《玄览人鸟山经图》

The Most High (Taishang) says: In each of the countless heavenly realms there stands a “Mountain of Humans and Birds.” On the mountain there are human forms and also bird forms; the peaks and cliff walls are incomparably high and steep, and they are difficult to describe one by one. The mysterious terraces and precious halls are where the exalted deities dwell. Among the forests and mountain streams there are birds and beasts; on the mountain there are trees, rocks, fragrant flowers, numinous mushrooms, and all kinds of medicines, as well as fluids that can make a person deathless and long-lived. These scenes, too, are hard to set forth in full detail; even if they were told, they would be of little help to cultivation and study. Those who cultivate and study should seek them out carefully for themselves, so that from the one they come to know the ten thousand and understand them thoroughly.

Because the teaching must leave written indications, only a brief marking is given here. The characters of the scripture (Jing) are condensed from wondrous Qi (vital energy); they were written by the sages and transmitted to practitioners of superior capacity, and are not lightly disclosed to ordinary people. The characters formed of wondrous Qi are the very appearance of the mountain: their outward form displays strange and extraordinary scenes, and the strokes each take on different postures, all produced by the transformations of wondrous Qi. Those whose minds are penetrating can see them as soon as they close their eyes; after they have surveyed all around the scenes upon the mountain, cultivating in accordance with this will bring forth the corresponding verification.

After wondrous Qi descends, the physical body can rise in flight; through long cultivation one obtains the wondrous Dao (the Way), the physical body gradually recedes, and wondrous Qi fills body and mind. In flight one is like a bird, roaming mountains and rivers beyond the Three Realms; the spirit-consciousness (Shen) becomes a Perfected Being and joins the banquets in the realm of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). All of these are known together as “human and bird.” Practitioners may follow this mountain toward the Great Dao and in the end preserve life for a long time. Yet if one is not a person of pure sincerity and single-minded devotion, one should not rashly inquire into this scriptural teaching.

The Most High said: “The form of Mount Renniao (the sacred immortal mountain spoken of in the scripture) is the foundation of Heaven and Earth and of human life, and the support upon which primordial Qi (Qi, vital energy—the Qi of the cosmic source) is generated and wondrous transformations arise. Sages and True Persons (Zhenren) seek out its location, and immortal spirits revere its marvels. People should serve it with reverence, constantly visualize and recite it, receive it and perform for it the jiao rite (the ritual of setting up an altar to announce offerings to the deities), put it in good order and wear it on the person, cultivate it with single-minded devotion, bring mind and spirit into harmony, keep their actions secret, and never grow slack over a long time. In this way one can harmonize the Three Qi (the three kinds of primordial Qi that constitute the human body and Heaven and Earth), so that one’s own life is gained and the lives of one’s descendants are gained, and one becomes a person who carries on the transmission of the Dao (the Way). Teaching and transforming in the world, and entering the mountains to study the technical arts, one comes and goes in complete freedom, and demons and deviant forces dare not encroach.

“Thereupon one may have audience with the gods of the Five Marchmounts, command the spirits of the great seas of the eight directions, follow the Lord of the Three Heavens, and wear the essential radiance of the sun and moon. To understand and cultivate this Dao is to escape death and live long; to grasp it with care is to accord with wisdom; to investigate it deeply is to commune with the divinities.

“Above Mount Renniao is the dwelling of the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning; below the mountain is where the many sages, True Persons, and immortals reside. The primordial Qi within the mountain transforms and gives rise to five-colored water, named ‘Soul-Returning Water’; the water flows and congeals into a fatty resin, named ‘Zhentan Incense.’ When the Queen Mother of the West first studied the Dao, she visited the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning. After three thousand years, her attainments in the Dao and her De (Virtue/Power) were both complete, and she prepared to return to Mount Kunlun. Before departing, she took leave of the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning, and together with him carved in the void an inscription concerning Mount Renniao, forming it into written characters. Each character was one zhang square and hung suspended in the air, to receive and guide those of later generations who study the Dao; they still exist to this day.

“The Lord of the Immortal Capital of the Nine Elders and the Elder of the Nine Qi once drew the form of Mount Renniao and wore the chart beside the elbow. The Celestial Emperor further copied the characters in the void and attached them to the chart depicting Mount Renniao; once every hundred years it appears and is transmitted to True Persons. If a Daoist priest obtains the diagram of Mount Renniao and also has the Jing (scripture/classic) in his possession, he can thereby become an immortal and go to Mount Kunlun to roam and banquet. If one can read this scripture a full ten thousand times, and in cultivation does not fall short of what the scripture teaches, the Celestial Emperor Lord will send envoys riding cloud chariots and driving feathered canopies to welcome him. There is no need to ingest elixir medicines, nor to practice daoyin, bending and stretching, or other methods of nurturing life; so long as one cultivates with single-minded devotion and perseveres without cease, one will naturally ascend to Heaven.”

The Most High said: “Whoever is able to observe the purifying fast in purity for three months and cultivate with single-minded devotion in a quiet chamber will be visited by descending immortals. One should practice according to this scripture, diligent and unremitting from beginning to end, and one will naturally ascend to Heaven.”

The Most High (Taishang) says: Anyone able to keep a pure fast for three months should cultivate apart in a quiet chamber. At the proper time an immortal will descend and personally transmit these writings. After receiving them, one must observe them in secret and will then quickly become a true sage. A Daoist who wears this diagram can command the myriad spirits.

When a jiazi day falls in the first month, a renshen day in the second, and a wuzi day in the third, choose only one such day in the year. On a golden mirror set out a jiao offering (Zhaijiao, purification ritual) to the mountain-form diagram, and transmit the oral instructions. Never disclose the scripture (Jing) lightly. If that year lacks these three days, or if they occur but are missed, hold the rite instead on a jiazi day. The jiao is performed three times a year.

Each jiao requires fasting and the precepts, purity and solemnity, and strict observance of the prohibitions. Choose a moonlit night and hold it in the open courtyard. Build no altar, and let no one else know. First sweep the place clean in secret and spread clean mats: mark the directions facing south, lay further mats, and bow facing north. Place a bright mirror nine inches across at the center of the seat. Cover the mirror stand with a purple-patterned canopy, cover the mountain diagram with a purple brocade pouch, and set the diagram squarely on the mirror. Set three bowls of clear wine before the diagram, and arrange incense, dried meat, and dates and fruit around the mirror.

Pour half a bowl of wine to rinse the mouth, take up incense, and take your place. Close the eyes, click the teeth three times, and practice the usual contemplative visualization; sound the drum and dispatch the incense burner in the ordinary way. Again take up incense three times, concentrate the Shen (spirit), and visualize the deities, including the Great Dao (the Way) of the Most High, then take your place. Close the eyes, click the teeth three times, and again visualize, sound the drum, and dispatch the burner as usual. Take up incense three times more, and with concentrated Shen visualize the Great Dao of the Most High, the Celestial Worthies of the Ten Directions, the True King of Primordial Beginning, the spirits born of the primordial Qi (vital energy) of Man-Bird Mountain (Renniaoshan), and the Great Thearch Lord arriving in ranks on cloud chariots, filling the sky and coming together before the seat. Visualize until their forms are clear.

Then silently recite your own title and name, and respectfully invite them: “We respectfully invite the Great Dao of the Most High, the Celestial Worthies of the Ten Directions, the True King of Primordial Beginning, the spirits born of the primordial Qi of Man-Bird Mountain, the Great Thearch Lord, and all the numinous officers to descend at this auspicious hour. We offer incense and flowers in utmost sincerity and earnestly beg the honored deities to draw near. Disciple so-and-so and the others kowtow and pay homage.” Perform three bows, prostrate with eyes closed, and visualize the deities descending before the seat; after a while, rise.

Again raise the wine three times, kneel fully, announce your name, and memorialise the Great Dao of the Most High, the Celestial Worthies of the Ten Directions, the True King of Primordial Beginning, the spirits born of the primordial Qi of Man-Bird Mountain, the Great Thearch Lord, and all the deities: “By grace this disciple has been able to behold the honored deities and today serves them in person, joyful and reverent. We earnestly beg your great compassion, that this disciple may fulfill the work of the Dao in this life: studying the Dao and attaining the Dao, seeking immortality and attaining it, with spiritual powers free and unhindered, enduring long. This disciple’s station is humble and I dare not say more; in awe and joy I kowtow and pay homage.” Perform three bows. Then raise the wine three times more and repeat the foregoing report. Thus the wine is raised three times and the report made three times.

When this is finished, take up incense three times, rise, and prepare to send the deities off. Announce your name and memorialise: “Disciples so-and-so and the others respectfully address the Great Dao of the Most High, the Celestial Worthies of the Ten Directions, the True King of Primordial Beginning, the spirits born of the primordial Qi of Man-Bird Mountain, the Great Thearch Lord, and all the numinous officers. We thank you for condescending to descend. The divine carriages are now ready; please return to the realm of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). Reluctant to part and full of awe, we still beg you to bestow your grace widely. If this disciple attains the Dao, I shall later attend court at the royal palace; if we petition again, we beg you to descend once more. Disciples so-and-so and the others kowtow and pay homage.” After three bows, rise and perform the rite of returning the incense burner.

After the burner is returned, take a bowl of wine and pour it out all around. When the rite is over, put the offerings away in order. Those of shared aspiration return to their rooms and share the offerings; do not give them casually to anyone who does not keep the rules. When husband and wife serve the deities together, they must follow this same rite; if they have not performed it together, they must not unite sexually. This prohibition is of the greatest importance, and each must be scrupulously careful.

After one thousand days of fasting and purification, use cinnabar to draw the form of the mountain on thin paper about three to five cun in size. Facing “Wang” (so the original reads; the precise referent is unclear), take the spring of the Jade Pool and ingest it. Ingest it once, and one can live long without dying; ingest it twice, and one can become a divine immortal and fly freely; ingest it three times, and one can rise to an exalted station and become one with the Dao (the Way).

After the fast has begun and the diagram has been drawn, one must wear it on the body for two years, recite the relevant scriptures (jing) morning and evening, and perform the rite of cultivation on auspicious days. One must remain cautious throughout and must not grow lax halfway. When the one thousand days are complete, one may travel among mountains, forests, and waters, and by the force of one’s majesty subdue every spirit among the Five Marchmounts, the Three Rivers, the Four Seas, and the Eight Oceans and Nine Earths, so that they come to welcome and pay homage, and one’s merit thereby spreads far and wide. After five years of cultivation, or seven, and at most no more than nine, one can ascend to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the supreme immortal realm of which Daoism speaks.

The True Form Chart of Man-Bird Mountain of the Most High (the true chart of the form of Man-Bird Mountain transmitted by the Most High).

The Most High Lord of the Jade Dawn of the Great Dao (Taishang Yuchen Dadaojun, a revered Daoist deity) said: Mount Renniao has many names. It is also called Mount Sumeru, Mount Xuanpu, Mount of the Golden Root of the Great Earth, Mount of the Wondrous Mystery of Original Non-being, Mount of the Precious Cavern of Primordial Qi (vital energy), and Mount of Viewing Heaven through the Seven Changes and Seven Turnings of Divine Mystery, among others. Although it has seven names, the mountain is known as a whole as “Xuanlan” (Mysterious Contemplation).

Xuanlan can wash away the flaws and omissions of the world, so that the myriad things gather and open into expansive clarity. It towers without limit, and its majesty is the same as that of the Dao (the Way). When it appears it seems to have a boundary, yet in fact it rises into the deep and remote void, and the base of the mountain extends three hundred sixty trillion li. On the mountain are two million four hundred thousand gates. Inside and outside stand palaces of the seven treasures, formed naturally of themselves—places where immortals roam and holy perfected beings rest. The Celestial King of the Primordial Beginning dwells on the mountain, and at the summit are also the Palace of the Celestial Emperor and the Chamber of the Grand Emperor. The perfected beings of the Shangqing (Supreme Clarity) attend to one another and come and go without cease; their number cannot be reckoned.

In the mountain there naturally grows the Golden Liquor Reverted Elixir (Jinye Huandan, the immortal medicine of which Daoism speaks), and there are also seven fragrances called “numinous incense.” These incenses need not be burned; of themselves they give off a wondrous scent, and even against the wind they can be smelled from seven thousand li away. They are the incense of the immortals, and whoever obtains them will not die. The mountain also has the precious trees of the chun groves, together with trees of gold and trees of jade. Their radiance shines upon the light of the sun, and their Jing (essence) and Qi penetrate the void. When the trees sway they give forth sound, and of themselves this forms the eight tones of music.

Golden-winged phoenixes, peng birds, vermilion birds, divine dragons, qilin, lions, divine beasts with heads of bronze and brows of iron, bixie and zaochi, and other great divine birds and extraordinary beasts roam through the precious groves, while enormous hun fish and other aquatic creatures swim in the jade pools. The numinous wonders and auspicious signs of the mountain are too many to list one by one; only a brief account is given here.

In the mountain a script arises of itself, eleven characters in all. Its oral formula is transmitted by word of mouth, and the related characters are appended to the scripture (Jing). “Gong Long Xing Shen” (Bow, Dragon, Moving Spirit) can drive off baleful calamity and avert what is inauspicious. In the void outside the mountain there is further writing: one hundred twenty-four characters on the left and one hundred twenty on the right, two hundred forty-four characters in all. To recite these characters one must hold them in the mind; the oral formula is imparted by the master.

“Xuan” (here referring to a kind of scripture or oral formula) appears outwardly empty and without written characters; its true content is concealed within. Counted to the left, the text comprises one hundred and twenty-four characters; counted to the right, one hundred and twenty characters; together they total two hundred and forty-four characters. In recitation one must carefully commit them to memory, while the specific oral formula is transmitted by the master by word of mouth.

The Scripture and Diagram of the Mysterious Contemplation of Man-Bird Mountain (Xuanlan Renniao Shan Jing Tu) ends here.

Note: One character is missing in the base text; on the basis of context it has been restored as chen (辰).