《道法宗旨图衍义》

Those who cultivate the Dao (the Way) bring the three traditions—Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism—into one. Although the Dao cannot be fully set forth in pictures, if one traces it to its root, one finds that the Dao is not remote from ordinary people: one can personally follow rites and norms and come to embody the great Dao. One must not, merely by guessing and surmising, suppose that one has already understood.

The Dao says: “I do not know its name; I can only force myself to call it ‘Dao.’” Since the Dao has no fixed name, how could it ever be fully told? Yet if one wishes to inquire into the principles within it, even eighteen thousand chapters would not be too many. Tieyazi grieved that the great Dao could not circulate, and he pitied the narrow views of worldly people. He therefore gathered various diagrams and compiled the Diagrams of the Essential Principles of the Dao and Its Methods. His intention was truly far-reaching. After the book was published at Mount Longhu, reading it leaves one with the sense that its contents are deep and vast, impossible to take in at a single glance.

I, Zhang Xixian, do not regard myself as especially insightful, yet I have long aspired to investigate the subtle teachings of the three traditions, and so I wrote an explanation of this book. Later, through repeated self-examination, I seemed to receive a kind of illumination amid what is deep, far, and hidden, and at last I was able to fulfill my original aspiration.

From remote antiquity on, the true mystery has never been fully revealed. Even though all manner of symbols have been left behind, it remains hard to hear of human nature and the Way of Heaven. As Su Shi said: “The Dao cannot be spoken; whatever can be put into words is only its approximate form.” What this book sets forth is likewise only an approximate form of the Dao. Those who are penetrating may, by means of these approximate symbols, come to know what is real; those who are benighted may cling to outward appearances and fall into error. I wish to join with those of like mind in knowing the real through these symbols. One who already understands the great Dao need not necessarily read this book; as for vain pursuit, like the eye fixed on flowers in the sky or the hand scooping the moon from the water, that is not my intention either.

On the winter solstice of the jihai year of the Dade era, Zhang Xixian of Linchuan wrote this at Yangwu Hall.

The vastness of the Dao (the Way) is boundless and without limit; its subtlety is minute and profound, holding within it what is mysterious and wondrous. Thus one takes the Dao as the standard, renders that standard into images, and through the images brings forth visible scenes; from the scenes one enters the mysterious and wondrous, going deeper layer by layer, until at last all returns to an empty, numinous mystery and is penetrated as one.

The master of the Yangwu chapter (the author or transmitter of the Yangwu chapter) is likewise: beyond the scenery of wind and moon, amid mists, rosy clouds, mountains, and waters, he grasps the inner interest of things, continually drawing upon and renewing himself, transforming without end. Is this not because he gathers the principle of cosmic creation and transformation back into himself, and through the cultivation of merit attains such accomplishment?

Now, in answer to the request that I write a preface, I select the essential meaning from the Great Canon (the comprehensive collection of Daoist scriptures) and set forth this discussion, so as to praise and make clear the mystery of the eminent adept (one whose practice of the Dao is profound). In the autumn of the jiachen year, Kongxuanzi carefully inscribes this.

Kongxuanzi was surnamed Wang, with the given name Wanqing and the courtesy name Qingbo, and was a native of Linchuan. Born into a wealthy family, he later left home to become a Daoist priest, taking the name Yaoshan. He associated with Master Xu Shunsun of Daoshan, traveled among many famous mountains, and afterward withdrew into seclusion in the mountains and forests.

Sometimes he sat atop a tall pine, and sometimes he remained in a small hut. Someone who quietly observed him saw him murmuring to himself when alone; as soon as that person left, he spoke no more. When people asked him for a piece of writing, no matter what he discoursed upon, ranging far and wide, he could at once set down a thousand words.

During the Dade era, Daoshan attained seated transformation (zuohua: a Daoist foreknows the time and departs in peace) at the Wan family home in Qiaoshe, Longxing. Tears fell from the corners of his eyes, and prior to the fourteenth day of the eleventh month of the dawushen year he manifested illness and passed away. His disciples took his portrait and called to him; he then composed a hymn and departed. Afterward he returned to life, sat up, and wrote: “Dwelling at Yaoshan, widely bestowing grace; its efficacy is like gazing up at a high mountain and yearning toward the divine.” Such was the master’s cultivation.

What Lingyan recorded was not the true matter. Tut! The Dao (the Way) lies within my own person, and all that fills the eyes is the clear wind and bright moon between heaven and earth. He cast down the brush, gave one great laugh, and transformed away once more. In the autumn of the gengwu year of Zhishun, Zhang Linshu of Linchuan said, “When my tenant servant went to Fujian, he saw him.” Cai Zhifu of Yujiang, on the road to Shaowu, also said, “A man in a straw rain-cape and bamboo hat said he had seen him at Wuyi.” Nie Jing’an of Jiahe said, “Someone who went to Mount Longhu saw him; when asked about this, that person said he was at Wuyi and would be seen before long.” Thus Mencius said, “Where he passed, people were transformed by his teaching; where he remained, the divine and marvelous was made manifest.” It is precisely this realm that is meant. Alas—if not a true great man, who could attain such a realm? Recorded by Zhang Xixian of Linchuan, a participant in study.

Extended Explanations of the Diagrams of the Essential Principles of Daoist Methods, Upper Scroll

Deng Chun of Tieya, courtesy name Yizheng, compiled the diagrams and charts; Zhang Xixian of Yangwu, courtesy name Shiliang, composed the extended explanations.

Diagram of the Primordial Ancestral Kalpa

The Primordial Ancestral Kalpa (the kalpic turning at the beginning of the cosmos) transformationally generated the many heavens, brought forth the three lights of sun, moon, and stars, and became the root of Heaven.

Extended Explanation

The Scripture of Salvation of the Most High (Taishang Duren Jing) says: In the earliest primordial kalpa—the remote age when the cosmos first opened—the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning brought forth the heavens by transformation, opening and manifesting the three lights of the sun, the moon, and the stars. This is the foundation of Heaven. Above it there is no earlier ancestral beginning; only the Dao (the Way) itself is the source.

Daoist texts say that the One Qi (vital energy), the original breath of the cosmos, divided into Three Qi, and each of the Three Qi condensed into a palace. In the first kalpa of Longhan, Mysterious Qi condensed into the Jade Clarity Palace; in the first kalpa of Chiming, Original Qi condensed into the Upper Clarity Palace; in the first kalpa of Shanghuang, Inaugural Qi condensed into the Great Clarity Palace. Jade Clarity governs twelve heavens, inhabited by the Nine Sages; Upper Clarity governs twelve heavens, inhabited by the Nine Perfected; Great Clarity governs twelve heavens, inhabited by the Nine Immortals. The thirty-six heavens governed by the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) are called the Daluo Heaven. They are distributed through the four directions, nine heavens in each direction. Beneath the Daluo Heaven is the Great Brahma Heaven, in four tiers, also called the “Four Heavens of the Seed People.”

Above the Great Brahma Heaven is the Daluo Heaven, and above the Daluo Heaven are the heavens of the Three Pure Ones. The beings in these heavens all attained realization through cultivation in the kalpic cycles of former ages and became one with the Dao. When they gather, they take on form; when they disperse, they become Qi. Gathering and dispersing, they transform spontaneously and without obstruction, with no fixed name or appearance. Through endless kalpas they never again regress or fall.

Below the Great Brahma Heaven, in descending order, come the Formless Realm, the Realm of Form, and the Realm of Desire. The Realm of Desire has six heavens, the Realm of Form eighteen heavens, and the Formless Realm four heavens, together called the twenty-eight heavens of the Three Realms. By accumulating good deeds and merit, a person may be reborn in a heaven of the Realm of Desire as a celestial lord, a celestial being, or one of the celestial hosts. Celestial beings of the Realm of Desire still have desires; only after desire is removed can they ascend to the Realm of Form. Celestial beings of the Realm of Form still cling to bodily form; only when they no longer cling to form can they ascend to the Formless Realm. Celestial beings of the Formless Realm still have awareness and thought; only when awareness and thought are removed can they ascend to the Great Brahma Heaven and thus pass beyond the Three Realms.

The twenty-eight heavens of the Three Realms are spread through the four directions, seven heavens in each, and are called the “Eight Circles,” also known as the “Four Brahma Lesser Canopy Heavens.” Ordinary people, by good conduct and profound merit, may ascend to the heavens of the Three Realms, but cultivation stops there. If their celestial blessings are exhausted and they do not continue to practice, they regress and fall. For this reason each heaven has a fixed lifespan. The celestial path among the Six Paths refers precisely to the heavens of the Three Realms.

If a celestial being of the Three Realms has even a single thought that is insincere and not in accord with the Dao, that being may fall from a higher immortal to a lower immortal. If a lower immortal does not continue to cultivate with further effort, the being returns once more to the human world. This is what is called regression and falling.

Zhang Shangying, Layman Wujin (Wujin jushi), composed the Record of the Luling Daoist Canon. The Daoist books preserved today at Xuanmiao Guan are this very Daoist Canon (Daozang).

If an immortal in the heavens of the empty void has even a single thought that is insincere or impure, that immortal falls from a higher immortal to a lower one. If a lower immortal no longer applies effort to cultivation, that immortal slips back into the human world. This is called “regression and fall.”

Before heaven and earth had yet appeared, the mother of primal Qi (vital energy)—the fundamental Qi that constitutes heaven, earth, and all things—came into being through undifferentiated fusion. Where there is no deluded thought, there is the true; where there is no scattering, there is Jing (essence); where there is no dullness, there is awakening; what is unfathomably deep is Shen (spirit). At that time there were still no distinctions of clear and turbid, ordinary and sagely, long and short, or deviant and correct.

When Qi becomes light to the utmost it rises, and when heavy to the utmost it sinks, and so the above and below of heaven and earth take form. The Qi of above and below rises, descends, and meets; water and fire unite; the essential Qi of the myriad things circulates from this, and the sun and moon are formed as well, day and night each giving light. One and two give rise to what governs; three kinds of subtle qi gather into Qi; the three Qi make up the order of time, and three such orders in turn make up the seasonal nodes. Sun and moon move in continuing cycles: the sun travels from the left, the stars meet from the right, and all circulate through the six directions of heaven and earth. The new replaces the old, and the firm and the yielding set each other in motion, so that the Three Powers—heaven, earth, and humanity—are settled and given form.

The deep and silent vastness is the dwelling of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing, the highest divine realm venerated in Daoism). No one knows what it was at the very first, so it is called, for want of a better name, “Yuan” (Primordial); no one knows what it was at the outset, so it is called “Shi” (Beginning); no one knows how great it is, so it is called “Tai” (Great); no one knows where its summit lies, so it is called “Shang” (Supreme). It is lofty and without end, and so it is called “Zun” (Venerable); it lodges in all things yet has no private self, and so it is called “Jun” (Lord). It can be empty and it can be full; it can return to the One and it can become the myriad things. It gives birth to the many heavens and brings worlds to completion.

At the center of the world stands a wondrous mountain named Yujing, the Jade Capital. After the four quarters were settled, the eight directions were also marked out, and the thirty-two celestial emperors each dwell in a jeweled city. The lodges Dou, Ji, Jiao, Zhen, Jing, Shen, Kui, and Bi, together with stellar figures such as Kui and Gang, all take part in the working of heaven and earth. From what is fine as a hair’s breadth to what is vast without limit, everything is continuous with the flowing forth of the Great Dao (the Way).

Across long ages of kalpas, the movement of Yin-Yang Qi between heaven and earth became obstructed. Deviant Qi lost its original source and scattered into living beings. Through the nine orifices—the openings of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and the like—deviant Qi stirs emotion and consciousness. Emotions rush on, consciousness is clouded, and mind and spirit are thrown into restless confusion. Moving thoughts give rise to craving and attachment, and clouded attachment in turn gives rise to hatred. Hatred and attachment contend; as old thoughts subside, new ones arise. People abandon clear awareness and incline toward darkness. Darkness accumulates and forms Yin Qi; Yin Qi congeals and enters the hidden gloom, and to enter that gloom is to become a ghost. When Yin Qi extends, it forms the human body; transformations that branch aside become other forms of life. Living beings devour and abuse one another, and the strong oppress the weak. In this way the mind and nature cannot be at peace, and life is hard to prolong. Dark, sunken Qi spreads upward and disturbs the celestial realm.

The transformative lords of the Three Pure Ones and the Divine Lords of the Three Heavens—exalted deities of the Daoist heavens—looked upon the world below and gave rise to compassion. Wondrous Qi of spontaneity appeared in succession and turned into written words; a numinous wind was stirred and brought forth spontaneous sounds. The compassion of the Dao delivers beings from calamity, benevolence preserves life, the correct Way subdues evil, and light scatters the dark. In heaven, palace bureaus—offices of the celestial realm—were established; on earth, divine posts of mountains, rivers, and the like were set in place. The many perfected each attended to their duties, and the ranks of immortals divided the work of command. Once the heavenly mechanism was revealed, jade characters—sacred talismanic script—appeared. The methods of the Dao were refined by fire and cast light upon Dongyang; with kongqing, a blue-green mineral also used in Daoist writing and methods of refinement, as the brush, they inscribed jade tallies, golden tablets, together with Fulu (talismans and registers) and incantatory formulas. These methods were transmitted to the hosts of immortals, to overawe and restrain the throngs of demons, to refine and deliver souls, and to command and summon the myriad spirits.

Diagram of the Transformation-Bodies of Hunyuan

In an imperial encomium, Emperor Renzong of the Song said: “How great is the supreme Dao (the Way)! It follows what is naturally so and does not act by deliberate effort. Whether a kalpa comes to an end or begins anew, it precedes Heaven and Earth. In silence it harbors light within, and through countless kalpas it continues without cease. In the East it instructed Confucius; in the West it manifested as the Golden Immortal (the Buddha). Rulers of successive ages have taken it as their standard, and sages of every generation have transmitted it. It is the root of the many teachings—mysterious, profound, and impossible to exhaust.”

The Recorded Sayings of Layman Yan Ruru offer this praise: “The life of Lord Lao (Laojun) arose in the beginningless, and he once appeared in the Zhou dynasty. When his transformation-body appeared again, Shakyamuni inquired of him about the rites. Confucius, too, heard his teaching with his own ears. He is the lord of the teaching who presides over the eighty-one heavens, and the guide who, through a hundred thousand myriads of kalpas, leads living beings.”

The Taixuan Jing (Scripture of Great Mystery) says: “The Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) has hundreds of millions of transformation-bodies. According to the conditions of each place he establishes his teaching, and according to the capacities of living beings he adopts different names, broadly saving heavenly beings and the people of the world. He often descends into the human realm and, generation after generation, serves as teacher to emperors and kings.”

Xixian, citing the Fahua Jing (Lotus Sutra), says: “The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the world only because of one great matter and its causal conditions; the Dao they transmit is, in the final analysis, interconnected.”

The Jiayu (Family Sayings) records that Confucius said to Nangong Jingshu: “I have heard that Lao Dan is broadly versed in the ancient and the modern, understands the origins of ritual and music, and knows the ultimate resting place of the Dao and of De (Virtue/Power). Such a person is truly my teacher. I am now going to visit him.” Nangong Jingshu accompanied Confucius to the Zhou, and Confucius consulted Lao Dan on the system of rites. After Confucius returned from Zhou to the state of Lu, his reputation rose still higher, and disciples who came from distant regions to study with him numbered about three thousand.

In the preface to the Daodejing (Classic of the Dao [the Way] and De [Virtue/Power]), Ge Xianxi says that Laozi embodied a nature that is spontaneously so. He was born before Taiyuan—the primordial origin before heaven and earth took form—and he began where there was no cause. He passed through the opening and the ending of heaven and earth, yet he cannot be named in speech or recorded in writing. His end has no terminus, his limit has no boundary, and he reaches a realm without extremity; therefore he is called “Wuji” (the Limitless).

Chan Master Mingjiao Song (a monk of the Song dynasty) says in the Tanjin ji that what Laozi taught is the great Dao. When Confucius spoke of ritual, he said, “I heard these things from Lao Dan.” The Liyun says, “When the great Dao was carried into practice, there was the age of the outstanding figures of the Three Dynasties of Xia, Shang, and Zhou. I, Kong Qiu, did not live to see that age, yet in my heart I have always longed for it.” The Xici (a section of the Zhouyi) says, “The movements and transformations of all things under heaven ultimately return to the One.” The Laozi also says, “When kings and lords obtain the One, they can become the orthodox standard of all under heaven.” If one examines the principle of no-thinking and Wuwei (non-action) set forth in the two classics, together with the teaching of Yin-Yang transformation, are they not in accord? If one insists that Laozi was wrong, then the Zhouyi and the Liyun might as well be burned.

Among the Confucians of earlier times, who loved debate more than Mencius? In Mencius’s own day, the Laozi had already been in circulation for more than a hundred years, and Zhuangzi was his contemporary. If Laozi’s teaching had deserved rejection, Mencius would have rejected it long before; why leave the argument to Confucians of later ages? Sima Qian said that Laozi’s teaching is concise and easy to practice: little is done, yet much is achieved. Confucians sometimes disagree and criticize Sima Qian for placing Huang-Lao learning (the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi) before the Six Classics; in fact they have not understood his intent. In the Shiji (Records of the Historian), Sima Qian gave Confucius a Hereditary House and Laozi a Biography. Can this be taken as a wish to exalt the school of Lao? In truth, the Dao of the school of Lao is the root of Confucian learning. To place it first is precisely to honor that root.

The Records of the Grand Historian says that Laozi’s Dao (the Way) is concise and easy to practice: few affairs are handled, yet the results are great. It also says that the Daoist school concentrates the spirit and makes it unified, so that action accords with the formless Great Dao, while the mind remains tranquil and plain and can still meet the needs of the myriad things.

The Book of the Western Han says that the Daoist school grasps the essentials and holds to the root, preserving itself through clarity, stillness, emptiness, and bland simplicity, and maintaining itself through humility, self-abasement, and yielding softness. This is the method by which a ruler governs the realm.

Mr. Chen Liaoxi says in Guanshi Ping that Emperor Wu of Han no longer esteemed the learning of Huang-Lao (the Daoist thought of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi) and turned instead to Confucian methods. He established the Imperial Academy and instituted suburban sacrifices, revised the calendar and adjusted the musical pitches, composed poetry and music, and further performed the great Fengshan rite and sacrificed to the hundred spirits, so that the court’s ritual system, governmental decrees, and literary refinement all appeared to flourish. These may be regarded as the results of promoting Confucian methods.

Yet at that time the realm was full of affairs. The emperor’s mind was unsettled, and he was bent on carrying out institutional reform, so the common people grew exhausted and distressed. He employed ministers eager for grandeur and glory, opened the borderlands, and thereby emptied the realm’s resources and reduced the population by half. War did not cease and instead brought on calamity; between fathers and sons, too, kindness and moral obligation were impaired. The decrees issued by Emperor Wu of Han all took humaneness and righteousness as their foundation in appearance; but if one looks at the actual results, they scarcely differed from the methods of the First Emperor of Qin. In those days the realm did not have a single day of peace. People longed for the age of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, yet could never return to former times. Seen in this light, in what way had the Huang-Lao way of governing through clarity, stillness, and Wuwei (non-action) failed the realm?

The arguments of Confucian scholars often affirm one side and reject the other. Rather than merely affirming Emperor Wu while rejecting Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing, it would be better to take the strengths of both. The Huang-Lao way of clarity and stillness has done the realm no wrong.

Han Yu of the Tang dynasty says in his Policy Questions for the Jinshi Examination that Confucius, too, had teachers, and once sought instruction in ritual from Lao Dan. People today are far inferior to Confucius, yet they do not take teachers and seek instruction; even so, it does not necessarily follow that their learning is thereby blocked or that their moral character cannot be brought to completion. This passage appears in volume 14 of the Collected Works of Han Yu.

Xie Dieshan says that the Daodejing (the classic of the Dao and of De, Virtue/Power) can make clear Heaven’s original intent, and is not without benefit for the ways of the age and the human heart.

Between heaven and earth, Yin-Yang moves up and down, each answering the other.

The Golden Edict (Jin Gao) says: The clear Qi (vital energy) and the turbid Qi between heaven and earth are shaped like an egg; at the origin they were simply one whole within the great void. Yang Qi rises to heaven, and when its movement reaches the extreme, Yin Qi is born. Yin Qi is deep, hidden, and hard to see, yet it enfolds Yang Qi as it descends. Yin Qi descends to earth, and when its movement reaches the extreme, Yang Qi is born. Yang Qi is elusive and without form, yet it bears Yin Qi as it ascends. Yin and Yang, one rising and one falling, follow the turning of heaven and earth and bring the myriad things to growth and coming-into-being.

Master Zhou of Lianxi (the Northern Song Neo-Confucian Zhou Dunyi) said: “The Ultimateless (Wuji), and yet Taiji (Supreme Ultimate). When Taiji moves, Yang is produced; when movement reaches its extreme it turns to stillness, and when stillness reaches its extreme Yin is produced; when stillness reaches its extreme it turns again to movement. Movement and stillness each serve as the root of the other.”

Master Zhu of Hui’an (the Southern Song scholar Zhu Xi) said: Yin takes Yang as its root, and Yang likewise takes Yin as its root. Water is bright within and dark without; fire is dark within and bright without. Hengqu (the Northern Song scholar Zhang Zai) said that the essential Qi of Yin and Yang—their Jing (essence)—lies stored each within the other, and that this is precisely the principle.

The True Origin (Zhen Yuan) says: The rising and falling of Yin and Yang between heaven and earth may be compared to the cultivation method in which heart and kidneys conjoin. The Jade Writ (Yu Shu) says: Yang bears Yin as it ascends, and Yin enfolds Yang as it descends. Yin and Yang rise and fall in this way, moving in accordance with the Dao (the Way), and therefore heaven and earth are able to endure.

Thunder and thunderbolts are the pivot of the workings of heaven and earth. Yang thunder is good by nature and presides over growth; its form belongs to Yang and its outward appearance to Yin, and so Jia, Bing, Geng, and Ren belong to Yang thunder.

The Yin thunderbolt is the key to the workings of the great earth. Its nature is evil and it presides over killing and destruction; its form belongs to Yin and its outward appearance to Yang, and so Yi, Xin, Ding, and Gui belong to the Yin thunderbolt.

The Zhuangzi says: When the movements of Yin and Yang fall into disorder, heaven and earth undergo violent change, and thunder and thunderbolts thereupon appear. There is fire within water, even such as can burn the great earth.

The Huainanzi says: When Yin and Yang strike against one another, their resonance and meeting produce thunder, while a violent surge forms ting (rapid thunder). The Jingao says: Yang Qi (vital energy) lies hidden within Yin Qi; when the Yang Qi cannot descend, Yin and Yang collide and throb, and thus thunder and its sudden peal arise. Zhang Zai of Hengqu says: When Yin Qi condenses, Yang Qi is trapped inside and cannot get out, so it struggles with force and forms ting. Yang Qi lurks within Yin Qi and cannot break through; when it bursts forth, it becomes thunder.

Hao of Huanxi, in the Inner Chapters of the Armillary Sphere, says: Continuous peals of thunder are a phenomenon of the Zhen trigram, and they too arise, at root, when Yang Qi struggles with force and forms ting. Why does thunder give off sound? Because the lower four lines of the Zhen trigram present the image of Li (the Li trigram symbolizes fire), while the upper part of the interlocking trigrams presents the image of Kan (the Kan trigram symbolizes water). When fire enters water, it surges violently and emits sound. Even a small thing can illustrate this principle: if one heats metal or stone with fire until it is burned through, and then plunges it into water, it still gives out a loud sound—how much more so the great Qi of heaven and earth represented by Kan and Li?

The configuration of the Huntian (the cosmological view in which heaven and earth, round and whole, envelop one another) contains the earth. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and its light falls beneath the ground; “Heaven’s One generates Water,” and water too is stored underground. After a night has passed, the sun rises again from the east, and its light reappears upon the earth. The sun rises from Fusang, yet in effect it seems to surge up from the sea, so the morning sunlight appears clear and moist; at sunset the momentum shakes and surges with violence, like the roar of thunder. Therefore, on the Yanci diagram the sound of beaten metal drums is mixed in; otherwise the elderly and children would be startled. This is proof that fire entering water produces sound. From this one knows that when the forces of water and fire excite one another, thunder is formed; moreover, Kan symbolizes rain and Li symbolizes lightning, and the two are inherently linked.

The Zizhuzi says: Although thunder belongs to Qi, the moment Qi appears it has form. The didong (rainbow), for example, is originally only an image formed when fine rain is lit by sunlight, yet it too has form, and can even draw up water and wine.

The Erya says: Violent and rapid thunder is called ting.

Diagram of the Mysterious Mechanism of the Lodges and Luminaries.

Xixian says: The celestial bodies move in the direction of a leftward rotation. The sun, the moon, and the five planets (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) travel along their respective orbits through the regions of the stellar lodges, forming the longitudinal and latitudinal order of the heavens. The succession of the four seasons and the growth and perishing of the myriad things are all driven by Fanqi (the primordial Qi [vital energy] that generates Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things). This is the constant law by which Heaven and Earth operate. The Duren Jing (Scripture of Salvation) says: “Circulating through the ten directions, revolving around the Northern Dipper, passing the lodge Ji, and cyclically moving the Qi of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water).” This is precisely the principle in question.

The Hunyuan Sanqing Jing (Scripture of the Primordial Origin and the Sanqing [Three Pure Ones]) says: The sun is condensed from the Qi of yang Jing (essence), and the moon is condensed from the Qi of yin Jing. The residual Qi given off by the sun and moon transforms into the stars, which are distributed among the twenty-eight lodges (the twenty-eight stellar regions divided along the ecliptic in astronomy).

The Huangdi Suwen Taishi Tianyuan Yuce Wen (Text of the Jade Register of the Great Beginning and the Celestial Origin in the Yellow Emperor’s Basic Questions) says: The vast and boundless Great Void is the fundamental starting point from which the myriad things are generated and transformed. The myriad things receive their beginning from this, and the Five Circuits (the five modes of circulatory change: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) revolve through Heaven. Primordial Qi and true numina are spread between Heaven and Earth, presiding over the earth’s work of generation and nurture. The nine stars hang high and bright, and the seven luminaries (the sun, the moon, and the five planets Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth) move in cycles that ever return. Yin-Yang stand opposed to one another, and the yielding and the firm assist each other; the obscure and the manifest each have their place, and cold and heat alternate in turn. The myriad things continually grow and transform, and every kind of thing is able to develop smoothly.

Diagram of the Three Passes of Thunder

The incantation is the Heavenly Pass, the mudra is the Human Pass, and the Dipper stride is the Earthly Pass.

The Huangting Yujing (Jade Scripture of the Yellow Court) says: The mouth is the Heavenly Pass, the pivot of spiritual activity; the hands are the Human Pass, governing the changes of rise and decline; the feet are the Earthly Pass, the gateway of life.

Xixian says: Mencius taught that wherever the gentleman passes, customs are transformed by his influence, while the De (Virtue/Power) stored within his heart can produce a numinous and marvelous effect. Books of the Dao (the Way) say that although the human body dies, the yang Shen (spirit; the yang spiritual form attained by the cultivator) still remains.

Lü Dongbin’s “Poem on Reappearance after Liberation from the Corpse” says: “Once I left my shed remains (the fleshly body or physical form left behind by the cultivator) at the Jin River; later I went on to Penglai and changed my name.”

Diagram of the Dipper Handle Circuiting the Heavens (an illustration showing the handle of the Northern Dipper revolving around the sky).

Xixian said: Heaven takes the seven stars of the Northern Dipper—which the ancients regarded as the asterism governing the movements of the celestial bodies—as its pivotal mechanism, causing it to pass through the twelve chen (the positions corresponding to the twelve earthly branches) and, together with the five planets moving among the twenty-eight lunar lodges, to transform and nurture the myriad things. If the Dipper’s handle were to stop turning and the stars were to move irregularly, then good and ill fortune would appear in the hexagram images, the fu-fire used in cultivation would miss its proper hour, the stars would fall out of place, the sun and moon would stray from their courses, the four seasons would fall into disorder, and the myriad things would be unable to grow. Hence it is said that Qian and Kun, together with the sun and the moon, do not move of themselves; all their motion comes about only because the Dipper’s handle turns the pivotal mechanism. In the first, second, and third months the handle of the Northern Dipper turns toward the positions of yin, mao, and chen, causing the myriad things to sprout; in the fourth, fifth, and sixth months it turns toward si, wu, and wei, causing them to grow; in the seventh, eighth, and ninth months it turns toward shen, you, and xu, causing them to ripen; and in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth months it turns toward hai, zi, and chou, causing them to be stored away. When the handle completes one full circuit, the year’s work of generation and transformation is accomplished. How vast is this Dao (the Way) of transformative nurturing through Wuwei (non-action)! The scriptures say: Heaven takes the Dipper as its pivotal mechanism, and the human being takes the heart-mind as the pivotal mechanism. Thus the workings of Heaven are manifested in the changes of Yin-Yang, while the workings of the human being are to be realized in the Great Dao. The pivotal mechanism of the Northern Dipper’s movement must not be neglected.

Shao Kangjie said: Heaven above is vast and profound, difficult to fathom, and so people observe the movement of the Northern Dipper in order to infer the celestial patterns. The direction indicated by the Dipper’s handle embodies the motion of the heavenly bodies. When the bowl of the Northern Dipper points toward the position of zi and its handle points toward the position of yin, this is the configuration corresponding to daytime.

Yang Xiong’s Taixuan jing says: The stars to the south of the Northern Dipper move toward the left, while the Northern Dipper itself rotates toward the right.

The Diagram of the Four Images Returning to the True.

Xixian said: The classics (Jing, scripture/classic) teach that when people are tempted by fine flavors for the mouth and belly, by beautiful forms before the eyes, by pleasing sounds in the ears, and by fragrant or foul odors at the nose, they chase desire without end. Desire obscures the principle of Heaven, and all of it is set in motion by the stirrings of the mind. The Zhuangzi says: “The deeper the cravings and desires, the shallower the heavenly mechanism.” Therefore the sage does not act recklessly or without ground.

Restrain speech so that Qi (vital energy) settles; draw in the gaze so that it does not follow external things; concentrate Shen (spirit) and listen in stillness, setting the faculty of hearing at ease; regulate and even the breath of the nose. Bring the four—ears, eyes, nose, and mouth—into harmony, and return them to a state of empty quiet and stillness, unmoved by external things. This is the true self (the original heart, clear and still, not drawn along by desire). Yan Hui seemed dull, yet his inner mind was deeply calm; Bodhidharma sat in stillness facing the wall; Confucius, in silence, grasped the principle that runs through all things; Laozi held fast to the “One” (the root of Dao, the Way) and preserved plain simplicity. The Mencius says: “For nurturing the heart, nothing is better than reducing desire.” The Daoist scriptures also say: “If one can constantly dispel desire, the inner heart becomes clear and still.” In the Scripture in Forty-Two Sections, the Buddha says that when one stays far from craving and desire, the thoughts of the mind grow clear and still; this is the same realm of which the Daoists speak.

The Zhuangzi says: “When the heavenly mechanism does not move rashly, the five offices can each perform their proper function.”

The Doctrine of the Mean says: “One looks, yet it is as if one had not seen; one listens, yet it is as if one had not heard; one eats, yet does not discern the flavor.” This means that in cultivating oneself, one must begin by setting the inner heart right.

The Xunzi says: The eyes do not covet the beautiful sights they see; the ears do not chase pleasing sounds; the mouth does not crave rich flavors; the nose does not cling to strong odors. It also says that the heart, abiding in centered uprightness and empty stillness, thereby governs the senses—the ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and the rest—and this is called the “Heavenly Ruler” (the heart that presides over body and mind).

The commentary says: The “five offices” refer to the ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and the bodily form. The Duren Jing (Scripture of Salvation) likewise says that the eyes do not covet beautiful sights, the ears do not chase sounds, the mouth does not crave flavors, and the nose does not cling to odors; it also says that the heart, abiding in centered uprightness and empty stillness, governs the five offices, and this is called the Heavenly Ruler.

The Duren Jing says: “The spirit-wind is hushed and still; mountains and seas harbor the clouds. The sky is not veiled by drifting clouds, and the Qi of the four directions is bright and clear.”

The Jinbi Guwen Longhu Shangjing (Upper Scripture of the Dragon and Tiger in Ancient Gold-and-Jade Script) says: “Take the chicken’s egg (an egg) as the image, and join it with the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity.” It also says: “A pearl one inch in diameter blends the principle of the Three Powers.”

The Wenzhongzi says: “Heaven is not merely the vast and boundless vault of the sky, but the place that governs primordial Qi (vital energy), the original qi of all things. Earth is not merely mountains, rivers, and hills, but the place that governs the bodily forms of all things. The human being, likewise, is not merely a body with a round head and square feet, but the place that governs the spiritual consciousness of all things.”

The Liezi says: “Within primordial Qi, the light and clear portion transforms into Heaven, the heavy and turbid portion transforms into Earth, and the evenly blended, harmonious Qi transforms into the human being.”

Diagram of Gathering the Five Thunders

Xixian says: “The human being is not merely a body with a round head and square feet.” The Liezi further says: “Within primordial Qi, the light and clear portion transforms into Heaven, the heavy and turbid portion transforms into Earth, and the evenly blended, harmonious Qi transforms into the human being.”

Xixian says: “When the five Qi return to the origin—that is, when the Qi of the five viscera gathers in the primordial Shen (spirit)—and the inner mind is unstained by worldly thoughts and can remain pure, still, and settled, this is called wulou, ‘without leakage’ (Jing [essence], Qi, and Shen do not flow outward). The liver belongs to Wood of the East and stores the hun (ethereal soul); the lungs belong to Metal of the West and store the po (corporeal soul); the heart belongs to Fire of the South and stores Shen; the kidneys belong to Water of the North and store Jing; the spleen occupies the center, belongs to Earth, and governs intention.

Therefore the sage does not look at external things, so that the hun returns to the liver; does not listen to external sounds, so that Jing is kept in the kidneys; does not speak aloud, so that Shen rests in the heart; does not crave the smelling of fragrances, so that the po is kept in the lungs; and does not move the four limbs recklessly, so that intention rests in the spleen. This is to gather the Five Thunders together. The Yushu says: the wind-thunder of the East is in the palace of the liver, the fire-thunder of the South is in the palace of the heart, the mountain-thunder of the West is in the palace of the lungs, the water-thunder of the North is in the palace of the kidneys, and the earth-thunder of the Center is in the palace of the spleen. In this way the five kinds of leakage can be cut off. To be silent and unmoving is the fundamental substance of the Dao (the Way); to penetrate once a response is aroused is the function of the Dao. This is the subtle mystery of the Five Thunders.”

Diagram of Thunder Swallowing and Devouring

Xixian says: “Heaven moves while Earth is still; Heaven is round while Earth is square. What moves necessarily has the nature of circular turning, while what is still has the nature of square, upright stability. The round can transform and penetrate; the square can gather and settle. The square is like the body of a carriage, and the round is like its wheels. When the wheels turn, the carriage body moves along with them. When there is circulation within, there is a response without. Therefore the subtle mystery of thunder lies in circulating and transforming it in the midst of still sitting.”

The Huangting Neijing Yujing (Jade Scripture of the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court) says: “Square on the outside and round on the inside, Shen dwells within.”

The Wenzhongzi says: “The round displays movement, and the square displays stillness; this, it would seem, reveals the inherent nature of Heaven and Earth.”

The Sunzi says: “What is round moves; what is square comes to rest.”

End of the Upper Scroll of the Elaborated Commentary on the Diagram of the Indicated Purport of the Methods of the Dao (the Way)

Lower Scroll of the Elaborated Commentary on the Diagram of the Fundamental Principles of the Methods of the Dao

Deng Nan of Tieya, courtesy name Yizheng, compiled the text and drew the diagrams; Zhang Xixian of Yangwu, courtesy name Shiliang, composed the explanations.

Diagram of Enacting the Pre-Celestial Great Dao through the Method

The heart-mind and Shen (spirit) settle into stillness, dim and without distinction; consciousness lies deep and hidden, difficult to fathom.

The Guangchengzi says: “The subtlety of the ultimate Dao is profound and hard to measure; the utmost of the ultimate Dao is obscure and silent. Do not look or listen outward; only gather in the spirit and quiet the heart-mind, and the body will of itself become upright. One must remain pure and still: do not weary the body, nor deplete the spirit, and long life may be attained.”

The Scripture of the Primordial Beginning Generating Heaven and Attaining the Dao says: “By observing inwardly one’s own heart-mind and spirit, one can discern where the true Qi (vital energy) resides. The mind is pure, clear, and bright, shining like an empty, luminous white light. The inner heart is deep and tranquil, and there is no disturbance within or without; when the heart-mind and spirit are still, one can truly penetrate Wuwei (non-action). Such a realm has ever endured, from ancient times to the present, and must be maintained by quiet thoughts.”

The Laozi says: “There is something undifferentiated and whole, already present before Heaven and Earth came into being.” Fu Dashi says: “There is an existence prior to Heaven and Earth, without form or image, hidden and still; it can serve as master of the myriad appearances, and it does not decay with the changes of the four seasons.”

Diagram of Being about to Employ One’s Own Primordial Spirit

It resembles neither me nor you; it resembles neither a god nor a ghost.

The Book of Rites says: “When clear and bright De (Virtue/Power) abides in oneself, one’s temperament and will become as the divine and the luminous.”

The Wuzhen pian says: “One meets it amid the vague and the elusive, and transformation arises within the profound dark and the utter stillness. In an instant flames leap up, and the True Person naturally appears.”

Celestial Master Xujing (Xujing Tianshi) said: When the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—these six senses, together with one’s thoughts—all grow clear and still, the inner heart becomes lucid and transparent. Cultivate in this way for a long time, and one can command ghosts and spirits and summon wind and rain. This is not something to be taken lightly.

Layman Ruru said in praise: When the six sense-roots and the inner mind are free of every speck of dust, and one cultivates for a long time, even a single thought returns to stillness. This is not a matter of digging a pond and then waiting on purpose for the moon to appear; once the pond is complete, the bright moon is naturally reflected in it.

Master Shao Kangjie said: If a person continually accumulates good, Yang Qi (vital energy) grows ever more abundant, and ghosts and spirits stand in awe of him; if he continually does evil, Yin Qi grows ever more abundant, and ghosts and spirits do not stand in awe of him. For a person lofty in De (Virtue/Power), good and ill fortune, blessing and calamity, correspond with the ghosts and spirits.

The Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean) says: How vast and magnificent is the De manifested by ghosts and spirits! Look for it, and it cannot be seen; listen for it, and it cannot be heard. It fills all between heaven and earth, as if just overhead and as if right beside one.

Yangzi says in the Fayan (Model Sayings): The mind’s Shen (spirit) shifts and transforms elusively, as if able to gather and penetrate the myriad things.

Diagram of the Five Thunders Embryonic Breathing

The Poem on Embryonic Breathing (Taixi) by Zhenren Wang, the Court Attendant, says: Talking of emptiness all day long only drains the spirit; better to entrust one’s life to the embryo within. When the breath is fine, drawn out, and unbroken, the spirit naturally opens through; Qi rises like smoke and descends like cloud, as if rain and mist were spreading everywhere.

What the Seven Primordials and the Three Elders speak of is precisely this practice. My body turns neither west nor east; one need only settle peacefully into ending and beginning, and not seek to drive the practice to exhaustion. Always let a faint breath of wind arise within the body.

People of the world see the “One,” yet do not understand the “One”; the moment they turn to visualization, it returns again to empty stillness.

Xixian says: This poem appears in the collected poems of Liu Wen of the Tang dynasty; Master Deng Tieya mistakenly took it to be the work of Zhenren Wang, the Court Attendant. According to the Tang shu, Liu Wen was a man of integrity. In his youth he was unrestrained and willful and lived as a knight-errant; once, after killing a man while drunk, he fled. After receiving a pardon he reformed and devoted himself to study. He excelled at songs and poems, was unwilling to curry favor with the powerful, and often wore threadbare clothes. Later he returned to the region of Qi and Lu, and in the end no one knew what became of him. He may also have been a person of the Dao (the Way), and so was able to grasp these principles. The world tells that he departed as an immortal.

The Supreme Scripture of the Central Yellow (Taishang Zhonghuang Zhenjing) says: When the inner mind contains the Dao of the embryonic immortal, accomplishment comes of itself. True immortals who cultivate embryonic breathing take Qi as their food, and in the end no one knows where they have gone. Here it is said again that Liu Wen may also have been a person of the Dao, and so was able to grasp these principles; the world tells that he departed as an immortal.

The Taishang Zhonghuang Zhenjing (Supreme True Scripture of the Central Yellow) says: Within, there is already the embryonic immortal (the immortal body formed through inner cultivation), and the way of embryonic breathing (an inner respiration like that of a fetus) can naturally be brought to completion. Those who have cultivated true immortality take Qi (vital energy) as their nourishment; by gathering in and sealing the true Qi, embryonic breathing is formed.

Diagram of the Single Aperture of Thunder

The Baopuzi says: This aperture of the mysterious female (the gate of generation and transformation spoken of in Daoism) is not the heart, the nose and mouth, the liver and lungs, the passage of excretion, the bladder, or the Mud-pill Palace (the site of cultivation in the head).

Once this aperture is understood, the medicine of the winter solstice (the Jing, or essence, and the Qi of Neidan, or internal alchemy), the firing times and bathing (regulating the breath and adjusting the course of cultivation), and the shedding of the embryo to form the body (the completion of a new bodily form) all come to be through it.

This aperture is the aperture of thunder. To obtain it is to grasp the pivot and the key of thunder, with no need to seek them outside. The Utmost Person (a lofty adept who has attained the Dao, the Way) cultivates by means of it and is therefore able to ascend in flight.

Xixian says: The paths of cultivation of the Buddha and the immortal communicate with one another; the great Dao has only a single gate of practice. The Kan trigram (representing water, with Yang contained within Yin) is the root of cultivating life (ming): within Yin there is Yang, and true emptiness intersects with wondrous existence; wondrous existence is the substance, and true emptiness is the function. The Li trigram (representing fire, with Yin contained within Yang) is the root of cultivating nature (xing): within Yang there is Yin, and wondrous existence intersects with true emptiness; true emptiness is the substance, and wondrous existence is the function.

The Buddha-dharma contains the essentials of cultivating life, and the methods of the Dao likewise contain the root of cultivating nature. Nature and life mutually conjoin, and emptiness and existence are held together under non-being. Laozi is Shakyamuni, and Shakyamuni is Laozi; born before the empty kalpa (before heaven and earth had taken form), they are the ancestral teachers of nature and life. Only later, when each established his own teachings, did they divide into different schools.

Therefore, to emphasize only the cultivation of life is inevitably to fall into empty nothingness; to emphasize only the cultivation of nature is inevitably to incline toward Yin stagnation. In this way the great Dao comes to appear divided into separate paths, heterodox teachings arise in profusion, and people are unable to investigate thoroughly the root of nature and life. Confucius said: “Investigate the principles of things to the utmost and know innate nature fully, and one finally reaches the level of life.” Thus the principles of the world are not of two kinds, nor are the minds of the sages of two kinds. Nature and life cannot be separated for even a moment.

The Zhenren of Yuxi said: Zhenren of earlier generations once taught that if one understands only original nature and does not cultivate Neidan (internal alchemy), then even after passing through myriad kalpas one will still find it hard to master the Dao (the Way) of transformation; if one studies only the cultivation of life and does not understand original nature, that is the greatest defect in practice. Since one has already come this far, one may as well go a step further.

Chan Master Daoguang had originally intended to visit Zhang Ziyang, but he met Shi Xinglin instead. Only then did he grasp the essential purport of the Daoist mysterious tradition and understand the wondrous principles of both nature and life, and he thereupon wrote the Fuming Pian (Essay on Returning to Destiny), which has been transmitted in the world.

In former times a monk asked Chan Master Zhimen, “What is the fundamental substance of prajñā (wisdom)?” Zhimen replied, “An oyster clasping the autumn moon.” He asked again, “What is the function of prajñā?” Zhimen replied, “A rabbit conceiving.” Later Chan Master Xuedou composed a verse: “A single expanse of empty stillness congeals and settles, cutting off every kind of delusive feeling; heaven and the human world thereby behold emptiness made manifest. The oyster clasps the dark rabbit; the meaning within is profound and remote, and it once gave rise to debate among Chan practitioners.”

A poem by Hanshan says: The bright moon in the mind is naturally clear and luminous; how can the myriad things of the world compare with it? If one wishes to know the art of refining the immortal elixir, the key lies in the original Shen (spirit) within the body—the spirit innate and originally one’s own.

Another poem by Hanshan says: Only when one can augment Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) may it be called true augmentation; only when one can transform the bodily form may it be called true transformation. One who can both augment Jing and Qi and transform the bodily form may hope to be entered in the registers of the higher immortals; one who neither augments nor transforms will in the end be unable to escape the calamity of death.

Chan Master Piling, in the Fuming Pian, says: When I studied the Dao in my youth, those with whom I closely associated were all scholars devoted to illuminating principle and cultivating nature; for example, the Chan school…

Chan Master Piling says in the Fuming Pian (Treatise on Returning to Destiny): “When I studied the Dao (the Way) in my youth, those I drew near were all people who inquired into the principles of mind and nature. The highest realm of Chan holds that a single awakening carries one straight to the Buddha’s state; yet if residual afflictions and habitual tendencies have not been fully exhausted in cultivation, one remains subject to the cycle of birth and death. As for departing while seated or standing, or being reborn through the womb or through another’s body, I have never seen anyone thereby gain lasting liberation. I often reflected that Confucius stressed investigating things to the utmost and fully illuminating mind and nature, and thereby reaching Heaven’s mandate; Buddhism speaks of neither arising nor ceasing; Laozi speaks of ascending and soaring aloft. From this it is clear that the sages’ teaching cannot be grasped along only one path. Later I was fortunate to meet an accomplished adept, who transmitted an oral instruction: the root of the great Dao never departs from the one Qi (vital energy)—the primordial breath from which the cosmos arises and transforms—and the changes of the myriad things all come to completion from it. Hearing this, I believed without doubt, cultivated according to the instruction, and at last entered the realm of the sages.”

Su of Yingbin says: “Ming (destiny) is the mysterious subtlety of xing (human nature). Xing can still be put into words; at the level of ming, words fail. The Changes says: ‘Investigate things to the utmost and fully illuminate mind and nature, and thereby reach Heaven’s mandate.’ When the sages study the Dao, they must begin with investigating things, pass through fully illuminating mind and nature, and finally return to fuming—restoring life to its original condition.”

Huimiao likewise says: “Xing can still be put into words; at the level of ming, words fail. The Changes says: ‘Investigate things to the utmost and fully illuminate mind and nature, and thereby reach Heaven’s mandate.’ When the sages study the Dao, they must begin with investigating things, pass through fully illuminating mind and nature, and finally return to fuming.”

After reading Daoist books, Zhu Xi wrote: “I keep to rocky cliffs and secluded valleys, holding to upright integrity, my heart turned toward the mysterious realm of emptiness and stillness. On clear, quiet nights I sleep at ease in my study; from morning to evening I read Daoist writings. Forgetting bodily form, the breath flows freely of itself; when mind and nature are penetrating, the principles of things stand fully clear. The heart that seeks the Dao has not yet come to rest, yet I hope to pass beyond the bonds of name and outward trace. The greatest joy lies within, not in roaming among mountains and waters. I offer these words to those who rush about in pursuit: toiling all day long—what, in the end, is it for?”

He also wrote a poem on chanting scripture: “Weary of the entanglements piled up in the dusty world, I wish to cast off their bonds and taste what is deep and mysterious. Quieting the mind, I turn through the Daoist books in the chest and chant the Donghua Pian (a chapter of Daoist scripture). Between morning and evening, in the space of looking up and down, the years fly past like flowing water. The world’s turmoil has not yet dispersed; through chanting scripture I let every care subside for a while.”

He also wrote a poem on chanting scripture in his studio during prolonged rain: “Dwelling alone at ease, with nothing in particular to do, I casually leaf through Buddhist sutras. Setting worldly entanglements aside for a time, I accord with the Dao in detachment. The gate is closed, the bamboo grove secluded; the mountain rain has just ceased, and birds call. I savor this way of Wuwei (non-action), and body and mind are both at peace.”

The three poems above all appear in the Zhu Wengong Daquan Wenji (Complete Literary Collection of Zhu Wengong) of Hui’an (Zhu Xi). Master Zhu upheld the cardinal moral norms and worked to better the way of the world and the human heart, yet he was branded heterodox; when it comes, however, to exhaustively investigating the principles of things and fully illuminating innate nature, his thought was not of that kind. The Dao (the Way) of the three sages is fundamentally the same; only the manner of putting it into practice differs. Confucius held that one should not rely on subjective conjecture, should not be arbitrary, should not be obstinate, and should not take the self as the center; the Buddhists speak of non-duality and inexhaustibility; the followers of Laozi (the Daoist tradition) speak of non-thinking and of Wuwei (non-action). The principles they set forth are at root one and the same. Although Master Zhu’s poems travel by a different road, they arrive in the end at the same destination, and so under Heaven there are not two fundamentally different Daos. Those who understand me and those who reproach me will, I suppose, both do so on account of these poems of Master Zhu.

The Ordinance of the Horizontal and Vertical Thunder Nine Palaces Diagram

Master Chen Xiyi (Chen Tuan), in his Longtu (Dragon Chart), says: among the numbers of the Nine Palaces, nine is above and one is below, three is on the left and seven is on the right; two and four occupy the two shoulders, and six and eight occupy the two feet.

Xixian says: The Nine Palaces of thunder are a numerical array in which both the horizontal and the vertical sums equal fifteen. When Fuxi observed the River Chart and drew the images of the trigrams, it was this set of numbers on which he relied. Zhen is three and Dui is seven; the two, added to five in the central palace, make fifteen. Gen is eight and Kun is two; added to five in the central palace, they likewise make fifteen. Qian is six and Xun is four; added to five in the central palace, they equally make fifteen. Kan is one and Li is nine; added to five in the central palace, they also make fifteen. Combined horizontally and vertically, the numbers all come to fifteen, and the numbers of Yin-Yang are thereby complete. The Qian Zuodu says that the stalk-count of old Yang is nine and the stalk-count of old Yin is six, and nine added to six is also fifteen. The character lei (“thunder”) has fifteen strokes in all; hence it is said that when Yin and Yang agitate one another, this is called thunder.

The Diagram of the Mysterious Transformation of Wu and Gui

Jia, Geng, Bing, Ren, Mao, and Zi each have their own affiliation; Wu and Gui are the numbers of mysterious transformation.

Xixian says: Eastern Jia Wood belongs to the Zhen trigram. Zhen symbolizes spring and thunder, and can bring the myriad things to growth and transformation. Western Geng Metal belongs to the Dui trigram. Dui symbolizes autumn and ting—the ancients’ name for thunder-and-lightning, or for a sudden peal of thunder—and can cause the myriad things to wither and decline. Thunder and lightning therefore hold command, driving the myriad things through birth in spring and killing in autumn, and also presiding over their ending and their beginning. The Yijing (Classic of Changes) says: “Heaven does not speak, yet the myriad things all grow without obstruction, and the achievement of the year is thereby brought to completion.”

Bing corresponds to the Li trigram, and Li symbolizes fire. Fire is most flourishing at the time of Bing-Wu, so Bing-Wu is said to be the moment when thunder and fire meet. The center of the Li trigram is empty, presenting a state that is hazy, profound, and hard to grasp. The scripture says: “They meet amid haziness; transformation occurs in the obscure depths; in the turn of an eye flames fly up, and the True Person appears.” Here the “True Person” (Zhenren) means one who has succeeded in cultivation. Ren belongs to the Qian trigram. Qian is the place where the Qi (vital energy) of thunder lies concealed; in concealment it forms the configuration of thunder. The Yushu Leishu says: “Thunder lies hidden in Qian, dwelling between haziness and profound obscurity.” The scripture says again: “They meet amid haziness; transformation occurs in the obscure depths; in the turn of an eye flames fly up, and the True Person appears.” Ren belongs to Qian, and Qian is where thunder lies latent; when hidden, it constitutes the pattern of thunder. The Yushu Leishu says further: “Thunder lies hidden in Qian and then issues forth from the Xun trigram; this manifests the working of primordial creation and transformation.”

Mao corresponds to the Zhen trigram. Zhen belongs to Wood and also symbolizes thunder. The Qi of thunder is born in Hai and flourishes in Mao. Mao is the gateway of thunder, so only when the month of Mao arrives does thunder begin to sound. The Yue Ling says: “In the mid-spring month, thunder begins to give voice.” Zi is the earthly branch of the eleventh month, and the winter solstice falls at this time. The winter solstice corresponds to the Fu hexagram of the Yijing, “Thunder beneath Earth” (Kun above, Zhen below): a single firm Yang line is newly born beneath five Yin lines. The Yang Qi is still very faint, so it must be drawn inward and quietly nourished. When the Yijing says that the former kings closed the passes on the day of the winter solstice, this is precisely the meaning.

The combining of Wu with Gui so that they transform into fire is not the kind of change ordinarily discussed in writings on the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). The Kan trigram symbolizes the water of Heaven’s One true Jing (essence). Kan contains Wu and Gui, and the two generate true fire. The empty place within Kan is the seat that presides over thunder-fire; it commands the four seasons and regulates the Five Phases, and is therefore regarded as the master of thunder and lightning. The Zhuangzi says: “There is thunder, and there is also ting.” The Kan trigram again symbolizes the water of Heaven’s One true Jing; within it, Wu and Gui generate true fire. The empty place within Kan governs thunder-fire, holds sway over the four seasons, and constrains the Five Phases, and is therefore the master of thunder and lightning.

The Zhuangzi says, “There is thunder and there is lightning,” which refers precisely to fire within water.

Diagram of the Method of Circulating Thunder

Everyone knows that the method of circulating thunder calls for clenching the fists and covering the ears, yet no one knows why this must be done.

The key is to grasp a single point of the fundamental Qi (vital energy) of thunder and lightning, keep it in continuous circulation, and find the gateway through which it passes freely, so that wind and rain arise from it and thunder and lightning issue from it as well. This is not accomplished by blowing or exhaling the breath.

“Yinshan” (imprinting the flash) can accord with the working of the primordial Great Dao (the Way). The method of circulating and examining thunder set forth here does not differ from a person’s state before birth from father and mother; it should therefore not be dismissed as an ordinary, superficial remark.

Yang Xiong’s Fayan says, “The sage is able to take Heaven and Earth as a model and to place himself in correspondence with Heaven and Earth.”

Shao Yong says, “The breaths of blowing, tongue-clicking, slow exhalation, and warm breathing can summon wind, rain, clouds, and mist; the issuing of thunder is likewise similar to the issuing of speech.” He also says, “When the Qi of clouds moves, rain falls; when electric light flashes, there is a clap of thunder. Each responds to what is of its own kind.”

The Suwen of the Huangdi Neijing says that the Qi of wind communicates with rain, clouds, and mist, and that thunder is of a kind with speech. It also says that the movement of clouds and the falling of rain, the flashing of electric light, and the shaking of thunder each respond to their own kind.

The Suwen of the Huangdi Neijing further says: the Qi of wind communicates with the liver, the Qi of thunder with the heart, and the Qi of rain with the kidneys. The Qi of clear Yang becomes Heaven, and the Qi of turbid Yin becomes Earth (Yin-Yang); earthly Qi rises to form clouds, and heavenly Qi descends to form rain. Rain issues from earthly Qi, and clouds are born of heavenly Qi.

Diagram of the Five Zi Returning to Geng

The Unsurpassed Primordial Lord (Wushang Yuanjun, a revered deity of Daoism) masters the Dao of Nine-Five. The power that commands thunder and lightning and masters the Dao of Nine-Five moves from the north to the east. The “zi” spoken of here refers to the position of zi in spatial orientation and in the sequence of time; all of these belong to the Dao of Yang.

This power presides over the Dao of Heaven, causing the myriad things to flourish or wither and causing the four seasons to cycle as birth and extinction succeed one another. The Dao of Three-Five mastered by the Five Thunder Lords (divine lords who govern the five kinds of thunder) does not differ from the Dao of Nine-Five; both belong to the Dao of thunder and lightning.

Xixian says that “Five Zi Returning to Geng” refers to the five yang numbers—one, three, five, seven, and nine—which add up to exactly twenty-five. Thus the Book of Changes says, “The numbers of Heaven are twenty-five.” Five Zi Returning to Geng is therefore regarded as the power that governs the myriad things. In the east, one returns from Renzi to Geng and takes the yang number nine; in the north, Bingzi returns to Geng and five is taken; in the south, Wuzi returns to Geng and three is taken; in the west, Jiazi returns to Geng and seven is taken; in the center, Gengzi returns to Geng and one is taken. These numbers are held to accord with the proper numbers of Heaven, that is, the Dao (the Way) of Thunder.

Diagram of the Number of the Great Expansion

Thunder is regarded as endowed with the primordial Qi (vital energy) of the center of Heaven and Earth, and is therefore called the “Five Thunders.” Daoist texts say: “Three in the east and two in the south combine to make five; one in the north and four in the west likewise combine to make five.”

The Qi of Wu and Ji returns each to its own source; the Qi of the three directions meets and coalesces into the “infant.” Here the infant refers to the inner sacred embryo formed through cultivation. Once the sacred embryo has taken form, it is called the “Lord of the Five Thunders.”

One, three, five, seven, and nine are the odd numbers among the yang numbers. The two, four, six, eight, and ten spoken of in the Book of Changes are the even numbers among the yin numbers, and the numbers of Earth total thirty. The numbers of Heaven and Earth together come to fifty-five, and the numbers of Yin and Yang are thereby complete. The “number of the Great Expansion” is fifty. Five is set aside from it to serve as the root of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water); forty-nine numbers are actually employed, and then one further number is set aside to symbolize the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) at rest and unmoving.

Liu Mu’s Gouyin says: one joined with five makes six, two joined with five makes seven, three joined with five makes eight, four joined with five makes nine, and five joined with five makes ten. Six belongs to Water, seven to Fire, eight to Wood, nine to Metal, and ten to Earth. This is to take five as the base number and match it with the numbers of the Five Phases.

Yang Xiong’s Taixuan says: one and six belong to a single lineage; two and seven are friends to each other; three and eight join as companions; four and nine share the same path; and five and ten keep to one another.

Chen Xiyi says: The number of the Great Expansion in the Yijing (Jing, the Classic of Changes) is fifty. Forty-nine are actually taken up for use, and one is left unused. This is what is meant by “setting one aside and not using it.” Scholars know only that this one represents Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) at rest and unmoving, yet they do not know where the principle is concretely embodied. Why is this said? Because one is the root and ancestral source of number. If the myriad things lack a root, they fall into disorder; once they have a root, it must not move rashly, for rash movement will again lead to disorder.

This is like a wheel in motion, with the axle remaining centered and still, and like a great carriage on the road, which likewise needs a central pivot. It is also like a net that has a guiding cord: lift the cord and the net is drawn along; or like an implement that has a handle: grasp the handle and it can be used. When the head occupies the superior place, the hands and feet obey its direction; when a great general holds the center, the soldiers come under his command; when the ruler does not act rashly, the ministers each fulfill their duties; when the worthy are honored, those of ability are given employment. From this it can be known that what holds the “one” is the ancestral source, the root, and the ruling master. It possesses the principle of remaining unmoved; if it moves rashly, all the rest falls into disorder.

Cheng Yi says: The number of the Great Expansion is fifty. Number begins from one and is complete at five; extended on a small scale, it forms ten; extended on a large scale, it becomes fifty. This is the number at which numbering is complete. Once number is complete it no longer changes, and so one is subtracted to yield the number put to actual use. The numbers of heaven and earth are fifty, and among them five are able to bring transformation to completion and to carry out the work of ghosts and spirits. What is here called “transformation” refers to its efficacy; what is called “ghosts and spirits” refers to its operation.

The Jing Fang Yi says: The number fifty refers to the ten days, the twelve chronograms, and the twenty-eight lodges, which together make fifty. One among them is not used, and it represents the primordial Qi (vital energy) generated by Heaven.

Zheng Kangcheng (Zheng Xuan) said: The numbers of Heaven and Earth interpenetrate through the Qi (vital energy) of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). The ten Heavenly Stems, the twelve pitch-pipes, and the twenty-eight lunar lodges all communicate with the Qi of the Five Phases. Each of the Five Phases has five kinds, and thus there is the number “fifty-five”; by the method of the Great Expansion one subtracts five and then subtracts one, which yields forty-nine. This account comes from the Qianzuodu and agrees with that of Jing Fang; explaining the matter by the mutual interpenetration of the Qi of the Five Phases is especially apt.

The Guanshi Yi records that Zhang Yi asked: “In working out the numbers of Heaven and Earth, the original number is fifty-five; now it is said to be fifty, and then one of them is removed—what does this mean?” Master Guan replied: “The principle demonstrated by the yarrow stalks does not merely take Heaven and Earth as its model; the operations of the Five Phases must also be brought into it.”

Zhao Rui said: “What is actually put to use is forty-nine. The transformations of the number of the Great Expansion are without end. Subtracting one number serves to show that this transformation is inexhaustible.”

Diagram of the Reversal of the Five Phases

The text in the diagram says: “When the Five Phases do not generate one another in the usual sequence, the tiger moves into the water; when the art of reversing the Five Phases is practiced, the dragon emerges from the fire.”

Perfected Zhang of Ziyang (Zhang Boduan, a Daoist adept of Neidan, internal alchemy) said: “When the Five Phases move in reverse, the elixir body can forever preserve its numinous subtlety.”

Perfected Wang the Palace Attendant (a Daoist immortal) said: “The Five Phases circulate and turn, generating one another; what is called reversal is nothing other than the transformations of the Five Phases. Grasp the principle of reversal within them, and one can make thunder sound in broad daylight under a clear sky.”

The “reversal” spoken of here means inverting the ordinary order of the Five Phases, harmonizing the Four Images (four states related to Yin-Yang and the transformations of the Five Phases), gathering the primordial Qi of the still-undifferentiated Primordial Unity, seizing the Jing (essence) and Qi of the first conjunction of dragon and tiger, drawing them into the Yellow Chamber (in Neidan cultivation, the place of refining and nurturing), and refining them into the supreme treasure. In this way what is formless can congeal into form, and another body can be generated outside one’s own—what the practice calls “a body born beyond the body.” When merit is complete, one may realize the rank of a superior immortal.

What is called “following the sequence” is the ordinary way of birth and nurture in the human world: Jing and Qi differentiate and form the body; Jing and Qi gather and take shape, and through the transformations of hun and po come the changes of life and death. Once there is a body there is suffering, and affliction arises from this.

The Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) says: “If one can turn back from everyday things and seek out the principle, then even the dust and grains of sand upon the earth can all become treasures.”

Diagram of the Mysterious Transformations of Thunder

Thunder: Yin and Yang (Yin-Yang) strike against each other, and thunder is formed in accordance with this transformation.

Lightning: The Qi (vital energy) of Yin and Yang gathers and flows, surging until it forms lightning.

Wind: Yin Qi is weak and Yang Qi abundant; when they are set in motion, wind is formed.

Cloud: Yin Qi is weak and Yang Qi abundant; when they are set in motion, wind is formed.

Snow: Yin Qi is abundant and Yang Qi weak; they gather and form clouds.

Rain: The Qi of Yin and Yang rises and falls, steaming upward to form rain.

Frost: Yin Qi is blocked and Yang Qi scatters; they fly and spread to form frost-lightning.

Wind: Yin Qi is weak and Yang Qi abundant; when they are set in motion, wind is formed.

Cloud: Yin Qi is weak and Yang Qi abundant; when they are set in motion, wind is formed.

Snow: Yin Qi is abundant and Yang Qi weak; they gather and form clouds.

Rain: The Qi of Yin and Yang rises and falls, steaming upward to form rain.

Frost: Yin Qi is blocked and Yang Qi scatters; they fly and spread to form frost.

Dew: Yang Qi flows freely and Yin Qi disperses, spreading out to form a fine dew.

Fog: The rising and falling of the Qi of Yin and Yang is impeded, and by transformation fog is formed.

Hail: The Qi of Yin and Yang does not flow freely; it congeals and forms hail.

Ni (the rainbow): An excess of water Qi forms the ni.

Ba (the drought spirit): An excess of fire Qi forms the ba.

Song on the Substance and Function of Thunder

In the void between Heaven and Earth there is an aperture, the crucial place where the movements of Qi pass in and out and where transformation takes place. As soon as there is movement or stillness, Yin and Yang divide.

Slaying and giving life, opening and closing, and the changes in which opposites complete one another all receive their pattern from the ceaseless turning of the Dipper’s handle—the pointing of the Northern Dipper, by which the sequence of the seasons is marked.

When Yin and Yang churn and strike, the sound of thunder issues from the earth; when Yin and Yang gather and flow, they surge into lightning that flashes like golden light.

Wind rises with the shifting strength and weakness of Yin and Yang; as strength and weakness alternate, clouds are formed, gathering and dispersing in their season.

As Yin and Yang rise and fall and steam upward, unbroken rain descends; when the weather is mild and harmonious, auspicious snow drifts down like silver blossoms.

When Yin Qi flies abroad and Yang Qi breaks apart, frost spreads across the sky; when Yang Qi flows freely and Yin Qi disperses, dew is scattered in every direction.

When the rising and falling of Yin and Yang is obstructed, the change becomes fog; when Yin Qi congeals and cannot pass through, hail is formed.

An excess of water Qi forms the ni, and an excess of fire Qi forms the chi, the mountain-and-forest demons of legend; when Yin and Yang are in harmonious free flow, the myriad beings display their vitality.

When every sound has fallen still, a wondrous wind makes the Qi of Heaven clear and bright; if the impulse of Qi seeks to rise and yet cannot descend, it loses its proper state.

Violent winds and sudden rains are Yin and Yang alternating with great force; winter grows as warm as scorching summer, while summer is as cool as the dog days, the hottest stretch of the year.

After prolonged rain, a long spell of clear weather may send floods rising; thunder crashing in the tenth month, and frost flying in summer, are likewise signs that Yin and Yang have fallen out of balance.

The principle of one’s own transformations communicates with Heaven and Earth; if one does not grasp what is essential in it, vain speculation will never make it clear.

It grows as warm as scorching summer, yet the days of summer are as cool as the dog days; after long rain comes prolonged clear weather, and floods spread everywhere; thunder roars in the tenth month, and frost flies in summer.

The transformations of the human person are by nature continuous with Heaven and Earth. Without an understanding of the key points and the mechanisms involved, one can only speculate in vain.

The Lingbao Bifa (Complete Methods of the Numinous Treasure) says: the Qi (vital energy) of Earth rises upward; once risen, it becomes clouds, and once dispersed, it becomes rain. The Qi of Heaven descends; as it disperses it becomes mist, and as it condenses it becomes dew. When Yin Qi accumulates to excess, dew turns to frost and rain turns to snow; when Yang Qi accumulates to excess, mist turns to smoke and clouds turn to roseate clouds. When Yang Qi lies hidden within Yin Qi and cannot descend to join with it, the two surge against each other and form thunder and lightning. When Yin Qi lies hidden within Yang Qi and the Yang Qi cannot gather, it hardens and forms hail and graupel (fine pellets of ice). When Yin-Yang (Yin and Yang) cannot join, lightning arises; when Yin-Yang falls out of balance and the two no longer correspond, they change into a rainbow.

Shao Yong, a thinker of the Northern Song whose sobriquet was Kangjie, says: Yang meeting Yin forms rain, and Yin meeting Yang forms wind; the firm joining the yielding forms clouds, and the yielding joining the firm forms thunder. Without Yin Qi there can be no rain, and without Yang Qi there can be no thunder. Rain is gentle by nature and belongs to Yin, yet Yin cannot act alone, so rain appears only when aided by Yang Qi. Thunder is fierce by nature and belongs to Yang, yet Yang cannot act alone either; it is set in motion only when stirred by Yin Qi.

The Tiandi Shenjiao Lun (Treatise on the Spiritual Intercourse of Heaven and Earth) says: when Yin Qi accumulates to excess, dew becomes frost and rain becomes snow; when Yang Qi accumulates to excess, mist becomes smoke and clouds become roseate clouds. When Yang lies hidden within Yin, thunder and lightning are formed; when Yin lies hidden within Yang, and Yin and Yang congeal into hardness, hail and graupel are formed. When Yin-Yang loses its proper order and the two join in a crossed manner, they change into a rainbow.

The Zhuangzi says: the earth breathes out its breath, and this breath is called wind. When the wind subsides, the myriad things are still; when the wind rises, the ten thousand hollows give forth every kind of sound.

Xiyi said: The Zhen hexagram obtains the initial line of the Qian hexagram, so thunder seems to issue from beneath Heaven; observing the line figure of the Dui hexagram, one knows that rain seems to arise from the earth. He also said that when the Qi (vital energy) of Heaven descends, it becomes rain.

The Kan hexagram symbolizes the yang of Qian, water, and Qi, and it is also like well water. The Dui hexagram symbolizes the yin water of Kun, water that has tangible form, such as the rainwater before one’s eyes. A single yang line sunk between two yin lines constitutes the Kan hexagram. The Qi represented by Kan moves hidden through the myriad things; it is the fundamental rain by which life receives the mandate of Heaven and is nourished. Thus it is said that nothing moistens the myriad things more than water.

Master Zhang of Hengqu said: When yang Qi is rising and suddenly meets yin Qi, the two hold each other in check, and the yang Qi is pressed down, forming rain. Yang Qi is light and yin Qi is heavy, so yang Qi is borne down by yin Qi. When yin Qi is rising and suddenly meets yang Qi, the yang Qi helps it ascend, forming clouds.

When yin Qi condenses, the yang Qi enclosed within cannot get out and so strikes forth with force, forming thunder and lightning. Yang Qi lies hidden within yin Qi and cannot break free, and thus erupts as thunder. When yang Qi is outside and cannot enter, it circles the yin Qi without cease, forming wind. Yin Qi congeals within, and yang Qi wishes to enter but cannot, so it keeps coiling about outside, forming wind; only after the wind has scattered the yin Qi does it subside.

When the Qi of Yin and Yang disperses after coming into harmony, it forms frost, snow, rain, and dew; when Yin and Yang disperse without harmony, they form inauspicious vapors and haze. Wayward and violent Qi includes such things as flying hail, while dark and murky haze includes yellow mists and the like. All these are manifestations of Yin-Yang Qi that is partial, deviant, and not upright; therefore the water in hail is turbid and unclean, sometimes appearing blue-green or black.

Zhu Xi said that a snowflake has six petals because grains of graupel are struck apart by a strong wind and form angular petals. He also said that six is a Yin number, and that Taiyin xuanjing stone (a kind of numinous stone of Yin nature) likewise has six edges; this is probably the numerical principle natural to heaven and earth.

He also said that the dragon belongs to the class of water. After a dragon appears, it steams together with Yang Qi (vital energy), and so can form rain. Ordinary rain, however, is produced when the two Qi of Yin and Yang steam upward and become pent up; it is not necessarily caused by a dragon. Qi rising from below alone is not yet enough to make rain; there must be Qi from above covering it, so that it has nowhere to disperse, and only then does rain fall.

Wu of Huanxi said that wind moves in accord with things and is assigned to Xun (one of the Bagua, the Eight Trigrams, symbolizing wind); this is certain. How, then, is the Qi within wind formed? The lower four lines present the image of Kan (one of the Bagua, symbolizing water), while above is the image of Li (one of the Bagua, symbolizing fire). When water enters fire and the two agitate each other, Qi is produced. To illustrate with a small matter: if one scoops water and pours it on a fire to put it out, the flames suddenly surge up, and hot Qi rises with them. How much more so when the Qi of water and fire symbolized by Kan and Li is so vast?

When fire burns most fiercely, the sound is slight, yet the momentum of the Qi is violent. Beside waterfalls and swift currents, the sound of the water …, and the breath of the Qi is bleak and cold. These subtle changes accumulate until they become conspicuous. From this, the claim that wind arises when water and fire clash indeed has reason. In the bing and ding months (the months paired with fire), warm winds arise, and hurricanes also arise over the sea. This shows that it is not only thunder that sounds forth from intense fury; when the apertures of the myriad things roar in rage, wind does likewise. When the momentum of Qi accumulates to the extreme and then lies hidden, and after long concealment is released, it becomes thunder. If Qi is constantly vented and dispersed, it does not accumulate to the extreme, and thus forms wind. Whenever things move in anger, each has its own cause; they are not all brought about by water.