《马自然金丹口诀》

The Jade Fluid Returned Elixir is something everyone already possesses. Whoever can truly comprehend it will be able to make the body endure for a long time. When meeting others, do not casually boast that you know how to do everything; without encountering an enlightened teacher, it is also difficult to truly begin the work of cultivation.

I have visited thousands upon thousands of Daoists. Most of them speak only of practicing exercises and swallowing saliva. They also teach massage, Daoyin (nourishing body and mind through breathing and bodily movements), Bigu (abstaining from or eating little grain), and daily seated meditation. Yet I did not know the true timing of the fire and the essential points of refining the elixir. Night after night I rose to cultivate, wasting my effort in vain. I shook my sinews and bones until late at night, covering my whole body in sweat. For thirty years I searched everywhere in the world, and to this day I still have not found a place of return. Seeking teachers to inquire after the Dao (the Way) and looking for wondrous secrets, in the end I understood that what I had been cultivating was merely true Qi (vital energy, the life energy within the human body).

I too once worried about life and death, just as people of the world do. For sixty-four years I never truly attained understanding. Later I met Haichan (Liu Haichan of Daoist legend) and took him as my teacher. He spoke a single sentence beside my ear; after hearing it I felt as if I had drunk bodhi (a symbol of awakening) and sweet dew (symbolizing pure, wondrous nourishment). The mysterious oral formula need not be spoken of at length; it is simply right before the eyes, yet people often fail to pay it any heed. The measure of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) is sixteen taels, placed upon the Kun earth of the southwest (symbolizing the yielding, supporting direction). Who knows that this is the Returned Elixir? In reality it must be nurtured within a person’s Niwan Palace (the upper Dantian (energy center) in the head, according to Daoism).

From this I came to understand the Returned Elixir: it originally exists within the human body and need not be sought outside. There is no need to be overly concerned about drinking wine at night, and abundant food and drink do not assist cultivation. The essential points spoken of in the Jing (scripture/classic) are like striking the exact center; to speak of it makes one laugh, for it is so simple as to be hard to believe. It turns out to be nothing more than these principles, yet they often send people running about in all directions to seek them.

Do not seek awakening outside the body; one ought to still miscellaneous thoughts and concentrate the spirit. If the original Shen (spirit, a person’s primordial spirit) is not scattered and lost, the precious treasure of life can naturally endure forever. The body and mind given by father and mother must cooperate with each other, like the blending of smoke in a jade furnace; follow the natural processes of creation, and there must be no error. The practitioner should cause the three places to return to one chamber, and by means of a union like clouds and rain, make the three fields (the upper, middle, and lower Dantian) communicate with one another. Blood is the cinnabar water of the south; within the water Jing (essence) and Qi are dispersed, and at the bottom of the water lead is hidden. Such a method is said to be a secret teaching transmitted from the Great Luo Heaven (the highest celestial realm in the Daoist ideal); those who understand it can become immortals.

The Great Dao is mysterious and wondrous; those who can encounter it are few. Even those who have attained understanding are not necessarily willing to reveal the heavenly secrets. If you do not believe this mysterious principle, you may look at the example of grafting wild pear in the garden: after the wild wood is grafted it produces pears; the root nature remains the same, yet the spiritual nature has changed. Right before the eyes is clearly placed the road leading to heaven; everyone has the opportunity to set foot upon it.

To extract oil from sand or take fire from water seems impossible, yet in fact it is not a difficult matter; wood arising from fire and grafting to produce pears are likewise merely small affairs. What is truly rare is to meet the correct teaching and the Compassionate Honored One (a compassionate venerable). The Nine-Times Returned Elixir (Neidan (internal alchemy) formed through multiple stages of refinement) is the most important work; obtaining the oral secret, one can shed the bonds of the ordinary and go beyond the prison of the dusty world. People all say that you have refined it to completion, yet in fact only you yourself know. After it is accomplished, the body seems to shine with radiance, and the appearance likewise seems restored to youth.

Whether the Nine-Times Returned Elixir has been successfully refined, one knows clearly in one’s own heart: internally luminous, outwardly calm, in harmony with the laws of the movement of the Heavenly Dao. Above and below communicate, as if entering a golden world; Yin-Yang blend together, and the path of cultivation will not be lost.

There is no need to wear a Daoist cap, nor to shave the head; cultivate in concealment within the secular world, herding the white ox (commonly used in Daoist Neidan cultivation to symbolize taming the mind-nature). Even dwelling in an ordinary house, there is of itself a path leading to long life; why then yearn for the carefree White Jade Tower? Daoism and Buddhism originally both arise from ordinary people of the world; if one only insists upon wearing the cap and shaving the hair, everyone merely assumes an outer appearance, and no one is willing to seek within.

Lead and mercury (commonly used in Neidan arts to symbolize Yin-Yang, Jing, Qi, and other elements of cultivation) are placed in the tripod and refined into a priceless treasure. In the final analysis, the key is nothing more than two characters, yet they suffice to penetrate ten thousand volumes of Jing. There are terms of red, white, green, and so on; the crowd is unwilling to explain them clearly. People do not recognize their own root and thus easily lose the way. They arrive in the world in a daze and leave still confused, having walked through the human realm in vain. The treasure is clearly right beside them, yet people abandon what is near to seek what is far, throwing away both capital and profit together.

Recognize the “One,” and all affairs come to an end; understand the “Two,” and you know the destination of cultivation; recognize the “Three,” and there is no need to inquire here and there; recognize the “Human,” and you can leap out of the dusty world. Refine the red gold to completion, gather the bodhi, set in motion the Kunlun wind (a term in Neidan arts for the circulation of breath within the body), and you can enjoy longevity and transcend life and death.

The cultivation of the Nine-Times Returned Elixir is not restricted by a set number of years. The immortal teacher transmitted the oral secret to the people of the world and once made a great vow to Heaven: to enable people to leap out of the cage of the ordinary is itself to become an immortal.