《冲虚通妙侍宸王先生家话》

Shichen (an honorific in Daoism for a high-ranking ritual master) said: “In former times I traveled through more than two hundred famous mountains. Once I came to the Qingzhen Cavern in Jinling, the place where Ye the Celestial Master (Tianshi), a Daoist master of the Tang dynasty, cultivated the true. At dusk there was no household round about where I could seek lodging. From afar I saw a light in the mountains and followed it. When I reached a thatched hut, all within was silent and empty, and I was greatly astonished. On the table beneath the lamp lay a piece of writing. I opened it and found that it was titled The Text of Xu and He on Wind and Rain (a Daoist ritual document concerned with summoning wind and rain). I surmised that this must be the dwelling of the thunder spirits, and only then did my mind grow calm. Taking up brush and ink, I copied it onto tree leaves.

“Just as I was nearly finished, I suddenly heard a rooster crow, and a moment later an old woman came out. I asked her surname. She said: ‘I have no surname. This is where the thunder dwells; it is not fitting to remain long.’ I asked again why a rooster should crow here. The old woman said: ‘That is the golden rooster beneath the earth crying out.’ When I came to myself I left the hut. I had not gone more than a few steps when I looked back, and the thatched hut had already vanished. Before long, after walking about one li, I reached the Grotto-Heaven. From that time on, only then did I obtain the Thunder Scriptures (texts of the thunder rites) in the Qing Grotto-Heaven.”

His disciple Yuan Tingzhi asked: “That you, Master, obtained the Thunder Scriptures in the Grotto-Heaven was, I suppose, because you possess the bearing of an immortal and the bones of the Dao (the Way), and Heaven purposely arranged this affinity, so that you chanced to encounter it. The ancients said that without a master a disciple cannot attain deliverance. Can one, then, still cultivate without a master?”

Shichen said: “Before I obtained the thunder texts, I once met Master Wang on the Yangzi River, and he transmitted to me the Dao of Flying the Spirit to Have Audience with the Emperor (the method of visualizing the spirits and ascending to audience with the Celestial Emperor). One who has an immortal affinity will of himself have an occasion arranged by Heaven and will chance to encounter it. The ancients said that without a master a disciple cannot attain deliverance. Can one, then, still cultivate without a master?”

Shichen (Court Attendant) said: Before I had obtained the talismanic characters of the Thunder Rites (leifa; the talismanic writing used in Daoist Thunder Rites), I had already met Master Wang on the Yangzi River. He transmitted to me the Dao (the Way) of Flying the Spirit to Audience with the Emperor (a method of cultivation in which one visualizes the spirit-consciousness ascending to the celestial court to pay homage to the imperial lord). Only later, when I traveled to the Qingzhen Grotto-Heaven, did I obtain this scripture (jing).

Three years later, I met Master Wang again at an inn on Junshan. Afterward, as we passed a Chan monastery, he asked me, “How is the Dao of Flying the Spirit to Audience with the Emperor that you are cultivating coming along?” I replied, “Three years ago, this disciple reached the Qingzhen Grotto-Heaven. The sky grew dark and I lost my way. In a deserted thatched hut I saw a solitary lamp shining on a table, and there I obtained the Text of Xu and He for Wind and Rain. I then took the bound slips from my person and presented them for you to see.”

Master Wang said, “You are truly someone who cultivated immortality in a former life. That old woman of the past was the Mother of Lightning (Dianmu, the deity who governs thunder and lightning). Since you have obtained this scripture, I ought to instruct and transmit it to you here.” When the transmission was complete, he summoned an emissary and gave orders in midair. Such was the course of my meeting Master Wang and receiving his transformative guidance.

Someone asked, “In setting thunder in motion, where does the key lie?” Shichen answered, “Thunder is the command of Heaven. Unless the matter is urgent, it must not be carried out at will. It is like the Privy Council (the ancient institution in charge of military and political secrets) issuing an order to a military office in a given place: the one who receives the order must act according to the command. Nowadays some people have no foundation in cultivating the Dao and have never met an enlightened teacher. They merely pass error on as error and copy the model by drawing the gourd after the pattern, never asking whether a matter is weighty or slight. Some do it to fish for fame and reputation, others to chase profit and covet wealth, and they rashly perform the Thunder Rites. They claim the merit of Heaven as their own, and when the time comes to carry the affair out they naturally achieve nothing. Within the Thunder Rites, thunder (lei) has a definite mechanism by which it is set in motion, and the sudden peal (ting) has a decisive rule by which it is carried out. Only when one receives the teacher’s personal instruction and transmission can the practice be as exact as an echo answering a sound.”

(The closing passage of the original is repetitive and plainly corrupt: “Moreover, as for the emissary, truly taking the merit of the Mysterious Heaven as one’s own…” The sense is incomplete, and therefore no separate interpretation is offered.)

The transformations of “thunder” (Leiting, the divine power of the Thunder Department in Daoism) are profound and wondrous—but wherein exactly does the wonder lie? The answer is this: the transformations of thunder admit of no distinction between far and near. The moment the intent of Shen (spirit) stirs, Heaven responds in turn; the moment the impulse of Qi (vital energy) arrives, the spirits manifest. Within the deep, dim, and hard-to-discern realm of the inner mind, one sets in motion transformations as sudden as the strike of a thunderbolt. From the One is born the Two, from the Two is born the Three, and from the Three the myriad things come into being. This wondrous function reaches upward to the celestial realms and downward to the Yellow Springs, and there is nowhere it cannot be put into effect. In former times the Chan school had a saying: “A thousand rivers have water, a thousand rivers the moon; ten thousand miles without cloud, ten thousand miles of sky.” This is precisely the principle in question.

A disciple asked: I have attended upon the master’s school and have already received the master’s guidance, so that my dullness has begun to open. But what is the meaning of the line, “A thousand rivers have water, a thousand rivers the moon; ten thousand miles without cloud, ten thousand miles of sky”? The answer: This clarifies the principle of the emissary’s wondrous function. Take “A thousand rivers have water, a thousand rivers the moon”: a person’s original nature is like the bright moon—perfectly round and luminous, clear and unmoving—whose numinous light can shine upon all things. People today know only the name “thunder,” yet have not inquired into thunder’s original substance and its primordial Shen (the fundamental divine nature). The water spoken of here is still water. Ordinary people see only the image of the moon and do not understand the moon’s subtlety; only when water reflects it does the moon’s image appear, and the nature of water lies in stillness. “Ten thousand miles without cloud, ten thousand miles of sky” means this: human nature is originally good, yet it is disturbed by the seven emotions and six desires. If one can quiet the inner mind and lessen desire, every obstruction will be cleared away, and innate nature will manifest everywhere.

A disciple asked: I have already received the master’s instruction and understood the principle within the mystery. If one wishes to verify it in actual practice, how should one proceed? The answer: You have asked rightly. When performing the ritual of summoning thunder, one must first summon the emissary and have him seek out the place where the thunder resides. Because only the emissary knows where thunder, wind, and rain appear, in the ritual arts the emissary is made to serve as the vanguard.

Someone asked, “The emissary moves with great swiftness—truly wondrous. Once the Ancestral Palace is set in motion, ritual power can be applied wherever one happens to be; yet when one summons it, the realm is dark, still, and empty. How can one know whether the emissary has arrived?”

The reply was: “When performing the rite, one should remain quiet: tap the teeth, form and hold the thunder mudra (the hand seal used in the ritual), summon according to the proper method, silently recite the incantation, gather the mind and spirit (Shen), and wait in silence. When it itches between the eyebrows, the emissary has arrived.”

Another person asked, “This disciple once received the master’s instruction and was granted the ritual formula. Later, while treating illness at the home of Chen Zishi in Yihuang, I likewise summoned the emissary in the unseen and eliminated the malign spirits that were causing affliction. After I had settled into stillness, I suddenly felt a cold wind strike both feet; afterward, when I handed the talisman to the patient, I even saw the emissary manifest in bodily form. Why are these confirming signs different from the itching between the eyebrows that the master described?”

The reply was: “The thought issues from a single point, and the response appears in the body. The head is round and symbolizes Heaven; the feet are square and symbolize Earth. A sign between the eyebrows means the emissary has come through the Heavenly Gate (the passage symbolizing the head); a sign at the feet means the emissary has arrived through the Earthly Door (the portal symbolizing the ground). The forms, shadows, and sounds of malign spirits appear in the yang realm, and their sphere of activity stops at the earth. What you encountered was the emissary arriving after opening the Earthly Door and searching out the malign spirits. As for the confirming signs of setting the Thunder Rites in motion, they extend from between the eyebrows into the five viscera.”

A disciple asked, “Master, what you say is right. One day, at home, I drew talismans to treat a woman in labor. When I summoned the divine generals, my heart was exceedingly anxious, and my left eyelid twitched again and again. After I issued the Fulu (talismans and registers) and dispatched the envoy, I was still uneasy in heart and mind, fearing that the envoy had not yet arrived. The next day the woman’s family came to offer thanks. They said she had seen a green-faced, three-eyed ghost envoy, with firelight shooting from its eyes as it circled about her; she felt as though her whole body were burning, and before long she gave birth to a stillborn child. What does this mean?”

The master answered, “This is a perfectly clear verification. How can you still be so confused? Your heart was urgent because, the moment the envoy of your ancestral palace set out, word of it reached your mind and Shen (spirit), and so you grew anxious. The green-faced, three-eyed ghost envoy that the woman saw was the image in which your Shen appeared together with the Fulu. The twitching of the left eye was a sign that fire Qi (vital energy) had returned to the station of Wood. The child did not survive because the mother had been harmed. The principle is already quite clear; why still doubt and press the question?”

Here “fu” refers to the Fulu used for supplication and the warding off of misfortune, and for summoning. “Ancestral palace” is, in the terminology of Daoist ritual method, the seat of the divine office linked with a lineage of transmission or with a founding master. “Fire returning to the homeland of Wood” is a term of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water); the original connects the twitching of the eye, fire Qi, and the station of Wood in order to explain the omen of that moment.

Someone asked: In summoning thunder, the most direct means seems to employ only the envoy. What, then, is the function of the two generals Cheng and Yong, and of the Five Generals, as spoken of in the ritual method?

These divine generals each have their own correspondences. The two generals Cheng and Yong symbolize the sun and the moon, while the Five Generals symbolize the five planets. In the human body, the envoy corresponds to the original spirit (yuanshen); Cheng and Yong correspond to original Qi (vital energy) and original Jing (essence); and the Five Generals correspond to the Qi of the five viscera. On earth, the envoy corresponds to the True Sovereign of Houtu; Cheng and Yong correspond to the Nine Layers of Fengdu; and the Five Generals correspond to the Five Sacred Peaks. The “original spirit” spoken of here is the authentic spirit that comes from the Prior Heaven and never decays—that is, the Yuanshi who is venerated today.

Human beings stand between heaven and earth and, by means of the turning of the Northern Dipper, set in motion the Three Powers of heaven, earth, and humanity. Thus it is said that opening a single aperture links the many apertures, and that when one commander responds with spiritual efficacy, all the generals respond as well. In performing the rite, when the envoy paces the steps of the Gang, why is the Yongquan point especially mentioned? Because water is born of Heaven, and the various images—heaven and earth, water and fire, thunder and wind, mountain and marsh—are all contained within the positions of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams). What plays the decisive role is the station of Kui and Gang, for these can turn the creative transformations of heaven and earth. The Five Generals obey the envoy because they are employed at the envoy’s command. As the classic (Jing) says: “Penetrate the One, and the myriad affairs are complete.” The mysteries of inner cultivation and outer ritual art both arise, at root, from this.

Someone asked: If the pivot is called the sun and the moon, why are its positions at Chen and Xu?

The point is not to be put that way. Xu is the hinge of the sun’s course, and Chen is the key point of the moon’s course; the crux of Yin-Yang transformation lies here. The movements of heaven and earth, of the sun and moon, and of the stars all depend on these pivots. Once the pivots fail to communicate, the Dao (the Way) by which heaven and earth revolve is blocked. If practitioners do not understand these pivots, they can neither arouse thunder nor pray for rain or for clear skies. The human body likewise has a pivot corresponding to the Northern Dipper; once it is turned, every kind of transformation follows. As the classic says: “Try giving the Dipper’s handle a gentle turn, and myriad bushels of pearls spill down from the Silver River.” This speaks precisely of that marvelous function.

Question: If Cheng Yong corresponds to the sun and moon, and the Five Generals belong respectively to Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, how does the Earth Envoy move and direct affairs?

Answer: The Earth Envoy is “intention” (yi). He is also the great Kui star of the center, commanding and overseeing the host of stars. The Greedy Wolf star (Tanlang) is called the star of the Grand Supervisor. Receiving the Qi (vital energy) of the Greedy Wolf star, the Earth Envoy is transformed and comes into being as the Grand Supervisor. This is precisely the Primordial True Qi turning at the Heavenly Pivot (Tianshu), the hub of the Northern Dipper (Beidou). That being so, why fear that the heavenly mechanism cannot move in accord with it? There is, then, a reason that the two taboo characters “Xin” and “Yin” are used in the Envoy Talisman (fu).

Question: The teacher has explained this in great detail, yet this disciple still does not understand.

Answer: The Northern Dipper in the sky marks the positions of the seasonal nodes according to where the Dipper’s handle points. With each seasonal node that passes, there are two Qi and six pentads (hou). Within a single double-hour (shi) and a single ke, a person can gather the Qi of an entire year. Rightly applied, this allows one to infer the year’s abundance or dearth, misfortune or good fortune, and such changes as rain and drought; the relevant numerical principles are all contained in it.

The Kui star of the Northern Dipper is the head of the Dipper and the pivot of Heaven. Extending the reasoning from this point, the transformations of the three hundred and eighty-four lines (yao) have the very root of their activation here. You should cultivate by following the movement of the Northern Dipper. Of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions in the four directions, each direction possesses the Qi of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The Northern Dipper occupies the center and brings into order the Seven Governors (Qizheng; that is, the sun, the moon, and the luminaries Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth). As for the number known as the thirty-six Qi, the Kui star stands at the head and presides over their turning.

Question: The teacher has now made it clear. Why is it that some who study the methods today, though they have neither accumulated cultivation nor solid learning, and only occasionally perform the ritual arts, can still obtain a response?

Answer: In one respect it is a matter of luck; in another, these people happen to meet with a favorable turn of the times and by chance accord with the matter at hand, so the effect appears for a moment. If you cultivate my method, you must truly understand its inner principles before you can judge its outward fulfillments by them; only then will there be no doubt. Even if the Thunder God does not appear at the appointed time, so long as the ritual formula (fajue) is genuine and pure, what occasion is there on which it cannot be performed?

Question: This disciple has seen two fellow Daoists of the same altar, You and Ping…. They too cultivate this method. Why is it that, when they perform the method, it is fulfilled six or seven times out of ten? So long as the ritual formula is genuine and pure, what occasion is there on which it cannot be performed?

(The final sentence is unfinished in the original; the passage “The Kui is the head of the Dipper and the pivot of Heaven…” is repeated once in the original.)

I have seen that the two fellow practitioners You and Ping, who cultivate the method at the same altar, both use one and the same method. Why is it that, when they perform the rite, it takes effect only six or seven times out of ten? I do not understand the principle in this.

Answer: “The two fellow practitioners You and Ping have a relatively shallow affinity with the methods of the Dao (the Way). Their practice of the method is not yet proficient, and doubt and trust are mingled in their minds, so it takes effect only six or seven times out of ten.”

“There are also some later students who first sit in stillness to issue a dispatch (sending forth commands through quiet sitting and dispatching divine generals), fix a time, and wait for a response. Why is it that, when they ascend the altar to perform the rite, events do not match the signs agreed upon beforehand? What is the reason for this?”

Answer: “What is called seated dispatch is nothing more than borrowing the thunder deities to transmit talismanic commands. When practitioners today handle a matter, some say they are memorializing the Celestial Emperor, some say they are reporting to their master, and some say they are issuing documents to the divine generals; even the times they appoint are often set incorrectly. Sometimes they say the wei hour (1–3 p.m.) or the shen hour (3–5 p.m.), and sometimes the hai hour (9–11 p.m.) or the zi hour (11 p.m.–1 a.m.). They themselves first throw the timing into confusion, and so the response cannot come on schedule.

If the shen hour has been agreed, one ought to act at the shen hour; if the wei hour has been agreed, one ought to act at the wei hour. This is like raising a beacon fire on Mount Li as a signal: once a time for lighting the fire has been set, the fire must be lit at that time. If one fails to do so, trust is broken. Those who practice thunder methods ought to consider this carefully.”

“Some say that, when memorializing the Celestial Emperor, one may miss the proper moment for performing the method. How does this come about?”

Answer: “To memorialize the Celestial Emperor, one must be able to employ one’s own Shen (spirit)—one’s spirit-consciousness—to ascend and present the petition; only then will it do. If one merely remains in place, relying on brush and ink, and waits for the master to review and compile the documents before they are submitted, then by the time the memorial is truly presented, the matter has usually already been missed.”

Someone asked: “The True King—the deity who presides over the thunder rites—has ordinances that permit discretionary judgment and direct action. Does that mean there is no need to submit a memorial?”

The answer was: “Even when leave has been granted to act as circumstances require, two kinds of cases must still be distinguished. When a great demon or malign influence confuses a person’s hun and po souls, when a vicious jiao-dragon recklessly sends thunder and rain, harming people and the myriad things, or in other matters unsuited to a memorial, one may act under orders and handle them as the situation demands. If the matter concerns the heavenly allotment—the arrangement fixed by Heaven’s mandate—one must send the spirit in flight to present a memorial, request instructions, and only afterward carry them out.”

Someone asked: “The scriptures sometimes speak of ‘ni tianji’ and ‘leiji.’ What do these mean?”

The answer was: “These expressions do indeed occur. What is called the celestial mechanism refers to the turning of the Dipper stars, the movement of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, and the mutual clash of the Gang-Sha Qi (vital energy) corresponding to the Thirty-Six Luminaries and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms. Only when these forces strike and shoot against one another can thunder be set in motion. What is called the thunder mechanism means working out creation’s transformations in the palm: finding where the divine thunder is flying, lying latent, appearing, or vanishing; seeing in which palace the wind, clouds, thunder, rain, and lightning each come to rest; and then commanding the thunder spirits through pacing methods and hand seals such as ‘flying the Gang’ and the ‘wheel seal.’”

Someone asked: “Where does the essential point of the method for refining the generals lie?”

The answer was: “The general—a spirit-general in the thunder rites who is cultivated and commanded—is originally the One Qi, the primordial breath. One’s own Qi must be brought into accord with the Qi of Heaven. The One Qi can generate the various forms of Qi, yet the human body inherently contains turbid Qi. After the clear Qi of Heaven is inhaled and mixed with one’s own Qi, it must still be refined and transformed. The refining of Qi depends chiefly on the practices of the Five Waters and the Five Fires. If thunder has not been refined, its Qi cannot manifest its wondrous efficacy.”

To command natural forces such as thunder, lightning, wind, and rain, one must, while sitting in stillness and practicing, be able to discern clear signs; only then can any result appear.

The work should be applied between breaths, and the signs watched for within stillness and concentration. When cloud-Qi (vital energy) rises, there is a steaming sensation within the body; when rain is about to arrive, the urge to urinate grows urgent. If the breath is scorching hot and the Qi of the bladder presses with urgency, this is the sign that lightning is about to be stirred; if the eyes itch and light and shadow suddenly flash before them, this is the sign that thunder is about to be stirred. The upper, middle, and lower three Dantian (energy centers—the three sites of cultivation spoken of in Daoism) sound faintly, and the five viscera also suddenly stir and resound. The practitioner should further hasten the circulation of heart-fire to arouse this, so that kidney-water surges and strikes. First close the five portals (here referring to the passes and apertures that communicate with the inner movement of Qi), and within the body examine the transformations of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). This is the secret.

A disciple asked, “I have often seen that when you, Master, perform the ritual arts, a violent wind suddenly rises, and thunder and lightning then follow. Why is this?”

The master replied, “Concentrate the Shen (spirit) and fix the gaze, hold the breath shut, and look toward the Xun direction (the position among the Bagua, the Eight Trigrams, that represents the southeast). With the hand form the seal, revolve the Wind Gang, and turn the body swiftly three times; then tread the wind-wheel with the feet, turning from the Xun direction toward the You position (the west), and finally come out at the Chou position (the northeast). The wind will then rise in fury. Thunder is fierce only when there is wind; rain arises because of wind; clouds are born in the wake of wind; and lightning likewise moves with the wind. When praying for rain, as soon as a north wind rises in disorder, one knows that rain is about to come. This is the most subtle point of the method.”

A disciple asked, “Master, you often perform the methods in the palace. How is it that you can bring down snow in the heat of summer?”

The master replied, “This is the power over the workings of creation that I have gained through twenty years of cultivation. After the summer solstice, Yin Qi germinates within. Availing oneself of this, one brings the mercury tiger into union—a term of Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) for the conjoining of Yin-Yang Qi—and with intention guides the movement of Qi so that it proceeds as it should. This is the mystery of Lixu (the esoteric principle of inner cultivation associated with the Li trigram).”

A disciple asked, “The secret of praying for snow is regarded by everyone as very difficult. I should think that winter is cold, and that once things freeze, snow will fall. Why, then, is praying for snow still said to be hard?”

The master replied, “After the winter solstice, the first Yang is newly born, and the transformations of creation begin with the sprouting of Yang Qi. Once the Yang Qi of the human body leaks and scatters, it will call forth…”

Someone asked, “Everyone regards the knack of praying for snow as very difficult. This disciple has been thinking that in winter cold Qi (vital energy) congeals, and snow falls as soon as the temperature freezes—so why is it still said to be hard?”

The master replied, “After the winter solstice, Yang Qi (Yin-Yang) begins to germinate; this is the critical point in the creative working of Heaven and Earth. Once a person’s Yang Qi leaks outward, it is no longer easy to resonate with Heaven and Earth and call down a fall of snow. In performing the method, one should first circulate the fire of the heart and arouse the water of the kidneys, then quickly circulate the Qi of the lungs so that it generates and rises; next, activate the ‘wind point,’ gather in the ‘Li Qi’ (the Qi corresponding to fire), and let the Qi of snow brew gradually.”

Someone asked, “Commanding the power of slaying and attack, and bringing it to just the right measure, is truly difficult.”

The master replied, “What is difficult about it? One need only circulate one’s own killing Qi, command the Gang stars of heaven (those stellar lodges among the Northern Dipper and other stars that are regarded as possessing power), and calculate the ‘tiger-shooting’ of the human realm (ritual methods connected with the form of the tiger and the force of shooting to kill). When these three accord with the spirits (Shen), their imposing might will appear.”

Someone asked, “One often sees people today who, while praying, glimpse flashes of lightning at night and assume that, when they set up an altar and perform the method, they will surely accord with the celestial signs. Why do judgments of this kind so often go wrong?”

The master replied, “The reason is nothing other than that they have not truly cultivated. If one does not examine which direction shows lightning, which direction has thunder and rain, and which direction is clear, how can the celestial appearances before one’s eyes be taken as proof that the method has been efficacious? That they then misjudge is hardly surprising.”

Someone asked, “There are many kinds of methods for praying for rain. Why is it that, when certain talismanic methods (Fulu, talismans and registers) are used, no corresponding rain follows?”

The master replied, “Praying for rain is most urgent in summer. The sages of antiquity did not pray for rain in spring, autumn, or winter. In early summer, Yin Qi holds sway; if Yang Qi should chance to fall out of balance, a severe drought may result, and it was for this reason that methods of praying for rain were established, so as to rescue the grain. Those who study the methods today do not understand the procedure within them, and do nothing but blame the talismanic writs for failing to prove efficacious.”

Someone asked, “The seventh and eighth months belong to autumn. Why, even then, may rain be lacking and drought appear?”

The master replied, “Autumn belongs to Metal (of the Five Phases: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water). The residual fire Qi of summer flows westward and is hard to suppress; moreover, fire and Metal stand in a relation of conquest. If this happens to coincide with a regional division corresponding to drought Qi, and the movement of Qi is also out of harmony, irregular conditions will arise.”

Someone asked, “If that is so, then by what means can one elicit a response from the divinities?”

The master replied, “One should use the method of ‘silent audience’ (mochao) to test whether a matter is fulfilled. Formerly, when I entered court for an audience, I again met the Fire Master (the divine officiant who presides over thunder and fire). He said to me, ‘This time you enter court bearing an important commission, so I have come specially to tell you. The heavenly reckoning for this year shows there will be a drought, and this is not something you can pray to have lifted.’ I then asked the Fire Master what ought to be done. The Fire Master said, ‘The dragon pools and spring sources throughout the world have all been sealed by the Jade Emperor. Even with Fulu (talismans and registers), if the term of the sealing has not yet expired, it is very hard to obtain rain.’

“I asked the Fire Master again what course was possible. The Fire Master said, ‘On this journey of yours, only the Yellow River has not been sealed. You should issue a written order commanding the emissary to borrow water from the Yellow River, and thereby ease the drought.’ Following his directions, I reached the capital, and the court did indeed order me to pray for rain. I then issued a written order commanding the Thunder God to borrow three chi of water from the Yellow River to relieve the drought. Later the capital region (the capital and its surrounding areas) reported that the rain which fell was entirely muddy water. From this it can be seen that the Fire Master’s words were indeed fulfilled.”

Someone asked further, “The master himself has the bearing and air of an immortal, while I am only an ordinary person…” The wording after this question repeats what came before and appears to be a copyist’s error or a disordered passage, so its meaning cannot be fully understood on this basis.

“You, sir, have the bearing of an immortal and a presence beyond the ordinary, while I am only a common person. You once had the rare encounter of meeting a Fire Master (a transmitter of Daoist teachings, or an advanced adept of cultivation). If I meet with difficulties in the future, what then can I rely on?”

The master replied: “To say that I have the air of an immortal and the bones of the Dao is not incorrect. Yet the principle by which human beings and Heaven respond to one another is the same. Since you lack the De (Virtue/Power) to draw a revered teacher to you, you should enter your chamber, sit upright, and examine the changes within yourself.

Take praying for rain, for example. The season of Heaven and the movement of Qi (vital energy) are simply as they are. If you wish to test the workings within the body, you may also, following the method, observe whether urination occurs. Press the tongue against the upper palate and swallow the saliva, and in this way stir the water of the gallbladder. The water in the gallbladder is called the ‘Water of Heavenly One’; it is a pure and noble substance. Once this water moves, it arouses the fire of the bladder. Fire rises and water descends, just as the Qi of Heaven descends and the Qi of Earth rises. When the Qi of Yin-Yang ascends and descends in harmony, the rain comes freely. The gallbladder dragon lies hidden in the depths of the bladder and draws upon the watery marsh; when the time comes it stirs of itself, and this foretells that rain is about to fall.

If you do not continually maintain a state that is unbroken and ceaseless, seeming to be there and yet not there, so that the water of the gallbladder stirs the fire of the bladder, and then verify it by urination, there will be no response; you will only invite ridicule.”

“The principle by which the Qi of Yin-Yang rises and falls in harmony is indeed subtle and profound. But how can one achieve a result through a state that continues unbroken, as if barely present?”

The master replied: “Do as I say: sit quietly and upright, and remain silent for three days, in order to test the result.”

Someone asked, “I reverently received the teaching, returned home, and sat in stillness for three days, setting aside every distracting thought and doing nothing at all. After the three days of sitting were complete, I have come again to pay my respects to you.”

The master asked, “Have you put the teaching you received into practice?”

The reply was, “That is precisely why I have come to seek your instruction.”

The master asked, “After sitting in stillness, what did you experience, and what benefit did you gain?”

The reply was, “I followed the teaching, and I only felt my body light and my mood clear and refreshed—nothing more.”

The master said, “How dull you are! This very feeling is it. Even at the very beginning of practice, one already has an experience of this kind. Thereafter, through three days, nine days, twenty-seven days, eighty-one days, one hundred and twenty days, and two hundred and ten days, if one perseveres for a long time and accumulates effort day by day and month by month, Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and Shen (spirit) will naturally coalesce and merge. When cultivation reaches a high level, one can shed the bodily form and come into the presence of the original source (what Daoism calls returning to the source of life); next, one can attain long life and lasting vision; and next again, one can even raise clouds and bring rain, command lightning and thunder, relieve the common people, and benefit the myriad things. That being so, what is there that cannot be accomplished?”

Someone asked, “Take the bringing of rain, for instance. How can one bring forth that wondrous function which continues without cease, seeming at once present and absent?”

The master replied, “In the time of dim, secluded stillness, silent and free of thought, it is like a dormant dragon nurturing the Qi of the Dao (the Way). If a person can sit in stillness and hold to the practice, continuing to apply effort, the innate nature naturally becomes clear and bright, and the mind grows as settled as still water. The mercury dragon (the internally refined Qi for which mercury is a metaphor) lies hidden within; once it resonates with the lead tiger (the internally refined Qi for which lead is a metaphor), Yin-Yang is brought into harmony. As soon as the ancestral Qi (the Qi of the source of life) is stirred, it rises into the Great Abyss, and the dragon within the body is roused along with it. Using this resonance within oneself to connect with the world outside, when one wishes for rain, a great rain can fall in accordance with the thought. The only fear is that in cultivation one cannot sustain the nurturing. That would be like wishing a lotus to grow on dry land, or like trying to bind something in empty space—how could it be easily done?”

Someone asked: When the allotment of Qi ordained by Heaven is exceedingly strong, even if one cultivates and practices internal refinement, how can it possibly be changed?

The master replied: Although the heavenly allotment has indeed been fixed, whether it can be turned still depends on the circumstances of the moment and on whether one’s response is fitting. Before I had gone to the capital, the prefecture wished to invite me to pray for rain. Before I had even begun to work the ritual, prayers had already been offered throughout the prefecture, yet none were answered. One day, as I sat in stillness and entered meditative absorption, I suddenly heard a messenger in the void quietly report: “According to the heavenly allotment, this place is due for drought; it is not something ritual arts can alter. Fifty li from the prefectural city lies Thunder Marsh Pool, in the Xiuyuan area of Jianchang. Although the Thunder God in the pool has been ordered to remain sealed within it, within the methods of the Dao he can still exert force, and one may summon him forth with a talismanic mandate.”

After I awoke, I wrote the talismanic mandate as he had said and ordered a messenger to pursue and summon the Thunder God. When I entered absorption again, I seemed to see an old man suddenly arrive upon the ritual altar. With his mouth he drew in a sip of the ink in the basin used to screen the sun, and then he departed. Before long the sky darkened and a fine rain fell, but it soon stopped, and the drought quickly returned.

Later I questioned the messenger, and he said: “That old man was in fact only the dragon spirit who had been summoned out. He had already left the pool-cavern against orders. The light rain he sent down amounted to no more than drinking a mouthful of the pure water on the altar—merely a slight response that appeared after the ritual was worked.”

I therefore submitted a memorial once more, swiftly reporting to the True King and requesting an edict. In time I received the command of the Imperial Lord: rain fell for three days, and only then was the drought relieved.

Someone asked: “With a master’s guidance, the performance of ritual arts can indeed proceed as described above. Yet nowadays ritual officers and Daoist priests are everywhere—why is it that, though they repeatedly submit memorials, these so often meet with no response?”

The reply was: “Generally speaking, a memorial submitted upward ought to reach directly the divine office in charge of the matter, and should not be verbose or repetitive. It is like someone who, whenever something happens, goes straight to the Court of the Drum for Appeals (the historical institution where subjects struck a drum to petition the court). If Heaven’s intent already shows that drought is coming, yet you submit a memorial at will according to your own ideas, that memorial may be passed down level by level to the Censorate and the ministries, and then to the prefectures and counties, and acted upon only after the matter has been fully investigated. If, by the time the order from above arrives, Heaven’s intent has already brought rain, would that not be a delay?

“For this reason, the Fire Master taught me the method of flying the spirit to audience with the Emperor (the Daoist method of sending one’s spirit-consciousness aloft to pay homage to the Celestial Emperor). The matter of praying for rain falls under the governance of the Lord of Lübo Heaven (the deity who presides over the Heaven of Lübo), so one submits a memorial only to this Heavenly Lord, asking him to report on one’s behalf to the Jade Emperor. Once the decree is obtained, the command is issued down to the True Palace of Houtu (the divine palace that governs the earth), where a pool is opened and water released to relieve the parched and withered places.”

Someone else asked: “The sound and force of thunder and rain can carry a hundred li—why, then, can rainfall not cover everywhere alike? In some places it rains and in others it does not; in some places the rain pours down, yet in the blink of an eye there is drought again.”

The reply was: “When performing the method, one must first issue a dispatch (a document conveying commands to the divine offices), inviting the local earth-altar community (the village earth deity and its sacrificial organization) to come and receive it. If the local people are sincere in heart, and the earth-altar community comes to receive it, rain will fall quickly once the memorial has been submitted. If the local people have long done evil and this has accumulated into drought, not a single drop of rain will fall, and the community officers of the earth altar (the divine clerks who manage the affairs of the village earth deity) will not come to receive it either.

“The principle is like officials dispatched in the human world to bring relief to a locality. If the prefectures, counties, and villages are willing to cooperate, the relief can be carried out; if local officials neglect their duties, those who have been sent can do no more than process the paperwork.”

Someone asked: The lineage masters of high antiquity said that praying for clear skies is harder than praying for rain. When this art is practiced today, is that truly so?

Answer: The transformations of creation amount to nothing more than the reversal and circulation of the movements of Yin-Yang (yinyang) Qi (vital energy). Continuous heavy rain and flooding likewise arise in several ways. They may be brought about by the seasonal nodes and the cycles of Qi; or by the wanton mischief of jiao and shen, spirit-creatures regarded as able to raise clouds and spread rain; or by the failure in duty of those charged with harmonizing Yin and Yang, so that flooding continues for ten days. The causes differ and cannot be treated as one and the same.

Someone asked: Following your instruction, how should this art be carried out?

Answer: The response within the body is what matters most. First circulate wu and ji within the body—terms associated with spleen-earth and the central direction—so that the primordial Qi completes one circuit; then settle into stillness and observe the signs of internal refinement. If portents are felt, such as the fire of the heart rising, the water of the gallbladder dripping down, vexing heat steaming through the whole body, and a slight itch in the throat, then the heavens are certain to turn clear.

Someone asked: The confirmations within the body are now clear. But if the regulation of Yin and Yang has been neglected, or if the Lao star—the stellar deity held to preside over floods—is on watch for that ten-day period, how is one to discern this?

Answer: Those responsible for harmonizing Yin and Yang, from the chief ministers down to local officials, can be known from the way they conduct government and from what they do. It was said in the past that when a woman of the common people bore a grievance, frost would fall in the sixth month, and that when a single person suffered injustice, flooding would last nine years. From this one may infer that the gains and losses of state affairs can likewise be read in celestial omens and calamities. As for the Lao star keeping watch over a ten-day period, the celestial general Huangfu Jue should be sent to bind it; jiao, shen, and their like are to be punished according to the statutes.

Question: Why can the jiao and shen—legendary aquatic anomalies said to raise wind and bring rain—also pour down rain so wantonly and on such a scale? Ritual masters write seal script, Fulu (talismans and registers), and documents; they present petitions and transmit talismanic orders. The methods and arts they know number in the thousands, yet they cannot command the thunder gods or at once raise clouds and spread rain. Why, then, can the jiao and shen do so?

Answer: The jiao and shen lie hidden in the Liecong Mountains, and they too have their Sheling, spirit-officials who oversee the local earth-altar shrines. If the places where loyal and righteous people dwell lose their sacrifices, these creatures raise clouds and rain in the villages, ruining the fields and harming the crops. By the statutory method, one should dispatch Great General Mingmo Qian to exterminate them.

Question: I have already heard about internal cultivation and external ritual application. What is essential in the procedures for performing the ritual arts?

Answer: When praying for clear weather, one should set up an altar in the Fire-Sha direction, the bearing associated with fire and baleful sha, establish the ritual office there, arrange the ritual implements, and summon the thunder gods. In performing the method, one first carries out “opening the clouds and rolling back the mist,” and then uses “raising the fire cavity” to seal the “rain cavity.”

Question: How, in concrete terms, does one perform “opening the clouds and rolling back the mist” and “raising the fire cavity to block the rain cavity”?

Answer: What is called “opening the clouds and rolling back the mist” means causing, within the Inner Mystery—the intention or realm of internal cultivation—the clouds and mist to draw inward and return to their proper place. One holds the breath twenty-one times, then slightly swallows the saliva, the fluid in the mouth, and sets “raising the fire cavity” in motion. Both hands form the clenched fist-seal; one tilts the face upward and forcefully calls out “he” fourteen times. This is the raising of the fire cavity. To stop the rain, one holds the breath, presses the tip of the tongue against the upper palate, and at intervals swallows three mouthfuls of saliva so that the fluid goes straight to the Dantian (energy center).

Question: The method of internal cultivation is thus. How, then, is the external ritual carried out?

Answer: At the station of that day’s Heavenly Stem character, one raises the generating general for internal use; at the station of that day’s Earthly Branch character, one raises the outer general. One calculates according to the mutual conquest of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), and stops when the conquest reaches the south. One then examines the Five Phase to which the Moon Sovereign belongs. If the Sun Sovereign is able to conquer the Moon Sovereign, the ritual art may be performed. The judgment rests on the mutual generation and mutual conquest of the Five Phases.

The Master said: “The methods you previously asked me about all apply to observing outward signs at the beginning of an affair and judging the moment to act. Once the signs of the affair correspond to the south, you may stop observing. You must also see which of the Five Phases (Wuxing) the ‘Moon Sovereign’ (Yuehuang) belongs to. If the Five Phase represented by the ‘Sun Sovereign’ (Rihuang) overcomes the Five Phase represented by the stars, you may take action; in judging, one need only rely on the principle of the mutual generation and mutual overcoming of the Five Phases.”

The Master said: “The methods you asked me about earlier turn on seeing clearly into an affair and understanding how it will be borne out in a person. You should act according to the norms I have transmitted. The secrets within the Fulu (talismans and registers) and the subtleties within the ritual arts I have already explained in full. If one cultivates them with concentrated attention and carries them out with an upright mind, one will succeed every time, and there is no matter to which they cannot be applied. This may truly be called the black dragon’s pearl in the sea of methods—the most precious essence of the methods of the Dao (the Way).” When he had finished speaking, the Master wrote out twenty-eight characters, gave them to his son-in-law, and instructed that Zhonghe should later copy them and deliver them to Yuan Tingzhi, known as Huiyin.

This method of mine is not transmitted casually; if you truly believe, you will know that the methods of the Dao are subtle and profound.

Your family is by origin descended from immortals, and it may be expected that your descendants will be worthy through the generations.

Application of the Method

When heaven and earth were still undivided chaos, and there were as yet no years, months, days, or hours, one could rely only on the waxing and waning of the movements of Qi (vital energy) to have it made known to you; this is the winter solstice in the human world.

Note: Terms such as “Yuehuang,” “Rihuang,” and “shangqi waijiang” belong to the technical vocabulary of the divinatory arts used in this passage; from these few sentences alone it is difficult to determine precisely what they refer to. The winter solstice here denotes both the solar term and, by extension, the moment when the movements of Yin-Yang Qi begin to turn.