《上清华晨三奔玉诀》

The Most High Lord of the Dao (Dao, the Way) said: If you wish for longevity, you should visualize and contemplate the Nine Stars; if you wish to become a Perfected One and ascend to the immortal realm, you should understand the Jade Dawn; if you wish to fly and soar into the void, you must diligently practice the method of the “Three Flights.” The Nine Stars referred to here are located beneath the Floral Canopy constellation, within the Northern Chronogram and the Northern Dipper, including the Assistant Star and the Supporting Star.

Before Heaven and Earth had differentiated and the myriad things had not yet sprouted, the Jing (essence) contained within the sun, moon, and stars had already appeared. The three primordial Qi (vital energy) intermingled and condensed into the Three Stars. Their functions are not disturbed by other stellar bodies nor dominated by the sun and moon. The Three Qi are the mysterious root, the place to which the myriad Shen (spirits) return: upward, they are the foundation of the residences of the Great Sages and Precious Sovereigns in the realms of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing); downward, they hold the pivotal control over the movements of the sun, moon, and stars; within the human body, they correspond to essential cultivation locations such as the Bright Hall, the Cavern Chamber, and the Mysterious Elixir, and they give birth to the Three-One Perfected Ones, the Infant, and the Shen of the Yellow Court. A person’s life and death, concealment and manifestation, transformations, flying ascent, and long preservation are all related to this.

Beneath the Floral Canopy constellation, that profound and luminous star is the unmoving Northern Chronogram. It is the transformation of the Jing-Qi of the Jade Dawn Mysterious Sovereign Great Lord of the Dao, and it is also the natal star of the Jade Emperor. It shelters the Floral Canopy, drives the Dipper chariot, roams the Nine Heavens, pays homage to the Nine Sages, commands a thousand Perfected Ones, dwells in the Mysterious Terrace, and occupies a rank in Jade Purity.

The Assistant Star is the Shen of the High Jade Emperor and also the Jing of the Later Sage Emperor Lord of the Golden Palace of Great Peace; the Supporting Star is the numinous Qi of the Jade Venerable, the Heavenly Emperor of Grand Tenuity. The Assistant Star is also called the “Eight Sceneries,” and the Supporting Star the “Seven Dawns.” Together with the Nine Stars of the Northern Dipper, they are the great Shen under the throne of the Imperial Venerable: above they assist the Jade Emperor, below they nourish and protect all living beings, and they set the Dao in motion ahead of the myriad Qi. If a cultivator becomes a Perfected One of the Jade Emperor of Highest Purity, they may obtain such ritual implements as the “Seven Primes of Huoluo” and the “Flowing Gold Fire Bells,” ride the chariot of the Eight Sceneries, and ascend to audience with the Jade Dawn.

The “visualization of the stars” mentioned here is the Daoist method of cultivation involving visualizing and contemplating the stellar Shen and Perfected Ones; the “Three Flights” is a cultivation practice referred to in the Jing (scripture).

When cultivating this method, begin when the stars appear. First spread a sitting mat, face north, burn incense, and perform nine bows in the mind. Then sit upright, join the hands, close the eyes, and visualize three stars each emitting purple and jade-colored luminous Qi (vital energy) that shines downward into the body. Visualize this luminous Qi as the sky clearing after rain, clouds dispersing and wind-smoke gathering upon the mountains, its radiance filling the entire body; it penetrates the five viscera inwardly and then rises to the Niwan (the upper Dantian inside the crown of the head), the pupils of the eyes, and the root of the tongue, transforming into purple luminous Qi that encircles in successive layers.

Then swallow the Qi-fluid twenty-seven times (“three nines,” that is, three times nine), knock the teeth nine times, and silently recite the invocation: Jade Emperor High Perfected Ones (the Jade Emperor and high-ranking Perfected deities), the Three Mysteries (here referring to three mysterious honored deities) each manifest, with the Left Assistant and Right Assistant standing in attendance on either side. The purple luminous Qi rotates and encircles in layers. Swallow the Qi-fluid twenty-seven times, knock the teeth nine times, and silently recite the invocation: Jade Emperor High Perfected, Three Mysteries looking up and dividing, Left Assistant and Right Assistant, Central Pole Purple Precinct, flowing Jing (essence) through the mysterious void, cavernous emptiness circulating nine times, washing and refining the bodily vessel, golden bones and green sinews, the Three Emperors descending to receive, joining forms and rushing together, accumulating the emerald precious cape, the numinous flying skirt, wearing the Huo Luo, waist belted with flowing bells, sun and moon as flanking guards, dragon and tiger as winged wheels, Eight Scenes of Langyu, Jianzhang of the Seven Dawns, supreme Jade Scene, minister of the Jade Emperor.

Next visualize the purple jade light contained in the three stars shining boundlessly, so that the stars and all things merge into one. Then visualize the three stars as large as the red sun, emitting purple light in the eight directions. From among them the Left Assistant Star lets down its radiance, and within the light an infant appears, wearing a Heavenly Dawn precious crown and a purple embroidered robe, riding the luminous Qi as it flies over and stops before one. Knock the teeth nine times and silently recite the summons: Left Assistant Divine Palace Jade Emperor Honored Deity, Golden Palace Later Sage Great Peace Emperor Lord.

Silently recite the character “Nie” twice in the mind, then recite the invocation: The primordial Jing of the Emperor Star is the dwelling of the Later Sage; the Great Peace Emperor Lord is the sovereign of Shangqing, presiding over the examination and verification of the myriad Perfected. You secretly harmonize Yin-Yang and bestow upon me the formulas of the Dao and marvelous methods. May you grant me the heavenly tassel jade robe, to wear the mysterious-light precious crown, fulfilling my sincere wish so that I may dwell in the Purple Chamber (the residence of immortals in Daoist tradition).

Then visualize in the Right Assistant Divine Palace the Cinnabar-Jade Jade Chamber Jade Emperor Honored Deity, the Taiwei Jade Emperor Lord, whose form and attire are the same as previously described. Pray that this honored deity bestow the formulas of the Dao and marvelous methods, grant the heavenly tassel jade robe and mysterious-light precious crown, fulfill one’s sincere wish, and allow one to dwell in the Purple Chamber.

Here “cun” is a technical term from Daoist visualization methods (cunsi), referring to concentrating the mind inwardly to visualize the deities, the starlight, and their forms; “yin zhou” refers to reciting the invocation silently or without uttering sound.

Visualize (contemplate inwardly during practice) the Cinnabar Jade Chamber within the Right Assistant Divine Palace, together with the Honored Jade Emperor Deity and the Taiwei Jade Emperor Lord; their forms and garments are the same as those described earlier. After knocking the teeth, silently recite the character “zi” three times in the mind and chant the incantation:

The honored Taiwei Sacred Shen, who oversees the pivotal affairs of the heavenly realm and assists the mysterious constant Dao (the Way). The myriad spirits disperse as Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) flow into the Niwan (the key cultivation point in the head), condensing and refining the hundred bones throughout the body; untie the embryonic knots and sever the root-stems so that the seven ancestors may ascend as immortals and all knots of corpse liberation are completely cut off. Bestow upon me the ceremonial robes of the immortals, clothe me in imperial dragon garments and embroidered skirts, that I may forever return together with the host of immortals to the Great Dao.

Visualize the assisting Emperor True Ones (the true Shen who assist the Emperor Lord) standing at one’s left and right, dwelling in light and rising higher than the crown of the head. Next visualize the Honored Jade Empyrean Star beneath the Floral Canopy, purple light-Qi streaming downward to illuminate the two Emperor Lords and one’s own body. Raise the head to gaze upward at the Jade Emperor: he wears the Wuji Precious Crown, is clad in a red brocade jade robe, has the form of an infant, holds a jade seal in his hand, and is surrounded by a nine-colored circular radiance that shines through heaven and earth. After knocking the teeth, silently recite “Jade Capital Golden Towers Most Holy Most True Jade Empyrean Purple Palace Jade Emperor Highest Deity,” then silently recite the character “qi” three times in the mind and chant the incantation:

In the opening and closing of ten thousand kalpas the Jade Emperor is honored beyond all; clad in dragon robes and grasping the phoenix seal, none dare not submit. The ultimate Zhenren is nameless and formless, the Highest Sage accords with nature; I pray you extend grace to receive and guide this practitioner. May I mount the carriage of the Three Luminaries (symbolizing the sun, moon, stars and other celestial visions) and ride together with the Jade Emperor. May the Jade Empyrean heavenly realm extract and deliver me from birth and death, open and save the Nine Mysteries (ancestors and their descendants), so that imperial grace and my heart accord without distinction of before or after; may I fly and ascend to Yuqing (Jade Clarity) and follow the direction of the Heavenly Origin.

Visualize the three Emperor Lords lifting one upward to rise, floating through the air upon nine-colored light. Immediately one sees the Precious Jade Emerald-Mist Eight-Scenes Carriage (a magnificent vehicle of the immortal realm) drawn by nine dragons, rising together with oneself. One attends within the Emperor Lord’s carriage amid hundreds of millions of vehicles and thousands of mounted attendants, flying straight to the Jade Empyrean heavenly realm and thereupon forgetting the physical form.

By diligently practicing in this way for five years the Later Sage will descend and manifest the true; after seven full years of cultivation one will be able to ride together with the Emperor Lord and roam the various heavens in the Jade Empyrean realm.

The Most High Lord of the Dao (the Way) said: When the three Qi (vital energies that constitute heaven, earth, and all things) had not yet differentiated, there was only chaotic oneness without form, dwelling in a place of profound unfathomability that cannot be grasped by intention; it may be called a vast emptiness. Emptiness reverts to vacuous stillness, and when stillness reaches its extreme, brightness appears. This brightness is not something that arises only afterward, nor can one clearly say from where it comes.

What is called “brightness” is what we now refer to as mysterious and wondrous awareness. Brightness thereby establishes itself, while darkness waxes and wanes in mutual relation with it. When brightness prevails it becomes Yang; when darkness prevails it becomes Yin. Qi vaporizes to form Water, slowly condenses to form Earth, gathers to form Metal, rapidly agitates to form Fire, and surges forth to generate Wood; it disperses to become the myriad things, circulates to produce transformation, and coagulates to demarcate the regions between heaven and earth. The treasures of heaven and earth are likewise what you yourself can possess. They come into being through you: moving things communicate through feeling and nature, so that humans and animals each have awareness; still things communicate through physical form, so that the myriad things each have their shapes. Movement and stillness, heaven and earth together with the myriad things, are all what you yourself can possess and all come into being through you.

Movement and stillness have never been separated; the forms and functions of humans and the myriad things depend upon one another. Thus each living being has its original nature, and original nature is capable of awareness. Originally there is no knowing; it is only because of some condition that it is called “knowing.” When form returns to original nature, it remains constantly unchanging, without end and without beginning. Heaven, earth, and the myriad things belong to one kind, each having its own root-origin and seed-nature and each bearing its own original nature. Humans and animals differ from one another, and trees and stones likewise have their distinctions. The five flavors have never changed since antiquity, yet the primordial Qi continues to transform even now.

The sage thoroughly penetrates the Great Dao and therefore arrives without acting and understands without looking. Ordinary people do not comprehend the Great Dao and therefore flow along with transformations, unable to return, even regarding their true nature as a calamity. They do not know that the myriad things are originally one thing and that heaven and humanity both issue from a single Qi (the same primordial vital energy); it is only because forms congeal and root-natures become fixed that they appear distinctly separate, each existing independently.

The Dao has neither birth nor death. For example, when firewood is split, the firelight scatters; or when grain is sown, one seed multiplies into many. Although today’s grain is not last year’s grain, it has never departed from the nature of “grain.” Humans and the myriad things are the same. The eyes of people today can see, just as the eyes of the ancients could see; what enables seeing is merely this function of “being able to see,” not that the vision of the ancients has entered the eyes of people today. Seed-natures are firm and categories stable, odors and flavors do not differ greatly, while luminous awareness constantly abides. What is meant by the constancy of luminous awareness is that the original substance of luminous awareness is inherently bright; it is not that one and the same particular awareness remains forever unchanged.

Therefore ordinary people have memory and forgetfulness, birth and death, and the disparity between ordinary persons and sages is extreme. The ultimate principle is thereby made clear, and transformations can likewise be seen from this. If one can grasp the true original nature and forget emotional attachments, remaining unaltered in one’s nature through repeated births and deaths, one can comprehend the workings of creation. Even so, humans ultimately still coexist with heaven and earth—where else could they flee? Upon reaching the realm of being one with the Dao, humans and animals, the myriad things and the self, fortune and misfortune, need no longer be distinguished or calculated.

The sage transcends the ordinary realm of the Dao; the true nature attains a wondrous spiritual state, taking as its refuge the subtle and elusive (xiyi, the invisible and inaudible realm of the Dao), without contending with others; its brightness unites with supreme De (Virtue/Power). Those who understand the “Dao of the Three Rushes” of which I speak will succeed as soon as it is practiced; it should be transmitted to those who possess the mysterious qualifications of a Perfected Person. When transmitting it, follow the Shangqing Keyi (liturgy of the Shangqing school) by preparing three elixir-jade rings and one bolt of mysterious-cloud brocade, and swear an oath according to the Shangqing precepts.

The Most High Lord of the Dao said: The accomplishments of other methods of cultivating the Dao (the Way) have not yet reached the realm of the Jade Emperor; only by cultivating to the Jade Emperor does one ascend to the highest place. The Jade Emperor is the parent of the myriad spirits between heaven and earth.

If one can now preserve and nourish the true Qi (vital energy) present at one’s own birth together with the Shen (spirit) of the embryonic origin, restoring the root to the precelestial state and returning to the beginning of life, one can still attain the Dao; how much more so the Jade Emperor, who with divine power unifies and governs heaven and earth, skillfully shapes the forms of the myriad things, sets Yin-Yang in motion, and puts the Dao and De (Virtue/Power) into practice.

Only the Jade Truth (the ultimate true realm embodied by the Jade Emperor) and the Shen of the embryonic origin are able to restore the root to the precelestial state and return to the beginning of life, and thus one can still attain the Dao. How much more so the Jade Emperor’s divine power that unifies and governs heaven and earth, artfully fashions the myriad things, sets Yin-Yang in motion, and puts the Dao and De into practice.

The Jade Emperor’s “Three Rushes” (a Shangqing method of cultivation spoken of in this jing) is the Dao of the Most High. The Jade Emperor spreads Jing (essence) and Qi to the Lord of the Hall of Light (the presiding deity in the Mingtang); the Later Sage communicates with the Shen of the Cavern Chamber (the spirits in the Dongfang); Taiwei (here referring to the related deities) sits at ease in the heart of the Mysterious Elixir (the Xuandan heart spoken of in inner cultivation), and above communicates with the Perfected Ones of Yuchen, Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), the Jade Pass, and the Purple Palace (the heavenly palaces and Perfected Ones spoken of in Daoism).