void; when the mind grows empty and still, the Dao naturally returns. If a person can make the mind empty and still, the Dao naturally returns into the mind.” Yuxizi says: “Why does this mind communicate with the creative transformations of Heaven and Earth? Only because it originally comes from the Dao.”

Chapter Three: Uniting the Whole Spirit (Shen) with the Dao (the Way)

The human spirit originally delights in clarity and stillness, yet it is often disturbed by the thoughts of the mind. The Dao itself has no demonic obstructions; the obstacles are created by the human mind.

Yuxizi said, “The Dao differentiates and becomes the primordial spirit of my own person; my primordial spirit is none other than the Great Dao.” Master Wang Xie said, “When the mind is at peace, spiritual illumination is efficacious; when the mind is scattered, the spirit runs wild.” Confucius sought instruction from Lao Dan: “May I ask what the ultimate Dao is?” Lao Dan replied, “Let the stray thoughts in the mind be cleared and dispersed, and wash the spirit with clear water.” The Queen Mother of the West said, “If one indulges in the pleasures of sound and sight, the spirit cannot be clear and bright; if thinking never ceases, the mind cannot be at peace. When the mind is not at peace, the spirit lacks efficacy; when the spirit lacks efficacy, success in cultivating the Dao is hard to attain.”

The inner mind loves quiet, yet it is often drawn along by desire. The deeper one goes in cultivating the Dao, the stronger the demonic obstructions seem to become; the “demon” here also refers to the afflictions and desires that arise in the course of practice.

True Lord Tianyou said, “Though the sun and moon are bright, floating clouds still cover them; though the rivers are clear, sand and stones still muddy the water. Though the human mind is capable of stillness, it is also drawn by cravings and desires.” The Imperial Lord of Zitong said, “White clouds are by nature things without intention; the wind gently sends them out of the mountain valleys.”

So long as one regularly dispels desire, the mind will of itself grow quiet. When one’s intent is at ease and the heart is broad, the Qi (vital energy) within the body—the breath and the energy of life—will be abundant, and the spirit will also be settled.

The Liaozhen Jing (scripture/classic of Realizing the True) says, “When desires are few, the mind is quiet; when one is no longer entangled by emotion, afflictions are light.” Laozi said, “Should not the human heart be as profoundly still as a deep abyss?” The True Scripture of Water and Fire says, “Desire arises from within the mind, and the breath too is regulated by the mind. Mind and breath depend upon each other; when the breath is harmonized, the mind grows quiet.”

Make the inner mind limpid, and the spirit will naturally be clear and bright. When the state of mind is open and luminous, demonic obstructions will also draw back and withdraw.

Yanluozi said: “Make the inner mind clear and lucid.” When the mind is clear and lucid, the spirit (Shen) grows quiet; disordered thoughts no longer arise, deviant notions and delusive imaginings cannot intrude, and sorrow and misfortune disperse. What is called “the empty chamber gives birth to brightness” refers precisely to clarifying the inner mind.

Lü Dongbin said: “Each day one has a day of pure leisure is a day lived as an immortal; when the parts of body and mind are coordinated and harmonious, there is natural peace. Within the Dantian (energy center) there are treasures of one’s own, so one need not seek the Dao (the Way) outside; facing circumstances without the mind clinging, one need not ask separately about Chan methods.”

In this way, desires of every kind naturally do not arise, and the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion are also eliminated. The yin po (the soul belonging to Yin) gradually disperses, and the yang Shen (the spirit belonging to Yang) naturally manifests.

Bai Yuchan said: “Have you not seen? The void gives rise to spontaneity, and spontaneity gives rise to the One Qi (vital energy, the primordial qi that constitutes the myriad things). The One Qi condenses and forms the myriad things; when qi is abundant, it differentiates into Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth originally have no selfish mind, and the two qi of Yin-Yang circulate of themselves. The myriad things have their flourishing and their decline; the great pattern has its endings and its beginnings. To comprehend the innate, original principle is to grasp the root of the cultivation of nature and life. The five thousand words of the Daodejing and the three hundred characters of the Yinfujing all speak of the relations among bodily form and spirit, nature and life, body and mind, and Shen and Qi. When these are blended and brought together, they can congeal into a treasure—this is the principle of the Golden Elixir. People of the world are mostly attached, and so one provisionally draws on methods of youwei (intentional action) in cultivation in order to guide them back to Wuwei (non-action). Those who are firm and decisive can grasp the essentials; one may, in leisure, carefully ponder these words. The minds of sages past and present established their teachings in order to transform the people of the world, and they were not in error. If one can set out directly upon this path, one may go straight through to the Pavilion of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing; the realm of Qingwei Heaven spoken of in Daoism).”

The Xujing Celestial Master (Tianshi; a Daoist honorific referring to Zhang Jixian) said: “Those of superior capacity who obtain this method and can hold to it—what is called ascent in flight originally depends on just this practice.”

The reason people cannot accomplish this is that wealth and desire disturb their inborn nature, and wine and sensual beauty confuse their feelings and will.

Ji Kang said: “Nourishing life has five difficulties: one cannot set aside fame and profit, cannot eliminate joy and anger, cannot keep away from sounds and sights, cannot abstain from fine flavors, and the deliberations of mind and spirit are scattered and unsettled.”

Liu Haichan said: “Learning to become an immortal is originally very easy; it is only that people themselves find it hard. Casting off worldly habits is not difficult; it is only that people do not easily manage to do it.”

The Perfected Qingxu said: “A three-year-old child can speak these principles, yet an elder of eighty may not be able to practice them.”

This is because the inner mind is not yet clear and lucid, and thoughts still turn nimbly, shifting and never settling.

The Duren Jing (scripture) says: “What is called the human way…”

The Perfected Qingxu said, “Even a three-year-old child can speak the principles, yet a person of eighty may still be unable to carry them out.” This is because the heart-mind has not yet grown clear and still, and thoughts keep churning without rest, like living water.

The Duren Jing (Scripture of Salvation) says, “The Dao (the Way) that people follow lies in one’s own heart-mind; it does not depend on others.” Wang Zhiyuan said that this is like playing ball on a rushing current: the ball is very hard to bring to a stop. Han Xiang said, “The waves of the sea of inner nature heave up muddy and turbulent, and the sky of the heart is veiled by clouds.” Here waves and mist are metaphors for the thoughts of the heart-mind in confusion, difficult to make clear.

In former times, Ma Danyang lived in seclusion on Zhongnan Mountain. One day Liu Chuxuan came into the mountains and bowed to him from outside the wall of the hermitage. Knowing that Liu Chuxuan’s heart-mind was not yet fully clarified and settled, Ma Danyang said to him through the wall, “You may go to Henan Prefecture and visit Immortal Lady Liu, and return after three years.” Liu Chuxuan went as instructed. Immortal Lady Liu had known beforehand that he would come, and she waited for him on purpose, dressed in her finest. The moment Liu Chuxuan saw her, a stir arose in his heart. Immortal Lady Liu told him, “I was only testing you. Set this heart aside, and your cultivation of the Dao will succeed.” Liu Chuxuan then repented and awakened of himself. He sat in meditation in the entertainment quarter of Flower Lane in Luoyang, eating each day by begging alms. After three years his heart-mind gradually grew still. Feeling that he had gained some insight, he again paid his respects to Ma Danyang. When Ma Danyang saw him, he said, “It will do,” and thereupon transmitted the methods of the Dao to him. Later he became Perfected Liu Changsheng of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) school.

Huayangzi said, “If for but a single day there is no wind in the sky, the waves of the four seas will subside; yet if the wind of a person’s heart does not cease, the waves will still rise a hundred feet high.” The meaning is that calm winds and still waves in the outer world cannot of themselves quiet the turmoil within.

When desires have not yet been eliminated, the ears chase after sounds, and the eyes are also beguiled by the forms and colors of the external world.

The Lady of the Upper Prime said to Emperor Wu of Han, “Do you delight in cultivating the Dao? You have many times summoned fangshi, climbed mountains, and offered sacrifice to the gods; that may count as diligence. But your nature is impetuous, lustful, extravagant, cruel, and harsh, and these five dispositions constantly lie hidden in your Qi (vital energy) and blood and in your five viscera. If from now on you cast aside these five dispositions and turn to gentleness and goodness, often do good deeds that seek no return, rescue those who meet with mortal peril, and do not leak your Jing (essence) and Qi, only then will there be hope of attainment.” Here “seminal fluid” refers to the Jing and Qi spoken of in cultivation.

Master Cao said, “A beauty of sixteen, her body soft as cream; at her waist it is as if there were a sword that cuts off the will of fools. Clearly one does not see a human head fall, yet in secret she brings a person’s marrow to exhaustion.” The verse uses the sword as a metaphor, warning people not to be deluded by feminine beauty, lest they deplete their Jing and Qi.

Those who can take things lightly can meet all the affairs of the world with a laugh and let them pass.

Wei Yuanjun said, “Enough, enough, enough! Fame and achievement that overshadow the age are not something one can decide for oneself.” Huang Shigong said that secretly teaching people to chase fame and achievement will exhaust the mind and energy of the worthy.

Those who can take things lightly can meet all the affairs of the world with a laugh and let them pass.

Wei Yuanjun said, “Enough, enough, enough! Fame and achievement that overshadow the age are not something one can decide for oneself.” Huang Shigong said, “Cut off cravings and restrain desire, and entanglements can be removed; drink little and abstain from sexual indulgence, and body and mind can be kept from defilement.” Wenzi said, “Cast off the pursuit and admiration of external things, and eliminate cravings and desires.” Huang Shigong went on to say, “Ministers at court are already waiting in the fifth watch to attend the audience; generals in iron armor hurry through the passes by night; recluses are still sleeping soundly when the sun stands high. Reckoned up, fame, rank, and profit do not compare with leisure and ease.”

Contemplate your own mind inwardly, and let the light of the mind turn back to illumine yourself. The original text also uses the wording “contemplate the mind” (guan qi xin). To reach the state in which “the mind is without its mind” (xin wu qi xin) is to stop clinging to a mind taken as solid and unchanging.

Zhuangzi said, “The Dao (the Way) is Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate).” He also said, “If the mind does not hold the distinction between adverse and favorable circumstances, one has reached no-mind (wuxin).” The Three Mao Lords (Sanmaojun) said, “The dwelling of the mind is clear and still, like a vessel of ice, and only the Yuanshen (original spirit, a person’s primordial spirit) is allowed to abide within it. If even a single thing is still retained in the mind, how can one realize the great Dao and accord with the realm of pure emptiness?”

Contemplate your own form outwardly; seen through the eye of the Dao, it admits no distinction of noble and base. The original text also uses the wording “contemplate the form” (guan qi xing). To reach the state in which “form is without its form” (xing wu qi xing) is to stop clinging to the physical body.

Master Zhu said, “As fundamental substance, the Dao is so great that it has no outside and so small that it has no inside.” The Left Immortal Duke of Taiji (Taiji Zuo Xiangong) said, “The substance of the Dao is spontaneous of itself. It arises before Taiwu (the formless, imageless origin) and does not come into being through any cause; even as it passes through the ending and beginning of Heaven and Earth, it cannot be named in words or reckoned by number.” The Perfected One of Great Mystery (Taixuan Zhenren) said, “A single point of round, luminous nature is originally the same as Taixu (the Great Void); only because a thought arises does it congeal into a body. If one can lay down clinging thoughts and turn the light back upon oneself (huiguang fanzhao), one can recover the original state of pure emptiness, in which nothing is attached. Before a person is born of father and mother, there is originally spiritual luminosity; it seems dull only because it has congealed into form. Form veils the luminous nature; let go of attachment, and one can become thoroughly clear and bright once more.”

Contemplate the myriad things from afar. If one looks from the standpoint of the things themselves, a person will take himself to be noble and regard external things as base. The original text also uses the wording “contemplate things” (guan qi wu). To reach the state in which “things are without their thinghood” (wu wu qi wu) is to stop clinging to the myriad things as independent, fixed existences of their own.

Bai Yuchan’s commentary on the Laozi says that the Dao (the Way), as a mode of existence, is elusive and hard to grasp. Amid that elusiveness, form seems to veil the luminous source; yet once these forms are set aside, one can still become clear through and through and return to purity and stillness.

When the myriad things are observed from afar, if they are regarded with ordinary worldly eyes, one comes to feel oneself noble and the myriad things lowly. Another reading speaks of “observing their thingness,” that is, of observing the myriad things; yet the myriad things have no fixed, unchanging “thing-nature.”

Bai Yuchan’s commentary on the Laozi says that the Dao is elusive and hard to grasp, and yet it is not wholly without content: within the elusiveness there is image; between seeming presence and seeming absence there are the myriad things; and in the deep obscurity there lies a subtle Jing (essence). This essence is genuine and not empty, and within it there is also a trustworthy basis. It has been so from antiquity down to the present. Lü Dongbin says, “As for the truly wondrous principle in this, who would say that it cannot enable a person to live long?” The Shenxiao Jing (scripture) says, “Above there is no other Shen (spirit); below there is no other Qi (vital energy—the subtle life-energy that constitutes the human body and the myriad things).” Wuchengzi says, “There is an existence prior to Heaven and Earth, originally formless, still and soundless; it can become the sovereign of the myriad phenomena, yet it does not decay with the changing of the four seasons.”

Once these three aspects of the principle have been grasped, what one sees is nothing but emptiness and stillness. “Containing the three as one” means gathering the three into a single whole; what is precious in this lies in according with the natural course of things.

The Tianbao Changsheng Jing says: when responsive transformation is observed from afar, one sees that there is no fixed, unchanging object of response—that is, no substantial thing; when one turns inward to contemplate the original spirit (a person’s fundamental spirit), one finds that there is no fixed, unchanging original spirit—that is, no clinging mind; when one looks outward to contemplate the dharma-realm (the world in which the myriad things dwell), one finds that there is no fixed, unchanging dharma-realm—that is, no substantial and unchanging image. One accords with what is natural: when it is time to be still, one is still, and within stillness there is of itself spiritual brightness; from “non-being” arises “being,” and Jing is able to transform and give rise to Qi. When it is time to return to silence, one returns to silence, and within that silence the real becomes manifest. Emptiness is not sheer nothingness; Qi is able to transform and give rise to spiritual brightness. Xiaoyaozi says, “The reason people do not understand this principle is simply that it appears too obvious.”

When emptiness is contemplated, it is contemplated by means of emptiness, until in the end even “emptiness” itself cannot be grasped. The Dao has no fixed image.

Xu Jingyang says in the Shihan Ji (Record of the Stone Casket): Realize true emptiness and manifest the traces of the immortals, and do not imagine that you will meet them again in a later life. If one is utterly foolish, one should not speak emptily of the mysterious and wondrous; some people talk of nothing but true emptiness, yet do not understand the principle of true emptiness. The affairs of the world are not all the same as emptiness; there is also a side that belongs to “form.” Form is not mere nothingness; it is resplendent and bright, like abundant blossoms. To speak through the true intent of this teaching of mine is this: the sun seems to have moved into the bright moon. The bright moon and the sun are both numinous medicines of heaven; when a person takes them, one can ride the luan and mount the crane. Shi Xinglin says: If one does not understand the subtlety of the oral formula for refining the elixir, then to talk of emptiness all day and to savor true emptiness is of no use.

If all that has been emptied has already ceased to be, then even “non-being” no longer exists. ○ Wondrous and unfathomable, it has no fixed place.

The Huainanzi says: Persons of resolve are tranquil and plain, following what is natural, and dwell at ease with the creative transformations of heaven and earth. Liaozhenzi says: The Great Dao (the Way) originally contains not a single thing; if one can hold to the “One,” luminous spirit abides peacefully within the mind. When the ground of the mind is as clear as the moon’s reflection in a deep pool, free of the slightest obstruction, one can be naturally at ease.

When even “the non-being of non-being” does not exist, there is limpid clarity and deep stillness, constant and quiescent. ○ Original nature has no fixed form.

The Shangcheng Wu’ai Jing (Scripture of the Unsurpassed Vehicle of Non-Obstruction) says: When thoughts arise, original nature is concealed; when thoughts are calm, original nature appears. Like empty space, it has no form or appearance—limpid and deeply still, constant and quiescent. Qiu Changchun says: Dao and De (Virtue/Power) originally have no image; even with pigments one cannot paint their true countenance. Sages and worthies secretly aid the people of the world, and from antiquity to the present they have silently communed with the spirits.

If, in stillness, one does not even cling to the thought of “stillness,” how could desire arise? ○ Qi (vital energy) has no shape.

Laozi says: I practice Wuwei (non-action), and the people are naturally transformed and nourished; I delight in stillness, and the people of themselves become upright; I do not meddle in many affairs, and the people of themselves become prosperous; I am without desire, and the people of themselves become simple. Wuzhenzi says: Set down thoughts of good and evil together; neither flourishing glory nor decline need weigh upon the mind.

Once desire does not arise, that is true clarity and stillness. ○ When the mist disperses, the light of the sun is bright and pure; when the dust is entirely removed, the mirror is clear and luminous.

Lady Wei Yuanjun said, "The Dao is born from stillness." Long ago, Shi Jianwu had admired the arts of the Dao for many years, yet his practice yielded no results. He pondered day and night, and his heart felt as troubled as if he were carrying a load of thorns. Later he read the Scripture of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing Jing), which said: "Those who cultivate should enter three kinds of stillness retreat, rinsing and refining the Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy), nourishing and prolonging life. The great stillness lasts three hundred days, the middle stillness two hundred days, and the small stillness one hundred days."

Shi Jianwu resolved to try the small stillness first. He shut the gate and bolted the door, did not go out, and fixed the period at one hundred days. Only when it was complete did he step out of his chamber. Before a month had passed, his eyes already appeared bright; after one hundred days, his spirit was clear and robust; after three hundred days, his eyes were as black and lustrous as lacquer, his skin was as fine and smooth as tallow, his old illnesses had all vanished, and his body and mind felt light and at ease. From this we know that the subtle oral instructions in the immortals' scriptures are not empty words.

Shi Xinglin said, "The mind is like a sky without a trace of shadow; the nature is like the earth untouched by dust. In the depths of the night, when the moon is bright, a single call of a spring bird suddenly comes through."

True stillness is being able to respond to external things with complete ease, perfectly rounded and unobstructed, radiant and shining. Another version reads "true constancy responds to things."

Laozi said, “There is something that already existed before Heaven and Earth were formed.” Liu Haichan said, “If one understands only original nature and does not cultivate Neidan (internal alchemy), then even after passing through ten thousand kalpas one will still find it hard to meet the changes that arise.” Master Wang Xie said, “When the breath comes to rest, the primordial Shen (spirit) gathers; when the primordial Shen gathers, Neidan can be brought to completion.”

The Shihan ji (Record of the Stone Casket) says that the so-called Dao (the Way) of the Elixir is not something refined from the five metals, the eight minerals, cinnabar, and mercury of the human world. It is an originally formless existence uniting with emptiness—open, vast, and profoundly still. This is called “True Void.” True Void is the foundation of elixir refinement and also the source of the “Great Medicine.”

What is the Great Medicine like? Upon what does its form depend in coming into being? Its essential nature is a mode of existence already present within what is mixed and not yet divided. It comes before Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things, and it dwells prior to the Lord of images. Originally empty, still, and spontaneous, it also unites with form and color, and form and color turn in accordance with Shen. Although True Void is empty and still, it is not sheer nothingness; the wondrous functioning within it possesses spiritual power.

Perfected Qiu said:

When the elixir advances to the first stage, a red sun seems to rise within the deep and secluded Dantian (energy center). Auspicious clouds and mist fill the upper, middle, and lower Dantian, and the Mysterious Pearl that is brought forth is only the size of a grain of millet.

When the elixir advances to the second stage, the fire of the Vermilion Bird blazes fiercely, as though it burned throughout Heaven and Earth. Rosy light enters the elixir cauldron; dragon and tiger coil about one another, and a single Yellow Sprout grows to the size of a canine tooth.

When the elixir advances to the third stage, the symbols of the Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and the human being—merge and congeal into the elixir. Whether the elixir’s appearance is fair or plain differs from person to person. The essence of the Prior Heaven gives rise to bodily form, and at this point a beginning has been made.

When the elixir advances to the fourth stage, the numinous gate of Penghu is often closed. In quiet concentration the practitioner secretly turns the wheel of long life, and boundless numinous light shines upon the one who cultivates the true.

When the elixir advances to the fifth stage, the Numinous True cultivates each day in the place of immortal practice. Layer upon layer, the Qi (vital energy) of the Dao adds brightness, so that the power governing spiritual illumination steadily increases.

When the elixir advances to the sixth stage, one turns the River Cart day and night, setting in motion the axle of the sacred Dao. The numinous spring surges straight to the summit of Kunlun, and a bright moon seems to bathe in the Jasper Pool.

When the elixir advances to the seventh stage, a spiritually subtle essence lies hidden within the light of Wuwei (non-action). The True Officials preside over the Qi of the Dao, and the many spirits bestow blessings upon the spirit chamber.

When the elixir advances to the eighth stage, the Embryo Immortal is refined, full and round as the moon. The practitioner walks, sits, and sleeps together with the Embryo Immortal; though dwelling in the dusty world, others cannot perceive it.

When the elixir advances to the ninth stage, the sacred work is complete and the Embryo Immortal is accomplished. The practitioner has already realized a body of empty freedom, and thereafter need no longer practice the firing times.

When the truly constant Dao (the Way) becomes manifest, numinous original nature truly exists and pervades the Three Realms (heaven, earth, and humanity, or the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm).

Li Huayang said: Not understanding true original nature, and only inquiring into the length of life, is the first great failing of cultivation. What is called “nature” is like a vessel and like what the vessel contains; it is also like a precious pearl and like the light that shines from within the pearl—this is nature. When original nature manifests, in the womb it becomes the body, and coming into the world it becomes a person. In the eyes it is called seeing, in the ears hearing, in the nose smelling fragrance, and in the mouth speech; the hands can work and the feet can move. When it disperses, it fills heaven, earth, and the four directions; when it gathers, it rests only within a square inch. Those who understand know that this is original nature; those who are deluded call it the Jing (essence) soul.

The Shihan ji says: The innate root conceived by father and mother is hard to set forth completely. Life gives rise to life without cease, forming the myriad kinds of souls. Birth from the womb, from the egg, from moisture, and by transformation each differ, and humans and beasts, birds and insects, are of many kinds. Each is endowed with its own original nature; nature and life are joined to one another, and the soul depends upon life. On examination, both humans and animals receive primordial Qi (vital energy)—the fundamental energy of life—from the father, and receive bodily form from the mother. They tacitly accord with the principle of heaven and earth; when Qi is sufficient they are born, each possessing nature and life. This principle is quite plain. Nowadays some say that when a cultivator undergoes seated transformation (zuohua: passing away while sitting upright), if the thought at the moment of death is even slightly astray, one loses the human body and is reborn into another womb. This is indeed something to guard against.

The Celestial Master (Tianshi) Xujing—a Daoist honorific referring to Zhang Jixian—said: The Dao is not distant; it lies within one’s own person. Although the myriad things are all empty, only original nature is not empty. If original nature is not empty, it can unite with Qi; when Qi returns to the primordial sea (the place to which primordial Qi returns), one’s lifespan is without end.

If one responds to things and yet does not lose stillness, one can remain constantly pure and still.

The Perfected Hao said: Concentration is the substance of the mind settled and free of stray thoughts; wisdom is illuminating awareness, vast and without bounds. When concentration and wisdom fuse into one, their wondrous function is inexhaustible. Master Cao said: Blend the myriad things into one, and forget even that “one,” and one can transform, going out and coming in together with the creative fashioning of heaven and earth. Passing through metal and stone is not difficult; leaving the body while sitting or standing, and freely departing the world, can also be accomplished in an instant.

Maintained in this way in purity and stillness, one gradually enters the true Dao. When mind and nature are undefiled, one can enter the gate of all wonders.

The Han Celestial Master—a Daoist honorific referring to Zhang Daoling—said: The great Dao of emptiness and nothingness… Passing through metal and stone is not difficult; leaving the body while sitting or standing, and freely departing the world, can likewise be accomplished in an instant.

When cultivation reaches this realm of clarity and stillness, one gradually enters the true Dao (the Way). When the mind-nature remains unstained by external things, one can enter the gateway of the many mysterious principles.

The Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Han dynasty said: The great Dao of emptiness is clear, still, and profound. To be free of stain is called “qing” (clarity); for the mind not to stir in vain is called “jing” (stillness); not to cling to sight is called “xi”; not to cling to hearing is called “yi.” Only by diligently cultivating these four, and only after three years, may one hope to escape the cycle of rebirth. He also said: When the six sense faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are pure and the inner mind is clear and lucid, long cultivation enables one to command ghosts and spirits and to summon wind and rain. How could this be taken lightly? Sa Shoujian said, “A cold pool reflects the moon of an autumn night; the green water of a mountain stream flows past yet leaves no trace.” This uses an image of limpid purity, free of stain, to describe the state of mind.

To enter the true Dao is called attaining the Dao. The mind is like empty space, yet empty space is not the mind.

Chisongzi said: Restore original nature and enter the void; gather the spirit (shen) and return to primordial chaos. The ancients said that immortals, too, are cultivated from ordinary mortals; this is called attaining the Dao. Xue Daoguang said, “The immortal guests of the three isles of Penglai were never in the West to begin with.”

Although this is called attaining the Dao, if the arts that are displayed are not the true methods of the Dao, it still does not amount to genuine penetration. Liu Haichan said, “The true realm has no fixed form; this is a subtle gate of practice.” Wuzhenzi said, “A light appearing behind the crown of the head may still be an illusion; clouds and mist rising beneath the feet cannot prove that one has become an immortal.”

In reality there is nothing that can be grasped as an attainment, and the true methods of the Dao do not manifest as concrete forms. Look at it and you do not see it, because it has no color; listen to it and you do not hear it, because it has no sound; reach out to touch it and you cannot obtain it, because it has no bodily form. Yuxizi said: To seek outwardly is only in vain. The Dao is not in the middle, nor is it inside or outside. Look, and you do not see it; listen, and it has no sound. Open, empty, and luminous, it pervades the vast expanse of heaven and earth. The immortal scriptures say: Within the hidden and the faintly visible there lies a primordial reality, elusive and hard to discern. Zhou Ziyang said: It is like a fish drinking water—whether the water is cold or warm, only the fish itself knows. Tao Hongjing said, “One can only realize it joyfully for oneself; it cannot be given to another.”

It is called attaining the Dao only for the sake of teaching and transforming living beings. The transformations of the myriad things can all be penetrated, yet the root of the Dao has no name.

The Huainanzi says that the “Ultimate Dao (the Way)” follows what is natural and does not act by force. As circumstances require, it draws in and lets out, changes and extends. The Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) therefore establishes teachings in response to differing situations, so as to make the Great Dao manifest. Although methods of cultivation number in the thousands and tens of thousands, they all lead in the end to one and the same root. Their names differ, yet every one of them arises from the mind.

In the Liutao (Six Secret Teachings), Jiang Taigong says, “Everyone has an innate nature, but what each person chooses and aspires to is not the same.” Whoever can grasp this has the opportunity to realize the sagely Dao. This is what is meant by the saying, “Thought that fully penetrates is sagacity, and sagacity can make one a sage.”

Master Zhang says, “Truly to recognize the root of things is called knowing the Dao.” Master Zhu says, “From ancient times to the present, heaven, earth, and the myriad things have always proceeded in this way; it is nothing more than the alternating transformations of Yin-Yang. Who, after all, causes them to be so? This is the Dao.” Master Shao says, “By awakening to the changes of the hexagrams Pi and Tai, one understands advance and retreat; by observing the hexagrams Qian and Kun, one understands closeness and distance. Once the meaning of the ‘center of the ring’ has been grasped, not the slightest trace of turbulent Qi (vital energy) remains in the breast.” Here the “center of the ring” means taking hold of the center and the root of change.

Chapter Four: The Insight of the Worthy and the Foolish

The Most High Lord Lao says, “The superior person does not contend.” This means that such a person’s mind and nature are vast. “The inferior person delights in contention.” The phrase “the power of wisdom is boundless” here is a commentarial note, meaning that the power of wisdom is vast.

Laozi says, “The Dao of Heaven does not contend, yet it excels at prevailing.” An immortal scripture says, “To keep to the Dao for a single day is to recover the upright Qi that heaven and earth lose over the course of a year.” Sa Shoujian says, “The solitary cloud is ever at ease; the wild crane flies as it pleases.”

“Superior De (Virtue/Power) is not De” means that one who possesses the highest Virtue does not cling to being virtuous, and so can accord with what is natural and force nothing. “Inferior De clings to De” means that one of lesser Virtue clings to the name and the outward display of Virtue, and so takes deliberate action and practices it with conscious intent.

Yan Hui said: “Forget the sensations of the limbs and body, cast aside the acuity of the ears and eyes, depart from physical form, and do not be bound by clever artifice.” Wenzi said: “Those who are intelligent and broadly learned should restrain themselves with plainness and simplicity; those who have heard much and are skilled in debate should restrain themselves with brevity.” Zhang Jiucheng said: “In poverty one often has nothing to rely on, and in wealth and honor one easily grows proud; yet Yan Hui could rest content with meager fare and a coarse porcelain bowl. No one grasps the joy in this. What is melancholy is that this lingering influence has long since fallen silent.”

The Queen Mother of the West said: “Gazing up at the stars and worshipping the moon, one afflicts oneself and wearies the body; seeking immortality only through outward appearance and voice, one wishes merely to revere the immortals in order to cure illness.” The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) records that Bian Que said: “If illness has penetrated to the bone marrow, even the Director of Fate, who governs the span of human life, can do nothing.”

To cling to these cannot be called accord with the Dao (the Way) and De (Virtue/Power); it is to chase the illusory and lose the real.

The Scripture of the Nine Sons’ Elixir (Jiuzi Danjing) says: “What a person can keep intact is life; what deserves to be cherished is the body; what can be preserved is Qi (vital energy), the qi through which life moves; and what is precious is Jing (essence), the essential flower of life.” As for the various side-path arts—massage and guiding exercises (daoyin), ingesting qi and feeding on roseate clouds, circulating the breath behind closed doors, the sexual technique of mounting women and gathering yin, visualization and the concentration of Shen (spirit), fasting, and the cutting off of conjugal life—Su Shi said: “If it is not what I ought to possess, I will not take even a thread or a hair of it.”

Chapter Five: Responsive Manifestation Without Fixed Form

The Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) said: Living beings cannot attain the true Dao because delusive thoughts fill the mind. They crave the things they love and do not know when they should stop. Here the original text notes: the two characters “Taishang” were not originally present.

The Scripture on Understanding the Mind (Liaoxin Jing) says: “The mind is the root of cultivating the Dao, and it is also the source that invites misfortune.” Perfected ones of earlier generations said: “People prize gorgeous garments and crave rare delicacies; the eyes are beguiled by deviant forms, and the ears are disordered by licentious music. Single-mindedly pursuing glory, wealth, and rank, they sink deeper day by day—how could they know that between Heaven and Earth there is yet another mysterious Dao?” Yin Shouzi said: “A bewildering mist veils the moon of wisdom; the wind of karma stirs the sea of concentration.”

Once a delusive thought arises in the mind, Shen is startled and disturbed. When the eyes see things, thought is set in motion; when the ears hear sounds, the stirrings of Shen are drawn along as well.

The Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Han dynasty said: “Once the thoughts of the mind fall into disorder, the methods one practices lose their proper sequence; Qi dissipates, and Shen scatters too.” Master Cao said: “When has this thing ever had a fixed appearance?”

The Han Celestial Master (Tianshi), Zhang Daoling, said: The moment a single thought stirs in the mind, proper measure falls into disorder; when Qi (vital energy) disperses, Shen (spirit) scatters. Master Cao said: This thing originally has no fixed place; it changes with the occasion and with the mind’s intent. In the body, when heat is felt it turns into sweat; in the nose, when wind is felt it turns into mucus; in the kidneys, when sexual desire is stirred it turns into seminal fluid; in the eyes, when sorrow is felt it turns into tears. These flow freely back and forth amid Qi and blood, and in the end none of them departs from Shen and Qi. The Xujing Celestial Master, a Daoist of the Song dynasty, said: If Shen scatters outward, one must draw it back; once Shen returns into the body, Qi recovers of itself. Carried on in this way from morning to night, day after day, one will naturally become like an infant and form true embryonic breathing (taixi, the state in cultivation in which internal Qi condenses and coheres).

Once Shen is startled and disturbed, it clings to the myriad things. ○ The Dao (the Way) brings the myriad things into being.

Zhong Hui said: When Shen and Qi disperse, they become the myriad things. Laozi said: The myriad things turn their backs to Yin and face Yang (Yin-Yang). Bai Yuchan said: The Dao is always present within the myriad things; there is nothing that is not contained in the Dao. Wuzhenzi said: The Yin and Yang of grasses and trees all match one another; if either is lacking, they cannot flourish and give forth fragrance. When green leaves first emerge, Yang Qi stirs first; when red blossoms open afterward, Yin Qi comes to follow. The ordinary Dao lies within the everyday myriad things—yet who knows how the source goes forth and returns in its transformations? I tell those who study the Dao: if you do not understand Yin-Yang, do not mock rashly.

Once the myriad things have already appeared, ○ De (Virtue/Power) nurtures them.

Perfected Yin said: One who is skilled at realizing the Dao I transmit can, from a single thing, recognize the Way of Heaven and exhaust its wondrous subtlety; if you do not understand Yin-Yang, do not mock rashly.

Once the myriad things have already appeared, ○ De nurtures them.

Perfected Yin said: One who is skilled at realizing the Dao I transmit can, from a single thing, recognize the Way of Heaven, exhaust its wondrous subtlety, and settle nature and life. Master Shao (Shao Yong) said: When a thing is formed, it has a shape of its own; within a single shape there is in turn a heaven and earth of its own. One should know that the principles of the myriad things are all complete within one’s own person; there is no need to regard the Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and humanity—as each standing apart, with a separate origin.

And so craving arises. ○ Renewed day by day, it must be renewed again without cease.

Xu Jingyang (Xu Xun) said: After my Neidan (internal alchemy) is complete, transformation can proceed freely. What is still lacking is only that the edict of the Lord on High has not yet arrived. So I continue to accumulate merit, awaiting the true Mandate of Heaven. Perfected Qiu (Qiu Chuji) said: Once the cultivation of Neidan is fully sufficient, one must cherish and protect it, acting with caution for three years so as to avoid danger and disgrace; one must also aid living beings and benefit the myriad things, accumulating the merit of good deeds done in secret, and only then can one travel through the void and receive the register-mandate (luming, the ritual office and credential conferred by the Daoist teaching) granted by the Celestial Emperor.

Once craving has arisen, it brings vexation. ○ Through the twelve double-hours, hold to what is full and complete, and do not let fullness suffer loss.

The Huangting Jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court) says: “Immortals and cultivators of the Dao (the Way) are not born with miraculous powers; only by continually accumulating Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) do they become Perfected Persons.” Zhuangzi says: “When Jing and Qi are not lost, one may be called Shen (spirit).” Yunfang says: “In taking up cultivation, the key is to make one’s resolve firm; to hold to the Dao and let it follow its own course is, however, not easy.”

The principle of the Golden Liquid Reverted Elixir can be understood from this: it lies within a person’s own body and mind and need not be sought outside. Within the body there is already the “Yellow Dame”—an image, in Neidan (internal alchemy), of the harmonizing of Yin-Yang—to assist, as if a bright red elixir were being refined in a golden cauldron. Cultivation depends on oneself, and one must also cherish one’s own person; Yang Qi rises from the head, while Yin Qi rests along the spine. What is spoken of here is the “gold within water”—a Neidan image of cultivation that takes the union of water and fire, of Yin and Yang, as its metaphor—and the various other methods need not be sought outside. Refining the Golden Elixir requires only a hundred days of practice; once the work is complete, one may long remain an immortal of Penglai. The verses above are repeated once in the original text.

Afflictions and delusive thoughts are images that arise within the mind, and also the activity of the spirit that appears in dreams.

Xu Jingyang says: “Enter quiet concentration, so that the spirit may dwell at ease and disordered thoughts do not arise.” Yunfang says: “If, while in concentration, one sees scenes of splendor and feels every kind of pleasure, none of it should be taken as real; those are only delusive thoughts.” Immortal Lord Li says: “Preserve and nurture the spirit, and regulate and nourish the breath; when the mind is clear and still, an inner light will appear. Delusive thoughts do not arise without cause; only when the true Dao is sought does cultivation succeed.”

Sorrow and distress injure body and mind. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, one should guard body and mind with care, as if tending an infant.

Wang Ziqiao says: “When the mind does not act falsely, the body is naturally at peace.” Cao Guojiu says: “I urge you to cherish your own body and mind.” Master Shao says: “Although my body was born after Heaven and Earth, my mind seems to precede Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth all emerge from within my mind; what else is worth concern?”

Otherwise one suffers impurity and disgrace, and cycles through birth and death. People differ in wealth and honor or poverty and low station, in high rank or humble place, yet before birth and death all are equal.

Pei Qingxu says: “What is called impurity and disgrace refers to greed and infatuation.” Laozi says: “Know contentment, and one will not meet with disgrace.” Even the wealthy and honored, if proud and self-satisfied, bring impurity and disgrace upon themselves, and in the end still cycle through birth and death. Noble or base, high or low, none is set apart in the face of birth and death.

Pei Qingxu said: “Turbidity and disgrace” refers to craving and ignorance. Laozi said, “One who knows contentment will not suffer disgrace.” If a person grows arrogant after attaining wealth and rank, the misfortune that follows is of that person’s own making. Wang Panshan said: if, within a single thought, no attachment to life arises, then there is likewise no attachment to death. Li Huayang said: what is called life and death is nothing more than the gathering and dispersal of primordial Qi (vital energy), the fundamental Qi that constitutes the human body and the myriad things. Guo Pu said: life and death are like gathering and dispersal, and change follows no fixed pattern. Yuxizi said: there is passion and desire in the human heart, and dust and grime veil one’s nature; passion and dust draw upon and toy with one another, causing a person to pass through life and death again and again. Perfected ones of former generations said: the original reality, neither born nor extinguished, has been present all along; people simply do not recognize it, just as a night-shining pearl of inestimable worth lies buried. Ordinary people pass in vain through thousands of lives and remain like metal in the ore, trapped in impurities and never refined free.

If a person remains long sunk in the sea of suffering, the true Dao (the Way) is lost forever. When Jing (essence) and Qi are exhausted and primordial Qi perishes, Shen (spirit) is extinguished as well.

The Huangting Jing (scripture) says: “The spirit of the whole body must not be lost.” In former times, Xu Jingyang, a Daoist of the Eastern Jin, passed with his many disciples through a marketplace later called Charcoal Woman Market. At dusk he transformed charcoal into many beautiful women in order to test the disciples. Only ten of them, Zhou among them, remained unmoved, and in the end all ascended to heaven. The rest, seeing beauty, were stirred by feeling and sank into desire. At dawn they discovered that the women had all been charcoal. Knowing they had lost the Dao, they dispersed in shame. Lord Yin said: “Do not reckon gain and loss; only cultivate with single-minded devotion, and there is still hope of forming the reverted elixir—in Daoist cultivation, a state symbolizing the return of body and mind to the source and the crystallization of the spiritual elixir.” An Qisheng said: “A thousand days of cultivation may still not be enough, yet the harm caused by a single indulgence may far exceed it.”

The Dao of true constancy is naturally gained by those who realize it. One need only comprehend it within this profound mystery, and the Dao can be attained.

Xu Jingyang said: The truly constant Great Dao (the Way) takes loyalty and filial piety as the root of every De (Virtue/Power), and takes the benefiting of all living beings as the foundation of every good deed. Shuiqiu Zi said: What never changes and is never false is called “true constancy.” The Original Biography of the Mysterious Emperor says: When loyalty is wholehearted and the Dao of filial piety is complete, one can be recommended and ascend to immortality.

The Jingming Jing (scripture/classic) says: I wish only that my disciples always cherish a heart of filial piety, serving their parents at home and remaining loyal to the sovereign at court; that they not crave sensual desire, not commit licentious acts, and not let the Qi (vital energy) of Jing (essence) or of Shen (spirit) dissipate. Blessings will then well up like a spring, one current after another, appearing of themselves.

The Perfected Lord of Zitong said: Whatever one does in daily life, so long as it is done in accordance with the Dao, is the Dao; and what is upheld from beginning to end without turning back is also the Dao. Bai Yuchan said: The ordinary mind is the Dao; there is no need to draw deliberate distinctions.

Guangchengzi said: The subtlety of the Great Dao is profound and hard to fathom; the utmost reach of the Great Dao is a dim stillness. Do not look, and do not listen; let the spirit settle, and the body will of itself become upright. Be sure to remain pure and quiet; do not weary the body, and do not disturb Jing and Qi—only then can one attain long life. Carefully guard what is within and draw in disturbances from without; knowing too much, on the contrary, brings ruin. I hold to this root, the Great Dao, and keep myself in harmony, and so after one thousand two hundred years my body has not yet grown old. One who obtains my Dao may, at the highest, become a sovereign; one who loses my Dao will, at the lowest, in the end return to dust. You will leave me, enter the gate of the inexhaustible, and roam the realm of the limitless, shining with the same light as the sun and moon and enduring as long as Heaven and Earth. All others will die; I alone will remain. Do you understand?

Danyangzi said: A single point of numinous light shines upon the Great Void; even the most skillful painter cannot portray it. Do not casually compare it with the bright moon; the moon waxes and wanes—how could it equal me? Ah, the one who has attained the Dao—mysterious, and mysterious again; beyond this there is no Dao more mysterious.

Zhuangzi said: “The Dao lies in what Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) is able to model.” Danyangzi said again: A single point of numinous light shines upon the Great Void; even the most skillful painter cannot portray it. Do not casually compare it with the bright moon; the moon waxes and wanes—how could it equal me? Ah, the one who has attained the Dao—mysterious, and mysterious again; beyond this there is no Dao more mysterious.

Zhuangzi says: The Dao (the Way) exists before Taiji (Supreme Ultimate)—the primordial state in which heaven and earth had not yet divided and Yin-Yang had not yet been distinguished—yet it does not on that account seem lofty or remote; it exists beneath Taiji, yet it does not on that account seem profound. It arises before heaven and earth, yet it is not reckoned as ancient; it endures from high antiquity, yet it is not reckoned as aged.

Xiwei attained the Dao and could therefore hold heaven and earth together under his command; Fuxi attained the Dao and could therefore receive the primordial Qi (vital energy), the original Qi of the cosmos. Weidou, the Northern Dipper, attained the Dao and through long ages has never fallen into error; the sun and moon attained the Dao and through long ages have moved without cease. Kanpi attained the Dao and therefore took charge of Kunlun; Fengyi attained the Dao and dwells in the Mysterious Palace; Yuqiang attained the Dao and guards the North Pole; the Queen Mother attained the Dao and sits at ease in Shaoguang.

The Celestial Master (Tianshi) of the Han dynasty attained the Dao: three generations of his descendants ascended in flight, and seven generations of his descendants underwent shijie, the transformation of the physical remains described in Daoism, by which one leaves the mortal body and becomes immortal. Xu Jingyang attained the Dao and rose aloft together with his residence. Wei Yuanjun attained the Dao and was ranked in the Purple Void. Immortal Elder Ge attained the Dao and ascended as an immortal, and his wife and daughter likewise underwent shijie. Celestial Master Liu Dong attained the Dao and ascended as an immortal, and his wife and daughter likewise underwent shijie. These are only a few cases briefly mentioned. As for the host of immortals who awakened to the great Dao, their final destinations are all the more impossible to know in full.

Constant clarity and stillness—constantly preserving clarity, stillness, and Wuwei (non-action)! The De (Virtue/Power) of heaven and earth accords with the Dao, and the radiance of the sun and moon likewise accords with the Dao.

Perfected Yin says: If only one lets the mind continually govern Qi, so that Qi unites with Shen (spirit), and the inner heart has a master, the bodily form can be preserved for a long time. If the practitioner can circulate without cease, as the sun and moon orbit and the Heavenly River turns, the span of life will be endless. In this way one can realize the Dao of emptiness and non-being, a realm difficult to fathom; one gains sagely wisdom that is perfectly rounded and fully penetrating, appearing and vanishing in transformations beyond measure, able to pass in and out of being and non-being, roaming freely among the clouds, ascending into the Golden Gate, body and spirit alike becoming subtle and marvelous, uniting with the Dao and becoming perfected. The Zhonghuang Jing (scripture/classic) says: The colored maidens of the ten directions hold banners in their hands; the hundred spirits drive carriages in procession, and jade lads follow in attendance. Dragon-shaped pennants go before and flags come behind; the feathered robes of the immortals flutter as they ascend to Taiwei, a stellar enclosure in the heavens that also refers to the celestial realm.

The Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao comes to an end here. If one carefully sees a matter through from beginning to end, one will not meet with failure.

After the scripture has been fully spoken, how should that final mysterious saying be explained? Lü Dongbin says: “Ascend to Taiwei.”

Here ends the Most High Lord Lao’s exposition of the Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness (Changqingjing Jing). “Carry a matter carefully through to the end, with the same seriousness as at the beginning, and it will not be spoiled.”

Once the scripture has been fully set forth, this closing sentence still holds a deeper meaning. How is it to be understood? Lü Dongbin said: “The wonders of the great Dao (the Way) are dark, deep, and subtle; Heaven’s hidden workings reach far and are hard to fathom. If one does not hasten to begin cultivation, then even setting to work at once may already be too late. Set out on the road to the immortal realm of Penglai, and when one’s practice and meritorious deeds are brought to completion, one may ride the clouds and depart alone.” Bai Yuchan said: “I explain this final sentence for you; it is the essential instruction personally transmitted at the very end. For all throughout the world who seek immortality and cultivate the Dao, I point out the road that leads to Penglai.”

The great Dao is originally empty nothingness, yet from that emptiness it can transform and bring forth the myriad beings. It is therefore called “wondrous existence,” and also “true emptiness.” Blended and vast, it is difficult to fathom. If that is so, why still compose scriptures (Jing)? Because without a scripture, the great Dao cannot be made clear. Thus the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning opened the scriptural charts and set forth five scriptural texts, so that the true writs of the celestial realms might appear and the principles long concealed might be revealed. Scriptures are like boats and rafts that lead people across a river, receiving and guiding living beings everywhere. The Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness is especially essential. The great Dao of the reverted elixir (the Daoist way of cultivating Neidan, internal alchemy) and the fundamental principles set forth in it are all clear and plain.

What is called “clarity and stillness” means not being stained by so much as a thread of worldly thought, and so it is called “clarity”; it means letting every care and every thought come to rest, and so it is called “stillness.” If a person can constantly maintain clarity and stillness, they will naturally accord with the great Dao, pass directly beyond the bitter sea of birth and death, and reach the other shore. How lamentable that people of the world cling to every kind of outward appearance and suffer without end. Although they wish to transcend, they become absorbed in this scripture, able only to recite its words, and never truly grasp the principles within. They remain in doubt all their lives and in the end obtain nothing.

I, Wang Daxu, once obtained the Chapter-by-Chapter Correction of Errors by the Perfected Bai of Ziqing, together with the annotated edition of Sima Ziwei. In them every sentence probes what is hidden and subtle and makes the principles clear; they are truly a guide by which cultivators of the True turn toward the great Dao. Fearing that these writings might be scattered and lost, I had them carved and printed so that they might circulate widely. Should they meet a person of true discernment, that person will see through to the mysterious crux within and break the critical obstructions on the path of cultivation. It is like parting the clouds to see the bright sun, and like meeting Laodan (Laozi) face to face.

Upon reaching this realm, one no longer distinguishes the clear from the turbid, and movement and stillness return to unity. Walking, pausing, sitting, and lying down, one is nowhere outside clarity and stillness. White clouds and flowing water, green mountains and the bright moon, and stroking one’s beard to give a long whistle—none of these fails to be clarity and stillness. The state of cultivation ought to be full of living vitality, like a round pearl rolling on a plate. How could one merely stagnate in a condition like withered wood and dead ashes? This is my explanation of “clarity and stillness.” Respectfully recorded by Wang Daxu, the mountain man of Juqu.

The Classic of the Dao (the Way) and De (Virtue/Power) (Daodejing) says: “The valley spirit does not die; this is called the Mysterious Female (the profound source capable of giving birth to all things). The gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of heaven and earth.” The Mysterious Female corresponds to Yin-Yang, and Yin-Yang in turn constitute heaven and earth. The Classic of Changes (Yijing) symbolizes heaven with the Qian hexagram and earth with the Kun hexagram; heaven belongs to the mysterious, and earth belongs to the female. Viewed in this light, the human body is also like a small heaven and earth, with a Qian and Kun of its own. The life-kidneys (the kidneys bound up with the root of life) are assigned, left and right, to Yin and Yang; this is the Mysterious Female of the human body. Between the life-kidneys—could this be the gate of the Mysterious Female, the root of heaven and earth?

The root of which the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness (Qingjing Jing) speaks is the principle of movement and stillness. When Bai Yuchan explained this scripture, he drew diagrams at the front in order to clarify its meaning. To grasp the principle of this scripture, one must realize it within the square inch (the inner mind), and not remain merely at words spoken by the mouth and things heard by the ear.

I have said that Confucians speak of nature and life, Buddhists of embryonic breathing, and Daoists of the Mysterious Female. Although the names differ, the principles are in fact connected. What is lamentable is that some in the world borrow the name of the Confucian and devote themselves wholly to advancement in an official career, while others borrow the words of Buddhism and Daoism to deceive the ignorant in pursuit of blessings and profit. Was this the original intention when Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism established their teachings? Seeing that Bai Yuchan transmitted this scripture together with diagrams, one ought to blush with shame; and this is not something only for those who revere Laozi.

After Wang Dashu and Shi Da heard this scripture, they had it engraved and printed for circulation. Their aspiration is worthy of praise. I have therefore written these words for the book. Respectfully inscribed by Jiang Huazi, the Old Man of the Four Purities of Jintan, after the Shangsi day in the first year of Huangqing.