《金丹直指》

I wrote the Sixteen Odes on the Golden Elixir (Jindan shiliu song), which speak directly of the mysteries of cultivating nature and life, and so I titled it the Direct Pointing (Zhizhi). To illuminate the mind and see one's nature is the affair of the Chan school; to return to the root and restore one's life is the affair of the Daoist tradition. The practices discussed by Chan and by the Daoist tradition appear different and cannot simply be equated: the Daoist tradition calls its practice "refining the elixir," while Chan calls it "herding the ox." This is because the simple, unadorned nature of the human heart-mind has already been scattered and lost, and without refinement and nurture it is hard to return to that simplicity; the six sensory gates of the mind (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind-consciousness) have already been opened, and without gathering them in and tending them, it is hard to wash away the obscurations and reveal one's nature. Refining the elixir and herding the ox take different paths but arrive at the same destination. The Daoist tradition and Chan seem to be two separate matters, yet one may say they are in truth one body, or one may say that the two are mutually connected.

From childhood my tastes differed from those of the common world, and I longed deeply for the Daoist arts, so I sought out teachers far and wide. In the renyin year of the Chunyou era (1242), I met Master Lin Ziran of Chicheng, who transmitted the methods of the elixir to me and brought me to meet his own teacher, the Perfected Li. In just a few words, the Perfected Li enabled me to grasp the key to the reversion of Metal and Fire, and said that to awaken to one's nature first and then cultivate the elixir methods would be especially fitting.

I then traveled to Daoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, seeking instruction from elders. Later I heard that Master Fang Zongyang Bixu had received the transmission of the Perfected Zhang Ziyang. In the second month of spring in the jiyou year, I took the Direct Pointing with me to visit him; the moment I crossed the threshold, our minds were already in accord.

At the end of summer that year, a monk named Yuancan passed through my place on his way from Putian. He spoke of the Chan "dog kōan" (the inquiry into the phrase "Does a dog have Buddha-nature?"), and it agreed with my own understanding. Later I read the Thousand-Year Stele (Qiansui bei) by the monk Baotai, and seeing in it the phrases about ingesting lead and mercury, I pressed him on their meaning: what are lead and mercury? He said they are emotion and nature. Why so? Because emotion and nature can be harmonized and put to use. Can they be ingested? He said they must be held by the Middle Way. What is the Middle Way? It is to be both empty and not empty, to be active yet not attached to activity. Yuancan smiled and said, "I have heard there are two ways of practice; could what those who practice them to perfection speak of be precisely this principle?" Yet refining the Golden Elixir is not easy, and without the support of a capable person, it is hard to succeed.

In the late spring of the following year, the Elder Hao restored the White Cloud Hermitage at Zhupu and arranged a place of practice for Yuancan and me. After half a month of practice, the results of the work began to show. I took the Preface to the Golden Elixir (Jindan xu) by the Perfected Zhang Ziyang and the Song of the Jade-Void (Cuixu yin) by the Perfected Chen Niwan and compared them against each other, and found that every line matched actual practice, so I trusted all the more that what the Direct Pointing says is not false.

Someone said to me, "The principle has been unclear for a very long time. It is enough that you believe it yourself; to write a book seeking others' belief will probably only add to the disputes." I replied, "Those who believe are close to understanding; those who do not believe are close to not understanding. The ancients said that the Dao belongs neither to 'knowing' nor to 'not knowing': to think one knows is delusive perception, while to know nothing at all is blank ignorance. Those with clear eyes may well open the book and read it."

Written by Zhou Wusuozhu of Yongjia, in the sixth month, when the days were growing long, in the gengxu year of the Chunyou era (1250).

Composed by Zhou Wusuozhu of Yongjia.

Ode to the Mysterious Pass, the One Aperture (Xuanguan Yiqiao)

Once the key aperture is opened, everything else is penetrated along with it. Even when not the slightest thing stirs, true luminous emptiness can still be revealed.

Here lies the genuine purport and the root. Yet the moment one takes it to be some concrete thing, one falls back into the original error.

Ode to True Earth

The name "True Earth" was only provisionally established. If students of the Dao do not understand this, they will go blindly searching elsewhere.

If one understands that True Earth is simply the Dao of the central and upright, why ride on the ox's back and still go about looking for the ox? This line uses the image of "riding an ox in search of the ox" to show that what is sought has never been apart from oneself.

Ode to the Yang Crystal

What is pure and unmixed, without the least flaw, is called the "Yang Crystal." Let even a trace of defect appear, and it belongs to Yin.

Many immortals were unwilling to speak of this meaning aloud. Who, then, is willing to apply their mind to savoring it here?

Ode to the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin)

The myriad things grow in profusion, and in the end each returns to its own root. If one can recognize the root, then the "Mysterious Female" (Xuanpin, the deep gateway through which the Dao gives birth to and nourishes all things) need no longer linger in empty legend.

Ode to Dragon and Tiger

Dragon and Tiger (often used as metaphors for opposing forces within the body) rage and stir, and the mind burns and seethes with them. With one stroke of the sword of wisdom, both forces are stilled together.

Ode to Lead and Mercury

If you wish to know "lead and mercury" (qian and gong, terms commonly used in Neidan, or internal alchemy, for two elements that work in concert), you must understand that they correspond respectively to feeling and nature. When the two are harmonized, the work of the internal elixir is complete.

Ode to the True Furnace and Cauldron

The head bears up the heavens, the feet tread upon the earth. Standing between heaven and earth, a person takes their own body as furnace and cauldron. Within it there is one thing that can be refined into a precious vessel.

Ode to the True Medicine

It is a spiritual herb that existed before heaven and earth, rootless and formless. Refine it with singleness of purpose, and a precious treasure can be made.

Ode to Weights and Measures (Jinliang)

Cultivation must follow the middle way, neither too little nor too much. Forced striving and utter laxity alike fall into error.

Some also speak of calculations of weight such as "two eights make one jin." The principle is plainly set before our eyes; who, then, has been obscuring it?

Ode to Withdrawing and Adding (Chutian)

If you ask how to practice "withdrawing and adding" (chutian, the method in Neidan of regulating and adjusting the intensity of the cultivation fire), then in advancing and retreating, taking and leaving, there must be no sluggishness of response. When the adjustment is exactly right, with nothing added and nothing subtracted, one can realize the state of Wuwei (non-action).

When one recognizes the true original mind, one is no longer trapped by narrow views; when one does not understand one's own mind, one is led about by external things. It is lamentable that those who cling stubbornly to old methods and wait for a chance opportunity reverse the order of "retreating lead and advancing mercury" and adopt the wrong method.

Verse on the Fire Phase

True fire has never had a fixed hour, so people should not force conjecture. If you wish to grasp its true meaning, you must understand that it neither goes anywhere nor comes from anywhere.

Verse on the Method

Take purity and stillness as the medicinal ingredients, and condense the elixir pill from the subtle intent of the heart. Throughout the twelve double-hours, refine it with the fire of no-thought.

Verse on the Oral Instruction

Let the mind be focused and sincere, and the heart clear and settled, as though congealed and unmoving. Apply effort continuously through day and night, and the signs of efficacy will naturally appear.

Verse on Bathing

Bathing has no other secret; there is no need to deliberately seek out particular hours such as the Mao and You hours. Sleep when tired, eat when hungry; on any given day, be at ease as if standing in the spring breeze.

Verse on Effort

Gather a hundred quarter-hours of effort into a single quarter-hour; and let this one quarter-hour in turn encompass the twelve double-hours. The twelve double-hours return to a single thought, and to reach no-thought within that single thought is the truly wondrous realm.

Verse on Warming and Nurturing

Maintain tranquility and stir no thoughts; let the mind be empty and still, and let everything follow its natural course. When the elixir embryo is perfected, the Shen (spirit) and Jing (essence) will transform of themselves; my own nature and life are not governed by the decree of Heaven.

A Question

Someone asked: "The Jindan Zhizhi (Direct Pointers to the Golden Elixir) has already set out the essentials of cultivating the Dao, yet all sixteen verses speak of the principles of the 'school of nature' (the study of cultivating mind and nature). I fear this may not accord with the 'study of life' (the teaching of cultivating life and the physical body)."

The reply: "The Golden Elixir is used as a metaphor for the enduring nature of one's original nature. This is the meaning of 'my own nature and life are not governed by the decree of Heaven.'"

Someone asked: "The Jindan zhizhi (Direct Pointers to the Golden Elixir) has already made clear the essentials of cultivating the Dao, but all sixteen of its verses speak of the school of nature (xing zong, the practice centered on perceiving the mind and seeing one's nature). I fear this does not accord with the study of life (ming xue, the teachings that pursue the cultivation of nature and life)?"

The answer: "The Golden Elixir (jindan, the central metaphor of Daoist Neidan, or internal alchemy) refers to the enduring permanence of one's original nature, which is why it is called 'diamond-indestructible.' This is also what the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) means by the wondrous, lustrous body of the Golden Elixir, and by the realization of true gold and the compassionate countenance. In the past, when the Dragon Girl suddenly awakened to the pearl of the mind, she was speaking of this very method.

"Few students of the Dao understand their own nature, and so they always seek outward. When they speak of the dragon and the tiger, they take this to be the study of life; when they speak of the Dao of Wuwei (non-action), they take it to be empty talk. Alas, how one-sided such views are! They do not understand that by exhausting one's nature, one arrives at the mandate of Heaven.

"Nature is life, and life is nature. Before Heaven and Earth took form, nature and life were fused as one, without name or designation; once they fall into language, they are divided and spoken of as two. When stillness reaches its extreme, it must move; in movement, the mandate of Heaven circulates and spreads. When movement reaches its extreme, it returns again to stillness, and the nature endowed by Heaven returns to its root, back to the original substance from before the separation of Heaven and Earth, with nothing diminished. Movement and stillness revolve in cycles; how could they ever cease?

"What manifests from life is called nature, and what returns to nature is called life. Nature and life come from a single source and differ only in name; how can one seek life apart from nature, or nature apart from life? If one does not understand the pivot of change between movement and stillness, one treats nature and life as two separate things; and even if one speaks of only one of them, one has still mistaken it.

"The Perfected Zhang of Ziyang (Zhang Boduan, a Neidan master) said: 'If the Dao of nature and life is not cultivated in full, the working of the mind and intention cannot be all-pervasive.' The Perfected Bai ofZiqing (Bai Yuchan, a Neidan master) said: 'If one can grasp the Diamond Sutra and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, the principles of the Golden Elixir will naturally become clear; why then distinguish the similarities and differences between Daoism and Buddhism?'"

Someone asked: "Since Buddhism and Daoism are the same, is Confucianism the same as well?"

The answer was: "Although the teachings are divided into three schools, the Dao is only one. Students differ in their natural endowments, and their learning and experience run shallow or deep. So each venerates their own lineage and argues over right and wrong with others, and all of this strays from the root. They do not realize that every person originally possesses the principles of all three teachings within themselves. If a Confucian dismisses Buddhism and Daoism as heterodox, they only lose sight of their own true nature. How could they know that, since beginningless time, the three teachings have all been contained within this one unified root, with nothing left out?

Thus Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism can all lead to the Dao; the only worry is that people may not find the way in. If one can thoroughly penetrate the meaning and principles of Buddhism and Daoism, how could one still think the Way of Confucius, the Sage, differs from them?

Take Confucianism first: Yao transmitted the Dao to Shun, Shun to Yu, and Yu to Tang of Shang, King Wen, King Wu, and the Duke of Zhou, and later it passed to Confucius and Mencius. All of this was the wondrous method of transmission from mind to mind. In Buddhism, Shakyamuni (honored by Buddhists as the "World-Honored One") transmitted it to Kashyapa, and Kashyapa to Ananda, likewise sealing mind with mind. In Daoism, Lord Donghua transmitted it to Lord Jinque, and Lord Jinque to the Queen Mother of the West, again through oral and aural transmission.

One who truly understands grasps the meaning before a word is spoken. Once the principle is put into speech, it has already fallen to a secondary level of expression. And to cling further to words is to stray even further from the truth being transmitted.

The learning of mind-transmission, in the end, does not go beyond a single word: "centrality" (zhong, the Mean). The Book of Documents says, "Sincerely hold fast to the Mean," meaning to maintain centrality and rectitude with a sincere heart. The Treatise on Unity says that sentient beings should be settled in the Middle Way. The Daodejing (Dao De Jing) says, "Better to hold to the center." These statements all show that the Dao under heaven is not two. The Zhuangzi says, "Penetrate the One, and all affairs are complete"; Zhang Ziyang, the Perfected One (a Daoist figure), said, "Attain the One, and all affairs are complete." They speak of the same thing."

Someone asked: "The Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) ultimately come down to one thing. I have heard that Daoism teaches that both body and spirit can reach a wondrous state, and that sometimes one may even have a body beyond the body. Do Confucianism and Buddhism make similar claims?"

The answer: "Buddhism does as well. Bodhidharma, for example, returned to the West carrying only a single shoe; the monk Budai manifested a body beyond his body; the monk Puhua shook his staff (the ritual implement carried by Buddhist monks) and rose into the air; the monk Zhizhe's empty couch (an unoccupied bed) went forth to receive offerings; and the monk Yangshan saw a strange monk rise into the sky and depart. Do these not come from the same lineage? Confucianism is different. It centers on the order of human relationships, upholding the Three Bonds and rectifying the Five Constants (the norms of human relations in ancient Confucian thought), and so it is a teaching of action. Yet the principle on which it ultimately rests is, in essence, still the Way of Wuwei (non-action). Thus the Dao is the same, while the teachings differ."

Another person asked: "Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism share the same principle but differ in their teachings. Buddhism practices Chan meditation, while Daoism speaks of self-cultivation. How, then, can one say that Buddhism and Daoism are the same? Please explain this further."

The answer: "Under heaven there are not two different Daos, and the sages do not have two different hearts. You have not yet understood the ground of the mind (the inner nature of the heart), and that is why you ask this. To practice Chan is to gather the mind in a single place. At first one must sweep away stray thoughts, and in the end one no longer clings even to the thought of 'sweeping away.' Chan is the Buddha-mind, and the mind is the root of all dharmas. Self-cultivation, for its part, is embracing the origin and guarding the One (protecting the root and concentrating the spirit single-mindedly). At first one must labor at refinement, and in the end one arrives at a state where deliberate refinement is no longer needed. The Dao is the way of nourishing Shen (spirit), and Shen is the master of all things. Shen is the mind, the mind is the Dao, and the Dao is Chan.

"The Great Dao of Wuwei transcends names and forms (the distinctions of names and concepts), is not bound by birth and death, and always dwells in empty stillness, leaving not the slightest thing to grasp. When events come, it responds; when events pass, it returns to stillness, like a mirror that reflects things without retaining their images. It is only by forced designation that it is called the 'Dao.'

"When students of the Dao reach this point, some suspect that this is merely talk of emptiness and stillness, and at the first hint of it they retreat. They do not realize that the 'emptiness' spoken of here is not a mere absence of everything; this emptiness that does not fall into nothingness is true emptiness, and for that reason it is called the 'One.' The One is the source of the Great Dao, the mother of the Golden Elixir (the core of Daoist Neidan, or internal alchemy, practice), and the root of all beings. Laozi said, 'Embrace the One, and be a model for the world.' Yet even the method of Wuwei must not be clung to as if it were some tangible thing, which is why the Diamond Sutra says, 'All the worthy and the sage differ through the unconditioned dharma.' If not for those of true insight, with whom could one discuss such matters?"

Someone asked: The idea that the Three Teachings of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism are mutually interconnected has already been explained clearly, and I have grasped its essential point. Yet the method of "Wuwei" (non-action) must not be clung to as something substantially real. Hence the Diamond Sutra says, "All sages and worthies are distinguished from one another through their cultivation of the unconditioned Dharma." Without an eye that can discern the true meaning, with whom could one even discuss this?

Another person asked: I now understand the principle that the Three Teachings are interconnected, but what exactly are the "Mysterious Pass, the One Aperture" (Xuanguan Yiqiao, the key aperture spoken of in cultivation) and the "Gate of the Mysterious Female" (Xuanpin zhi Men, the gate at the root from which the Dao generates and transforms the myriad things)? Some say the heart and kidneys are the aperture, and the mouth and nose are the gate. Others say it is neither the heart and kidneys nor the mouth and nose. I do not know which account is correct.

The answer: The earlier masters spoke of the heart, kidneys, mouth, and nose in order to guide people into the Dao. Yet they feared that people would fail to grasp their meaning and mistake the bodily organs and orifices for the foundation of cultivation, thereby neglecting the originally empty true nature and the root of nature and life. For this reason they also said, "It is not the heart, kidneys, mouth, or nose," in order to break this attachment. In truth, both the "Mysterious Pass, the One Aperture" and the "Gate of the Mysterious Female" refer to the place where a person's thoughts arise and cease.

Laozi said, "The gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of Heaven and Earth." The Perfected Ziqing Bai said, "The place where thought stirs is the Mysterious Female. If you can personally recognize the place where thoughts arise and perish, you will know the valley of emptiness and the source of creation and transformation." Not only do the elements of Golden Elixir cultivation, such as the medicines and the fire phasing, issue forth from here, but the hundred schools of thought, the great canon of Buddhist scriptures (the complete collection of Buddhist texts), and all manner of crafts and skills are likewise contained within it.

The Perfected Ziyang Zhang said, "This aperture has neither boundary nor inside and outside." The Perfected Ziqing Bai said, "The Mysterious Pass, the One Aperture, is so large that it has no outside, and so small that it has no inside." The Perfected Xinglin Shi said, "This aperture is called the Mysterious Female, and within it are contained Qi and Shen (spirit)."

Someone asked: "I now understand the essentials of the Mysterious Pass (Xuanguan) and the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin). What, then, do 'True Earth' (Zhentu) and 'Yang Crystal' (Yangjing) mean?"

The answer: "'Earth' is another way of saying 'the center.' One who can hold to the center can fuse nature and life into one. The mind then becomes still, clear, and luminous, complete and bright. This is called the 'Yang Crystal.' The Perfected Zhang of Ziyang said, 'In the central, correct position, the Mysterious Pearl is born.' The ancients said, 'The bright pearl that is produced is the True Earth.' Both the 'Mysterious Pearl' and the 'Bright Pearl' are symbolic expressions for what is attained through inner cultivation."

Another asked: "I understand the meaning of True Earth and Yang Crystal. Could you now explain Dragon and Tiger, Lead and Mercury?"

The answer: "Dragon and Tiger, Lead and Mercury refer to the thoughts of the human mind. When thoughts never cease, they are restless and hard to tame like a dragon and tiger, and hard to control like lead and mercury. The Perfected Liu Haichan said, 'Harness the horse of the Qian trigram and let the dragon run off; then employ the ox of the Kun trigram to carry the tiger home.' The Perfected Zhang of Ziyang said, 'Lead scatters as soon as it meets fire; mercury flees as soon as it meets fire.' If one masters the method of subduing thoughts, one can naturally reach a state where the mind holds no stray thoughts and no thought arises. This is what is meant by 'subduing the dragon and taming the tiger, seizing the lead and restraining the mercury.'"

"Xuanguan" and "Xuanpin" are technical terms in Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) practice; "Qian" and "Kun" are two trigrams from the Book of Changes (Zhouyi), often used to represent Yin-Yang.

Someone asked: "I already understand the meanings of Dragon and Tiger (龙虎) and Lead and Mercury (铅汞). But what do the furnace-cauldron (炉鼎) and the medicinal ingredients (药物) mean?" The answer: "The furnace-cauldron is a metaphor for the body, and the medicinal ingredients are a metaphor for the treasure within the heart. Outside the body there is no heart, and outside the heart there is no treasure. How, then, could one leave the heart to search for the medicine, or abandon the body to search for the furnace-cauldron? Thus the Dao (the Way) is not far from people; it is people who distance themselves from the Dao.

Perfected Master Huan said: 'The heavenly heart is originally the six empty spaces of Qian; the body is Kun, and the two pull upon each other.' This means that the heart is like Heaven (Qian) and the body is like Earth (Kun), and the two are bound to one another. Perfected Master Zi Qing Bai said: 'Within the heart there are limitless medicinal ingredients; within the body there are limitless fire talismans.' Perfected Master Ziyang Zhang said: 'The heart belongs to Qian and the body belongs to Kun, which is why they are called the Qian-Kun cauldron vessel.' These statements are indeed reasonable, but they are also ways of urging students of the Dao to turn their gaze inward, restrain selfish desires, return to the root, and revert to the original source. If one can reach the state where not a single thought has yet arisen and the heart already contains the work of creation and transformation, is this not the true furnace-cauldron? If one faces the many conditions of the external world and the heart remains free of worry and fear, is this not the true medicinal ingredient?"

Another person asked: "I now understand the furnace-cauldron and the medicinal ingredients in detail. What, then, do the fire phases (火候), the methods and measures (法度), and the 'weights and measures' (斤两) and 'extracting and adding' (抽添) mean?" The answer: "Terms such as fire phases and methods and measures are all metaphors for those who lean toward movement or toward stillness and cannot grasp balance and harmony. If one can cease clinging to movement and stillness, being naturally still in stillness and naturally active in movement, and reach the state in which Yin-Yang rests in the center and the True Earth (真土) comes together, then the Way of the Immortals is complete. Perfected Master Ziyang Zhang said: 'If the fire is too dry and the water too flooding, neither can be left unadjusted, and so there are weights and measures and methods and measures.' What the earlier masters called 'neither increasing nor decreasing, neither extracting nor adding' refers precisely to this."

Someone further asked: "'If the fire is too dry and the water too flooding, neither can be left unadjusted, and so there are weights and measures and methods and measures.' The earlier masters said 'neither increasing nor decreasing, neither extracting nor adding.' What does this mean?"

Someone else asked: "Now that the matter of fire phasing and method is settled, what exactly is meant by the 'oral instructions on practice'?"

The answer: "Practice is like playing the zither, the large zither, or the reed organ. Although these instruments can produce beautiful sounds, without skilled fingering they can never be played, so how much more is this true of cultivating the Golden Elixir (Jindan)? Once one has received correct transmission, one needs only to hear a few sentences to begin working at it, and corresponding signs of efficacy soon appear.

"In cultivation one need not calculate layer by layer according to year, month, day, double-hour, and quarter-hour, nor cling to the divisions of Zi, Wu, Mao, and You, or to such doctrines as the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches or the hexagram-qi of Zhun and Meng. So long as one remains still and quiet and holds to the crucial point while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, yang qi will naturally arise.

"The Perfected Ziyang, Zhang Boduan, said that when cultivation reaches this stage, one feels wind arising in the Niwan (the cultivation site at the center of the head), the Jianggong (the cultivation site in the heart region) bright as the moon, and the fire in the Dantian (the energy center in the abdomen, where Neidan, or internal alchemy, is cultivated) flourishing. The Perfected Chen Niwan likewise said that at first the passes along the Jiaji (the gate along the spine) open, then the bladder region feels as if fire were burning, and the insides of both kidneys feel as if boiled in hot water; afterward a pulsing sensation rushes straight up to the source of the heart. What is called 'a single cluster of a hundred channels' also describes the sensations when the practice takes effect.

"Yet the essential point of quiet holding is just as the Perfected Shi Xinglin said: 'Who knows the marvelous secret of refining the elixir? It is simply guarding True Emptiness all day long.' The Perfected Chen Niwan said: 'In the beginning the Sage Ancestor left the elixir instructions, using non-being to generate being as the foundation of refining the elixir.' The Xinyin Jing (Scripture of the Heart Seal) says: 'Preserve non-being, guard being.' Laozi said: 'Hold to stillness with utmost sincerity.' The true meaning of these oral instructions is that what the sages of earlier and later ages said is in fact the same.

"Still, even if these words are indeed true, they may lead people down different paths of understanding, so one must also avoid dwelling on words and letters. The paths walked by a thousand sages are not entirely the same. Before Taishang Laojun composed the scriptures and the host of immortals handed down oral instructions, insects, grasses, and trees already displayed the mystery of transformation: when fruit ripens and falls from the branch, is that too accomplished through oral transmission? How much more so for human beings, the most spiritually gifted of all creatures. Students should have this kind of discernment."

Someone further asked: "I now understand the oral formula for the practice, but I still do not know what 'bathing and warm nourishment' (沐浴温养) means."

The answer: "'Bathing' means clearing away the stray thoughts of the present moment; 'warm nourishment' means letting the heart and Shen (spirit) settle in stillness within. If you give yourself free rein, you grow ever more unrestrained; if you grasp and force, you grow ever more agitated. To rise above both extremes, indulgence and forced effort, and to keep a gentle, nurturing steadiness in daily life, is what 'warm nourishment' means. When the heart is clear and still, the dust of the outer world cannot easily cling to it; when the mind is single-pointed and returns to the Dao (the Way), one reaches the state of Wuwei (non-action). Act through Wuwei, and there is nothing that cannot be accomplished."

The Perfected One Shi of Xinglin said: "Warm nourishment has no other secret. It is simply cultivating an infant within emptiness and nothingness." Here the "infant" is a metaphor in Neidan (internal alchemy) for the fruit of alchemical practice; it does not refer to a real baby.

Another person asked: "I now understand the main point of the Sixteen Verses. But as for what is called 'forming the embryo and shedding the body,' is there really such a thing?"

The answer: "'Forming the embryo and shedding the body' is a metaphor for the process of transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood. So long as the heart does not cling to external things and Shen and Qi (vital energy) return inward, this is called 'forming the sacred embryo.' When this nourishment has continued for a long time, and Shen and Qi are full and undergo transformation, this is called 'shedding the body.'

"The ancients said: to follow ordinary feeling is to be an ordinary person; to reverse ordinary feeling and return to the Dao is to be a sage. Celestial Master (Tianshi) Xujing said: 'If the consciousness of Shen scatters outward, gather it back in; when Shen returns to the body, Qi naturally returns as well. Do this day after day, morning and night without break, and the true embryo will form of itself.' Master Benlai said: 'When Shen is in the body, a person lives; when Shen leaves the body, a person dies.' The Perfected One Bai of Ziqing said: 'To have a body beyond the body is what is called shedding the body.' The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says that form and spirit are as if emerging from the womb, and one personally becomes a child of the Buddha; the mind can leave the body, coming and going freely. This too speaks of the same matter."

The Perfected One Zhang of Ziyang said: "The elixir is the marvelous treasure within the physical body, and the Dharma body is the true heart. Originally it has no form or color, and no sound; the two are one in origin, and need not be distinguished as two separate things."

The translation follows the text as given; its statements about "forming the embryo" and "shedding the body" use metaphor to explain Neidan practice and the state of transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood.

Someone asked: "I now understand the teachings on forming the embryo and shedding the body, but I do not know how many days it takes to succeed. The various books disagree. Some say one day, three days, or a hundred days; some say one year or nine years; some say only a moment; and others say one need not be bound to three or nine years. I am still confused about this."

The answer: The time spans mentioned for cultivation differ because earlier masters and later students differ in aptitude, some sharp and some dull, and in the depth of their practice, so the time required is sometimes long and sometimes short. These different spans are in fact borrowed to illustrate the key to how Yin-Yang (yīnyáng) turns and gathers. Heaven has the alternation of cold and heat, people have the succession of day and night, and breathing has its one exhalation and one inhalation. Within a single quarter-hour lies the change of seasons of a whole year. A year has 36,000 such quarter-hours, and the practitioner can also transcend this regular count of 36,000. This is called grasping the pivot of Yin-Yang and drawing on the principle of creation and transformation of Heaven and Earth, and the key rests solely on a single thought of the practitioner.

If one's resolve is firm and one cultivates with single-minded focus, then when the moment arrives the principle will reveal itself. The Perfected Cao Lingyuan said: "Hold your resolve firm and press forward in cultivation with a single mind; do not cling to the idea that you must succeed, or that you cannot succeed." Why, then, fixate only on the time limit? So long as one can remain still and in Wuwei (wúwéi, non-action), with a mind clear yet unbroken, why worry about failing to reach the state where body and spirit are both wondrous and one is united in truth with the Dao (the Way)? Once one reaches union with the Dao, even the "Golden Elixir" (jīndān) is only a borrowed name.

The many terms of the tradition, such as the Mysterious Pass (xuanguan), the Mysterious Female (xuanpin), True Earth, Yang Essence, Dragon and Tiger, Lead and Mercury, furnace and cauldron, medicinal ingredients, weights and measures, fire timing, the methods of subtracting and adding, oral instructions on practice, and bathing and nurturing, should neither be pursued with deliberate effort nor be left entirely without understanding. Do not cling to "being," and do not cling to "non-being."

Confucius speaks through the mouth of the World-Honored One, and Laozi listens from the side. Yet this "listening" is not truly hearing, and this "speaking" is not truly speaking. The Golden Elixir is a thing that cannot be seen or touched. If I picked it out on the spot and showed it to you, even if your whole body were mouths, you could not swallow it.

Someone asked: "The teaching of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) is profound and hard to seek, and even those who try may not attain it. Works such as the Qunxian Ge (Song of the Immortals), the Shi (Poems), and the Qilun (Treatise on the Covenant) are all written in a hidden and abstruse manner, so their meaning cannot be stated directly. Now you, sir, speak so plainly. Might this be too shallow?"

I replied: "Not at all. In the past, the immortals wished people to seek the Dao (the Way) for themselves, so they lodged simple principles within profound language, and the result was that people failed to understand. Now I wish everyone to understand the Dao, so I present profound principles in simple terms, making them easy to grasp.

"Confucius spoke of human nature and the Way of Heaven, yet even his learned disciples could not necessarily follow him. By the time Mencius answered Gaozi, the matter was explained clearly and thoroughly. Laozi described the great Dao as 'subtle, mysterious, and penetrating,' which makes it sound hard to seek; yet he also said that his Dao is 'very easy to know and very easy to practice,' and he did not insist on obscurity. The World-Honored One (the Buddhist honorific for the Buddha) taught that the principles of the Buddha are profound and far-reaching, as if no one could reach them; yet he also pointed directly to the human mind, teaching people to see their nature and become Buddhas. What is so deep or hard to understand in that?

"You say that I speak too directly and fear it is too shallow. Can that really be so?"