《太上灵宝净明九仙水经》

What runs through the whole body and circulates in the four limbs is blood. The movement of the blood must accord with the transformations of Yin-Yang and must also meet the needs of every part of the body, above and below. When its circulation is harmonious and unobstructed, the body remains in a normal state; when it is blocked, congestion follows. This is like water: water flows underground, linking rivers, lakes, and marshes, and finally gathers into the sea. The reason it can circulate lies precisely in this. Those skilled in nourishing life need only rely on primordial Qi (Yuanqi, the fundamental Qi [vital energy] of life) to propel the movement of the blood.

Water can carry a boat, and it can also capsize one. The function of the blood vessels is the same: they can sustain life, and they can also endanger it. Accomplished cultivators discern the relationship between blood and Qi and understand it by means of the movement of water. They thus come to know the Yin-Yang changes in the hands and feet, and to know where the blood vessels begin and where they end. They observe the various states of flowing water: there are bends and turns, there is concealment and sinking, and there is both gentleness and force. Water sometimes divides into tributaries and sometimes gathers into deep pools; it can also rise as vapor to form clouds and turn into rain. Those who understand the principles of the blood vessels likewise use these phenomena to recognize how the blood vessels circulate.

Thus the blood is set in motion from the navel and flows through the four limbs. Its root is in the heart; it tends toward the head and gathers in the kidneys, and in each place it accords with the corresponding viscera and bowels. The small intestine and the large intestine are like the Yangtze and the Huai; the heart and the pericardium are like the Zhang River and the An River. When these relations are drawn as a diagram, one can see how the channels and collaterals communicate with one another, together with the principles by which the blood vessels disperse, converge, and circulate. This is also the principle on which the arts of the Dao (the Way) are based.

The immortal Ge Zhongqing said: Blood in the human body is like water upon the earth. Water gathers from streams and rivers into the Yangtze and the Han, and finally flows to the sea. The sea can contain and transform every kind of water. The Weilü—the place where, as the ancients said, seawater drains away and opens a passage to the heavenly realm—communicates with Heaven, and all of this is driven by primordial Qi. The blood vessels circulate through the four limbs, flowing from the tips of the fingers and toes toward the heart. If one traces the blood to its source, it arises at the navel and tends toward the liver, while the heart is the center on which it depends and to which it returns. The lungs govern opening and closing and diffusion and dispersal; the spleen is the root of the blood and is therefore called the “mother of blood.” The spleen governs storage and corresponds to the lake waters of the lower body. The kidneys are like the great sea, in which every kind of blood collects. In the kidneys the blood is transformed into true Jing (essence), and from this true Jing primordial Qi is then issued. Primordial Qi drives the blood and makes it circulate, and so the blood also tends toward the head. The black hair on the head is like the clouds in the sky, and the issuing of sweat is like the falling of rain. Sweat is like rain: only when it is moderate and balanced is it normal, and either excess or deficiency will cause harm.

The way of nourishing life lies in understanding the regularities by which the seasons of Heaven move. People often take their model from the courses of the sun and moon, yet they do not necessarily know that water, too, has its own way of moving. Retired Scholar Fu said: Have you never seen a fire lit for cooking? Once you understand the process of tending the fire and of cooking, you understand the principle in it. Fire is like primordial Qi, and water is like blood. Steaming and boiling food, so that it changes from raw to cooked, is like the transformations of the five viscera. The vapor produced by steaming rises and reaches the Heavenly Palace (here referring to the head). When the food is nearly cooked but not yet done, if water flows downward, this is what is called “yellow sprout” and “white snow” (terms in Daoist internal cultivation for certain particular transformations). Shenzi said: If the fire grows cold, things will not cook through; if the zeng (a steaming pot) leaks vapor, they will likewise not cook through. If the timing of the fire does not correspond to the Qi, the water in the pot will boil dry. When the vessel is struck, it gives off a sound. All of these are natural principles.

Yinxuanzi (the Master of Hidden Mystery) thoroughly understood the constitution of the channel-waters. Relying on the principle that “the Dao gives birth to the One, the One gives birth to the Two, the Two give birth to the Three, and the Three give birth to the myriad things,” he observed how water changes in accordance with the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and sought out the root and the branches of the Water Classic (Shuijing). He considered that a human being is born of father and mother, that prenatal Qi may be abundant or scant, and that the time of birth may be early or late. He therefore calculated the fullness and depletion of the water-vessels, matched them with the five viscera, and corroborated them by reference to the conditions of underground water. He held that kidney-water corresponds to the sea, spleen-water to the lake, lung-water to the Yangtze, and liver-water to the Ji River; that each has its proper course of circulation; that the tributaries which branch off each have their own network of channels; and that each source has its own destination. When a diagram is made from this, one can understand the principles of the channel-waters.

The circulation of Qi is called the “Primordial Guideline” (Yuangang); the circulation of blood is called the “Water Classic.” One who understands the paths of the blood vessels throughout the body, knows how they join the five viscera, and knows from where they begin and toward where they return, can grasp the saying that the rivers communicate with Heaven, that Heaven connects with the sea, and that the sea converges upon Kunlun, and can thereby also understand cultivation imagery of the kind represented by the Yellow River flowing in reverse.

A person’s innate endowment differs according to whether the parents bore the child early or late and according to the relative strength or weakness of their constitutions. All such differences can be determined by “calculation,” and from this the Way of the Great Elixir is opened. The “calculation” spoken of here refers to the year, month, day, and hour.

In making the reckoning, one takes as the basis the year, month, day, and hour at which the parents conceived the fetus. First one sets down the accumulated number of the year of birth, then the numbers of the two sections of Qian and Kun, and next the number of the Great Expansion. One then divides by three hundred and sixty, and divides the remainder again by the four seasons. The remainder that is left can be used to infer the starting point of the Water Classic. Following it as it moves through the five viscera, one can know where the circulation of Qi (vital energy) and blood begins. Only when the starting point is known can one understand how it arises and develops. This is the working principle by which Heaven and Earth move.

Yuan Zhiji said: What flows and spreads within the human body is blood. As the blood circulates, it nourishes the four limbs. While the parents are carrying the fetus, whichever side has the stronger endowment will affect the place from which Qi and blood first set out. Thus some people have thick hair and, even into old age, need take no nourishing tonics, their beards remaining jet-black, thick, and long; others decline early, before their years have reached full vigor. Only by knowing the starting point obtained through calculation, and the place where it finally ends, can one apply these principles with assurance. Once the pathways of Qi and blood have been clearly distinguished, one guides their movement, now opening a passage and now closing it off, just as the Great Yu regulated the floods. In this way one may grasp and work out the principles of the Water Classic.

Lady Wu of Fufeng said: The movement of water has its own order and guiding principles. Water gathers in the sea and converges into rivers; the rivers course toward Heaven, and Heaven in turn draws water from the rivers and returns it to the sea. The changes of the tides correspond to the terrain of each region, each following its own pattern. Setting these waterways aside for the moment, consider the blood as it circulates through the whole body: its total measure is thirty-six thousand five hundred zhang. It is like silk thread placed in a basket—seemingly tangled, yet in fact possessed of order and guiding principle.

I often set forth these numbers by means of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), taking Water as one, Fire as two, Wood as three, Metal as four, and Earth as five, and, on the basis of their completing numbers and their final numbers, I trace their transformations. Each number is reckoned from one chi down to one fen and then examined stage by stage: at the summer solstice the tides correspondingly recede, and at the winter solstice the tides correspondingly rise, and in each case there are points where they match. The land is high in some places and low in others, and from the ocean tides one can see the differences among regions; a person’s endowment of Qi may be ample or slight, and from the year, month, day, and hour of the parents’ begetting one can likewise see each person’s difference. Those of penetrating understanding grasp the great Dao (the Way) from number and principle. When the Dao is fused within a single person, what division between inner and outer still remains?

Hu Angong was once a rider of the tides. He understood the subtleties of whether a tide comes early or late, of its rise and retreat, of the strength or weakness of its force, and of its speed or slowness; thus when he trod the water he felt no fear. Liu Yanqing studied the method of riding the tides with him, and Hu Angong answered with the principles of Yin-Yang in the hands and feet, and transmitted to him the “Bronze-Figure Mirror of the Five Viscera” (an image or model used to explain the five viscera of the human body and their relations). Nine years later, Liu Yanqing walked upon the water, and the postures of his advance and retreat, his coming and going, were exact and without error.

Xu Zi of Danyang said, “How vast indeed are the tides of the sea!” Confronted with the tide, awe naturally arises in the human heart. Liu Yanqing sought a teacher in order to learn the methods of riding the waves. Master An answered him with the principle that the hands and feet correspond to Yin-Yang, and transmitted to him the Wuzang Tongren Guijian (a classic that expounds the five viscera, the human body, and their relation to Yin-Yang). After nine years of study, Liu Yanqing was able to walk upon the water, and his movements of advancing and retreating, of coming and going, were all precise and without error.

Xu Zi of Danyang said again, “How vast indeed are the tides of the sea!” He then wished to investigate the subtle mystery of how the tides change in accordance with the proper times. He devoted himself to study for thirty years, comprehended the principles of the Shuijing (Water Classic), and thereupon wrote this Shuijing.