《太上老君金书内序》

Laojun is the origin of the Dao (the Way) and embodies its natural course. He existed before the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) and before the formation of the myriad things. He is called the Jade Emperor and dwells in the Golden Portal of Jade Purity. In the dark depths below, a Void-Cavity arose; from the Void-Cavity emerged the Great Non-Being; and the Great Non-Being transformed, giving rise to three qi (vital energy): Xuan (Mystery), Yuan (Origin), and Shi (Beginning). After passing through countless kalpas, these three qi became the Jade Maiden, Lady Yuanjun, of wondrous and divine appearance.

At that time the three qi were still undivided and chaotic. Lady Yuanjun ascended to the Golden Portal of Great Purity, while Laojun roamed before the Great Change, at the very beginning of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate). He divided Yin-Yang into the Two Forms, and from them produced the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Once the Three Powers were formed, the myriad things came into being. Laojun responded to the world by teaching and transforming it, and was known by such titles as "Lord of Nameless Rule," "Rule of the Supreme Void Sovereign," and "Rule of the Most High." He also served as teacher to the Three Sovereigns (Upper, Middle, and Lower) and to the Five Emperors. From the opening of Heaven and Earth to the age of Yu Shun, Laojun was a teacher in every generation, for more than 2,758,400 years in all.

Laojun commanded Xuanyi, the envoy-spirit of Mount Wanwei, to present a jade book to Yu. Yu opened the gold tablets bound with silver and obtained the methods of controlling the floods. After the floods were tamed, these writings were hidden in Linwu Cave, and Laojun ascended to the Golden Portal of Jade Purity.

After Shun, the Dao and De (Virtue/Power) gradually declined. A thousand years later in the lower realm, sages were to appear one after another. Laojun therefore manifested again as a teacher of the world and displayed his own birth, taking shelter in the jade body of Lady Yuanjun. While sleeping by day in the Golden Portal of Great Purity, she dreamed of a sun as large as a shooting star flying into her mouth. When she awoke she was with child, and she carried the child in the lower realm for eighty-one years.

On the fifteenth day of the second month of the third year of Emperor Wuding of the Yin dynasty (the gengchen year), Lady Yuanjun descended to Youbo with thirty-six jade youths and thirty-six jade maidens. There, palaces like misty clouds formed spontaneously, with a thousand gates and ten thousand doors, guarded by celestial soldiers and powerful warriors. Lady Yuanjun gave birth to Laojun from her left armpit. Nine dragons offered water to bathe him, and the places where they appeared became nine wells. Sun youths radiated light, and moon consorts presented flowers. The Holy Lord could speak at once. He walked backward nine steps, and with each step a nine-colored lotus blossomed. Pointing at a plum tree, he said, "This is my surname." He also said, "Within the Three Realms, I alone am honored."

Laojun wore a celestial garment that arose of itself, and his body suddenly grew to nine chi. His face was like jade and his body like gold, with red lips, jade-white teeth, ears rising above his head, and a brow bearing the likeness of sun and moon. He possessed every majestic mark, too many to describe one by one. Seeing his extraordinary appearance, people said, "This sage has great depth of years. Born before Heaven and Earth, he does not age; after Heaven and Earth, he does not diminish. His hair was already white at birth, so he is called Laozi, the Old Master."

When Laojun was born, the immortals of all the heavens and the Supreme Void Sovereign paid homage to him in the sky, praising his ten titles: Jade Emperor, Primordial Sage, Heavenly Venerable of the Primordial Beginning, Supreme Venerable, Lord of the Dao, Nameless Lord, Lord of the Supreme Void Sovereign, Most High, Laojun, and Teacher of Emperors. After bowing to Laojun, the gods took their leave, yoked their celestial carriages, parted the clouds and mists, and escorted the Holy Mother back to the Heaven of Great Purity.

Because of Laojun's birth, people each year burn incense and scatter flowers on that day. When the Holy Mother ascended to heaven, the sound of the Void-Cavity's heavenly incense was also heard in the world. Students of immortality transmitted this music, which became the "Buxu" (Pacing the Void) chant, the celestial music sung during worship. One shoe that the Holy Mother left behind at her ascension was buried by celestial beings and became a tomb, which is called the "Tomb of the Holy Mother's Ascension." There is also an elixir-refining well from the time Laojun practiced cultivation in Bo.

When Di Xin, King Zhou of Yin, became benighted and cruel, the Supreme Emperor worried that the people had no ruler. He paid homage to Laojun at the Golden Portal and begged him to protect the world with compassion. Laojun consented and descended to the south of Mount Qi, transforming himself into a recluse. Ji Chang, the Earl of the West, engaged him as Keeper of the Archives. Laojun taught the way of kings and assisted Lü Shang and King Wu of Zhou in overthrowing the Shang. In the first year of King Wu of Zhou, Laojun was recommended as Archivist under the Pillar.

In the twenty-fifth year of King Zhao of Zhou (the guichou year), Laojun passed through Hangu Pass, intending to travel to the western Rong lands. Yin Xi had been a grand master under King Kang and was learned in astronomy and the calendar; he later withdrew to serve as Keeper of the Pass. He built a thatched tower from which to watch the stars and await auspicious qi. Suddenly he saw purple qi in the east, shaped like a dragon or serpent, moving westward. He told the gatekeepers, "A sage is about to pass through. If you see someone of ancient appearance, traveling modestly in a carriage drawn by a green ox, do not let that person pass." The gatekeepers agreed, then swept the road and burned incense to wait.

Before long Laojun arrived, just as foretold. The gatekeepers detained him. When Yin Xi saw Laojun, he bowed and said, "Earlier I divined the omen of the purple qi, and now, seeing your countenance, are you not a great divine person of high antiquity?" Laojun said, "You are able to recognize me, and I am able to recognize you." Yin Xi asked his name. Laojun said, "My names are remote and inexhaustible; from one kalpa to another, they cannot be fully told. At present my surname is Li, my given name Er, my courtesy name Boyang, and my other name Lao Dan."

Yin Xi received Laojun with reverence and asked to hear his teaching. As Laojun was about to transmit the Dao, he manifested a golden body eighteen chi tall. Yin Xi, astonished, bowed and said he was fortunate to behold the holy countenance and begged for instruction. Laojun said, "If you listen respectfully to my command, I will give you the Daodejing, so that you may ascend to heaven and become a teacher of immortal teachers." Yin Xi replied that although he had long practiced fasting and cultivated his mind, he was still lingering in the dust of the world, and that receiving this holy grace was a blessing accumulated from past lives. He bowed again and received the Jing (scripture). He vowed to guard its mysterious meaning reverently, to fast and recite it according to the covenant, and not to dare lose it. Later Yin Xi went to pay homage to Laojun, who appointed him Supreme True Person and Lord of the Twenty-Eight Heavens.

Laojun had first shown Yin Xi his golden body, then resumed his true form of the Nine Heavens and took his leave. He traveled west to the eighty-one states of the Flowing Sands, and then to Tianzhu (India), where he transmitted the Buddhist teaching to convert the barbarians. The people there called Laojun "Master Yougu." On the eighth day of the second month of the forty-fourth year (the renshen year), Yucheng of the Shi clan received the Dao from Laojun. During the transmission of the Jing, with each line he heard, his body entered the realm of the Taiji, and the Supreme Emperor paid homage from afar. Reciting the Jing ten thousand times enables one to ascend to heaven in broad daylight.

The Jing should be recited in a quiet place, with the mind and spirit (Shen) concentrated and the Primordial Sage visualized. In this way the Nine Mysteries and the ancestors of seven generations can all be born into heaven. The scripture is secretly stored in the Golden Portals of the Three Pure Ones and in the cavern-heavens of various immortal mountains, written on golden books and jade tablets, and guarded by immortal youths and maidens who burn incense. When the great kalpa turns and Heaven and Earth are about to end, the lords of the cavern-heavens will gather up the scripture and send it to the Golden Portal of Great Purity.

In the fifth year of King Mu of Zhou (the jiashen year), Laojun returned to the Central Plains and taught the prince the art of mounting a carriage of roaming immortals and flying through the air. In the twenty-eighth year of King Xuan of Zhou (the xinchou year), an earthquake struck the Three Rivers region, and King Xuan asked whether it was a good or bad omen. Laojun said, "I have heard someone sing: 'When the Venus star enters the state of Xu, the country will fall.'" During the reign of King You, Mount Qi collapsed. Laojun said, "Long ago, when the Yi and Luo rivers dried up, the Xia dynasty perished; when the Yellow River dried up, the Shang dynasty perished. Now Mount Qi has collapsed and the rivers have dried up, so the state will perish." Laojun gave the Three Heavens Hidden Script to King Xuan, but the king did not honor the celestial writings, so Laojun took the scripture back and departed. King Xuan was later killed by the Quanrong.

In the third year of King Huan of Zhou (the jiazi year), Laojun rode a white-deer carriage with twenty-four immortals in attendance, with Guiguzi as his driver. He ascended Mount Kunlun to the west and passed through Hangu Pass again. When the Supreme True Person and Lord of the Twenty-Eight Heavens learned that Laojun was passing Hangu Pass again, he descended to pay homage and followed Laojun to the Queen Mother's lodge before taking his leave. Laojun then appointed Yin Xi Lord of the Thirty-Two Heavens.

In the seventeenth year of King Xiang of Zhou (the yiyou year), Laojun returned to the Central Plains, and the king of Zhou appointed him Grand Historian, changing his name to Dan Ran. During the reign of King Jing of Zhou, Confucius came to the Zhou capital to ask Laojun about ritual. Laojun said, "The people you speak of have long since had their bones rot; only their words remain. I have heard that a skilled merchant hides his goods deeply, so that he seems to have nothing; a gentleman of lofty virtue appears modest, as though dull. Cast off your pride and excessive desires; they do you no good." After leaving, Confucius said to his disciples, "Birds can fly; I know they can be shot with arrows. Beasts can run; I know they can be caught with nets. Fish can swim; I know they can be caught with lines. As for the dragon, I do not know how it rides the wind and clouds up to heaven. Today I saw Laozi, and he is probably like the dragon!" After returning to Lu, Confucius called Laozi a sage for all quarters: one who convinces people without speaking and lets the myriad things transform of themselves without governing them, and who can truly be called a sage.

One hundred and nineteen years after Confucius died, Laojun met Duke Xian of Qin and said, "Qin was at first united with Zhou; after five hundred years they will separate, and ten years after the separation a hegemonic king will appear." At that time people called Laojun the Grand Historian of Zhou.

Since his birth in the era of Wuding, Laojun appeared at times and hid at others. After nine hundred years in the world, he climbed a mountain and ascended to Ziwei. That mountain lies within the borders of Zhengzheng County, and so it is called the "Tomb of Laozi's Ascension."

Master Xuan said: "I have read widely in the Daoist canon and sought out its meaning. But among those who love the way of immortals, some have recklessly invented material. When I checked the historical records, I found that many accounts disagree on dates; when I examined the marvelous events, they were often loose, inconsistent, and contradictory, and so lost their truth. Because these matters are so weighty, I have not included everything. I also examined the sources of the texts from outside, brought them into agreement with the jade book, and recorded what has long been transmitted and cannot be altered. I titled it the Inner Preface to the Golden Book of Laozi, to be kept as a true record and to correct vain and unfounded claims."

"Inner Preface to the Golden Writ of the Supreme Elder Lord" (Taishang Laojun Jinshu Neixu): This is the inner preface to the Golden Writ of the Supreme Elder Lord (Taishang Laojun Jinshu).