《张真人金石灵砂论》

Chapter on Gold

Gold is the essence of the sun and belongs to the position of the sovereign. It is said that taking it allows one to commune with the spirits, makes the body light and healthy, harmonizes the five viscera, drives out evil Qi (vital energy), and subdues ghosts and demons. After long use, the skin takes on a golden hue.

Gold is born within mountain rock, gathering the Qi of the sun and acquiring its nature through long steaming and fumigation. Its temperament is intensely hot and its toxicity is great; stones for several feet around it are steamed by it and gradually turn golden in color. How much more potent, then, must it be when refined and then consumed? Gold growing closest to the source is called "gold essence" (jinying); the next is called "gold bloom" (jinhua); that growing farther away is called "gold thief" (jinzei); and that growing a hundred paces off is called "gold sprout" (jinya). If gold of this kind is ground to powder and swallowed, it will dissolve a person's marrow, leave the body scorched and withered, and bring about death.

Gold is the pure Qi of the Great Yang and the soul (hun) of the sun, symbolizing the "three hun souls" (the three souls of the human body in Daoism). White mercury is the pure Qi of the Great Yin (the moon) and the spirit-soul (po) of the moon, symbolizing the "seven po souls" (the seven corporeal souls of the human body in Daoism). Taken together, the two bring long life without death. Gold belongs to the western Metal of Geng and Xin, while white mercury belongs to the northern Water of Ren and Gui; Water is the child of Metal. The ancients said, "Eat gold and become like gold; eat jade and become like jade." Gold is firm in nature: it cannot be boiled soft, buried to rot, or burned to char, and so it can grant long life. It is said that one who takes elixir gold will not suffer decay of the flesh, scorching of the hair, or alteration of Yin-Yang, and that ghosts and spirits cannot trouble them; hence their lifespan has no end.

The superior golds include Laocong's Meteor Gold, the Yellow Emperor's Tower-Cauldron Gold, Lord Ma's Red Gold, Lord Yin's Horse-Hoof Gold, Hu Gangzi's River-Chariot Gold, Master Anqi's Red-Yellow Gold, Master Jinlou's Returned-Elixir Gold, Liu An's Horse-Hoof Gold, Lord Mao's Purple-Lead Gold, Lord Shuyuan's Azure-Dragon Gold of the Upper Field, Li Shaojun's Mud-Decocted Gold, Fan Li's Purple-Cinnabar Gold, and Lord Xu's Transmuted Gold. All of these are golds refined by immortals from medicinal substances, and their efficacy is held to rival the work of nature itself. They accord deeply with the intent of penetrating the divine and with the subtle art of "yellow and white" (huangbai, the alchemical techniques of making gold and silver from medicinal substances), and must not be used lightly, lest one incur reproach. Besides these, gold formed naturally in mountains, rivers, and streams is of the inferior grade.

Silver is white gold, the essence of lesser Yang (shaoyang), born within Yin and holding the position of a minister. The ancients believed that taking silver could open communion with the spirits, lengthen life, and strengthen the sinews and bones; yet it is slightly warm in nature and mildly toxic. The silver discussed here is refined from lead. Its direction is the west, and it is regarded as the essence of the planet Venus (Taibai).

The Longhu Jing (Dragon and Tiger Classic) says: "The high maiden is the sun; the Kan male is the moon." Lord Jiuxiao explains: "The water of the south and the fire of the north; Yin dwells in the Yang position, and Yang dwells in the Yin position. Yin and Yang come and go in order, one rising and one descending; matched with each other, they are like husband and wife of one heart." Here the union of water and fire, and of Yin and Yang, is used to illustrate the opposing positions of zi and wu (north and south), and the alchemical idea of the Dragon and Tiger as complementary pair.

Silver should not be taken alone. The Longhu Jing says: "The White Tiger is the pivot, and the Azure Dragon is matched with it. Gold is the sovereign, silver the minister, chalcanthite (zengqing) the envoy, and realgar the general; refined together, they become the Golden Elixir." The scripture further says that when the Golden Elixir enters the five viscera, its medicinal qi spreads like mist and moves like wind and rain, steaming through to the four limbs, so that a person may slow aging and regain youth.

The scripture also says: "Jade liquid can turn the hair black; the Golden Elixir can make the complexion endure." The transformation of white gold into yellow gold, and then into red gold, conveys the general meaning of the "Returned Elixir" (huandan), the central process in alchemy by which substances are returned and transformed.

Lead appears black and is also called "Black Metal." It belongs to Water among the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and corresponds to the north. Its completion number is one, and in the ruler-minister relationship among medicines it holds the position of "minister." An elixir made from lead is said to communicate with the spirits (Shen), regulate the Three Passes (three important gateways in the human body), darken the beard and hair, improve the complexion, harmonize the blood vessels, treat sores, ulcers, leprosy, and similar diseases, kill parasites in the body, and benefit the five organs. The original text also says that lead is "born of Yang" and calls silver its mother. Lead is slightly cold in nature and toxic, and it can be made into yellow lead oxide (huangdan), white lead (hufen), litharge (mituoseng), and other substances.

The Jiudu Dan Jing (Scripture of the Nine Capitals Elixir) says that when cultivating the Nine-Radiance Divine Elixir, one must extract the essence (Jing) from lead. Lead may undergo a thousand transformations and ten thousand changes, yet it never loses its original nature; the only things on which such transformations depend are lead and mercury (quicksilver).

The Longhu Jing (Dragon and Tiger Scripture) says: "Nine returns and seven reversions, eight homecomings and six abodes; the male is white and the female is red, Metal and Fire together." Here "the male is white" refers to lead. Its essence is extracted through nine refinings, symbolizing the "nine blacks," that is, the Yang number reaching its limit at nine. "The female is red" refers to mercury, which is refined through seven reversions, symbolizing the "seven blacks," that is, the Yin number reaching its limit at seven. The essence of lead is refined and then combined with other materials to produce an alchemical gold of a deep yellow color; the original text claims that taking it brings immortality.

Chapter on Realgar

Realgar is regarded as a ruler medicine, and taking it is said to communicate with the spirits (Shen). The mineral that grows on the sunlit side is called realgar (xionghuang), and that on the shaded side is called orpiment (cihuang). The two form together in the same mountain rock, and so they often grow interlaced. Realgar is extremely hot in nature and toxic, and is considered the essence of Lesser Yang. When refined into an elixir and taken, it is said to nourish the Niwan (the "Muddy Pellet," a key cultivation site in the head), fill the Naohu (the "Brain Gate"), and nourish the Three Palaces (three palaces within the body associated with cultivation).

The formula recorded in the original text is: two liang each of realgar and orpiment, one jin of mercury, and four liang of lead essence, refined over fire and sealed, which is said to produce yellow gold. This is then made into a liquid and taken, which is said to enable one to "pierce the heavens," that is, to ascend in flight. After the formula, the text cites the Longhu Jing, saying that realgar from Wudu is the best and that no other ore can be substituted for it. Realgar can drive away all manner of evil qi (Qi), and so it is called the "General."

Chapter on Cinnabar (The original text lists only the chapter title and provides no body text.)

In the past, many worthy people took "bright cinnabar" (guangming sha, cinnabar of vivid color) and purple cinnabar, yet none of them transcended the mortal world or attained immortality by doing so. Let me explain why.

When bright cinnabar and purple cinnabar are refined by fire and then taken, they can drive out pathogenic qi (Qi) and cure fevers, but they cannot keep a person's complexion youthful or their hair black. Why is this? A pound of bright cinnabar, once washed and refined, yields twelve ounces of mercury; fired again, it leaves a small amount of black ash. This ash is the base substance of the cinnabar. When cinnabar is put into the furnace, its essence flies out and becomes mercury, and only when one takes this extracted essence can one speak of prolonging life. The ash left behind must not be treated as medicine in the hope that swallowing it will lift one beyond the world.

Therefore, those who take bright cinnabar or purple cinnabar without refining it by the proper method, so that the ashy residue remains in the drug, cannot attain long life.

It is said that Laojun (the Supreme Venerable Lord, revered in Daoism) once served as Archivist Beneath the Pillar at the Zhou court. Seeing the Zhou house in decline, he went west through the pass. Fearing that the way of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) would be lost, he passed the method of refining cinnabar to Yin Xi. Later, some people obtained this method but mixed erroneous practices into it. They called the spirit cinnabar they produced "elixir" (dan) and also "bright cinnabar." They held that only when it had been compounded and refined, and then taken, could one transcend the world, live forever, and even transmute gold. This drug is also called medicinal cinnabar, red cinnabar, spirit cinnabar, or returned elixir (huandan).

If people take only bright cinnabar and purple cinnabar, without any further compounding or refining, and still hope to gain long life through them, they will stray ever farther from the Dao (the Way). Spirit cinnabar must be refined through nine transformations, and it is said that this method was not passed even from father to son. Once perfected, it can change into yellow and white substances (gold and silver) and act upon other substances in turn.

Why can bright cinnabar and purple cinnabar not lift a person beyond the world? The so-called returned elixir takes the essence and qi of Yin-Yang, imitates the creative transformations of Heaven and Earth, and harmonizes water and fire, so that what is formless becomes form. It does not rely solely on yin-natured substances such as cinnabar and mercury. Without the cooperation of yang qi, it cannot bring together the Four Images or set the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) in motion. Thus pure yin cannot conceive, and lone yang cannot grow; only when Yin and Yang are united can the returned elixir be completed.

Since the Kaiyuan era, I have devoted more than twenty years to the art of refining elixirs in the golden cauldron, and I have gained a modest understanding of its profound principles. I have privately observed that people take bright cinnabar and purple cinnabar as the "seven-times-returned spirit elixir," and none of them has escaped an early or violent death.

Note: The original text contains repeated phrases, and "yin chang pei he" (阴肠配合) should, in context, read "Yin-Yang union" (阴阳配合). The translation above follows the intended meaning.

Mercury is the essence of the moon. In Yin-Yang and the Five Phases (Wuxing) it belongs to Yang and holds the position of a minister. It is said that taking mercury makes the body light and vigorous and grants long life without death. It is also said to drive away spirit-demons and baleful apparitions, open communication with the spirits, destroy the Three Corpses (sanshi; in Daoism, three spirits said to dwell within the human body and cause aging and illness), cleanse the five viscera, expel the nine worms, and cut off pathogenic qi. Mercury is born from cinnabar (zhusha). Cinnabar belongs to the fire of the south, and fire is the child of Wood, yet cinnabar can in turn give rise to mercury. Mercury is described as the offspring of the Azure Dragon (symbol of the eastern virtue of Wood) and also as the mother-body of Water.

Mercury is lively and mobile in nature and slightly toxic. It is born among earth and stone and is the hun and po souls of cinnabar. It fears chalk, red ochre, and the nine leads, and it also fears elm and licorice. If a woman takes it raw, it harms the fetus; if a man takes it raw, it damages his Yang qi. The statements above, that mercury is born in earth and stone, that it is the soul of cinnabar, and what it fears, are repeated in the original text.

The Longhu Jing (Dragon and Tiger Scripture) says: "Cinnabar is the essence of Wood, and when it meets metal it joins with it." The Perfected One said that in alchemy the transmutation of yellow and white gold is not what is prized; what is valued is the returned elixir (huandan, an elixir produced through refining and believed to restore the practitioner to the original source). To transcend the mortal world and live forever, the foundation must be mercury. It is combined with other materials and refined through flying (feilian) and subduing (fulian) to form the elixir. The transformative arts of the immortals are likewise all based on cinnabar and mercury, with the Three Metals added and the Four Stones and other materials drawn in as well.

The Qiantong Jue (Secret Instructions on Subtle Penetration) says: "Mercury can give birth to all things, and only the sage understands this." The virtue of water is the most honored, and mercury is the mother-body of water. In the heavens it appears as mist and dew, and on earth as the source of springs. It takes the shape of any round or square vessel, and does not contend with the myriad things, yet it can regulate all affairs and bring forth every kind of life. Water by nature is still and does not compete with other things. Therefore, "gong" is simply another name for mercury; it is also called "Flowing Pearl of the Great Yang," "Eldest Son," and "Maiden of the River." Nowadays people refine it into calomel (qingfen), and also prepare it as "ripened pearl" for use.

Chu Huang Pian (Chapter on Foundations and Yellow)

Pihuang grows among the mountain rocks, and it is said that taking it brings communion with the spirits (shen). It is the essence of lesser yang, extremely hot in nature and strongly toxic. People of the world refine it into pills to treat illness. Its potency is fierce, and it must not be combined with "hot calcium." When someone takes one or two pills, the drug's "frost qi" (qi) breaks out, and the face swells and the body grows weak. Ordinary people do not understand the reason, yet they treat it as an elixir, which is a sorrowful thing. It is also called "Frost," a name it earned because its color is white and its potency fierce. Those who practice the art of yellow and white (huangbai shu, the techniques of refining gold and silver from drugs) make use of it.

Chapter on Making Gold

Take one jin of mercury, eight liang of White Tiger, and eight liang of male-and-female white snow. Refine them over fire and seal the vessel for sixty days, and an elixir will form. Whoever takes it will not die, and this elixir can also be used to make Golden Liquid. After one takes the Golden Liquid, the body turns golden in color. Place the Golden Liquid in a bottle, bury it in the earth for two hundred days, and then nourish it gently with fire for a hundred days; it will become a liquid, and whoever takes it can ascend to Taiqing (Supreme Purity, the lofty celestial realm of Daoist teaching).

Lord Yin sighed and said: "By taking the Golden Liquid Returned Elixir, one can grow feathered garments and undergo endless transformations, so that there is nothing one cannot do." The pairing of Yin-Yang is the principle by which the sun and moon travel their courses; the sages modeled themselves on Yin-Yang and thereby seized the achievements of natural creation and transformation.

There are seven yang drugs, of which two belong to the metal category and five to the mineral category: gold, silver, realgar and orpiment, pihuang, chalcanthite blue, and native sulfur are all yang drugs. There are also seven yin drugs, of which three belong to the metal category and four to the mineral category: mercury, black lead, niter, and mirabilite are all yin drugs. Yin and yang substances each receive a different nature, and people take them according to their nature; for this reason it is said that they can transcend the mundane world and attain long life without death.

Chapter on Explaining Purple Powder

Mercury and sulfur, when smelted and refined together, yield the Lesser Returned Elixir (xiao huan dan). When this is further treated by fire-subduing (fuhuo), it is called the Purple Powder Lesser Returned Elixir. Taking it can halt deficient heat, and ease fright palpitations and itching. However, it cannot enable a person to transcend life and death, nor is it suitable for transmuting other substances.

Mercury and realgar vanish and scatter once they are smelted, so they are said to be "non-being" (wu). Gold and silver, by contrast, retain their substance and form after refining, so they are said to be "being" (you). This is comparable to the three hun and seven po souls of a person: the Shen (spirit) comes and goes without form, and its shape cannot be seen; yet when it corresponds with the five Qi, the body, and the nine orifices, its aspect of "being" becomes manifest. Thus being and non-being give rise to each other and together stand within the human person.

The Zhenjing (True Scripture) says: "Sounds answer one another, and things of the same kind resonate together; being and non-being interpenetrate, Yin-Yang depend on one another, and the Dao (the Way) lies within." Thus, gold is refined into red gold, and red gold is refined into purple powder, signifying the harmonizing of Yin-Yang and the mutual generation of the two Qi, from which the Golden Elixir is formed. The Golden Elixir uses "being" to govern "non-being," and in turn gives rise to "being" from "non-being." The Qiantong Lun (Treatise on Subtle Penetration) says: "Two instances of non-being return to a single being, and its numinous transformations are hard to fathom." This is precisely the principle in question.

Shi Huandan Pian (Chapter Explaining the Returned Elixir): a chapter that expounds the Returned Elixir.

The so-called "Returned Elixir" (huandan) is made when cinnabar is refined into mercury, the mercury turns back into cinnabar, and the cinnabar, refined again, yields mercury once more. It is also said that white gold refined together with yellow stone can be made into gold; the gold turns a reddish hue and in the end reverts to true gold, which is why it is called the "Returned Elixir." The Longhu Jing (Classic of the Dragon and Tiger) says: "Only when gold returns to its original state can it be called the Returned Elixir." Mercury and the metals and minerals are blended and made to interpenetrate until red gold is produced, and this is the proper meaning of "Returned Elixir." When yellow gold is further refined into purple gold, it is called the "Purple Gold Returned Elixir," and the Way of elixir-making is complete. When the mineral medicines flow into one another and are refined into pure red gold, this is also called the "Golden Liquid Returned Elixir."

There is another method in which the Golden Elixir is beaten into fragments, which are called "golden elixir"; when these are filed down and ground to a powder, they are called "gold powder." The scriptures say: "Combine the gold powder with other substances, and you can obtain huangbai." Here huangbai ("yellow and white") refers to the art of transmuting gold and silver. The people of the world do not understand the principle of the Returned Elixir. Some claim that a single pill can transmute ten catties of gold, and others that one zhu of elixir can produce a hundred taels. They exaggerate the quantities without grasping the essentials, and they set up many schools that praise one another and practice deceit. Finding the art of huangbai too subtle and difficult to explain, they loudly proclaim the "Great Elixir" (dadan) and bewilder people with vague talk. What good do such inflated and baseless claims do? They treat emptiness as substance and falsehood as truth. They abandon the orthodox teaching of huangbai without even knowing where the Great Elixir comes from.

The ancients commented: "If the gold is successfully refined, the people of the world can be saved; if the gold cannot be refined, one only wastes one's own life." The art of huangbai spoken of here is the core of the Returned Elixir and the orthodox source of the Great Medicine. Without understanding huangbai, all one's laborious cultivation is in vain. If people pool their wealth to refine the elixir together but do not follow the formula texts, and they misjudge the timing or measure the ingredients inaccurately, they will make mistakes and what they refine will hardly succeed. For this reason the sages of antiquity often did not state their methods outright but used veiled language. Later generations' scriptures and formulas mix the true with the false, and their followers mock and mislead one another without seeking the real principles within, so the teachings gradually fell into neglect. The ancients sometimes used images to conceal names, and sometimes lodged hidden meanings in the language of Yin-Yang, passing on in secret what could not be said openly. The principles are subtle and hard to grasp, and they easily cause confusion. Hence the ballad: "Purple clouds arise at the summit; the White Tiger holds the true Qi."

Among all the other scattered writings, none compares with the Cantong qi (Seal of the Unity of the Three). The book also says: "The White Tiger holds the Red Dragon, one flying and one crouching; one substance runs through the five colors and becomes the immortal's lasting destiny." The Guijia Jing (Classic of the Tortoise Shell) says: "My nature and life are held in my own hands and are not determined by Heaven and Earth. There is gold between Heaven and Earth, and I too can refine gold. Two yellows and one red, and it is made at once, without doubt." The Perfected One says: "Within the Returned Elixir there is also gold, and within the gold there is also the Returned Elixir." Hence it is said that even when one sees gold, one should regard it as no more than earth and stone.

This method is also called "Heaven Holds the Dragon and Tiger," and also the "Supreme One's Hidden Tally" (Taiyi yinfu). The Longhu Jing says: "One fears the leaking of the secret formula of the Heavenly One." The Qiantong says: "Three Lights, Six Sinkings." Here the "Three Lights" refer to water, earth, and metal. The "Three and Five" describe the process of Yin-Yang transformation: the Dao gives birth to Yin, Yin gives birth to Yang, and Yin and Yang in turn give birth to the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Through concealing and refining, the Returned Elixir is finally brought together as one. The Returned Elixir has "Three Venerables," namely water, earth, and metal. Heaven has three venerable images: the sun, the moon, and the stars. Earth has three venerable features: mountains, seas, and rivers. Human society has three venerable relationships: ruler, father, and teacher. The human body also has its "Three Venerables," namely the upper, middle, and lower Dantian (energy centers).

The Perfected One Zhang Daoling said: "Within your body there is the Way of yellow and red, and also the laws of Yin-Yang and of three, five, seven, and nine. If you attain it, you can live forever without dying." Here "three" refers to the three hun souls, which belong to the left, and "seven" refers to the seven po souls, which belong to the right. The "Azure Rainbow" is the heavenly hun and appears in the east; the "White Rainbow" is the heavenly po and appears in the west. The head contains nine palaces, of which the Hall of Light (Mingtang) is one; by contemplating these palaces, one can attain immortality. Humans correspond to Heaven and Earth, which is why there are laws of three, five, seven, and nine. The Longhu Jing says: "Three, five, and one are the most refined essence between Heaven and Earth."

Only when the three medicines of water, earth, and metal have undergone transformation, ascent, and subduing can the Great Returned Elixir be refined. Apart from these three principal medicines, all the other ingredients are merely auxiliary and not core materials, so there is no need to discuss them at length.

Explaining the Golden Liquid

To cultivate the Golden Liquid (Jinye, an elixir produced in Waidan, or external alchemy), one must first succeed in refining "yellow and white" (huangbai, the alchemical art of transforming substances into gold and silver). Only after yellow and white have been perfected can one proceed, following the principles by which metals and minerals transform, through such stages as sublimation and subduing-refining, to produce the Great Returned Elixir. Apart from these three principal substances, all other auxiliary ingredients are not core materials, and so they are not discussed here.

To cultivate the Golden Liquid, one must first perfect yellow and white. Only when yellow and white are complete can one be said to understand the principles of mineral and metallic transformation; if they cannot be completed, how could the Golden Liquid be cultivated? Mineral gold is hard in nature, dry and hot, and toxic, so it is very difficult to turn into a liquid. Even if one succeeds by chance, the result resembles a lime paste, unfit for consumption, and will instead damage a person's bone marrow.

If the alchemical gold is successfully made, it can be used to refine the Golden Liquid. The Golden Liquid is yellowish-red and fluid like water; once taken, it enables one to soar into the heavens. As it enters the body, it is like the spread of wine's vapor after drinking, diffusing through the whole person like wind and rain. All of this is the essence of many substances gathered together and refined. Thus, once the wondrous Golden Liquid is complete, metals and minerals are transformed along with it.

When taking the Golden Liquid, one should choose a jiazi day (one of the days in the sexagenary day-count), sit upright like a crane, face the sun, silently contemplate the Heavenly Truth (tianzhen, the true nature of the Dao of Heaven), and then drink it. The body will then take on a golden hue, and immortals' ceremonial escorts such as feathered tallies and dragon chariots will wheel down to welcome the one who has taken the elixir up to heaven, allowing them to ascend in broad daylight.

Explaining Yin-Yang

The Great Dao (the fundamental Way of the universe) is harmonious, vast, and all-embracing, encompassing heaven and earth. [Note: the text that follows repeats the preceding passage and its sentences do not connect completely:] Driving the true… after it is taken, the body takes on a golden hue; feathered tallies and dragon chariots wheel down to welcome the one who has taken the elixir up to heaven, allowing them to ascend in broad daylight.

The Great Dao (Way) is empty and still, all-pervading, embracing heaven and earth and driving the transformations of Yin-Yang to form the entire universe. Heaven belongs to Yang, and its form is expressed in a leftward rotation; earth belongs to Yin, and its form is expressed in a rightward turning. The sun is the essence of Yang and travels by day; the moon is the spirit of Yin and circulates by night. As sun and moon manifest their radiance, human beings live between heaven and earth, with Yang and Yin coexisting within the body.

The sage models themselves on heaven and earth and distinguishes Yin from Yang, so that outwardly they accord with the changes of nature in order to refine the Returned Elixir (the Neidan, or internal alchemy, or elixir of Daoism). Inwardly they nourish Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) so that the body is made firm. Afterward they let no impurities accumulate in the stomach and intestines, keep the nine orifices (the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and other openings of the body) unobstructed, and then, through practice, bring stillness to the Shen (spirit) of the heart. When the five flavors are not taken in, the five organs become pure; when the five tones are not heard, the Shen can undergo transformation. They wear coarse clothing and a plain sash to discipline the body, and dwell alone in quiet places to gather in their Jing and Qi.

Thus Qi can be transformed into blood, and blood belongs to Yin; blood can in turn be transformed into Jing, and Jing belongs to Yang. Jing is the spirit-like Qi that guards the bones. When Jing and Qi are exhausted, the bones wither and weaken; when the bones wither and weaken, the Shen declines; and once the Shen declines, a person dies. To refine the Shen and guard the Jing and Qi is the principle of long life.

The Changsheng jue (Formula for Long Life) says: "I urge you who seek the Great Dao to hold your resolve firm. First abstain from the five grains and keep far from the six emotions. Take in primordial Qi so that the five forms (the five kinds of substance that make up the human body) are replenished; then you will roam free and unfettered, traveling on the wind."

The Neijing jing (Scripture of the Inner Landscape) says: "One who cultivates immortality must be exceptionally careful, above all in restraining sexual intercourse. Why do what leads oneself toward death and makes the spirits weep?" The Shen belongs to Yang, and the body belongs to Yin; the living belong to Yang, and ghosts belong to Yin. When Yang Qi is exhausted, a person no longer appears; when sunlight shines, Yin Qi lies hidden. Therefore the Great Medicine can lift a person beyond worldly life and death and enable them to unite Yin and Yang; Qingyao (the name of an immortal in Daoism) attends at their side, and they command ghosts and spirits. When cold, they think of the sun and the body grows warm; when hot, they think of the Great Yin and the body grows cool. They can also whistle to summon wind and clouds and cross the mountains beyond the seas: seated, they arrive; standing, they vanish. Moving in and out between Yin and Yang, they seem to bring something out of nothing, and to be at once present and absent.