《玉溪子丹经指要》

My family has lived for generations east of the prefectural city of Yichun. A distant ancestor, Chaoyi Guan, resigned from office to cultivate the Dao (the Way) and styled himself the "Old Man of Wang Creek." Most of our family no longer cites its commandery of origin and goes simply by the name Yuxi. This ancestor met the Perfected Chunyang twice without recognizing the immortal: once beneath the pines of Mount Yue, and once on a moonlit night at Yueyang Tower, while listening to a flute.

Later, the Old Man of Wang Creek traveled again to Mount Heng in the south, hoping to pay a visit to Lan Yangsu. On the road, a traveler carrying mending tools asked, "Are you not Master Li, on your way to Mount Yue to see Lan Yangsu?" The Old Man said that was so. The traveler asked for a letter to be carried to Lan Yangsu, which read: "Scholar Liu asks you, sir: how does the Sacred Embryo, nurtured for ten months, finally leave the womb?" With that, the traveler bowed with folded hands and went on without looking back.

After a few miles, the Old Man of Wang Creek felt uneasy. The stranger had known both the Old Man's name and what weighed on the Old Man's mind, and had not spoken like an ordinary person. The Old Man turned back to search but could find no trace. On reaching Lan Yangsu, the Old Man told the whole story from the beginning. Lan Yangsu asked, "Did this person have a white mole between the eyebrows?" "Yes," the Old Man answered. Lan Yangsu said, "That was Liu Haichan. My Sacred Embryo has already matured, but without this person I could not attain the immortal fruit. Please carry my question back to Liu in turn."

So the Old Man of Wang Creek asked, "Scholar Liu bade me ask you, sir: how does the Sacred Embryo, nurtured for ten months, leave the womb?" Lan Yangsu clapped and laughed aloud. Faint thunder sounded overhead, and a figure appeared, bright as snow and moonlight and resembling Lan Yangsu, shooting straight up into the clouds. Lan Yangsu was gone as well. The Old Man of Wang Creek burned incense, sighed, and departed. This is the figure now known on Mount Yue as the "Master of the Long Laugh." (The account appears in Accounts of Strange Encounters in Our Family and the Gazetteer of Yichun.)

After returning home, the Old Man of Wang Creek gathered biographies of immortals, Daoist books, and the writings of the various masters, shut the door to all visitors, and studied by day. Before long, the Old Man died without illness. The Collected Manifest Contemplations (Xianguan ji) once circulated in the world.

I am this ancestor's descendant. In my youth I studied the Confucian curriculum, and though I did not fulfill my ambitions there, I read widely in Daoist and Buddhist scriptures, as well as in works on astrology and fate, music and pitch, medicine, and divination. I devoted myself above all to the methods of cultivating the Golden Elixir. I sought teachers everywhere, crossing mountains and rivers, and even asked instruction of beggars. Because my resolve to seek the Dao never wavered, Heaven let me meet a Perfected One at the Temple of Prince Wang in Guixian Ward, and I met the same Perfected One again later in Jiangling Prefecture. A single sentence from this teacher awakened me to the essential meaning of the "Seven Returns and Nine Revolutions." After that I lived for a time on Wudang and traveled through Xiang-Han and the lands between the Yangtze and Huai rivers.

Along the way I rarely met anyone truly accomplished, anyone who understood the subtle keys of perfect harmony, and so I stopped speaking of the "mysterious." In the guihai year of the Jingding era (the third year of Emperor Lizong's Jingding reign of the Southern Song, that is, 1263), I traveled from Jingxiang to Xingsha and met people from my home region. As we talked I asked after relatives and friends, and learned that the young had grown old and the old had passed away. I could not hold back my tears. I then remembered the words of the Perfected Ziyang: "To plan only for oneself will surely bring some gain, but to hoard the Way of Heaven and refuse to pass it on is the gravest of sins." I sincerely prayed to Heaven, asking that the Golden Pass and the Jade Key be opened, and gathered what I had learned into several works: Essentials of the Awakening to Perfection (Wuzhen pian zhiyao), Book of Long Life and Lasting Vision, Treatise on Resolving Doubts, and a set of questions and answers with instructions on the method. Fearing that my explanation of the fa-xiang (the symbolic imagery used in cultivation to describe changes in body and mind) was not yet detailed enough, I also wrote The Workings of Yihuang, which explains how the advance and retreat of the Fire phases is applied. These books, it may be said, reveal the secrets of Heaven.

Those who aspire to the Dao should treasure the oral formulas they have received. If everyone cultivates, everyone may hope to succeed; when merit and virtue are complete, all may attain the immortal fruit together. Those who treat these teachings lightly will soon see misfortune appear. Some of the words in these books are plain and rustic, but all of them describe the actual substance of practice within the meditation chamber. Gentlemen who love the Daoist arts should ponder them carefully. If you come to any understanding, it is a gift from Heaven and owes nothing to my own oral transmission.

Preface by Li Jianyi, styled Yuxizi, a native of Yichun, written on the fifteenth day of the fourth month of the jiazi year, the fifth year of the Jingding reign (the fifteenth day of the fourth lunar month, 1264).

Essentials of the Yuxizi Classic of the Elixir (Danjing Zhiyao), Volume One. Compiled by Li Jianyi, Yuxizi.

Essentials of the Wuzhen pian

Diagram of Union

Following the Kun position (symbolizing Yin), the body takes form; in the palace of mutual stimulation within the Qian household (symbolizing Yang), the seed is sown.

One man and one woman join, and a small universe comes into being; three men and three women together make up its beginning and its end.

The medicinal substances lie in the southwest, which is their place of origin; the toad's radiance (symbolizing the moon, or the luminous visions of Neidan, internal alchemy) shines all day over Xichuan.

(Diagram omitted.)

Diagram of "Three, Five, One Unified"

Very few people, from ancient times to the present, have truly understood the meaning of the four characters "Three, Five, One Unified."

Three is taken from the east and two from the south, which together make five; one is taken from the north and four from the west, and each pair joins together.

Wu and Ji (the heavenly stems belonging to Earth among the Five Phases) dwell in their own generative number, "five." When the three households meet, they form an infant (in Neidan practice, the embryonic elixir that has coagulated).

The infant is a wheel of sunlight, shining over Xichuan.

(Diagram omitted.)

Diagram of "Three, Five, One Unified"

Very few people, from ancient times to the present, have truly understood the meaning of the four characters "Three, Five, One Unified."

Three is taken from the east and two from the south, which together make five; one is taken from the north and four from the west, and each pair joins together.

Wu and Ji (the heavenly stems belonging to Earth among the Five Phases) dwell in their own generative number, "five." When the three households meet, they form an infant (in Neidan practice, the embryonic elixir that has coagulated).

The infant is a mass of true Qi (vital energy). After ten months the embryonic elixir is complete, and it becomes the foundation for advancing toward the realm of the sages.

The horse of intention (a metaphor for restless, wandering thoughts) returns to the Chamber of Spirit (the inner place where Shen is preserved and Qi is refined), and the three natures unite amid a soft, rustling sound.

The monkey of the heart (a metaphor for a mind that is hard to settle) guards the Inner Chamber (the inner place where Jing and Qi are cultivated), and Jing and Shen join with the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).

Essence and spirit, the hun soul, the po soul, and intention are here divided into the Four Images (four corresponding inner forces).

This is also called the "Purple-Gold Frost," in which the various forces are gathered together and coagulated into the embryonic infant.

(Diagram omitted.)

First: The Nine Returns and Seven Reversions

"Huanfan" (還返), meaning "return and reversal," refers to reversing a thing and bringing it back to its root. Here it designates the law by which Metal and Fire operate in concert. Zhang Ziyang said: "The seven-fold return turns cinnabar back to its source; the nine-fold restoration returns the golden liquid to its truth. Do not calculate merely by the hours and directions of Yin, Zi, Kun, and Shen; simply observe how the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) combine, and you will find the standard." The number of Metal is four, and when it is joined with the Earth number five, this yields the "nine-fold restoration." The number of Fire is two, and when it is joined with the Earth number five, this yields the "seven-fold return."

The "secret lies in lead and fire" spoken of in the Cantong qi (Zhouyi cantong qi) refers precisely to the Golden Elixir. The Golden Elixir is also the "divine water and flowery pool," a name used in Neidan (internal alchemy) for the Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) involved and for the state of their refinement and nourishment. The Guwen longhu shang jing states that the most prominent principle in alchemical practice is nothing other than Metal and Fire. The scripture adds: "In the chamber of spirit, essence and qi are refined and nourished; Fire and Metal turn upon one another. The male Yang is the jade-green mysterious water; the female Yin is the ochre-yellow gold." The Cantong qi also says: "Pound, refine, and blend them, then unite them once more, and carry them into the crimson gate." The secret of alchemical refinement lies within this.

Zhang Ziyang said: "The White Tiger's first menses is the supreme treasure; the divine water of the flowery pool is true gold." The meaning must be stated plainly here: Metal refers to true lead, and Fire refers to spirit mercury. True lead is the prenatal Qi, which arises from the kidneys; thus the alchemical classics praise it: "Peerless true lead existed before Heaven and Earth." Spirit mercury is the truth within one's nature (xing), which manifests from the heart. The Qi in the kidneys holds true water, and the truth within one's nature contains true fire. Master Shi said: "In gathering the medicine, gather the prenatal Qi; in seeking the fire, seek the essence of the great Yang. One who understands gathering the medicine and applying the fire can refine the elixir with certainty."

Yet without "true earth" as the agent of harmony and union, the medicine and the fire cannot join. Therefore, the return and reversal of Metal and Fire is the crux of Neidan cultivation, and it must be sought within oneself; to seek it elsewhere, apart from oneself, is not the Dao (the Way) described here.

"Ding-vessel" (dingqi, 鼎器) refers to the furnace and cauldron in which the medicines are placed and refined during alchemical work. The scriptures call it by many names: the "Yang furnace and Yin cauldron," the "jade furnace and golden cauldron," the "Chamber of Spirit," the "upper and lower cauldrons," the "Yellow Chamber," the "Crescent Moon Furnace," the "Kan-Li framework," and the "single aperture of the Mysterious Pass." It is the key to alchemical work, and also the place where Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy) return to be stored.

The ding-vessel is of two kinds. One is the "inner cauldron and divine furnace" within the human body; the other is the "outer cauldron and its symbolic images," which models itself on the Yin-Yang of heaven and earth and serves to explain the principles of alchemy. The inner cauldron is located at the center of the body between its upper and lower parts, roughly facing the navel in front and the kidneys behind. When lead and mercury unite, the single point that is refined falls in this very place. The Perfected Ziyang said: "If you wish the Valley Spirit to endure and never die, you must take the Mysterious Female (referring to the root within the body where Yin and Yang meet and life is conceived) as your foundation. When the true Jing (essence) returns into the Golden Chamber, a single bright pearl will remain forever unmoved." This speaks of laying the foundation for one hundred days, so that lead and mercury join and condense within the inner cauldron.

The outer cauldron and its symbolic images arrange the alchemical process according to the Yin-Yang of heaven and earth. Water is placed above and fire below; the process follows the changes of the moon through its quarter, full, waning, and dark phases; it accords with the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) and the four seasons, harmonizes the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) with the four images, and refines the Dragon and Tiger (an alchemical term for the two paired medicines or forces, Yin and Yang). It restrains the hun and po souls, so that inner and outer correspond and the Qi of Yin and Yang rise and descend according to proper measure. Heaven and earth are taken as father and mother, and Kan and Li (the water and fire trigrams of the Bagua) as husband and wife; the timing of the fire is worked out through the 384 lines of the hexagrams. The movements and positions of the five planets and the twenty-eight lunar lodges are further used to arrange the symbolic images within the cauldron. The furnace and cauldron must also be sealed tight and carefully guarded, and the appointed hours strictly observed, without the slightest error.

The Perfected Ziyang said: "First take Qian and Kun (heaven and earth) as the cauldron, then gather the Crow and the Hare (the sun and moon, standing for the Yin and Yang medicines) to refine; once these two forces have been brought back to the Yellow Path, how could the Golden Elixir fail to form?" The Cantong qi (Zhouyi cantong qi) likewise says that one must tend and nurture the eight lodges so that they stand ranged around the cauldron, and that by concentrating the Shen and guarding the One, the body can be perfected. The line "The Perfected One dwells in the deep abyss, drifting and floating while keeping to the center of the compass" speaks of guarding the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass.

The symbolic images of the inner and outer cauldrons have now been made quite clear. If one still goes searching outside the body, or ties them to desire and wicked thoughts, or labors artificially at things that have physical form, one will stray very far from the true Way (Dao) of alchemy.

"True Lead" (zhen qian) refers to the Kan male (the yang within yin symbolized by the Kan trigram), the infant, the moon's po-soul, the Yin Tiger, and the Metal Duke. It is also called "silver within lead," meaning that white is contained within black, and yang within yin. It goes by many names, but in essence "True Lead" refers to the primordial single Qi of the Prior Heaven (the original Qi that existed before heaven and earth took form), which must be gathered from the time before Taiyi (the primal state in which heaven and earth had not yet differentiated). Zhiyang Zhenren (the Perfected Zhiyang) said: "One need only use the earthly po-soul to seize the vermilion mercury." This means that when True Lead meets True Mercury (an alchemical term symbolizing yang essence and Qi), they can form the elixir, and True Earth is then used to make the two restrain one another.

"True Mercury" is yang in nature. It is also called the Li woman, the sun's hun-soul, the Maiden (Chanü), and the Yang Dragon, and is known as "mercury within cinnabar," symbolizing the female within the male and yin within yang. It too has many names, but in essence "True Mercury" is the wood fluid (the essence and Qi of the Wood phase). Zhiyang Zhenren said: "Naturally there is a heavenly hun-soul that holds the water-metal in check." This means that when True Mercury meets True Lead, they can form the elixir, and True Earth is then used to make the two restrain one another.

"True Earth" refers to Wu and Ji (the two Earth stems among the Heavenly Stems), the Central Palace, and the Kun Palace, and does not refer to the spleen. When True Lead is cast into True Mercury, without True Earth they cannot be fused and congealed. True Earth is like the force that wields the sword, gathers the troops, and guards the four directions. The Ancient Text of the Upper Scripture of the Dragon and Tiger says: "The powers of the four seas converge to bring peace to the world; all of this depends on the virtue (De) of Earth in the Central Palace, and is also the achievement of the Yellow Emperor." The Qi (short for the Zhouyi Cantongqi) says: "Three things join into one family, and all return to Wu and Ji." Zhiyang Zhenren said: "Send it into the Earth Cauldron and seal it tightly." That is, the medicinal substances used in refining the elixir must be gathered into the furnace and cauldron and sealed. True Earth is the pivot among Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire, and so the workings of the Five Phases (Wuxing) can be complete.

The entry on "Dao Gui" (the knife-edge measure) cites Zhiyang Zhenren: "If Li and Kan lack Wu and Ji..." Here Li and Kan refer to the two medicinal substances, yin and yang, while Wu and Ji refer to True Earth. The later text again cites the Qi, saying "the three things join into one family, and all return to Wu and Ji," and says one should "send it into the Earth Cauldron and seal it tightly." These words stress the role of True Earth in harmonizing the medicinal substances and sealing the furnace and cauldron.

Ziyang (Zhang Boduan) said: Li and Kan (symbolizing the two forces of Yin-Yang) cannot produce the elixir without Wu and Ji (the two symbols of Earth) to harmonize them, even if they contain the Four Images (the four forms in which the transformations of Yin-Yang appear). Precisely because both sides contain True Earth, the Golden Elixir can return to its origin and restore its source.

Master Yu said: The creation of the Great Medicine cannot do without True Wu and True Ji, which is why the immortals call it "one knife-blade measure" (yidaogui). The "knife" (dao) is a metaphor for metal, and the "gui" is a metaphor for the two earths; to take the knife-blade measure means to let Wu earth flow and return to Ji earth. Master Shi said: One who understands that lead and mercury unite may take the knife-blade measure. The Fuming says: After the Dragon and Tiger (symbolizing Yin-Yang, or lead and mercury) join, they cling to one another; when Kan and Li have only just met, the Neidan (internal alchemy) is like a conceived embryo. This harmonious essence of Heaven and Earth must be sought with full concentration and taken into the body. This is what taking the knife-blade measure meant in that context.

First: The Matchmaker

The "matchmaker" refers to the medium that brings lead and mercury together. For lead and mercury to unite, a medium is indispensable; here it is called the "Yellow Dame" (in Neidan practice, the force that harmonizes Yin-Yang and brings about the union of lead and mercury), but it is not the spleen organ itself. Ziyang said: If one wishes to use True Lead to hold the mercury, the two, though within a single household, remain separated from each other; if Metal and Wood cannot communicate, they cannot unite, so a matchmaker must be relied upon to guide them. This is also the meaning of "letting Wu flow to Ji."

Second: Gathering

"Gathering" (cai) means gathering without forcing, and "taking" (qu) means taking without insisting on possession. One must therefore neither seek with a deliberate, grasping mind nor wait with complete indifference.

Master Shao Yong said: "At the half-hour of the Zi hour on the winter solstice, the Heart of Heaven (the root of the movement of Heaven and Earth) has not yet changed; at the place where the first Yang stirs, the myriad things have not yet been born." All the workings described here begin from this point. The Yijing (Classic of Changes) says: "The Way of Qian becomes male, the Way of Kun becomes female." Thus a young man's true Jing (essence) is full at sixteen, corresponding to Qian, while a young woman's tiangui (a physiological phenomenon related to reproductive function) arrives at fourteen, corresponding to Kun. Qian is matched with Jia and Ren, and Kun with Yi and Gui (a way in Yijing studies of pairing the Heavenly Stems with the trigrams), for the process of creation and transformation has its own source.

Zhang Boduan (courtesy name Ziyang) said: "When lead meets Gui, one must gather it urgently." Here "lead" is a term of Neidan (internal alchemy) and does not refer to the ordinary metal. The line refers to gathering in time at the moment when Kun is exhausted and the cycle begins anew, when Yin reaches its limit and Yang is born, that is, when the first Yang stirs and the movement of Qi (vital energy) has not yet become apparent. He also said: "Metal that meets the distant full moon is no longer fit to taste," meaning that once the moment has passed, it is no longer suitable to take; one must not wait until the occasion has gone and then gather in haste. Chan Master Fuming said: "Gathering must be done in secrecy; with a sincere heart, tell the ugly from the fair. The thread of the matter is hard to trace, and the cold spring is easily lost." This means that gathering must be done with care and discretion, and that one must discern the right moment with sincerity; its thread is hard to find, and the slightest error makes it easy to miss the crucial point.

Ziyang also said: "Strike the bamboo to call the tortoise to swallow the jade fungus; play the zither to summon the phoenix to drink the dao gui (a measure of elixir)." This is a metaphor for the key principle of drawing lead into the cauldron. It refers to the practice of Neidan and has nothing to do with sexual techniques of "harvesting" a partner, such as the so-called "golden flower art of mastering women."

First: Fusion and Coagulation

An old song says: "The sun is Li, the moon is Kan; the essence and souls of sun and moon blend with one another." Ziyang said: "The two things all arise because the child gives birth to the mother; the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) must all enter the central palace." This means that when the Qi of Yin-Yang (Yin and Yang) unites and the Five Phases return to the central palace, there is a harmonious union like the "five planets in a string of pearls and the sun and moon joined like twin jades." In recent times Ma Danyang said: "When fire arises in water, let go of the scenes of the heart; when flowers bloom in snow, extinguish the spring of intention." This describes the scene of fusion and coagulation: fire born in water, flowers blooming in snow, thoughts stilled and intentions dissolved. Students of the Dao should ponder these sayings carefully.

Second: Cooking and Refining

The Cantong Qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three) says: "Below there is a breath like the sun, steaming quietly for a moment." It also says: "On Rice Mountain it rises and is refined, as flames kindle from below." It says too: "The sound is plaintive, like an infant longing for its mother." And it says: "Yinghuo (Mars) lingers in the west, and Taibai (Venus) crosses the sky. Wherever the air of severe killing reaches, what could fail to be overturned? The fox-dog guards the mouse, and the crow and sparrow fear the crane." The Fuming (Return to Life) says: "Once you have seized the essence and marrow of the Crow and the Hare (the Golden Crow and Jade Hare, symbols of the sun and moon), gather them in quickly and refine them in the cauldron." An old song says: "The divine fire cooks and refines through the night until the lead's Qi (vital energy) is spent; the old tortoise swallows up the spirit of Zhurong (the god of fire)." All of these speak to the essentials of natural refining. Those who do not understand the principles of creation and transformation should not discuss them lightly.

First: Metal and Wood Join Together

Metal refers to the feeling of lead, and wood refers to the nature of mercury. Their states are deep and indistinct, hard to put into words. In the body, metal appears as firmness and purity, with Qi flowing freely through the four limbs. This is metal's original condition and has nothing to do with the feelings of desire. Wood dwells within and appears as gentleness, compliance, and a heart of compassion. Hearing the croak of a frog and breaking into a sweat shows wood's nature, and it is also the first stirring of a benevolent heart.

Metal's feeling grows and becomes full through lead, while wood's nature condenses and takes form through mercury. When lead and mercury unite, condensing and growing respond to each other, and feeling and nature naturally draw close and merge. Zhenyizi says this is like the male's feeling and the female's nature depending on each other, each receiving and giving out the other. Through this gathering and joining something is born, transforming into pure and true Jing (essence) and Qi, which becomes a marvelous medicine. Ziyang says: "Wood's nature loves metal and follows what is right; metal's feeling longs for wood and holds benevolence. The two swallow each other in turn, yet draw close and merge. Only then does one notice that a pregnancy has formed within the man's body."

The Cantong Qi says: "Only when metal returns to its original nature can it be called the Reverted Elixir (Huandan)." It also says: "Metal can fell wood, and so make wood flourish." Without a go-between at the center to harmonize them and bring about their union, the two will remain separate and unjoined.

Second: The Clarity and Turbidity of the Water's Source

"Water source" is a metaphor for the source of the mind and the sea of one's nature (the inner nature, deep and vast as an ocean). When the mind's thoughts settle like a coiled dragon and a crouching tiger, the clouds and mists disperse, just as the waves of desire subside and the billows of passion are stilled. When body and mind are tranquil, heaven and earth seem vast; in leisure and ease, the sun and moon seem to move slowly. When the turbid thoughts in the heart turn clear and bright, one will naturally understand it at that time.

One stage is called "warm nourishing."

Set aside desire, draw in the gaze, and withdraw the hearing, so that body and mind relax and are not led astray by the senses or by cleverness and cunning. Remain simple and still all day long, without interruption even for a moment. This is like a dragon tending its precious pearl, and one will naturally understand it at that time.

One stage is called "warm nourishing."

Set aside desire, draw in the gaze, and withdraw the hearing, so that body and mind relax and are not led astray by the senses or by cleverness and cunning. Remain simple and still all day long, and do not let the practice be interrupted. This is like a hen hatching her eggs, with warmth that never ceases. Laozi said, "Concentrating your Qi (vital energy) and making it supple, can you be like an infant?" He also said, "Governing a great state is like cooking a small fish." The oral instructions say, "Forget the body to nourish Qi, forget Qi to nourish Shen (spirit), and forget Shen to nourish emptiness." The true person (one who has attained the Dao, the Way) guards the center of the "wheel" (the focal point of concentration in Neidan, internal alchemy), and the movement of Qi is like spring flowing within a blossom. After one full cycle of the seasonal nodes, one sheds the womb and is transformed in spirit.

One stage is called "fire phasing."

"Fire" refers to the fire of Shen, that is, the mental activity at work in cultivation. "Phasing" refers to the timing of the tallies, that is, the moments that correspond to the changes of the fire. The practitioner takes heaven and earth as the cauldron and furnace, Yang as the charcoal and Yin as the water, following the course of the sun and moon and the alternation of cold and heat. The Lord of the Center (the heart-spirit) issues commands and carefully harmonizes the circulation. Although the spirit-medicine has no form, it silently accords with the laws of natural change and prompts the rising, falling, and transformation of Qi. Master Cao said, "Within the hundred quarter-hours, when the Li Qi (the Yang Qi symbolized by the Li trigram) has circulated fully into place, cinnabar is produced from it."

Cultivation has different stages and moments, such as adding and subtracting, advancing and retreating, and bathing. If there is even a slight deviation, errors will follow. Ziyang said, "Even if one knows cinnabar and black lead, if one does not understand fire phasing, the effort is still in vain. Everything depends largely on continuous regulation, and the slightest error means the elixir cannot be completed." This matter touches on the secrets of heaven and should not be discussed lightly. Its general meaning is already embodied in the principles of operation revealed by Xihuang (Fuxi). The wise reflect on it again and again each day and will come to understand it. In ancient times there were twelve lines known as the Secret Instructions on the Fire Phasing of the Golden Elixir by Taishang Laojun, which are respectfully transcribed below.

The formula text says: The sun and moon are by nature the essence of Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth, Yin-Yang), and the cycle of the hexagram images is perfectly clear. (From the closing of the Kun hexagram it turns to the opening of the Fu hexagram, circling like a ring without end.) The first three-fives and the later three-fives (referring to the waxing and waning of the moon at its upper and lower quarters) multiply, five times six, into thirty, and then begin again and are born anew (referring to the changes of the solar terms across one month). Birth and extinction alternate, and the circuit is completed twelve times (referring to the year's division into twelve months). Each of the twelve months is further divided in half, making twenty-four solar terms. (The twenty-four solar terms form the rhythm of the firing process in alchemical refining.) The twenty-four solar terms shift from one to the next (in endless return), and the transformations of the myriad things, along with the finest gradations of the hexagram lines, are all contained within these changes.

Mercury, a single substance, divides into two, and Yin-Yang is transformed through it, forming Jiji and Weiji (two hexagrams in the Book of Changes, symbolizing the union of Yin-Yang and its not-yet-completed union). Jiji and Weiji then join again and become a married pair. Only then does one understand that within the alchemical furnace there is a Heaven and Earth of its own.

This verse above was spoken in person by Taishang (the Supreme One, an honorific title for a Daoist deity). It sets out in full detail the subtle essentials of the ingredients and the firing process. It warns those who later seek the Dao that they should treat it with reverence. If they hold it in contempt, calamity and punishment will appear at once; wherever one may be, spirits are watching, so one must not fail to be careful. The Perfected Chunyang (Lü Dongbin), in a postscript, said: "How great are these twelve lines of verse! They accord with the meaning of the five thousand words of the Daodejing."

Bathing

The Cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three) says: "In the second month the elm leaves fall; in the eighth month the wheat sprouts. The Qi of punishment and of virtue (De) approach the gate, so one must guard carefully against danger." Ziyang (Zhang Boduan) said: "When the months of the Rabbit and the Rooster arrive, the Qi of punishment and De stand at the door, and the sign of the ancestral temple appears with them. At this time the golden sand should be bathed; if one continues to add fire, it will topple into peril." Therefore the Mao and You double-hours (corresponding to the earthly branches Mao and You, and often used to refer to the related seasons) are suited to bathing, which brings the firing process into balance, and at this time the firing is no longer advanced.

Shedding the Embryo

It will gradually grow, gradually manifest its numinous power, and gradually reach completion. Ziyang said: "Fruit grows on the branch and in time ripens. How is an embryo, nurtured in its mother's womb, any different?" Yunfang said: "A child is young and not yet grown, and must depend on its parents for care. After nine years, or three times three, the affairs of the world have all been experienced, and one can roam freely between heaven and earth, no longer dependent on one's parents." Looking back at the old bodily shell, one sees it is nothing but a heap of dung and dirt. Once merit and practice are fulfilled and the fruit of the Dao (the Way) is achieved, one ascends to audience with the Lord of Chaoyuan (a revered Daoist deity). This can be called the point at which form and Shen (spirit) both reach a wondrous state and unite in truth with the great Dao.

The Song of Taiyi the Realized One for Dispelling Delusion (a song by the Realized One Taiyi to break through error) says:

By the roadside you meet a fish, still flicking its red tail. If you wish to save it, hurry and return it to the water.

On the road you meet a person whose life is about to sink into ruin. If you wish to save them, hurry and explain the Way to them.

Side-door minor methods number in the tens of thousands, yet the true Dao has no such elaborations. The key lies not in seeking outside, but within oneself.

So that the deluded may save some effort, here are one or two examples.

Circulating Qi (vital energy) is not the Dao, for tampering recklessly with the breath disturbs the Rongwei Qi (the nutritive and defensive Qi that moves within and around the body). Swallowing saliva is not the Dao either, for the fluid in the mouth is not the "divine water" of which cultivation speaks.

Visualization is not the Dao, for merely painting pictures in the mind can hardly serve as food. Harvesting Yin is not the Dao, for when Jing (essence) and Qi are exhausted, life itself perishes with them.

Abstaining from salt is not the Dao, for it only robs food of its flavor. Bigu (abstaining from the five grains) is not the Dao, for hunger damages the stomach and intestines. Divorcing one's wife is not the Dao either, for it deprives Yin-Yang of its proper union.

What, then, is the Dao? The Realized One Taiyi nourishes true Qi, letting its movements join without lingering in the joining, its rising and descending modeled on heaven and earth.

When two things come into harmony, their root lies in the Primal Beginning (the original source of all things). The Maiden Chanü (symbolizing the Yin essence) joins with the Infant (symbolizing the Yang essence) and brings about Jiji, "Already Crossed" (the state in which Yin and Yang are in harmony and complete one another).

This is, at bottom, the Way of Yin-Yang, just as it is the principle of husband and wife being of one heart. So there is no need to divorce one's wife: how can solitary Yang accomplish anything?

Attaining spiritual powers and becoming an immortal through the practice of alchemical methods is no easy matter. Those who are truly committed to the Dao (the Way) do not readily divulge the secret teachings, and the profound meaning of the Dadong zhenjing (Scripture of the Great Cavern, a Daoist classic) is likewise veiled and abstruse.

If the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) do not move in their usual sequence, the tiger can be born within water. This is a practice of inverting the Five Phases, and the dragon, too, can appear out of fire. These words are truly profound, and they embody the working of Taiyi (the Great One, the primal power revered in Daoism).

Master Ziyang (Zhenren Ziyang) said, "Sending away one's wife merely cuts off Yin-Yang to no purpose; abstaining from grain merely leaves the stomach and intestines empty." This line is quoted from the Taiyi zhenren pomi ge (Song of the Perfected Taiyi for Dispelling Delusion). Abstaining from grain (bigu) is indeed not the root of cultivating the Dao; as for "sending away one's wife," the principle behind it runs deep. Some people today misunderstand Master Ziyang's words and carelessly take the "Jinhua Sanfeng art of mastering women" (a bedchamber practice that uses sexual union for cultivation) as their commentary, using it to deceive later learners and lead scholar-officials astray.

They do not realize that what Master Taiyi and Master Ziyang spoke of is the union of true Yin and true Yang within the human body. The Cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three, a Daoist alchemical classic) says, "The male does not dwell alone, nor the female live in solitude." It also says, "If the myriad things lacked Yin and Yang, they would violate the Way of Heaven and depart from their original source; when a rooster lays an egg alone, the chick hatched from it will not be whole." Master Yunfang said, "Do not suppose that every part of the body is the Dao; to cultivate a single isolated thing is to become solitary Yin." Bai Yuchan said, "Within one's own body there is already a husband and wife; to tell this to the world would likely invite ridicule." All of them speak of this same principle.

Master Ziyang further said, "If one can grasp the principle of inverted Yin-Yang within daily life, even the sand and dust of the world can be turned into treasure." He also said, "If one can turn the pivot of life and killing, calamity and blessing can be reversed in the turn of a palm." He further cautioned, "I urge you not to underestimate the enemy when facing the battle, lest you lose the priceless treasure of our house." And again: "If you understand how the pivot of life and killing turns, you will know that even within harm, benevolence can be brought forth."

He also gave this solemn warning: "Before the returned elixir is complete, hasten to cultivate it; once it is complete, know when to stop. If the heart is never content and insists on seeking fullness, one day you will meet with danger and disgrace." These words remind practitioners to guard against danger and proceed with caution, and to grasp the key to the transformation of Yin-Yang and its cycles of return and change. If the heart of sexual desire is not eliminated and the fire of desire blazes downward, it will deplete the most precious essence and qi (Jing and Qi), and the foundation of life will decline. By then, regret will come too late.

I have explained these principles again and again in order to awaken those in the world who study the Dao. My hope is that all will walk the proper path and together attain the fruit of immortality, and that they will guide later learners so that no more blind men lead other blind men astray.

The Ge Xianweng Liuzhu Ge (Song of the Flowing Pearl by Ge Xianweng) says:

The Flowing Pearl has already been destroyed, and regret at this point comes too late. This is why I am writing these words down once more: to awaken those in the world who seek the Dao (the Way). My only wish is that everyone will walk the right path, attain the realm of the immortals together, and help those who come after, so that no blind person leads another blind person astray.

The Ge Xianweng Liuzhu Ge says:

O Flowing Pearl, Flowing Pearl, come to my humble side. I have wandered among the clouds, traveled all across the world, and read many classics.

For long years I rushed about, with no time for sleep or food. I sought out friends and teachers everywhere, and in refining the elixir I exhausted my mercury and cinnabar.

For thirty years I sighed day after day. Now I am sixty, and I fear I will fall into the Three Evil Paths (in Buddhism, the three bad destinies of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals).

Fortunately, I received transmission from a master and came to understand the principles of primordial Qi (vital energy) and emptiness. First I steadied the golden cauldron, then the jade furnace; I stirred it with Li fire (the trigram symbolizing fire) and regulated it with Kan water (the trigram symbolizing water).

I nourished myself with the jade fluid, so that the Chamber (in Neidan (internal alchemy), the inner space of the body where cultivation takes place) would flow with a rich, creamy liquid. The Perfected One (a person who has attained the Dao) rescued me, and what such a rescue requires is a person with the spirit of a true man of resolve.

Keep these principles in your heart at all times, and please remember the words I have written here.

From this we can see that the practitioners of the Dao in earlier generations were all exceedingly diligent and hardworking, and every one of them had met an eminent master who offered guidance and opened their understanding. In cultivating Neidan (internal alchemy), the "medicines" employed are no more than lead and mercury, two symbolic alchemical materials. Practice should begin with learning how to be a good person, taking loyalty and filial piety as the foundation and helping others as the first priority. One should treasure oneself, cultivating inner discipline while also carrying out outward virtue; one should rid oneself of cravings and desires so that the heart and Qi (vital energy) are settled, moderate one's eating, and reduce one's sleep.

The supreme treasures within the human body are Jing (essence), Qi, and Shen (spirit). If Jing is not carelessly dissipated, original Qi will be harmonious and abundant; when original Qi is harmonious, the original Shen will be steady and at peace. Only when these three are firmly established will the "cauldron" (dingqi, the physical and mental conditions required for Neidan practice), the foundation of alchemical refinement, gradually be complete. Only once the cauldron is complete can one begin to speak of cultivation.

Someone asked: "What is meant by 'following the flow gives birth to a person, reversing the flow produces the mother of the elixir'?" The answer: "Following the flow is the natural operation of ordinary human life: essence and Qi are differentiated and form a person. When essence and Qi condense into tangible form, the wandering soul shifts and changes without fixity; once there is a body, there is anxiety and hardship, and from this vexation arises. Reversing the flow means turning the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) upside down so that the Four Images are brought into harmony, gathering the primordial undifferentiated Qi from before Heaven and Earth were divided, and drawing together the essence of the first union of Dragon and Tiger, taking it into the 'Yellow Chamber' (huangfang, a symbolic region of the Dantian (energy center) in Neidan practice) to refine it into the supreme treasure. This can be described as bringing forth form from the formless, forming another 'body' beyond one's own body. When one's practice is complete and one's virtue is accomplished, one can attain the rank of a high immortal."

Yuxizi Danjing Zhiyao (Essential Guide to the Alchemical Classic of Master Yuxi), Volume 2

Zhang Ziyang's Song Presented to the Daoist Liu of White Dragon Cave

The moon sets in the west and the sun rises in the east; sun and moon turn without rest. You have only just heard that the spring flowers are blooming, and in the blink of an eye the autumn frost has come. Even if someone boasted of living a thousand years, a human life is still like a flash of lightning across the clouds.

Why is a life like that flash of lightning so brief? Even one who lives to a hundred has only thirty-six thousand days. People are worn down by the turning of cold and heat, and before they know it their youthful looks have quietly vanished. Though children and grandchildren may fill the house, family affection turns into worry and entanglement. When Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) are spent and the body has declined, who can teach you to extend your life, even for a little while?

Even if you wished to prolong life for a time, there is no way to do so, and you can only be carried off with the flowing water. Looking back over the sages and worthies of all ages, how many have been able to keep the physical body and remain in the world forever?

There is a method for preserving the physical body, but people of the present age often misunderstand the Dao (the Way). They rush into the mountains to search for medicinal herbs, refining mercury with lead in an attempt to transmute the "Dan Yang" (a term for refining the internal elixir). Yet the true method of the elixir is quite different. One must seek the "red blood" from the Kan palace (one of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) positions, symbolizing water), then take it and return it to the Li position (one of the Bagua positions, symbolizing fire), using it to subdue the Yin essence (in cultivation vocabulary, the yin-natured essence and qi).

Harmonization and blending depend on timing. When the moment is right, a "matchmaker" must be used to bring about the union: the Golden Lord (金公, Jin Gong) and the Maiden (姹女, Chanü) become husband and wife. The Golden Lord habitually rides the White Tiger, and the Maiden habitually drives the Crimson Dragon. The White Tiger sits quietly amid the autumn mountains, while the Crimson Dragon rises with force from the bottom of the pool. When the two beasts meet, they fight fiercely, and the waves surge and churn like boiling water in a cauldron. The Yellow Dame (黄婆, Huangpo) and the Old Man Ding (丁老, Ding Lao) come to lend their support, and their might shakes heaven and earth and sends ghosts and spirits fleeing. After a brief while the battle ends, the clouds and rain subside, and a Mysterious Pearl (玄珠, a treasure in Neidan (internal alchemy) practice symbolizing the condensation of Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy)) is planted within the body of clay.

The White Tiger sits still in the autumn mountains, the Crimson Dragon rises from the pool, the two beasts battle, the waves boil in the cauldron, and the Yellow Dame and Old Man Ding lend their aid, shaking heaven and earth; after a brief while the fighting stops and the clouds and rain subside, and a Mysterious Pearl is planted at the base of the clay. From then on, its roots and sprouts gradually grow, and one must water them at all times and guard the true Jing (essence). After ten months, the elixir embryo ripens and drops away; swallowed into the mouth, it gives the ordinary mortal body spiritual power.

Such a matter is rare in the world and is by no means something ordinary people can know. Without a foundation in immortal cultivation from a former life, how could one easily encounter it? Having encountered it, one should practice at once, for time flies like an arrow and passes in an instant. If you want to catch fish, first weave your net; do not merely stand at the water's edge in idle envy.

I have heard that you have known the Dao of the medicinal substances for many years. Why, then, do you not gather in your Shen (spirit) and refine and nourish the mercury and lead? Do not let the candle flame be blown out by the wind; and when you face the Six Paths of rebirth (the realms through which beings revolve in birth and death), do not blame Heaven or others.

Lately many people in the world are deceitful, and merely by putting on cloth garments they call themselves practitioners of the Dao. Ask them what "metal and wood" truly are, and they shut their mouths, silent as mutes. Instead they say that cultivation requires only swallowing Qi and abstaining from grain (controlling the breath and ceasing to eat), and that there are other gates and long roads besides. Have you not seen the words of the Song of Dispelling Delusion (《破迷歌》)? The method by which the Great One (太一, Taiyi) embraces the True is the highest of all. Do not blame me for speaking bluntly and roughly; it is only that people in the world find it hard to tell the true from the false. Only because your heart and mine are in accord do I dare to tell you these things frankly.

Kan (坎) is the body of Kun (坤), and Li (离) is the body of Qian (乾). When Qian gives its yang Qi to Kun, Kan is formed; this is called "flowing Wu" (流戊). When Kun gives its yin Qi to Qian, Li is produced; this is called "approaching Ji" (就己). All things are conceived at the hour of Zi… (The terms Kan, Li, Qian, Kun, Wu, and Ji are all Neidan terms, standing respectively for trigram images, the movements of Yin-Yang Qi, and the medicinal substances and operations in cultivation.)

Kan (坎, symbolizing water, Yin containing Yang) unites with Kun (坤, symbolizing earth, Yin), while Li (离, symbolizing fire, Yang containing Yin) unites with Qian (乾, symbolizing heaven, Yang). When Qian joins with Kun through its Yang qi (Qi, vital energy), Kan is produced; this is called "Flowing Wu" (流戊). When Kun joins with Qian through its Yin qi, Li is produced; this is called "Approaching Ji" (就己).

All things are conceived at the hour of Zi (子). The Ren and Gui qi, represented by Qian and Kun, converge in the north, and for this reason the place is called the "Kan Palace." The Kan Palace is also the Kun Palace. The southwest is the source of primordial qi, though this does not refer to the earthly branch positions of Wei and Shen. Primordial qi arises from here. What is called "red blood" is the single point of Yang Jing (Jing, essence) within the body, also known as "Yang lead," which is in essence the single qi of the Prior Heaven. The scripture (Jing) praises it: "True lead stands out as extraordinary, existing before heaven and earth." This speaks precisely of true lead.

The "Li position" is the Qian Palace. One seizes the right moment to gather this Yang lead and uses it to blend the Yin essence of the Li position. This Yin essence is also called "Yin mercury" or "wood liquid." When these two inner essences and energies unite and coalesce, they form the Neidan (Neidan, internal alchemy). It is not a tangible substance such as the cinnabar, quicksilver, minerals and metals, or herbs of the ordinary world.

The two medicines must be matched and harmonized, and timing is of the essence. Their natures are gentle and balanced, with Metal and Water each making up half. The "Yellow Dame" (黄婆, the medium that harmonizes Yin-Yang) then stands at the center and brings them together, much as a marriage is arranged or a capping ceremony is performed, prompting the two to unite. The crux lies in seizing the proper moment.

The Cantong qi (Zhouyi Cantong Qi) says: "From the last day of the month to the dawn of the new moon, the Zhen trigram receives the mandate." This refers to the moment when the first Yang line has just stirred. At that moment the female dragon cries out and the male tiger roars; if a matchmaker brings them together, the two will unite of their own accord. The matchmaker here is the Yellow Dame (Huang Po).

An old song runs: "Three and four dwell in one chamber, one and two become husband and wife; a good matchmaker is needed for them to grow close, and so they come together, their feelings deep." The Perfected Ziyang says: "Originally the two Earths, Wu and Ji, served as the matchmaker, so that husband and wife might long be joined in delight." He also says: "One must rely on a matchmaker to bring them together." The Perfected Shi likewise says: "Who understands how this is put to use? The essential point lies in the Yellow Dame." From this we see that the Yellow Dame is True Earth, which is the matchmaker; True Earth is the Yellow Dame. When male and female meet, the firm and the yielding join so tightly that they can hardly be separated, and only the Yellow Dame can bring this about.

The Yellow Dame is True Earth. She is the pivotal hinge of the Returned Elixir (huandan), and the embankment that holds Metal and Water together. She dwells in the center, comprehends the principles of things, keeps to her proper place, and possesses an inner beauty of her own. This, in broad outline, is the main meaning of the Yellow Dame as True Earth.

The Golden Lord and the Maiden Join in Marriage

The Golden Lord (Jingong) and the Maiden (Chanü) become husband and wife. "Joining in marriage" means that lead and mercury accord with one another.

The Golden Lord Favors Riding the White Tiger

The Golden Lord refers to lead. Lead has the endowment of "Heavenly One"; it is born originally from within the moon, lodges in the western position of Geng and Xin Metal, and appears from the Kan position. Hence the saying, "the tiger is born in the water." This refers to the silver within lead, the white within the black, that is, the metal within water.

The Cantong qi says: "Metal is the mother of Water, the mother hidden in the womb of her child; Water is the child of Metal, the child concealed within the mother's womb." It also says: "Wearing coarse cloth, yet holding jade in one's bosom, outwardly appearing like a wild and unruly person." This speaks of True Lead. It is in fact the single Qi (炁) of the Prior Heaven.

The Maiden Constantly Rides the Red Dragon

Zhengnü (姹女, the "Maiden," an alchemical term that here refers to mercury) is simply mercury. Mercury carries the qi (气) of true Yang. It is born originally from the Sun and lodges within the Wood of the eastern stem-pair Jia and Yi (甲乙). It then manifests from the Li palace (the direction corresponding to Fire), and so it is said, "The dragon emerges from within the fire." This is the mercury within cinnabar, the female contained within the male, also called the Flowing Pearl of the Great Yang. The Cantong qi (《参同契》) says: "Mercury is called the Flowing Pearl, and the Azure Dragon accompanies it." The scripture (经, jing) also says: "The red marrow flows and transforms into mercury, and the Maiden plays with the radiant light." This is the true mercury, which is also the liquid of Wood.

The tiger sits quietly in the autumn river, while the dragon leaps with all its strength toward the emerald pool.

The autumn river is the Western River, and the emerald pool is the Eastern Sea. When the true dragon meets the true tiger, they join one above and one below, swallowing one another and drawing each other close.

When the two spirit beasts meet, a fierce struggle begins. Waves surge and race, as if the water in the cauldron were boiling.

An ancient song says: "The Azure Dragon chases the White Tiger, and the White Tiger seeks the Azure Dragon; the red birds join together and sing in harmony." This describes the dragon and tiger contending, with Water and Fire in turmoil. The qi within the cauldron churns and boils, Yin and Yang (阴阳) reverse their positions and restrain one another, and at times a sound like that of an infant is heard.

The Yellow Dame and the Old Man Ding help bring forth its efficacy.

Master Shi (石真人) says: "The Yellow Dame has full and generous breasts, and the Old Man Ding has a heart of kindness; when the dragon and tiger do battle, the Lord of the East never knows." The Yellow Dame has been explained earlier. The Old Man Ding refers to the "civil fire" (文火), the gentle and sustained heat used in refining the elixir. Master Yin (阴真君) says: "I could speak endlessly of the principles of the world, yet people do not know them; one need only subdue the heart of the infant." This discloses a heavenly secret.

This transformation shakes heaven and earth and sends gods and ghosts scurrying.

An ancient song says: "The sage seizes the mystery of creation and transformation, turns the sun and moon with their own hands, and sets them within the furnace; the essential qi of heaven and earth moves through subtle risings and turnings, gathering Yin and Yang and sending gods and ghosts scurrying." The "gods and ghosts" here refer to the celestial hun soul (魂) and the earthly po soul (魄).

Before long, the struggle ends and the clouds withdraw.

The clouds disperse and the rain stops, all sounds settle into stillness, and a transformation takes place in the palm of the hand.

Then a Dark Pearl (玄珠, the essence and qi condensed in the practice of Neidan (内丹, internal alchemy)) is planted in the bottom of the mud (泥底, the depths of the Dantian (丹田, energy center)).

At night, body and mind enter a state of undifferentiated chaos, as though everything has returned to stillness; images may appear before the eyes, yet none can be perceived. At this moment, a single point of true Qi (qi) settles within the "Yellow Court" (Huangting, the place in the body where essence and Qi are cultivated). The Yellow Court is also called the "Yellow Chamber of the Central Palace," and serves as a metaphor for the "Mysterious Pass" (Xuanguan, the key point at which a practitioner recognizes the changes in body and mind), like a foundation lying deep within the earth.

Ziyang said that if one grasps the crux of the elixir practice within a single double-hour, it may be counted as a full day's cultivation completed. The inner elixir (Neidan) grows a little each day, no larger than a grain of millet, and gradually coalesces into the "Mysterious Pearl" (xuanzhu, the condensed form of essence and Qi achieved through inner cultivation). When the Yellow Emperor searched for the Mysterious Pearl at the Red Water, he could not obtain it without "Wuxiang" (Image-less, a state free of thought and worry, without form or trace); the same holds for the pearl discussed here, which can be realized only when no thought arises and there is no attachment.

From here, the roots and sprouts of cultivation slowly grow, and one must water them constantly and safeguard the true Jing (jing, the essence and Qi prized in cultivation). Sangu Zi said: lay the foundation for one hundred days, then nourish it warmly in accord with the rhythm of the celestial cycle's circulation; as long as one guards Qi and Shen (spirit), water will moisten of its own accord and fire will warm of its own accord, and one need only wait until the Qi is full.

After ten months of warm nurturing, it is like an infant emerging from the womb: the completed elixir is received into the abdomen, and suddenly one senses that the ordinary body has become imbued with spirit.

Ziyang (Zhang Boduan, a Daoist master of internal alchemy) also said, "A single grain of spirit elixir is swallowed into the belly." He also called it "shedding the womb" (tuotai) and "communing with the sacred and divine." The Cantong qi (a classic of Daoist alchemy) says, "When the golden sand enters the five organs, it is like mist dispersing and wind and rain subsiding." Since the subject is Neidan (internal alchemy), why does the text speak of it entering the mouth, the belly, and the five organs? Later generations, puzzled by this, assumed it referred to Waidan (external alchemy, the elixirs refined from substances outside the body). They did not realize that it is only when something formless within the body condenses into something with form that it is called the "returned elixir" (huandan).

The order of practice described by Zhenyizi (a Daoist master of internal alchemy) is this: first, take the pure, undifferentiated primordial Qi (vital energy) between Heaven and Earth as the foundation. Next, take the essence of Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth) and circulate it secretly within the body, using it as the model. Then arrange the "punishment and virtue" (xingde, the giving and withholding within the movement of Yin-Yang) according to the patterns of Kan and Li and of Pi and Tai (the joining and the waxing and waning of Yin-Yang), quietly grasping the moments of Yin-Yang transformation so that the timing of practice accords with winter and summer. Yin Qi begins to arise after noon, and Yang Qi stirs at the first quarter-hour of the Zi hour. For this reason, Qian and Kun serve as the cauldron (a figurative vessel for refining the elixir), Kan and Li serve as the medicine, and the remaining sixty hexagrams serve as the firing phases (huohou, the progress and rhythm of practice). Through refining and gentle nourishment, the adept secretly seizes the creative power of Heaven and Earth.

This is like fruit forming on a branch, or a child being conceived in the womb. After ten months of firing, when the Qi is full, the Shen (spirit) suddenly sheds its former form and enters the true embryo, uniting with the Dao (the Way) of Heaven. This is why the scriptures speak of the spirit elixir entering the mouth, the belly, and the five organs. The Cantong qi says, "Like an egg, with yolk and white joined, an inch in each direction, this is the beginning. The four limbs, the five organs, the sinews and bones are all complete, and after ten months it leaves the womb." This may be described as the formless condensing into the formed, which is to say a body beyond the body. If one clings to the old body, one remains trapped on a dark and bewildering path. If one emerges from the Niwan (the upper part of the head, a term in internal alchemy), one can roam freely across Heaven and Earth, have one's name entered in the registers of the immortals, and bear the title of Zhenren (a perfected one). This is precisely the moment when a great person's work is accomplished and their name made.

Such a thing is rare in the world and is not something ordinary people can know. Without an affinity with the immortals from a former life, how could one easily encounter it? Having encountered it, one should hurry to practice, for time flies like an arrow. If you want to catch fish, you should weave your net first, and not stand at the edge of the pond with empty envy. I have heard that you have understood the principles of the medicine for many years. Why do you not gather in your Shen and refine and nourish the mercury and lead (a metaphor in internal alchemy for the essences of Yin and Yang)? Do not let the lamp be blown out by the wind, or you will fall into the six paths of rebirth, and it will be hard to blame Heaven.

This passage is meant to awaken Liu Xian, urging him to gather in his heart and spirit (Shen) and to cultivate "mercury and lead" (a term in Neidan, or internal alchemy, symbolizing Yin-Yang, spirit and Qi, and the like). From this we can see that Neidan must be cultivated through one's own person; it cannot be accomplished by relying on external medicines.

The suffering of the six realms of rebirth (the cycle in which beings turn through six forms of existence: the heavenly, human, asura, animal, hungry ghost, and hell realms) cannot be blamed on Heaven.

In recent times, many people in the world have been deceitful. They compete to put on plain cloth garments and call themselves cultivators of the Dao (the Way). Yet when asked what "metal and wood" refer to, they all keep their mouths shut, speechless.

The Zhiyao (Essential Guide) explains "the joining of metal and wood" this way: if one practicing Neidan does not understand this point, one is unfit to speak of the Returned Elixir (the cultivation process by which the internal elixir is completed and returns to its origin).

Yet some say that absorbing Qi (vital energy) and abstaining from grain follow a separate path and principle of cultivation. Have you not read the Pomi ge (Song of Dispelling Delusion)? It says that the method of Taiyi holding the True (the practice of containing true Qi within "Taiyi") is of the greatest importance.

Although the minor methods of the side doors are countless and tangled, they have nothing whatsoever to do with the Way of the Returning Golden Liquid (the process in Neidan of refining Jing, essence, and Qi and returning to the origin). What is truly the Dao is "Taiyi holding true Qi," "the five stars in alignment," and "the sun and moon joined like twin jade discs." From this the internal elixir condenses, and from this the Dharma Body (the pure body that manifests upon the completion of cultivation) emerges; apart from this there is no second path.

Do not blame me for words that are not smooth and accommodating; it is only that people of the world lack the eye to tell the true from the false. Only when your heart is in communion with mine do I dare tell you everything that is in my heart.

Guizhong tu (Diagram of the Central Mean)

Preface to the "Twelve-Character Formula" of the Guizhong tu.

There are three thousand six hundred methods for nourishing life and prolonging longevity, and dozens of schools associated with them. Most belong to the "side gates" (pangmen), following winding and out-of-the-way paths. Some practice swallowing Qi (fuqi) and distending the abdomen; some practice the "Flying Golden Essence Behind the Elbow"; some inhale Qi and pound the "river cart" (hechē); some hold the breath to master the timing of the fire; some draw in clear Qi and expel turbid Qi; some guide the Qi so that it circulates in unbroken succession; some visualize a tortoise turning and conveying the breath; some model themselves on their own bodily form in the hope of transcendence; and still others visualize the fontanel at the crown of the head or guard the point between the eyebrows. All of these practices add a head on top of a head: they create trouble where there was none, invert the proper order, and run counter to the Dao of ultimate truth. The result is often that the meridians of the whole body become agitated and the upper, middle, and lower Dantian fall out of balance. One sets out to seek long life and instead harms the body.

This is because such practices go against the harmonious workings of Heaven and Earth and do not accord with the natural Dao. After long study of the Cantong qi (Zhouyi Cantong Qi, an important Daoist classic of alchemy), I gained considerable insight, and I blended what I learned into the alchemical scriptures, drawing out their essential points to compose the "Twelve-Character Formula of the Diagram of the Center" (Guizhong tu), which I pass on to seekers of the Dao. Cultivation should take as its root the rectification of the mind and the sincerity of intention, holding to the center so that the inner governs the outer. The "Eight-Character Formula" then serves as a supplement, harmonizing the four seasons so that outward nourishment corresponds with the inner. In this way, one accords above with the Way of Heaven, takes human affairs as a reference in the middle, tacitly matches the transformations of nature, and follows the movement of Yin-Yang. Outwardly one follows the Five Phases, and inwardly one regulates the five viscera, so that daily practice turns in a continuous cycle.

Cultivation need not be forced, nor need one cling to visualization. Rather, one should be calm and tranquil, enter deep stillness, and take hold of the pivot by which primordial Qi moves. The essentials lie in cutting off cravings and desires, settling the mind and Qi, reducing worry and thought, moderating food and drink, evening out the breath, staying alert against drowsiness and fatigue, being careful about what one sees and hears, and nurturing the harmonious Qi bestowed by Heaven. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, in all the ordinary postures of daily life, body and mind should accord with nature. There are no laborious or complicated procedures.

Those who have already established the "Yin'e" (in the Dao of alchemy, a metaphor for the foundation of Neidan practice or the basic form of the alchemical furnace) can use this method to regulate the timing of the fire and nourish the "sacred embryo" (in Neidan practice, a term for the body of the elixir). Those who have not yet established this foundation can use it to increase their primordial Qi and nourish their Shen, gradually preparing to build that foundation. And if one's Jing and Qi have been depleted and one is beset by illness, one can likewise use these methods to expel disease and safeguard primordial Qi, thereby achieving the goals of replenishing the body, extending the years, and nurturing life. This may be called a simple gateway of cultivation.

Diagram of the Center (Guizhong tu)

"Centering within the compass" (guizhong) is like dwelling at the center of a circle. This center is not a fixed point that can be marked out, and it belongs neither to the inside nor to the outside. It clings to no particular image and depends on no particular thing. It is the center of the body and also the center of the mind, like a true self reflected in a great round mirror. If you rectify the mind, stay sincere and single-minded, and let the tangled thoughts in your heart subside, the Perfected Person (zhenren, the true inner self and true nature) will appear. Like a fish in deep water, the Perfected Person swims freely yet never leaves the "square inch" (fangcun, the seat of heart and spirit). This is the meaning of "the Perfected Person lies hidden in the deep abyss, floating and roaming while guarding the center of the compass."

Before joy, anger, sorrow, and delight have shown themselves, the mind stays upright and impartial, and so can rest within the center of the compass. Then the mind is still and the Perfected Person can appear. Even when emotions and outer things come and go, you can move freely like the fish in the abyss, never leaving the square inch. In the four postures of daily life (walking, standing, sitting, and lying down), you should keep your measure and never lose your rhythm. When things arrive, respond to them and deal with them. When they have passed, return to the center, and never let the mind's balance waver. Keep the mind constantly empty and clear, allowing not a speck of dust to settle. Practiced over a long time, neither indulgent nor rigid, you will naturally experience its effects.

The essence of the practice is this. Yin Qi (vital energy) returns entirely to the Kun position, and the myriad things go back to their origin. The Fu hexagram (symbolizing the renewed stirring of Yang Qi) begins to appear, like an eldest son inheriting his father's body. The moment that single line of Yang stirs in concealment, before the myriad things have taken form, is where the work of cultivation begins. At this time, sit cross-legged and upright, gather your Shen (spirit) and look inward, keep your breath fine, slow, and unbroken, and hold silently to the practice. A breath of primordial Qi (the innate original Qi) will then arrive out of emptiness. It is deep, dim, and remote, without color or form, and first appears in the obscurity of the mysterious darkness. It originates at the Kun-Gui position (symbolizing Yin stillness, where Jing and Qi lie hidden) and is born in the kidneys, where it nourishes primal Jing (essence) and replenishes primal Qi. Cultivated continuously in this way, primal Qi is not easily depleted and grows steadily fuller and stronger. At first it can drive out illness, then it restores the state of an infant, and as it accumulates it becomes the foundation of Neidan (internal alchemy).

The Perfected Tuzhan said, "To replenish primal Qi with primal Qi: how could this be ordinary cinnabar?" This is the highest method of nourishing and cultivating life.

"Morning Zhun" is the stage of the noble person beginning to plan and organize. It symbolizes the first sprouting of the myriad things and is also the beginning of benevolence. The Zi hour is when it begins. At this time the newly born primal Qi is in the kidneys. You need not summon it deliberately, for it will come of itself, and you should cherish and tend it. When regulating the breath, do not let yourself hear it. Simply feel it as slow, long, and natural, so that it accords with the rhythm of heaven and earth. After a long time, kidney Qi and heart Qi join, the two Qi interact, and "sweet dew" descends and a "mysterious pearl" forms (in inner cultivation, a metaphor for the condensation of Jing and Qi).

"Evening Meng" means nourishing the correct path in a state of undeveloped simplicity. This is the discipline of the sages, which is to not lose the heart of a newborn child. At the Wu hour, the newly born primal Qi is in the heart. At this time, do not think or deliberate, remain still and unmoving, and turn your Shen inward to illuminate within, so that it joins with the primal Qi. You should sit quietly and gather yourself in. After a long time, heart Qi will naturally join with kidney Qi, and you will reach the effect of "Already Crossed" (Jiji, the harmony of Yin-Yang, with above and below meeting).

Humans are one of the Three Powers of heaven, earth, and humanity. The human body corresponds to heaven and earth, and so it also joins with the Qi of heaven and earth and accords with the essence of True Unity. A person's primal Qi is eight hundred and ten zhang long, like a bellows. Its great cycle follows the movement of heaven, and its small cycle follows the movement of the sun. But if people cannot model themselves on the patterns of heaven and earth, they deplete their primal Qi, injure their spirit, and confuse their minds. This is people going against the pattern themselves, so how could it be that heaven and earth abandoned them? If you can follow the pattern and seize the right moment, you can unite with the transforming and nourishing work of heaven and earth, and use it in refining the elixir and inner cultivation, in pursuit of the way of long life and lasting vision. All other beings besides humans receive turbid and impure Qi. They exist within primal Qi, but are merely things shaped by creation and cannot command primal Qi.

The Cantong qi says, "In spring and summer the emphasis is on the inner, from the Zi hour to the Chen and Si hours. In autumn and winter one works outward, from the Wu hour to the Xu and Hai hours." It also says, "Rewards and punishments correspond to spring and autumn, light and darkness follow cold and heat. The words of the hexagrams and lines express benevolence and righteousness, and convey joy and anger according to the season. Following the four seasons in this way, the Five Phases each find their proper order."

Here, the Zi, Chou, and Yin hours correspond to spring, the Mao, Chen, and Si hours to summer, the Wu, Wei, and Shen hours to autumn, and the You, Xu, and Hai hours to winter. The Zi, Chou, and Yin hours belong to spring, when Wood (one of the Five Phases: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) governs. Wood presides over benevolence, and this is the time when the myriad things burgeon, so one cultivates with "harmonious warmth," making the mind warm and at ease, like climbing a terrace on a spring day. "Harmony" means beauty and free flow: when the inner is centered and upright, it reaches freely through the limbs and shows itself in conduct, and this is beauty at its utmost. It is also like an infant who cannot yet speak, whose cry is loud yet never hoarse, or who knows nothing of union between man and woman, yet whose genitals stir naturally. These are all signs of harmony and abundant Jing and Qi.

The Mao, Chen, and Si hours belong to summer, when Fire governs. Fire presides over ritual propriety, and the myriad things flourish in orderly abundance, so one cultivates with "balanced harmony." Having attained harmony, one must also be impartial, neither excessive nor deficient, so that one's temperament can unfold with ease and without license. The Wu, Wei, and Shen hours belong to autumn, when Metal governs. Metal presides over righteousness, plants and trees wither, and the myriad things ripen and are harvested, so one cultivates by gathering in with "stillness and restraint," allowing each thing to fulfill its nature. The You, Xu, and Hai hours belong to winter, when Water governs. Water presides over wisdom, the myriad things return to their roots, and primal Qi begins to contract into quiet solemnity, so one stores primal Qi with "solemn restraint," in accord with the Qi of heaven and earth.

The Cantong qi says, "The Perfected Person lies hidden in the deep abyss, floating and roaming while guarding the center of the compass." The Perfected Person here is the true self within my own body. When gathered, it is called Shen; when put to use, it is called the mind; when still and settled, it is called nature. It belongs neither to movement nor to stillness, and being empty it is spiritually responsive, which is also called the true mind. The true mind roams within the center of the compass, within the order symbolized by the circle and the square. It is the master of the workings of creation, directing change without losing the center, and corresponds to the four seasons. It takes trustworthiness as its root and nourishes primal Qi, and so it is also called "true Earth."

The true mind issues commands, nourishes primal Qi, and regulates primal Jing, transforming it into pure Qi. It governs the Five Phases without forcibly suppressing them, and so brings the Qi of heaven and earth into harmony. Therefore one must rectify the mind and be sincere and single-minded, so as to be free of selfish thoughts. Only then can Qian and Kun be at peace and Kan and Li meet (symbolizing the harmony of Yin-Yang). When Yin-Yang is in accord, the myriad things each find their proper place, the sun, moon, and stars move in order, and in the end peace reigns under heaven. At this stage the state is prosperous, the people are at peace, and every part of the body is likewise harmonious and well ordered.

Lü Dongbin's (Chunyang Zhenren, the "Perfected One of Pure Yang") lyric Qinyuan Chun sets out the principles of refining the Returned Elixir, the key to Neidan (internal alchemy), and it has circulated throughout the world. Although many commentaries exist, they are often convoluted and empty. They do not realize that the crux of the immortals' method does not lie within the three thousand six hundred gateways. One should grasp its intent with the mind and examine its meaning with care; only when one truly understands its subtlety will one believe that the work proceeds of itself. It may be said that the essential principles are not complicated and the cultivation is not difficult. Thus one casts off all manner of doubt and enters the gate of all wonders.

I therefore wrote four lines of seven-character verse, and added a quatrain by the Perfected One Tongning, for sixteen poems in all. Following the figure of "twenty catties," I annotated them item by item in order to reveal their mysteries. Readers, please contemplate them carefully; once you grasp a single key point, everything will connect everywhere. Written in the bingyin year of the Xianchun era, at the Shangsi Festival (the spring purification festival), by Yuxizi, a latecomer to learning from Yichun, as a preface.

Qinyuan Chun

To raise this topic is to touch on matters of the Heart of the Dao. Hey!

A fine day and a clear night are just the time for the mysterious mechanism to reveal itself. Readers, please contemplate them carefully; once you grasp a single key point, everything will connect everywhere. Written in the bingyin year of the Xianchun era, at the Shangsi Festival, by Yuxizi, a latecomer to learning from Yichun, as a preface.

Qinyuan Chun

On a fine day and a clear night, the heart and spirit (Shen) are lucid, like a newborn infant in an undivided, primordial state.

From this one grasps the delight of the stringless zither (symbolizing a realm reached by inner realization rather than outward sound); the subtleties of the notes gong, shang, and the rest are not made known to outsiders.

"Sevenfold Return of the Elixir" means that Metal returns to its original nature; this is the "sevenfold return." When the work of Earth is complete, it is called the "ninefold reversion."

When emotion returns to the sea of nature, this is called joining; when the furnace fire refines the flower of Metal, this is called return.

Yin-Yang is nourished in blended unity, and all the refining depends on True Earth (a Neidan term for the key force that harmonizes and bears Yin and Yang). When the numinous substance is perfected, one can rise beyond the dust of the world.

Those who cultivate the Dao should know that the Great Dao lies within one's own person; to refine the inner elixir, one must forge it again and again.

The Supreme One (Taiyi, the Daoist term for the primordial Qi) divides into three, and the practitioner must hold fast to the "One" within them; the Great Medicine (in Neidan, the condensed union of Jing, Qi, and Shen) can only be sought from within oneself.

Alas, of the thousands and tens of thousands in the world, all spend their days chasing pleasure.

First one must refine the self (to discipline body and mind and subdue stray thoughts) and await the proper moment. Refining the self begins with subduing the mind's thoughts, and then the gathering of the medicine will have its fitting season.

Turning the pivot of the cultivation,

Alas, of the thousands and tens of thousands in the world, all spend their days chasing pleasure.

First one must refine the self and await the moment. Refining the self begins with subduing the mind's thoughts; the gathering of the medicine has its fitting season.

Turn the inner mechanism of cultivation, and your conduct will differ from the common world; make the mind calm and unattached, pure as an infant's. Look closely at the creation of Heaven and Earth: originally there is no tangible substance behind it. When spring arrives south of the Yangtze, the flowers simply bloom.

When the Qi of the first Yang stirs, the Kun hexagram (symbolizing pure Yin) turns into the Fu hexagram (symbolizing the birth of Yang). Is this not what the Zhouyi (Book of Changes) means by "the Fu hexagram reveals the heart of Heaven and Earth, which gives life without cease"?

Sitting on the meditation cushion, put aside all stray thoughts; the movement of Shen (spirit) and Qi within the body gradually slows. A warm breath circles in the Tiangu (the "Valley of Heaven," a cavity or energy site within the head), and you know that the moment of the Yang's return has come.

The night is deep and the water clock's hours are long. "Midnight" here means the middle of the night; only amid the long dripping of the clock does the night begin to feel deeper and time longer.

The breath surges on without break, and all around, every sound is still. The winter solstice within the body arrives precisely at the third watch. Who can appreciate such a mood? One hears only the dripping of the bronze water clock.

The lead cauldron turns gently. The "cauldron" spoken of here is not one made of metal, nor is the "furnace" the furnace in the moon. The Li trigram (symbolizing fire) rises from beneath the Kan trigram (symbolizing water), while the Dui trigram (symbolizing the marsh) rests within the cauldron.

The Jade Rabbit, which symbolizes Yin Jing (essence), is decocted like boiling broth and gradually seethes and flows; the fire in the golden furnace burns fiercely, and its brightness grows stronger. At this moment one hears only the dripping of the bronze water clock.

The lead cauldron turns gently. The "cauldron" spoken of here is not one made of metal, nor is the "furnace" the furnace in the moon. The Li trigram rises from beneath the Kan trigram, while the Dui trigram rests within the cauldron.

The Jade Rabbit, which symbolizes Yin Jing (essence), is decocted like boiling broth and gradually seethes and flows; the fire in the golden furnace burns fiercely, and its brightness grows stronger.

In the profound and indistinct darkness, who can recognize the reality contained within the formless? The Golden Flower held within (the essential spiritual radiance spoken of in internal alchemy, or Neidan) is the foundation for attaining the sacred Dao.

Light passes through the curtain; Yang Qi arises within the Yuanshen (original spirit, a person's fundamental spiritual essence), and the spirit-light flickers. Gather the Shen inward and contemplate, returning the mind to a realm of boundless stillness.

The first green Qi (the primordial Qi) is not a visible color: it comes out from the Dragon Tower (a palace image in cultivation symbolism) and returns to the Phoenix Gate. Beneath the crystal curtain, candlelight shines back and forth; by the river the rain has just stopped, and the scene is clear and bright.

Creation moves swiftly, and Yin-Yang return to a single chamber like husband and wife; the moon travels to the Yang position, and amid the peach-blossom waves, Dragon and Tiger meet. Here "Dragon and Tiger" is a metaphor for the union of the two Qi, Yin and Yang, in cultivation.

Red and black unite, and ordinary people can hardly fathom it; everything depends on Wu-Ji (terms from the Five Phases, commonly referring to the Earth Qi that stands at the center and harmonizes) acting as the go-between. Take this handful of blended essence of Qian and Kun, and seek it and draw it in with full attention.

The work of advancing the fire is still at the stage symbolized by the Dou and Wei lunar lodges. Fire is born within water, and blossoms open within thunder; guard it with single-minded focus, seize the moment with care, and apply the method with steadiness.

Within Hongmeng (the primordial chaos before Heaven and Earth divided), the Qi swirls and circulates, just like red apricot blossoms bursting open in the spring breeze of the second month. Simply hold firmly to the Golden Gate (the passage in cultivation that guards Jing and Qi), and the key to transformation always lies within oneself.

Beside the Qu River, gaze upon the clear moonlight, and take hold of the proper method.

Within Hongmeng, the Qi swirls and circulates, just like red apricot blossoms bursting open in the spring breeze of the second month.

Hold the Golden Pass (jin guan) firmly shut. This symbolizes the key gateway within the body. Let the movement of Qi (vital energy) turn within, and you will find that the pivot of all transformation lies in oneself.

Upon the Qujiang River, one gazes at the clear, bright moon and sees a crow fly past.

The meeting of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl springs from romantic destiny, yet the principle it holds is the union of the tortoise and the snake, which symbolize the two Qi of Yin-Yang. Each receives the nature of Yin or Yang. The Yang crow (symbolizing Yang Qi) meets the new moon day (the first day of the lunar month, symbolizing the first stirring of Yin) and joins with Chanjuan (the moon, symbolizing Yin Qi). Yin and Yang Qi nourish each other and circulate in turn. This describes the harmony of lead and mercury (alchemical terms for two different Yin-Yang medicines). Never mistake it for the nine windings of the small intestine. The poem of the Immortal Xiao says: "Above the Qujiang, the magpie bridge spans; the love of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl is, at root, the Dao." From this the Great Medicine, the Golden Elixir, is born. If you doubt it, simply knock open the Jia-Yi gate (symbolizing a gateway within the body), and the Twin Boys (symbolizing Yin and Yang Qi, or the inner spirit) will guide your practice. The Jia-Yi gate is also the Wu-Ji gate (symbolizing the central palace within the body). The principle within is profoundly deep and hard to put into words, but in the end it concerns only one's own person.

Alas! If you wish to know the road down the mountain, ask someone who has walked it.

At that time one must personally take the dagui (an alchemical term for a small measure of elixir). The "Two Earths" are Wu and Ji (earth-element symbols, representing the central palace), and the "Golden Blade" is lead and mercury.

Dragon coils and tiger crouches, guarding the center; Li and Kan (Fire and Water in the Bagua, or Eight Trigrams, often symbolizing Yin and Yang) join and move together, like the sun and moon shining in unison.

After taking the medicine, one awakens, gives thanks, and returns to the grotto-dwelling. In the Flower Pool (symbolizing the place in the body where bodily fluids gather), a rich fragrance lingers, as if lotus blossoms were in bloom.

Who would believe that an infant can be nurtured out of emptiness? Yin and Yang lie hidden within the body, and within the vessel there are sun and moon. All immortals and sages were originally no different from ordinary people. If you have not experienced it yourself, how could I explain it to you?

Tend the spiritual root with care, and nourish Shen (spirit) with Qi, so that lead and mercury combine and give rise to a true body. Suddenly it emerges from the Niwan (a symbolic site within the crown of the head), and only then does one believe that talk of the immortals is no deception.

To tell the clear from the turbid in the source of the waters, one must also discern the joining and parting of Wood and Metal. Without a master's guidance, it is hard to truly understand. Lead sinks and silver floats; the clear is above and the turbid below. The clear is the Golden Flower, and the turbid is the substance of lead. Joining the Golden Flower with the Wood fluid is the wondrous secret of working with lead. When the two medicines meet, emotion and nature fuse. Once the millet pearl (an alchemical term for the tiny elixir pearl formed through condensation in Neidan, or internal alchemy) has formed, Metal and Wood part again. Without a master's guidance, the crux of this is hard to grasp.

Clear and turbid, sinking and floating, all come from one source. Taking the clear and discarding the turbid is more subtle still. When to join and when to separate must be discerned, and its mystery depends on a single word from an enlightened master.

The essentials of the Dao are deep and subtle, and the workings of Heaven are far-reaching. Even if one begins the practice quickly, it still demands a long period of sustained effort.

When one's cultivation of the Dao (the Way) reaches the point of feeling shame, one finally understands that one's own abilities are not yet profound enough. Master Baiyun said that those who slander this art of the Dao are like people sweeping Mount Kunlun with an enormous broom, while those who savor its subtle wonders are like swans drinking from the great sea. A frog at the bottom of a well or a bird on a garden fence has a narrow view; how could either know how vast the ocean is and how high the sky?

Those who study diligently but have not yet met an enlightened teacher will surely meet one in the end. To meet a teacher and then fail to practice would be greater folly still. One should treasure every moment and not let time pass in vain, but awaken quickly and practice with diligence. When will the precious pearl (a metaphor for the treasured Neidan (internal alchemy) or Dao methods gained through cultivation) finally be in hand and radiate its light? If the hermitage where one practices has fallen into ruin, how should it be rebuilt?

Within the millet-grain pearl (a Daoist Neidan term for a tiny inner realm that contains the vastness of heaven and earth), the world is wide, and immortals (those who have attained the Dao) gather there in great numbers. Many have not yet found the chance to cultivate the Dao; they can only look up and sigh, lamenting in vain that heaven is too high to climb. In a poem, Master Changchun (Qiu Chuji) wrote: The sun and moon fly swiftly across the sky overhead, and time too rushes past before one's eyes. Looking back, one has grown old; even to begin cultivating now is already too late.

During the Shaoxing era, strange and hidden events often occurred in the household of Pacification Commissioner Wei, south of Yichun. One day, an extraordinary person walked straight into the study and called for Commissioner Wei to come out and talk. Commissioner Wei was napping in the daytime, and the attendants dared not announce the visitor. The extraordinary person then wrote a ci poem on the wall and left, set to the tune Su Mu Zhe. When Commissioner Wei woke and saw the inscription, they were filled with regret and sent people to search for the visitor, but never found them.

The poem says: The gold within the water surges up to the Ox and Dipper constellations (names of lunar mansions); the jade lock and golden gate guard the door, watched over by a protective spirit youth. In the Red Water Elixir Terrace (a symbolic realm in Neidan practice), dragon and tiger come and go in their circuits; the ten thousand phenomena in all their variety are cast into the millet-grain pearl. Drink from the spirit-spring, and discern the timing of the fire; the Taiyi furnace (a symbolic cauldron of Neidan practice) opens, the elixir is complete, and divine light shines forth. Fleeting fame and wealth cannot last; one should begin cultivation at once and search deeply into the principle by which being arises from nothingness.

The road to the Penglai isles of the immortals depends on the completion of one's merit and practice; only then can one return alone, treading the clouds.

The Xuhuang Jing (scripture) says: All who wish to cultivate the Dao must first establish merit and virtue. For this reason, the Celestial Sovereigns of the heavens, the Exalted Heavenly Emperors, the True Persons of the heavens, and the immortals of the heavens all take merit and virtue as their foundation.

The road to the Penglai isles of the immortals depends on the completion of one's merit and practice; only then can one return alone, treading the clouds.

The Xuhuang Jing (Scripture of the Void Sovereign) says: Whoever wishes to cultivate the Dao (the Way) must first establish merit. For this reason, the many Celestial Emperors, the exalted Heavenly Sovereigns, the Perfected Ones (zhenren) and the immortals of the various heavens all rose to the ranks of the sages and the Perfected through diligent cultivation of meritorious practice. The heavens keep a record of people's merit. When students of the Dao in the world devote themselves wholly to cultivating perfection, and their merit is complete and their virtue accomplished, they can shed the mortal body and become immortals. From immortals they then ascend to become Perfected Ones, unhindered and in accord with nature. A Perfected One can gather and disperse at will: dispersing, they become qi (vital energy); condensing, they become a person. Their spiritual powers are free and unbounded, their transformations leave no trace, and they can fly through the Three Realms (the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm) and pass in and out of the realms of darkness.

At the beginning, the practitioner must treasure jing (essence) and qi, and gather in the shen (spirit). They first lay a foundation and nourish it. After that, they enter stillness and train for three thousand days, and the effort of inner cultivation must not fall short in the slightest. Only when the embryonic breathing within the body (taixi, a term in neidan, or internal alchemy, for the state in which inner transformation has matured) is complete and fully ripened can they transcend the ordinary world and pay homage in the realm of the Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi). At the same time, they must also accumulate outward merit and deeds broadly, so as to accord with the Dao of Heaven. Therefore one cannot have too much merit, nor too many good deeds. When merit reaches three thousand, one may become an Immortal of Great Luo; when good deeds are complete at three thousand, one may become a Guest of Great Luo.

Patriarch Zhongli said: "To have merit but no good deeds is like having no feet. To have good deeds but no merit is like having feet that cannot move forward. Only when both merit and good deeds are present are the two feet complete. Who would say that such a person has no share in immortality?"

Those who cultivate perfection and attain the Dao first dwell on Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou, where they become scattered immortals (sanxian). After that, the Primordial Lord of the Supreme One (Taiyi Yuanjun) summons them and bestows registers and charts upon them, and their names are entered in the rolls of the immortals. They then rise through the sacred ranks in turn, attend the Jade Emperor in audience, and are honored with the title of Perfected One. They must go on to guide those who come later to the Dao and spread teaching widely. Only when they reach a state where no further cultivation or verification is needed are they called "Ziran" (Naturalness).

A high Perfected One (gaozhen, an eminent Perfected One who has attained the Dao) has a poem that says: "With the ten months of gestation complete, the work of fire phasing may be set down. The effort of inner cultivation has accumulated to three thousand full days, yet one must still rely on outward merit to accord with the Dao of Heaven. Thus one transcends the ordinary world, pays homage to the Primordial Beginning, and attains the rank of Supreme Immortal."

On the day he attained the Dao, the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Perfected One Wazhang composed the lyric "Jie Pei Ling" (To the Tune of "Untying the Girdle Pendant"): "Scholars of cultivation, diligent practice of merit is no small matter. One must understand how the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), the five basic elements that make up all things in heaven and earth, run in reverse and in proper order, and how their sequence is inverted. The subtle principle is fathomless: within the jade furnace, dragon coils and tiger crouches; within the golden cauldron, the supreme treasure is refined. When the Yang Spirit (yangshen, the pure-yang shen that the practitioner has perfected) leaves the body, it is distant and indistinct, and in the blink of an eye it has roamed all three islands. When coming and going have gradually grown pure and practiced, one must draw it back in, seek still deeper mystery, unite with True Emptiness, and return to the Great Void."

Five Secret-Language Poems

First

This art is like breathing out a single breath: in its expansion and contraction it is swift as the wind, leaving no trace to follow. Whether released or gathered in, it moves with incomparable speed. Among a hundred thousand people, one can hardly pick out one or two who are fit for it. Only those who truly understand this Way (Dao) will have it passed on to them.

Second

When it unfolds, it is like a startling thunderclap or a flash of lightning; when it is complete and harmonious, it is like the bright moon. Those without ambition and a sense of responsibility should not approach it lightly. If you wish to realize the fruit of Buddhahood and become a Realized Person, you must put this art to use; its subtle points must be transmitted by a master.

Third

It can cut through difficulties and split open confusion, and all its marvelous uses come from the master's transmission. Once cultivation has succeeded, one returns at ease, keeping what one has gained safely stored in one's sleeve, like a grandchild cherished and raised by an elder.

Fourth

The radiance blazes so fiercely that it seems to press upon the body, chilling the bones and making the hair stand on end. What is to be done? A person of true courage and insight should not be afraid; with a single sweep, the true nature is revealed on the spot.

Fifth

Only one or two among a hundred thousand can attain this Way; once it is put into practice, it accords with the minds of the sages. The Red Child (Chitong; in Daoist internal alchemy (Neidan), a red-colored child that often refers to the manifestation of inner spirit and qi) displays auspicious and miraculous signs: withered trees burst into bloom, and iron turns to gold.

In Praise of the Image of Chunyang, the Immortal

The supreme virtue (De) of the Perfected Chunyang (Lü Dongbin, styled Chunyangzi) is beyond words, and he takes no pride in his vast achievements, so there is no need to praise him in verse. Heaven has no favorites and aids only the virtuous; the transforming influence of the sage-master therefore remains ever present in the human world.

His bearing was handsome and phoenix-like, a true Confucian born for his time; his face was like the moon and his beard like a dragon, a descendant of the imperial house of Tang. A single dream of yellow millet awakened him suddenly, and from then on he cut off the gateway of birth, death, and rebirth. Once his elixir was perfected, he sought only to deliver others; though exalted in rank, he often came down to rescue those in distress.

When he went to Nanzhou, he explained the essential methods of alchemy, such as gold and lead, wood and mercury; when he traveled to Bianjing, he taught such practices as Jade Liquid and Suka. He revived the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) tradition, so that countless millions received its blessings; he left behind three swords as admonitions, and many disciples were protected by him. At times he appeared in the realm of white duckweed and red dreams; at times he came and went through the Purple Mansion and Pure Capital (the realm of immortals in Daoist belief). Once one lets go of all attachments, the true original nature of the Great Void becomes visible; and afterward, as before, he stands in attendance before the Hall of Total Illumination.

All under heaven admire his bearing, and his numinous traces are spread in every direction. Guo Shang'ao once said he had long wished to return; Daoist Peng also hoped to receive his guidance. This Daoist Peng is Peng Chongyang.

Only in my old age have I come to understand that the habits I accumulated in former lives still cling to me. Ever since I became conscious of myself, I have overreached my abilities and loved everything, yet I never found the time to investigate the Way of the Immortals or the Way of the Buddha. Among my seniors was Yue, styled Suchan, a descendant of an official family of Changsha, whose interests matched mine, and so we became friends despite the difference in our ages. I had long known that Yue, together with Peng Chongyang and Hu Guchan, had been a companion in cultivation, and that all three had received the oral instructions of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) from Master Yuxi.

One day our conversation turned by chance to cultivation, and I said with feeling: "In my daily life I sought out friends and teachers without regard for my own life. Later I met Master Yuxi, who said to you and me that in the past we had merely taken a casual liking to miscellaneous learning, that the study of the Dao (the Way) has its own proper time, that now that I had come this far the time had arrived, and that I should wait a little for an auspicious day to receive the transmission."

On a jiazi day, in the chen hour, the master quietly pointed out a few words to me, and I tried to practice accordingly. Within a month the Dao of the elixir had been confirmed in experience. The so-called golden light filling the whole body, the jade towers and crimson palaces (the pavilions of the immortal realm), and the dragon and tiger, the infant and the maiden (symbolic terms in Neidan, or internal alchemy) all appeared clearly within a trance-like state.

When Yue heard of this, tears came and a sigh followed. "Since I first heard of the teachings of the Dao," Yue said, "my body has been ailing, and I have been unable to sit upright and gather in my mind. So I have not yet been able to begin the work of advancing the fire (the stage in Neidan of regulating the fire phases). You were born with the bones of an immortal, and this is no small matter. I dare not act as your teacher." Yue then pointed to a local man who closely resembled Master Yuxi, had me dress him in robe and cap, and had a small portrait of the master painted from him, to be venerated as the image of my teacher. Yue also solemnly entrusted to me the master's surviving manuscripts and ten written works.

Later I heard from a shallow-minded man, the Chief Steward Shu, that Master Yuxi had once served in my family's household. When my father's term as Pacification Commissioner ended, he returned to the Huai region on the same convoy as the master. The master lodged on a grain-transport boat, which was tied by an iron chain to the back of the official vessel. As they were nearing Zhenzhou, wind and waves suddenly rose, the iron chain snapped, and the people, the boat, and all its goods were swallowed by the flood. Two days later, however, the master appeared at Yangzi Bridge, carrying a small bundle in one hand, took leave of my father face to face beside the weaving boats, and departed. Only then did my family learn that the master possessed a method of the Dao by which one could fall into water without drowning, and we marveled at it endlessly.

It has now been fifty-five years since I received the transmission, and I am nearly ninety. With what strength I have, I have painted the immortal's portrait at the end of the preface to the ten works and had these writings carved and printed, hoping that they will be widely circulated. In the fourteenth year of the Zhizheng era, on such and such a day of such and such a month, Wang Gui of Zhongyang, styled Junzhang, burned incense and respectfully wrote this.

Yuxizi's Essential Guide to the Elixir Classic (Yuxizi Danjing Zhiyao), Volume Two.