《紫阳真人悟真篇注疏》Vol. 3

Once cultivation has reached full maturity, body and mind are calm and still. The hun and po souls are restrained, emotions and desires cannot disturb them, and Jing and Qi are abundant and full, like gold and jade filling every corner of a wealthy household. When “the first stirring of Yang” within the body—the sign that Yang Qi is beginning to arise—appears, the innate true Yang is about to arrive, and the Jing and Qi within the body will change along with it. At this point, use a little “true mercury”—a Neidan term for the Yin medicine that works in conjunction with true lead, or for the Qi of true Yin—to meet it at a place near and below the inner kidneys. This is called “the short forward course.”

After true lead passes through, it joins with true mercury by way of the “magpie bridge,” a Neidan term for the passage connecting the Ren and Du channels. True lead then travels upward along the Du channel, passing through the gates on either side of the spine and through the point between the shoulder blades. It rises to the Niwan, the brain chamber at the crown of the head, circulates through the nine palaces, the nine regions of the head, and flows into both eyes. Then it descends along the golden bridge, passes through the “nine-story tower” of the throat, and enters the spirit palace for refinement and cultivation. Because each stage of this circulation follows its own route, it is called “the long course behind.” Thereafter, the medicine returns to the Yellow Court spirit chamber, the central site of inner alchemical work in the abdomen, where it joins and forms the Elixir. This is called returning to the abode of the Matchmaker, where it is joined in union with the Golden Elder. The whole process is known as inverting the Five Phases and cultivating in reverse.

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the moon shines bright: this is the time when Metal essence is at its height.

When Yang returns and begins to arise, one should promptly kindle the fire of cultivation and not delay.

The commentary says: The fifteenth day of the eighth month is when Metal Qi and Water Qi are at their height; the hour of Zi is the time of “the return of Yang.” The firing schedules of Waidan and Neidan should both be advanced together.

The explanatory note says: The moon’s phase on the fourteenth is considered excessive, while on the sixteenth it seems insufficient. The fifteenth falls exactly in the middle and therefore accords with harmony and balance.

When Yang has just begun to stir, it is time to refine the Elixir; the lead cauldron grows warm, and a faint radiance of Qi shines through.

When the medicine first arises, it is easy to recognize. But when drawing out and adding to the medicine and applying the firing schedule, one must take care to avoid mistakes.

The commentary says: The sage probes the subtle principles without going too far. To take what is balanced is to accord with harmony and balance.

When Yang has just begun to stir, it is time to refine the Elixir; the lead cauldron grows warm, and a faint radiance of Qi shines through.

When the medicine first arises, it is easy to recognize. But when drawing out and adding to the medicine and applying the firing schedule, one must take care to avoid mistakes.

The commentator says that a sage can probe deeply into what is subtle and hidden, quietly sensing when the Qi of golden essence is abundant and Yang Qi has just begun to stir. At that moment, the sage seizes the dragon and captures the tiger—images for the two Qi of Yin and Yang—then applies the appropriate timing of the fire and methods of refinement and cultivation. This guides the true Qi of the Great One, the Qi of the source, into the lead cauldron, where it is gently nurtured at the place within the body where Yin and Yang interact. Gradually, a pill of cinnabar the size of a millet grain takes shape. Its light blazes through its veil-like covering and becomes visible; in less than half an hour, the elixir can be refined. It may be said that the elixir is relatively easy to obtain when it first forms.

After taking the elixir, one must also work with the Yin Talisman and Yang Fire, terms in Neidan practice that describe the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang and the adjustment of the firing process. Only after ten months of work do the movements of Yin and Yang return to the central Kun position. The practitioner must observe changes in the seasonal winds: the firing process represented by the hexagrams of Initial Difficulty and Youthful Folly begins with the morning and evening of a single day; the changes represented by the hexagrams of After Completion and Before Completion reach their close with the dark and bright phases of a lunar month. Throughout the practice, one continually adjusts extraction and replenishment so that the firing process cycles without cease.

At this stage, the practitioner’s mind should be like earth and wood, like dead ashes: unmoved by impulse and carefully on guard against danger. In this way, Yin-Yang and the changes in the firing process are matched outwardly, while within, the substance of liquid gold is formed. The liquid gold keeps moving, rising in reverse from the coccyx to the Muddy Pellet, the upper Dantian in the head, then descending along the “twelve-story tower,” the throat, and returning to the earth cauldron of the Dantian, the lower Dantian likened to an alchemical furnace. This is the return of the Golden Elixir through liquid gold. Its effects are beyond words. How, then, could one fail to be cautious and guard against danger when using the firing process of extraction and replenishment?

The glossator explains that the Mirror for Entering the Medicine says, “Receiving Qi is auspicious; guarding the city is inauspicious.” These words contain precisely the principle described above. “Returning afterward to Kun” uses the process of Yin waning and Yang waxing across the twelve months of the year to explain the beginning and end of Yin-Yang’s movement. “Thunder and wind” refers to the moon’s waxing as it begins in the Zhen position and its gradual waning in the Xun position, symbolizing the course of waxing and waning through the six phases of a month. Initial Difficulty, Youthful Folly, After Completion, and Before Completion explain the beginning and end of the changes in the hexagram lines over the twelve double-hours of a day and the thirty days of a month. All work with the fire of refinement must accord with the seasons.

Few people understand the Gate of the Mysterious Female, the generative mechanism through which Yin and Yang unite. They often take breathing through the mouth and nose alone to be a method of cultivation.

Even if you practice breathing exercises for a thousand years, how could that make the Golden Crow—the sun, a metaphor for Yang Qi—capture the little rabbit—the moon, a metaphor for Yin Qi—and bring about the true union of Yin and Yang?

The commentary says, “‘The Gate of the Mysterious Female’ is the source of Heaven, Earth, and all things.” This is a truly subtle explanation. Almost no one in the world can understand it. Without guidance from a genuine master, who could grasp its meaning? Some people, such as Ye Wenshu, say that “between the two kidneys” means the primordial unity of Qi. How could such people glimpse Heaven’s secrets and still use that claim to reject other interpretations?

The Mysterious and the Female are two distinct things. How can they both be explained by a single acupuncture point? Since Heaven and Earth first came into being, how could all things have arisen without these two? Both Neidan and Waidan are founded on them. The sages concealed their mystery and did not speak of it openly, calling it the “Half-Moon Furnace” and the “Womb-Hanging Cauldron,” symbolic vessels used in alchemy.

The “Golden Crow” refers to the Golden Elixir, and the “Jade Rabbit” to one’s own true Qi. The Golden Elixir subdues one’s own “Mercury”—a Neidan symbol for the mind-spirit or a Yin substance—like a cat catching a mouse or an eagle blocking a rabbit, preventing it from scattering. If the mouth and nose are taken to be the “Mysterious Female,” then even after a thousand years of uninterrupted breathing practices, Jing and Qi will only grow weaker. How, then, could the Golden Crow subdue the Jade Rabbit and form the “Sage Embryo,” the embryo of the elixir produced through Neidan cultivation?

The commentary says: “Mysterious” represents Yang, while “Female” represents Yin. The Book of Changes says, “Heaven is dark and Earth is yellow,” and also, “The Hexagram Kun benefits from the mare’s steadfastness.” Thus “Mysterious” is used as a metaphor for Yang, and “Female” for Yin. “Gate” is likewise a borrowed metaphor for the point through which all things are born and die, and through which the Mysterious and Female enter and depart. Calling it the “furnace and cauldron” is also only a borrowed name.

The Perfected Bao’s “Song of the Mysterious and Female” says, “Between the two kidneys there is a single bright point.” Later generations therefore called the space between the kidneys the “Cavity of Primordial Unity.” In fact, the two kidneys are also a metaphor, drawn from the image of the body’s two kidneys facing one another, to explain a subtle principle. Yin and Yang arise from the same place, though they have different names. When they are brought together, a tiny “Millet Pearl,” no larger than a grain of millet, appears at the center. This is the true “Gate of the Mysterious and Female.”

Some people do not understand this metaphor and take the words of the “Song of the Mysterious and Female” literally, insisting that the Gate of the Mysterious and Female lies between the kidneys. To understand the Mysterious and Female as the mouth and nose is likewise to remain at the surface. Lu Ziye says: “The previous chapter discussed only the two words ‘Mysterious and Female’; this chapter must clarify the word ‘Gate.’ The principle involved is profound and subtle. A gate is a place of entry and exit, of coming and going—in other words, the place where Yin and Yang meet. Without the true formula transmitted directly from teacher to disciple, how could anyone grasp its principle through conjecture and personal insight alone?”

End of Volume Five of the Commentarial Explanation of the Perfected Ziyang’s Wuzhen Pian.

Volume Six of the Commentarial Explanation of the Perfected Ziyang’s Wuzhen Pian

Commentary by the Nameless Elder Weng Baoguang of Xiangchuan; transmitted by Chen Daling of Wuyi; explanatory notes by Dai Qizong, the Master of Emptiness and Mystery of Jiankang.

The Qi of Kan Water stirs and rumbles like lightning, through which Metal and Water are refined together. Fire brings Yin and Yang into union at Kunlun (here referring to an important part of the body used in cultivation and refinement). When these two forces are harmonized and joined, the Elixir forms naturally, and its fragrance spreads throughout the body.

The commentary says that this chapter explains the symbols and methods of Neidan and Waidan. “Kan lightning” refers to fire within water, also called Yin Fire; it is the “string Qi” of the tiger. In the Daoist tradition of cultivation, the “tiger” uses fire within Yin to refine the Qian dragon, while the Qian dragon sends forth fire from Kunlun—here, the upper body around the crown of the head—in response. The two fires sustain one another, and the essence of the True One, the refined Qi spoken of in cultivation, then gathers and condenses.

At this point, one gathers and takes the elixir, allowing the body’s various parts to harmonize and making the elixir fragrant and delicious. The Cantong qi says: “Golden sand enters the five viscera, and smoke and mist spread like wind and rain; its steaming reaches the four limbs, and the complexion grows bright and lustrous; white hair turns black, and fallen teeth grow back; an old man returns to his prime, and an old woman becomes a young girl.” This describes the elixir filling the whole body with fragrance. After taking it, one must continue to circulate the Yin-Yang talismanic fire: the tiger uses fire within Yin to refine the substance in the mysterious gate, and the dragon then kindles fire at Kunlun in response. As the two unite, the Golden Essence—the refined substance gained through cultivation—moves of its own accord. Starting at the tail gate, around the coccyx, one can clearly feel it travel up the spine, pass through the two gates at the spinal junction, and rise to the Mudball Palace, the cultivation site within the crown of the head. It then descends, bead by bead, through the Nine-Storied Tower in the throat. Its taste is sweet and its fragrance peerless; the whole body naturally takes on a radiant glow.

The explanatory commentary says that the earlier passage—“the tiger uses fire within Yin to refine the Qian dragon, and the dragon kindles fire in response”—describes the overall movement of the external medicine. It travels through the two gates at the spinal junction up to the Mudball Palace, then descends bead by bead to the Nine-Storied Tower. Its taste is sweet and its fragrance peerless, and in the end it makes the whole body radiant.

The commentary says: The earlier phrases, “the tiger cooks the Qian dragon with fire within Yin” and “the dragon teaches the fire to respond,” taken together, describe the two kinds of fire used in the external medicine. The later phrase, “fire with fire within Yin,” explains the fire of the external medicine in particular; “the dragon teaches the fire to respond,” viewed from the outer level, refers to the fire of the internal medicine. The inner and outer fires of the dragon and tiger share the same names, but what they refer to and how they work are different. When the two fires unite, True Jing (the innate essence and vital energy described in cultivation) condenses. When the two medicines combine, Golden Jing (the refined essence produced through cultivation in internal alchemy) begins to circulate. When True Jing condenses, the external Golden Elixir is refined; when Golden Jing circulates, the internal Return Elixir is refined. Thus the phrase “fire teaches Kunlun Yin and Yang” refers to dragon fire, and also concerns Yin and Yang on both the inner and outer levels. As for “making poems by embodying things, with the patterns of the writing not yet clear and fluent,” it means composing lines of poetry through images of things, though the writing is not yet sufficiently clear and smooth.

To keep the Valley Spirit (a metaphor for the subtle spirit that can respond to things) alive and undying, one must establish its foundation through the Mysterious Female (the source of life and generation).

Once True Jing has returned to the Golden Chamber (a metaphor for the place within the body where essence is stored), it condenses into a luminous pearl that will never again be lost.

The notes say: The subtle, unfathomable changes of Yin and Yang are called “spirit.” Spirit has no fixed form; when touched by an influence, it can respond and reach everywhere, like an empty valley answering a sound. Hence it is called the “Valley Spirit.” Qi is established through Qi, and Jing is produced through Jing. Jing can generate Qi, and Qi can generate Shen. Thus Qi governs the whole body, while the body is the dwelling place of Shen and Qi. Without Shen and Qi, the bodily form cannot live; without bodily form, Shen and Qi cannot become a real life. Form, Qi, and Shen depend on one another, and only together can they bring life into being.

To attain longevity, one must take the Mysterious Female as the foundation; only then can longevity become possible. All spirits arise from Jing and Qi, these two things, and perish through them as well. They are indeed the source of Heaven and Earth, the progenitors of the Five Phases, the roots of Yin and Yang, and the basis of the transformations of all things. The sages use them to refine the external medicine, and through it bring about the transformation of the Neidan, keeping True Jing in continuous circulation and returning it to the Golden Jade Cauldron (a metaphor for the place within the body where Jing and Qi are cultivated). True Jing becomes a numinous pearl whose radiance never fades and which never flies apart. Then, gradually, form is transformed into Qi, Qi into Shen, and in the end both form and spirit reach a wondrous state in which they can appear and disappear unpredictably.

The eldest son (the Zhen trigram in the symbolic system of the Eight Trigrams) suddenly drinks wine from the West, while the young maiden (the Dui trigram in the symbolic system of the Eight Trigrams) begins to open the flowers of the Northern Garden.

When the Green Maiden (a symbol of mercury-fire or one’s own true Qi) meets and joins with the two energies of the Dragon and Tiger, they must be sealed at once within the Yellow House—that is, the central palace where the alchemical cauldron and the Mysterious Pass are located.

The commentary draws on the symbolism of the Book of Changes: the Zhen trigram represents the eldest son and the Azure Dragon, while the Dui trigram represents the young woman and the White Tiger. The Dragon and Tiger each contain Yin Qi and Yang Qi, also known as Yin Fire and Yang Fire. The practitioner brings the Azure Dragon’s energy together with the White Tiger’s, then applies the Green Maiden’s mercury-fire, causing all three to join and form an image. They are then sealed within the central palace, where they condense into the essence of the True One and are ultimately refined into the Golden Elixir of Returning Cinnabar. Here, “sealing” means gathering in the substances and storing them securely within the cauldron during alchemical refinement.

The explanatory commentary holds that the first two lines describe external substances: the Azure Dragon contains Yin Qi, and the White Tiger contains Yang Qi. The last two lines describe internal substances: the “Green Maiden” is one’s own true Qi, which is sealed within the central palace after meeting and joining with the energies of the Dragon and Tiger. Another version interprets the Green Maiden as the Dragon’s string energy, making it an external substance. Different verses have different emphases, so the interpretation of a term should not be fixed rigidly.

Once the elixir in the Flower Pool—a term in alchemy for the elixir itself or the refined essence used to produce it—has been fully taken and refined, a moonlike, clear radiance appears. When cultivation is complete and one has undergone spiritual transformation, one rides a Golden Dragon to the Purple Tenuity Palace in the heavens.

From then on, one meets and knows the immortals. Even if the seas turn into fields and mountains become deep valleys, no upheaval in the world can affect the one who has completed the cultivation.

The annotation says: The Flowering Pool, a term used as a metaphor for the Elixir liquid in alchemical practice, is the Elixir itself. After drinking the Elixir to the last drop and bringing their cultivation to completion, practitioners undergo a spiritual transformation, as if reborn. Their skin is as pure as ice and snow, and their bodies are light and supple as a young woman’s. They can command their breath, ride the clouds, travel through the heavens in all eight directions, and take in the sights of the human world. Whether the blue sea becomes mulberry fields, the mulberry fields become blue sea, high valleys become level ground, or deep valleys rise into hills, they let things change naturally.

The Metal Lord was originally a son of the Shu family,

sent to the western neighbor’s home to be born in borrowed form.

Recognize him, call him back, and bring him home to nurture;

pair him with the Old Woman’s daughter, and join them in marriage.

The annotation says: This point has already been explained in the notes to the regulated verse line, “Lead the White Tiger home and nurture it.” The cultivation of the great Golden Elixir involves many functions and symbols: Yin within Yang, and Yin contained within Yang; Yang within Yin, and Yang contained within Yin. There are also the Yin-Yang and Water-Fire of the inner medicine, and those of the outer medicine; the three inner natures and the three outer natures; the inner and outer Four Images and Five Phases; and the ways inner and outer Yin-Yang interact. These symbols shift in layer upon layer, too many to exhaust in words. We who have personally received this subtle teaching can only contemplate it silently and understand it inwardly. Without meeting a true teacher, it is difficult to grasp it fully. The Immortal Master wrote this poem to explain its principles in depth. He mentions only “one Yang”; the rest is for readers to understand for themselves.

The commentary says: The changes of Yin and Yang interweave and recur. I have already distinguished them in detail in the earlier classification of the forms and symbols of the Golden Elixir. They can be contemplated silently and understood inwardly. Without meeting a true teacher, it is difficult to understand the principles the Immortal Master explains in depth through this poem. He mentions only “one Yang”; the rest is for readers to understand for themselves.

The commentary says: The changes of Yin and Yang interweave and recur. I have already distinguished them in detail in the earlier classification of the forms and symbols of the Golden Elixir.

The Red Dragon and Black Tiger unite, linking the West and the East; the Four Images cross and meet at the center of Wu and Ji.

If the cycle begins again from here and is put into practice, how could the Golden Elixir fail to be refined successfully?

The commentary says: The east is associated with the Azure Dragon and Wood. Since Wood generates Fire, the Dragon’s “chord Qi”—a kind of Qi spoken of when Yin and Yang unite—is associated with Fire. Fire dwells in the south and is red, so the Dragon is also called the “Red Dragon.” The west is associated with the White Tiger and Metal. Since Metal generates Water, the Tiger’s chord Qi is associated with Water. Water dwells in the north and is black, so the Tiger is also called the “Black Tiger.” The Red Dragon is also called the “Maiden,” and the Black Tiger the “Golden Duke.” These two symbols are also like mercury extracted from cinnabar and silver extracted from lead.

The Red Dragon and Black Tiger combine to form the Qi of the two chords, bringing north and south, east and west into union—that is, uniting the Qi of the four directions. Four substances blend within the true Wu-Ji Earth, which represents the center and harmonizes the various Qi, and congeal into a grain-sized pellet of true Earth. Swallow it so that the medicinal Qi steams through the five organs, reaches the limbs, and then enters Mount Kunlun, here referring to the head or upper Dantian within the body, bringing the Qi of Water and Fire together there. Afterward, advance the Yang Fire at the time of the Return hexagram and withdraw the Yin Talisman at the time of the Gou line. As the firing process of cultivation proceeds, extraction and replenishment are kept precisely in balance, and the Elixir forms naturally. If one can do this, the highest fruit of the Dao will soon be within reach.

The commentary explains: The Dragon’s chord Qi belongs to Fire, and the Tiger’s chord Qi belongs to Water. Another account says that Fire in the metal cauldron is the White Tiger, while Water in the jade pool is the Azure Dragon. This shows that Yin and Yang have no fixed positions, and Water and Fire no fixed forms; they can exchange places and be put to use in turn, with endless subtle principles at work.

The waxing and waning of fullness and emptiness between Heaven and Earth each have their appointed time. Only by carefully observing their cycles of increase and decline can one grasp the right moment.

Since ancient times, the stem-branches Geng, Jia, Shen, and others have marked the seasons and their governing patterns. If one can use them to cut away the Three Corpses—the Daoist Yin spirits said to dwell in the body and obstruct cultivation—there is hope of attaining the Dao.

This commentary holds that the waxing and waning of Heaven and Earth follow fixed cycles. Heaven and Earth are eighty-four thousand li apart. At the winter solstice, one part of Yang Qi begins to rise from within the Earth, ascending each day by four hundred and sixty li and two hundred and forty paces. Five days make one pentad; three pentads make one qi period; two qi periods make one solar node; and two solar nodes make one season. By the spring equinox, exactly ninety days have passed. Yang Qi has then risen forty-two thousand li, reaching the space between Heaven and Earth. Half the Yang Qi has arisen within Yin, symbolized by the Tai hexagram. The weather shifts from cold to warm, and all things begin to grow: this is spring.

Afterward, Yang Qi continues to rise until the summer solstice. Including the time already elapsed, one hundred and eighty days have passed, and Yang Qi has risen eighty-four thousand li, reaching Heaven. At this point, Yang arises within Yang, symbolized by the pure Yang Qian hexagram. The weather shifts from warm to hot, and all things flourish; this is called “fullness.”

When the heat reaches its peak, Yin Qi begins to arise. At the summer solstice, one part of Yin Qi descends from Heaven, falling each day by four hundred and sixty li and two hundred and forty paces. By the same reckoning of seasonal periods, ninety days later, at the autumn equinox, Yin Qi has descended forty-two thousand li, reaching the space between Heaven and Earth. Half the Yin Qi has now arisen within Yang, symbolized by the Pi hexagram. The weather shifts from hot to cold, and all things come to fruition: this is autumn.

Afterward, Yin Qi continues to descend until the winter solstice. Including the time already elapsed, one hundred and eighty days have passed, and Yin Qi has descended eighty-four thousand li, reaching the Earth. At this point, Yin arises within Yin, symbolized by the pure Yin Kun hexagram. The weather shifts from cool to cold, and all things withdraw into storage; this is called “emptiness.”

The sages observed the patterns of fullness and decline, waxing and waning in Heaven and Earth, and could see them reflected in the waxing and waning of the Moon. The Moon takes shape through the Sun’s Qi. On the third day of the month, the lunar form begins to appear at the Geng position, symbolized by the Zhen hexagram. On the eighth day, it gradually takes shape at the Ding position, symbolized by the Dui hexagram. On the fifteenth day, at the Jia position, symbolized by the Qian hexagram, the Moon is full and the Qi of Heaven and Earth reaches fullness. On the sixteenth day, at the Xin position, symbolized by the Xun hexagram, the Moon begins to receive the returning change. On the twenty-third day, at the Bing position, symbolized by the Gen hexagram, the Moon reaches its last quarter. On the thirtieth day, at the Yi position, symbolized by the Kun hexagram, the Moon has vanished and the Qi of Heaven and Earth tends toward emptiness and decline.

The sages understood the pivotal patterns in the waxing and waning of Heaven and Earth. They could therefore condense the changing climate of a year into a month: they compared the first day, when Yang Qi first arises, to the winter solstice, then divided the month into twelve sections of about two and a half days each, totaling sixty double-hours, to correspond to the course of the year’s climate. At the first quarter, Yang Qi within Yin reaches its halfway point, symbolizing the spring equinox. On the fifteenth day, corresponding to the solar node in the fourth lunar month, Yang Qi is at its purest and fullest, so the Moon is full; this is called “fullness.” On the sixteenth day, Yin Qi first arises, symbolizing the summer solstice. At the last quarter, Yin Qi within Yang reaches its halfway point, symbolizing the autumn equinox. On the thirtieth day, corresponding to the solar node in the tenth lunar month, Yin Qi is at its purest and fullest, so the Moon’s light vanishes; this is called “emptiness.” The cycle then repeats without end.

The sages applied “Yang Fire” and “Yin Talisman”—terms in Neidan cultivation for the movement of Yang Qi and the regulation of Yin Qi—following the patterns of fullness and emptiness, ascent and descent in Heaven and Earth. In this way they made the changes of the sixty-four hexagrams cycle and recur, taking as their model the Moon’s passage from the Geng position to the Jia position as it waxes from crescent to full. This is like a ruler proclaiming commands and dispelling Yin demons. A cultivator who follows this principle may hope to attain the Dao.

Heaven and Earth wax and wane, as do the Sun and Moon. The sages take Heaven, Earth, the Sun, and Moon as their models, cultivating in accord with their changes and the patterns of their waxing and waning. Geng and Jia mark the stages of advancing the fire and correspond to changes in the phases of the Moon. When the Moon appears in the Zhen position and manifests the image of Geng, it begins to wax: the Yin Talisman then retreats, and the Yang Fire advances. When the Moon waxes to the Qian position and manifests the image of Jia, it begins to wane: the Yang Fire then retreats, and the Yin Talisman advances. This, too, is the principle of waxing and waning. Jia Wood symbolizes the Dragon, while Geng Metal symbolizes the Tiger, expressing the image of Dragon and Tiger in union. The foregoing concerns both the inner and outer medicines.

The phrases “empty the heart” and “fill the belly” both hold deep meaning, but one must first understand the principle of emptying the heart. It is better to begin by refining lead to fill the belly, so that the hall within is filled with gold.

The commentary explains: Mercury refers to Jing and Qi. Keep Mercury in check and fill the belly, and the hall within will be full of gold and jade. “The One” refers to the Elixir. Embrace and guard the One, keeping the heart empty and still, and not a single stray thought will arise. When the heart is empty and still, the body cannot be sustained for long, so lead must be refined to govern it. Once the belly is full, the heart must not become attached to anything; therefore, one must embrace and guard the One, allowing the heart to return to emptiness and stillness.

To fill the belly, one must first refine lead to govern Mercury. Once Mercury has dried up and the body has changed, one then embraces and guards the One, allowing the heart to return to emptiness and stillness. When the heart is empty and the body refined, one accords with the Dao and ultimately reaches the formless state. Each of these two principles has its own subtlety: their paths differ, but they lead to the same destination. No one but a great sage can truly understand them. “A hall full of gold” refers to the Jing and Qi of the whole body. Those who cultivate and seek to fill the belly by refining lead must avoid wasting Jing and Qi during the process. If Jing and Qi are insufficient, the Returning Elixir—the elixir sought through Neidan cultivation—cannot be formed.

The commentary says: “Emptiness” refers to those who have understood their nature. They can make their minds empty and still, but may not be able to strengthen their bodies. Unless they cultivate lead, a technical term in Neidan practice, they cannot use it to regulate and nourish the body. “Substance” refers to those who cultivate nature and life. They can strengthen their bodies, but may not be able to make their minds empty and still; they must also embrace the One—maintaining unity of mind and body—so that the mind returns to emptiness and stillness. Understanding one’s nature and cultivating life require distinct efforts in the proper sequence. Only after both nature and life have been cultivated can they be brought together and made to accord with the Dao. Nature and life must not be treated as one and the same, nor should one cultivate through empty catchphrases, heterodox teachings, or attachment to partial views. This is the principle of the two traditions of cultivating nature and life.

The Yinfu Jing contains fewer than three hundred characters, while the wondrous chapters of the Daode Jing comprise only five thousand.

The High Immortals of past and present are beyond counting; all of them grasped the true principles through these two classics.

The commentary says: The Yinfu Jing and the Daode Jing are the guiding principles of the collected classics and the pivot of the teachings of the various masters. The immortals and sages of antiquity all grasped the true principles through these two classics and ultimately attained the Great Dao. This passage cites the Yinfu Jing and the Daode Jing.

First observe the celestial signs and understand the “Five Thieves”—the five factors that interact and change. Then examine the earth and bring stability to the people.

Only after the people are settled and the country prosperous can one speak of going to war. Only when the fighting has ended can one behold the sage.

The commentary says: “Five Thieves” refers in heaven to the Five Planets, on earth to the Five Sacred Mountains, and among people to the Five Constant Virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. In my view, in terms of directions the “Five Thieves” refers to the five cardinal points; in the human body, to the five viscera; and in terms of Qi… Only when the fighting has ended can one behold the sage.

The commentary says, “‘Five Thieves’ correspond in heaven to the Five Planets, on earth to the Five Sacred Mountains, and in the human body to the Five Constant Virtues: benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness.” I believe the Five Directions correspond in the body to the five organs and, in Qi, to five qualities. When the Five Constant Virtues appear among the myriad things, they take the form of the five tones, Five Phases, five colors, five metals, five grains, five fruits, and five flavors.

The Yinfu Jing says, “Heaven has Five Thieves; those who can perceive them will flourish.” If people see these patterns clearly and cultivate themselves by reversing their direction, they can bring the transformations of the cosmos under their control and let the transformations of the myriad things arise from within themselves. Examining the conditions of the land serves to bring stability to the people. The people are the foundation of the state; when its foundation is secure, the state can be peaceful and prosperous.

Thus, the sage takes the self as a state: the Elixir (Neidan, internal alchemy) is the ruler, the fire (the timing and intensity of the fire used in alchemical cultivation) is the minister, and Jing and Qi are the people. A person cultivating Neidan who contemplates the Dao of Heaven, grasps the “Five Thieves,” and cultivates in the reverse direction can draw on Yin-Yang transformations to return to the source. In this way, they can obtain the “essence of the True One”—pure and undivided vital energy—and transform their own Yin mercury (a Neidan term for Yin-natured vital energy) into the Qi of Qian’s Yang. When Jing and Qi are thus stabilized, the cultivator can gain the advantage in the practice. If the fire is regulated without error, then after ten months of cultivation the work is complete: the spirit is transformed through rebirth, and the cultivator becomes a perfected immortal. Thus, only by overcoming the obstacles of cultivation can one behold the realm of the sage.

So long as one can turn the “gate of death” into the “gate of life,” one need not cling to the idea that the “gate of life” should be regarded as the “gate of death.”

Only by understanding how the mechanism of killing turns and how things repeatedly transform can one see that what appears harmful may conceal the very source of life and blessing.

The annotation says: When Yin-Yang and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) follow their ordinary course, they give rise to life; when that course reaches its end, it also brings death. This is the usual pattern of the world. How could ordinary people know that there is a kind of life that seems not to be life? By attaining it, one can instead live long. There is also a kind of compliance that seems contrary to the natural course: only by attaining it can one truly follow the Way. If one understands how these apparent opposites bring about one another, one can discover life within calamity, and a man, too, can nurture the true Elixir. “The mechanism of killing” is the hidden hinge by which one wrests the vital workings of creation. Lu Ziye said: “Through this portal, countless beings are born, and countless beings die. If you seek life only by following the ordinary course, you will end up moving toward death; if you can instead turn the mechanism of death to your use, you can attain life.” This is what it means to see clearly the transformations of life and death, and to uncover life within calamity. As the saying goes, “A dead shop is reopened by the living.”

The commentary explains: What gives me life is Yin-Yang and the Five Phases; what brings me death is also Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. To turn the gate of death into the gate of life is to reverse the mechanism of life and death. If one recklessly relies on nature’s vitality and acts only according to the ordinary pattern, what once gave me life can turn around and bring me death. Ordinary people follow the usual course of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases and ultimately die; the perfected person reverses Yin-Yang and thereby survives. Immortals can seize the hidden workings of creation: they shed their illusory physical bodies, and when people see them die, this is called “not being born.” Yet their pure Yang true bodies can ascend and transform, enduring as long as Heaven and Earth. Thus, what seems not to be life is in fact long life. To invert the Five Phases and reverse the ordinary course of creation seems contrary to the natural order; to seize the essence of Heaven and Earth and return it to the Non-Extreme, the undifferentiated source of all things, is true compliance. What seems contrary to the natural course thus leads to the fullest accord with it.

Fire arises from Wood, and the seed of fire lies hidden within Wood. If you do not understand how this works, do not try to put it into practice.

Calamity often arises from this and harms oneself, so one must find a way to subdue it and seek the “Metal Lord” (a Neidan term, often used as a metaphor for the nature of Metal or the key power in alchemical cultivation).

The commentary says: Fire arises from wood, and when its force becomes excessive, it brings disaster. Jing and Qi are produced by the body; once desire stirs, they are dissipated. If one does not study and regulate oneself with care, disaster will injure the body. To restrain this loss, one must call upon the “Metal Lord” (Jingong), a Neidan term for a force that restrains and gathers. Master Lü says: “Fire stirs where the seven apertures are tightly sealed and locked. Do not let it burn through the River Cart, the bodily channels that circulate Jing and Qi in Neidan.”

The explanation says: Fire arises from wood; if one drills wood to make fire too much, the wood is reduced to ash. Wood is like the human body, and fire is like original Qi. One should store and nourish true Qi to sustain the body. If one carelessly depletes original Qi, the body will be harmed. To restrain dissipating Qi within the body, such as “child Qi,” one must use a force like the Metal Lord in Heaven and Earth to keep it in check. Only then can one nurture the root, form the “Sacred Embryo” (the inner achievement of Neidan cultivation), and attain long life and enduring vision.

The Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and humanity—steal Jing and Qi from one another, each in its own season. This is the way the Immortals’ Dao operates.

Once the transformations of the myriad things have settled, all thoughts come to rest as well. When the body’s many bones and limbs are harmonized and unobstructed, one can embody the state of Wuwei (non-action).

The commentary says: Heaven and Earth act upon the myriad things through the changes of the four seasons. Thus, things flourish and wither; they cannot flourish forever. The myriad things act upon people through the Five Flavors, so people are born and die; they cannot live forever. People act upon the myriad things through the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), so things take shape and are destroyed; they cannot exist forever. When Heaven and Earth, people, and the myriad things—the “Three Thieves”—each fulfill their proper role, the three powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity can be at peace.

Thus, in the world there is birth and death, flourishing and decline, blooming and fading, day and night, departure and arrival, life and killing, rise and fall, as well as things and self, right and wrong. These changes arise in profusion, cycle without end, and are hard to predict. They are all the Way of nature. If one can bring together the workings of Heaven and Earth, the myriad things, and humanity as one, reverse the mechanism by which they operate, and refine and gather them at the proper time, then every part of the body can be properly regulated, and the changes of the myriad things will naturally settle. When the myriad transformations are settled, every kind of thought will cease; when thought ceases, the Way of Wuwei (non-action) will naturally be realized. The foregoing quotes the Scripture of the Hidden Talisman (Yinfu Jing) to explain the two medicines.

As the myriad things flourish and grow, each returns to its root. By returning to the root and restoring its original state of life, one can endure.

To understand the constant Dao (the Way) and return to the root is difficult for people to grasp. That arbitrary and reckless conduct brings misfortune, however, is something everyone has heard.

The commentary says: The myriad things grow and multiply in profusion, then each returns to its own root. Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called returning to one’s destiny; returning to one’s destiny is called constancy; understanding constancy is called clarity. These are the profound teachings of the Supreme Lord Lao.

Before birth, a person is in a dim, unaware state, undivided from the original, undifferentiated simplicity. After birth, one receives Yin-Yang Qi (vital energy) and the life inherited from one’s parents. The sage cultivates in reverse, recovering the primordial Qi as the basis for refining the elixir. The sage gathers the true Qi of Yin and Yang as the foundation for transformation and the refinement of the body, refining the physical form until it returns to formlessness. Qi is then refined until it returns to primordial simplicity, and Shen (spirit) is refined until it joins with the Dao in its true reality. Thus, returning to the root and restoring one’s destiny is to endure.

Those who understand the constant Dao and return to the root are sages, and so they can live long. Those who do not understand the constant Dao, do not know how to return to the root, and act recklessly are ordinary people, and so they bring misfortune upon themselves. The foregoing elucidates the Dao De Jing to explain the two medicines.

Texts on the elixir, such as the Cantong qi (Token for Joining the Three), use verse and discussion to convey the highest principles, but do not set down in writing the specific application of the firing times. To understand the profound meaning of the secret instructions, one must discuss them carefully with the immortals.

The commentary says: There are six hundred chapters discussing the firing times. Their contents are alike, and they describe a continuous process of cultivation and withdrawal, attuned to the rhythms of Heaven. The secrets of Heaven are deeply concealed; even sages do not readily write them down and pass them on. When you meet a true teacher, do not act rashly. The explanatory note says: One month corresponds to sixty hexagrams, forming sixty chapters; ten months make six hundred chapters in all. The chapters are alike in the sense that each day follows the same pattern. By reading the Cantong qi repeatedly, one can grasp its principles. The text cites the Cantong qi and other works here to explain the firing times.

In a dream, I paid my respects to the Perfected Person of Western Radiance, an immortal of the Daoist tradition, and ascended to the Ninth Heaven. The Perfected Person taught me the Pian on Pointing to the Mysterious (Zhixuan pian), a treatise explaining the methods of the elixir. Its contents are concise and spare in words; it teaches only the refinement of Mercury and Lead.

The commentary says: Gao Xiangxian’s spirit suddenly ascended to the Jade Capital, the celestial realm where the Heavenly Emperor resides. The Lord on High took pity on him and ordered the Perfected Person of Western Radiance to teach him the instructions for the elixir. The Pian on Pointing to the Mysterious says in essence: Shutong, that is, Chunyu Shutong, accompanied Wei Boyang, and together they entered the realm of Wuwei (non-action) with smiles. Wei Boyang modeled the Cantong qi on the format of the Classic of Changes of the Linked Mountains (Lianshan yi), making it a major text on the elixir for all ages. It begins by taking Qian and Kun as its guiding principles, explaining that the Dao of Qian gives birth to the male and the Dao of Kun to the female. People of the world do not understand the true principle of Yin-Yang, so they wander about in confusion, seeking the Dragon and Tiger. Though the book discusses many subjects, in the end it only teaches readers to distinguish the true Dragon from the true Tiger and to refine Lead and Mercury. The text cites the Pian on Pointing to the Mysterious here to explain Lead and Mercury.

The commentary says: The language of the Zhixuan Pian is elegant and archaic, and the text deals specifically with lead and mercury, symbolic terms in Neidan cultivation. The passage quoted here comes from a song by Gao Xiangxian. If we draw out its essential points, we can see that the path of cultivation in the Wuzhen Pian shares the same central teaching as the Zhixuan Pian and this song.

The song says: The Yellow Emperor went to the cave dwelling on Mount Kongtong in search of the Great Dao. Though he grasped its basic principles, he had not yet understood them completely. He then returned to Shu and went to Mount Emei, where the Perfected One, the Celestial Emperor, revealed the “True Unity” to him—the pure, undivided foundation toward which cultivation is directed. It is best first to open the Gate of Wu and Ji. Wu and Ji represent central Earth and also symbolize the pivot that harmonizes Yin-Yang in Neidan cultivation. Gold and water are hidden within the gate. Gold and water are the foundation of the Yellow Sprout, the essence that first emerges in Neidan cultivation; the Yellow Sprout, in turn, is the source of all things. When the source and what it gives rise to unite, they form the cauldron and furnace, symbols of alchemical work.

When the essences of the sun and moon interact, True Qi rises and descends, and the Mysterious Pearl moves of its own accord. It flies to Kunlun, which here refers to an important part of the body. To obtain it, one must rely on “Wangxiang”: rather than grasping at something tangible, one apprehends it through an empty and still mind and spirit. Once obtained, the Mysterious Pearl is sent back to the Crimson Palace, a Neidan term for the heart. The Qi of the Crimson Palace nourishes the whole body with its warmth, making the skin glow and the hair turn black. By this stage of cultivation, one is as though erased from the register of the dead kept by the Northern Dipper. The work can be completed in ninety days, and traces of the Yellow Emperor’s ascent to immortality remain on Mount Qiao.

Have you not heard? Shutong and Wei Boyang traveled together, smiling as they entered the realm of Wuwei (non-action). Drawing on the Lianshan, an ancient classic of Yi learning, Wei Boyang composed the Cantong Qi, making it an alchemical classic passed down through the ages. At the outset, the text uses Heaven and Earth to represent the gateways of the Yi Way: the way of Qian belongs to Yang, like a man; the way of Kun belongs to Yin, like a woman. People in the world do not understand the true principles of Yin and Yang, so they search about blindly for the Dragon and Tiger, terms in Neidan that symbolize the two Qi of Yin and Yang.

The sun belongs to Li, and the moon to Kan; the Yin and Yang of the sun and moon interact and wax and wane. The Golden Crow, a symbol of the sun, declines, while the Jade Rabbit, a symbol of the moon, rises. All things come into being through the interaction of the Qi of Heaven and Earth. The two Qi of Yin and Yang unite like a man and a woman; the Four Images and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) likewise gather and move in cycles. The passage of day and night naturally embodies the changes of Tun and Meng, two hexagrams from the Zhouyi that symbolize the beginnings of things and their emergence into understanding. There is no need to fixate on painstakingly observing the firing times—the control of heat and timing in alchemical work. The time for gathering and refining comes of itself, and the days for taking and using have their own order. Both gathering and taking must be done carefully and discreetly.

The passages quoted above from the Zhixuan Pian explain the meanings of mercury and lead.

Buddhism teaches people to cultivate rebirth in the Land of Ultimate Bliss—the Western Pure Land of Buddhist teaching—because Ultimate Bliss lies in the west, and the west belongs to Metal.

Broadly speaking, only this one kind of form—the visible body and appearance—is real. The other two kinds are unreal, and there is no point in trying to force an explanation from them.

The commentary says: The Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss lies in the west, which belongs to Metal among the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). There, only one Golden Elixir is produced, the size of a grain of millet and weighing one jin. Buddhists ingest it and so attain a golden body sixteen feet tall—the Buddha’s body, one zhang and six chi in height. This wondrous form of the physical body also seems to arise through the transformations of the Golden Elixir. The measure of sixteen corresponds to the number “two times eight”; the west is Metal. People of the world do not understand what this means. The ancient immortals once gave this verse: “Who, I ask, is Gautama? He dwells in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss. There, through the number two times eight, Metal Essence is produced, from which the sixteen-foot golden body is attained. If someone casts off this illusory body and personally receives the true teaching from an enlightened master, then, in an instant, swallows an elixir bead the size of a grain of millet, and at once transforms into an indestructible body.” These words have made the meaning quite clear. Any further discussion will only hinder your understanding. The passage above uses Buddhism’s highest teaching as an analogy to explain the Golden Elixir.

Methods of visualizing one’s own body, holding the breath and regulating the breathing, and contemplating the spirits are difficult at first, but later become smooth and effortless.

Though one can travel in spirit through countless lands in the blink of an eye, once the body has decayed, one still cannot avoid moving elsewhere.

The commentary says: Visualizing the body, holding the breath, and contemplating the spirits are lesser methods for releasing the Yin spirit—the practice of making consciousness leave the body through cultivation. They are very difficult for beginners, but with practice one becomes proficient and can act freely, traveling in spirit through countless lands in an instant. Although this consciousness is wondrous and subtle, it depends on a Yin body. The physical body cannot remain firm for long and is prone to decay, so in the end one cannot avoid taking a new body through rebirth, as if moving house.

Master Chen Shangyangzi says: Holding the breath and nourishing the Qi is, in the end, a Yin form of cultivation. Even after enduring countless kalpas, one ultimately returns to emptiness and extinction. This too may be considered a method of the Dao. The Biography of Lü Dongbin records: One day, Dongbin took the form of a Daoist in Mount Lu…

Master Shangyang of Chen said: Relying only on holding the breath and regulating respiration is a practice tilted toward Yin. Even after cultivating for many kalpas, one will ultimately fall into emptiness and stillness, accomplishing nothing. Though this may count as a kind of Dao, it is not the complete Dao.

The Biography of Lü Dongbin records that one day Lü Dongbin transformed himself into a wandering Daoist and came to Kaiguang Temple on Mount Lu. There he saw the monk Fazhen sitting in meditation. Fazhen had observed the precepts and cultivated for twenty years. The Daoist asked him, “Can sitting in meditation alone bring realization of the Great Dao?” Fazhen replied, “Yes.”

The Daoist said, “Among the Buddhist precepts, nothing is more strongly cautioned against than delusion. While sitting, you think your mind is free of distracting thoughts; but as soon as you encounter something outside yourself, your mind cannot remain at rest for even a moment. If attachment happens to arise, all kinds of thoughts come surging in, difficult to control. To sit peacefully, you must first refine the mind. Once the mind has been refined, you must also bring the true Qi (vital energy) under control. If you can truly regulate the breath, then even while asleep all day, the Dao is present. Why limit yourself to sitting meditation?”

Fazhen still did not understand. The Daoist led him through the meditation hall, where they saw a monk fast asleep. The Daoist asked, “What does this man usually do?” Fazhen replied, “He meditates and accumulates merit, hoping to become a Buddha.” The Daoist said, “Let us sit here for a while and watch him.”

After a long time, Fazhen saw a little green snake, more than three inches long, emerge from the crown of the sleeping monk’s head. It crawled from his left foot to the ground and wandered about. It came upon some mucus and ate it, then climbed onto a chamber pot and drank the urine inside. After that it went out through the veranda, crossed the small ditch outside, and wound around the flower beds as if admiring them. It tried to cross the ditch again, but the water had risen, so it turned back. As the snake returned, the Daoist used a small knife to dig into the ground and block its path. The snake recoiled at the sight, then took another route, crawled to the sleeping monk’s right foot, and made its way up his body before slipping back into his head.

The sleeping monk woke with a start and bowed to the Daoist and Fazhen. “I just had a dream,” he said. “Let me tell you about it. At first I went out through a door on the left and came upon a lavish vegetarian feast, so I ate. Then I found fine wine and drank it. Later I lifted my robe and crossed the little stream outside the gate, where I saw dozens of beautiful women. I wanted to cross back, but the water suddenly rose and I could not get across, so I had to return. On the way, I met a robber who wanted to kill me. I ran along a shortcut and went back through the door on the right. Then I woke up.”

The Daoist and Fazhen laughed and left. The Daoist said to Fazhen, “He took his left foot for a door, mucus for food offerings, urine for wine, the little ditch for a river, the flowers and trees for beautiful women, and the knife for a robber. Such are the illusions of people’s dreams. People think that by sitting in meditation alone they can seek the Dao and become Buddhas. How could that work?”

Fazhen asked, “What was the snake?” The Daoist replied, “This monk is often talkative. Under the influence of these habitual tendencies, his body and mind have changed, and the form of a snake has already appeared. When he eventually closes his eyes and dies, he will be reborn as a snake. Is that not frightening? I am Lord Lü, Lü Dongbin. Seeing how sincerely you cultivate, I came especially to teach you.” Fazhen followed him away, and what became of them afterward is unknown.

When the dull-witted people in the world sit rigidly in pursuit of Buddhahood, should they not be warned by this story?

“Contemplating the Form” means hanging a mirror indoors, quieting the mind, turning inward in contemplation, and nourishing the Original Spirit. “Holding the Breath” means stopping the breath throughout the body and imagining oneself in the womb, as before birth. Place a feather on the nose: if it does not move, sustaining twelve breaths counts as a minor Dao; sustaining one hundred and twenty counts as the Great Dao. If one can sustain a thousand breaths, one is not far from becoming an immortal. This resembles the method described in Bodhidharma’s Treatise on Embryonic Breathing.

The practice of observing the coming and going of the breath, attributed to the wise, follows the Buddhist Hinayana method of seated meditation: one observes the breath in meditative absorption. “Concentrating the spirit” means focusing the mind and spirit, keeping them in contemplation of a single place. One may visualize the space between the eyebrows or the crown of the head; the thirty-nine chambers described in the Great Cavern Scripture; the two Qi of the Yellow Court, within and without; or one may practice the Sixteen Contemplations. None of these methods has the Golden Elixir to transform and illumine the practitioner, so what they produce is only the Yin Spirit, a consciousness with a predominantly Yin nature.

“Entering the womb, seizing another’s body, moving into a borrowed body, and remaining in the old body” are methods practiced by those called the “Four Fruit practitioners.”

If one can subdue the Dragon and tame the Tiger, refining the Golden Elixir until it is like pure gold, how could the house formed by that Elixir ever decay?

The commentary asks: How could a house built of pure gold decay? The Scripture of Salvation of Humanity says that even dry bones can grow again and become living people; how much more so for one who has swallowed a pearl of the Golden Elixir, as small as a grain of millet? Practitioners of the so-called “Four Fruits,” such as entering the womb and seizing another’s body, are merely ghostlike beings whose Yin spirits have withered away. Daoguang says that entering the womb and seizing another’s body are practices of cultivators attached to emptiness, whereas subduing the Dragon and taming the Tiger is the wondrous method of returning the Elixir.

The explanatory commentary says: After the Yin spirit gives rise to conscious thought, it enters the womb and uses it as a means of birth. “Seizing another’s body” means that another consciousness has already entered the womb, and one then takes that body for oneself in order to be born. “Moving into a borrowed body” means using a body transformed by another and placing one’s own consciousness within it. “Remaining in the old body” means holding to the nature of the Yin spirit to preserve the body and prevent its form from entering extinction. None of these four methods has the Golden Elixir to transform and illumine the practitioner; all produce only the Yin Spirit. These are minor-vehicle methods found in Daoism and Buddhism.

Cultivating the Great Dao can be easy or difficult. It depends both on one’s own effort and on the timing and opportunities granted by Heaven.

If you do not accumulate good deeds over a long period and quietly cultivate De, obstacles from demons will often interfere with your practice.

Note: Demonic obstacles arise from the workings of Heaven and time, while cultivation rests with oneself. If you do not quietly do good and accumulate De, you may encounter hindrances wherever you go.

Commentary: The previous poem said, “Swallow one point of the numinous Elixir, and you will know that it depends on me, not on Heaven.” It greatly praised the effects of the Golden Elixir, calling it supremely numinous and wondrous. Here it says, “I know it depends on me, and also on Heaven.” This urges those who study the Dao: after hearing of the Great Dao, they should also accumulate good deeds and extend their kindness widely, so as to receive Heaven’s aid. They must not rely on the Golden Elixir’s numinous wonders and assume they are certain to avoid demonic obstacles.

Even if your intelligence and talent surpass those of Yan Hui and Min Ziqian, disciples of Confucius, do not try to guess at the teaching without a master’s transmission.

If the alchemical scriptures contain no oral formula, where will you learn to bring the numinous embryo to completion?

Note: The thousands of scriptures and treatises mostly elaborate on secondary details. The essentials of the Great Dao are not complicated; they are transmitted heart to heart between master and disciple. Without meeting a true teacher, relying only on what is passed from mouth to ear is also fruitless. Without a true master’s oral formula for this method, even someone as intelligent as Yan Hui or Min Ziqian cannot work it out by guesswork alone.

Practitioners move among ordinary people, keeping their abilities concealed and living in harmony with the world. They are accommodating when circumstances call for it and upright when the moment requires it.

Whether they reveal themselves or remain hidden, follow the current or go against it, they are hard to fathom. How could others discern their conduct and whereabouts?

Note: Wearing coarse clothes while carrying fine jade within means that Daoist practitioners appear plain on the outside, living among ordinary people without displaying their abilities. They make no distinction between themselves and others, and do not cling to the division between self and other. Whether they are hidden or visible, moving with the current or against it, how many people can truly see through and assess them? The passages above are meant to caution and encourage people.

End of Volume Six of Commentary and Exegesis on the Wuzhen Pian by the Perfected Ziyang.

Volume Seven of Commentary and Exegesis on the Wuzhen Pian by the Perfected Ziyang.

Commentary by the Old Master Wumingzi Weng Baoguang of Xiangchuan; transmitted and compiled by Chen Daling of Wuyi; exegesis by Dai Qizong, the Mysterious Master of Qingkong.

The “Moon over the West River” comprises twelve pieces, corresponding to the twelve months of the year. The Immortal Elder’s own commentary says: “West” represents Metal among the Five Phases; “River” represents the form of Water; and “Moon” represents the action of the medicine. The commentary by the Nameless One explains that the Immortal Raft composed this set of lyrics to reveal the Great Dao through the twelve months of the year.

The principles of external and internal medicines are similar: their outer application and inner cultivation must both be fully understood. The ingredients of the elixir are broadly the same, but the methods of nurturing and refining differ in their effects for Neidan (internal alchemy) and Waidan (external alchemy).

Within the body there is naturally a true fire, like a red glow in the furnace that burns without ever going out. In refining and nurturing the outer furnace, one must continually add fuel and apply effort. The most subtle key is the “true seed”—the fundamental element on which elixir-making depends.

The Song of Breaking Delusion at Yimen says: “The Dao is within, yet the furnace is set outside; Kan and Li are taken from outside, while lead and mercury are within.” This explains the difference between Neidan (internal alchemy) and Waidan (external alchemy). The external medicine refers to the Golden Elixir, whose transformation takes place in the “Two-Eight Furnace”; it is said to be completed in less than half an hour. The internal medicine refers to the Returning Elixir of liquid gold, whose transformation takes place in the human abdomen. It requires ten months of refinement and nourishment before one can be reborn from the womb and undergo spiritual transformation. The two elixirs are combined in broadly similar ways, but their methods of regulating the firing times differ greatly.

When practitioners begin their work of refining the elixir, the internal medicine must be brought into harmony. As the elixir is about to take shape, even the slightest error can prevent the great medicine from being refined, so one must proceed with care. Although the internal medicine has its own true fire, which continues to burn vigorously within the earthen crucible, one must still draw on the work of the external furnace to increase or reduce the fire and regulate its timing. No mistake can be allowed, lest it bring danger. The transformations of the true fire within and without are limitless. The key lies in the subtle use of true lead: it can subdue mercury and keep it from flying away.

Ye Wenshu did not understand this principle. He claimed that the internal medicine must be cooked with true fire, while ordinary fire should be used to increase or reduce the heat when refining the external medicine. This view is narrow and not worth discussing. In fact, although the internal and external medicines differ, at root they are one Dao.

The so-called internal and external medicines refer to how human beings are born by receiving the refined Qi of Heaven and Earth, and take shape through the molding force of Yin-Yang. The human body therefore rests on Jing, Qi, and Shen: Shen arises from Qi, and Qi arises from Jing. These three come into being only after Heaven and Earth have formed, and belong to Yin. If Daoist practitioners rely solely on cultivating themselves, they can do no more than refine and nourish these three things: Jing, Qi, and Shen. But these are all postcelestial and Yin in nature. How could they alone transform the body into pure Yang and enable it to transcend Heaven and Earth?

For this reason, the Immortal Elder said, “To cultivate only one thing is, in the end, to be solitary and weak.” Master Zhongli said, “Tears, saliva, Jing, fluids, Qi, blood, and liquid—all seven are Yin.” He also said, “To cultivate only one thing is to have solitary Yin.” Zhenyizi said, “Solitary Yin cannot generate by itself, and solitary Yang cannot bring anything to completion by itself.” The Cantong qi says, “A hen brooding over her eggs alone will not hatch chicks that grow to maturity.” These sayings all explain that the Dao of the elixir cannot be completed through postcelestial things of a Yin nature alone.

The sages understood that the body’s true Qi comes into being after Heaven and Earth and is a mixture of Yin and Yang. It is hard to grasp and easily dissipates. They therefore sought the true Yin and true Yang within the one Qi of the precelestial realm—the “Two-Eight Same-Kind” substances—and gathered and refined them together within a single double-hour, forming a single elixir of utmost Yang called “true lead.” Because this transformation takes place outside the body, it is called the external medicine. This Yang elixir is then used to transform one’s own Yin mercury, like a cat catching a mouse. The Yang elixir is the mother Qi of Heaven and Earth, while one’s own Yin mercury is their child Qi. Using the mother Qi to subdue the child Qi is precisely the union of things of the same kind. Because this transformation takes place within the body, it is called the internal medicine.

The Immortal Elder said, “Only when the medicine meets Qi of the same kind can it take shape; only in emptiness can the Dao accord with nature.” Zhenyizi said that before Heaven and Earth had formed, when chaos remained undivided, true lead arose first by receiving the one Qi. Only afterward did Heaven and Earth, Yin-Yang, the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), and the myriad things gradually come into being. The Cantong qi likewise says, “It came into being before Heaven and Earth, and stands in supreme exaltation.” These sayings all attest to the existence of the one Qi of the precelestial realm.

The precelestial Yang elixir is used to transform one’s own Yin mercury into pure Yang. Then Yin-Yang talismanic fire is used to regulate the firing times, increasing or reducing the heat and advancing or withdrawing it. After ten months of work, the body becomes Qi, Qi becomes Shen, and Shen joins with the Dao and becomes formless, its transformations beyond prediction. One can then transcend Heaven and Earth, stand above the workings of creation, govern Heaven and Earth, and mold Yin-Yang, without being subject to their transformations. This is because the one Qi that came into being before Heaven and Earth has taken effect. Its mystery is formless and its transformations unfathomable; hence it is said that nothing is more wondrous than the true seed.

So how can postcelestial Qi of a Yin nature be treated as the internal medicine? And how can postcelestial cinnabar, ordinary mercury, ordinary fire, and other substances of different natures, burdened with dross, be treated as the external medicine? Those who study the Dao should investigate its roots and avoid being misled by heretical teachings; only then can they avoid falling forever into the Three Paths and sinking into the cycle of rebirth.

The commentary says: In alchemical practice, even the slightest error prevents the Great Medicine from being refined. As the verse puts it, “A hair’s breadth of difference is enough to keep the Elixir from forming.” The so-called “two eights” is not an actual furnace and vessel; it is simply a name borrowed to refer to them. The furnace and vessel themselves have no concrete substance.

The External Medicine condenses into the Golden Elixir by means of the firing times governing Yin-Yang ascent and descent. The Internal Medicine likewise condenses into the Returning Elixir of Golden Liquor through the firing times of Yin-Yang ascent and descent. Both the internal and external processes follow the patterns of Heaven and Earth in their gestation. So although they differ as internal and external, at root they are one and the same path of cultivation.

The Tang dynasty immortal Jiandaling said, “People know that prolonging life lies in returning Jing and replenishing Qi. Cinnabar is within me; how could it be somewhere outside?” The commentary considers this view shallow, saying that it fails to grasp the true stages of cultivation. One might ask: can Jing really be “returned”? Can Qi really be “replenished”? When one regulates the breath and tunes Qi, letting the breath move in and out, retaining the clear and expelling the turbid, does Qi actually leave the body and then enter it from outside? Nature is already within oneself, so what distinction is there between entering from outside and emerging from within?

Some take what is gained through breathing exercises to be the essence. But how could this restore a body that has already declined? Others take the coming and going of the breath to be Jing and Qi, but how could such exertion avoid harming the body? Even in the prime of life, the body may already be in decline. Once the essence is depleted, the spirit and soul scatter—how, then, can one speak of restoring them? Some people preserve their genuine Qi in childhood and exercise consistently as they grow older, thereby extending their lives. At most, however, they attain the lower rank of an earthly immortal—one who lives long but cannot ascend—and still lack the ability to rise through the air. Only by refining the Fire Dragon externally and circulating Golden Liquor internally can one truly attain the rank of a high immortal. According to the high immortals, cultivating only one aspect cannot make one immortal.

The scriptures now clearly distinguish the Internal Medicine from the External Medicine, making the principles easier to understand, though this does not necessarily mean they are truly grasped. Alas, perhaps these people lack the conditions and opportunity to cultivate the Dao.

Chen Shangyangzi says: Practitioners must first thoroughly understand the true meaning of the two operations of Yin-Yang, internal and external. Once they have understood them, they can enter a quiet chamber and begin cultivation; success will then come more readily. The Internal Medicine is inherent within oneself, while the External Medicine is obtained from forms and appearances beyond the whole body and mind—that is, from perceptible bodies and phenomena. The Internal Medicine does not depart from oneself, and the External Medicine, too, is never apart from the realm of forms and appearances. The Internal Medicine chiefly cultivates nature; the External Medicine cultivates life as well. The Internal Medicine is Jing, and the External Medicine is Qi. Only when Jing and Qi depend on one another do they form the true seed of the medicine. Through the dual cultivation of nature and life, one can realize the status of a celestial immortal.

If “True Lead” is to retain “Mercury,” the two must not be parted from the “household minister” when they draw near to one another. Cultivation requires both awakening to one’s original nature and refining one’s nature and life: the inner medicine refers to Jing, and the outer medicine to Qi. Jing and Qi depend on one another; together they form the foundation of alchemical practice. Only by cultivating both nature and life can one attain the state of a Celestial Immortal.

If True Lead is to retain Mercury, the two must not be parted from the household minister when they draw near to one another. If Wood and Metal are kept apart, they cannot unite on their own; they must be brought together with the help of a matchmaker.

Wood by nature delights in Metal and follows what is right; Metal’s affection is drawn to Wood, and it embodies compassion. The two receive and absorb one another, blending while remaining close. Only then does one understand that a man, too, can conceive within his own body.

The commentary explains that this passage describes symbols of inner cultivation. The “household minister” is one’s own True Qi. True Qi condenses through the Golden Elixir, while the Golden Elixir works its wondrous effects with the help of one’s own Mercury. The two depend on one another and unite; only then can transformation take place and subtle workings become accessible. That is why the text says that, for True Lead to retain Mercury, the two must not be parted from the household minister when they draw near.

The Golden Elixir belongs to Metal and is external; one’s own Mercury belongs to Wood and is internal. Since the two are apart, their union depends entirely on the “Yellow Matron” (a symbol of the medium that harmonizes Yin and Yang and brings the medicines together). Through this, the Golden Elixir is formed and then swallowed, so that it can be joined with one’s own Mercury. The Yellow Matron also guides the two medicines toward one another. Once they have united, the principles of Yin-Yang intercourse are applied through the talismanic fire (the timing and measure of the fire used in alchemical practice). Wood yearns for Metal, and Metal yearns for Wood; they receive, absorb, and unite with one another like husband and wife, nurturing an “embryo” (a symbol of the perfected Neidan) within the abdomen. This is what is meant by a man conceiving. This path of cultivation is extraordinarily subtle. Without compassion for all beings and the accumulation of abundant hidden merit, how could one have the good fortune to practice it in this lifetime?

The White Tiger’s First Scripture (a symbol of an essential alchemical medicine) is a supreme treasure, and the Spirit Water of the Flower Pond (a symbol of the fluids used in alchemy) is true gold. From this we can see that the foundation of the highest good deeds is profound, far beyond anything ordinary medicines can offer.

To complete the Nine Transformations (the successive stages of change in Neidan cultivation), one must first refine oneself and keep the mind steady: cultivate oneself and guard one’s thoughts. Gather the medicines at the proper time, allowing what floats and what sinks to each settle in its place. Be especially cautious when advancing the fire, for even a slight error in its timing can bring great danger.

The commentary says, “‘Head’ means beginning. ‘The first waxing crescent’ refers to the moon’s energy when it first appears and reaches its initial crescent phase; it does not mean a woman’s menstruation. Claims such as ‘three peaks and twenty-four grades’ must not be used to slander the sacred Dao, for the sacred Dao cannot be destroyed, just as no ladder can be used to climb into the sky.

“The Qi of True Unity is called ‘the Water of True Unity’ in heaven, and ‘the Qi of the First Crescent’ within the tiger, a symbol in alchemical language. It is gently nurtured and refined in the Flower Pool, a term in internal cultivation for a related bodily location or state. Divine Water is the supreme treasure, true gold. All of these names refer to the Essence of True Unity. As it passes through different places, it takes on various names and can transform into and give life to the myriad things. The Dao De Jing says, ‘The highest goodness is like water.’ The Water of True Unity came into being before Heaven and Earth, which is why it is called ‘the highest goodness.’ Its source is deep and distant, unlike ordinary medicines formed after Heaven and Earth that contain impurities.

“‘Nine cycles’ means nine years. Only after ten months of fetal nurturing are complete and one has shed the mortal form does one enter the nine cycles. It is said that Bodhidharma’s nine years facing a wall, and his westward return with only one shoe left behind—a legend about his passing—both have their reasons in this. To complete the nine cycles, one must first circulate the fire for ten months, gather the medicine at the proper times, and use it to distinguish what floats from what sinks, and guest from host. By keeping to the receptive and avoiding force, one escapes danger. Thereafter, form naturally transforms into Qi, Qi into Shen, and one embraces and preserves primordial Qi and True Unity. After nine years of work, both form and spirit reach a subtle state and unite with the Dao in truth. The sages reluctantly gave this process the name ‘the Nine-Cycle Golden Liquid Great Return Elixir.’

“‘Two-eight’ is a Yin number. Which household does the ‘old woman’ come from? And where does the ‘nine-three’ young man come from? They each call themselves ‘Wooden Liquid’ and ‘Metal Essence.’ Only when they meet ‘Earth’ do the three qualities combine.

“‘Ding Gong’ must also be used to refine them; only then do husband and wife come together in joyful union. The River Chariot, a symbol in internal cultivation for transporting essence and Qi, dares not pause for even a moment as it carries the medicine to the summit of Kunlun, a term in internal cultivation for the area around the crown of the head.”

The commentary says that “two-eight” refers to the Yin number. The “maiden” (a Neidan term here meaning one’s own true Qi) is the Qi within the body. “Wooden fluid, nine-three” refers to the Yang number, while the “young lord” is one’s own Yang Elixir. When the “Metal essence” and the Wooden fluid meet in the Dantian (the “earthen crucible,” a Neidan term for the place where essence and Qi are refined and cultivated), they form the “three natures.”

“Ding Gong” refers to fire. “Husband and wife” is a metaphor for lead and mercury joining each day in the Dantian’s earthen crucible. The passage uses the passionate fire of a husband and wife coming together as a metaphor for using fire to refine lead and mercury, refining them in the Dantian until they form the substance of Golden fluid. The Golden fluid is then made to travel upward in reverse from the Tail Gate (the orifice at the base of the spine), pass through the Mudball (the orifice inside the crown of the head), descend into the mouth, and then be slowly swallowed back into the Dantian’s earthen crucible. When this process continues without interruption, like a River Cart (a Neidan term for the circulation of essence and Qi along a specific route), the “Golden Fluid Returning Elixir” is formed.

Master Zhongli says, “From the Tail Gate straight up to the crown of the Mudball, let the River Cart run freely for hundreds of circuits.” Master Haichan says, “If Yellow Sprout (a Neidan term for the essence and Qi gained through cultivation) can nourish the brain, then even in old age one can live forever.” These sayings can serve as confirmation of the cultivation method described above. Another interpretation holds that “Ding Gong” refers to fire and the “River Cart” to water; together they mean the Yin Talisman and Yang Fire. Their ceaseless operation day and night is precisely what is meant by the River Cart turning without pause.

The commentary cites the Cantong qi: “The three things return together to one family; all return to Wu and Ji.” Here, Metal, Wood, and Fire are called the “three things.” It also says, “Once the three natures have joined, their original natures return together to the ancestral source.” Here, the “three natures” refer to Metal, Water, and Fire, all of which are symbols of the external medicine. The three natures discussed in this passage, however, take Wooden fluid as the internal medicine and Metal essence as the external medicine, together signifying the images through which inner and outer correspond. Thus, the meaning of “three natures” changes according to what the phrase refers to. Some mistakenly interpret “nature” as three family names, compounding the error. “Nature” refers to the nature of things, human nature, the nature of the Elixir, and the attributes of the Five Phases; it does not mean a family name.

The quatrain says, “Fire rises at Kunlun, Yin and Yang.” This refers both to the inner and outer Kunlun. It also says, “If you encounter Kunlun and travel northwest,” referring specifically to the place within the inner Northern Sea where it responds to the Qian image. The Kunlun spoken of here refers specifically to the Mudball. Thus, the scripture repeatedly uses Kunlun as a metaphor for the three natures, but Kunlun in this passage is only a metaphor; its meaning should not be fixed as a single thing.

When the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet, their union symbolizes how the joining of Yin and Yang lies at the root of the Great Dao. The tortoise and the snake are kindred creatures, naturally dependent on one another. At the beginning of the lunar month, the toad joins with the sun, bringing forth the moon’s bright radiance. The two Qi of Yin and Yang support one another and turn in an endless cycle.

These are all mysteries of how Heaven and Earth operate. Who truly understands their principle? If Yin and Yang were cut off from one another, harmony would be lost. How, then, could Heaven and Earth continue to operate for long?

The commentary says: The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet once each year, symbolizing the meeting of the Great Yin and the sun once each year; the tortoise and snake meet once each month. The tortoise and snake coil around and bow toward one another: both images result from the activity of the two Qi of Yin and Yang. This is precisely the root of the Dao. The operation of the Great Medicine in Golden Elixir cultivation accords with this as well.

The Qi of the True One—the original Qi, pure and undivided—is originally subtle, blue-green, and without form. If it does not join with the two Qi of Yin and Yang at the first quarter of the moon, how can it condense into form and manifest as a pill body the size of a millet grain? After obtaining the elixir, if one does not continue to refine it with talismanic fire—the method for regulating the fire’s intensity during alchemical refinement—how can it transform into liquid gold and return to the Elixir?

The Cantong qi, or Token for Joining the Three, uses paired ospreys and the union of man and woman as metaphors to explain that the male and female must depend on one another. The Black Tortoise, formed by the tortoise and snake, coils around and bows toward itself, likewise showing that Yin and Yang, the female and male, must unite. By following this principle and reversing the ordinary sequence of cultivation, one can bring the transformations of Heaven and Earth under one’s control.

The True One Master says: Solitary Yin cannot give rise to anything on its own, and solitary Yang cannot achieve anything alone. Only when the two sides join their Qi can the way of generation and transformation unfold. Heaven and Earth endure because Yin and Yang unite according to the natural Dao. If Heaven does not descend and Earth does not rise, the four seasons cannot proceed in order, and the myriad things cannot grow. That is why the Immortal Master emphasizes this point repeatedly in this chapter; those who truly understand should contemplate it carefully. Here the text discusses both the inner and outer medicines: the principle of Heaven and Earth’s Yin-Yang union also runs through the cultivation of both inner and outer elixirs.

Seven returns of cinnabar—cinnabar refined through the image of Fire in the south—return it to its source. Nine reversions of golden liquid—golden liquid refined through the image of Metal in the west—restore it to its true nature. Do not mechanically match the earthly branches Yin and Zi with directions such as Kun and Shen in a numerical sequence. Simply examine whether the order of generation and transformation among the Five Phases accords with the proper principles.

Originally, there is only one substance, mercury, which circulates through all times and positions. When the numbers of Yin-Yang transformation are complete, the wondrous workings can naturally be reached; throughout its coming and going in generation and transformation, it never departs from the Mysterious Female (the gate symbolizing the generation of Heaven, Earth, and all things).

The commentary says: “‘Nine reversions and seven returns’ concerns the numerical principles by which the Five Phases arise in Heaven and Earth. Heaven gives rise to Water with the number one; Earth brings Water to form with the number six. Water occupies the northern Kan position. Gathering the Yin Qi of the Kan trigram, it becomes true Water. Thus the Cantong qi says, ‘six occupies.’ Earth gives rise to Fire with the number two; Heaven brings Fire to form with the number seven. Fire returns to the south, where it nurtures the Qi of the Li trigram and gives rise to cinnabar. Hence it is called ‘seven returns of cinnabar’: it returns to its source.

“Heaven gives rise to Wood with the number three; Earth brings Wood to form with the number eight. Wood occupies the eastern Zhen position and becomes mercury. Thus the Cantong qi says, ‘eight returns.’ Earth gives rise to Metal with the number four; Heaven brings Metal to form with the number nine. Metal returns to the western Dui position, so it is called ‘nine reversions of gold,’ meaning a return to what is true. Heaven gives rise to Earth with the number five; Earth brings Earth to form with the number ten. The two Earths unite and occupy the center, bringing together the Four Images to form the Elixir. From this we can see that the Golden Elixir takes shape in accordance with the Five Phases; hence the saying, ‘simply follow the standards of the Five Phases.’ How could one calculate seven returns and nine reversions merely by the names Yin, Zi, Kun, and Shen?”

Here, “mercury” refers to lead, that is, the “Qi of the True One,” the primordial Qi from which all things originate. When the Qi of the True One congeals into essence, it is called the “Essence of the True One”; this essence is lead. The Qi of the True One transforms in sequence: its first transformation is Water, which occupies the north; its second is cinnabar, which occupies the south; its third is mercury, which occupies the east; its fourth is Metal, which occupies the west; and its fifth is Earth, which occupies the center. Thus the formation of the Golden Elixir depends on Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, the four seasons, the Five Phases, and the numerical principles as a whole. The Five Phases pass through all times and positions; once the numbers of Yin-Yang are complete, one can naturally reach wondrous transformations.

Yet the wondrous workings of this creation never depart from the “Gate of the Mysterious Female,” which is the root of Heaven and Earth. The principle of the Mysterious Female has already been explained in “The Mysterious Female,” but few people in the world understand its commentary.

The commentary says: People speak incorrectly when they call the period from Yin to Shen the “seven reversals” and the period from Zi to Kun the “nine returns.” In his commentary on the Cantong qi, Zhang Sui explains that Water, Fire, Metal, Wood, and Earth are the Five Phases. Water and Fire correspond to the sun and moon; Metal and Wood correspond to the Dragon and Tiger; and Earth is matched with Heaven and Earth. The Five Phases are refined and transformed to form the Golden Elixir.

In the Way of Heaven, Water takes the number six and resides in the north, gathering at the Kan position to become water. Wood takes the number eight and resides in the eastern Zhen position, becoming cinnabar ore. Fire takes the number seven and reverses course to the southern Li position, becoming mercury. Metal takes the number nine and returns to the western Dui position, transforming into gold. Earth takes the number five and returns to the center, ultimately becoming the Elixir. Qi thus changes in sequence: its first transformation is water, its second cinnabar ore, its third mercury, its fourth gold, and its fifth the Elixir. This shows that the formation of the Golden Elixir depends on Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, the four seasons, and the Five Phases. If you refine yourself into a pure-Yang body and transform your physical form into the state described in the true scriptures, then the meanings of “six resides, seven reverses, eight returns, and nine returns” will become clear. These principles were valued by the Yellow Emperor, Laozi, and the immortals and sages. The commentary by Wumingzi holds that “the various celestial markers” here refers to the positions of the seventy-two divisions of time, and that the seven reversals and nine returns should be understood accordingly.

This medicine—meaning either the substances used in alchemy or the medicine of internal alchemy—is supremely wondrous and sacred. The only concern is that your blessings may be too slight for you to bear it. Harmonizing lead and mercury, a Daoist alchemical term that also refers to two Yin-Yang substances or forces, takes less than a full day; soon the image of the Mysterious Pearl, a precious symbol of the perfected internal Elixir, will appear.

Those with the resolve to cultivate can subdue and refine body and mind wherever they are, whether living among ordinary people or serving at court. The work of cultivation may seem easy, and the Elixir may not be far off; yet when its principles are spelled out, people may find them laughable.

The commentary under “The Rooster Repeatedly Awakens” says: Once the Golden Elixir enters the belly, a person immediately rises to the realm of the sages. Is this not an extraordinarily wondrous and sacred matter? It takes less than half an hour to refine it, and signs of the Golden Elixir can appear. Is this not remarkably simple and easy? Everyone already has the conditions for it; one’s circumstances, whether in the marketplace or at court, make no difference. Is this not close at hand? Precisely because it is wondrous, sacred, simple, easy, and so near, once its principles are laid bare, they can sound almost laughable. Those who attain it worry only that their accumulated hidden merit—virtue gained by doing good unseen—is too slight for them to bear this Way. Those who study the Way should strive.

The explanatory commentary says: The Perfected One’s point is that cultivating the Golden Elixir is not limited by whether one lives in the marketplace or at court; it can be practiced anywhere. The work required is simple, and the ingredients are close at hand. One needs only to find a quiet place to practice. The earlier verse says, “Do not retreat to the mountains before refining the Return Elixir.” This means that before the Return Elixir has been refined, there is no need to withdraw deep into the mountains and keep to solitude in vain. Ordinary people do not understand the original meaning, and take it to mean that one can pursue profit in the marketplace and fame at court while also cultivating the Way. This is like the saying, “With a hundred thousand strings of cash at one’s waist, ride a crane to Yangzhou.” Therefore, one must resolve firmly to cast aside fame and profit, cut off desires once and for all, and cultivate in a closed room for ten months; only then may one hope to reach the realm of the Perfected One.

Within the masculine lies the feminine; within true Yin, Yang essence is embraced. Only when the two medicines of Yin and Yang are harmonized can the elixir be refined. It can transform the hun and po souls, raising a person beyond the ordinary and into sagehood.

Believe in the wondrous efficacy of the Golden Elixir: when a snake swallows it, it becomes a dragon; when a chicken eats it, it becomes a luan bird or a great roc, and together they enter the sacred realm of luminous emptiness and harmonious Yang.

The commentary explains: “The feminine hidden within the masculine” refers to the dragon’s paired Qi—the dragon belongs to Yang yet contains Yin—and thus to mercury. “Yang embraced within Yin” refers to the tiger’s paired Qi—the tiger belongs to Yin yet contains Yang—and thus to lead. When the two medicines, lead and mercury, unite, the spiritual elixir can be refined. It transforms a person into a luan bird or a great roc, carrying them into the sacred realm of luminous emptiness and harmonious Yang.

The commentary says: The male enclosing the female is the dragon’s “string Qi” (a term in alchemy for the Qi symbolized by the dragon), that is, mercury. The female encircling the male is the tiger’s “string Qi,” that is, lead. When these two elixirs, lead and mercury, unite, the spiritual elixir forms naturally. Swallowing it into the abdomen can transform the yang soul and dispel the yin po-soul. A single pill, as small as a millet grain, can—even if swallowed by a chicken or eaten by a snake—transform into a dragon or a great roc and fly into the pure-yang sacred realm. Such is the extraordinary efficacy of the elixir. This is the account of the External Elixir.

As Heaven and Earth move through their cycles, they first pass through “Obstruction” and “Peace” (two hexagrams in the Book of Changes, used here to refer to stages in the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang). To understand changes from morning to evening, one must be adept at recognizing “Difficulty at the Beginning” and “Youthful Folly” (two hexagrams in the Book of Changes, referring here to conditions in the initial stages of cultivation). The process turns like the spokes of a wheel converging at its hub, or like the waters of a hundred rivers flowing eastward. The key lies in flexibly applying “drawing out and adding” (an alchemical term for adjusting the Yin-Yang fire and increasing or decreasing the ingredients).

Once you obtain the “One,” all things are accomplished; there is no need to distinguish north from south, east from west. Keep reducing distracting thoughts and carefully guarding the work already done. The precious treasure that concerns your nature and life must not be used recklessly.

The commentary says: The method of controlling the fire begins with “Difficulty at the Beginning” when practice starts and reaches “Obstruction” and “Peace” when the work is complete. Transport the talismanic fire—the alchemical flame regulated according to the hours—day and night until it returns to the alchemical cauldron. This is like the spokes of a wheel converging at its hub, or the waters of a hundred rivers joining the sea. Such is the subtle application of drawing out and adding, and the transformations it brings.

The Most High said, “Obtain the One, and all things are accomplished.” These words are wonderfully apt. The “One” refers to the essence of True Unity—the original, undivided essence of Qi. The Qi of True Unity gives rise to Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang give rise to the Four Symbols; the Four Symbols give rise to the Five Phases; and the Five Phases give rise to the myriad things. None of these transformations goes beyond the Qi of True Unity. The essence of True Unity is the mother of Heaven and Earth, the source of Yin and Yang, the ancestor of the Four Symbols, the foundation of the Five Phases, and the basis of the myriad things. Once you obtain this “One,” all things are accomplished, and east, west, north, and south may all be forgotten.

Keep reducing distracting thoughts and carefully guarding the work already done; only then can you fully understand the wonder of the “One.” This “One” takes on form when the fire of Yin and Yang is used to shape it. Once you have obtained a pill of elixir and swallowed it into the five organs, you should continue to use the Yin-Yang talismanic fire as before, carefully guarding the work already done so that it may be fully brought into the wondrous realm of the “One.” Be alert to danger and guard against crises. Do not act rashly and risk losing the mysterious pearl of nature and life—a metaphor for the precious elixir or the essence of True Unity. That is why one must carefully guard the work already done.

The commentary explains that practice begins with the Tun and Meng hexagrams. Over the course of a month, the sixty hexagrams symbolize the movement of the method. To complete the practice, one takes the images of Pi and Tai; twice a year, in the second and eighth months, one bathes and nourishes oneself. These are symbols of the inner medicine, the medicine cultivated within the body. “Attaining the One” symbolizes the outer medicine, the substance or resources for cultivation that come from outside. Lü Xian’s song says that the Three Mao Perfected Lords are known as “Those Who Attained the One”; this is what it means.

The Dao De Jing says that cultivating the Dao requires “decrease”: reducing scattered thoughts and desires. When practicing in the tenth month, one should reduce worldly concerns, dispel distracting thoughts, and carefully guard against danger. Not even the slightest worry should be allowed to linger in the heart, lest it damage the roots of nature and life. One should be as quiet and unaware of distinctions as an infant in the womb, as though dwelling within the furnace formed by Heaven and Earth. By remaining still and clear, the Qi of Heaven and Earth will gather within. Thus the Perfected Ones repeatedly admonish practitioners: continue to decrease what you have already cultivated, and decrease it further.

At the winter solstice, the first Yang Qi begins to revive. Over thirty days, the Yang lines gradually increase by one line. The Fu hexagram corresponds to the dawn at the beginning of the month; after the full moon, the Qian hexagram signals that the cycle is about to begin again.

Day and night also undergo waxing and waning, like cold and heat: Yang Qi revives at midnight. At noon, the Gou hexagram reveals the first emergence of Yin. In refining the medicine, one must understand how the movement of Yin and Yang Qi changes through dawn and dusk, day and night.

The commentary says that at the winter solstice, one Yang line begins to arise, corresponding to the Returning hexagram. Thereafter, every thirty days, the Yang lines gradually increase, forming in sequence the Approach, Peace, Great Strength, and Breakthrough hexagrams, until the Qian hexagram is reached. This phase is called the “Yang Fire” period. When Yang reaches its peak, Yin begins to arise. At the summer solstice, one Yin line first appears, corresponding to the Coming to Meet hexagram. Thereafter, every thirty days, the Yin lines gradually increase, forming in sequence the Retreat, Obstruction, Contemplation, and Stripping hexagrams, until the Kun hexagram is reached. This phase is called the “Yin Talisman” period. When Yin reaches its peak, Yang begins to arise again, and the cycle repeats. This outlines the general pattern of seasonal change and the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang over the course of a year.

The ancients also compressed the year’s climatic changes into a single month. The first day at dawn corresponded to the Returning hexagram; by the fifteenth day, Yang had reached its pure, full state, corresponding to the pure Qian hexagram. In this scheme, every two and a half days represent thirty days in the year. After the full moon, on the sixteenth day, the one Yin symbolized by the Coming to Meet hexagram begins to emerge. Hence the saying, “Once the full moon has passed, Qian ends and the sign of Coming to Meet appears”: after the full moon, the Qian hexagram comes to an end and the sign of the Coming to Meet hexagram emerges. Since Yin is only just beginning to stir, it is called a “sign.” This outlines the pattern of Yin and Yang’s circulation over the course of a month.

The ancients further compressed the monthly seasonal markers into a single day, dividing it into the four seasonal qualities of cold, heat, warmth, and coolness. At midnight, during the Zi hour, one Yang arises, corresponding to the Returning hexagram; in the afternoon, one Yin arises, corresponding to the Coming to Meet hexagram. In cultivation, the use of talismanic fire—which symbolizes the application of firing times in practice—and the rising and descending, withdrawing and adding, advancing and retreating of Yin and Yang must accord with the changes of Yin and Yang through the four seasons of Heaven and Earth, without the slightest error. Hence the saying, “In refining the medicine, one must understand dusk and dawn.” To refine the medicine in cultivation, one must understand the changes between evening and morning, because dusk and dawn are the moments when Yin and Yang begin to alternate. This outlines the pattern of Yin and Yang’s circulation over the course of a day.

Commentaries explain the “Greater Celestial Circuit” and “Lesser Celestial Circuit” through the cycles of a year, a month, a day, and an hour. The waxing and waning of Yin and Yang in Heaven and Earth correspond to a year, while the phases of the Moon correspond to a month. Practitioners use these natural changes to understand Yin-Yang’s waxing and waning and the advance and retreat of the firing times.

A year is divided into six stages. After the summer solstice, Yin gradually grows and descends. One complete cycle of Yin and Yang makes a year. The ancients used the Twelve Messages Hexagrams—hexagrams that symbolize Yin and Yang waxing and waning with the seasons—to represent these changes. They treated the Fu and Gou hexagrams as signs of Yin and Yang first arising, showing how Yang gradually grows, Yin gradually diminishes, and each depends on the other. “Inner” and “outer” here refer to the relationship between Yin and Yang as they wax and wane, not to the inner and outer positions of the hexagram lines themselves.

The monthly cycle is explained through the Moon’s changing appearance as it reflects sunlight. The ancients divided a month into six periods, each lasting five days, and matched the changing lunar phases with six hexagrams made up entirely of Yin or entirely of Yang lines. During the first half of the month, Yang lines are gradually added; at the day of opposition, the full moon, they signify Yang at its height. During the second half, Yin lines are gradually added; at the dark moon, when the Moon is invisible at month’s end, they signify Yin at its height. Though the patterns of the Sun and Moon’s movement cannot be seen directly, they become visible through the Moon’s waxing and waning. The text uses the Heavenly Stems and hexagrams to describe the positions of the Sun and Moon: Ren and Gui symbolize hidden, obscure places, while Wu and Ji symbolize places of brightness and visibility. The Heavenly Stems together with the Five Phases symbolize the whole state in which Yin and Yang have not yet divided.

The positions of the Sun and Moon at the beginning and end of the month, and by day and night, also illustrate how Yin and Yang are concealed and revealed. Around the new moon, the Sun and Moon occupy different positions: their nighttime movement symbolizes the storing away of their Qi, while their daytime movement symbolizes its becoming visible as light. The text also pairs the phases of the Moon with the Tai, Pi, Already Completed, and Not Yet Completed hexagrams to represent the exchange, advance, retreat, waxing, and waning of Yin and Yang. The expressions “half a jin of Metal” at the first quarter and “half a jin of Water” at the last quarter use equal shares of Metal and Water Qi as a metaphor for the balance of Yin and Yang in the lunar phases.

As the Sun and Moon move through the sky, they produce visible light but have no tangible substance. The text sums up their Yin-Yang relationship with the phrase, “Yang embracing Yin is the Sun; Yin embracing Yang is the Moon.” The Moon’s cycle can also be used to calculate the proportions among year, day, and hour: a month is about thirty days, and correspondences such as one month to one year or one day to one month are used to compare these units. In this way, the changes of year, month, day, and hour are brought within a single model of Yin-Yang firing times. “Fire Talisman” here refers to the principles used in Neidan to represent the advance and retreat of Yin and Yang and to regulate the rhythm of practice.

In general, the Greater Celestial Circuit takes Qian and Kun, symbolizing Heaven and Earth and Yin and Yang, as its organizing framework, explaining the rise and descent of the Qi of Heaven and Earth over the course of a year. The Lesser Celestial Circuit takes Kan and Li, symbolizing Water and Fire and the Sun and Moon, as its framework, explaining the Moon’s waxing and waning and the firing times of practice. The two are interconnected: Heaven and Earth can be expressed through the Sun and Moon, and the Sun and Moon embody the Yin and Yang of Heaven and Earth. Whatever the scale—year, month, day, or hour—each is a different expression of the movement of Taiji (the undivided whole that contains all things). The scripture concludes by using the hexagrams and line numbers of the Book of Changes to show that the generation and transformation of all things in Heaven and Earth follow the pattern of Yin and Yang waxing and waning. This is the basis on which practitioners observe and grasp the firing times.

Without understanding the Five Phases (Wuxing) and the Four Images (Sixiang), how could one discern the profound changes in the firing process? Only when we follow the workings of the Dao can all things grow. The movements of Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon—expressed in rising and descending, waxing and waning—all follow this principle. The Book of Changes (Yijing) is indeed vast and profound; its principles reach the utmost. The passage above explains the firing process in the alchemical method: how to judge the timing and control the heat during alchemical work.

Without understanding the Five Phases and the Four Images, how could one discern what cinnabar, mercury, lead, and silver signify in the alchemical method? Some have never even heard of the firing process in alchemical practice, yet prematurely proclaim themselves masters whose depths are hidden from view.

Unwilling to reflect on their own mistakes, they instead teach others the wrong path, leaving them lost for a long time. It is as though they were eager to deceive their own conscience. How could anyone bear to do such a thing?

A commentary says: Though there are ten thousand volumes of alchemical scriptures, their subtle essence lies in three characters in the Cantong qi, a Daoist alchemical classic. The chapter “Song of the Tripod and Its Vessels,” which describes the alchemical cauldron and the principles associated with it, is the core of the alchemical scriptures. Most people in the world who study the Dao cannot understand its meaning. Why not ponder it carefully? The author believes that if you use this song to test your own understanding and still find something unclear, your understanding is not yet complete. Why let yourself be misled by heterodox teachings?

Today, some who study the Dao have not yet learned to expel the old breath and draw in the new, a breathing practice for releasing turbid Qi and taking in clear Qi, yet they fantasize about riding clouds and mist. They think themselves masters and even set themselves up as examples for others. They refuse to reflect and mend their ways, misleading others and leaving them trapped on a mistaken path, beyond rescue for the rest of their lives. They reach old age and death without accomplishing anything. How could anyone bear to deceive their own conscience in this way?

The commentary holds that Wumingzi regarded the “Song of the Crucible and Vessels” in the Cantong qi as the central teaching of the alchemical classics, yet many people overlook it and refuse to investigate it deeply. How, then, can they understand the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir described in the Wuzhen pian?

The author says that he once encountered a worthy master and grasped the meaning of the Cantong qi and the Wuzhen pian. The Five Phases, the Four Images, and terms such as cinnabar, mercury, lead, and silver used in these books are borrowed expressions for true Yin and true Yang, which point to the primordial, undivided Qi. They do not prescribe the use of deviant methods, nor do they refer to tangible substances that appeared only after the formation of Heaven and Earth. The alchemical principles of transformation all correspond to metaphors involving the firing process and the passage of time. Neidan and Waidan, however, manifest differently once cultivation is complete.

The author says that, through karmic connections from a former life, he heard the Great Dao. At the risk of revealing Heaven’s secrets, he has written down what he learned. He has annotated both the Wuzhen pian and the Cantong qi to explain the orthodox tradition of the Immortal Way and help later students dispel confusion: he clarifies the Way’s fundamental principles while distinguishing them from the errors of deviant paths. He hopes those who seek the Way of the Immortals will not lose their way, and will recognize the teachings in the immortal books as trustworthy. They should avoid straying onto deviant paths and should not let mistaken methods mislead them or pass those errors on to others. If they meet a true master and find that the master’s teachings accord with what the author has said and with the principles of the Cantong qi and the Wuzhen pian, they should promptly cultivate according to those teachings and seek to realize the Great Dao. The author says he is not trying to be deliberately unconventional or cater to worldly tastes, but to explain the orthodox tradition of the Immortal Way.

When a realized person reads the Cantong qi, they say, “Do not become bound by the book’s metaphors and words.” This is addressed to those who have already received instruction from a true master. Metaphors explain principles, and words convey meaning; they are like the basket used to catch fish or the hoof-shaped tool used to cross a river. The tool itself should not be mistaken for the final destination. But someone who has not met a true master or received authentic transmission, has strayed onto a deviant path, and believes they are right while failing to understand the Great Dao cannot use “do not become bound by words” as an excuse to abandon close study and careful synthesis. Otherwise, they may go their whole life without hearing the Great Dao.

Chen Nijiǔ says, “If you have not yet met a master, begin by reading the poems and writings; the poems conceal oral instructions, so cultivate them diligently.” He also says that if the words are not yet clear, one should not give up, but examine them character by character and connect their meaning from beginning to end. The author says that the things he has learned corroborate one another, and that he would not forcefully cite teachings from deviant or heterodox paths as proof. With sustained study, wisdom gradually becomes clear, and the mind gradually awakens. Wei Boyang says that after reading and rereading many times, understanding will naturally come; a realized person also says that searching the texts and interpreting their meaning need not always depend on another’s guidance. Thus, sustained effort in studying the immortal books can also bring results, and the author offers this encouragement to those who seek the Dao.

When one’s virtuous conduct exceeds eight hundred deeds and one has amassed three thousand hidden merits, one meets the fundamental aspiration of the immortals: to regard all things and oneself, as well as loved ones and enemies, as equals.

Tigers, rhinoceroses, and weapons cannot harm such a person; the fire of impermanence and the sufferings of the mortal world cannot entangle him. Having received the precious talisman bestowed by Heaven, a sign of the mandate to become an immortal, he ascends to Heaven, riding in peace in a jade carriage and a phoenix chariot.

Commentary: By steadfastly practicing a single path for nine years, one’s merits are complete and one’s Dao practice perfected, reaching a state in which self and things are both forgotten. Naturally, weapons, tigers, leopards, and the like can no longer harm one. After the precious talisman descends from Heaven, the body ascends to the celestial realm; this is the moment when a true great man transcends the world. This passage refers to the return of the Golden Elixir through liquid metal, an important stage in Neidan practice. In the end, cultivation depends entirely on virtuous conduct and hidden merit: only when the eight hundred virtuous deeds and three thousand hidden merits are complete can one ensure that the practice is not obstructed by demonic hindrances. By practicing according to the method, one will ultimately succeed in ascending to Heaven, riding in a jade carriage and phoenix palanquin, and becoming a perfected immortal who serves the Supreme Emperor. These words are meant to warn and encourage people.

Flowers bloom in every season in a pavilion bright on all four sides, and the passing wind carries their rich fragrance.

I urge you to pick the flowers in time while they are in bloom. Do not let the lovely red blossoms wither and fall at will.

Lu Ziye says: Flowers bloom in every season, so there are medicines to gather in every season as well. The pavilion bright on all four sides is a metaphor for flowers blooming in a fitting place, worthy of being admired. Once the season has passed, the flowers will fade and fall, and their lovely, vivid redness will be seen no more. Flowers come in many colors, yet here “lovely red” is chosen as the metaphor, and this surely has a deeper meaning. Thus the alchemical classic says: “The affairs of subduing the cinnabar Yang are wholly distinct; one must seek the red blood within Kan.” This is precisely the meaning. The character “lovely” was not chosen casually either. Master Shao Kangjie wrote in a poem: “Drink fine wine until gently tipsy; view beautiful flowers when half in bloom.” The sentiment is the same.

Commentary and Subcommentary on the Awakening to Reality by Perfected One Ziyang, volume eight.

Commentary by Weng Baoguang, the Nameless Old Man of Xiangchuan; transmitted by Chen Daling of Wuyi; subcommentary compiled by Dai Qizong, the Master of Empty Mystery of Qingji.

Reading the Token for Joining with the Three in Accordance with the Zhou Changes.

The subtle workings of the Great Elixir, the crystallized Jing, Qi, and Shen formed through Neidan cultivation, take their model from the movements of Heaven and Earth. As Heaven and Earth revolve, the Five Phases—Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water—differentiate. When the Five Phases proceed in their ordinary course, all things are born and perish according to nature’s patterns; when they move in reverse, the Elixir body can endure in numinous clarity.

From the Void, the first signs emerge, and the Two Principles of Yin and Yang establish their foundations. The Four Images—Lesser Yang, Greater Yang, Lesser Yin, and Greater Yin—remain within the two forms of Yin and Yang. The Eight Trigrams follow one another, linked like ancestors and descendants. All things arise through change and movement, and so too do good and ill fortune, regret, and anxiety. Ordinary people use these principles every day without knowing it; only sages can investigate their source.

The principles of the Yi are subtle and encompass the patterns of Heaven and Earth’s movements, so they are expressed through the images of the hexagrams. The Pi and Tai hexagrams intersect, symbolizing Yin and Yang as they rise and descend. The Zhun and Meng hexagrams arise, symbolizing the changes between movement and stillness, day and night. Kan and Li correspond to man and woman, and to Water and Fire; Zhen and Dui correspond to the Dragon and Tiger, and to the Hun and Po souls. By holding to what is centered and upright, one is like the Yi’s “yellow robe brings great good fortune” and can attain auspiciousness. But one who occupies an extreme, exalted position loses the standing and honor appropriate to them.

The hexagrams Ji Ji and Wei Ji remind us to attend to the endings and beginnings of all things. The Fu and Gou hexagrams show how the two Qi of Yin and Yang alternate and return. The waxing and waning of the Moon echo the flourishing and decline of spirit; the Sun’s rising and setting accord with the warmth and chill of Rong and Wei Qi, the vital energy that circulates within and around the body.

Words are established to explain the hexagram images; once the images are understood, the words can be forgotten. Hexagram images serve only to point toward meaning; once the true meaning is grasped, the images too can be set aside. Those who understand see things as simple and plain, while the confused probe ever deeper into complexity. Thus, those who cultivate the Dao and read the Cantong Qi, a Daoist alchemical classic, should not cling to its hexagram images or words.

Heaven and Earth are the father and mother. They set the two Qi of Yin and Yang in motion, transforming them into the Five Phases and the myriad things. People are born in accordance with the changes of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases, and within the body Yin and Yang each make up half. Because Yin and Yang take on form, people are subject to birth and death: Yang governs life, Yin governs death. One life and one death, one departure and one return—this is the natural order. The sages, however, modeled themselves on the workings of creation and reversed the movement of Yin and Yang. They made Heaven and Earth their crucible, took the single Qi of the precelestial state, and refined it into an elixir. In this way, they refined the body until it returned to formlessness and united with the Dao. The Dao has its origin in Limitlessness, so the way of the immortals has no end. Following the ordinary course brings birth and extinction; reversing transformation through the methods of the elixir allows the spirit to endure.

Emptiness and nothingness are the Dao’s original substance. The Dao gives rise to a single Qi, which changes into Yin and Yang and takes shape as the two basic forms of Heaven and Earth. Heaven’s first gives rise to Water, located in the north and corresponding to winter; Earth’s second gives rise to Fire, located in the south and corresponding to summer; Heaven’s third gives rise to Wood, located in the east and corresponding to spring; Earth’s fourth gives rise to Metal, located in the west and corresponding to autumn. These form the four seasons, also called the Four Images. Heaven is Qian, located in the sectors of Xu and Hai; Earth is Kun, located in Wei and Shen. When Kun joins with Qian, it gives birth to three sons: the eldest, Zhen, dwells in Mao; the second, Kan, in Zi; and the youngest, Gen, in Yin and Chou. When Qian joins with Kun, it gives birth to three daughters: the eldest, Xun, dwells in Chen and Si; the second, Li, in Wu; and the youngest, Dui, in You. Together these form the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), or the eight directions. The span from Zi to Si belongs to the domain of Yang, and the span from Wu to Hai belongs to the domain of Yin. As Yin and Yang move, the Qi of the four seasons passes in turn through the eight directions, cycling without end; thus each takes its turn as source and successor.

In spring and summer, Yang Qi brings forth and nourishes the myriad things, allowing them to flourish. In autumn and winter, Yin Qi cuts them down, and they wither. Flourishing and desolation, good fortune and misfortune: the myriad things arise through change, and good fortune, misfortune, regret, and distress emerge from it as well. Yet none of these—good fortune and misfortune, regret and distress, the myriad forms of the Bagua, or the Yin and Yang of the four seasons—lies outside the single Qi or the Great Dao. The Dao is the single Qi; Yin and Yang, the four seasons, the Five Phases, the Bagua, the myriad forms, and good fortune, misfortune, regret, and distress are all within the Dao. Thus nothing is outside the Dao: people’s seeing, hearing, speaking, and acting; their eating and resting; cold, warmth, noise, and bustle; even strange things, the bodies of insects and mice, blades of grass, and broken tiles. The Dao is present in people’s everyday lives, though they may not notice it. People live within the Dao, and this does not diminish it in any way. Thus ordinary people use the Dao every day without knowing that they are within it.

The sages explored what is subtle and examined what is hidden. They pursued the principles of things and human nature to their depths, and thereby came to understand Heaven’s mandate. They then wrote the Yi, which embodies the wondrous workings of the Great Dao, with Qian and Kun as its gateways. Once Qian and Kun were established, the principles of the Yi moved within them. Their union formed the Bagua, and the trigrams acted upon one another, transforming into the sixty-four hexagrams. Among the six lines of a hexagram, Yang lines are odd and Yin lines are even. According to the Yi’s method of counting yarrow stalks, one Yang line is worth thirty-six stalks, so six Yang lines total two hundred and sixteen: this is the number of line stalks in the Qian hexagram. One Yin line is worth twenty-four stalks, so six Yin lines total one hundred and forty-four: this is the number of line stalks in the Kun hexagram. Adding the stalk totals of the Qian and Kun sections yields eleven thousand five hundred and twenty. This is called the Great Expansion number of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), and it encompasses the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity, as well as the myriad forms. Therefore, the changes of good fortune, misfortune, regret, and distress, and the signs of life and death, calamity and blessing, all fall within the scope of these numbers. The wondrous Dao of the Yi exhausts the original substance and workings of creation.

The sages set forth the original substance and workings of creation; this is the Yi. The Perfected Wei Boyang considered the principles of the Yi to accord with the Golden Elixir, and so used the images of the Yi’s hexagrams to write the Cantong qi, clarifying the central aim of the Great Elixir. What it says, too, consists of images and metaphors. The essentials of cultivating the Golden Elixir cannot be separated from “Metal” and “Fire.” First, true Yin and true Yang serve as crucible and vessel; then the single Qi of the Taiji is drawn forth to refine the elixir. The Qi of the Taiji lies within emptiness and nothingness and cannot be sought directly. Without relying on true Yin and true Yang, it cannot be brought down and made to appear. For this reason, the Cantong qi takes the Qian and Kun hexagrams as crucible and vessel, and compares Kan and Li to lead and mercury. These four hexagrams are placed in the central palace, while the remaining hexagram images are distributed across the course of a month to arrange the movement of the firing process. Qian and Kun can also stand for dragon and tiger, Zhen and Dui, husband and wife, or Hun and Po. Kan and Li can stand for lead and mercury, Water and Fire, male and female, or feeling and nature. The analogies can be extended further, but in the end they all serve as metaphors for true Yin and true Yang. When the two unite in the central palace, the chamber of the Yellow Path, the elixir can form. Hence the saying that keeping to the center brings the image of “the Yellow Skirt: supreme good fortune.” The medicinal substances outside the palace belong to the outer medicine. Once the elixir has been refined and taken, true Fire is still needed to nurture the embryo of the sage within the body. The original Yang, the true Qi, is set in motion as Fire. This Fire has no fixed position and circulates through the six directions; hence the saying that when it reaches its utmost point, it occupies the highest position without being confined. This refers to the inner medicine.

Heaven’s first gives rise to Water, which is compared in the human body to Jing, or essence. Earth’s second gives rise to Fire, which is compared in the human body to Shen, or spirit. A person’s Jing and Shen nourish the whole body day and night, continually moving in step with the Yin-Yang Qi of Heaven and Earth. At the winter solstice, the single Yang Qi beneath the Earth rises, corresponding to the Fu hexagram. The body’s original Qi is understood to do the same, so this is the time to advance the Yang Fire. In the first month, Yin and Yang are evenly divided and naturally unite, corresponding to the Tai hexagram. The body’s original Qi changes accordingly, so the firing process is brought to rest; this is called bathing. At the summer solstice, the single Yin Qi in Heaven descends, corresponding to the Gou hexagram, so the Yin Talisman is advanced. In the seventh month, Yin and Yang are evenly divided and naturally unite, corresponding to the Pi hexagram. The body’s original Qi changes accordingly, so the firing process is paused; this, too, is called bathing. The alternation of Pi and Tai symbolizes the rising and descending of Yin and Yang.

The sages compressed the changes of the year’s climate into the span of a month, matching the two and a half days’ worth of hours in a year to the movement of thirty days in a month. After the new moon, on the first day of the month, the Moon begins to show light, corresponding to the Fu hexagram. When the first quarter Moon is half bright and the Qi of Metal and Water are evenly divided, this corresponds to the Tai hexagram. Around the sixteenth day, the Moon begins to wane, corresponding to the Gou hexagram. When the last quarter Moon is half diminished and the Qi of Metal and Water are evenly divided, this corresponds to the Pi hexagram. The Moon’s waxing and waning correspond to the flourishing and decline of Jing and Shen; this describes the phases of the Moon.

The climatic changes of a month are then fitted into the twelve double-hours of a day. At the Zi hour, the first Yang is born, symbolizing the rise of the pure Yang Jing-Qi in the kidneys. This corresponds to the Fu hexagram, and the Yang Fire is advanced. At the Wu hour, the first Yin is born, symbolizing the descent of the Qi of utmost Shen in the heart. This corresponds to the Gou hexagram, and the Yin Talisman is advanced. The Fu and Gou hexagrams represent the coming and going of the two Qi, Yin and Yang. Sunrise marks day, and sunset marks night. Over the course of a full day and night, practitioners regulate the talismanic Fire, carefully governing warmth and coolness, cold and heat, so that the outer seasonal cycles accord with Heaven’s timing. Within the body, they coordinate this with the waxing and waning of Qi and blood throughout the whole body, adjusting the firing process to warm and nourish the Elixir Pearl. Thus the alternation of day and night, sunrise and sunset, also corresponds to changes of cold and warmth in the movement of Qi and blood in the human body.

The Zi hour is the starting point of the Yang Qi of a day, so the Zhun hexagram governs it and is used to advance the Yang Fire in the morning. The Wu hour is the starting point of the Yin Qi of a day, so the Meng hexagram governs it and is used to advance the Yin Talisman in the evening. Zhun and Meng set the rules for movement and stillness in the morning and evening. The two hexagrams take turns governing the course of each day and night. Zhun and Meng begin the sequence of the sixty hexagrams, while Ji Ji and Wei Ji bring it to a close. The end begins again, and the beginning ends again; hence the saying that Ji Ji and Wei Ji carefully mark the beginning and end of the myriad things. All of this concerns the hours of the day.

The Great Dao of the Golden Elixir described by the Perfected Wei Boyang is originally exceedingly simple and clear, requiring no elaborate explanation. He therefore entrusted its meaning to the images of the Yi’s hexagrams, so that students could observe the images and grasp the essential point. If one understands the mystery of the Golden Elixir, then the terms Qian and Kun, Kan and Li, dragon and tiger, Hun and Po, lead and mercury, Water and Fire can all be set aside. If one grasps the true secret of managing the Fire, then Zhun and Meng, Ji Ji and Wei Ji, Fu and Gou, Pi and Tai, as well as the hexagram images and line numbers, are no longer needed. All these are images used to express an inner principle. The commentator feared that students of the Cantong qi would fail to understand the Perfected One’s profound meaning, clinging only to hexagram images and words without knowing to set aside the outward forms and grasp their meaning. He therefore wrote this text to inform fellow practitioners, expressing his care for them. A song by a Qingcheng scholar says: “Thanks to the ancient sages for passing down the true secret. The images and explanations that serve as guides may all be left behind once they have brought one to the right place.” These lines show that the way of the Golden Elixir is exceedingly simple. Without receiving the oral instructions from a true teacher, however, students can scarcely touch its profound depths.

The commentary says, “The passage from ‘Emptiness and Nonbeing’ to ‘used every day without knowing it’ explains the Dao. ‘The sages embody creation and transformation in substance and function’ explains the Book of Changes (Yijing). ‘Wei Boyang’s allegory’ explains the Token for Joining the Three (Zhouyi cantong qi). Beginning with ‘the supreme essentials of refining the Elixir bring great good fortune,’ the text discusses the external medicine—that is, the external substances used in the process of refining the Elixir. Beginning with ‘once the Elixir has been obtained, the medicine is honored though it has no position,’ it discusses the internal medicine—the inner Elixir formed through cultivation. The passage from ‘Heaven One gives birth to Water’ through the changes of ascent and descent concerns the year. Applying the waxing and waning of the year’s Qi and climate to cultivation concerns the month; applying changes in cold and warmth to cultivation concerns the day; and taking the Zi hour—midnight, when Yang Qi first arises—as the beginning of the six Yang phases concerns the hours of the day.”

Everything from “The subtle mystery of the Golden Elixir” onward uses images of things to express principles of cultivation. Everything from “the true mechanism of controlling the fire” onward uses images to explain the inner mechanisms of cultivation.

The “thirty-two counts” are based on the numerical values assigned to the Qian and Kun hexagrams—the Yijing’s technical numbers for calculating the counts of the hexagram lines. The count for a yang line is about six times 360, or 216. Multiplying 216 by thirty-two gives 6,912, called the “count of the yang lines in thirty-two hexagrams.” The count for a yin line is 144. Multiplying 144 by thirty-two gives 4,608, called the “count of the yin lines in thirty-two hexagrams.” Together, the two totals make 11,520.

Here, the first and seventh months are associated with the Pi and Tai hexagrams to explain the bathing stage in Neidan cultivation, when Yin-Yang is harmonized and the firing process brought into balance. Another interpretation associates Pi and Tai with the spring and autumn equinoxes as the proper times for bathing, using different months. The intent of the Wuzhen pian is subtle and flexible. Thus, the Immortal Master says in the Four Hundred Words: “When the time for bathing arrives, Mao and You are only borrowed as metaphors.” Shi Xinglin likewise says, “Bathing does not take place at Mao or You.” Here, Mao and You borrow the names of times of day or directions to represent changes in Yin-Yang; they do not mean that one must cultivate at the hours of Mao or You. The essential meaning of the Pi and Tai hexagrams is the balance of Yin-Yang. Some interpret bathing as the spring and autumn equinoxes in the second and eighth months; others say it is the first and seventh months, or the first and last quarter moons. Without understanding the underlying meaning, one can easily be confused by these differing interpretations.

Song Presented to the Daoist Liu of White Dragon Cave

The Jade Rabbit and Golden Crow—the moon and sun—run on without pause, and time rushes by. We have only just heard that the flowers have bloomed, and already autumn frost is here.

Even if you boast of living a thousand years, you are no more than a flash of lightning in the clouds, gone in an instant.

How swift that lightning is! A hundred years of life amount to just over thirty thousand days.

Through those years, people are buffeted by the alternating heat and cold; without realizing it, their youthful looks quietly fade away.

Even with children and grandchildren all around, family attachments can become still greater entanglements.

When Jing and Qi are spent and the body has declined, who can teach you how to hold on to life a little longer and extend your years?

You may wish to prolong life for a while, but with no way to do so, in the end you cannot help but pass away like flowing water.

Looking at the sages of ages past and present, how many have managed to preserve their bodies and live long in this world?

Kongxuanzi says: The sun and moon seem to race against each other, and time flies like an arrow. Few people live to the age of seventy. The alternation of cold and heat hastens our aging; family matters and thoughts of children and grandchildren weigh on our hearts. Until death in old age, this is how generation after generation passes. Who can turn back, firmly seek the Dao (the Way), and hope to keep the body in this world for a long time? To think that human life is so difficult, while the true Dao is so hard to hear of, is truly lamentable.

There are ways to cultivate while living in this world; it is simply that people today lack understanding and breadth of vision.

They rush into the mountains to search for herbs and other plants, refine lead and mercury, and try to transmute them into the Yang Elixir (a Daoist Neidan term for the pure Yang Elixir).

People seek the Dao but do not understand the proper path. They become overly enamored of the furnace fires of Waidan (external alchemy) and search everywhere for rare plants. They also refine lead and mercury, hoping to transmute them into the Yang Elixir, cast off their mortal form, and become beings of precious substance. The Immortal Master wrote in a poem: “Do not refine the Three Yellows and Four Spirits; if you seek among all kinds of medicinal herbs, that is even further from the true Dao.” This warns people not to make the pursuit of treasures through Waidan furnace fires their goal in cultivation. When the Elixir is successfully refined, the achievement of “a house full of gold” will come of its own accord. Why, then, waste fuel for the furnace and squander your wealth?

The transmutation of the Yang Elixir is quite different. One must seek the crimson blood within Kan (a Neidan term that uses trigrams such as Kan and Li to represent Yin-Yang essence and Qi within the body).

Gather it into the position of Li to restrain Yin essence. Yin and Yang must be brought together and harmonized, and the right moment must also be understood.

When the moment arrives, one must enlist a matchmaker so that the Metal Lord (a Neidan symbol for Yang essence) and the Old Woman (a symbol for Yin essence) may be joined in marriage.

The Metal Lord likes to ride the White Tiger, while the Old Woman often drives the Red Dragon.

The White Tiger arrives among the autumn mountains and sits quietly. The Red Dragon, meanwhile, surges up from the deep pool.

The Dragon and Tiger meet and do battle. Waves churn like water boiling in a cauldron.

The Yellow Matron and Elder Ding (symbols in Neidan for forces that assist in harmonizing Yin and Yang) come to lend their strength. They shake Heaven and Earth, setting even spirits and ghosts in flight.

Waidan (external alchemy) methods claim that lead and mercury can be refined until their volatile nature is subdued, then used to transform red blood and alter the body’s bones and form. But if this is done only out of greed for wealth, treating the art as a means of profit and failing to accumulate De (Virtue/Power), it merely adds to one’s offenses. What benefit can it bring in the great matters of life and death? The Golden Elixir’s power to transform, turning ordinary bones into those of a pure-Yang immortal, is another matter entirely, quite distinct from Waidan methods.

To seek red blood in the Kan position, which represents water and Yin containing Yang, is to seek a portion of the eight-stringed Qi within the White Tiger—a Neidan term symbolizing Yin energy—that is, to take the essence of black lead. To subdue Yin essence in the Li position, which represents fire and Yang containing Yin, is to seek a portion of the eight-stringed Qi within the Azure Dragon—a Neidan term symbolizing Yang energy—that is, to take the marrow of red lead. Seek the red within Kan’s black, and subdue the Yin within Li’s Yang; let these two kinds of Qi join. The search must be made on the proper day, and the gathering must wait for the right moment. Once the time is right, the Yellow Matron, symbolizing the medium that harmonizes Yin and Yang, brings them together. Then the scene of “the Golden Lord riding the tiger, the Maiden riding the dragon” naturally appears. They join like husband and wife, drawing close to one another as the two substances unite.

With the Yellow Matron acting as intermediary and the Golden Lord lending her power, one obtains the essence of Heaven and Earth’s Yin and Yang, enough to shake Heaven and Earth and set the spirits and gods running. The ancient verse “Subtly turning over Heaven and Earth’s essence, gathering Yin and Yang together so spirits and ghosts flee” refers precisely to this inner cultivation. It does not refer to the gold, stones, plants, and trees that people call Waidan materials. The foregoing describes the external medicine.

In an instant, the battle between Yin and Yang ends, and the clouds and rain subside. A dark pearl, symbolizing the inner elixir, is planted in the Mudball Palace, an image used in cultivation for the inside of the head.

From then on, the elixir sprout gradually grows, nourished and protected day after day with true essence.

After ten months of warming and nurturing, the elixir embryo sheds its shell and is swallowed into the abdomen. Without realizing it, the practitioner’s ordinary body has become numinous.

After the contest is complete, the Golden Elixir can be obtained and taken into the body, where it is stored at the bottom of the clay vessel known as the “Earth Crucible.” From then on, follow the advances and retreats of the firing process, using true fire to warm and refine it. In this way, the root and sprout of the returned Golden Elixir’s liquid gold will grow day by day and gradually mature. Then, water and nourish it at the proper times, and it will continue to grow. After ten months, the sacred embryo will be fully formed. Through refining the form and transforming it into Qi, various kinds of numinous Qi will naturally arise. Refine Qi further and transform it into Shen, and you will naturally unite with the Dao. This is what is meant by “the inner medicine sealed within.”

Few people in the world know of this matter; ordinary people cannot easily understand it.

If you did not have the roots for becoming an immortal in a past life, how could you so readily encounter this path?

Now that you have encountered it, you should begin cultivating at once, for time flies like an arrow.

If you want to catch fish, first weave your net. Do not stand by the river and merely envy those who can.

I hear that you have understood the principles of the medicines for many years. Why, then, do you not gather your spirit and refine and nourish Mercury and Lead?

Do not let the candle flame be blown out by the wind, and do not wait until you have fallen into the six paths of rebirth before blaming Heaven.

The Great Way of the Golden Elixir is rarely taught. Only those with an affinity for immortality who meet a true teacher can begin to cultivate it. If you merely stand by the river and envy those who can, you will still not attain it.

I hear that you have understood the principles of the medicines for many years. Why, then, do you not gather your spirit and refine and nourish Mercury and Lead?

Do not let the candle flame be blown out by the wind, and do not wait until you have fallen into the six paths of rebirth before blaming Heaven.

The Great Way of the Golden Elixir is seldom taught in the world. Even if you have an affinity for immortality and meet a true teacher, you should cultivate it quickly, for later may be too late. The years wait for no one; do not waste your life in vain. The “refining of Lead and Mercury” mentioned here refers to inner work in cultivation. It does not mean physical Lead and Mercury in the world, nor does it refer to substances used to subdue Lead and Mercury and transmute them into an elixir. This is an exhortation to begin cultivating early.

These days, many people in the world are deceitful. They put on plain clothes and call themselves cultivators of the Dao.

Ask them what “Metal and Wood” mean, and they fall silent like the mute.

They speak only of controlling the breath and giving up food, and claim there is another, lengthy path of cultivation.

Have you not seen the Song on Dispelling Delusion, which says that the Taiyi Complete Perfection method is the best?

Do not blame me for speaking so bluntly; people today find it hard to tell truth from falsehood.

Only because your heart and mine are in accord do I dare tell you everything I have in my heart.

Ordinary people make cultivation of the Dao their pursuit, yet do not understand what the Song on Dispelling Delusion says: the Taiyi Complete Perfection method is the best.

Do not blame me for my plain wording or for failing to speak with greater refinement. I only wish to make it difficult for people to discern the principle at issue. Only when your understanding accords with mine do I dare confide my innermost thoughts to you.

Those of shallow understanding devote themselves to cultivating the Dao, yet do not know what “Metal” and “Wood” mean. They merely resort to lesser methods such as taking in Qi and fasting. How could they know what the Song for Breaking Delusion means when it says: “What is the Dao? The Great Oneness (Taiyi, the original unity of the Dao) contains true Qi. The Five Phases do not follow their usual order, and a tiger is born in water; Kan and Li (Water and Fire among the Eight Trigrams, often used as metaphors for Yin and Yang in cultivation) reverse and unite, and a dragon appears from fire.” This is precisely the principle in question, and a solemn warning to the world.

Some explain this song to mean that, after ten months, the sage embryo emerges from the womb and is then swallowed back into the belly. This interpretation concerns the mysteries of the sage embryo’s coming and going, and it has merit. Others explain it to mean that a single pellet of spiritual elixir is swallowed into the belly. Citing the Cantong qi—“cinnabar sand enters the five organs”—as proof, they think later readers will suspect that this passage refers to Waidan (external alchemy, in which elixirs are made from medicinal substances and consumed). This interpretation is misguided and shows that they have not received the true transmission of the Wuzhen pian.

Those who misunderstand the central meaning of the Wuzhen pian say that true lead is primordial Qi, produced in the kidneys; that spirit mercury is the true Jing of nature and life, issuing from the heart; that within the Qi of Qi lies true Water, and within the true Jing of nature rests true Fire. Why do they not examine more closely what the commentary on the Wuzhen pian says? It points out that people who study the Dao today take lead and mercury to be two kinds of Qi, and regard the heart and kidneys respectively as Kan and Li. In this way, the sun and moon lose their proper courses, and lead and mercury each remain in separate furnaces. How far from their goal they must be if they hope to form the reverted elixir!

The Wuzhen pian criticizes precisely this view, yet today some people mistake it for the text’s central teaching. This plainly shows that they have not received its true transmission. Only by meeting a genuine teacher will they understand the principle I have described.