《破迷正道歌》

Were it not a matter bearing on the Mandate of Heaven's tally (a token of accord with the Way of Heaven), I would not have taken such pains to pass this oral key to the celestial mechanism on to you. These words are only a phrase or two, yet they run through ten thousand scrolls of immortal scripture.

Once you grasp this single key, you will understand what lies beyond the heavens, sweep away the side paths and miscellaneous doctrines, and no longer be led astray. To explain the principle: the Way of the immortals concerns the emptiness of heaven and earth, and the stillness of above and below.

Put plainly, Wood and Metal are not separated by any barrier, and true lead and true mercury (symbolic terms in Neidan, or internal alchemy) are not physical things. Whoever understands the principle of this celestial mechanism can make the sun and moon rise in their courses.

What is spoken of here is not Kan and Li, dragon and tiger, or the crow and hare (metaphors in Neidan drawn from the transformations of Yin-Yang). Nor is it the liver, lungs, heart, or kidneys, still less the spleen, stomach, gallbladder, or Jing and Qi. It is not thought, imagination, or contrivance, and it is not located in the upper, middle, or lower Dantian (the energy centers in the body used for cultivation, in Daoist teaching). It has nothing to do with the Jiaji or the Kunlun (here referring to bodily locations or cultivation terms). It is not semen, saliva, or dark blood, nor the bladder, nor the Shen of the five viscera. This "thing," though it appears from within the human body, is not any organ or bodily fluid as commonly understood.

As the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter succeed one another, who can discern the root that precedes heaven and earth? When two forces unite, they weigh one catty. The phases of the moon, the first quarter, the full moon, the last day, and the new moon, accord with fixed numbers. It circulates day and night without ceasing; only by gathering and refining it at the proper time can one know how far the medicine has ripened.

In a moment, Jia and Geng (terms of the stems and branches, here denoting the timing or direction of Yin-Yang transformations) join, and their root position lies in the southwest. Blend them slowly so that they enter the Palace of Gen (the northeast in the Bagua, or Eight Trigrams), then gently stir this celestial mechanism. The original text repeats itself here, and then continues: when the true mechanism appears, it gathers in the great void. Take Qian and Kun (heaven and earth) as the cauldron, turn the cosmos upside down and drive it through every direction. Move the Southern Dipper into the place of the Northern Dipper, let the Golden Crow (the sun) fly into the Palace of the Jade Toad (the moon palace), and let the Jade Hare (a symbol of the moon) lie hidden within the sun. The Great Yin (the moon, the Yin force), through waxing, waning, and harmonizing, naturally returns to union.

After the first quarter, seek the medicine; before the last quarter, make it even; gather and refine it between the two quarters. The order of before and after must be kept, taking the ancestor and the lineage (the root and the sequence of transmission in cultivation) as the standard. The other side is host and this side is guest. If I float up, you sink down. Blend the floating and the sinking so that they return to one place. Bathing and concealment too, in the end, are nothing but emptiness and stillness. Kan and Li (the trigrams representing Yin-Yang) have never had a fixed position of south or north.

Are the Zhen and Dui trigrams (two of the Bagua, or Eight Trigrams) found only in the West? If you meet an immortal who transmits the oral instructions in person, you can grasp the celestial wheel that turns with the Northern Dipper and gather Yin-Yang into the palm of your hand.

In an instant, the myriad things come into being. These are the oral instructions for the Golden Liquid Returned Elixir (a term from Neidan, or internal alchemy). Without meeting a master, do not force the practice. If you truly gather the primordial Qi, it is as though you hold the sun and moon in your two hands and fuse day and night into one, and you will naturally hear the dragon's roar and the tiger's howl. At first, wind howls above and below. Gradually it condenses and takes form, and purple clouds rise.

The oral instruction: without meeting a master, do not force the practice. If you truly gather the primordial Qi, it is as though you hold the sun and moon in your two hands and fuse day and night into one, and you will naturally hear the dragon's roar and the tiger's howl. At first, wind howls above and below. Gradually it condenses and takes form, and purple clouds rise.

Clouds and mist fill the mountains and veil the sun and moon. All seems hazy then, and in the stillness the clouds and mist stir of their own accord.

In deep meditative stillness, one sometimes hears a thunderclap. The purple phoenix meets the crow and the hare (symbols of Yin-Yang, or of the sun and moon) in one place, and the golden crow and the jade hare merge with each other. The tiger circles and the dragon coils, seeking the supreme treasure, and the Golden Lord (a Neidan term, often referring to the metal nature or to one side of the elixir) forms a union. At this moment mother and child meet, and Shen joins with the root of true nature, condensing into the first point of the true seed.

When the true seed enters the Dantian, it is like an eternal spring. The prenatal and postnatal, and Heaven, Earth, and all things, return to one place. In the time before chaos divides, where could any trace be seen? Its arising and movement accord naturally with the principles of the sages.

The green and the red blossoms are renewed, and the water and fire above and below naturally blend and nourish each other. When the embryonic infant (a metaphor in Neidan for the perfected elixir body) is produced, miraculous visions will naturally appear.

From this one rises beyond the mundane and transcends life and death. In truth, one must guard carefully against danger during the hundred days. The blood turns to ointment and the body becomes like silver. If the hundred days of practice pass without loss,

the jade ointment flows and moistens, and radiance is born. The true body is no longer troubled by cold or heat, and one may be called a supreme attainer of the Way. After three hundred days of tempering as in a blazing fire, sudden rain and fierce wind fill the sky, and lightning flashes without end. Thunder shakes the gates of Heaven and terrifies ghosts and spirits, as if the universe were overturned and white snow flew.

If one can invert and employ Qian and Kun (the Yin-Yang of Heaven and Earth), life will remain forever like a spring day, never fading. By "changing the bones and restoring Yang" (transforming the body and recovering its Yang energy), one may attain immortality. Through the "nine returns and seven reversions" (a Daoist alchemical term for the repeated refining and transformation of the elixir), one becomes a true form. This process requires ten months of arduous cultivation.

When cultivation reaches the point where inside and outside are fully transparent, and the surface and interior are clear, then in gathering one manifests a bodily form, and in dispersing one becomes the same as the Great Void (Taixu, the vast, formless ground of the cosmos). Coming and going, one changes in ways that people cannot fathom.

This principle has been passed down by patriarchs from ancient times to the present, and it accords with the laws of Heaven and Earth. The oral instructions transmitted by the immortals are not false; if one can persevere in the practice for another year or two, one will achieve results.

Through ten thousand million kalpas and endless ages, if one can grasp the "method of the Golden Liquid for seeding the form" (a method of cultivation using the golden liquid to nurture and perfect the immortal's true body), one can ride the phoenix and drive the crane, ascending freely, passing between the visible and invisible without obstruction.

One may also travel at will among the three islands of Penglai (the legendary immortal mountains in the sea). Even after ten thousand years, or hundreds of thousands of kalpas, when the blue sea has become mulberry fields, one's appearance remains unchanged. It is a pity that so many who study immortality never succeed in perfecting this form.

They all believe they are cultivating the path of the Heavenly Immortal, yet the road they follow is not the same. Their minds are clouded by "wild fox saliva" (a metaphor for deluding heterodox doctrines). How can one heed the words of ghosts, spirits, and demons? They wander everywhere, claiming to seek the profound and mysterious, yet what they learn is only minor side-door techniques.

The foolish and obstinate are hard to persuade, and the result is like the blind leading a company of the blind. Some gather pine resin and take medicinal foods, without understanding how such things could free them from the root of birth and death.

Some abandon the body and devote themselves solely to entering stillness and regulating the breath, without understanding how this could return the hundred vessels of the whole body to their source. Some visualize the Dantian (energy center) as they breathe, yet in the end never produce the embryonic immortal (the immortal formed through inner cultivation, as described in Daoism). Others take breath-holding and qi-regulation to be the Way of the Prior Heaven, and grow old having accomplished nothing, their effort ultimately in vain.

Some take the mouth and nose to be the "Mysterious Female" (Xuanpin, the gateway of generation and transformation), which is like trying to catch the wind with a net. Some take the thinking mind to be the "square inch" (Fangcun, the dwelling place of the heart-spirit); how could that lead back to the original source and the root of the ancestors? Still others treat the accumulation of Jing and Qi as lead and mercury (symbolic materials in alchemy), which is far removed from the true Golden Elixir and the Great Dao.

Some cling to treating Qi and Shen (spirit) as "child and mother," and they too are separated from the Way of the Heavenly Immortal by ten thousand miles. Some believe that opening the crown of the head is cultivation, but it merely wastes effort and exhausts the spirit to no benefit. Still other practices involve contracting the genitals, "refining milk," and the like, which the author also condemns as minor side-door techniques.

At the end, the phrase "更有行盀榛鸷颉" appears to contain a textual corruption, and it cannot be reliably interpreted from the existing characters.

After nine years, or three years, of practice, what exactly is it that one ends up waiting for? Some pinch the nose and hold the breath, swallowing what they call primordial Qi (vital energy); the result is that pernicious Qi enters the body and the belly rumbles, so they merely waste their strength and exhaust their Shen (spirit). Others tighten the genitals and "refine" milky fluids; these are precisely minor side-door methods. The original text is corrupted at this point, and what it refers to cannot be determined with certainty. Even someone who claims to have illuminated the mind and seen their nature will, in the end, become only a yin ghost.

There is no counting the side-door methods in the world. Some squander Jing (essence) and vitality and end up with only a withered, emaciated body. Others take the stilling of stray thoughts and the subduing of the mind for purity, and in the end fall into stubborn emptiness. Still others practice the "Zi-Wu method" day and night, scheduling their cultivation by the hours of Zi and Wu. Yet what hour between Heaven and Earth is inauspicious? Even so, they insist on practicing alone, holding the breath and visualizing.

Some guard the root of the tongue and call it the "Red Dragon." Some circulate the trigrams through the microcosmic orbit (zhoutian). Some work on the crown of the head and call it the "Yellow Court." Some call the kidneys the source of creation and transformation. Some hold the tailbone (weilü, the end of the spine) to be the root of life, or insist on returning to the origin and ingesting water and fire. Others practice "gathering and supplementing," drawing on the Jing and Qi of other people, or tilt back their heads to absorb the essences of the sun and moon.

Some mistake the earthly soul for the heavenly soul. Some call saliva the power of creation and transformation. Some cut off the five flavors and claim this is cultivating the truth. Some eat only one meal in a day and a night and treat it as their daily practice.

Some take the tailbone to be the root of life and insist on returning to the origin and ingesting water and fire. Some practice "gathering and supplementing," drawing on the Jing and Qi of others, or tilt back their heads to absorb the essences of the sun and moon. Some mistake the earthly soul for the heavenly soul and call saliva the power of creation and transformation. Some cut off the five flavors and claim this is cultivating the truth. Some eat only one meal in a day and a night as their daily discipline.

These practices leave the body thin and weak, the appearance ghostlike. Some bend and bow, tapping on the "Jade Gate." Some embrace the origin and guard the One while rolling their eyes. Some hunch the shoulders, pull in the neck, and fix their thoughts on the spine. Some move the "flowing pearl" and visualize the Great Yin. Others draw talismans and chant incantations, learning to break tallies and split rings, arts of concealing the body, as well as massage, exhaling and blowing, and the Six-Character Formula.

Some gaze up at the stars and bow to the Northern Dipper, practicing in toil. Some treat "expelling the old and taking in the new" (breathing out foul Qi and drawing in pure Qi) as the foundation of refining the elixir. Still others shut the "Yang Gate" tightly so that fire rises within the body, and, feeling the whole body hot and open, declare this the foundation of the Great Dao of natural truth.

Reading scriptures, chanting hymns, reciting registers and liturgical texts, setting up altars and performing Zhaijiao (purification ritual) in the hope of ascending to immortality: of such side-door methods there are three thousand six hundred kinds. Without knowing the way of following one's inborn nature and practicing day and night, one can hardly understand the true path; only those with the proper affinity will meet a enlightened master who can instruct them.

The original text appears to contain corrupted or missing characters in many places, especially at the beginning and the final sentence; the above has been rendered in a coherent reading according to the context.

To call "Reading, Recitation, Ritual Praise, and the Upholding of Keyi (liturgy) and Registers" the "root of the genuine Great Dao (the Way)," and then to set up altars for worship and pray for ascension, is in fact only to follow some of the three thousand six hundred side paths.

Those who do not understand these principles spend their days rushing about, swept along by the changes of external things. But if one is fortunate enough to meet an enlightened teacher who gives guidance, one can grasp in a moment how creation and transformation arise. It is like holding a ring: one can use it without obstruction.

The Dao is scattered through the myriad things, and it also dwells within a person's body and mind. The one who has attained understanding gathers the Qi (vital energy) of the Prior Heaven and refines and nurtures it, so that it circulates without ceasing and transforms without limit. The original text is damaged here, and some words and phrases cannot be made out.

What follows describes the scenes of Neidan (internal alchemy) practice. The Qi of Yin-Yang goes back and forth, joining and mingling, as if thunder, lightning, wind, and rain all arose at once between heaven and earth. Above and below are inverted, and the two exchange places. When the fire phase blazes, the dragon and tiger circle the elixir furnace and coil around the golden cauldron, symbolizing the meeting of Yin and Yang Qi within the body during cultivation. The Four Images and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) finally return to Wu and Ji, which means that all the functions of body and mind return to balance and harmony.

Through this refining, the Golden Liquid and the Jing (essence) of primordial unity take form. Expressions such as purple clouds enveloping the Northern Sea and the hundred vessels converging on Kunlun are Daoist imagery for describing how Qi moves and gathers. The text then says that during the practice the radiance seems to outshine the stars, and a red glow blazes so fiercely that even the sun appears dimmed. Yet the increase and decrease of the fire phase, its advance and retreat, must follow what is natural. The "former quarter" and the "latter quarter" serve as metaphors for the timing of the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang, and one must also discern whether the fire phase of the elixir's beginning has ripened. Several passages in the original are corrupted and cannot be understood with certainty.

Drawing out and adding in take place in only a moment, but the forming of the Golden Elixir is like the growth of a fetus: every stage has its own proper time and fire phase. When the true fire is strong, it seems to burn across all of heaven and earth, and the whole space between Qian and Kun is red. The "fire" here is chiefly a Neidan term for the fire phase in cultivation, not ordinary flame.

Water and fire each have their Yin and Yang lines. One rises and one descends, one comes and one goes, one leads and one follows, and these embody relationships such as floating and sinking, guest and host, ruler and minister. Only when Yin and Yang, firmness and softness, are matched can the movement of heaven and earth stay in balance. The winter and summer solstices are the turning points of the seasons, while the spring and autumn equinoxes mark the shifts between cold and warmth. The circulation of Qi through day and night also has its own order. Without a lineage that transmits the essential methods of cultivation, it is hard to understand how the Dao can show its effects in a single moment.

By turning the handle of the Dipper and regulating the Mysterious Pass, one can set the Heavenly Gate in motion and connect all phenomena. In a moment, the dragon and tiger contend ceaselessly, symbolizing the meeting of the two Qi of Yin and Yang. Expressions such as "orangutan" and "magpie" may be corrupted and cannot be accurately explained. The passage that follows speaks of Wood and Metal joining, and of true lead and true mercury. These are all Neidan terms, used to refer to the essence and Qi that unite in cultivation and to the Yin and Yang natures, and they are called the finest essence of heaven and earth.

The key to cultivating the Golden Elixir lies in mastering the timing of the fire (huohou, the sense of timing and degree in practice). Everything depends on the union of the Yin-Yang energies in the Yellow Court (Huangting, the central region of the body described in Neidan, where refinement and nourishment take place). At the moment of "magpie confusion," Yin and Yang are still murky and undifferentiated, not yet clearly distinguished. At this time, one applies the method of joining Wood and Metal so that true lead and true mercury (in Neidan, symbols of the two kinds of Yin and Yang essence) condense into the essence of Heaven and Earth.

The key to cultivating the Golden Elixir lies in the timing of the fire; everything depends on the union of Yin-Yang in the Yellow Court. After the primordial Qi has been refined and circulated, it condenses into the medicine. This medicine endures through countless kalpas, like a spring that never fades.

Within the "three thousand quarter-hours," an infant-like form appears. After a hundred days of practice, the subtle mechanism of creation and transformation begins to turn with wondrous efficacy. After a further ten months of nurturing, a body of pure Yang is achieved, and one is no longer disturbed by cold or heat.

Auspicious clouds and rosy mist envelop the whole body, while phoenixes and cranes dance facing one another. Two jade maidens, holding a purple decree, proclaim and call the practitioner a Perfected One (Zhenren).

Golden light surrounds the body, so that onlookers can scarcely see it, and a dignified retinue follows in due order. Cranes arrive to guide the practitioner toward the Origin, and in the end the practitioner ascends to Heaven in broad daylight to present themselves at the celestial capital.