《碧虚子亲传真指》

I began studying Daoist arts in childhood. At twenty, I left home and traveled widely, seeking the teachings of Dao and De. I recited the alchemical scriptures, lyrics, and biographies of the masters who came after the Patriarch Zhang Ziyang. I studied them closely and reflected on them again and again, probing the principles behind the words. I also visited many learned adepts versed in Daoist methods, seeking deeply for the essentials of the Great Dao. Later, I journeyed through famous mountains and great rivers, grotto heavens, and blessed lands, hoping to find inscriptions on stone walls. In my later years, I met Master Haiqiong and received from him the essentials of transmitting the Great Dao. I then met the lay practitioner Anran in the Grotto Heaven of Zhuling, who wrote several pieces and gave them to me. Only then did I grasp the subtle meaning of Master Haiqiong’s teaching.

Only then did I understand that what I had studied, sought, heard, and seen in my youth was like building another house inside a house, or grafting another branch onto a tree, without knowing that a house is already a house and a branch is already a branch. The truth is right before us; why seek it far away? Now I pass these teachings on to you. You can grasp their meaning through the words, so wake up at once and practice with care. Do not hesitate: the Dao is right here.

The supreme Dao (the Way) cannot be made clear through language, and the most wondrous realm cannot be reached by thought. Whatever can be explained in words is not the Dao; whatever can be grasped through imagination is not Shen (spirit). Shen receives its endowment from the Dao and accords with human nature; its root lies in Yang Qi. It is empty, numinous, formless, and traceless. Its transformations have no fixed mode of appearing. It extends beyond Heaven and Earth, is not constrained by them, and transcends past and present, beyond the reach of time. It may therefore be called the utmost truth within the real and the utmost mystery within the profound.

The human body is made up of the Four Great Elements—the basic substances that compose the body—and is wholly Yin. Only the primordial Qi, received before a person takes shape, belongs to Yang. This Qi is not the breath drawn in and released through breathing exercises, and it has no visible form or shadow. An ancient saying goes: “If you see it, you cannot use it; if you use it, you cannot see it.” Before a person takes shape, they first receive this Qi. The two kidneys and two eyes then form, from which the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, nine apertures, and four limbs gradually develop, until the human form is complete. The empty space where this Qi resides is called the “Gate of the Mysterious Female,” the fundamental portal that gives rise to life. For further discussion, see the former master’s “Song of the Mysterious Female.”

It is said that when people slaughter livestock, they can see a layer of empty membrane between the two kidneys, in the lower back, where Qi billows with the breath until the body grows cold. When this Qi is strong, Qi and blood are abundant, the hun and po souls remain joined, the body displays five colors, and warmth spreads through it like hot water. After death, Qi and blood disperse, and this aperture withers. The scriptures call this Qi the “Great Medicine of the Golden Elixir,” the fundamental Qi referred to in Neidan (internal alchemy) practice.

Thus the master says: the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, intestines, gallbladder, Jing (essence), fluids, nasal mucus, saliva, Qi, blood, and other bodily substances cannot be considered the Dao. Shen, hun, po, and intent may seem close to the Dao, but they are not it either. In the human body, the left foot belongs to Greater Yang and the right foot to Greater Yin. The Yongquan points on the soles of both feet, which belong to the Kidney channel of Foot Shaoyin, give rise to the two Qi of Water and Fire. These two currents enter from the feet into the coccygeal region, near the base of the spine, and rise to converge at…

In the human body, the left foot belongs to Greater Yang and the right foot to Greater Yin. At the soles of both feet are the Yongquan points, acupuncture points on the Kidney Channel of Foot Shaoyin. There, two kinds of Qi, Water and Fire, arise. They enter from the soles and reach the coccyx, near the lower end of the spine, then rise and converge at the two kidneys. The left side is called the Hall of the Kidneys, and the right the Storehouse of Essence. One side belongs to Water and the other to Fire; they are also paired with the tortoise and the snake, and interact with each other.

Between the two kidneys lies an empty aperture called the Mysterious Female, an aperture within the body associated with vitality and breath. The Qi of the kidneys passes through the Mysterious Female, then branches into two pathways, one yellow and one red. These ascend along either side of the spine, pass through the two barriers at the spine and the twenty-four vertebrae, and extend toward the heart and abdomen. They enter the Gaohuang, the deep part of the body said in ancient times to be beyond healing, and converge at Fengfu, an acupuncture point at the back of the neck, before rising to the Muddy Pellet, the inner palace in the head. From the Muddy Pellet, Qi descends to the Bright Hall, the palace around the face and between the eyebrows, and spreads to nourish the Five Palaces, five inner palaces in the head and face. It then passes downward through the Layered Towers, the throat, and finally returns to its original palace. This Qi circulates ceaselessly day and night, arising naturally rather than being caused by deliberate movement.

Many people today stray into heterodox practices because they do not understand the principle of emptiness, naturalness, and silent application. Instead, they recklessly practice bending and stretching, exhalations and breath sounds, rubbing and guided movement, or visualization and focused attention. These practices give rise to deluded thoughts and forced movement, and ultimately cause illness. White Lotus practitioners, for example, are often gaunt and sallow; practitioners who manipulate Qi are also commonly afflicted with illness. Such examples are plain to see.

The Qi in everyone’s body is the same; there is no difference in its quantity. Those who are skilled at nourishing it can cultivate it to completion, while those who cannot nourish it will find this difficult. The coming and going, entering and exiting of Qi follow definite patterns, like the tides in accordance with the waxing and new moon, or the Dipper’s handle shifting with the hours of Zi and Wu. It is also like women’s menstruation or bouts of malaria: each arrives on schedule and is never disordered.

When this Qi encounters Yang, it becomes Yang Fire; when it encounters Yin, it becomes Yin Water. Fire is the liquid of Wood, and Water is the essence of Metal. The left kidney belongs to the Kan trigram, within which a transformation naturally takes place…

The same Qi, when it encounters a time of Yang, manifests as Yang Fire; when it encounters a time of Yin, it manifests as Yin Water. What is called Fire is the liquid of Wood; what is called Water is the essence of Metal. The left kidney belongs to the Kan trigram, which contains Wu; the right kidney belongs to the Li trigram, which contains Ji. Wu and Ji belong to Earth. When the two Earths unite, they form the “sun’s gnomon,” also called “Metal in Water.” Metal is also known as a “blade,” hence the term “blade and gnomon.”

Fire belongs to Wood, and Water belongs to Metal. Thus Metal and Wood are not separate, and Water and Fire share a single source. Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire ultimately all return to Earth, and this Earth governs the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). This is what the master meant by saying, “The five viscera have no Qi, and the six bowels have no essence.”

This Qi moves constantly, following its own nature; it is not driven by human effort. Expressions in the scripture such as “the turning of the three carts” and “the Yellow River and Caoxi” use images to explain this movement. They do not mean that a person can force it along.

It is commonly said that what appears at the Zi hour (midnight) is called Yang Fire, and what appears at the Wu hour (noon) is called the Yin Talisman; what appears at the Mao hour (dawn) is called the liquid of Wood, and what appears at the You hour (dusk) is called the essence of Metal. Mao corresponds to Jia, and You to Geng, so Jia and Geng are used when gathering the elixir. Zi corresponds to Wu, and Wu to Ji, so Zi and Wu are used when gathering True Earth. In fact, all these terms refer to the same thing. Jia and Geng are discussed in connection with gathering, while the regulation of the fire is not confined to Zi and Wu.

Unless one can naturally understand the rising and descending of Qian and Kun, the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang, whether the medicinal substances have matured, and whether Water and Fire are concealed or revealed, there is no point in discussing these methods of cultivation. The master taught them in great detail, yet later generations still became confused; when the teaching was brief, they became doubtful. Why? If one clings to “emptiness,” one does not know how to begin cultivation: fetal breathing—the breathing state described in internal practice—cannot be achieved, and one ultimately falls into dead emptiness. If one disregards the laws of nature and clings instead to deluded thoughts and forced exertion, one wastes one’s spirit and may even bring on illness.

“Emptiness” means that it cannot be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears. “Nature” means that one can follow the right moment and receive it. The methods of gathering and regulating the fire have now been passed down gradually and in essential detail. If one follows them carefully, one can verify them through direct experience.

The oral instructions say that before entering stillness, one should first arrange a method of cultivation, gather the ingredients, and practice sitting meditation day and night. When stillness naturally arises, the joints will relax and the channels will open. Qi will travel from the area of the bladder to the Jiaji Gate, the pass in the middle of the back, and move like a turning wheel. The primordial Qi, the original vital energy spoken of in cultivation, naturally passes through the Three Passes—the Tailbone, Jiaji, and Jade Pillow Gates—rises to pay court at the Mudball Palace, a Neidan term for the head, then descends through the “Twelve-Storey Tower,” the throat, and enters the Crimson Palace, a Neidan term for the area of the heart.

There are fixed times both for this Qi to arrive and for gathering it. At Mao and You hours, when the Qi activity is strong, sit quietly and do not rub or stir it by force. Before long, if you feel warmth at the crown of the head and a sweet fluid in the throat, repeatedly turn your gaze inward and guide it with the mind, sending the fluid down into the Crimson Palace.

Within a day, the hours also correspond to the moon’s waxing and waning. From Zi to Mao is counted as waxing, yielding “half a jin of Mercury”; from Wu to You is counted as waning, yielding “half a jin of Lead.” Mercury corresponds to Jia, and Lead to Geng; take half a jin of each to make a fixed measure. The saying “When Lead sees Gui and is born, gather it at once” means that the Wood Mercury and Metal Lead begin to develop at the Jia and Geng hours, and should be gathered then. This is called “gathering.”

There is no need to reckon by months or years when gathering. Only by accumulating over a long period can the furnace and cauldron take shape. The human body is the furnace; the spleen is called the Yellow Court, the central palace within the body; and the Mudball Palace at the crown of the head is called the cauldron. Only once the furnace and cauldron are in place does one begin to plant the medicine. As the medicine develops, gather it while refining and nourishing it: what is gathered and planted is called “medicine,” while what is formed through refining and nourishing is called “fire.” A day of gathering yields what is likened to one zhu; a day of refining and nourishing produces an effect likened to one jin. Gather the medicine when Jia and Geng are strong; avoid bathing when applying the fire of refinement. These two methods differ. Gathering resembles setting up the furnace and cauldron: both follow the natural movement of Qi as it develops, welcoming it with intention and guiding it with the gaze. Thus the Dan scriptures call this inner guidance “the Yellow Matron in Green.”

“Yellow Matron” refers to the mind-intention, and “Green-Clad Woman” refers to the gaze. The mind-intention senses the Qi that arises naturally, then welcomes it; the gaze directs it inward. For this reason, the alchemical classics call them the “Yellow Matron and Green-Clad Woman.” Welcoming with the mind-intention is called “the Yellow Matron’s matchmaking”; directing inward with the gaze is called “the Green-Clad Woman’s transmission.”

When the mind-intention guides a person’s Qi, it moves; when the mind-intention stops, the Qi stops too. When the Qi no longer flows in and out, this is called “planting the medicine”—that is, gathering the medicinal substance, the vital essence and Qi cultivated in internal alchemy, until it takes form. Only after the medicine enters the cauldron, the symbolic vessel used in alchemy, does one speak of the firing times: the measure and timing of refinement and cultivation.

The ancients said, “The sages transmit the medicine, not the fire.” This does not mean that they withheld instruction about the firing times. Rather, fire and medicine ultimately converge, though their paths and functions differ. The Zi hour (midnight) belongs to the first Yang; by the Si hour (nine to eleven in the morning), there are six Yang. From Zi to Si, the firing times advance in six steps, and the six Yang form the Qian trigram. From Zi to Si, one directs the Qi with the mind-intention. This is called “advancing the fire,” also known as “adding.” At the Wu hour (noon), Yin begins to grow; by the Hai hour (nine to eleven at night), there are six Yin. From Wu to Hai, the water times advance in six steps, and the six Yin form the Kun trigram. From Wu to Hai, there is no need to welcome or direct the Qi. This is called “withdrawing the fire,” also known as “drawing out.” The scripture speaks only of fire and not water because advancing by addition is called fire, while withdrawing by extraction is called water. These are natural changes that require no contrivance, so water is not discussed separately.

When the alchemical classics cite the numbers of the Yellow River Chart and the Luo River Writing, they mean that the natural course of the firing times accords with the numbers by which the trigrams arise. They do not mean that people should deliberately exert themselves according to those numbers. Expressions such as “Tun at dawn and Meng at dusk, Zhen by day and Fu by night” likewise describe how the natural course subtly accords with the trigrams; they do not mean that one should cultivate oneself by force until one matches them.

The phrase “the movement of Qi” refers to Qi flowing through the five organs and the hundred channels. Kidney Qi is strong during the Hai and Zi hours; Liver Qi during Yin and Mao; Heart Qi during Si and Wu; Lung Qi during Shen and You; and Spleen Qi during Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei. Qi moves naturally, flowing out from the organs that are strong at the corresponding times. There is no need to imagine that a particular kind of Qi must enter, leave, or circulate through a particular organ at a particular hour.

When you begin gathering the medicine and setting up the alchemical cauldron, there are few restrictions: work when the time is suitable, then stop when the work is done. When it is time to place the medicine in the cauldron and regulate the firing times, choose an auspicious day to enter the chamber for quiet cultivation. Here, “firing times” refers to adjusting the advance and retreat of the breath and the practice during cultivation. Once inside, do not let worldly affairs disturb you. Quiet the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and inner senses; remain focused day and night, practicing without interruption, with a mind open and clear, as though light were appearing in an empty room. As soon as the mind becomes attached to something, the state of cultivation grows unstable and the medicine may dissipate.

After entering the chamber, do not sleep excessively; remain awake from beginning to end. The scripture treats wakefulness as belonging to Yang and sleep as belonging to Yin. It calls for constant alertness and restraint of joy and anger: anger scatters Yang Qi, while excessive joy allows Yin Qi to enter through the opening, causing Jing and Qi to leak away during cultivation. If even a trace of Yin Qi intrudes, the Yang spirit cannot remain settled. Even a very small amount of Yin Qi is regarded as a sign of a Yin spirit or a ghost.

Eat until half full, avoiding meat, fish, and rich, greasy foods; keep the five flavors mild and favor warm, cooked food. In cultivation, follow your nature and the seasons so that body, mind, and breath accord with one another. Let the mysterious void be your city, tranquility and simplicity your boundary, and great harmony your chamber; take stillness as the foundation of the sun and moon’s movement. Clear away deluded thoughts and preserve the true mind. When the medicine appears, gather it; when the firing times are right, put them into practice.

During the year, do not apply the firing times in the months of Mao and You. The scripture explains that in the month of Mao, Wood Qi is strong and may cause the Fire to become excessive; in the month of You, Metal Qi is strong and may cause the Water to become excessive. The firing times may be applied in the other months, but never force them when the time is unsuitable, or you may damage what cultivation has achieved. The text also says to gather the medicine during the year and apply the firing times when conditions are right. Excluding the two months of Mao and You, the remaining ten months are used to nurture the embryo elixir to completion; this is why the process is called “the embryo’s completion.”

Once the embryo elixir is complete and pure Yang is fully present, there is no need to apply the firing times further, as doing so would harm the elixir. At this point, move it into the Niwan Palace, the site of cultivation above the head; this is called “tending the cauldron.” The scripture compares this stage to the birth of the embryo immortal, formed within cultivation. From then on, the only task is to nurture it gently, like an infant. At this stage, continue with gentle cultivation and nourishment; there is no need to apply the firing times or undertake “bathing,” the stage of regulating the breath and resting in cultivation.

After practicing this way for three years or nine years, the Gate of Heaven will open naturally. The “infant” (the primordial Shen or Elixir embryo spoken of in Neidan cultivation) will be able to come and go freely, without hindrance, and the practitioner will then be able to ascend to the celestial realm. Thus, “cradling the cauldron” means protecting and nurturing the Elixir embryo as one would nurse and raise an infant.

The entire process of cultivation, from beginning to end, should follow what comes naturally. It does not depend on human effort or forceful imagining; one simply aligns the mind with the process when the time is right. This requires steady accumulation over time: constructing the cauldron and setting up the furnace, then forming the embryo and tending the fire over a period of one year and ten months. Yet the master says, “A single Golden Elixir shines red as the blazing sun.” Why? He means that the work of a single double-hour or half-day can surpass the transformations accumulated over a year and a half. When the ingredients form and the right moment for the fire arrives, one need only align with the process for an instant. That is why it is said that the Golden Elixir can be formed in a moment.

Yet the Golden Elixir cannot be refined by exhausting the spirit day and night or by forcing the mind to imagine things. The ingredients, furnace and cauldron, timing of the fire, bathing, fetal breathing, and infant—as well as the various terms for drawing and adding, guest and host, punishment and virtue, rising and sinking, ascending and descending, lead and mercury, Water and Fire, true Earth, the knife-measure, Metal essence, and Wood fluid—all are different names for the same matter. The scriptures on these stages connect with and correspond to one another throughout; read them carefully and they will become clear. They are not difficult to explain, but difficult to put into practice, and hardest of all to maintain.

Broadly speaking, minor methods of the side paths do not produce the desired effects; only the method of the Golden Elixir is effective. For ordinary people who gather the ingredients and cultivate, the young need six months, those in middle age need a year, and the elderly need three years. During cultivation, one must cut off desires, forget distracting thoughts, and sit quietly in silence. After gathering the ingredients, when the right moment arrives, the hearing and sight will grow keen, the hands and feet strong, and the body vigorous and healthy; all illnesses will disappear.

The Qi of the two kidneys, as understood in Daoist internal alchemy (Neidan), stirs of its own accord and rises along the spine like a turning wheel. When it reaches the Mudball (Niwan), the upper Dantian in the head, it feels as though hot broth is being poured in. A sweet dew, the name given in cultivation to the fluid in the mouth, often wells up there, drop by drop. The spirit seems never to sleep, and all distracting thoughts come to rest. When this state continues for more than two months, the sun and moon seem to radiate divine light, and the mind grows clear and bright. But do not take this as proof that you have attained the Dao. Otherwise, deluded thoughts may surge wildly and lead you into obsession.

After three months of tending the fire—the regulation of the inner Qi through the stages of heat in internal alchemy—if your practice remains steady at every moment, the seven apertures will appear bright. The so-called Golden Wheel, a vision of radiance that may arise in cultivation, will seem clear and open within and without, as though it could reach distant ghosts and spirits. At this point, the Infant, a term in internal alchemy for newly awakened spiritual life or the state in which the Elixir is formed, gradually takes shape. Do not let it come and go freely. Guard it carefully and help it become stable; otherwise, the fire’s timing may be lost and the alchemical work ruined.

When the ten months of tending the fire are complete and the Qi received has become full and sufficient, the result will appear of its own accord, like a ripe melon falling from its stem. After this, it may leave the body and return, but should go no farther than about one zhang; it must not travel far. Whenever it goes out, call it back at once. Otherwise, it may become lost and even enter another person’s womb or body through reincarnation and possession, never to return. Only after three or nine years of sufficient cultivation, when the bones have gradually aged and the mind has matured to the level of a child several years old, able to judge the relative weight and depth of human affairs, may it be allowed to come and go freely. At this stage, one can ascend and transform, attaining the state of a True Immortal.

Yet demonic obstacles remain. When one truly enters a room to sit in oblivion, practicing stillness and letting go of thought, all kinds of strange visions may arise on their own. The myriad things of the world and wondrous scenes appear before the eyes, as though the wisdom eye were just opening, or as though a spirit had taken up residence. When this happens, do not rejoice or be frightened. These are all caused by demonic obstacles; do not mistake them for signs that you have reached the key to attaining the Dao. Hold to the essentials of cultivation, still the mind, and focus it in concentrated vigilance. What is called “the One of Great Mystery” means keeping to one’s true original form. Never mistake illusion for reality, or indulge desires and act recklessly. Keep to the One in this way, and the demonic obstacles will naturally fade, allowing you to complete your work in the Dao.

Today, many people who reach this stage of cultivation lack steady meditative concentration and sound understanding. As a result, they are disturbed by external influences, unable to continue their practice, and instead fall into madness and obsession, sometimes even suffering accidental calamities. This has led later generations to mistake the Way of the Immortals for something vague and unreal. It is truly regrettable.

After ten months of cultivation, the Neidan (internal alchemy) takes shape like a fetus. Afterward, one proceeds through “moving the cauldron and warming and nourishing” (a stage in internal cultivation that adjusts the practice and continues to nurture the Elixir embryo), and should then seek a higher level of progress. The relevant method is described in the section on seeking further advancement in the second volume of the Wuzhen Pian. By practicing accordingly, one will encounter rare opportunities. This is not something one can attain simply by receiving formulas from another person. As for ascending to immortality or corpse liberation (the Daoist account of becoming an immortal by leaving behind one’s physical form), these come only after the Neidan has been refined: one must continue to practice and establish great merit. The results attained depend on the depth of one’s cultivation. These, too, cannot be determined by a formula passed on by someone else.

This method of Elixir cultivation must be practiced in sequence. If one disregards the stages and recklessly skips ahead, there will be no Elixir embryo in the body, and the infant cannot be born. If one recklessly turns to Chan study, it is like water without a source or a tree without roots: one ultimately falls into inert emptiness, reaches old age without achieving anything, and in the end enters the cycle of rebirth. Signs of progress will appear after sixty days of secluded cultivation. One must practice according to the formulas and never interrupt the work.

When the Qi turns at the hour of the Rat and the handle of the Dipper shifts, the breath is clear and the mind is quiet. Seize this moment to practice, sustaining the work without interruption. When tired, nourish yourself through “returning the irrigation of the Upper Pool” (a Daoist internal cultivation term for using bodily fluids to nourish the body), and let the movement of Qi come and go naturally. When cloudlike mists arise, do not be confused or act rashly. When numinous light appears, feel neither delight nor fear; simply shape the hands as if “rolling up a pearl curtain.”

During cultivation, remain focused and let go of all concerns. Regulate the effects of joy and anger, thoughts and worries, hunger and thirst, cold and heat, and other influences. Even in sleep, do not sink into dullness; keep the mind and spirit clear at all times. When thirsty, drink a small amount of “Four Gentlemen Decoction” or “White Wood Decoction.” Once asleep, Qi turns into blood and cannot rise; if one stays awake instead, Yang Qi can rise. Ordinary people’s eyes are nourished by Liver Qi, while the Heart governs the spirit. Thus the scripture says that an immortal’s eyes shine with a bright, jade green brilliance. If one can remain awake and clear during cultivation, Yang Qi will rise.

Ordinary people’s two eyes are nourished by the Liver’s blood. This is because the Heart governs the human spirit. It is said that immortals’ eyes are blue-green and brilliantly radiant. Those who cultivate the Dao should not sleep too deeply. The scriptures say that in deep sleep Yin energy is strong, and the blood returns to the Liver, unable to rise and nourish the eyes. As a result, the eyes cannot naturally perceive the spiritual realm.

I often feel sorry for those in the world who speak of the Dao. There were once one or two people to whom I almost wished to transmit the Daoist methods, but our interests did not truly align, and I never passed them on. Now, by chance, we have met, and our feelings are somewhat in accord. If you had not formed some affinity with the Dao through cultivation in a previous life, how could you understand even a little of this? I now entrust to you everything I received, explaining each section carefully and recording each part as I pass it on. Study it repeatedly and reflect in stillness; follow the written words to seek out their meaning. When the time is ripe, begin your practice, and you will surely achieve something.

I make this promise to you: we will meet again after four cycles. Do not reveal this promise lightly; apply yourself to your cultivation. Keep my spoken instructions firmly in mind and do not forget them; read what I have written over and over as well. Each time you open the scroll, do so as though you see the honored masters before you, and never treat it carelessly. If the time has not yet come, first clear your heart and quiet your thoughts, guarding the key points and opportunities for cultivation.

Do not pass this material casually to anyone unsuitable. Still, if someone is fit to discuss it with, there is no harm in explaining a little. When you meet someone truly suited to receive it, you should not keep it from them. Violating these warnings will bring grave calamity.

“Bixuzi’s direct personal transmission” means the essential instructions personally transmitted and directly pointed out by Bixuzi.