《洞真太一帝君太丹隐书洞真玄经》

Crimson clouds appear in the wondrous dawn, and I set out from the purple Heavenly Gate in a cloud chariot. I soar upward past the Golden Palace and gaze down upon the Western Flower City. Dawn light spreads its five-colored radiance in the east, while wondrous primordial Qi illuminates seven kinds of numinous light. The radiance interweaves, lighting three bright lamps; it flows of its own accord and returns to profound stillness.

A clear breeze stirs the vast sky, and fragrant smoke drifts across the Jade Court. I dance with the Weaver Girl, my sleeves trailing down and revealing the colors of blue brocade. The patterned-feather banner circles at my left, while the splendid canopy sways with the clouds. I rest at ease beyond the ninefold palace courts, untouched by the world’s disputes and judgments.

I hold to emptiness and stillness, letting my spirit dwell in the Muddy Pellet Palace (the upper Dantian in the head). My innate spiritual radiance is akin to the sun. How could I spend my life in sorrow and tedium, as though mired in murky filth? The emerald peaks of Fusang hang in the air, and vermilion numinous flowers glow faintly. The Cang Terrace rises high above the clear void, its fourfold vistas reflecting a lofty, limpid sky.

I command the racing sunlight and mount a purple-wheeled carriage, with the Three Pure Essences as reins, drawn by a red cloud chariot. I sit peacefully in the lodging of the Great Thearch, then wander freely through the courtyard of the Queen Mother of the West. I rinse my mouth with emerald streams and carry a flask of jade liquor, the immortals’ drink. At dawn I travel on a fan of wind, while the jade breeze blows downward now and then. I rest for a while amid the deep clouds, then take up my chariot again and roam upon the beautiful, upright Way.

Wondrous encounters naturally bring kindred beings together; I let body and mind drift through the shadowy realm. Only then do I understand the hardships brought by honor and disgrace, and the truth that life is brief and worries press upon us. A quiet, secluded chamber can bring clarity and calm, nurture one’s true nature, and allow one to await the completion of one’s deeds. Why speak of worldly gains and losses in official life? A host of illnesses often arise from them.

Lady Ziwei, a Daoist immortal, had the surname Wang and the personal name Qing’e; her courtesy name was Yuyin. She was the twenty-fourth daughter of the Queen Mother of the West. Her Ziwei Palace stood on Mount Xuanlong in the Wilds of Yuming, beyond the Northern Sea. Mount Xuanlong lay northeast of Mount Kunlun.

Lady Ziwei relayed the Queen Mother of the West’s words: “To visualize and absorb the Qi of the sun and moon, one must first understand their forms. The sun’s substance is round, while its reflected image is square. The moon’s vital essence is square, while its manifested image is round. The reflected image is concealed within the physical form, and the vital essence is hidden within the image. The sun’s reflected image is red, and the moon’s image is yellow: these are the souls of the sun and moon. Only after understanding the method can one practice breathing in and out the rosy cloud Qi visualized and absorbed in cultivation.

“Absorb the sun’s Qi in the early morning and gather the moon’s radiance at midnight. Visualize the Qi of the sun and moon, bringing them to rest nine inches in front of you. Then let their light and shadows shine into the Niwan, the cultivation point at the top of the head, and descend to illuminate the five viscera, making the entire body, inside and out, clear and transparent. Then draw the Qi into the mouth. When the colors of the light have grown full and bright, end the practice after a while. The scripture says that by practicing this regularly, one can attain longevity.”

The passage above records Lady Zhonghou recounting Lady Ziwei’s personal name and courtesy name.

The Taishang Yizun Taidan Yinzhu Dongzhen Xuanjing is a precious scripture and should be kept in the Supreme One’s six … [the original continues here with “and the five viscera,” meaning that the visualized Qi enters the five viscera], making the entire body clear and transparent; then draw the Qi into the mouth. End the practice after the colors of the light have remained bright for a while. The scripture says that this practice brings longevity.

The passage above records Lady Zhonghou recounting Lady Ziwei’s personal name and courtesy name.

The Supreme One Sovereign’s Hidden Book of the Great Elixir: Mysterious Scripture of the Cavern of Truth is a precious classic, kept in the Purple Chamber of the Supreme One’s Six Directions and overseen by the Primordial Lord of the Southern Pole. For this reason, it is called the “Hidden Book of the Great Elixir.” It also has several other names: “The Sovereign’s Seven Transformations, Changing Appearances and Nine Forms”; “The Supreme One’s Three Transmissions, the Sovereign’s Treasure of Five Essences”; and “The Sovereign One’s Union of the Three and Five, Accomplished at Once.” The scripture corresponds to the four seasons, with precious teachings for each, and is therefore collectively known as the Scripture of the Supreme One.

It is said that those who possess this scripture can escape death; those who venerate it can attain long life; those who focus their inner contemplation on it can become immortals; and those who practice diligently can become true spirits. The Supreme One brought forth the Lord of the Upper Mystery. The Lord of the Upper Mystery then commanded the Perfected One of the Supreme Ultimate to send nine Jade Radiance maidens and seven Golden Radiance dawn boys to guard the Mysterious Scripture of the Cavern of Truth. They protect those who possess the scripture and safeguard the souls of those who wear talismans and registers (Fulu). The Jade boys and maidens also record people’s sins and blessings, along with the merits they accumulate through cultivation.

Anyone who obtains this scripture should set aside a secluded, quiet chamber. Daily life there should remain peaceful and free of distractions, allowing one to communicate with the unseen realm and resonate with true Qi, the Daoist term for the primordial energy. Incense should also be burned regularly nearby. Bathe at set times, quietly contemplate the spirits, and keep this practice hidden from others.

The Perfected One of the Supreme Ultimate recorded that during the three months of spring, the scripture is titled The Supreme One Sovereign’s Hidden Book of the Great Elixir: Mysterious Scripture of the Cavern of Truth. During the three months of summer, it is titled The Sovereign’s Seven Transformations, Changing Appearances and Nine Forms.

The Perfected One of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) wrote in spring a text titled The Taiyi Lord’s Hidden Book of the Great Elixir: Mysterious Scripture of the Cavern of Truth. The text written in summer was called The Lord’s Seven Transformations and Nine Forms of Changing Radiance; the one written in autumn, The Taiyi Threefold Passage: The Lord’s Five Essences of the Treasure; and the one written in winter, The Sovereign One’s Unification of the Three and Five, Accomplished with Resolve. Thus Taiyi bears different names in the four seasons, appearing continually as the seasons change. The phrase “unifying the ten thousand transformations, abiding in no single name” means that it brings together the myriad changes without being fixed to any one name. This scripture opens the way to the Dao and enables people to draw near to the true spirits.

To study Daoist methods without Taiyi is like trying to see without one’s heels; to maintain visualization without Taiyi is like lacking the five organs within the chest and abdomen; to govern the spirit without Taiyi is like walking without limbs; and to establish oneself through cultivation without Taiyi is like lying stiff as a corpse, without breath. This scripture can open a way to and connect with the many spirits, allowing the souls and vital energies to take form. Though the paths of cultivation number in the thousands, all depend on Taiyi to establish their foundations. Without a teacher’s transmission, learning alone will ultimately be a waste of effort.

This text has now been compiled anew from material circulated about the scripture, with passages from its outer teachings excerpted. Its hidden subtleties have not yet been explained in detail, and its secret oral instructions have not been included; hence it is called The Separate Instructions on Taiyi. What it contains that is worth exploring can help practitioners establish their foundations. Without a teacher’s transmission, learning alone will ultimately be a waste of effort. This Separate Instructions on Taiyi can guide those seeking a path into the practice and onward to its deeper stages, suddenly opening their understanding of its profound source. If these separate instructions circulate among practitioners to some extent, they can begin with the more evident traces of cultivation and gradually attain insight.

As for the hidden inner structure, it gathers the various wondrous paths, setting them in motion until they converge in the true spirit and merge into the spirit palace, the inner realm of spiritual power. The transformations of its wondrous visions are grand and radiant, their brilliance surpassing the workings of nature. It shines like the full disc of the sun, yet is still as the Great Emptiness. When its vitality surges, clouds condense within the hollow; when the spirit is focused in contemplation, it is as though a thousand years of night continue without end. Truly, it is subtle and profound. The principles of Taiyi are fully explained in this scripture; related practices are described in detail in the Cavern of Mystery (Dongxuan).

Human beings receive life from the Heavenly Soul. The primordial spirit—the original spiritual nature—condenses into form, and life is sustained through the movement of the Nine Qi, the nine primordial vital energies. The Supreme One (Taiyi), the divine source of all things, grants life. The human body opens three passages and gathers the spirits in the Hidden Palace, the deep sanctuary of the spirit. Thus the Mysterious Fluid, the body’s spiritual fluid, moistens the whole body and bodily fluids spread throughout it. The sun and moon illuminate the Six Emptinesses, the open spaces above, below, and in the four directions; the mouth and eyes put the body’s wondrous faculties to use. Human beings move like clouds and bring rain; their virtue follows the pattern of Heaven and Earth. They also take shape in the mother’s womb, where the Five Causes, the five spirits that constitute life, come to be. Such, in broad outline, is how human beings are formed.

The Five Causes are the Five Spirits, and the Three Passages are the Three Perfected Ones. The Five Spirits are Heaven’s souls; the Three Perfected Ones are Heaven’s Dao; the Nine Qi are Heaven’s womb; the Supreme One is Heaven’s source; the sun and moon are Heaven’s eyes; the Mysterious Fluid is Heaven’s moistening power; the Six Emptinesses are Heaven’s radiance; the Hidden Palace is Heaven’s storehouse; the divine vessel is Heaven’s creative power; and the primordial spirit is the transformation of the Lord Emperor. The Nine Qi are said to be formed by the mingled transformations of the Lord Emperor. Their transformations divide into nine, called the Nine Palaces, yet through their mingled transformations they ultimately return to One.

Those who wish to cultivate themselves and attain long life should cultivate from the root of life. This root is the Primordial Father and the Mysterious Mother. The Primordial Father governs Qi, generating and regulating the original source that existed before the Lord Emperor. The Mysterious Mother governs Jing, which transforms and condenses to form the embryo. Jing and Qi bring one another to fulfillment, as Yin and Yang give rise to one another. As cloud Qi circulates, life begins to sprout. Dao accords with the Nameless, while the patterns of number begin with three and five. After first receiving form, a person’s body takes shape through the cycles of seven and nine. Three and five harmonize; seven and nine mingle in the depths, as though returning to the original source that existed before the Lord Emperor. This requires the Lord Emperor to direct the work of creation and exercise the power of the Heavenly Sovereign. Only after nine transformations does one become numinous. When the work of creation is complete, the human body takes shape and body and spirit unite. When the spirit departs, life ends; when the spirit remains within the body, life continues.

Thus the Three Origins are the beginning of the Dao, the Lord Emperor is its root, the Supreme One is its transformation, the Nine Heavens are its spirits, the Nine Palaces are its dwelling, the Mysterious Field—the inner field of cultivation—is its garden, and the Mysterious Fluid is its vital fluid. After three years of cultivation, one can perceive the Three Fields, the upper, middle, and lower Dantian, and advance to the realm of the immortals: by day, one journeys through the Six Directions; by night, one keeps the Mudball Palace, the sanctuary of the spirit in the head, in awareness. One firmly preserves embryonic Jing and keeps the heart in constant joy.

Those who study this path later must possess the proper affinities. Only those who read this scripture may hear of the Nine Black Pottery Notes and the method of the Supreme One’s circulation of the spirit. Though all people in the world receive human life, not everyone can hear the highest Dao. Without credentials such as the Supreme One’s numinous slips, the Golden Names of the Three Origins, the Director of Destinies’ hidden talismans, and the Purple Registers of the Five Elders, even those born through the gift of Heavenly Qi cannot hear or see the highest Dao.

Without registers such as the Purple Documents of the Mysterious Palace, the treasured names of the August Sovereign, the Jade Registers of the Supreme One, the hidden charts of Eastern Florescence, the spirit inscriptions of the Three Origins, and the soul-participation records of the Great Emperor, even those who receive their inborn nature from Heaven may, if they happen to hear the highest Dao, find it difficult to cultivate it truly or to persevere. Even if they persist, their practice will not be firm; even if it becomes firm, they will struggle to remain single-minded, much less attain full awakening. At most, such people can live in seclusion among the Five Sacred Peaks and set out on the path of ordinary long life. They cannot attain the realm of ascending beyond the Eight Radiances, riding the clouds, and roaming through the Great Void.

If they also lack registers such as the Jade Terrace’s feathered documents, the Five Cloud-Roving Offices, the Golden Pavilion of the Supreme One, the hidden registers of the Five Sovereigns, the Seven Talismans of the Later Sage, the stone casket of the Empty Mountain, the plain writings of the Cinnabar Terrace, the Chart of the Heavenly Mother of the Five Phases, Yin and Yang, and the Dark and Yellow, as well as the perfected names of the Most High, the exquisite Qi that preserves the True, and the spirit body refined nine times, then they cannot read the Scripture of the Mysterious Classic of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen), or learn of the transformations of the Supreme Unity. Nor can they hear the “Song of Wisdom of the Spirit Tiger Who Dispels Demons,” the “Verses of the Eight Plain Forms from the Most High’s Hidden Book,” the thirty-nine chapters of the Great Cavern’s True Scripture, or classics such as the Golden Truth and Jade Radiance and the Seven Primal Powers of the Vast Fall.

The scriptures of the highest Dao are deep and far-reaching. Only through diligent inner visualization and focused meditation, bringing one’s mind and spirit into accord with the Dao, can one’s innate nature open and move, and the spirits silently respond. Once the Nine Spirits have gathered and the Supreme One has bestowed the written slips, one may gradually come to hear of the Mysterious Gate and the source of life. This principle is exceedingly subtle and profound. How could one fail to strive in its practice?

Through visualization, one holds Taiyi (the supreme deity who governs and commands the myriad spirits) and merges one’s spirit with Dixiān (the revered deity who dwells before Taiyi). One guards the spirit with the two opposing inner forces, the “masculine” and the “feminine,” lets clear, harmonious Qi circulate within, and keeps the breath of the Nine Heavens in balance. In this way, the “One” and the “Nine” unite, bringing the practice to completion.

The essentials of cultivation in the Dongzhen Cavern are to keep body and mind integrated and enduring, while allowing saliva and blood-Qi to grow naturally abundant. The “masculine” force guards the Gate of Destiny, the portal through which life enters and leaves; the “feminine” force protects the Chamber of the Spirit, the spirit’s dwelling place. When Taiyi never leaves the body, the practitioner can abide with the Dao of Heaven. Thus the Scripture of the Hidden Talisman of the Great Supreme says: “Guard the masculine side and nourish the feminine side; even Heaven and Earth cannot exhaust them.”

With this practice, the Five Spirits, which guard the five organs, remain within, and the organs brim with vitality. The numinous spirit dwells in the Crimson Palace, the palace of the heart; the Emperor Lord guards the Muddy Pellet, the chamber of spirits in the head. The hundred spirits are secure, and Embryonic Breathing, the vital breath formed through inner cultivation, seals and stabilizes the Gate of Destiny. After long practice, the Three-Ones spirits, the three beings within the body corresponding to Heaven and Earth, appear at night. Taiyi and Dixiān descend in the early morning and manifest in the practitioner’s dwelling.

The practitioner should remain clean and observe purification, withdraw from worldly affairs, block the paths of delusion and wrongdoing, reduce contact with people and external things, and avoid miscellaneous tasks, keeping the mind focused on the “One.” Practice the Dao diligently in the morning and evening without slackening. Bathe with five kinds of incense, prepare a separate, quiet indoor ritual space, and burn incense nearby to welcome the True Qi.

In cultivating the Way of Taiyi, excessive contact with people and external things is especially to be avoided. Limit travel and miscellaneous duties, focus on guarding the One, and practice diligently morning and evening without interruption. Bathe with five kinds of incense, prepare a separate, quiet indoor ritual space, and burn incense nearby to welcome the True Qi.

Those who cultivate the Way of Great Unity (Taiyi)—a method of nurturing and maintaining the Great Unity spirit within the body—must especially avoid contact with blood, foul matter, and impure influences. If they weep, the Sovereign Lord Great Unity becomes saddened and disturbed; once their sobs are uttered, Great Unity becomes stagnant. When Great Unity stagnates, the Nine Qi—the primordial energies that sustain the body’s vital processes—cease to circulate, and the Three Ones, the corresponding three spirits within the body, become saddened and can no longer keep watch. When the Nine Qi stop transforming, the Three Ones stagnate as well. If this stagnation lasts, vital energy dissipates and old energy intrudes. This is the beginning of illness and even death.

Thus the Perfected call sobbing the sound that cuts off life, and tears the fluid through which essence and Qi escape. How could Dao cultivators fail to guard against them carefully? If they see a corpse or grieve and weep for many days in a row, the Sovereign Lord incurs guilt and is demoted by the Most High (the supreme divine being); Great Unity, too, is examined and punished. The scripture says that before three years have passed, the cultivator’s life will surely end. Those who have not received the Way of the Most High naturally cannot be compared with students of the Dao. Therefore, in practicing the visualization method of the Sovereign Lord Great Unity, one must especially avoid mourning, impurity, sorrow, and tears.

After receiving the scriptures, Dao cultivators must not face a corpse. Anyone who has seen forty-nine corpses cannot attain long life and will surely die prematurely. Anyone who has seen twenty-four must temporarily pass through the “Great Yin” (the underworld or realm of darkness) before becoming an immortal. The scripture explains that once the eyes have seen the form of a corpse, the influence of corpse spirits lingers in the human heart. What people remember remains stored in the Crimson Palace, the part of the body associated with the heart and spirit; what the Crimson Palace records persists even when one thinks it has been forgotten. One should gradually make the body’s corpse-like form manifest, thereby blocking the “eye” to which thoughts and memories cling. This requires the utmost care.

Seeing blood or corpses, coming into contact with the defilement of funerals, and weeping and shedding tears are all things Great Unity especially abhors. If one regularly fasts and purifies oneself, visualization can readily bring spiritual communion, and the spirit can quickly unite with Great Unity. Great Unity then guards life and blends joyfully with the person. After cultivating in this way for eighteen years, one can ascend to Heaven in broad daylight. This is the Perfected’s method of returning from old age to infancy.

One should regularly bathe with the Five Fragrances. The “Five Fragrances” mentioned here refers to qingmu incense, or “greenwood incense.” Its flowers and leaves grow in five sections, each section interwoven with the others, so it is called the “herb of the Five Fragrances.” It can dispel inauspicious influences, gather and settle the hun soul, subdue the smoky breath of ghosts and demons, and summon signs of the numinous. Because its five sections are layered and intertwined, it was considered beneficial to people. This incense grows mostly east of Canglang, so the divine beings of the East call it “the fragrance of greenwood.”

Another account says that burning qingmu incense in one’s dwelling, along with resinous incense such as frankincense and benzoin, can awaken awareness of the qi of the Five Turbidities and put an end to demonic and baleful influences on earth. Its smoke can also rise straight up for forty li into the heavens. The fragrant smoke breaks through murky qi and foul mists, so the Jade Maidens of Heaven and the Emperor of Great Oneness descend with its fragrance and dwell between your brows. When burning incense at midnight, you should often visualize this scene, without becoming negligent or forgetting it.

By visualizing the Three Ones, maintaining the Great One, concentrating on the Grotto Chamber, and meeting with the Imperial Lord, nine numinous beings will take form within your body. They will assist your spirits, enable you to become an immortal perfected being, preserve your longevity, and stabilize the embryo-soul—the innate hun and po cultivated in practice. The five spirits Baiyuan, Wuying, Taokang, Siming, and Taiyi unite as one, holding the registers of names and Fulu (talismans and registers). Each of the five spirits has its own office, yet they combine into nine transformations; the numbers three and five join and open into transformation. Thus the Three Palaces—the inner courts of the spirits within the body—guard the True Qi. All the body’s joints and limbs are nourished by numinous energy, the Imperial Lord’s treasured registers are protected, and one’s allotted destiny is not overturned. The practitioner moves through the qi of emptiness and opens the subtle essence. Suddenly, the twenty-four true spirits appear: above, they connect with the Upper Origin; below, with the netherworld. On the left, one pays audience to the Six Jia spirits; on the right, one commands the Six Ding spirits. Yuhua guides the essence of the sun, and Taiyi unites with the physical form. Then one rides in a thousand chariots and with ten thousand mounted attendants, and the whole body ascends to the celestial realm at dawn, ultimately rising to Heaven in broad daylight.

Those who cultivate the Way of the Great One (Taiyi)—the methods of practice within the Great One tradition—can attain the “ascent to the Three Heavens”: the whole body rises, and they ascend to the heavens in broad daylight. They begin their ascent into the void at cockcrow and reach above the Three Heavens by midday. Noon is called “broad daylight,” while cockcrow is called “ascending at dawn.” For this reason, when contemplating the Great One and bringing body and mind into accord with it, practitioners often choose the hours of cockcrow and the arising of Qi, the energy of new growth.

If you possess the Scripture of the Profound Mystery of the Great One’s Grotto of Truth, store it separately in a pouch and a book chest, seal it with precious objects, and place it on your writing desk. In daily life, pay homage to it morning and evening as you would serve a ruler or father. Before undertaking any task or going anywhere, first report your intention to the Great One enshrined in the scripture. Then bow twice, silently recite the names of the Nine Lords of the Great One three times, and state what you seek. You may discern good or ill fortune from the response in your dreams; if your intent is focused and sincere, you will receive a sign as soon as you awaken.

When reciting, studying, practicing, or consulting the scripture, make a separate copy for everyday use. Treat the original enshrined on your writing desk as a precious treasure and keep it with reverence.

After the Three Origins had withdrawn into concealment, they formed the Three Palaces, called Great Clarity, Great Simplicity, and Great Harmony. Make a separate copy of the relevant scripture for everyday consultation. Treat the original enshrined on your writing desk as a precious treasure and keep it with reverence.

When the subtle changes in the Jing and Qi of the Three Origins take place, they form three palaces called Taiqing, Taisu, and Taihe. The three groups of three make nine. Thus there are three Dantian and three inner chambers—palaces within the body where spirits dwell. Together with the levels of the Three Origins, these make up the Nine Palaces. Each of the nine heavens and nine palaces contains a deity, making nine in all, known as the Nine Souls of the Celestial Emperor. The Nine Souls transform into the Nine Qi, then into nine spirits, each guarding one palace; hence the name “Nine Palaces.”

The Taiqing Palace contains Taisu and Taihe; the inner chamber contains the Hall of Light and the Crimson Palace. Together, these are called the Six Offices. The upper region is called the Celestial Office, and the lower region the Cavern Terrace. The term “Three and Five” has several interpretations, and its location differs accordingly. One interpretation refers to the three Five Emperors within the Taiqing Palace; another refers to the Three Ones, the deities of the Dantian. “The Five Spirits” also refers to five deities listed in the registers of talismans and spirits: Taiyi, the Young Lord, Baiyuan, Siming, and Lord Taokang. The Three and the Five Spirits together are called the “Three and Five,” and each has its own palace.

When the three True Spirits each dwell in their proper palace, the Five Spirits ascend to meet the Emperor Lords. To the Emperor Lord’s left is the Elder Patriarch, and to his right is the Venerable Lord Xuanyi. These are the Nine Lords spoken of within the Limitless. The highest among them is the True One. The Nine Lords are the souls of Heaven, naturally formed children of the True Spirits, and embodiments of the practitioner’s own deities.

If practitioners know how to gather the spirit and visualize the Nine Lords, and focus their thoughts on the Three True Ones, they can unite themselves with the Nine Lords. They can then circulate between the Three and Five, and undergo repeated transformations within the range of seven and nine, allowing the Celestial Emperor’s soul to remain within them. The Five Spirits hold the registers of talismans and spirits, cycling without end. Through this cultivation, practitioners will ultimately be able to ascend to Heaven in broad daylight; what they attain is more than merely long life and freedom from death.

The Lord Sovereign brings forth all things and operates through the transformations of Three and Five. The Great One, the supreme source revered in Daoism, transforms in countless ways and condenses into the patterns of Seven and Nine, whose total is twenty-four. Heaven has twenty-four kinds of Qi, from which all things are born. Through transformation, one can attain the state of a perfected person. Human beings, too, receive these kinds of Qi, and so the body contains twenty-four deities. The deities command a thousand chariots and ten thousand riders, traveling on clouds between the farthest reaches of the eight directions.

If you can visualize and recite these deities, carefully maintain them and keep them in mind without forgetting, you can escape death, seek life, and ascend beyond the ten directions. Then your divine Qi will become settled and flow freely, connecting above with Heaven, passing beyond the Earth Gate—the entrance to the underworld—and through the Gate of Heaven, before resting in concealment at the edges of the four quarters. The Seven Stars are arrayed, and you fly through palaces in the clouds. The roots of the sun and moon are nourished; you preserve essence as precious as gold and jade and command the myriad deities. Who, then, is the King of Immortals? I have already attained the Way of the perfected person. This is the method of hidden preservation: cultivating by visualizing and maintaining the deities. The relevant scripture and instructions are found in the Precious Chapter of the Central Pole of the Supreme Sovereign. Since this method has now been transmitted to you, you must not pass it on casually. You must seal an oath by drinking blood and carefully examine the recipient before teaching it.

The Emperor One is supremely exalted and undergoes endless transformations. The One can transform into ten thousand things, while the transformations of Seven and Nine return once more to the One. The Way of Heaven is not far away; Three and Five will ultimately return to their source. If you understand how to honor the One, you can live long and ascend as an immortal. If you understand Three and Five, you can travel throughout the world. Without understanding how to honor the One, you may be alive yet remain as if rootless; without understanding Three and Five, your body will eventually return to dust. These words are indeed true.

The Great Cavern Perfect Scripture says: “Heaven has nine kinds of souls, which must be distinguished; the Dao has three kinds of true Qi, which must not be separated from oneself. The Emperor One reveals its forms, from which ten thousand transformations arise; the Flowing Pearl comes to rest in radiance, while purple clouds rise like smoke. The path turns seven times, and the three lights—the sun, moon, and stars—illuminate the realm of truth; the subtle talismanic commands of the Most High draw close and unite with one another.” These words speak of profound principles.

The Gaoshang Shenxiao Jing says: “The hun (one aspect of a person’s spirit and soul) arises from within the formless and is distributed among the Nine Palaces (the nine residences within the body or of the spirits). The Dao moves between the Three Extremes (levels such as Heaven and Earth), while the hun often roams in the Crimson Palace (an inner palace associated with the heart). When the three palaces join and transform, they form the Purple Chamber (a spirit chamber within the body). To find the Purple Chamber, begin with the Hall of Light (one of the body’s spirit chambers). If practitioners can understand its signs, they should open the Golden Gate, which lies within the Grotto Chamber (a deep, hidden spirit chamber within the body).”

The scripture also says: “When these spirits and vital energies are blended and joined, one can enter and leave the Imperial Realm (the celestial domain of Great Clarity). The Three and the Five unite as one, and in the end one is certain to become an Immortal King.” This refers to the method of cultivation in which the Three Real Ones and Five Spirits are blended and joined. The Imperial Realm is the celestial domain of Great Clarity.

Thus the Middle Section of the Great Cavern Perfect Scripture (Dadong Zhenjing Zhongpian) says: “The Two Elders stand to the left and right; the Imperial Hun must divide and transform. The numbers three and nine shift above and below, while the Great One (the spirit or source that governs from the center) stands within. The Five Spirits uphold my Register of Life (the immortal register recording my lifespan); the Director of Destiny (the deity who governs lifespan) seals my Gate of Death. The Nine Palaces unite as one, and the Six Directions (above, below, and the four quarters) are gathered within, forming an inner realm of truth.”

This passage means that one must recognize each palace separately, then blend their transformations and bring them into unity. This Way is a treasured practice of the Most High and the foundation of long life. It establishes the Imperial Lord within the body as the guide; it is the source of the Dao, the ancestral line of the Immortal Court, and a secret chapter from the imperial register. It is also a wondrous transformation of the Three Caverns (Dongzhen) and an important scripture of the Nine Palaces.

The Central Scripture of the Nine Perfected says: The nine souls (the nine soul spirits that make up human mental activity) separate and unite with one another, while the three lights—the sun, moon, and stars—shine together. The Celestial Sovereign, a revered deity dwelling in Great Clarity, is in the realm of Primordial Beginning, where purple vapor drifts in all directions. The Five Spirits present talismanic diagrams, thereby preserving a person’s nature and life. Practitioners transform and enter the Nine Palaces, wearing vermilion robes, tiger-patterned talisman badges at their waists, cloud-patterned embroidered shawls, and multicolored veils. Five-colored radiance and vapor course around their bodies. The light of the sun and moon illuminates the body; the two lights stand on either side and reflect one another. Within the Divine Court, the inner body is nourished and hunger and thirst dispelled. The Qi of the Three and Five circulates back and forth, turning the organs and regulating the flow of Qi. It courses through the Great One, the source of the cosmos or the deity of the Great One within the body, so that the Yin-Yang dual forces remain balanced in their generation and transformation.

This passage describes how, when the Celestial Sovereign dwells within Great Clarity, the Great One receives nourishment, and the Five Spirits uphold the talismanic registers, practitioners should visualize the sun and moon shining on the body from either side. This section of the Central Scripture of the Nine Perfected describes the titles and deeds of the Great One, and is therefore recorded here.

At midnight, when vital Qi is rising, or alternatively at cockcrow, lie straight and still, close your eyes, and breathe gently. Visualize the sun rising from your left eye, with light shining from your right eye as well.

At midnight, when vital Qi is rising, or alternatively at cockcrow, lie straight and still, close your eyes, and breathe gently. Visualize the sun rising from your left eye and the moon rising from your right. Each should be nine cun in diameter and positioned above its respective ear. The area above the ears is called the “high windows of the Six Directions.” Let the sun and moon shine over your whole body, their light penetrating inward through the Muddy Pellet, the spirit-and-Qi center inside the crown of the head, then descending to illuminate the Five Viscera and the intestines and stomach. Clearly sense that everything within and without is suffused with light. Let your whole body merge with the light of the sun and moon. After a while, click your teeth together nine times and swallow the saliva in your mouth nine times, then quietly recite this prayer:

The supreme, mysterious Qi of the One: the Nine Sovereigns, Daoist deities, exhale essence and Qi, transforming in the sequence of three, five, and seven, and perceiving the hidden realm of the netherworld. The sun and moon lower their light into the Divine Court, the inner dwelling place of deities envisioned during meditation, illuminating the Six Directions—the four quarters above and below. The Great One, Yellow Tranquility: the Sovereign Lord issues commands and talismanic slips, inscribed in indestructible golden script. The Five Elders, revered Daoist deities, carry out the talismanic command. Heaven and Earth together bear witness, granting me long life and immortality and bringing me to the state of the True Spirit. They repel all manner of evil presences and dispel calamities, enabling me to attend the Celestial Sovereign in the heavens and regain the youth of infancy. The Great Sovereign issues an edict, and all the deities respectfully obey. When you have finished reciting, open your eyes.

This practice is called “Refining the Root with the Sun and Moon, and Examining the Souls through the Three Origins.” It is used to govern body and spirit, protect the practitioner from the intrusion of ghostly and evil Qi, and bring long life and immortality. Perform this visualization every night. Also envision the hundred deities within the left eye, respectfully receiving and obeying commands. When you have finished, open your eyes.

Next, envision the left eye as the sun and the right eye as the moon. Bring them together in the Divine Court, then guide them upward into the Bright Hall, the palace envisioned within the head. They produce the Nectar of Yellow Essence, a symbolic yellow ambrosia, which flows into the mouth. Swallow it in nine portions to nourish the Great One. This visualization is usually performed at the time of nascent Qi, the first Qi of dawn. When you have finished, recite the spell softly:

The sun and moon’s highest essence,

the moon’s radiance in yellow water.

May the Great One come to drink;

may divine light spread high and wide.

Grant me long life,

and let Heaven and Earth endure as one.

After reciting, practice continuously for five days.

The tongue and the top of the mouth are also called the Divine Court. After visualizing the sun and moon, move the tongue gently and sense purple-gold Yellow Springs welling up from it and flowing upward into the Bright Hall. This is called the Nectar of Yellow Essence. During the visualization, keep your eyes closed and clear your mind of distracting thoughts.

On the night of each new moon, at the time of nascent Qi, lie down peacefully, close your eyes, and face upward. Envision twenty-four stars in your mind, each about one inch in size, seeming to connect with one another; then guide them into the Bright Hall. The text says this method is called the Nectar of Yellow Essence. During the visualization, keep your eyes closed and clear your mind of distracting thoughts.

On the night of the first day of each month, when generative Qi is abundant, lie down peacefully with your eyes closed and face upward. In your mind, visualize twenty-four stars, each about an inch in size, as if linked to one another. Then visualize a person within each star, twenty-four in all; they are all naked, like newborn infants.

Next, visualize the twenty-four stars descending from the emptiness of the heavens and circling your body three times. After the third circle, swallow the stars one by one, twenty-four times in all. With each swallow, feel that you have swallowed a star. Then visualize the stars traveling directly from your mouth to the center of your navel. The center of the navel is called the “Palace of Receiving Life,” meaning the place where the Qi of life is received. Then visualize the starlight illuminating the inside of your abdomen and shining through the five viscera.

Next, visualize the starlight transforming into twenty-four perfected beings. From their mouths they exhale yellow Qi, which fills the center of your navel like smoke, dense and spreading until it is bright within and without. After a while, softly recite the spell:

“Twenty-four perfected ones, return within the Yellow Court. From your mouths, exhale yellow Qi. Twenty-four stars, pour into my Gate of Life. May the hundred spirits receive numinous power, and my bones grow strong. May my hun and po souls be at peace, my five viscera receive the talismans, and Heaven and Earth be overturned.”

After the recitation, this practice is called “True Qi Entering and Guarding the Gate of Life.” It is said to ward off calamities and illnesses caused by the hundred ghosts, and to enable a person to live forever without dying.

“Primordial Nonbeing blends and unites, symbolizing the strength born from numinous emptiness. May the hun and po souls be at peace, the five viscera receive the talismans, and Heaven and Earth be overturned” is also a spell from the scripture. Its general meaning is to let the Qi of Primordial Nonbeing blend and unite, symbolizing numinous Qi arising and flourishing in still emptiness, so that the hun and po souls are at peace, the five viscera are protected by numinous talismans, and one remains unmoved even if Heaven and Earth are overturned.

The primal Qi of the Great Void gathers and takes form as a divine spirit born from wondrous emptiness, called the Lord Shangdi. He also resides in the Mudball Palace within the human body—the Upper Dantian in the head—and is revered as the Venerable Sovereign of the Three Ones. The Venerable Sovereign is this child born from emptiness. Thus there are three Sovereign Lords.

Taiyi, the spirit who governs the myriad gods, is born within the hollow void and moves through transformations in all eight directions. His image appears among the Three Sovereigns, and he also gathers at the head of the myriad gods. The honored spirits between Heaven and Earth depend on Taiyi to function. Without Taiyi, the wondrous Qi of emptiness cannot move within the numinous Emperor; without Taiyi, the Three Ones cannot dwell securely in their own palaces within the Venerable Sovereign. Thus the spirit Taiyi works in concert with the Five Spirits, the five divine beings corresponding to the human body and the cosmos. Taiyi dwells above the Three Sovereigns, while the Sovereign Lord’s rank is like that of the Celestial Emperor.

The nine souls correspond to the body, and the souls in turn give rise to the numbers three and five. When three and five join, they congeal to form the Sovereign Lord. As he is about to be born, he receives the wondrous, supreme primal Qi, and comes into being through the division, union, and transformation of three and five. Thus the Sovereign Lord is born beyond the Limitless, takes shape amid wondrous transformations, appears in the realm of Great Clarity, and resides as ruler in the Purple Tenuity Palace of Jade Clarity.

The palace shines with five-colored light, its canopies layered in nine tiers. In front, it opens onto the Mudball Palace; behind, it opens onto the Dark Gate, the deep portal at the rear of the body. Below, it overlooks the Six Directions; above, it reaches the purple clouds. Officials stand guard, and elevated walkways connect its halls. It has jade chambers and vermilion steps; within the palace are golden rooms where the Great Perfected, the spirit of perfect truth, resides. The Sovereign Lord is titled the Celestial Emperor. Born from the void, he dwells within the Limitless. He wears a robe of five-colored pearls and a dawn crown symbolizing nine virtues. Ruling the celestial realm, he often rides a jade dragon with six reins, passing through the nine reaches of the void and traveling freely.

This is the subtle primal Qi that arises naturally, and the Sovereign Lord among the perfected beings. If practitioners of the Dao regularly visualize and recite his name, they can become immortal kings.

In Taiwei, the sacred realm of the heavens, there are three sovereigns. The first is called the Sovereign Lord, the second the Heavenly Sovereign, and the third the Ancient Sovereign. Each is a perfected spirit formed naturally from the blending of the Three Primordial Qi, the three original vital energies that make up Heaven and Earth. Each of the Three Primordials transforms into a sovereign, and together they dwell in Taiqing, the highest heaven.

Taiqing has three palaces. At the highest point is the palace of the Heavenly Sovereign Emperor; to the left is the Palace of Great Simplicity, and to the right the Palace of Great Harmony. These three palaces lie within the Gate of the Niwan, the divine palace inside the human head, and within the Limitless. The Sovereign Lord therefore governs the First Primordial and commands the vigorous Qi of the spirits; the Heavenly Sovereign governs the Second Primordial, transforms appearances, and protects the body; and the Ancient Sovereign oversees the Third Primordial and directs and restrains the gods. Taiyi, the spirit who unites the gods and the primordial Qi, blends them together, allowing the many forms of life to arise. The Qi of the Three Primordials and the Five Phases then differentiates and fills the body’s Nine Palaces, the nine divine abodes within it. Thus the spirit Taiyi is the ruler who brings all things into being.

The Lord of Great Simplicity governs the First Primordial and commands the vigorous Qi of the spirits; the Heavenly Sovereign governs the Second Primordial, transforms appearances, and protects the body; and the Ancient Sovereign oversees the Third Primordial and directs and restrains the gods. Taiyi blends these forces, allowing the many forms of life to arise. The Qi of the Three Primordials and the Five Phases then differentiates and fills the Nine Palaces. Thus the spirit Taiyi is the ruler who brings all things into being.

Laozi, the Elder formed from the Primordial of Great Simplicity, is also Heaven’s hun, or ethereal soul. He dwells in Taiqing, within Gouchen, the celestial palace associated with the stars, and constantly attends the Emperor. He governs the true primordial Qi, and is therefore called the Great Lord of Simplicity. Laozi, the Emperor formed from the Primordial of Great Harmony, is Heaven’s po, or corporeal soul. He too dwells within Gouchen in Taiqing. Called the Lord of Great Harmony, he constantly attends the Heavenly Emperor and governs the fetal primordial Qi.

The two lords, Great Simplicity and Great Harmony, are the hun and po of Heaven and Earth, born naturally. Laozi, the Elder formed from the Primordial of Great Simplicity, is always in Taiqing attending the Emperor. Laozi, the Emperor formed from the Primordial of Great Harmony, constantly attends the Heavenly Emperor, entering and leaving Ziwei, the celestial palace where the Heavenly Emperor dwells. He is located at Kunlun, the mythical mountain of immortals, and at the Yellow Gate and Purple Chamber, palace halls symbolizing the dwelling places of spirits. Together with Taiyi, they interpenetrate and form the three chaotic Qi, the foundation of the Great Dao. You should keep them constantly in your thoughts; in this way, the Emperor will remain forever.

At midnight on the second and third days of each lunar month, practice the method called “Preserving the Original and Completing the August Elder.” Lie down comfortably and close your eyes. First, visualize the August Sovereign within the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), then visualize Yuan Cheng Laozi on the left. He wears blue robes and a Ninefold Radiance Crown. In his left hand he holds a blue lingzhi mushroom, and in his right, a blue banner. Next, visualize Taihe Jun Huang Cheng Laozi on the right. He wears white robes and a Fivefold Radiance White Crown. In his left hand he holds golden night-sweet dew, and in his right, a white banner. Both figures are within the Taiji.

Within the Taiji are nine names; within the Great Clarity are the names of the Five Emperors, the Six Offices, and the Nine Palaces. These refer to the same regions. The nine names within the Taiji are, first, Great Clarity, Taiji, Taiwei, Purple Chamber, and Mysterious Terrace; the remaining four are the Imperial Hall, Heavenly Office, Yellow Palace, and Jade Capital of the Mysterious Metropolis.

In brief, about one inch below the crown of the head is the Taiji Palace, roughly one inch square and above the Sixfold Harmony Palace. The Sixfold Harmony Palace is where the spirit Taiyi resides. About one inch inward from between the eyebrows is the Bright Hall; about two inches farther inward is the Grotto Chamber; and about three inches farther inward is the Dantian (energy center). The Sixfold Harmony Palace lies north of the Bright Hall and south of the Grotto Chamber—that is, one inch above the point between the eyebrows—and is roughly one inch square.

After visualizing the three Perfected Ones, visualize your own hun and po souls, which look like you, rising into the Taiji Palace. The two Laozi figures then bestow the blue lingzhi mushroom and golden liquid dew upon you. Visualize yourself eating the lingzhi and drinking the golden liquid dew in turn. The lingzhi resembles a lotus flower, and the liquid resembles fine wine. After eating and drinking, bow before the August Sovereign and say:

Today, report to the Lord of the Green Emperor in the courtyard—the Eastern Green Emperor—and ask him to bestow divine mushrooms and Golden Liquid and Jade Elixir. Ask the Two Elders, the two immortals, to record and grant you a place in the registers of immortals. Have Taiyi, a revered Daoist deity, submit a memorial on your behalf, so that you may live long and see far, your life without end.

Then visualize the Lord replying: “Good. Come again at the appointed time, on the second and third days of each month.” When the ritual is complete, take the medicine and consume it. This is called receiving the Lord’s bestowed medicine in the Purple Chamber, the mysterious palace within the human body that is also understood as the dwelling place of a deity in visualization. Thus the Scripture for Dispelling Demons says: “The soul may obtain nourishment, endure in life, and have a lifespan without end; ascending to Taiji, the highest realm in Daoist teaching, and receiving one’s lifespan from the Two Elders—all this is the power of the Lord.” It refers to this very practice.

When visualizing Taiji, one should always enter through the space between the eyebrows. This space is the Jade Gate of the Muddy Pellet, the head’s divine chamber in Daoist Neidan and visualization practices. It is called “Guarding the Inch,” and is also where the Yellow Gate and Purple Chamber are located.

Ordinarily, on one’s natal day—the day whose stem and branch match those of one’s birth year—or on the first day of the first lunar month, or at noon on a Six Wu day, a date calculated from the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, the practitioner puts on a cap, fastens their sash, and enters a quiet chamber. Facing north, they bow twice and then recite the incantation:

The Exalted Emperor Lord (the revered Celestial Emperor), the Most High Jade Dawn, the Primordial Elder of Heaven, and the supreme Great Dao: I, your disciple and great-grandson, Wang Jia, pray that the Emperor Lord allow me to dwell for a long time in the Purple Chamber Palace of Zhaoji (the palace practitioners visualize within themselves).

When the night is deep and all is quiet, enter a secluded room. Lie on your back with your body straight, close your eyes and direct them upward, and focus on visualizing the great star at the center of the Northern Dipper’s Taiji (Supreme Ultimate). Imagine it emitting pure yellow luminous Qi (vital energy) and descending. Then visualize this luminous Qi resting before your eyes. Draw it into your mouth and swallow thirty-seven times, then stop. Next, visualize yellow essence blending with the luminous Qi, filling the Great Granary, Yellow Court, and lower Dantian (energy center, a bodily region in Daoist inner cultivation). Let it descend to the Yin Chamber and Earth Gate, then circulate throughout your body, spreading into every part.

Then visualize five people appearing in the Purple Chamber Palace, suddenly taking the form of five Celestial Emperors. The Celestial Emperor Lord is in the center, and Taiyi (a spirit who governs and protects life) comes above. You should kneel before the Emperor Lord and present a register bearing your name. Siming (the deity who governs human lifespans and registers of life) stands behind you and removes your name from the register of the dead. Visualize the register of the dead being cut away: it is written on black bamboo slips in white characters; the register of the living is written on white bamboo slips in blue-green characters. Then visualize a white jade slip and a brush made of cengqing, a blue-green mineral. Siming presents them to the Emperor Lord. Facing south, the Emperor Lord bends over and writes on the slip:

“Wang Jia, style name Yi, of such-and-such county, district, township, and village, is recorded in the register of the living as having such-and-such a lifespan. May he live forever in the Highest Mystery, the supreme heaven of Daoism; may all his wishes be fulfilled, and may he become a Perfected One, an Immortal. All who see him in the world shall call him a Perfected One. Taiyi shall command that Wang Jia be protected and that his body be nurtured forever, his lifespan reaching one million years.”

Next, visualize in your mind a name register one inch long and five fen wide, and imagine its characters written with perfect clarity. Then visualize the five spirits Taiyi, Gongzi, Baiyuan, Siming, and Taojun rising from the Palace of the Six Directions, protecting you and enabling you to nurture your life and body for a long time, to endure as long as the sun and moon, and to live for one million years.

Then visualize a small slip bearing a name and register entry, one inch long and five fen wide, and picture the characters on it with perfect clarity.

Next, visualize the five figures Taiyi, Gongzi, Baiyuan, Siming, and Taojun rising from the Palace of the Six Directions and entering the Purple Chamber. Each carries a table of green jade, with a green talisman upon it, and presents it to the Lord Emperor. The Lord Emperor takes the talismans one by one and hands them to the four Lords Emperor mentioned earlier. They are named Diaoliangji, styled Qingping; Changlaijue, styled Nanhe; Zhang’anxing, styled Xihua; and Baochenghe, styled Beifa. Visualize the four Lords Emperor reciting the five talismans together. When they have finished, they give the talismans to the practitioner. The practitioner receives them, kneels before the Lord Emperor, and swallows them one by one. Here, “swallowing talismans” refers to a ritual practice within Daoist visualization cultivation.

Then visualize a talisman one inch long and five fen wide. When the ritual is complete, visualize the four Lords Emperor rising from the empty sky into the Three Heavens. As they depart, each says to the practitioner: “If you can often visualize our names, you will avoid every kind of calamity and live forever. We are the true ones within the Three Origins, sons of the Most High. We have placed the five talismans from your life register within your body, so that you may endure forever between Heaven and Earth and become an immortal spirit.”

In spring, visualize the Lord Emperor Qingping, and picture him offering you blue-green sweet dew in a blue-green jade bowl that holds one sheng. Drink it; then the four Lords Emperor ascend together into the Three Heavens. In summer, visualize the Lord Emperor Nanhe, and follow the same pattern for the remaining seasons. The jade bowl holding the dew you drink should also take the color corresponding to spring, summer, autumn, or winter.

Next, visualize the Lord Lao Xuan Yi (the Lord Lao of mysterious, primordial Qi) on the Emperor Lord’s left, dressed in purple and wearing a dragon crown. On the right is Lord Lao San Su, dressed in brocade and wearing a tiger crown. The dragon and tiger crowns resemble the travel crowns worn in the human world and are decorated with dragon and tiger designs. Lord Lao Xuan Yi is named Lin Xufu, with the courtesy name Lingshi Dao; Lord Lao San Su is named Lao Zhangshang, with the courtesy name Shensheng Dao.

Behind each Lord Lao stands an attendant, an immortal of Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi): on the left is Zhong Chengzi, also known as Di Bin, with the courtesy name Sihua; on the right is Qu Wenzi, also known as Guang Jian, with the courtesy name Linghe. Their clothing and crowns match those of the two Lord Lao.

After completing this visualization, visualize the Director of Destinies (Siming), the deity who governs the registers of life, descending into the Six Directions and proceeding to the Palace of the Great One (Taiyi), where the Great One resides. The Director of Destinies and the Great One unite as one. The Great One then reports to the Emperor Lord and requests that he bestow a life talisman and life register upon the practitioner. The Great One tells the Emperor Lord: “The life talisman and life register have been bestowed, and the Director of Destinies has united in form. The Four Emperors have granted sweet wine, and the High God Lord has entered the practitioner in the register of the living. Please bestow a name and take the practitioner’s register from the immortal registers to give to the two Lord Lao.”

Then the Emperor Lord suddenly takes the practitioner’s life register from his breast and gives it to the Lord Lao on the left. He takes five talismans from his breast and gives them to the Lord Lao on the right. The two Lord Lao receive the talismans and register and say to the Emperor Lord: “So-and-so’s register of the living has been established, and they may endure in the world. The Emperor’s talisman has been recorded according to the Five Phases in the Palace of Great Simplicity (Taisu).”

The two Lord Lao then instruct the two Orthodox Unity immortals, Zhong Chengzi and Qu Wenzi, to carry the practitioner’s life register and five talismans up to the Nine Heavens Palace of the Lords of the Jade Clarity, Great Simplicity, Supreme One, Three Origins, and High Clarity. There they are to convey the Emperor Lord’s decree establishing so-and-so’s register of the living, enabling them to become an immortal with the title “True Worthy.” The commands of the two Lord Lao must all be recorded.

The two immortals then carry the life talisman and life register to the Nine Heavens. A long time passes before the matter is fully completed. Next, visualize the Director of Destinies and the Great One dividing into separate forms, each becoming a person. Together they travel through Great Clarity (the lofty, pure heavens), inspecting and governing the hundred spirits within the body. Once their inspection is complete, each returns to their own palace.

This is called “the Great Transformation of the Emperor Lord of Original Destiny through the Union of the Hundred Spirits.” It is also the assembly at which the Five Emperors establish the registers and the two Lord Lao confirm the register of the living.

At the time of “mingling the innate destinies,” the deities associated with the many affairs of the world must each return to their own palace. This rite is called “The Way of the Great Transformation of the Sovereign Lords of the Hundred Spirits as They Mingle the Innate Destinies.” It is the moment when the Five Emperors, deities who govern the five directions and the registers of human destinies, establish the records, and the Two Elders, two revered deities, determine life and death.

If you are occupied with many matters at the time of mingling the innate destinies and cannot visit someone familiar with the rite, you may retire to a private room and silently recite and practice according to the scripture. The spirits of the Three Ones, deities who dwell in the three palaces within the body, reside respectively in palaces such as the Niwan and the Dantian (energy center). There is also a Heavenly Emperor Lord, son of the Sovereign Lord of the Purple Chamber. When performing the rite of mingling the innate destinies, first visualize and inwardly contemplate the Three-One Heavenly Emperor, the spirit of the Crimson Palace, and the spirit of the Gate of Destiny, so that each settles in its proper place. The Scripture of the Three Ones gives a fuller account of these palaces.

The “mingling of the myriad transformations” spoken of here does not refer to the Heavenly Emperor of the Three Ones. The Heavenly Emperor of the Three Ones also has a time for his own mingling, but it follows a different method; the various methods are not the same.

The Lord Emperor, who presides over transformation, governs the changes of all things. Taiyi, the deity who presides over life, governs life; the Director of Destiny, who governs longevity, oversees human lifespans. Wuying governs Jing and Qi, Baiyuan governs the hun and po souls, and Taokang governs the spirits. Each person has five registers and five talismans, received from the Lord Emperor and held by five deities, each responsible for one of them. Together, these concern a person’s original destiny: they can ward off death and extend life. Without Taiyi overseeing this work, a person cannot attain longevity.

Even if someone wholeheartedly seeks the Dao and long life, and cultivates with the utmost sincerity, these efforts are of no help without these arrangements. Even a person of outstanding virtue and great merit before the Three Officials—the Daoist deities who govern Heaven, Earth, and Water—who treats others with benevolence and whose good deeds move the myriad spirits, cannot transcend the allotted span of seventy-nine years or enter the ranks of the immortal officials unless they know how to visualize the August Lords, practice the Three-and-Five methods internally, return the five registers and present the five talismans, and have Taiyi go before the Lord Emperor to inquire about their destiny and seek the immortal Dao. Here, “visualization” means focusing the mind on a deity during cultivation, while “internal practice of the Three and Five” refers to related Daoist methods of inner cultivation.

The names of the various Emperors, the One Lord, the Two Elders, and the Three Zhen and Five Spirits must never be casually disclosed to others, or misfortune may follow and befall one’s family. Taiyi’s precious secret teachings may be transmitted only after an alliance has been made. The “precious instructions” referred to here are the Scripture of the Mysterious Cavern of Reality. Before transmitting them, carefully examine the recipient, then take an oath with gold and azure pigment in place of the rite of pledging with blood.

One should also visualize them inwardly each day, so that the three hun souls regularly enter the Taiji Palace and come and go in the company of the Lord Emperor. On the day of one’s original destiny—the day corresponding to the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch of one’s birth year—avoid speaking of inauspicious matters. Close the room and visualize inwardly until the Qi of life is full, and strive to do good, observing these precepts with care.

Taiyi is the Jing and Qi within the womb, as well as the power that governs transformation. The hun and po souls take shape under the influence of the Fetal Spirit, and the Qi of life arises from the womb’s chamber. These powers transform and unite, joining with the Lord Emperor and blending together to form a human being. Thus, the spirit Taiyi is the mother of life, while the Lord Emperor is its father.

Taiyi is named “Wuyou Shou,” styled “Guihui Chang,” and also known as “Jie Ming” and “Ji Pin.” These are the true names given in the Scripture of Inner Treasures of the Three Origins and the Cavern Mystery. The names recorded in miscellaneous copied formulas circulated outside are not genuine. The true names given here must especially not be revealed to others. Practitioners who learn them can live forever, escape all manner of calamity, and summon spirits and Jade Maidens to descend.

Each night, visualize Taiyi within the Palace of the Six Directions in your body, an inner chamber symbolizing the six directions; you may also visualize Taiyi at your left and right. Whether you are sitting or lying down, whatever direction you face, Taiyi is everywhere. Complete the visualization each day during the moment of life-generating Qi, then recite the incantation:

“The Jing and Qi of Taiyi originate in the Great Clarity, the highest realm of pure emptiness. The hun and po souls receive their nurturing transformation, and thus the body and its image become endowed with spirit. Taiyi commands and leads the hundred spirits, and restrains the Three Yangs, the three forces of Yang Qi. The Lord Emperor governs the clouds of Qi, enabling the practitioner to unite and flourish with the true Dao. It steadies the Jing and Qi within the body and dispels calamities from without; it removes one from the registers of the dead and lengthens one’s life. Clothing, age, and appearance can all change, with no fixed form. Taiyi constantly governs the Six Directions, circulates through the Crimson Palace, the inner chamber that symbolizes the heart, descends to the Cavern Gate, and ascends to the Mysterious Region, the hidden and unfathomable domain. It blends the Three and Five, the numerical symbols of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases, and rests in the celestial court; it summons the essence of the sun and moon and transforms Yin and Yang, female and male. It governs your talisman registers, the pouch of the womb, and the fate of life and death. Taiyi assists and protects, ascending to the Mysterious Region, blending the Three and Five, and resting in the celestial court; it summons the essence of the sun and moon, transforms Yin and Yang, female and male, and governs your talisman registers, the pouch of the womb, and the fate of life and death. O Taiyi, assist and protect me.”

When practicing visualization—the act of holding something in mind through contemplation—and contemplating the deity Taiyi, your appearance should be the same as Taiyi’s, as should your clothing. Practitioners should therefore regularly fast, purify themselves, and discipline body and mind in the hope of meeting Taiyi. Clothing, towels, and similar items should not be borrowed from people whose qi differs from one’s own. Such details should all be treated with care.

If you are not yet able to abstain from ordinary food through dietary cultivation, or to devote yourself to contemplating and studying the true Dao, you should refrain from agitated and defiling activities of every kind. Avoid blood and fishy foods, mixed meats, pungent foods, and spices. Following these practices can improve your cultivation and may help prolong your life.

The Lord Left Wuying is the deity who governs the formation of the Essence Field and is also a god of the primordial qi of the Three Origins. He forms the Essence Field from celestial essence, and the essence qi thereby returns to the qi of the Three Origins. Lord Wuying therefore often gathers and holds a person’s spirit and talisman of destiny. His name is Xuanyuan Shu; his courtesy name is He Fuzi. He is also called Lord Elements and the Spirit Lord. He often resides in the Upper Clarity of the Jade Chamber.

Contemplate him every night, and when you have finished, recite this incantation:

“Supreme Jade Perfected, imperial essences joined to one another; the heroic qi of the Three Origins, the Great Mystery of the Purple Dawn; the Nine Heavens shine forth, and the Five Blossoms rise in mist. Within the Yellow Tower and Golden Chamber is a great spirit, fists clenched, holding a flowing bell, his head crowned with a splendid diadem. A purple jeweled canopy turns with the wind; his body bears the patterns of dragons and tigers, and his appearance is like that of an infant. The qi of the Four Spirits is balanced and harmonized; he enters and leaves the Cinnabar Palace and the void, becoming one with the Imperial Lord. He calls forth Yin and Yang; the Way of Heaven is indeed true. This spirit is named Xuanyuan Shu, and his title is Lord Wuying. He travels through the Nine Paths, disperses and transforms the Five Constants, gives me life and sustains me, so that I may endure with the Dao forever.”

Baiyuan Jun, the deity who governs the hun and po souls and the divine fluids, is also called Dongyang Jun. He oversees gathering the qi of the souls, inspecting and regulating the spiritual fluids. The hun and po souls arise from the Palace of the Nine Spirits, while the divine fluids are set in motion by the True Ones of the Three Qi. The deity in charge of these matters is therefore called Baiyuan Dongyang Jun, and is responsible for holding the talismanic mandate that gathers and guards the souls.

Baiyuan Jun’s personal name is Yulingbiao, his courtesy name is Xuanyijue, and he is also known as Zhujing and Qicheng. He resides within the Jade Hall of Supreme Clarity. Each night, after completing the practice of visualization—quietly focusing the mind on the deities—recite this incantation:

Supreme divine essence, exalted Nine Lords of Clarity, the Three Qi congeal and transform, rightly stationed at the Gate of the Spirit. Clad in a dragon robe and tiger belt, you support life and return the souls. At your waist hangs a jade text; on your head rests a crown adorned with yellow morning blossoms; in your hands you hold the register of names and the Fulu, talismans and registers. With each breath, you mingle and divide, and are called Yuling, titled Baiyuan. May you travel out with me, ascend to Yang Pass, and journey through the Nine Heavens of Clarity, moving among the four quarters of Heaven and Earth; descend to nourish the vital fluids and the Upper Primordial Mudball. May all the deities guard and support us, each keeping watch over its own precious palace. When your inspection and regulation are complete, return to the Yellow Chamber, the spirit chamber within the body.

The Central Lord of Fate, also called the Elder Who Regulates Destiny, governs the natal destiny associated with the year a person is born and gathers the registers that record the length of their life. The Great One transforms the souls, causing them to correspond with the Lord of Fate. The Lord of Fate then unites with the souls and faces the Lord of the Soul Emperor. Thus, the deity of the Lord of Fate governs a person’s years and lifespan, as though wielding authority over the allotment of destiny. Because the Lord of Fate commands these registers of life, the deity is honored with the title “Elder.”

The Lord of Fate is named Liming, with the courtesy name Xuandu Xiang, and is also known as Shenzong and Linghua. By day, the deity dwells in the Palace of Utmost Mystery and moves through the chambers of Yin. By night, the deity dwells in the Dark Chamber, in a realm within the Earth Gate, beneath the Hidden Palace, and above the Palace of the Six Directions. The “chambers of Yin” mentioned here refer to the two openings of the nose. When practitioners visualize the Lord of Fate entering and leaving, they should have the deity pass through the nostrils, rather than visualize the deity entering and leaving between the eyebrows. The “Dark Chamber” mentioned for nighttime refers, in men, to the penis; the “Earth Gate” refers to the scrotum. Women, when visualizing, should place the Lord of Fate in the northernmost position inside the vaginal opening. Perform this visualization every night. Afterward, recite:

“The soul of the August One transforms into the Nine Palaces, unites with the Three Perfected, and manifests in the Imperial Court. Within the Hidden and Utmost Mystery and the Dark Gate, the Celestial Spirit circulates and moves; through it, the hundred spirits gather. The essence of the Lord of Fate holds the counting rods and calculates the length of life. The deity wears a dragon-patterned robe and a tiger-patterned skirt, and a cap adorned with the Seven Stars. The deity is always within me, calming and protecting my form.

“The deity’s honorific title is the Elder of the Changing Radiance, the Imperial Court, the Utmost Mystery, and the Dark Gate; the deity’s name is Liming. The deity communicates upward with the talismanic commands of fate, granting me long life; harmonizes and opens the Three Origins, the Six Palaces, and the myriad points and gates of the body; gathers and governs numinous Qi; and unites with me as one. May I ride the dragon chariot in my journeys and ascend together to Great Clarity, shining with the sun and moon, profound and without form. May my lifespan be inscribed in the blue register of destiny, until Heaven and Earth are overturned.”

The Peach Lord of the Gate of Life governs the life received through Jing and Qi and is master of the primordial Qi. The return of Jing and Qi to Shen, their transformation into pure Qi, and the fundamental process by which Yin and Yang unite and bring forth the myriad things all begin here. Heaven and Earth obtain their primordial Qi through it, and Yin and Yang take it as the source of their subtle workings. Within the human body, vital places such as the Golden Gate, the Jade Pass, and the portals of the chambers are also governed by the Peach Lord’s Qi.

Thus, the Great One returns the radiance of the scene, and the Emperor Lord joins with the soul. “Returning the scene” means allowing oneself to enter a state of undifferentiated unity and thereby change along with the myriad things. “Joining the soul” means generating seminal fluid so that life may continue without end. When Jing and Qi begin to transform, the Peach Lord guides them, and signs of the distinction between male and female appear.

The Peach Lord’s name is Child Dao Kang; his courtesy name is Essence-Joining-and-Life-Prolonging. He is also called Life Jade and Womb Root. By day, he resides among the Five Regions of the Golden Gate—that is, at the Gate of Life in the navel, where the lower Dantian lies. By night, he resides within the Six Directions, to the right of the Great One.

Each night, after completing visualization—quietly focusing the mind on the deities—offer this prayer:

“Mysterious primordial Qi gathers essence; in emptiness, breaths mingle. From this, the womb takes shape, and Yin and Yang draw close. The Three Qi of the Most High—three kinds of primal Qi spoken of in Daoism—descend into your body, imbuing every joint with numinous Qi and settling the myriad spirits in their proper places. Chaos returns to unity; this deity is called the Peach Lord.

“The Peach Lord has the form of a newborn infant, radiant and shining, surging straight up to the heavens. He wears garments of five colors, patterned with splendid clouds; he holds a divine talisman and joins with the soul of the Emperor Lord. A tiger writ is fastened at his waist, and he wears a red headcloth and a vermilion crown. He sits upon a couch of golden wood and jade, right at the Gate of Life. The Peach Lord draws in Jing and Qi through his mouth, strengthening my bones and joints.

“To the Peach Lord’s right is a goddess holding a vermilion banner; to his left is a radiant Jade Youth, shining and surging straight up to the heavens. The youth wears garments of five colors, patterned with splendid clouds; he holds a divine talisman and joins with the soul of the Emperor Lord. A tiger writ is fastened at his waist, and he wears a red headcloth and a vermilion crown. He sits upon a couch of golden wood and jade, right at the Gate of Life. The Peach Lord draws in Jing and Qi through his mouth, strengthening my bones and joints. To the right stands a goddess holding a vermilion banner; to the left, a Jade Youth who records the Emperor Lord’s words.

“Yang Qi moves from the left, mingling and transforming before it has yet differentiated; Yin Qi passes from the right, circulating seven times. They move downward to the deepest depths, then upward to reach the Mudball Palace—the upper Dantian within the head. They circulate constantly through the Nine Palaces, entering and leaving the Hidden Gate, governing and refining the souls, extending throughout the Six Viscera, and commanding the registers of the myriad spirits, so that they may become immortals together with me.”

This is a method of cultivation that fuses the “Three and Five” and brings forth the Five Spirits. The Five Spirits embody the great numinous power within the Qi of the Five Phases—the five basic vital energies that constitute all things—and are the foundation for receiving the mysterious mandate of Heaven. They arise above from the Nonbeing and gather below to form the body. The circulation of vitality within the body depends on the Five Spirits to sustain it. Practitioners should therefore visualize the Five Spirits each night and silently recite an invocation for this purpose. If they cannot memorize it, they may practice from the written text during the day. There is no need to wait until midnight; they need only choose a time when vital energy is strong.

The Three Hun Souls arise from the Five Spirits, and the Three True Ones become manifest through the Five Numinous Powers. This is why the practice is called the “method of merging the Three and Five.” Those who practice it can live forever and never die. The method is also called “surveying the Northern Bright Hall and the spirits of the Purple Palace, transforming and generating the Three and Five, and attending the embryo of the Upper Origin.” Even those who have attained the Dao and become immortals should continue practicing it; it is said that only in this way can they preserve their vitality.

The visualization may be performed sitting or lying down. If sitting, it is best to face the direction associated with one’s birth destiny. If it is difficult to visualize all five spirits at once, one may first contemplate two, then the other three, and repeat the cycle, beginning with Taiyi.

For focused visualization, choose a quiet, secluded room or a place in the mountains or woods. Avoid conversation and disturbance from impure Qi. First recite the “method of merging the Three and Five” as given earlier. Then close the eyes and turn the gaze inward, knock the teeth together nine times, swallow the saliva nine times, and softly recite the incantation:

“The True Ones of the Nine Origins, the true ones within the Three Fields; cloud chambers and golden rooms, within them the Five Numinous Powers. They command and restrain with awesome strength, transform the hidden and dark, circle around the Mysterious Mirror, and encompass all…”

The “Three Fields” are the upper, middle, and lower Dantian, places within the body where Qi and essence gather according to Daoist practices of inner cultivation. “Knocking the teeth” and “swallowing the saliva” are common ritual actions in visualization practices.

The Perfected Ones of the Nine Primordial Realms (the nine levels of the Primordial Beginning realm) possess three fields: the upper, middle, and lower Dantian (energy centers). Within the cloud chamber and golden room dwell the five spirits (the spirits of the five organs). Majestic and powerful, they can restrain and regulate body and mind, and transform themselves in the hidden world. They circle the wondrous realm of the mirror and move between Heaven and Earth. The patterns of three and five cycle back and forth, eventually blending into the Great Clarity (the Daoist realm of pure emptiness). Yang Qi (vital energy) flows and nourishes, transforming into the realm without a name, where it becomes immortal together with me. I ascend to the divine court and face the sun and moon. The three lights—the sun, moon, and stars—merge as one. I cross the farthest reaches of the eight directions, wear the essence of Heaven as a crown, turn to the left and gaze in every direction, and hold the seven stars of the Northern Dipper in my hand. I conceal myself in Taiwei (the abode of the Heavenly Emperor) and unite with Primordial Beginning Qi.

After reciting the incantation, visualize each of the five spirits seated in its own palace, all breathing out purple Qi that coils around my body. When the purple Qi feels dense and full, as though inside and outside have become one and even my hands and feet are no longer visible, stop visualizing. Next, visualize the sun and moon rising between your cheeks: the sun on the left, the moon on the right, their two rays illuminating your whole body. At this point, the purple Qi suddenly disperses.

Then visualize the sun entering your mouth and swallow it, sensing its taste as you do so. Swallow nine times in succession. Next, visualize the moon entering your navel, below the Gate of Destiny, and illuminating the space between the yin chambers. Then visualize yourself holding the handle of the Northern Dipper in your hand and walking with it, entering the Purple Chamber of Taiwei Palace to pay your respects to the Emperor.

The Emperor says, “You have obtained the way of the immortals and will also gain longevity. I give you a blue jade talisman and enter your name in the Heaven of the Nine Regions (the nine quarters of Heaven and Earth).” I bow again and say, “May I dwell in concealment in Taiwei, unite with the Great One (a revered Daoist deity), attend beside the Emperor, and come and go within the numinous chamber.” The Emperor then summons the Great One. The Great One comes before the Emperor, and I enter the Great One’s mouth. I unite with the Great One’s form as a single radiance, becoming one together. Only after a long time is the visualization ritual complete.

This method of cultivation is called “blending into Great Clarity and transforming into the nameless.” It consists of visualizing the sun and moon facing one another, holding the seven stars, and taking the same form as the Great One, ultimately concealing oneself in the celestial court where the Emperor dwells.

Once you have imagined that the Five Spirits are all settled, silently recite the rest of the invocation and complete the inner visualization. Then open your eyes and click your teeth five times. Press the philtrum beneath your nose seven times with the middle finger of your left hand, then press the point between your eyebrows nine times with the index finger of your right hand. This set of actions is called “Restraining the Reins, Three-Five-Seven-Nine.” Its purpose is to seal and guard the gates through which the hundred spirits come and go, so that they may dwell in peace within the palaces of your body. It unites the Three Perfected Ones—the three perfected spirits within the body—with you as one, lets the Five Spirits protect your talismanic mandate, and places all your inner palaces under the scrutiny of the Lord Emperor.

When you have finished, offer this prayer:

“The Three and the Five intertwine; Heaven covers above, and Earth begins below. I hold the Five Talismans and return upward to the Son of the Emperor. The Three Primordial Energies—of Heaven, Earth, and humanity—remain for long within the palaces. The five colors flow through one another; square and circle together form the guiding order of the Primordial Beginning. Without, I ward off every kind of misfortune; within, I bind and restrain a hundred kinds of evil spirits. The Three Perfected Ones assist me, and the Five Spirits guard me. I command the stars of the Northern Dipper and their spirits, so that I may live forever and never die.”

After the prayer, visualize Taiyi seated in the Palace of the Six Directions, the inner divine palace that governs Heaven and Earth and the four quarters. Then visualize Taiyi joining with your body and following you as an image. Lower your hands and move them away from the places you pressed. Cover your mouth with both hands and pray softly:

“Taiyi instructs all the spirits: You must each keep watch over the Yin-Yang Gate. Do not leave your own palace without permission; you must submit to the Lord Emperor’s scrutiny. In all things, follow the ordinances of the Three Perfected Ones and obey the commands of the Nine Heavens.”

These are the complete steps for uniting the spirits of the body with Taiyi through visualization and prayer.

Taiyi usually descends to the Palace of Crimson Radiance, the abode of the spirit of the heart, at noon on days marked Jiawu, Bingwu, or Wuwu. There Taiyi joins with the Perfected One and with the practitioner’s body.

Taiyi, the sacred primordial being in Daoist teaching, often descends at noon on the days of Jiawu, Bingwu, and Wuwu, traveling to the Crimson Palace—the palace within the heart—and joining as one with the Perfected One of the Crimson Palace and the practitioner. This is called the “threefold union with the self,” as well as the “three true Qi” and the “threefold merging.”

The Perfected One of the Crimson Palace dwells in the Dantian within the heart, while the Perfected One of the Middle Origin dwells inside the heart. The Scripture of the Three Ones (Sanyi Jing) records this in detail. At noon on each of these days, the practitioner should enter a quiet room, sit in stillness, and visualize Taiyi descending to the Crimson Palace. The Perfected One of the Crimson Palace will suddenly unite with Taiyi. The practitioner then visualizes entering the Crimson Palace and suddenly uniting with Taiyi as well. At this point, the practitioner senses that only Taiyi’s form remains in the Crimson Palace, with an appearance and clothing like their own, but with a tiny body, like a newborn infant.

After completing the visualization, the practitioner visualizes the area beneath the nostrils: the sun is on the left and the moon on the right. Within the sun are yellow essence and red Qi; within the moon are red essence and yellow Qi. “Essence” refers to the substance of the sun’s and moon’s two kinds of radiance; “colored Qi” refers to the vapor they emit. These two streams of Qi flow abundantly into the Crimson Palace, filling it. They then rise to the Grotto Chamber—the inner palace in the head—and descend to the Yellow Court, the palace of the lower Dantian, three inches below the navel. After filling the Yellow Court, the two streams enter and fill the Great Granary, the stomach, then pass through and gather abundantly in the stomach’s channel.

Next, the practitioner visualizes Taiyi rising and taking his proper position in the stomach’s channel, facing south, and calls upon the Perfected One of the Yellow Court in the lower Dantian. The Perfected One of the Yellow Court wears yellow robes and a yellow headcloth. Seated upright with Taiyi, he swallows the essence and Qi twenty-seven times. After a while, the visualization ends, and the practitioner then visualizes the Perfected One of the Yellow Court reciting a spell:

“The essence of the sun and moon, the two Qi of yellow and red: their perfect radiance gathers and becomes Qi, sending forth a vast brilliance above. The Three Origins—the Qi of the upper, middle, and lower regions—feed on this; from it, Taiyi receives numinous Qi.”

Afterward, the practitioner visualizes Taiyi and the Perfected One of the Middle Origin returning to the Crimson Palace…

The radiance of the sun and moon consists of two kinds of vital energy, yellow and red. Their circular lights join and rise upward, nourishing the Three Primordial Energies—the upper, middle, and lower—and allowing the inner sovereign spirit, the Great One (Taiyi), to receive numinous energy. Next, visualize the Great One and the Perfected One of the Middle Origin returning together to the Crimson Palace, the inner palace in the heart, while the Perfected One of the Yellow Court returns to the palace of the Lower Dantian. Then visualize the Great One merging with your own body and returning to the Palace of the Six Directions, the inner chamber of spirits and Qi. When the visualization is complete, recite the incantation:

“The Great One Sovereign Lord issues commands to the Three Primordial Energies, and also commands and governs all the spirits on my behalf. Each spirit remains in its appointed place within me and must not venture in or out through the Golden Gate or the Firm Jade Pass, the portals and openings between the body’s interior and exterior.”

After reciting the incantation, visualize the sun and moon beneath the breasts rising through the nostrils and reaching the Palace of the Grotto Chamber, the inner chamber between the eyebrows. In the Grotto Chamber is the Perfected One Above, who is the Celestial Emperor. The Celestial Emperor is the son of the Sovereign Lord. The Sovereign Lord dwells in the Purple Chamber of the Supreme Ultimate; the Celestial Emperor dwells in the Mudball Palace, also called the Upper Palace of the Dantian, three inches inside the space between the eyebrows. Sometimes it is also said that the Celestial Emperor dwells in the Grotto Chamber, two inches inside the space between the eyebrows.

Visualize the Celestial Emperor Above holding the sun in his left hand and the moon in his right. The Celestial Emperor first swallows the sun and moon; you should visualize swallowing nineteen times. After completing the nineteen swallows, the Celestial Emperor exhales, and his breath descends to the Palace of the Six Directions, where the Great One resides. Visualize yourself feeling the palace fill with purple mist. The Great One inhales this purple mist and swallows nineteen times as well, then stops.

This practice is called “Uniting the Three Ones and the Sovereign.” It spreads the vital essence of the sun and moon, transforming it into radiant visions that reach throughout the three palaces and among the myriad spirits, thereby sustaining life indefinitely.

Above the Nine Palaces, there is one who enters the imperial chamber. The three and the five kinds of Qi join together, while their source returns to the One and the Seven. It transforms and manifests a form, guarding the Five Phases so that, though distinct from one another, they share the same root. This is the Central Talisman for Dispelling Demons, and it is also the scripture and method of the Imperial Lord.

This passage describes three Perfected Gods drawing one another upward and ascending together, while five divine beings receive the Imperial Lord’s soul-Qi and divide downward. At midnight on a jiazi day, practitioners often visualize a boy in the Purple Chamber of Taiwei Palace. He looks like an infant, wears vermilion robes, and is named Ganjing Jing, with the courtesy name Huiyuanzi. He stands before the Imperial Lord, holding a red jade tray on which lie the Five Signs of the Practitioner and the Register of Destiny. Then visualize Taiyi rising from the Palace of the Six Directions and taking its place at the Imperial Lord’s left.

The boy says: “The talismanic registers govern a person’s life force, and all the gods heed them. The records for jia and yi have already been written before the Imperial Lord in the imperial court. I ask Taiyi to bestow and determine the name for jia.” Here, “jia” refers to the practitioner’s ritual name, used in prayers for protection and in visualization.

The Imperial Lord says: “Taiyi, boy, bring all manner of transformations into yourself, dispel the calamity of death, and let life continue in an unending cycle. Fill the body with the spirits of the myriad Perfected. Give the order to the Earl of Records.” The practitioner’s body then merges with the boy into Taiyi’s form. After a short while, when the visualization is complete, the practitioner visualizes Taiyi returning to the Palace of the Six Directions. This method is called “uniting the child with the Qi of the Primordial Beginning, and transforming Taiyi among the Three Perfected.” It describes joining the boy and Taiyi as one and visualizing them within the Qi of the Primordial Beginning.

Thus, the Great Cavern Scripture of the Perfected says: “The Little Boy of Taiwei is always before the Imperial Lord. His name is Jingjing, and his surname is Gan. He becomes one with Taiyi, wears vermilion robes, carries the Five Talismans and the Register of Destiny, and holds a jade tray. He obeys the Imperial Lord’s commands and oversees communication among the gods.” This is the scene being described.

The Supreme Scripture for Dispelling Demons also says: “Xin Zi Jingjing possesses divine might. He unites with three forms, while the nine paths draw one another onward. He wears vermilion robes and steps according to the staggered pattern. He enters and leaves the Upper Origin, proceeding to the inner steps of the Supreme Ultimate. Those who know me will attain life; those who visualize me will keep me enduring and undiminished. People need not weep for me: I can help them find support and avoid calamities. If you wish to know where I am, ask Taiwei in secret.”

The child within the womb is the soul of Taiyi, born from the womb. Knowing its name means that people throughout the world will not meet the fate called the “sign of weeping,” a dire omen of death, and their lives can be long and enduring. By regularly visualizing this child, one can avoid evil influences, calamities, and every hardship, and live forever. If you wish to know where I dwell, secretly ask Taiwei, the celestial palace among the stars.

The child within the womb is the soul of Taiyi, born from the womb. Knowing its name means that people throughout the world will not become a “sign of weeping.” By regularly visualizing it, one can avoid evil spirits, disasters, and every calamity, and live forever. When performing this art of transformation and union, any Jia day among the sixty-day cycle is suitable; there is no need to choose only a Jiazi day.

The five divine beings of Taiyi uphold the Five Talismans and Five Registers. This is the Way of Conjunction and Transformation transmitted by the Shangqing Emperor, and the secret to seeking long life and becoming an immortal.

The above is the Peach Lord Talisman. Use a white ground and write it with a cinnabar brush.

The Five Emperors’ Inner Treasure Talismans embody the Way of Taiyi, the Emperor Lord, through transformation and the joining of radiance. On your birth-year day, you may write five talismans, place them together in a brocade pouch, and wear it on your person. The wearer will live forever. You may also enter a room on the birth-year day in your birth-year month, at your birth-year hour, write the five talismans, place them together in a brocade pouch, and wear it on your person. The wearer will live forever. Then face the royal direction, swallow them all at once, and recite the incantation:

“Taiyi’s Five Talismans: the divine registers record the year of my birth. For a thousand years and ten thousand ages, may I share the longevity of Heaven. The Emperor Lord governs the register of life; may my lifespan never decline.”

If you wish to take this talisman repeatedly, choose midnight, when Yang energy first arises, on the fifth day of the fifth month, the seventh day of the seventh month, or the ninth day of the ninth month. You may also choose midnight on the day of the autumn equinox. Present the five registers of names, and offer them together with the five talismans to the Sovereign Lord. For the ritual itself, you should also choose midnight, when Yang energy first arises, on your birth-matching day, in the middle of the month, or on the third, fifteenth, or twenty-sixth day of any month. First make sure the room is quiet and clean; only then may you perform the ritual.

You may sit or lie down while performing it. If sitting, fold your hands and hold them before your eyes. “Gazing inward” means keeping the eyes closed, or nearly closed. If lying down, close your eyes and turn your awareness inward, placing your hands over your heart. Visualize the Sovereign Lord seated within the Purple Chamber Palace of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate). The Youth of Great Subtlety stands behind him; Laozi, Primordial Perfection of Great Simplicity, stands to his left; and Laozi, Imperial Perfection of Great Harmony, stands to his right. Next, visualize the Celestial Emperor Lord in the Muddy Pellet Palace entering the Purple Chamber and coming before the Sovereign Lord. The Celestial Emperor is the Highest Perfected One among the Three Ones, the Sovereign Lord’s son, and a precious spirit within the Muddy Pellet’s Grotto Chamber.

Then visualize the Sovereign Lord commanding the Celestial Emperor to summon the five spirits of the Palace of the Six Directions: Great One, the Young Lord, White Origin, Director of Destiny, and Lord Peach. They are all dressed in vermilion and wear deep-red headcloths; they are the precious spirits within the chamber. Each of the five spirits holds a white jade table. On each table is a talisman, one inch long and five fen wide, along with a register of names, five inches long and one inch wide. The talismans and registers serve different purposes, and the register is placed on top of the talisman. Visualize your hometown and name written in the register, following the method described above.

Each of the five spirits presents a register and a talisman, approaching the Celestial Emperor. The Celestial Emperor receives them one by one and places them before the Sovereign Lord. Then visualize the Sovereign Lord commanding the Celestial Emperor to summon you, the practitioner, and have you ascend to the Purple Chamber. After a short while, visualize yourself entering through your left nostril, rising to the Purple Chamber, and coming before the Sovereign Lord. The Sovereign Lord commands you to take the registers from the tables one by one and recite them. When you have finished, offer the registers to the Celestial Emperor, who then presents them to the Sovereign Lord. The Sovereign Lord then commands you to swallow the five talismans one by one.

Next, visualize the Sovereign Lord commanding the Celestial Emperor to summon the Perfected One of the Central Origin Dantian in the Crimson Palace, together with the Perfected One of the Lower Origin Life Gate, and invite them to the Purple Chamber. After a short while, the two Perfected Ones ascend to the Purple Chamber and come before the Sovereign Lord. These two Perfected Ones are the spirits associated with the Three Ones, located within the heart and below the navel.

Next, visualize the Celestial Emperor, the ruling deity of Heaven. Imagine him suddenly merging with the image of the Imperial Lord, entering through his mouth and transforming into one. After a while, imagine the two Laozi, revered deities of Daoism, entering through the Imperial Lord’s two nostrils. After another short while, imagine the two Perfected Ones from the Crimson Palace and the Gate of Destiny entering the Imperial Lord’s mouth. Then imagine five divine beings entering his body through his left ear. Next, imagine Juezhao himself and the Tawei Youth entering his body through his right ear. When these visualizations are complete, the Imperial Lord sits alone, upright in the Purple Chamber Palace of Tawei. All the deities summoned earlier have become one with him and now appear transformed before him.

Next, visualize the Imperial Lord and recite the incantation:

“Supreme, profound, and pure, you share the essence of Heaven and Earth. Joined in radiance within the Purple Chamber, you transform and bring forth the myriad beings. Five spirits and the Three Ones; the two elders record the name. Tawei Youth, return from the sign to your original form. Thousands upon thousands, countless and at peace through long years. You endure after the later emperors; your spirit ascends to Jade Purity.”

After reciting it, Juezhao also recites the same incantation. Then Juezhao recites:

“When the union is complete, the register of the dead is erased. The Celestial Emperor has issued his command; it must not be forgotten or lost. Each of the hundred spirits and the Imperial Lord treasures its own chamber.”

Then open your eyes. This is the method of cultivation in which the five spirits uphold the talismans and registers, and the souls and spirits merge. Juezhao should concentrate and visualize these scenes.

For the “Bond of the Five Registers and Five Talismans, Whose Transformation Ensures Life,” write one talisman in cinnabar on blue paper at noon on your natal day, the day corresponding to your birth. At midnight, enter a quiet chamber. After completing the visualization, face the direction associated with your natal destiny and swallow one talisman. Take the other talisman and, with scissors, cut it down the middle from the blackened mark at its upper end. Cast one half into the kitchen fire and the other into well water. Repeat this practice on every natal day. This talisman is called the “Talisman for Preserving the Spirit and Prolonging Life,” also known as the “Bond by Which the Imperial Lord Records Your Destiny.”

Write this talisman on white paper with a blue-green brush. On the morning of your birth day—the day corresponding to your date of birth—face east and swallow it. Repeat this practice on every birth day thereafter. It is called the “Talisman for Preserving the Spirit and Prolonging Life.” It is a token by which the Lord registers and protects one’s allotted lifespan.

Write this talisman on white paper with a blue-green brush. On the morning of your birth day, face east and swallow it. Afterward, recite the incantation:

“The Lord governs the allotted years of life. The nine kinds of primordial Qi converge like smoke, making me deathless and enabling me to ascend and become an immortal. The Lord governs my lifespan and steadies my body, making me a guest of the Most High.”

Write this talisman on white paper with orpiment, a yellow pigment used for writing in ancient times. At noon on your birth day, face south and swallow it. Then, still facing south, recite the incantation:

“Taiyi’s radiance manifests its numinous presence. The Lord and I unite in form and spirit, severing the Three Corpses—the spirits believed in Daoism to reside within the human body and hinder cultivation—so that my hun and po souls may be at peace and endure in the heavens. May none of the nine allotted lifespans be overturned. May I ascend before the Lord and pass through the seven paths and five lives.”

Write this talisman on white paper with a red brush. At dusk on your birth day, face the direction corresponding to your date of birth and swallow it. Then recite the incantation:

“The heavens are deep and dark; the earth is dim and yellow. The three hun souls are in the palace hall. The heavens are dim and yellow; the earth is deep and dark. The three hun souls remain within the human body. However the colors of heaven and earth may change, the Lord remembers the years allotted to my life, and Taiyi will not forget me. May my body be steady and my lifespan without end.”

The foregoing is the “Precious Talisman of Taiyi for Commanding the Three Hun Souls and Seven Po Souls and Preserving Life.” It should generally be written in red on white paper during one’s birth month, on one’s birth day, and at one’s birth hour, then swallowed while facing north. If you do not know your birth month, day, or hour, make the talismans for whichever of these you do know, one by one. If you know only one, you may practice on that basis. The talisman may also be swallowed at noon on a Wuwu day.

The foregoing is the “Supreme Precious Talisman for Preserving the Spirit and Summoning the Lord.” At noon on any of the Eight Seasonal Nodes—Beginning of Spring, Spring Equinox, Beginning of Summer, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Beginning of Winter, or Winter Solstice—write it in red on white paper and swallow it. Then recite the incantation:

“Supreme Three Mysteries, the Lord dwells within the soul. Taiyi’s Five Numinous Powers protect and sustain the hun and po souls, bringing peace to the body. The Purple Chamber, abode of immortals, issues its command, ordering and governing the hundred spirits.”

The inner spirit talismans of the Lord Emperor Taiyi number twelve. They are all Qi (vital energy) of the Supreme Primordial Essence, the subtle energy of the highest source. Their contents are supremely authentic and secret, and must not be transmitted casually. There are also the outer formula talismans of Taiyi, which differ greatly from the inner talismans. Those talismans are superior talismans from the Jing of the Central August Emperor. If one uses talismans that are not of this true kind, they will have no effect. Practitioners of the Dao should be reverent and cautious.

The Lord Emperor’s name is Feng Lingfan, his courtesy name is Lü Changling, and he is also known as the Seven Spirits and the Divine Elder. He always dwells in the Purple Chamber of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), seated upright and cross-legged, with the appearance of an infant. Purple Qi constantly surrounds him. He wears splendid robes in five colors and a crown of the sun and moon: above his left ear is a sun nine inches in diameter, and above his right ear a moon one foot in diameter. One should visualize this image in the mind day and night. This is the Emperor’s original form, not an appearance produced through transformation.

The Emperor often chants a verse:

“Subtle and profound! The mysterious root is empty, radiant, and complete. Keep this image constantly present in your mind. Winds from the eight directions disperse its light and shadow; its transformations are deep and impossible to fathom. Quiet and profound, it dwells in radiance within the mysterious realm. The seven spirits come and go, refining and nourishing the gentle Three Hun souls. Thus the High Emperor is at peace, and blessings descend upon your body. You should observe fasting and purity, and walk cautiously through the world of dust. Then I shall be joyful and serene, guarding your Niwan (the place in the head where the spirit resides). Blood corpses enter the eyes, and foul Qi runs wild; the Emperor and Taiyi together command the Five Spirits. If you abandon your office and leave your dwelling, rising straight to the Nine Heavens, you will go against the right Way, and the three roots of life will be overturned. How much better to remain still and silent, bound to me in lasting companionship.”

This verse is the “Spirit Chapter of the Supreme Empty Chamber,” which the Emperor often chants. Practitioners should recite it frequently and learn it by heart. The text says that contamination by defilement is an urgent matter; in my view, this concerns the realm of the unseen. Those who know the Emperor’s name should observe certain taboos. If they go against the right Way, the three roots of life will be overturned. Better to remain still and silent, keeping the Emperor as a constant companion.

This is the Taishang Xushi Shen Zhang, which the Emperor Lord (Taiyi Dijun) recites in his daily practice. You should recite it often and become familiar with it. When reciting and studying it, the most important thing is to avoid impurity and unclean acts. I believe this point holds a profound teaching. If you know the Emperor Lord’s name, you must guard it carefully and never treat it lightly.

If you have committed a fault and wish to confess and repent, asking that your transgressions be erased, you may enter a quiet chamber at midnight or noon. Close your eyes, sit upright facing north, and visualize the Emperor Lord within your Purple Chamber—the dwelling of the spirits inside the body—using the method described earlier. Then visualize yourself within the Purple Chamber as well, bowing before the Emperor Lord. Silently confess your fault, and regulate your breath and gather your spirit for a long while, until your whole body sweats and your clothes are damp with perspiration. Do this three times, and the record of your transgressions will dissolve of itself.

After your whole body has begun to sweat, recite this incantation:

“I, so-and-so, have sinned; may my confession reach the hundred spirits. I pray to be spared the calamities of water and fire in the seven and nine cycles. May Taiyi guard my nature and life, and may the Emperor Lord gather and save me. Sweat flows over my whole body; my fear is entrusted to the Three Hun Souls. May the Highest One show compassion and forever remove calamity from me.”

When you have finished, call the Emperor Lord by name three times in succession, then open your eyes. This method is called the “Emperor Lord’s Way of Relieving Transgressions”: one repents and gives thanks inwardly to the Five Spirits—the five divine beings within the body—and the sweating serves as a response. When ordinary people repent, they bow their heads and slap their cheeks; that is a different practice.

If you practice this method, or cultivate “Guarding the Three Ones in the Cavern Chamber”—an inner practice of visualizing the Three Ones within the body and guarding their divine chamber—and also take the Taiyi Emperor Lord as your principal deity, you must be careful not to bow your head or slap your cheeks. The scripture says that bowing disturbs the Three Hun Souls and unsettles the Muddy Pellet, the divine dwelling within the head, thereby disturbing the Purple Chamber and displacing the Emperor Lord. Slapping the cheeks, meanwhile, causes the Qi within the womb to congeal and binds the Hun and Po souls, saddening Taiyi and hindering the movement of the Five Spirits. It is therefore a grave taboo.

If you wish to bow your head or slap your cheeks as an act of repentance, you may do so inwardly. Immortals pay their respects only in the heart; they need not bend the body. I believe this, too, holds a profound meaning.

If you know the Lord’s name, you can live forever, and your physical body will not be buried in the earth. Be sure to guard this secret carefully and never reveal it to others. If it is disclosed, the Jade Youths and Jade Maidens who protect the scripture and its teachings will depart. Only those who have taken an oath may transmit it.

Ordinarily, enter a quiet chamber at noon on a Gengshen day to practice, though you may also choose midnight. Visualize the Lord within the Purple Chamber. Each time the Lord exhales, a person takes shape. After seven breaths, seven people have appeared. Next, visualize Taiyi coming from the Central Palace of the Six Directions to stand before the Lord. Then visualize yourself joining with Taiyi as one, taking the form of a human body. Thus, the seven people formed from the seven breaths, together with Taiyi and the Lord, make nine people, called the “Seven Lords” or the “Nine Lords.” They govern the body’s blood vessels, sinews, bones, and other aspects. Here, “inner visualization” refers to a Daoist practice of sitting quietly and envisioning deities and their forms.

When visualizing the Lord giving his command, recite the following incantation:

The first is Lord of White Qi, Wu Xuanzi; the second, Lord of Green Qi, An Yanchang; the third, Lord of Black Qi, Fu Laisheng; the fourth, Lord of Yellow Qi, Zu Mingche; and the fifth, Lord of Red Qi, Kun Lizi. Each wears clothes and a headscarf matching the color of his direction. The deities stand in their proper order, without confusion. The sixth, Upper Mystery Lord Gao Tongsheng, and the seventh, Lower Mystery Lord Shu Huowang, both wear vermilion clothes and yellow headscarves. They stand behind the Lord, holding diagrams and registers and bearing the Five Talismans.

The Lord commands each to carry out a specific duty: the First Lord governs Qi, the Second governs blood, the Third governs Jing (essence), the Fourth governs bodily fluids, the Fifth governs Shen (spirit), the Sixth governs the hun (ethereal soul), and the Seventh governs the po (corporeal soul). Lord Taiyi governs the marrow and brain, while the Lord governs one’s original destiny. The deities work together in turn, recording merits and faults, removing names from the register of the dead, and entering the names of long-lived people into the Azure Book, as in the inner edict of the Celestial Emperor. The Lord then finishes reciting the incantation.

Then exhale white Qi (vital energy) from the mouth thirty times, filling the Purple Chamber (the palace within the body) with Qi and allowing it to permeate and nourish the whole body. Let the body enter a state of dark, undifferentiated merging, as though surrounded by clouds and mist. After a long while, suddenly open your eyes; the practice can then end. This is called the method by which the Seven Lords and Nine Lords examine and harmonize the whole body, blend the white Qi, and thereby secure the Mudball Palace (the spirit’s abode in the head) above. This method can also be used to dispel the Three Corpses and Seven Accumulations—the Daoist term for impurities and stagnations within the body.

As a person grows and changes from the womb, they take shape through blood and vital essence. After birth, however, the womb still forms accumulations; once the body has taken shape, the blood no longer remains within it. To say that the blood does not remain means that the Sovereign Lord—the deity revered in this scripture—and the Great One (Taiyi), a revered Daoist deity, have joined together and caused it to remain.

There are twelve places where accumulations form in the womb, winding and lodging within the Five Organs. When the Five Organs are obstructed, these accumulations are hard to loosen, and the knots are hard to undo. Thus, illness arises from knots and obstructions, and death also arises from accumulations that have become fixed. On your natal day (the day corresponding to your birth year) or one of the Eight Seasonal Nodes (Beginning of Spring, Spring Equinox, Beginning of Summer, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Beginning of Winter, and Winter Solstice), you should regularly pray upward for the Sovereign Lord and the Great One to unite and command the hundred spirits, undoing the firmly lodged accumulations in the womb and the deeply entangled knots of death.

There are twelve places where accumulations form in the womb, and twelve knots within the body; the knots lie within the accumulations. If you do not know how to undo these knots, you should pray for the Sovereign Lord and the Great One to unite, command the hundred spirits, and undo the firmly lodged accumulations in the womb and the deeply entangled knots of death.

The fetal enclosure, which nurtures the fetus, has twelve knots, and within them are twelve joints, each joint lying inside a knot. Those who do not know how to undo these knots and joints cannot escape death; those who undo them regularly can attain long life. There are four knots in the upper part of the enclosure: the first is in the Muddy Pellet, the upper Dantian in the head; the second is in the mouth; the third is in the cheeks; and the fourth is in the eyes. There are also four knots in the middle: in the Five Viscera, the Great Granary (the stomach), the large intestine, and the small intestine. The lower part has four knots: in the bladder, the genital area, the rear opening (the anus), and both feet.

To undo the knots, enter a quiet room and close the door. Quiet the mind and visualize. First recite the names of the gods below the Lord Emperor. When you have finished, undo the knots in sequence. This is the method by which the Great One, Lord Emperor, gathers the twenty-four spirits, undoes the knots and joints, and expels corpse Qi—the baleful Yin energy believed to cause decline and death.

Practitioners should perform this on their personal natal day, the day corresponding to their birth, or on one of the Eight Seasonal Nodes: the Beginning of Spring, Spring Equinox, Beginning of Summer, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Beginning of Winter, or Winter Solstice. Choose either midday or midnight. Sit upright facing the direction corresponding to your birth, bring your hands together, compose your thoughts, and click your teeth twenty-four times. Then recite the incantation:

“I, [name], born male, respectfully report to the Father and Mother of my fetal enclosure: On the day I was first born, blood gathered and remained in three accumulations, forming twelve great knots. Now, on my personal natal day, I respectfully invite the gods of the Three Origins and the twenty-four Perfected Ones to undo the twelve knots in my Three Passes, the upper, middle, and lower gates of the body. I respectfully state the names of the gods:

“Azure Emperor of the East, Diaoliangji, courtesy name Qingping;

“Vermilion Emperor of the South, Changlaijue, courtesy name Nanhe;

“White Emperor of the West, Zhang’anxing, courtesy name Xihua;

“Black Emperor of the North, Baoshengchang, courtesy name Beifa.

“Laozi of the Mysterious One, Lin Xufu, courtesy name Lingshidao;

“Laozi of the Three Sources, Lao Zhangshang, courtesy name Shenshengdao;

“Left Immortal of Orthodox Unity, Zhong Chengzi, also called Lord Emperor’s Guest, courtesy name Sihua;

“Right Immortal of Orthodox Unity, Qu Wenzi, also called Guangjian, courtesy name Linghe.”

In Taiwei, one of the celestial realms, there is a young immortal named Gan Jingjing. His courtesy name is Huiyuanzi; he is also known as Sanjinjiao and Duidizhen.

There are nine true spirits within the upper embryo, corresponding to nine forms of external Qi. Called the Nine Lords, they are responsible for undoing the knots of the upper gate on behalf of Jia. The fourth is Gan Jingjing, courtesy name Huiyuanzi, also known as Sanjinjiao and Duidizhen. Once the knots are undone, fluids and blood Qi can circulate freely, one’s celestial register of life is augmented, and one becomes an immortal of the Celestial Emperor forever.

The supreme deity Taiyi is named Wuyoushou, courtesy name Guihuichang, also known as Jieming and Jipin.

On the left is the Lordling Wuying, named Xuanyuanshu, courtesy name Hefuzi, also known as Lord Element and the Spirit Lordling.

On the right is the Lord of White Origin and Grotto-Yang, named Yulingbiao, courtesy name Xuanyijue, also known as Red Essence and Qicheng.

At the center is the Elder Lord of Fate, named Limingchu, courtesy name Xuanduqing, also known as Shenzong and Linghua.

The Peach Lord of the Gate of Life, the part of the body tied to the root of life, is named Haidaokang, courtesy name Hejingyan, also known as the King of Fate and the Root of the Womb.

Above the Celestial Emperor in the Muddy Pellet, the spirit chamber in the head, is a red child named Xuanningtian, also known as Linghua.

The Peach Lord of the Gate of Life is named Haidaokang, courtesy name Hejingyan, also known as the King of Fate and the Root of the Womb.

The red child above the Celestial Emperor in the Muddy Pellet is named Xuanningtian, courtesy name Sanyuanxian, also known as Bowushang and Boshihua.

The Celestial Emperor of the Muddy Pellet has a minister named Zhaolejing, courtesy name Zhongxuansheng, also known as Qifei and Changfu.

In the Palace of Crimson Brightness, the heart’s Dantian palace, there is the Emperor Lord of Primordial Elixir, named Shenyunzhu, courtesy name Zinandao, also known as Shengshangbo and Shiyunju.

Beside the Emperor’s assistant in the Palace of Crimson Brightness is a minister named Zhongguangjian, courtesy name Sihualing, also known as Youchebo and Dongshihua.

Within the middle embryo are nine true spirits, called the Nine Lords, who govern and set in motion the nine forms of numinous Qi.

(This scripture describes a practice of visualizing the spirits within the body and reciting their names, in the hope of dispelling illness and calamity.)

Transforming and entering the Crimson Palace, the palace where the heart resides, disperses every obstruction in the five viscera, the large intestine, and the small intestine. The knots and blockages throughout the body each become free-flowing; the middle burner, where digestion and transformation take place, is brought into harmony, and Qi and blood flow through Taicang, another name for the stomach. In this way, a thousand kinds of calamity vanish at once, one’s name is entered in the register of life in the Upper Realm, and from then on one is forever free of misfortune.

The Yellow Court Primordial King beneath the Gate of Life, the inner spirit who governs the body’s Yellow Court, should likewise disperse every obstruction, free the pathways throughout the body, harmonize the middle burner, and set Qi and blood flowing through Taicang. A thousand kinds of calamity vanish at once, one’s name is entered in the register of life in the Upper Realm, and from then on one is forever free of misfortune.

The Yellow Court Primordial King beneath the Gate of Life is named Shiming Jing, styled Yuanyang Chang. He is also called Infant in the Womb and Boshiyuan.

The Yellow Court’s Guardian Minister, Biling Gui Shangming, is styled Guxia Xuan. He is also called Cheng Shenbo and Cheng Guangsheng.

The White Qi Lord in the First Womb is named Wuxuanzi, styled Yuchangsheng.

The Green Qi Lord in the Second Knot is named Anyanchang, styled Heheying.

The Black Qi Lord in the Third Section is named Binlaisheng, styled Jingshangmen.

The Yellow Qi Lord in the Fourth Womb is named Zumingche, styled Shenwuji.

The Red Qi Lord in the Fifth Blood is named Hunlizi, styled Shuhuojian.

The Lord of the Upper Mystery, Primordial Father, the Sixth, is named Gaotongsheng, styled Zuohuiming.

The Lord of the Lower Mystery, Mysterious Mother, the Seventh, is named Shuhuowang, styled Youhuiguang.

Below the Womb are nine divine lords: the inner true spirits within the womb, who generate and transform the nine kinds of Qi known as the Nine Po. The refined Qi of the Nine Po gathers in the womb and strengthens its joints. The practitioner prays not to die prematurely in middle age, and vows from this day forward to follow Heaven’s mandate as if newly born. They ask that the twelve roots of fatal illness be dispersed, that their name be entered in the Jade Register, and that the Five Talismans enter the body and guard the Nine Qi. In this way, they may remain secure for a long time, opening the Nine Palaces above and connecting with the Nine Passages below.

Recite these words twice. When the recitation is complete, harmonize the heart and the Qi descending within. Do not let the voice catch or falter, and do not stop midway to perform a sai rite, a ritual offering made in repayment to the spirits.

Close your eyes again and visualize Taiyi Junfeng Ling, the Celestial Emperor of the Purple Chamber of the Supreme Ultimate, whose courtesy name is Lichang Ling and who is also known as Qiling and the Divine Elder. Recite the incantation three times.

Next, visualize the True Lords of the Three-Nine Knots, along with the Azure Emperor of the East, Diaoliangji, and the others, all the way to the Dark Mother and Uncle Fire King: twenty-seven Perfected Ones in all. They are dressed in vermilion and wear yellow headscarves shaped like traveling crowns. Their faces look like infants’, and they are all the same height.

Then invite the deities of the Purple Chamber of the Supreme Ultimate to face north together. They kneel before the Celestial Emperor and recite the following:

The nine above the upper barrier, including Diaoliangji; the nine at the middle barrier, including Taiyi Wuyou Shou; and the nine below the lower barrier, including Xiayi Huangting Shiming Jing—these make twenty-seven in all. The deities of the Purple Chamber of the Supreme Ultimate face north together, kneel before the Celestial Emperor, and recite: The primordial Qi of this day rises through the body, opening the upper, middle, and lower barriers. Each barrier has twenty-four knots, and each knot has twenty-four sinews. The sinews then break, and the knots come undone. Bodily fluids and Qi and blood surge upward, reaching and filling the Mudball, the site of internal cultivation in the head. The Jade Fluid then flows downward, nourishing the hundred spirits within the body. From this day onward, the name of So-and-so is entered in the register of the Supreme Emperor, granting them long life and making them an immortal.

After reciting this, visualize Taiyi’s name once more and approach the Celestial Emperor. The Emperor says:

“The fetal knots have been opened. Radiance now flows through you, from within to without, granting you long life so that your life will no longer decay or decline. You may now unite with me as one.”

The Emperor then opens his mouth. The practitioner feels themselves suddenly enter it and travel directly to the Emperor’s Palace of the Six Directions, the divine palace within his body. In the Emperor’s Palace of the Six Directions is another Taiyi deity, named Chongming Kong, with the courtesy name Youliao Wu. He tells the practitioner, “You may now consume the essence of the sun.” The practitioner takes and consumes the sun’s essence, swallowing nine times.

After a while, the twenty-seven Perfected Ones from earlier stand beside the practitioner and say, “So-and-so’s fetal register has been dissolved, and all impure Qi has been cleared away. Their face is now lustrous as jade, their body has opened into the Great Void, and they will live for billions of years, enduring as long as the Celestial Emperor.”

Next, visualize the Celestial Emperor again and recite the incantation:

The body of Jia is one with the True Dao in Heaven. The gods of the heavenly realm stand to your left and right. The twenty-seven Perfected Ones—immortals who have attained the Dao—say: “The record of Jia’s gestation has been released; all foul Qi has been dispelled. The face is lustrous as jade, and the body extends into the Great Void. You will live for billions of years, in accord with the talismanic mandate of the Emperor Lord.” Then visualize the Emperor Lord and recite the incantation:

“In Heaven, one with the True Dao: this is the body of Jia. In Heaven, one with the divine spirits: this is the form of Jia.”

Remain silent for a moment. The visualization and recitation are then complete. This practice is called “the Nine Lords’ blended internalization of the Hundred Spirits.” Its purpose is to release the fetters and knots formed in the womb, open the Three Passes—the three portals spoken of in cultivation—and unite oneself with the Six Directions of the cosmos, aligning oneself with the radiance of the Emperor Lord. In this way, one changes one’s register of allotted life, gathers and preserves Qi in the Niwan, the cultivation portal in the head, receives a talismanic mandate for long life, and ultimately becomes a Celestial Immortal.

After completing the visualization, let down your hair and comb it, loosen your clothes, then fasten them again and wash your hands and feet. If you cannot memorize and silently recite one or two parts of the visualization, you may go indoors and follow the instructions in the scripture.

Within the Niwan of the Emperor Lord is also the Palace of the Six Directions. In the palace resides the Emperor Taichi, whose name is Chongmingkong and whose courtesy name is Youliaowu. Those who know this divine lord’s names can cause withered bones to grow again and the Five Viscera to regain their vitality, and will no longer know fear throughout their lives. When afraid, face north, call his name three times, and recite the incantation:

“Luo’a Chongmingkong, thunder and wind; Youliaowu, supreme life-giving Emperor Lord, please protect me in body and form, so that I may have no worries.”

After reciting it, your heart will become calm, as though you were walking with a thousand people.

The inner talisman of the Emperor Taichi, which releases the womb’s fetters at the Three Passes and the twelve knots, must be used on one’s natal day—a day whose sexagenary-cycle designation corresponds to one’s birth year—or on one of the Eight Seasonal Nodes: Beginning of Spring, Spring Equinox, Beginning of Summer, Summer Solstice, Beginning of Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Beginning of Winter, or Winter Solstice. When preparing to perform the knot-releasing ritual, first swallow three of these talismans, then face your natal direction and use real cinnabar to write the talismanic text on the white membrane inside a piece of green bamboo. The membrane grows inside the hard bamboo node. The node is hollow and can hold numinous Qi, so the bamboo membrane is used for writing the knot-releasing talisman.

Taichi says: A person has three Hun souls, which help sustain life, and seven Po souls, which damage a person’s life. In the morning, the seven Po gather below the left eye; at night, they gather below the nose and philtrum. A person cultivating the Dao who wishes to…

The Lord Emperor of Supreme Unity said: Human beings have three Hun souls, which sustain their lives, and seven Po souls, which harm their life and vitality. During the day, the seven Po souls gather beneath the left eye; at night, they gather beneath the nose and philtrum. Before going to sleep, a person who cultivates the Dao may press a fingernail of the right hand against the area beneath the left eye and against the philtrum, twenty-one times at each place. This is considered an effective way to subdue the seven Po souls.

The Scripture of the Lord Emperor Supreme Unity, the Precious Mystery of Jade (Dijun Taiyi Baoxuan Yujing), is kept by the Perfected One of Highest Clarity in a chamber on one of the Five Sacred Peaks. Those not listed in the registers of the immortals cannot hear of or see this scripture. Those who see it can attain longevity; those who practice according to it can become immortals. Therefore, when transmitting this scripture, one must make a solemn vow and summon the Heavenly Perfected Ones, to prevent the text from being revealed or passed on where it should not be. The Celestial Worthy esteems the immortals, but this Daoist method is profound and secret. It must not be transmitted casually to those without the innate disposition of an immortal, nor heard by those lacking utmost sincerity.

The recipient of the scripture should pay respects to the teachers honored in it. When the scripture is transmitted, the disciple must receive it from the master and follow the proper conduct for a disciple. Before and after the transmission, both master and disciple should each observe a fast for seven or ten days; once the transmission is complete, both should fast for one further day. In ancient times, people sealed their vows by drinking blood and cutting their hair, then making offerings to Heaven at an altar, thereby pledging never to reveal the scripture. Today, gold, blue silk, and other items may be used in place of hair-cutting and similar rites. The transmitter and recipient must still each fast for seven or ten days, followed by one additional day of fasting.

The rite should be held in a quiet, secluded place, with prayers addressed to the Highest Sovereign, the supreme deity of the heavenly realm. The ritual implements and pledge objects should include three bright, lustrous golden rings with a reddish sheen, and three lengths of blue silk, each nine feet long, to stand in for the three written pledges. Alternatively, the blue silk may be joined into a single length of twenty-seven feet. When receiving the scripture, one should copy it in two copies: one for the rite and one to keep. The objects used for the pledge must be entered in a register and must not be taken for private gain.

Thus, the Taishang Zhongjing says: “The master transmits the Way through the scriptures; therefore he is called the ‘one who receives life’”—that is, the person who receives and passes on the teachings of the Dao. The disciple must study continually until their intentions accord with the master’s sincere heart. They swear an oath before Heaven, calling upon the spirits as witnesses. Master and disciple share one another’s joys and sorrows and, in their commitment to the Way, value standing by each other even unto death. Only then can their bond be shown to endure from beginning to end, as both master and disciple hope to ascend together to the immortal court.

Afterward, the disciple should bow respectfully and ask the master to transmit the teachings, then hold the oath-taking ceremony in a quiet chamber. The ranks of master and disciple must be observed, thereby making clear the “Three Purities,” the purity requirements of the oath-taking ceremony, and distinguishing the sincere diligence of each. The scriptures must be cherished and carefully kept secret; the essential instructions must be followed with care. One’s intentions should be sincere and steadfast, and one should honor the master and the scriptures without daring to slacken for even a moment. Only then may one speak of communion with the spirits and of covenants that accord with the Dao and De.

By upholding the scriptures and guarding the Dao’s teachings within them, and by keeping the oath in one’s conduct, one may have one’s name entered on the jade register, the register used in the realm of the immortals, and recorded in the imperial register of Taiji, the celestial roster. If one violates the teachings of the Dao, one’s ancestors for seven generations will suffer punishment by wind and blades, and the Mysterious Mother will be harmed. The offender will become a ghost in the lower realm, and the family line will be extinguished. They must also carry stones from Mount Meng and cast them into the River of Accumulated Night, enduring unbearable suffering. Alas, those who aspire to cultivate the Dao must carefully guard these secrets!

This is the covenant and ordinance handed down by the Most High Perfected One. Celestial Master Zhang once explained it in the Danjing, which records this solemn oath document. Those who receive the Dao teachings of the Most High Emperor should practice them in this manner. Therefore, they are written down here, so they may be observed in cultivation.

The items used in the oath-taking ceremony are as follows:

Three gold rings, for swearing the covenant to the Three Officials of the Three Origins: Heaven, Earth, and Water.

Twenty-seven feet of blue silk, that is, blue silk cloth, for swearing the covenant to the twenty-four divine beings seated beneath the Emperor.

Five liang of red silk, for swearing the covenant to the five divine princes.

Two packets of blended incense, to be burned as fragrant smoke when informing the spirits and communicating with their Qi.

One brush and one zhang of paper, for writing the oath.

Five liang of red silk, for swearing the covenant to the five divine princes.

Two packets of blended incense, to be burned as fragrant smoke when informing the spirits and communicating with their Qi.

One brush, one zhang of paper, and one liang of cinnabar, for writing the covenant document.

The five items mentioned above should be kept in containers and not displayed publicly. The disciples receiving the scriptures must prepare them themselves. After completing their copies, the disciples bring the scriptures and these items to their master’s residence to receive the formal transmission. Only after the transmission is complete may they practice in accordance with the scriptures.

Those who practice on their own without having sworn an oath and received a transmission will, according to the Edict of Nüqing (a Daoist disciplinary text), lose their sight. Those who receive the scriptures but do not practice in accordance with them will suffer punishment by heavenly fire. Those who are not focused in their practice or disclose what was transmitted will suffer calamity from wind blades. Those who pass the scriptures to an unsuitable person will bring punishment upon their parents and ancestors for seven generations. Such is the intent of the Edict of Nüqing on the Ghost Laws of Xuandu.