《真仙秘传火候法》

The method of cultivating the fire timing (huohou) does not rely on imagining an empty, insubstantial qi (vital energy), nor does it refer to the true qi of the breath above the waist. The fire has three kinds. The heart belongs to the Sovereign Fire and is called the "Upper Mei." The kidneys belong to the Minister Fire and are called the "Middle Mei." The bladder belongs to the People's Fire and is called the "Lower Mei." When the three kinds of qi gather, they become fire, and when they disperse, they become qi again. For this reason the fire is called the "True Fire of the Three Mei" (Sanmei Zhenhuo).

This fire-qi rises and descends and circulates in an endless cycle, like the Way of Heaven. The scripture (Jing) uses measures such as the "liang" and "zhu," together with the cycles of the heavens, to describe the rhythm of the fire timing. Heaven's qi adds one seasonal node every five days, and so the practitioner advances or retreats the fire timing once every five days. Master Lü said: "Each time the fire is circulated, nourish the Yellow Dame within" (the Yellow Dame is an image in internal alchemy (Neidan) for the harmonizing, central force that balances Yin-Yang). Haichan said: "When refining the inner elixir, do not let the fire dragon scatter; begin at the hours of Xu and Hai, and stop at the hour of Zi." The "fire dragon" here is a metaphor in Neidan for the circulating fire.

In practice, one should sit quietly in a secluded room and constantly clear away stray thoughts. Hold the body lightly upright, relax the abdomen, and keep the breath gentle and long, without forcing it. Silently envision the Dantian (the energy center, the place of inner cultivation in Neidan) turning ceaselessly like a wheel of fire. Keep both flanks still; when tired, rest, and then resume. Imagine the fire wheel gathering and dispersing, and in this way regulate the heart-fire so that the fire-qi enters the Yellow Court (Huangting; in Neidan, an inner region of the body). At the start, one may feel a slight pain in the abdomen, which then gradually turns into warmth. The scripture says that practicing this one method alone can replenish weakness, increase strength, bring ease and comfort, and extend life.

The scripture then sets out the stages by which the fire timing is progressively increased. Within one hundred days, combine the practice with the union of Dragon and Tiger (a Neidan expression for the harmonizing of Yin-Yang), applying five liang of fire, refining from the hour of Xu until the hour of Zi, so that the potency of the medicine is full. At two hundred days, apply ten liang of fire, refining from the hour of You until Zi, so that cinnabar is refined into golden sand and the Sacred Embryo (in Neidan, the sign that the inner elixir has been achieved) is complete. At three hundred days, apply fifteen liang of fire, refining from the hour of Shen until Zi, so that cinnabar is refined into gold and pure Yang qi arises. In total, three hundred days and thirty liang of fire are used, which is why it is called "merit fulfilled at three thousand." The end of the scripture further explains the methods of measurement through terms such as golden sand, condensed breath, the zhu, and the liang, and it mentions the "Golden Essence Flying Behind the Elbows" (a Neidan practice for circulating essence and qi).

Jade Capital Mountain (Yujing Shan)

The treatise states: whenever one refines the Golden Elixir and begins to apply the fire phases, one starts from the jiazi day of the eleventh month. At this time the Yang qi is just being born and contends with the five Yin lines; this is called the hexagram Fu, "Thunder within Earth" (one of the sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhou Yi, symbolizing the first return of Yang qi). Why is this so? The hexagram Kun is the mother of the hexagram Zhen. When the lowest line of Kun changes, it becomes Zhen; Zhen belongs to Wood, and here Wood symbolizes Yang qi. Kun belongs to Yin and, among the Five Phases, to Earth; the five Earth lines are able to nourish a single Yang line. This single Yang refers to mercury, symbolizing the silver contained within lead. The Cantong qi says, "Thus the foundation and omens are established," which speaks of Yang qi arising from the transformation of Kun.

Therefore, at the start of the Fu hexagram, with Kun above and Zhen below, the "yellow sprout" (an alchemical term for the newly emerging medicine or Yang qi) receives its first nurturing, and transformation gradually begins from here. "Beginning" here means that in the month after this day, starting from the zi hour, every five days, totaling sixty double-hours, is counted as one "phase" (a stage of the fire process). Three phases combine into one Qi, and the fire is circulated accordingly. In circulating the fire, one inhales through the nose and holds the breath, sits upright, and directs the heart-fire upward; one must also make the fire at the crown descend to the Dantian (energy center). Day and night, it circulates through eight hundred and ten zhang.

Here length and breath are again used as analogies for the fire phases: the foot is divided into inches. If one understands the correspondence between inches and tenths, and then holds fast to the measures of weight, the combined numbers, and the hundred divisions of the day, one can say, "To observe the Way of Heaven lies in the palm of the hand," meaning that the movement of the heavenly Dao can be grasped through these numerical principles. In ordinary breathing, the pulse travels six inches in a single breath; four such breaths make two feet four inches, called one "blade"; two zhang four feet is called one "gui"; two hundred forty feet is called one "zhu"; two thousand four hundred feet is called one "liang." One jin has sixteen liang, totaling three hundred eighty-four zhu. These numbers correspond to the rhythm of Yin-Yang movement, and also to the three hundred sixty days of the year and the twenty-four solar terms. Taking half of these, they correspond to the stalk-numbers in the Yi, and in the human body to the breath-numbers.

In practice, the cauldron (the vessel used in alchemical refining) is changed according to the stage, and the fire is gradually increased up to nine nodes, after which it is no longer increased. Then, following the fire phases, the qi of the yellow sprout and white snow (alchemical terms for medicinal substances or subtle qi arising in the refining process) is gradually added, and these are gathered into the cauldron and refined into the Golden Elixir. When the elixir has been refined for nine months, the cauldron is changed; this is called the "Nine-Turn Golden Elixir."

The Middle Fire Phase of the Sixty-Four Hours of Martial Fire

Although the lead and mercury have already coagulated, they have not yet been placed in the cauldron to be refined into the Golden Elixir. When the elixir has been refined for nine months, the cauldron is changed; this is called the "Nine-Turn Golden Elixir."

The Middle Fire Phase of the Sixty-Four Hours of Martial Fire

Lead and mercury (a metaphor in Neidan, the internal alchemy, often referring to the two kinds of Yin-Yang essential qi), though already condensed into an elixir, cannot yet be stabilized at once. They must still be refined and nourished through "fire phasing" (huohou), so that the original qi (Yuanqi) is gathered in and guards itself, finally becoming the foundation of life cultivation.

The Record of the Meeting of Perfected Ones at Xishan describes a method of applying the fire between the Zi hour and the hour before noon, intended to make kidney qi rise and heart fluid descend. On the day the elixir is taken, the fire phasing is arranged according to the hours of Zi, Wu, Yin, Shen, and so on. At the Zi hour, the martial fire is applied for one hundred and sixty-one breaths; at the Yin hour, the civil fire for one hundred and eight breaths; the Wu-Ji fire for sixty-four breaths; and the Jia-Bing fire for seventy-two breaths. The Mao and You hours are called "Pingtou" (the level steal), and the fire is applied at Yin and Shen. For men, the Bingyin hour is the birth time; for women, the Renshen hour.

After taking the elixir, one performs the "Luoxing Ji fire." Sit upright and still, preserve the spirit (Shen), and hold the "external kidneys" (here referring to the perineal region) correctly. Clear the mind, cut off stray thoughts, and embrace the origin while guarding the One. Then regulate the breath seventy-two times. From this point on, one must not give way to joy, anger, or impatience, lest the breath be scattered and disordered. This is no small matter.

Circulating the Water

Place the cauldron (ding, a metaphor in Neidan for the body or the place of cultivation) in front of the chest, and do not let the mind mingle with it. Hold the breath seventy-two times. When desire suddenly rises and falls, the key lies in keeping firm control and not losing one's composure. Be careful to store up strength, like an army drawn up in formation that does not yet go into battle. At the time of refining and union, practice must follow the Zi and Wu hours.

The "Five-Character Formula of the Nine Cauldrons" consists of "preserve, contract, inhale, seal, and exhale," also called the "Five Methods of Consolidation." The scripture states once more that when desire rises and falls, one must remain steady and undisturbed and carefully store up strength; at the time of refining and union, the fire phasing of the Zi and Wu hours must still be observed.

The Perfected One handed down this convenient method of practice and revealed the key to fire phasing.

When I first entered the Dao, I heard an immortals' saying: "In the secrets of the immortals, what is easy to understand is often not kept secret, while what is hard to grasp is not lightly transmitted; the sages pass on the principles of the medicines, but not the firing phases." That is to say, one may perhaps learn what the medicines are, but the firing phases (huohou) are very hard to understand directly from another person.

Later I traveled far and wide seeking teachers and companions, and gradually came to know such teachings as Li (South) and Kan (North), Wood (East) and Metal (West), the rising and falling of Dragon and Tiger, and the sun and moon, hun and po souls. I also understood the cauldron and vessel, the medicines, the Three Passes, and the principle of following the course that gives birth to life versus reversing it to overcome death. Yet I never clarified the firing phases, and so the elixir could not be completed. I read through every scripture and treatise and probed their roots, only to find that this cannot be worked out by intelligence alone; it can only be realized for oneself.

When the true immortals speak of the subtlety of the firing phases, they always say one must meet a genuine teacher and receive oral and mind-to-mind transmission. Those who study the Dao and stall, or give up halfway because of this, are as many as the hairs on an ox. I thought of how fortunate I was to have encountered such supreme opportunity, and that if I still failed to obtain the secret of the firing phases, I too might become one of them. So I forgot sleep and food, and pored again and again over the immortal scriptures and secret texts I had gathered over the years. Though I felt I had grasped something, I still did not dare to be certain. Several years passed in this way, until at last I met a master who transmitted this marvelous teaching to me.

My teacher said: "After I received my own master's transmission, I too labored over the immortal scriptures, examining them character by character. I felt I had understood something, yet I still could not be sure. Only after several years did I meet a master who transmitted this marvelous teaching. Hearing my master's explanation, I understood: when the immortal scriptures say, 'If you only seek the written words, you will never understand with certainty; the principle must be grasped from within the words; and if you do not meet a true teacher, the texts are merely empty talk,' were they speaking casually?" After receiving my teacher's guidance, I began to practice. After a period of time, the Great Elixir was completed, which was truly wondrous.

When the immortal scriptures say, "What is easy to understand is not kept secret; what is hard to grasp is not lightly transmitted; the medicines are transmitted but not the firing phases," the concern is that ordinary, shallow people, having easily learned the secret, would carelessly disclose it or misuse the workings of Heaven, and thereby grow disrespectful. It is also because even those with true aspiration for the Dao, however devoutly they read the Neidan (internal alchemy) classics, will still struggle to understand the firing phases if they do not meet a genuine teacher. The ancients, having no alternative, borrowed the hexagram images and line texts of the Yi (Changes) as metaphors for the waxing and waning of sun and moon and the rising and falling of Yin-Yang, and used them to explain the guiding principle of "extraction and addition" (choutian, the adjustment of increase and decrease).

Examining the essentials of alchemical refining closely, true lead and true mercury are the foundation, and the firing phases are the key. In the early stage of study, however, Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and Shen (spirit) are the root, and the firing phases come second. The scripture says: "Heaven attains the One and is clear; Earth attains the One and is at peace; humans attain the One and are numinous." Nothing in the human being is more numinous than Shen, nothing more precious than Qi, and nothing more worthy of cherishing than Jing. The eyes lie beneath Kunlun (symbolizing the head) and are the gateway of Shen; the mouth and nose are the gateway of Qi; the weilü (the pass at the lower end of the spine) is the passage of Jing. Of Shen, there is the distinction of Yin and Yang; of Qi, the distinction of clear and turbid; of Jing, the distinction of flowing downward in the ordinary way and flowing in reverse. The mysteries of cultivation are all hidden here.

Therefore the practitioner must first attain stillness and concentration, making the Shen empty and tranquil, refining and nourishing the Qi, and turning the Jing in reverse so that it gathers within the Yellow Chamber (huangfang, a place in Neidan practice symbolizing the Dantian, or energy center). Then one opens the Golden Lock, penetrates the Jade Pass (key passes in the practice), and turns the Jade Pivot (xuanji, symbolizing the circulation of Qi in the body), and scenes such as "silver waves surging to the heavens and golden essence flying to the summit" will appear. Next, one applies the Heavenly Tally according to the degrees of the sun and moon's movement, the changes of the hours, and the generating and overcoming relations of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). When extraction and addition do not lose their measure, the hexagram images become merely instruments for guiding understanding.

There are various accounts of the firing phases: the Fire of the Microcosmic Orbit (zhoutian), the Fire that Fills Heaven and Earth, the Samadhi Fire that Consumes the Body, and the Spirit-Tortoise Fire that Plunders and Destroys the Opposing Yin. The fire used to create the elixir and to run the tallies is further divided into civil fire and martial fire, and Yin fire and Yang fire. The corresponding tallies are likewise divided into Heaven tallies, Earth tallies, sun tallies, moon tallies, Yang tallies, and Yin tallies. The civil and martial tally-fires are the firing phases by which one reverses through the Three Passes and forms the elixir through advance, retreat, extraction, and addition. The so-called "Spirit-Tortoise Fire that Plunders and Destroys the Opposing Yin" is the fire of the union of Yin and Yang, able to penetrate the Three Passes; if it flows downward along the weilü and other places, it gives birth to offspring. The scripture says: "Following the course makes a human being; reversing it makes an immortal ascend."

The oral formula says: "Lift up the Yin Tortoise, and the civil fire arises; guard the Mysterious Pass firmly, and the martial fire refines; unite with the Heavenly Tally of sun and moon, the man and woman commune in spirit, and the kalpa fire scatters." Here the union of man and woman is a metaphor for the blending of Yin and Yang, and "kalpa fire" describes the power of transformation. One who can grasp these formulas has already mastered the essentials of the firing phases.

To speak further of the crux of the tally-fires: two hexagrams are run through day and night, with Qian and Kun alternating above and below; this is the meaning of applying the tallies. Fire arises from Zhen and Xun, the parents of the returned elixir. When advancing the fire, it symbolizes the hun arising within the po, governed by Wood-fire; when retreating the fire, it symbolizes the po arising within the hun, governed by Metal-Water. Before, there is the Yang tally of the white day; behind, there is the Yin image of the dark moon. Settle the body and continue the Qi, extracting and adding according to the following and reversing of the Three Origins. The changes of the four seasons are embodied in the day-and-night pair of hexagrams, and the twelve lines correspond to the number of the celestial cycle, condensing into one the transformations of the year's three hundred and sixty days. These principles are not something a foolish person can understand by idle conjecture.

The true immortals say: "The year is a symbol, the month is a symbol; the day and the hour are the true oral instruction." The formula also says: "Use the hexagrams without using the hexagrams; one must proceed within the hexagrams. If you cling to using the hexagrams, using them becomes an error." This means the hexagrams serve to grasp the laws of cultivation and should not be clung to in themselves. Seen this way, the true immortals did not deliberately conceal the secret.

Wishing to pass these principles on to later students, I presented this text to my teacher. My teacher nodded in approval and said, "You have conveyed it with skillful means." He then inscribed: "The Expedient True Person Reveals the Mysterious Workings of the Firing Phases." The hymn says:

"The Record of Fire in six hundred chapters,

Hidden and profound, hard to discern.

Former sages and later sages,

Who was willing to speak plainly?

The True Person opens wide the expedient gate,

Declaring fully the true tidings.

With this supreme mysterious secret,

Why search any further?"

The so-called "Fire Phasing Formula" (Huohou Jue) holds that a year has twelve months. Apart from the Mao month and the You month (the second and eighth lunar months), when no fire is applied, fire is practiced in the other ten months, two hexagrams per day. That makes sixty hexagrams a month and six hundred rounds over the ten months. Fire is applied this way in order to form and nourish the Returned Elixir (huandan, the elixir spoken of in Neidan, or internal alchemy), after which one practices the method of quieting one's own fire.

There is also the fire of the Nine Turnings of elixir refining, which must be cooked and tempered through the union of true Yin and true Yang. When forming and nourishing the Returned Elixir and quieting the fire, one works each day after the Zi hour and before the Wu hour, following the two hexagrams Fu (Return) and Gou (Encounter) to quiet one's own fire. Only once one has obtained the "seed" (the initial foundation required for refining the elixir) may one quiet the fire so that the elixir congeals if it has not yet formed. To practice before obtaining the seed is merely to waste effort.

When circulating fire by means of talismanic sequence, one practices after the Zi hour and before the Wu hour. The Zi hour begins at the first quarter-mark and stops at the fourth; the Wu hour likewise begins at the first quarter-mark and stops at the fourth. Sit upright with the Shen (spirit) held inward, each hand forming the Zi-character mudra. Clear away stray thoughts, embrace the primal and guard the One (gathering in the mind and guarding the original Qi), hold the breath, contract the two kidneys, and draw up the Valley Passage (the anus), settling the breath seventy-two times. Then arch the back and extend the neck, waiting for the Qi to rise from the tailbone gate (Weilü) to the Jiaji (the "spinal clasp"), and on to the area beneath Caoxi, which is below the third vertebra. Turn the head to the left, which moves the shoulders into a rocking motion. Next, press the right nostril shut with the right middle finger and draw in one breath. Then insert both middle fingers into the ears, keeping the mudra, and turn the head and rock the shoulders again. The original text repeats itself here, so the exact order of these movements is not entirely clear.

Next, close the mouth and nose tightly, and imagine the Qi surging through Caoxi, up into the brain, then turning to the forehead and descending from between the eyebrows. A slight sweat between the brows is the sign that the Qi has taken effect. If a sweet taste arises in the mouth, press the tip of the tongue against the palate, wait until saliva fills the mouth, and swallow it slowly, imagining it descending from the lungs into the Dantian (energy center). After a while, once the breath has settled, repeat the practice. If holding the breath becomes unbearable, inhale through the nose and it will settle by itself.

Practicing for a double-hour after the Zi hour marks the moment when Yin reaches its extreme and Yang is born. Practicing for a double-hour before the Wu hour marks the moment when Yang reaches its extreme and Yin is born. An immortal scripture (Jing) says: "From the hexagrams Fu and Gou one begins the work; who says the Golden Elixir cannot be refined?" The period after the Zi hour corresponds to the Fu hexagram, and the period before the Wu hour to the Gou hexagram. This is also a method of circulating Jing (essence) and Qi and replenishing the brain. As the Qi surges through the Three Passes, the joints open and become unobstructed, and Jing and Qi naturally grow abundant while the Valley Spirit (Gushen) is preserved. All of this is practiced within one's own body.

The fire used in the Nine Turnings of elixir refining causes true Yin and true Yang to generate and unite, moving in step with the Great Yin (Taiyin, here meaning the moon or its cycle of phases) and completing one revolution each month. Every five days, metal is born within water, at first sinking and turbid, then, after three days, rising and clear. One may practice in the Xu and Hai hours. The cauldron is held at the breast and the Shen (spirit) and intention do not wander outward. Sit upright and still, embrace the primal and guard the One, arch the back and draw in the neck, curl the ten fingers like hooks, form the Zi-character mudra with both hands, and contract the two kidneys. During the Xu and Hai hours, hold the breath, taking nine shallow breaths to one deep one, and constantly draw up the Valley Passage. After seventy-two repetitions, pause briefly, then continue, with no fixed number of rounds.

Each session may consist of three, five, or seven rounds of seventy-two repetitions, while circulating the Qi so that it surges up from the Jiaji through the Three Passes to the crown of the head and then descends. Stop when the feeling of the Great Yin stirs and the tongue turns cold. Each month, when the proper moment arrives, practice during the Xu and Hai hours within a span of three days. The key lies in timing it correctly without error, and in carefully storing up strength. Three rounds constitute the gentle fire of the minor Yang, while seven rounds constitute the martial fire of forceful refining.

The hexagrams Qian and Kun meet between the Xu and Hai hours, when sun and moon unite and Yin and Yang join. For this reason, the myriad things observe the Qi during the Hai hour, which makes it suitable for practice. Refining the elixir takes nine months and nine sessions of practice, which is called the "Nine Turnings." The scripture says: "When the Golden Elixir has been refined through nine turnings, it is as large as a golden pellet and the color of a vermilion orange, lasting as long as Heaven and Earth." Once the elixir is ripe, there is no further need to apply fire phasing. This is what is meant by "the fire phasing of the whole year has been completed."