《古书隐楼藏书》Vol. 10

The human being’s zhen yuan (true original vital element) is, in the course of time, crisscrossed and pulled about by outer things; the shi shen (post-heaven conscious mind) takes charge and no longer knows how to turn back into the self. As days lengthen, habit picks up stains of illness and worldly dust, so that even seeking a physician comes too late—how then could one cultivate the oral formulas of this gate? Therefore whoever aspires to this path must first investigate things and extend knowledge (ge wu zhi zhi), until intention becomes sincere. Only when intention is sincere may one study. Before each recitation of scripture, first inwardly attend while chanting this spell, so that heart and eyes are renewed and one returns to the original nature. Then the shi shen has nowhere to stand, the ben ming (innate life-root) finds peace, and the heart becomes calm and settled. Once settled and still, the zhen yuan is restored; only then can those yun zhuan (cloud-seal characters, script formed of cloud-qi) spread through and veil the tai xu (Great Void)—this is proof that stillness has reached its limit and then movement arises. Yet this movement comes from no deliberate mind: now far, now near, now floating, now sinking, it wanders before it settles. It is utterly subtle and numinous, now hidden, now revealed. When the five directions (east, south, west, north, and center) show their first signs and yun zhuan already appear in the tai xu, one may follow the image-intention until they become written words. Even if there are additions or omissions, they never stray from the fang zhang of the tian xin (Heart of Heaven)—again, the utmost principle that movement arises yet never leaves the pole of stillness. It is as when one says: my heart does not leave the fang cun. Fang cun is the heart; the human heart is called fang cun, the heart of Heaven is called fang zhang.

According to the Daoist canon, in Heaven this figure is the Tianzhen Huangren (True Person of Natural Truth, the transcendent who transmits scriptures), and in a person it is the ben ming yuan shen (innate primordial spirit of one’s root life).

Taking up the brush to write is to unfold and set forth the dong zhang (cave chapters). Dong zhang are the jade scripture—the writing that generates Heaven, Earth, humanity, and the myriad things. The Huangren is the true body of primordial Heaven, and therefore can inwardly attune and unfold the scripture into form. For a human being, this is the spirituality of one who awakens first: before signs appear, the numinous already perceives. This is the central purport of the jade scripture; students must not turn away from it.

Writing the ling fu (spirit talismans) next means splitting the characters of the dong zhang apart so that one character becomes one talisman.

When Yuanshi (Primordial Beginning, Yuanshi Tianzun) descends, the true writing is born and widely spread abroad.

What is called “Yuanshi” (Primordial Beginning) here is the spirit in heaven of the Yuanshi Dharma King—the supreme dharma king whom Daoism identifies with the moment heaven and earth were opened—and it is also the essence of the “Zhenyi” (True One) within the three powers of heaven, earth, and humanity. The “true writing” in the next line is the sage’s teaching that the three powers produce, which sages have spread in accord with the times; in other words, the scriptures of the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism.

“Manifest in the bright, hidden in the dark”: all things are born and transformed from the True One—nothing but the alternating concealment and disclosure of “subtle being” and “subtle non-being”; the two are originally one body, which is why a single word “its” binds them together.

“Deep illness can heal itself; those drowning in worldly toil can be upheld”: severe chronic illness in the world is half due to how people conduct themselves and half due to adverse fate, so it cannot be cured by medicine alone. Being trapped in worldly weariness is half due to habitual defilement and half due to inborn endowment, so it also cannot be sustained by power and favor alone. Only by receiving this One and using it to refine and transform can one hope for deep illness to heal of itself and for those sunk in worldly labor to be supported. Those who aspire to renew themselves and then teach the multitude must earnestly take this to heart and put it into practice.

“Both the hidden and the bright have something to rely on; thereby one ascends to Qingdu”: the hidden is the way of earth—the aspect that is dark and invisible; the bright is the virtue of heaven—the aspect that is clear and manifest. A human being combines both in one person, that is, body and mind. Only one who knows to “know the white yet keep to the black” and “know the male yet keep to the female” can employ capacity without bias, so that both the hidden and the bright have something to depend on. Qingdu is the celestial capital where the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the highest deities of Daoism, dwell. “Ascend” here means to equalize and attain, not merely to go up. If one knows how to follow this One and return to this One, refining and transforming accordingly, one can naturally equalize and attain Qingdu. This speaks of the marvelous efficacy of the True One; the “this” in the following line directly continues the “this” of this line, so the sense becomes clear.

“This is the treasure of primal destiny (yuanming); through endless kalpas it is never worn away. If people can constantly hold and recite it, though in the world they are companions of heaven”: this is the treasure of the primal mandate one receives from heaven; even through boundless eons it is not eroded. If people can constantly guard and chant it, they may live in the world yet be companions of heaven.

Here, the word “world” (shi) refers specifically to the human body as a whole. The Original Life Treasure (Yuanming Bao) is the single yang line in the middle of the Kan trigram. It rises from the “ocean floor,” passes backward through Weilu (the gate at the base of the spine), ascends along the spine to the brain, and there transforms into Wang Ni—the luminous image formed when it reaches the head—suspended beneath the crown. When it is moved to the central palace (the heart center) and united with Qi (vital energy), it is like a full moon. Within the heart appear yellow and red characters of elixir scripture bearing the word “Tian Gang” (Heavenly Gang). In fact these are formed by Qi gathered from the center; though countless kalpas pass, they do not fade. If a person can recite them often, this body can keep company with Heaven.

In the heavens, the Original Life Treasure is called the Sovereign Star (Zhenxing, Saturn). It stands above the sun and moon—the star-image formed when the earth’s finest essence rises upward. This Qi is utmostly central and perfectly upright, and at the same time supremely firm and supremely benevolent. The classics say: where it pours forth, things are nurtured; where it guards, things are set straight. Its light may follow the rotation of the Big Dipper, yet the heart never leaves the North Star. This means the heart stays settled, like the axle of a millstone that does not move—so the central palace can always be peaceful and stable.

We who “treat the world through medicine” (yi the age by cultivating the body) orient heart and affairs toward the virtue of this Sovereign Star, and gang-Qi will naturally pour down in response. Therefore the body must be upright, as if standing on a mountaintop with open space on every side. The Sovereign Star is like the sun high in the sky: one need not arrange it—the light naturally shines through the whole body. One has only to keep body and mind empty and still; inner light is bound to descend.

Practiced in this way, the body becomes transparent inside and out like thin gauze. Unless the central palace is emptied to the utmost, this will not appear. What is more valuable is not to linger in obvious brightness, but also to listen into what is deep and hidden. Once the body enters clarity and harmony— in the text “zao” is read as “cao,” naming a stage reached in practice—it seems as if it was always there, and the heart does not stir at all. This is the body already clear and harmonious, no longer clinging to appearances. Going further, even “forgetting” is forgotten, and one enters complete realization.

If one forgets this provisional method as well, one may fall into naturalistic heterodoxy—not drifting slackness, then torpor and dullness. Therefore the ancient sages had to borrow the Original Life Treasure. The Life Treasure is the true One (Zhenyi) within the body; with this One to guard and settle, the heart can be tranquil and fixed. Here I grasp Patriarch Lu’s intent in using the Jade Scripture (Yujing) to tune the heart: the meaning is more subtle, the application finer. My teacher used it to support the Life Treasure—welcoming from above and pouring from below—making the whole person empty and spirit-like, with special effect. For the Jade Scripture is the essence of the True One among the three powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity; the Life Treasure is the True One given by fate. One One leads another; being and non-being interpenetrate and transform each other—how could affairs of the world not be brought into order? But only one who is utterly sincere and never stops can do it. Hence it is said: if a person can recite it constantly, this body keeps company with Heaven. The warning of the ancients is: though the Jade Scripture is numinous, what matters even more is recitation without break.

The Yu Jing (Jade Scripture) is terse and abstruse in phrasing, close to incantatory formulae. Read line by line, it can run as follows: three tiers of green waves are arrayed, gather at the terrace’s edge, then scatter again; the hall’s transforming work is pushed inward and links to the vast Spirit Capital (Lingdu). Yuluo—the heaven-net said in Daoism to enshroud all heavens—is immeasurably far; nurture and transformation still cannot rise and disperse. Omens have already appeared, yet allotted years are cut short; one stays at the threshold of obscure darkness, unable to ascend. In the courtyard one looks back at oneself as a bud not yet opened, and with hidden design grasps the name-title. Blessing in the sand shows clear as smoke; the osmanthus gathering accords with the child. Preserve and guard An Luo (the text reads “le” as “luo”); the worthy keep themselves in check. Though they strive in every way, heaven still bears defilement. Earth is piled into walls, the ground made level, and things slowly congeal—from this the stanzas arise. Those stanzas knot on land far away; wild grass covers the place, yet the dragon can rise. The fierce Xiezhi (the beast of legend that discerns right and wrong) vouches with snare and net; at the emperor’s side, the yin spirit Nie bears the load. One intones the Nanwu jue method and, riding the ford, extends into the deep obscurity. The light of sun, moon, and stars goes still; the Qi of life and nature (Xingming zhi qi—the “pre-heaven” Qi of inner practice) finds rest. Guard primordial De (Yuande) like a hill: lifespan firm, spirit bright and undissolved, lasting as the crystalline radiance of heaven and earth.

The annotator confirms that the main Yu Jing passage ends at “riding the ford into deep obscurity,” and that the following lines are also recorded: sun, moon, and stars cease shining; life-Qi is tranquil; primordial De is kept; lifespan is firm; together with heaven and earth’s crystalline light, enduring the same long span.

I now set down for the public the methods my master personally transmitted—methods that truly work. My only wish is that students enter purely through regulating the mind to emptiness and stillness: that is, bringing the heart to a state that is empty, clear, and silent. When the breast is regulated to quiet purity, the “celestial capital” (the chest imagined as the capital of a realm) is secure and at peace; when the Kun belly (the lower abdomen—Kun stands for earth) is regulated to openness and ease, it is as when the lanes and neighborhoods (the common folk) are well provided; when the four limbs are regulated to free flow, it is as when the four border regions are calm. Regulated in this way, the body is harmonious; once the body is at peace, one aligns with “ordering the world,” and the effect is as swift as an echo answering at once. Once you penetrate this, you have the merit the sage tradition praises—assisting transformation and nurturing, completing the work of teaching and transforming. This is not idle talk of mystery; it is Dao learning with feet on the ground. The reason human beings can stand with Heaven and Earth as the Three Powers lies precisely here. What have we to fear, that we should willingly abandon ourselves?

Yet I also fear that students may not grasp it, so I have put the practice formulas that have already proved effective in the past into invocations for people to recite, so that all may share in real results. This is not like digging once and having a spring gush forth—you cannot expect success in a single leap. If you can truly apply a hundred parts of effort where others apply one, and a thousand where others apply ten, then even the dull-witted will surely understand. What follows are invocations, not scripture; yet the essential formulas are all contained in them. You should examine them closely and carry them out in practice, not merely chant them with your lips.

Appended afterward is the spell of the invocation, which begins: “I now recite.”

The preceding passage carefully explains that when the scripture says “I” or “me” and not “your subject,” that is not empty self-aggrandizement. Daoist texts treat the human body as a small cosmos: just as heaven and earth have ruling spirits, the person has corresponding spirits within, and the body’s gods resonate with the gods of heaven and earth. Here, “I” and “me” are specialized terms that masters of Fulu (talismans and registers) use to “seal” and invoke the taboo names of the Northern Dipper stars—they are not casual self-reference. By this esoteric rule: on yang days one says “I,” pairing with the Nine Stars of the Northern Dipper in the Greedy Wolf (Tanlang) sequence to form the star seals; on yin days one says “me,” pairing with the Nine Stars in the Kui Star sequence. Each brushstroke corresponds to one star; the adept grasps it inwardly and holds to it—on yang days “I,” on yin days “me”—and response follows naturally. The human heart has seven openings; add the kidneys at the waist and the “lesser heart” (the spot between heart and kidneys in Daoist physiology), and nine are complete—enough to show that heart and Northern Dipper are one. Therefore guard the mind: do not deceive yourself; constantly turn back to the bright mandate heaven has given; the whole secret lies in being without falsehood (wuwang).

Earnestly Follow the Teaching

What follows all stems from real cultivation and verified experience, and can be put into practice. Students should examine it with sincere attention and carry it out in deed—not merely recite it with the lips.

Guarding the Egg of the Three Powers

The Three Powers are Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. This means treating heaven and earth as a single egg, with the human world in the yolk—and “I” can guard and hold it. The line still belongs to the state before joy, anger, sorrow, and delight have stirred, when all is undivided and blended.

The World Transformed into the Hall of Blessing

“World” (shi) here means both oneself and the world at large. “Hall” (ting) is the hall in the Jade Scripture’s line about the hall awaiting the bud. This is the efficacy of egg-guarding practice: heaven and earth are gathered into this one practical result.

Stars of Loss Retreat; Stars of Blessing Shine

These two lines express what the Great Learning says: blessings moisten the dwelling, virtue moistens the person; when the mind is broad, the body is at ease—so the noble person must make his intention sincere. When stars of depletion withdraw and stars of fortune shine down, that is precisely this meaning.

All Heavens Protect; Wealth, Rank, Credit, and Kin

The heavens extend care and protection; wealth, position, trustworthiness, and close relations respond in turn.

These two lines mean: sharing virtue with Heaven and Earth, sharing brightness with the sun and moon, sharing order with the four seasons, sharing fortune and misfortune with spirits and ghosts—in other words, the great Dao that precedes Heaven yet does not go against it. Caiwei (the station of wealth and blessings), a term from Buddhist scriptures, denotes the blessings of wealth and felicity. When people trust and follow, affairs can stand firm; when people draw near in goodwill, conduct stays humble. This is how life is enriched while virtue is kept upright.

Contemplating Heaven and holding to Heaven, renewing oneself and renewing the people.

Contemplating Heaven means observing the utmost sincerity of the Way of Heaven without ever ceasing; holding to Heaven means abiding in the Way of Heaven that generates the myriad things with single-minded devotion. Renewing oneself and renewing the people is the practical fruit of transforming oneself and influencing others.

Neither being nor non-being is fixed; person and dharma are both forgotten; perfectly empty, perfectly still; perfectly correct, perfectly firm; perfectly harmonious, perfectly at ease; perfectly awakened, perfectly clear.

These six lines speak of governing through wuwei (non-action). Within them is hidden the real truth to be cultivated in oneself. Like the scripture arising from one’s own body and the world one lives in, only those who constantly reflect inward can rest in the center and perceive this completeness. Beginners who first use the discriminating mind to identify it are caught in delusion, and this method will never succeed. Yet one must still know how to cultivate and how to hold fast in this way before concentration can arise, power can suffice, and later results prove genuine. Therefore a disciple, fearing that students might wrongly use discriminating mind to recognize it, asked that these six lines be removed—but permission was not granted. Let everyone grasp this together.

Moreover, the first of these lines is the essential key for entering the nature of Heaven; the next is the outstanding insight at the stage when work on nature advances; the last four are stern admonitions not to cling and not to dwell on anything. Because it fills above and below and the four directions, exhausts every realm of the Dharma, and is without bias, only then is it true attainment of the Way. This is also what Heaven covers, Earth bears up, sun and moon illuminate, frost and dew descend—where sentient and insentient alike receive spiritual light and Dao-Qi. The effort applied must be free of rigidity and leakage. These are the most vital oral instructions in the whole practice—how could they be deleted? Students should examine and put them all into practice; do not neglect them and do not omit any.

Let us jointly uphold the teaching and not fail the four kinds of grace.

All that has been discussed above belongs entirely to what is originally present in our own nature. Even if heaven and earth themselves are not without flaw, these points are the most vital oral formulas in the whole method—how could they be cut away? Students should take each one in turn, reflect on it, and put it into practice; do not neglect any, and do not omit any.

Together we uphold the teaching and do not fail the Four Graces. Everything said above is what is originally complete in my nature. I am within heaven and earth; my parents gave me life, rulers and teachers instructed me, the sun and moon shine on me. Having all this, there is more than enough to fulfill what I ought to do. Therefore I dare not be self-satisfied; I have written down and annotated the practice formulas to offer and encourage others, hoping that together with everyone we may support the teaching and earnestly repay the Four Graces—heaven and earth, parents, rulers and teachers, and the sun and moon.

“Completing the world of great awakening” and “yuan, heng, li, zhen”: here “world” refers to the individual person. To accomplish anything, one must first accomplish oneself; accomplishing oneself is nothing other than the one word “awakening.” What is accomplished as one’s work also does not go beyond the four words yuan, heng, li, zhen—origination, penetration, benefit, and firmness. What follows is commentary on mantras and precepts; I do not dare treat it lightly.

Om kpul kangs (read as a combined syllable) svaha. This is the single-character Crown Wheel King mantra spoken from the Buddha’s crown. Students should recite it three times and perform three prostrations; practitioners need only maintain their own recitation. “(Combined reading)” means two sounds read as one; svaha is the mantra’s closing. The whole body of practice formulas always starts from “no single thought arising”—the mind not giving rise to thoughts.

This incantation is what the Buddha Crown teaching calls the “One-Syllable Crown Wheel King Mantra” (the secret mantra of the crown wheel king spoken by the Buddha Crown Lord). Beginners should recite it three times and perform three prostrations; those already in practice need only recite it on their own. In my reading of the entire set of practice instructions, none of them departs from “not a single thought arising.” When cultivation reaches clarity of mind, regulated breath, and the whole body filled with smooth fullness, both body-mind and daily conduct benefit—the crux is steady persistence. Even one moment of clarity and harmony yields a moment of real merit; though you may not see results immediately, the efficacy is already at work. Students must not chase speed, lest they fall into karmic habits of conscious fabrication. The mind’s discriminating spirit is the most agile—and also the easiest to become a demonic obstruction; once caught in it, perceptions tangle and you cannot cut them off. This must be guarded against. Begin simply by quieting the breath and settling the qi; then “True One Primordial Qi” (xiantian yiyuan zhenqi—the innate single-thread vital breath) will naturally arise. This qi issues once breathing has grown still; until breath is quiet, True One will not appear. There is no other secret: only not letting stray thoughts arise, mind stilled to the utmost, until breathing naturally seems to vanish. If you wrongly apply breath-holding techniques, you go the opposite way—breath becomes more urgent instead; that too must be avoided. “Not a single thought arising” does not mean having no thoughts at all, but not mixing in other thoughts; in practice it is the principle of utmost sincerity without interruption.

Preface to the Classic of Opening and Closing (Hebi Jing—“hebi” meaning closing and opening, contraction and expansion).

The great treasure raft of the Dao that saves the world always appears in accord with the times. Because the Supreme Lord (Taishang Laojun, the highest deity in Daoism) cherishes life and pities people for abandoning the good path, he entrusted the teaching to disciples who devoted themselves to cultivation, to deliver beings so each might return to the ultimate “pole,” align with huangji (the supreme, central, and correct standard), and forever preserve peace within wuji (the boundless origin).

Regrettably, those who study lack clarity of heart and sink day by day. The secret texts of the treasure raft passed from hand to hand; at first there were only copyists’ errors (yu lu zhi euo—mistakes from similar-looking characters), and later some altered them to suit private views, so that meaning grew obscure and lineages became confused.

Therefore, once you obtain a text, careful collation is essential. No transmitted copies I have seen lately err more gravely than two manuscript versions: one is the Xian Tian Xu Wu Tai Yi Jin Hua Zong Zhi (Pre-Heaven Void Great One Golden Flower Purpose) transmitted by Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin), and the other is the Yin Zhenren Donghua Zhengmai Huangji Hebi Zhengdao Xian Jing (Immortal Scripture of Yin the Realized One on the Orthodox Donghua Lineage, Huangji Opening and Closing, and Proof of the Dao)—both heart-transmissions of the Supreme Lord and treasure rafts of the xuanmen (Daoist tradition).

On Wushan (the mountain where the author resides), the earliest printed editions of both books still survive. Comparing them confirms what the original preface says: the supreme Dao, if hidden and not proclaimed, must meet demonic obstructions (mo zhang). Min Yide (the editor, speaking as “Yide”) dared not slacken; he collated and corrected them into complete texts.

The original preface also says: the heart-transmission of the Supreme Lord is nothing other than the treasure of Heaven’s mandate, appearing in accord with the flourishing yuanhui (great cosmic cycle), transmitted once only after eighty thousand kalpas. These words are deeply hated by the demons of heaven; if a student’s intent wavers even slightly, demons seize the opening, insert demonic doctrine, and ruin the orthodox path. Hence the ancient sages, upon receiving a secret book, at once carved it in stone and metal as a pillar—when heterodox talk disturbed the purpose, one could take that text and verify. It adds: today the true Dao is in full flow; the moment must not be missed. There is no need to wrap and hoard it in secrecy; better to cut blocks, print, and spread it through cities. Those without karmic connection may see it and ignore it; for them, transmission is as if there were none.

Those with genuine aspiration should study this scripture in depth. It may seem hidden, yet it is not truly hidden; within it there is a cyclical guardianship by which the authentic Dao is transmitted. The opportune moment must not be missed, and there is no need to keep it sealed from the public. Rather than wrapping it layer upon layer and hoarding it with excessive care, it is better to cut blocks for printing and spread it to towns and cities everywhere. People without the right karmic affinity will look but not see—distribution would then be distribution in name only; those with aspiration will pursue it in earnest, and the secret remains unsecret, for within it there are still those who guard the cycle.

In the original prefaces to both books, this point was already made.

Fortunately, erroneous editions of the Hebi Jing (Classic of Opening and Closing) were never included in the Daozang (the Taoist canon); erroneous editions of the Jinhua Zhinong (essential teachings of the Jinhua lineage) were indeed entered into the Daozang, yet the blocks remained in Gusu (Suzhou today), so obtaining them for a fresh impression was easy. Moreover, their flaws were merely mixed lineages and citations that miss the mark—anyone with discernment could tell at once.

Scriptures are meant to appear in the world of their own accord, and printed editions have long circulated; yet blocks of this Donghua Zhengmai Huangji Hebi Zhengdao Xianjing (Immortal Scripture of the Orthodox Donghua Lineage, on Huangji opening and closing and verifying the Dao) did not spread widely, so few in the world have seen it. Erroneous versions woven in are even said to have come from Qingyang Gong (the famous Chengdu temple traditionally regarded as the scripture’s place of origin). When the place of origin is confused inside and out and collapses from within, it misleads people all the more easily. If we do not clarify and correct this soon, the harm left behind will surely be grave.

Though the blocks on our mountain are now damaged and incomplete, we are fortunate still to have proof impressions from the originals, which could have been re-cut faithfully from those copies. Yet because erroneous editions have spread so widely, we must supply what is missing, correct what is wrong, and mark each change clearly, so that those who treat spurious texts as bedside secrets are no longer misled and know which edition to follow.

I dare not, because the original book still exists and seems to need no deletion or revision and could go straight to press, stint on ink or seek ease. I therefore intend to have it carved and printed at once and spread broadly, and respectfully set forth the beginning and end of this revision in a preface before the book. For this scripture bears greatly on the core of the Great Dao. On the fifteenth day of midsummer in the xinmao year of the Daoguang reign (1831), Min Yide of the eleventh generation in the orthodox Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage on Jinggai Mountain in Wuxing, having washed his hands, reverently composed this preface.

This preface recounts the origin of Adept Yin’s Huadong orthodox lineage teaching of “Huangji Hebi” (the pivot of the Great Ultimate opening and closing), placed at the head of the volume. The scripture bears heavily on the core aims of the Daoist tradition. On the full-moon day of midsummer in the xinmao year of the Daoguang reign (1831), Min Yide of the eleventh generation of the Longmen orthodox lineage on Jingai Mountain in Wuxing wrote this preface with washed hands in reverence. Longmen is the Longmen branch of Quanzhen (Complete Perfection); Huadong refers to the orthodox transmission associated with the Huadong Emperor.

The scripture is titled Scripture of Immortality and Verification of the Dao through the Opening and Closing of the Great Ultimate in the Huadong Orthodox Lineage of Adept Yin. It was collated by Min Yide (style name Xiaogen), the Jinshan recluse, from a manuscript transmitted at Qingyang Palace. Huangji hebi denotes the pivot of yin-yang opening and closing, used to verify attainment of the Dao.

Chapter One, “Adding Oil and Connecting Life”: In internal alchemy (neidan), replenishing a lamp with oil is the metaphor for nourishing jing (essence) and qi (vital energy) to sustain life.

Master Yin Zhenren said: When a person first receives vital energy, it is in the womb, where the form gradually takes shape along with the mother’s breathing. At that time a fine thread connects to the mother and gradually unfolds; the center is hollow like a tube, and through it breath passes back and forth: forward to the navel, backward to the kidneys, upward through the Jiaji (the pass in the middle of the spine), then through the Mingtang (the region of the head and face) to the Shangen (the root of the nose between the eyes), where two openings form; from those twin openings breath descends to the Zhuntou (the tip of the nose), making the two nostrils—hence they are called the “founding ancestor of the nose.” At this stage one’s own qi is continuous with the mother’s qi, the mother’s qi with heaven and earth’s qi, and heaven and earth’s qi with the qi of the Great Void (Taixu); opening links to opening without obstruction.

When the term in the womb is complete, the infant breaks from the sac and is born; the umbilical cord is cut, and at the first cry on earth a point of primordial Yang (yuan Yang) settles behind the navel wheel and is called the Heavenly Heart (Tianxin)—that bit of empty spirit. From then on post-heaven qi governs life: though one still breathes in and out, one can no longer connect with primordial ancestral qi. From childhood to old age, not one breath truly enters there; rising and falling in the dusty world, dying and being born countless times—all because this old path cannot be found again.

Therefore the Supreme Sage (Taishang) established methods and taught cultivation because humans can win back primordial vital qi; and winning it back depends on having two openings for breath. What is exhaled is one’s own vital qi, going out from within; what is inhaled is the upright qi of heaven and earth, coming in from without. If the root can be made firm, one can draw heaven and earth’s upright qi in the interval of breath and extend life; if the root is not firm, the upright qi inhaled from heaven and earth is always lost again with each breath, one’s own vital qi cannot be kept, and it returns to heaven and earth—again simply because the way in cannot be found.

Ordinary people breathe from the throat downward; when the breath reaches the middle of the upper abdomen (zhongwan), it turns back and cannot connect with the ancestral qi—the primordial source-breath of innate life. This is what is meant by “the breathing of the multitude stays in the throat.”

The breathing of the perfected person (zhiren) runs straight upward through the Mingtang—the central cavity of the face. Because each breath arises from the innate, each breath can travel back and forth along the Yellow Path—the central route of the innate true breath.

If you earnestly guard the Jiaji Double Pass—the pass at the middle of the spine; the area before the pass and behind the heart is the Yellow Center, also called the Spirit Chamber (shenshi), or Yellow Hall (huangtang), which postnatal breathing cannot pass through—the breath will naturally reach the aperture of the Heart of Heaven and link with the primordial ancestral qi, like a magnet drawing iron: like attracts like. This is what Zhuangzi meant by “the true person’s breathing reaches deep to the heels.”

“Heel” (zhong) here means depth—that is, the true person sinks into the abyss and also freely floats while holding to the center within measure (guizhong). Once one can sink into the abyss, life is in one’s own hands and one is no longer cast by the Great Smelter—the cosmic forge that shapes all things.

When this aperture first condenses, the two kidneys appear first, then the heart. The kidneys are like lotus root, the heart like the lotus flower; the connecting stem is hollow within and straight without, supporting the earth below and reaching up to heaven. Heart and kidneys are eight cun and four fen apart; the empty space of one cun and two fen between them is called the “cavity within”—the path of exchange between heart and kidneys, and also the place where water and fire achieve mutual completion (shuihuo jiji).

All of this forms when the fetus first coalesces: a single thread where qi merges with the mother’s body, condensed by innate true qi and gradually opening outward. It can condense because the being is not yet a child and has no discursive thought—qi is pure and unmixed. At first nothing can be seen; later, as breath moves back and forth, it gradually appears, but only as form without solid substance. Only when the unformed becomes a child is there an umbilical cord to connect through; even then there is still no thought in the heart, and qi remains pure, so breath can be shared with the mother.

From the moment a person leaves the womb and cries out with the first breath, Qi settles in the lower extreme (the lowest part of the body), and one becomes an independent life that must breathe on its own from then on. Though one always exchanges Qi with heaven and earth, one cannot reconnect with primordial ancestral Qi, simply because Qi floats upward and cannot sink down. Rejoining ancestral Qi is not difficult: let go of all attachments, and the heart will naturally grow still. When the heart is still, Qi is still; when Qi is still it naturally sinks, and sinking connects it with ancestral Qi so the whole body flows as one. Over time Qi grows pure and dense—not only circulating within the body but breathing as one with the great void of heaven and earth—so there is no reason one cannot attain longevity.

To open this gate, one must first exhaust contemplation at the mountain root (the upper bridge of the nose, between the eyebrows; “exhausting contemplation” means thinking until there is nothing left to think, and thoughts dissolve on their own). Then the breath gradually passes through the Jiaji (the mid-spine pass), pierces the Niwan (the upper Dantian at the crown), and reaches the ancestral aperture of the heart of heaven (the innate root aperture), so the acquired and the innate meet like mother and child reuniting, as if a broken mirror were made whole again. Gradually it expands; the root grows firm and the treasure of life is preserved—only then can one speak of cultivation. With long practice, each inhalation and exhalation naturally enters the qi aperture (the lower Dantian gate), entirely through natural subtlety. This is a secret passed down for ages without transmission; the key lies solely in no-thought, as pure true Qi moves up and down along the Yellow Path (the proper route of ascent and descent within the body)—hence it is so by nature.

Liaozhenzi said: To keep the ever-burning lamp alight, one must use the method of adding oil. As long as one breath remains, life and destiny can be restored. If one knows the method of adding oil, the lamp can shine again when it is nearly spent—like Returning Soul Incense making withered roots flourish anew. When the oil is gone the lamp goes out; when Qi is exhausted the person dies. Without understanding this gate, one cannot add oil or renew life; when impermanence arrives, one can only leave in confusion. Hence Patriarch Lü said: “Block the leakage of essence and Qi while there is still time; renew life and destiny without delay.” Only when the connection is made can one attain longevity.

Immortal Lü (Lü Dongbin) said: “Preserve essence and qi while you are still strong; extend your life—do not delay.” When you can sustain that continuity, you may attain long life; when you cannot, you can only die when your allotted breath runs out. Human life-span is finite to begin with; in vigor people do not know how to nurture it, in decline they do not know how to repair it. As Liu Haichan said: “Morning and evening, injury comes again and again, yet one stays dazed and unaware; spirit scatters with nothing to hold it.” Bit by bit it is drained away, and primordial Yang (the root of innate yang) departs with it. Once the pulse of opening and closing stops, breath cuts off at once. How swift the gate of birth and death! The reason worldly people refuse to turn the heart toward the Dao is that they find it tedious—or fear it is hard. Yet here the work is easiest: walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, you need only keep this mind in hand and rest it at the Jiaji pass (the inner locus along the mid-spine). The true qi of Heaven and Earth is drawn in with each breath through the nose, joins with your own primordial unified true essence (xian-tian hunquan jing-qi), and condenses in the Dantian (the lower storehouse of qi), becoming nourishment for life. Qi from this pass reaches upward to Tiangu (the upper Dantian region) and downward to Weilü (the gate at the coccyx), circulating through every joint. Borrowing Heaven and Earth’s boundless yuan-qi to extend a limited body was always the easier path. If the student can truly fix attention on the Jiaji pass and hold without leaving, until it grows pure and steady, within it becomes bright and clear, like the moon mirrored in water; heterodox influences naturally dissolve, stray thoughts fall away, the restless heart settles, and idle imaginings are cast off. When thoughts cease, true breath (the deep, quiet inner respiration) appears of itself; when true breath appears, you reach true intention without intention, true breath without breathing. Breath returns to nothingness and the root of life stands firm forever; intention returns to nothingness and the nature-body abides constantly. Nature preserved and life secured, breath and thought melt together—that is the first step in dual cultivation of nature and life (xingming shuangxiu). Zhang Chonglie said: primordial qi enters through the two openings (often the two nostrils)—“drink up the waters of the Western River in one gulp” means exactly this.

Human life is like a tree without roots: it depends entirely on breath as its trunk and root. When a single breath fails to connect, the matter touches the “coming-from” within the two orifices; what Chan masters call “drinking up the West River in one gulp” points to exactly this.

Therefore, for those who seek longevity, the first step is to hold fast to innate Jing (essence) as the foundation. When Jing is strong, it naturally transforms into Qi; when Qi is strong, it naturally fills the four limbs. Once the limbs are full, the innate Yuan Qi (the Qi one receives at birth) no longer leaks outward with exhalation, while the upright Qi of heaven and earth regularly enters with inhalation. In time, fetal breathing (the utterly still respiration like a fetus in the womb) settles, the Yin’e (the protective enclosure that guards the foundation of the Dantian) grows firm, and the path to longevity opens.

This work must never be dropped from beginning to end. At the outset it serves to add oil and sustain life (replenish vitality and prolong existence); when the “medicine” arises in the Kun furnace (the “furnace” of the lower Dantian), it helps fire, opens the passes, and carries the golden fluid upward; when the “infant” (the spark of life condensed in Neidan) takes form, it supports warming and nourishing as with milk. When the infant has grown, leaves its original cavity and ascends into the inner court (the region of the upper Dantian), it is like having reached the shore and no longer needing the boat—then the work of adding oil to sustain life is no longer required.

When “oil” is added into the aperture, the subtle effects are not all the same; the test is to reach the point where it feels like hot water poured in—extremely unobstructed. This is not empty talk; students who practice carefully will find the natural wonder for themselves.

Master Nanqiao said: This single aperture of the Jiaji double pass (the pass at the center of the spine between the twenty-four vertebrae) can truly be said to seize the divine work of creation and transform allotted fate. The Yi says: “Yellow center penetrates and connects with principle; the correct position occupies the body; beauty lies within”—there is natural wonder in that.

Master Nanqiao said again: This single aperture of the Jiaji double pass lies right in the middle of the back between the twenty-four spinal segments; it can truly seize divine work and change allotted fate. The Yi says: “Yellow center penetrates and connects with principle; the correct position occupies the body; beauty lies within”—that is harmony brought to the utmost.

Min Xiaogen said: This aperture lies before the spine and behind the epigastrium—seemingly with form, yet seemingly without form. Before it opens it is called the Mysterious Pass (xuanguan); once opened it becomes the Mysterious Aperture (xuanqiao). When the practitioner reaches utmost emptiness and stillness and the mind is settled, this aperture appears; fetal breathing (taixi)—breathing so faint it seems almost absent—flows back and forth here. One’s original spirit (yuanshen), the innate numinous presence, ascends and descends through it; only then is one on the path of attaining the Dao, and only then can one speak of penetrating heaven and earth. When the original spirit enters it, one feels this place vast beyond outer bounds and fine beyond inner limits. Alchemical texts call it the spirit chamber or the yellow chamber—names differ. In sum, from forming the embryo, nurturing it, to leaving the womb, all take this as the root; yet the acquired jing, qi, and shen must not intrude on their own. For this is the Yellow Center (huangzhong), the place of congenital nourishment—like the sovereign’s hall: ministers and aides may enter only when summoned. As for the Conception and Governing vessels (Ren and Du meridians), they belong to the red and black paths—the routes of acquired essence and blood. Even if one guides them, one must rely on spirit and qi. People who do not know the difference often err by letting the acquired disturb the Yellow Center. Through the ages, alchemical classics did not speak plainly of ascent and descent through the center, saying only descent via Ren and ascent via Du—precisely for this reason. This scripture compassionately reveals what was rarely disclosed across ten thousand ages; it is also a shortcut to verifying the Dao, hence its repeated teaching to accord with nature (ziran). Once natural, there is no acquired ascent and descent—all rising and falling is congenital. I add these lines lest fellow practitioners rashly apply the mind and depart from nature to meet mishap.

Chapter Two: Concentrating the Spirit and Entering the Aperture

Perfect Man Yin said: The Supreme One said (added per the Shanshan edition): From measureless kalpas I have observed the mind to attain the Dao, down to emptiness.

Master Yin the Real Person said: The Supreme One (a honorific in Daoism for the highest deity, often identified with the Supreme Old Lord) said—this line is supplied following the mountain edition—I have, since kalpas beyond reckoning, attained the Dao through observing the mind and ultimately arrived at emptiness and nothingness. What is meant by observing the mind is not looking at the fleshy organ we call the heart. If one observes that physical heart, thoughts of stagnant blood and surging fire will arise (manuscript copies write “blood congealing” and “qi stagnation” respectively); one cannot be too careful.

Min Xiaogeng’s commentary: On careful study, the Supreme One’s “observing the mind” in fact belongs to the “three observations”: inner observation, outer observation, and distant observation. Though the human mind (renxin) is illusory, one should still step back from it and gather the spirit inward; inexhaustible subtle efficacy all springs from here. The method is simply to observe emptiness, observe nothingness, and observe stillness and silence. To observe thus is also like not observing at all—only then does the mysterious aperture open. If even a slight trace of deliberate intent is mixed in, the harm is hard to foresee, hence the admonition that one must not be incautious.

Human beings have three kinds of mind: the human mind (renxin), the Dao mind (daoxin), and the Heavenly mind (tianxin). The human mind is the deluded mind; the Dao mind is the mind that can illuminate; the Heavenly mind is the Mysterious Pass ancestral aperture—that is, the qi cavity (qixue). What the Supreme One calls observing the mind is using the Dao mind to universally illuminate the Heavenly mind.

It is also said (the manuscript wrongly reads “Master Nan Qiao says”; corrected here according to the mountain edition): The method of entering the aperture to observe the mind is to fix the spirit, harmonize breathing, and maintain clarity, emptiness, and naturalness, so that the six roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are deeply settled and the hundred meridians are at peace; then take what had been concentrated at the Jiaji Shuangguan (the paired passes in the middle of the spine) and use the Dao mind to shine universally upon the Heavenly mind.

It is also said (the manuscript mistakenly reads "Nan Qiao says" — here corrected per Yamamoto): The method of entering the orifice to observe the heart/mind is this: concentrate the spirit and stabilize the breath, remain clear, empty, and natural; let the six roots (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) settle deeply, and let the hundred meridians become peaceful. Gently guide the Qi that was previously gathered at the Jiaji and Shuangguan (the orifices in the middle section of the spine) into the Life Palace (Mingfu), return it to the Great Furnace (the alchemical stove of cultivation), and seal it firmly.

The orifice of Mingmen (Gate of Life), located one cun and two fen behind the navel, is the Heavenly Heart — also called the Spirit Furnace or the Kun Furnace (this sentence added per Yamamoto). The arising and ceasing of the breath both occur at this point.

Begin the breath from the Qi orifice; it appears like smoke from a furnace, moving with your own inhalation and exhalation, yet still governed by Huangting (the central palace where the primordial spirit resides), because the primordial spirit is present.

The method of regulation is to use the Dao-heart to illuminate the Heavenly Heart. Thus, though the Qi mechanism within the Spirit Valley may be complex, with the spirit as master it remains utterly still and unmoved; the original body is constantly preserved, spirit and Qi united, never parting. This is called external refinement, yet without losing the fetal breath (breathing so subtle it seems almost absent).

Concentrate the spirit at the Qi orifice (i.e., the Spirit Chamber), constantly turning the gaze inward and listening inward, never ceasing to watch and guard. Then this Qi orifice (i.e., the Kun Furnace) will naturally be both still and alert — never drowsy; the demon of sleep will retreat on its own, and you can withdraw or add as needed, applying the method freely.

The Surangama Sutra (a Buddhist classic) says: "When one root returns to its origin, the six roots liberate themselves." Without the six roots there are no six consciousnesses; without the six consciousnesses there are no seeds of rebirth; when the seeds are gone, this single point of true heart stands alone without support — empty and vast, bright and pure, enduring through myriad kalpas.

When one concentrates the spirit and enters the orifice in this way, if one only obtains the nature condensed from the central yellow halo (the central yellow luminous halo that appears in practice) and takes it to be the secret of dual cultivation of nature and life (cultivating both mind-nature and essence-qi together), that is in fact the first major fault in practice: cultivating only the original nature without refining the elixir—then even after countless kalpas the yin spirit (the yin shen that has not been refined by yang) can hardly attain sagehood. This method counts as a true secret of dual cultivation of nature and life because one obtains the spirit formed from the yellow halo and lets it take charge. If a person recognizes this place, they lead the single point of original spirit (Yuanshen) into the original ancestor orifice and the heavenly heart qi cavity (the key locus where Yuanshen enters), continuing gently without forcing or forgetting, drawing it near as if ascending into the realm of nothingness (the state of empty non-reliance). Before long, breath mutually contains and spirit and qi mutually embrace, forming the dan mother (the first foundation of the inner elixir), settled in the lower field (lower dantian). When the moment arrives, one gathers the innate spiritual substance within the body, draws down from above the true unity of the three powers (heaven, earth, and humanity), which naturally descends and joins with the lead and mercury within the body (two kinds of essence-qi that stand in mutual relation in the body), becoming supreme essence that melts and transforms together, like Polaris dwelling in place while the stars circle around it. All this is because the original spirit has sunk into the qi cavity, so the various qi return to the root and the myriad spirits obey command. Ancient sages yet said this is yellow leaves, not real gold—only a provisional scene, not genuine achievement. One must practice long and steadily until innate nature and life truly unite, like mercury entering lead and mutually subduing each other; only then does the great elixir truly gestate within. At this point spirit has entered the orifice, breath entirely within the orifice, and nasal breathing reduced to the faintest trace, almost as if absent—that is the verification of entering the orifice. When this verification is not lost, the two mutually subdue each other and the great elixir truly gestates within—only then does one obtain real gold.

Nan Qiezi said (the manuscript wrongly reads “the master again spoke”: the “again it is said” in the scripture was taken as “Nan Qiezi said,” and this note was written backward as “the master again spoke”; it is now corrected according to the mountain edition): The subtlety of the practice in this chapter lies in bringing the shen gathered at the double pass (shuangguan, a key internal elixir gate in the middle of the spine) and storing it in the qi cavity (the dantian where qi is gathered), holding it there without letting it stray. Only then can the primordial ancestral qi of heaven and earth connect with you and enter. Practitioners take the four double-hours zi, wu, mao, and you as their schedule, sitting for one stick of incense or three sticks of incense in each period. By then the pores have opened; you must sit another one or two sticks of incense to gather the shen inward, and only then rise and go out. Otherwise you may invite external pathogenic influences—this cannot be treated lightly.

Min Xiaogeng (Min Yide, Qing Daoist) said: The arcane teaching of this chapter was never revealed in earlier dan scriptures; the secret gist of completing the Dao and becoming true is now fully in place. In between it was altered by mo xue (heterodox doctrines), but fortunately the Great Dao was not ultimately hidden, and each item could be corrected against the mountain edition. How could that be merely human effort alone!

Chapter Three: Mutual Reliance of Shen and Breath—Chapter Three, entitled mutual reliance of shen and breath.

Master Yin Zhenren said (this passage was added from the Shan edition): The spirit in the celestial valley is clear and bright yet still and silent—this is true nature (Xing). The true qi in the spirit furnace surges and circulates without pause—this is true life (Ming). Only these two are the true fire and water, the true raven and hare (symbols of sun and moon), the true husband and wife, the true nature and life. You must make them form one mass, blend into one place, and be refined in one furnace: throughout a day and a night, spirit never leaves qi, qi never leaves spirit, nature never leaves life, and life never leaves nature. The two are two yet also one; one yet contains two within it.

This work continues in one thread from the previous chapter. Each day, before the zi hour and after the wu hour, regulate the breath and sit in stillness: open the Gate of Heaven to gather pre-heaven qi, close the Gate of Earth to guard fetal breathing (the subtle inner breath, like a fetus in the womb), draw in the upright qi of the four seasons, return it to the central chamber, and nourish the true primordial in the embryo; gather while refining, to complete the purely yang body of Qian and fulfill the life given by your parents and endowed by Heaven.

True mercury eight taels and true lead half a jin (equal in measure, symbolizing balanced yin and yang)—the breath is soft like an infant’s; yin and yang join closely, chaos undivided. Exhale gently, inhale in a fine continuous stream; inner qi does not leak outward, while outer qi is instead drawn inward. Over time, the medicine forms in the spirit furnace, fire blazes in the Dantian (energy center), and both kidneys feel like boiling water. This is the beginning of fetal breathing returning to the root, and the start of all wonders returning to the source.

At this point, in one moment of work you can gather the seasonal rhythm of a full year in heaven and earth: the pivot (the body’s qi mechanism) stops turning, sun and moon merge into one disk. Truly: where ten thousand miles lie in deep gloom, spring qi has already arrived; when the nine heavens are clear and bright, dew congeals into essence. Wonderful—this is precisely the time when true yang interpenetrates. Spirit enters qi, like heavenly qi descending to earth; qi merges with spirit, like earthly way receiving from heaven. The Yi says: Great indeed is Qian yuan—all things begin from here. The one yang is not born in Fu but in Kun; though Kun is utmost yin, yang is hidden within yin—the root of the great medicine lies precisely here.

When the medicine is about to be produced, it is like a pregnant woman guarding the fetus: in food, drink, and daily life one must be careful. A verse says: “When the tide comes, the water nearly reaches the dike; when the wind stills, no waves rise in the river’s heart. Nature still, emotions empty, the heart does not stir; sitting in stillness without dullness, no demons disturb sleep.” This depends solely on concentrating spirit on the qi aperture and settling the heart in the sea of awareness, so that the primordial spirit and true qi cling to each other in mutual affection. Then the spirit is full and one does not crave sleep; true essence congeals on its own, lead and mercury unite on their own, the embryo infant is secure on its own, the three corpses perish on their own, the nine worms depart on their own; the body naturally feels settled and light, the spirit naturally feels full and bright. At this point you are on the path of longevity—there is no need to ask further whether the Dao is achieved or not. But this state must wait until the medicine has formed in the spirit furnace, fire blazes in the Dantian, and both kidneys feel like boiling water—only then do you see the proof, and only then can you work on opening and passing through the orifices and passes.

It is also said (the Qingyang manuscript mistakenly attributes this to Nan Qiaozi; here it is corrected according to the printed edition and still counted as part of the scripture): A person devoted to true cultivation who can gather the spirit condensed at the Jiaji double pass (the pass in the middle of the spine) into the qi cavity (the place where qi is stored, usually the lower dantian) and hold it without leaving will, with each inhalation and exhalation, fully draw the innate primordial qi (the original vital breath one is born with) into the qi cavity. After long practice the qi fills the cavity, reaches the four limbs and spreads through the whole body without obstruction; then naturally both kidneys feel like boiling water and the dantian (the field of refinement) grows hot, and thus the passes open.

Nan Qiaozi said: The subtlety of this practice lies in the word “zhao” (illumination). Zhao is the Huimu (eye of wisdom)—it illuminates darkness and reveals the original face (one’s inherent true nature). The Heart Sutra says “illuminating and seeing that the five aggregates are all empty”; emptiness is the sign of light. When the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness) are all empty, the six consciousnesses have nothing to rest on, the nine orifices become clear, the hundred passes open through, and all is empty, bright, and pure. Only then does one recover original innocence and return to the unbounded (the source before division) transformation. With mind clarified and nature seen, mercury departs and gold remains (floating thoughts leave and true nature abides); one then applies the work of “adding oil to enter the cavity” (continually nourishing the passes with spirit and breath). Spirit and breath never part until the infant (the inner embryo of the refined spirit) takes form and moves into the inner court—then one may stop.

Min Xiaogen said: This inner court is the Niwan (upper dantian at the crown), also called the Jade Pure Palace (Yujing Gong), where the primordial spirit sits at ease and awaits the decree to ascend.

Chapter Four: Gathering Fire and Opening the Passes. Yin Zhenren said: Only when the infant has formed and moved to the inner court may one cease. The inner court is the Niwan, also named the Jade Pure Palace (Yujing Gong)—the place where the primordial spirit sits awaiting ascension.

Master Yin Zhenren said (a manuscript copy wrongly attributes this to Master Nanqiao): Opening the pass-gates is the first essential in cultivating truth; fetal breathing (breath so fine that inflow and outflow are barely felt, as with a fetus in the womb) is the foundation for attesting the Way. Never has anyone who neglected fetal breathing expected to open the passes, or opened the passes and still hoped for long life in this world. Xu Jingyang (the Jin-dynasty Daoist Xu Xun) said: Until the passes are open, do not sit in meditation yet—it is like turning a millstone with no grain. Once the passes are open and the locks pierced, one may escape the six paths of rebirth. That is settled doctrine.

Min Xiaogen (Min Yide) said: This pass is the primordial pass, namely the weilu pass (the gate at the lowest point of the spine), which can be opened by gathering fire; the jiaji double pass above (the gates in the middle of the back) is the same—both can be opened through the circulation of qi. The lock is a seamless lock, what great nature (natural creation) uses to seal the mysterious aperture. The method lies solely in reaching the utmost emptiness and stillness: the key of the pre-heaven appears, and the pass-gates suddenly open wide. Once this aperture opens, the nine apertures open together, fetal breathing can operate, and the Great Way has a path to follow. According to the aim of this chapter, the perfected one is speaking to those whose mysterious pass is not yet open: first dissolve accumulated yin on the form body (the physical body), and practice will be free of illness and obstruction—that too is a method. I go further and enter the body of deep stillness to reflect: the perfected one has a further meaning, supplementing what the first chapter did not spell out—fearing that people would only pursue shortcuts like “central penetration,” neglect the Ren and Du meridians, and fall short of the wondrous operation of unceasing generation; such a formula would not be the most ordinary, most orthodox practice either. After this practice has been carried through, the form body is greatly benefited and the dharma body is also nurtured, with nothing left lacking; later students who follow this toward central penetration will not mistakenly fall into “noisy Huangting” (reckless stirring at the Yellow Court and going astray). The deeper meaning is roughly this.

The method for opening the passages is as follows: choose an auspicious day on the yellow calendar, enter the chamber, sit in stillness, and settle into meditative absorption. Open the Heavenly Gate (at the crown, to gather and absorb pre-heaven primordial Qi) and close the Earth Gate (the lower orifice, to preserve embryonic breathing). Wait quietly until medicine arises in the divine furnace, fire blazes in the Dantian, and both kidneys feel hot as if simmering in a broth. Once you see these signs, seal the Xun orifice above (the nose), block Dui (the mouth), and lower the curtain (close the eyes), so that spirit and breath return to the root. Use intention to draw Qi downward to Weiqi (the lowest point of the spine), twist it together with the true fire in the water, and drive it in one surge through the Three Passes. (Another version reads “then there is naturally the true fire of heaven”—that reading is wrong.) At this stage do not let the mind scatter; instead “invert and lift the golden lock” (gather the lower orifice and lock in essence), use the heart to drive spirit, use spirit to command Qi, and use Qi to rush the fire. When fire is strong, metal melts; they clash silently within. From one breath continue to hundreds of breaths—you must break open Weiqi so the fire passes through and the metal crosses the Taiyuan Pass (the Weiqi region). If you feel stabbing pain inside the lumen opening, that is confirmation that Weiqi has opened.

Then single-mindedly drive upward from behind, tightly contract the perineum (the anal sphincter), and with nasal breathing draw at Weiqi while lifting inward, as if pushing a cart up a steep slope or poling a boat through rapids—do not pause. With fierce fire refine and cook, press straight upward; when you pass the Jiaji Double Pass (mid-spine), if pain still stabs there, that confirms the second pass is open.

Unite spirit with Qi and Qi with spirit; press the tongue to the palate, gaze toward the crown gate, and carry Qi over the Jade Pillow (the back of the head) straight to the Mudball Palace (the crown), until you feel a mellow warmth. After enough cycles of breath in one circuit, rotate both eyes leftward thirty-six times so that “lead” and “mercury” merge and true Qi enters the brain and becomes marrow.

Wait again for medicine to arise and practice as before. By day and night, do five, seven, or nine sessions daily; persist for a hundred days, and the Ren and Du meridians will naturally connect.

The primordial Qi (vital energy) in the body turns up and down like a wheel: it descends in front and rises behind—that is, the Ren channel runs downward and the Du channel upward—in an unbroken cycle. Within this flow is a dense, mist-like Qi that steams upward, passes through the Three Passes (Weilü, Jiaji, and Yuzhen at the nape), and reaches the Purple Palace (the Mud Pill at the crown). One gathers and condenses as one goes; over time the golden Qi fills the Nine Palaces of the head. What remains after nourishing the brain becomes sweet dew, unusually fragrant and fine; it drops into the mouth, and with intent one sends it to the Yellow Court Earthen Palace (the middle Dantian, the spleen-earth position), where it spreads into the hundred channels—or otherwise returns to the furnace (the lower Dantian) for warm nurturing. Thus the Three Passes open through, the hundred vessels harmonize, the whole body feels ease, and upper and lower flow together. The line “Sweet dew pours over the crown in cool clarity; together we enter the great arena of the mixed furnace” describes exactly this cool, head-permeating clarity and entering the great field of cultivation together.

This requires a hundred days of work without a single idle moment; only when the passes and orifices have fully opened may one perform “gathering the medicine and returning it to the pot”—drawing the generated medicinal Qi back into the lower Dantian. Otherwise, even if the great medicine appears while the passes are still closed, one only wastes spirit and effort; what is gathered has no effect.

Zhang Sanfeng said: “Before refining the Returning Elixir, first refine nature; before cultivating the great Dao, first cultivate the heart-mind. When the heart-mind is cultivated, elixir-nature comes of itself; when nature is complete, then the medicinal substance is generated.” The meaning is: refine heart-nature first; when heart-nature is ripe, elixir-nature and the medicinal material follow.

Huansu zi said: The subtlety of opening the passes lies in having Shen (spirit) hold the single aperture of the Double Pass (the pass in the middle of the spine). This aperture connects the twelve meridians and reaches the eighty-four thousand hair-thin orifices. When Shen is concentrated here and one practices with breath held, in time Jing (essence) fills and transforms into Qi; Qi naturally bursts open the Three Passes, flows through the hundred vessels, reaches the four limbs, and every orifice shines. This is an effective method for those of superior root capacity.

For people of middling and lower capacity, if cultivation is slack or slow, the passes and orifices (the gates and openings through which qi moves in the body) are hard to open. The fire in the dantian (the lower abdomen where essence is stored) must burn fiercely, and both kidneys must feel as if seared by heat; only then, by guiding and circulating according to the method, can they be opened. Hence the scripture says: “Heaven’s spirit dwells in the sun; human spirit dwells in the eyes.” The ancients held that wherever the eyes go, the spirit goes; wherever the spirit goes, qi follows. It also says: “When spirit moves, qi moves; when spirit stops, qi stops.” The work of opening the passes and orifices is nothing beyond this principle.

Nanqiao zi said (copyists mistakenly folded later text into the scripture, so these four characters were missing; the text is corrected here from the mountain edition): The skill in this chapter at first lies in twisting spirit and qi into one strand, silently penetrating backward and surging upward; next it is like pushing a cart halfway up a hill, or crossing a river in a swift current—you must reach the summit or the far bank before you stop. Students who fix their mind and cultivate with effort will naturally obtain this effect.

Min Xiaogeng said: My late master, Master Taixu, [compared it to] when the cart has reached halfway up the hill, or when crossing the river you hit a rapid—you must reach the top and the far shore before you can stop. Students who devote themselves and practice diligently will naturally have this result.

Min Xiaogeng said: My late master Taixu explained that Patriarch Lü’s (Lü Dongbin’s) method for healing the world also takes opening the passes as the first essential step. One may fully apply this chapter to heal the body, or use this same practice to settle the world. Reflect carefully as you practice: there is no bodily ill it cannot address, no world it cannot bring to peace and stability. The sign of success is the hundred vessels flowing freely and the four limbs unobstructed; the hard part is passing the gates and penetrating the orifices. Only when the passes are open is there benefit; only when the orifices are clear can application be right. This holds for healing the body and for ordering the world alike.

Chapter Five, Gathering Medicine and Returning to the Kettle: the fifth chapter explains gathering the “medicine” obtained in practice (essence and qi) back into the kettle—the dantian.

Yin Zhenren (a Daoist internal alchemist) said—this passage follows the Yamamoto supplement: gathering the medicine must be done at midnight in the Zi period, when Yang first stirs. At that time the sun is in the north, and the body’s Qi is at the weilu (the end of the spine); only then are heaven and earth in mutual resonance, so one can seize the moment of cosmic turning, grasp the subtlety of Yin-Yang transformation, refine Hun and Po into one, and cultivate nature and life together.

This is precisely when the Kun hexagram is nearly exhausted and the Fu hexagram gives birth to Yang: heaven and earth open at this juncture, sun and moon conjoin, plants sprout, and the body’s Yin and Yang meet. The perfected person gathers medicine at this time; inner signs and outer correspondences match like tally halves—it is the moment when heaven and human act together, most fundamental and most wondrous.

The classic says: “Follow this hour to nourish yourself, and every joint is smooth; steal this spark of life, and myriad changes are at peace.” It also says: “Whenever heaven and earth unite, steal the pivot of Yin-Yang creation.”

When the Hai period ends and the Zi period begins, clear the mind and sit in stillness, fix attention and steady the breath, withdraw the gaze and listen inward, let no thought arise and let all entanglements cease. Utterly as when Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate) has not yet divided, vast and dim as when the two modes have not yet shown their signs—clear as an autumn river mirroring the moon, still as water without a ripple. Inward, one no longer feels the body; outward, one forgets the cosmos. At the extreme of emptiness and stillness, the heart connects with heaven; the great medicine of the pre-heaven enters the Huangting (the Dantian region in internal alchemy) with the breath.

When the full count of celestial cycles is complete, “lead” and “mercury” unite (in Neidan, lead and mercury stand for pre-heaven essence and spirit-intent—not literal metals in external alchemy). The natural true fire steams through the hundred vessels, circulates above, below, and in all directions, and harmonizing Qi fills the eight directions. In an instant, thunder roars at the Xun gate, lightning flashes from the Kun gate (all figures for inner Qi arousal); the five skandhas are empty and bright, the nine palaces are transparent; the jade cauldron seethes like boiling soup, flames blaze in the golden furnace; yellow sprouts cover the ground, white snow fills the sky (all images of the elixir germinating); the essence of lead and mercury congeals into a pearl the size of a millet grain. The thirty-six palaces bloom like brocade; nowhere in Qian and Kun is there wind that is not spring.

The verse says: “Preserve spirit right in the space between the kidneys; use water and fire to nourish the hidden dragon (Yang deep in the kidneys); let radiance be silently held within; adjust the breath to accord with primordial undivided chaos.” This is the essential method of sealing (fixing the gathered Qi so it does not disperse). The Qingyang manuscript adds six lines below that the printed edition lacks—likely later insertions—so they are omitted here.

Nanchao Zi said: When cultivation reaches illuminating the mind and seeing one’s true nature, half the return to original genuineness is already complete. If a student can truly open the nine orifices, empty the five aggregates (form, sensation, perception, volition, consciousness), and clear every joint and node, gathering the medicine (absorbing the refined qi needed for inner refinement) becomes easy. Qiu Changchun (Qiu Chuji) said: “Deep plowing makes weeding easy; sowing seeds is for probing the subtle. Know the secret within the mystery, and Renyuan (primordial human vitality) fills the great thousand worlds.” It all depends on whether this person can meet an enlightened master. (This follows the carved edition; the manuscript copy differs greatly—those altered passages are not recorded here.)

Min Xiaogen (Min Yide) said: Mud-pill Li, an immortal who remained in the world, once instructed my late master Taixu Weng: There are many paths to accomplishment, and methods of gathering and concentrating are not limited to one. What the Lüzong (Discipline School), which stresses precepts and quiet clarity, practices is the highest, because what is obtained comes from empty space. When one truly attains it, if the whole body burns unbearably, that is desire stirring within. The method is simply to withdraw the heart and hide it in secrecy; then one can draw Taiji true Yang (the pure yang of the Supreme Ultimate), and the yin flame extinguishes itself. This true yang returns from the Kun position (the lower yin place in inner alchemy), rises under Qian’s protection, and reverts to the body of the Supreme Ultimate—hence it can quench a prairie fire. Those of shallow virtue cannot draw it down onto the body. Therefore learning values accumulating virtue—this is called deep plowing. Next, one need only hide deeply amid court and market (body in the dusty world, heart in retreat) without laborious sowing; Renyuan gathers on its own from the void, while one waits in stillness and emptiness. This is the Lüzong transmission. If Taiji true Yang is summoned by virtue, it must descend from the crown gate, drip upon the head and respond at the que (the spot between the eyebrows); for a moment there is cool clarity—such is the verification. The saying “Qian yuan obtained from the crown; when the three realms are established, cool clarity at once”—refers to this. What Nanchao recorded is extremely subtle; the Qingyang manuscript omitted it, so the carved edition is used to restore the text.

Min Yide also said: I pondered again and again what my teacher had said when we met, turning it over in my mind until I could not sleep. After a long while I suddenly entered a state in which I saw my teacher Taixu Weng seated at ease as on ordinary days, holding a scroll of green paper with characters in gold. He said: “This was left by Master Qiongguan; Peng of Helin compiled it into Secret Within the Immortal’s Pillow. Copies still exist in the world; they can be sought out.” Min Yide knelt and read it, memorizing the main points: it was exactly what The Grand Supreme Purpose records—one must prepare “live tiger and living dragon” (vital, responsive partners in a state of quiet cultivation), and in emptiness resonate with the Grand Mystery; the pure cultivation partner uses primordial Qi to draw primordial Qi and True Unity to draw True Unity—this is the subtle working of natural resonance.

The book contains eighty-one verses. A seven-character verse says: When the live tiger and living dragon are in quiet cultivation, they interact in emptiness without either side being aware; what arises from nothing still returns to the other, and what is within returns again to nothing—then I obtain it. When obtained, it is like the clouds and rain of Witch Gorge; all depends on carefully sustaining it with the power of the eyes. The meaning is that the spirit-light passes through from behind the eyes and ascends, so that it does not leak outward with emotional desire.

A closing four-character verse explains the character shi (teacher/master). The Erya says shi means “multitude”; the Yupian says it means to take others as model—that is, to use many men and women together to draw the primordial, like the Buddhist “universal assembly” (no exclusion of wise or foolish—a gathering that broadly bestows on all). The Book of Rites says: the teacher uses affairs to instruct and makes virtue clear. “Using affairs” means, for example, gathering pure cultivation partners to resonate with and draw the Grand Mystery; “making virtue clear” also includes the meaning of accumulating virtue. The sense of shi lies precisely here.

The verse says: The Grand Mystery and True Unity are supremely soft and still, like the feminine; when there is feeling, communication is achieved, and all practice accords with “teacher.” If the number five-and-five is not complete, resonance cannot occur; gain it and you flourish, lose it and you wither. The Dao neither grants nor seizes; if De stands alone, the person stands alone.

Taixu Weng said: This depends on self-exertion—do not fail in it; you yourself understand. He also said: Later ages will surely have people who misunderstand—not only by cutting the list of meritorious practices short. Two thousand five hundred people make one shi; “five-five” explains the “multitude” in the character shi. “Alone” is the opposite of multitude; “when De is alone, one is alone” means that one without De, even if meeting a crowd, is as if meeting no one. Nanqiao’s account of the character shi carries these deep meanings; he recorded it without explaining. Grateful for my teacher’s compassionate instruction, I respectfully wrote it down.

Sixth Chapter: The Mao–You Celestial Circuit

Master Yin the True Person said: The previous chapter described how the pre-heaven great medicine enters the Huangting (Yellow Court)—that is the work of gathering the medicine. This chapter describes the Mao–You celestial circuit, in which qi is made to rotate left and right; that is the work of closing the session and holding fast to what has been gained.

Zhang Quanyi’s Secret of Lead and Fire says: The great medicine arises at a fixed time—within the two quarter-hours when Hai is ending and Zi is beginning. Spirit and essence meet; light shines within; in dim, trance-like awareness the bright moon appears. When the union is complete, the medicine’s qi sinks and flows downward like bubbling and surging. The one Yang returns; the body feels light, yet there is a sign of leakage. At that moment you must at once close the Great Mystery Pass (the text also calls it the Great Origin Pass) and use fire to drive the golden essence past the Weilu point (the lower end of the spine). When gathering the medicine, fix the gaze on the Niwan (mud pellet, at the crown); it rises along the left side, pauses and is held there—this is called single-minded adjustment, until the bright moon appears in the brain—that is, until the mysterious image shows in the brain. Then release it from the right side and turn back in a circuit. When the six lines’ count is complete, the medicine reaches the Qian peak (the crown); when Yang reaches its extreme, Yin is born, and you turn to the right. Then open the passes to withdraw the fire; gaze downward and hold the Kuntian (the field below the navel). Rise on the right, descend on the left; hold six times; when the count of three times eight is full, that is one circuit of heaven. This alone is the natural true fire-timing; ascent, descent, drawing, and adding all come of themselves. There is no need to speak of waxing, full, waning, and new moon, nor to lay out long explanations of “bathing” and the like. Strip away alternate names and sweep aside metaphor—only these few sentences are the true explanation.

This practice must be done after the gathered medicine has been drawn back into the elixir cauldron; only then will the formed Golden Elixir not dissipate. Once the great medicine has been gathered into the tripod, if you do not perform the Mao–You celestial circuit, it is like having a cart without wheels or a boat without a rudder—how could you travel far or carry a load?

The method is as follows: First use a ritual implement to block the Great Mystery Pass; then let circulating qi lead the way, with the gaze looking down to the Kuntian below the navel and staying there a good while. Then slowly rise on the left until you illuminate the Qian peak and pause briefly. Then descend on the right back to the Kuntian—one such round counts as one degree. Turn thus thirty-six times; that is advancing the Yang fire.

After completing the thirty-six cycles, remove the ritual implements used in practice, close the orifices, and reduce the fire phase. Still let the “master of circulating qi” (the mind that guides the flow of qi) preside: first look downward toward the Kun navel (the lower abdominal region associated with Kun), pause for a long while, then slowly ascend along the right side to the Qian crown (the crown of the head; “Gan” in the text means Qian), pause briefly, descend along the left side, and return to the Kun navel—this counts as one cycle. Do this twenty-four times; this is called “Retreating the Yin Talisman” (the stage after yang ascent in the microcosmic orbit when the fire is drawn back and consolidated). Pure Yang (Lü Dongbin) said: “When someone asks me about the method of cultivation, I point afar to a single round of moon on the edge of heaven.” He meant precisely using mind-intention to govern the circulation of qi, like the moon’s waxing and waning—no words needed.

This practice and “Gathering the Medicine and Returning It to the Cauldron” (taking the inner elixir and gathering it back into the Dantian) are originally one continuous work: below the Crooked River (where inner-alchemy “medicine” and fluid essence gather), one gathers the medicine; the gathered fire carries the metal up to the Qian crown, so that Qian and Kun unite at the Nine Palaces (the nine regions of the head where spirit and qi meet), then circulate along the orbit to condense. What is clear condenses at the Qian crown; what is turbid flows back to the Kun furnace (the lower Dantian). Day after day one replenishes and withdraws in this way, uniting in this way—mercury gradually increases while lead gradually decreases; in time lead is exhausted and mercury is dry, yin is exhausted and yang is pure, and the Muni pearl forms—this is the Golden Fluid Great Returning Elixir.

The lead in Kan is originally the true essence of the Nine Heavens; the mercury in Li is originally the true qi of the Nine Heavens. Once the Qian body is broken apart, the two separate into two “strings” (like the moon’s first and last quarters, symbolizing yin and yang parting). Ordinary people exhaust them day by day; when they are spent, death follows. The perfected person, however, emulates the body of Qian and Kun and the function of Kan and Li, seizes the work of creation and transformation, and alters the fate of decline and death—using the lead in Kan to control the mercury in Li, taking the yang in Kan to control the yin in Li, until yang is wholly pure and the Qian yuan body is restored. Ziyang (Zhang Boduan) said: “Take the solid center of the Kan position, and dot it to transform the yin within the belly of the Li palace. From this one becomes a healthy Qian body; hiding, storing, soaring, and leaping—all depend on the heart.” That is: take the one solid yang line in the center of Kan and use it to transform the yin in Li’s belly, thereby turning into the firm, healthy Qian body; concealment, manifestation, ascent and descent are entirely governed by the heart-mind.

Nan Qiaozi said (the copied manuscript mistakenly inserted this passage into the scripture text): When qi rises from behind the back and descends in front of the body, this is gathering the external medicine (absorbing refined essence not yet returned to the furnace). Turning left thirty-six times advances the yang fire (using breath and intention to refine and raise yang qi); turning right twenty-four times retreats the yin talisman (gathering in the fire phase and letting qi descend)—both are for collecting the internal medicine (the medicine refined and ready for forming the elixir), so it returns to the pot (the dantian within the body) and is not lost. Day by day it accumulates until one refines a pearl the size of a grain of millet; thereby one becomes a true person (one who has attained the Dao)—this is what is meant.

The verse says: Shift the Northern Dipper past the Southern Star; with both hands together uphold the wheel of sun and moon; fly up to the summit of Kunlun; in an instant it turns into purple clouds at the highest heaven; refine a pearl the size of a grain of millet—thereby one becomes a true person; this is what is meant.

The verse also says: Shift the Northern Dipper past the Southern Star; with both hands together uphold the wheel of sun and moon; fly up to the summit of Kunlun; in an instant it turns into purple clouds at the highest heaven.

Min Xiaogeng said: Carefully considered, this chapter is about taking the single yang in the middle of the Kan trigram within oneself as the seed—different in meaning from the previous chapter. The previous chapter obtained it from the void; this chapter achieves it through divine accomplishment in cultivation.

Chapter Seven on Nourishing the Sacred Embryo: Chapter Seven, warming and nourishing the sacred embryo (the Dao embryo already formed within but still needing to be nurtured).

Master Yin Zhenren said: At first that bit of golden essence (Jing) lay hidden in the ore in undifferentiated wholeness; forced by fire, it rose into the Qian palace (the head). Gradually gathered and refined day by day, reduced again and again, smelted again and again, until smoke cleared and fire died—only then did it form one grain of Dragon-Tiger Golden Elixir (the internal elixir from the union of yin and yang qi). Round, full, lively and nimble, its light flickers and shines upon Kunlun (the crown); released, it can pierce the aperture between heaven and earth; withdrawn, it hides again in the Emerald Palace (an inner landscape palace in the head). Then medicine no longer arises, the wheel no longer turns, fluid no longer descends, and fire no longer blazes fiercely; the five qi all turn toward upper yang, the three flowers all gather at the Qian apex, yang is pure and yin residue is stripped away—the elixir is ripe and the pearl is alive: these are the signs of this stage.

Yet though there is treasure in the cauldron, it is not yet true treasure. To condense the spirit fetus anew, the pearl still rests in Kunlun—how can it descend to form the fetus? One must rely on one’s own spiritual clarity, send forth true yang qi to urge it, and again use the solar true fire to press it. Press long enough, and the spirit elixir will drop at the right moment, enter the mouth, turn into golden fluid, and shoot straight into the inner gate of the elixir field (dantian). In an instant clouds rise and rain falls, thunder roars and lightning flashes; after a brief battle, the body’s yin sediment is exhausted; then the hundred spirits gather like spokes to a hub, and the seven treasures pay homage like rivers to the sea.

Xu Xuanping said: “When spirit dwells in the aperture, a thousand kinds of wisdom arise; when the elixir enters the cauldron, ten thousand transformations stir.” Having brought the spirit elixir into the cauldron, one cultivates inside and out, refining again and again until one shares virtue with heaven and earth. Then in the great void there is a point of true yang that enters the middle palace through the nasal aperture and merges with one’s spirit elixir. This is one’s inner spirit resonating with the spirit of heaven and earth—signs within, responses without, blended as one. Laozi said: “When a person can often be clear and still, heaven and earth will come to him.” When these two yang currents first unite and the sacred fetus begins to form, one must constantly watch and guard it carefully—as when a young dragon first tends its pearl or a girl first carries a child—firmly sealing the sacred chamber so nothing leaks; moreover, in every moment, in the four dignities of walking, standing, sitting, and lying, one must always tend it, thought after thought staying here, muddled and undifferentiated, as if holding an infant in one’s arms, all day like a simpleton, without a moment’s break. Immortal Ge said: “Breath after breath returning to the middle palace without interruption—the innate true fetus will naturally solidify and condense within.” Chen Xubai said: “Do not let thoughts arise; once thought arises, fire flares upward. Do not let intent scatter; once intent scatters, fire turns cold.” As long as thought does not arise and intent does not scatter—holding the light in silent guarding, true breath continuous and fine—this is the firing process for nourishing the sacred fetus.

Master Nanqiao said: Using the Dao to nurture the sacred embryo—the spiritual fetus formed in Neidan (internal alchemy) practice—is not unique to Daoism. Buddhism likewise speaks of an embryonic body taking shape and then being “born.”

Those who truly cultivate, in stillness and quiet concentration, enter samadhi (profound meditative absorption) by merging Original Spirit, Original Qi, and Original Essence into one and returning them to the Heart-of-Heaven aperture—the vital point of void lucidity in the heart-mind. Buddhism names this right concentration, right center, and right reception; from samadhi of true fixation one enters the great samadhi of true emptiness. When concentration is entered, the sun of wisdom hangs high and illumines the great thousand worlds; the Great Dao stands clear, and body and nature accord with the spontaneous way. When the ten-month sacred embryo is complete, a single clap of thunder bursts forth from the Dantian (the lower abdominal energy center where the inner elixir dwells).

To contemplate the Heart-of-Heaven aperture, one listens inward to it with the ear and looks inward toward it with the eye—settled and unmoving, silent yet awake. The body becomes like lapis lazuli or crystal, transparent inside and out, holding the Buddha-realms of the ten directions; still and at ease in concentration, empty and tranquil, utterly one. This is the method of samadhi of true fixation.

The verse says:

What a man carries is the pregnancy of the immortal embryo—because night after night the toad-moon light (the radiance of lunar essence and Original Jing) rounds to fullness. Having seized the genuine creative transformation of Yin and Yang, within one’s own body there is Jade Pure Heaven—the supreme pure realm of Daoism.

Min Xiaogen says: Read this chapter closely—it follows directly on the two previous chapters on “obtaining the elixir and returning to the crucible,” and explains how to nourish the sacred embryo (the stage in Neidan where vital Qi is gathered into a seed and then gently warmed and matured). The methods in those two chapters differ, yet each still falls short in some way.

In one case, cultivation of nature (Xing) is not yet fully refined. Disturbance from outside throws off the firing times and kindles a blaze that spreads out of control. Fortunately, through accumulated virtue and practice, one moves the Lord of Creation (the source of all transformation), who sends down true Yang so the physical body can be saved. Even so, after such an ordeal jade and stone alike are chipped—gain and loss both leave marks. To preserve what has already been achieved, one must again use the right method to settle and restore it.

The mistake in the other chapter is that work on life-essence (Ming) is not yet mastered. What is gathered and obtained is entirely post-heaven—the “yellow leaves” of alchemical texts, not true gold. Why? The three treasures of the person come from one’s parents, and parents come from Heaven and Earth—that is the flow from the Supreme Ultimate and the Non-Ultimate at the root out to the branches. For a human being that counts as pre-heaven; for the Dao it still belongs to the post-heaven side. The perfected person knows this, and therefore first establishes embryonic breathing within (breath so fine it seems absent yet present), opens the pre-heaven Mysterious Pass, and touches the “nostril” of the Great Creation—breathing with it in and out—so that human primordial Yuan can be drawn forth, leaving Kun and entering Kun again. The two “Kun”: the first is the direction Kun, southwest; the second is Kun within the body, the lower abdomen. Breathing in this way gathers true Yuan back into the Kun furnace, refining in the morning and nurturing at night; then, together with the various kinds of true Yuan drawn in daily, it is refined into a pearl and led into the spirit chamber (where the primordial spirit and true seed are housed and warmed), fused into a single grain—only then is the embryo formed.

My late master Master Taixu said that only at this point may one undertake long nourishment; if what has been gathered is mixed and impure, one must apply further effort to smelt and dissolve it. What was formed earlier was still only a phantom embryo. The method is to use spirit to drive it out from the inner court, melt it into golden fluid, and return it to the Kun furnace; draw in the “one” that descends through response at the mysterious aperture, fuse it with what the spirit furnace has refined into one grain, lead it back to the spirit chamber, and quietly breathe and nurture—only then can it be called a true seed. What this chapter says matches this entirely. Therefore the “nostril aperture” here must not be taken as the physical nostrils on the face; this aperture is the mysterious aperture—“nostril” only picks up the root meaning of the word. Master Nan Qiaozi held part of this meaning back and did not say it all plainly, for fear of misleading later students; I dare not fail to explain it clearly here.

Chapter Eight is titled “Suckling and Nurturing the Infant.”

Master Yin Zhenren said: When the previous mastery of fire phases—the skill of knowing when to advance, retreat, hasten, or slow in practice—is fully in place, and the Sacred Embryo (the inner elixir body formed from the union of jing, qi, and shen) is complete, it is like fruit that must ripen or a fetus that must be born: after ten full months it leaves the womb. Buddhism, fearing it would mislead later generations, did not dare to speak of this plainly. Buddhism calls it the Dharmakaya (the body of perfected truth); Daoism calls it the Infant (the newly formed yang spirit).

The Qi cavity is where immortals nourish the fetal body and settle the breath; it is also where the Red Child (the body of pure yang just formed) finds its place to stand. Manuscripts that write “qi” (ordinary breath) instead of Qi (vital energy) are wrong. The Qi cavity is the Mysterious Aperture, also called the Spirit Chamber—the place where the immortal embryo is formed and nurtured. The qi cavity, by contrast, is the Spirit Furnace, also called the Kun Furnace—the place where the “medicine” is returned to the furnace to be refined. The two must not be confused.

Once the Infant is seated quietly in the still chamber and established in the ritual space, it must be hidden within what is doubly mysterious, guarded through silence and stillness. First one borrows the Kun Mother’s Yellow Sprouts (the innate true yang born from Kun yin, used to nourish the Sacred Embryo), then gathers the vital energy of heaven and earth to feed it. Through mutual resonance, breathing, opening and closing, movement and stillness arise of themselves, free and at ease—like an immortal roaming in the Land of Not-Even-Anything (a realm without obstruction), like the Tathagata in samadhi in the Sea of Quiescence.

Even at this utmost point of stability, one must still hold the Guanyuan (the pass where primordial qi is anchored, the lower dantian region), not letting the outer Six Dusts (form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects) or demon thieves enter, nor letting inner afflictions and stray thoughts disturb. In sitting and lying down, keep clarity and purity; in going and staying, exert steady care—only then can the Six Gates (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) leak nothing, the One Way remain constant, the true body stay unmoved, and the elixir foundation long endure.

Morning and evening, nurture it thus—like a dragon tending its pearl, like a crane brooding its egg—never forgetting for a moment. Only then is the true person “hidden in the deep abyss, floating yet holding to the center within the compass” (the correct position of the dantian). The method is: let the eyes look inward at the inner aperture, the ears listen inward at the inner aperture; whether concealed or soaring, it is always this one mind.

This method is to use the eyes to look inward at the inner orifices (the energy gates within the body), and the ears to listen inward to those inner orifices. Whether hidden or soaring forth, it is always this one mind alone. Then, without being pulled by outer sound, color, odor, or taste, and without the burden of inner guessing, rigid certainty, stubborn attachment, or ego, the heart becomes empty, lucid, and bright; the myriad phenomena grow clear and still, and one’s original red child (the innate true nature) gladly settles there. Laozi said: “Set the self aside, and the self is thereby fulfilled; forget the body, and the body is thereby preserved.” When the heart is empty and unobstructed, the spirit is refined to greater clarity; when the body is empty and unobstructed, the spirit is refined to greater purity. Only when form and spirit mutually embrace, and body and mind unite as one, does one reach the wondrous union of form and spirit and merge with the Dao in truth. Ancient immortals said: at this stage the infant gradually takes on a visible form, no different from an ordinary person, and one must all the more hanhua yinyao (conceal one’s brilliance and hide one’s light). Calm the field of the heart; if joy and elation arise, that is falling into demonic influence. When the infant has fully grown, it naturally tuqiao (leaves the orifice): sometimes rising to the crown (the top of the head), sometimes ascending into empty space, sometimes suddenly transcending the three realms (the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm), no longer within the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water)—appearing and vanishing, hidden or manifest, beyond human reckoning. This is a stage every practitioner of the Dao must pass through. Sages who reach this point simply abide in clarity, emptiness, depth, and stillness; this is the supreme path of qianyang shengying (secretly nurturing the sacred infant—the Yang spirit cultivated in Neidan (internal alchemy)).

Nan Qiaozi said: Once the firing times have been set and the holy embryo (the prenatal body formed in internal alchemy) is complete, it all depends on the spiritual Father and spiritual Mother—the yin and yang roots of generation—condensing together. At this stage, though the infant (the prenatal primordial spirit born from the holy embryo, not the physical child) has already taken form, it is not yet mature. The six roots—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—must be deeply settled; every stray thought must be cleared away, until there is the same stillness as the Great Void (the utterly empty, utterly quiet cosmic origin). Only then can the infant dwell peacefully in the quiet chamber and abide on the cultivation ground, and receive nourishment from the void ancestral Qi (primordial yuan qi) of the spiritual Father and Mother. The method of nurturing is this: let mind and spirit enter great samadhi (dading), without a thread of distracting thought; open the Gate of Heaven to gather prenatal light-qi, close the Gate of Earth to guard the spirit chamber (where the primordial spirit resides); by day and night, stay constantly vigilant so that the six defilements of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects do not intrude from without, and the inner five yin along with demons of anger and the like do not stir and disturb within. Keep intention careful and sincere at every moment. When three years of full nurturing pass and the infant matures, it can rise beyond to the Heaven Valley (the mud-pill region at the crown), no different from merging with the Great Void.

The verse says: Gestation in the womb takes ten months; nursing the infant takes a thousand days. When the embryo leaves the realm of desire and enters the inner court, seize the moment to ascend straight to the purple heaven.

Min Xiaogen said: The Qingyang manuscript copy mixed in words from an outsider. This chapter already says the infant has grown too large for the acupoint to hold it, yet at the end of the commentary someone added that “after the infant matures it rises from the Weilu (tail-gate at the base of the spine) to the Heaven Valley.” If it has already grown and cannot stay in the cavity, how could that mean the physical body? Would the infant drill upward from the Weilu? How could one complain that the mysterious aperture is too narrow, yet pass through the Weilu and go up? The text contradicts itself. The present edition follows the mountain manuscript in correcting this.

Chapter Nine: Moving the Spirit into the Inner Court—that is, the ninth chapter, entitled settling the mind-spirit within the inner court.

Immortal Yin said: At first one must act with purpose—that is, gathering the medicine and forming the elixir (neidan: gathering and refining essence and qi until they coalesce into the inner pill), thereby completing the work on life (ming); in the end one must be without deliberate action—that is, embracing unity and stilling the mind (holding to pure oneness and quieting the heart), thereby completing the work on nature (xing). Scholar Shi Jianwu said: “Bodhidharma faced the wall for nine years before he transcended the inner court; the World-Honored One (Shakyamuni Buddha) stilled his mind for six years before he escaped the cage.” What is meant by stilling the mind is dwelling deep in a quiet chamber, sitting upright in silence: not a speck of dust, all cares quietly dissolved—no thinking, no scheming, no deliberate doing, following fate at ease. Neither looking nor listening, embracing the spirit in stillness, the body holds the utmost empty realm, constantly aware, constantly bright. When this mind is always bright, the myriad methods return to one.

The infant (a metaphor for the pure original spirit, yuanshen) always dwells in the clear still realm, nests in the unmoving place—form cannot obstruct it, emptiness cannot bind it; the body is like empty space, and thus at ease and free. Yin Changsheng said: “The formless true person dwells in the upper realm; in empty stillness nothing dusty can hinder; when the work of deliberate action is done, one turns to non-action (wuwei), and within non-action there is also its own cultivation.” What “dwells in the upper realm” means is the infant nesting in the Celestial Valley (upper dantian, the mud pill in the head); what “empty stillness and bright mind” means is Patriarch Lü’s (Lü Dongbin) method of retiring at dusk to rest and stilling the mind to merge with the Dao; what “non-action also has its cultivation” means the Supreme Lord’s aim of the body as the world, the world as the mind, and mutual support from afar.

Next is what Tan Changzhen said: “The infant moves up to the upper dantian, sits upright, stills the mind, and merges with nature. Three thousand merits of cultivation fulfilled, let him become Buddha or ascend as immortal.” The reason one must move to the Celestial Valley is not that the place towers to heaven, but that it is purely one and unmixed; when the infant dwells there, not the slightest emotional thought arises. Once the mind of wishing to become an immortal or a Buddha stirs, one falls into the pit of birth and death and cannot escape. Within this clear body there is empty openness, bright clarity—nothing possessed, nowhere to abide. The mind-body can know; knowing is the mind. The mind is originally empty and still, utmost empty, utmost spirit. What is known from empty stillness and spirit is the prior knowing.

Those who awaken from within emptiness, stillness, and luminous clarity are the precursors in awakening (those who realize before ordinary people). Awareness that arises naturally without deliberate thought is called right enlightenment (zhengjue, authentic awakening); clarity that comes without reflection is called true knowing (zhenzhi, genuine insight). To cultivate emptiness yet neither take emptiness as something to verify nor raise thoughts of “emptiness”—that is true emptiness (vacuum without clinging); to cultivate concentration yet neither take concentration as something to verify nor raise thoughts of “concentration”—that is true stillness (ding without clinging). When emptiness and stillness both reach utmost genuineness, one passes through without obstruction. Once Tianji (the innate subtle spark of life) appears and innate awakened nature (huixing) becomes responsive, it is suddenly as if a lotus opens or as if one wakes from a dream: the realm of Qianyuan (Heaven’s origin, the pure-yang creative ground) stands forth at once, filling heaven and earth like an inexhaustible treasury (wujin zang). Then the heart-nature stays constantly bright, clear and undimmed, its radiance illumining the cosmos, penetrating past and present, changing in ways beyond measure, wondrous beyond fixed form. The person still has ordinary eyes, yet light of the wisdom eye (huyan, the eye that sees reality) shines forth; the ordinary mind is not exchanged for another, yet the light of awareness is already one with Buddha-mind. This is because seeing nature has reached its depth and practice has reached fineness—so one nature becomes perfectly round and bright, and the six roots (yan, er, bi, she, shen, yi—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are suddenly stilled.

What are the six penetrations (liutong)? Master Yuyang (Wang Chuyi of the Quanzhen lineage, titled Yuyang) said: When sitting in stillness until utmost quiet, heart-light suddenly flares; inward one can see one’s own lungs and liver, outward one can see one’s own brows and lashes; spirit and intelligence surge, and in a day one may produce ten thousand words, expounding the Dharma and discussing the subtle without end—this is penetration of the mental realm (xinjing tong). Without leaving the room one can foreknow the future; while sitting inside one can see through walls—this is penetration of the spirit realm (shenjing tong). While sitting upright one suddenly falls into darkness and confusion, unable to distinguish anything; after a moment the heart’s aperture opens wide, and heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers are as clear as lines on the palm—this is penetration of the heavenly eye (tianyan tong). One can hear speech from the ten directions as if at the ear, and recall events of past lives as if before the eyes—this is penetration of the heavenly ear (tian’er tong).

Whether by day or by night, one can enter great samadhi (dàdìng)—a state in which discursive thought ceases and spirit-consciousness sinks into deep, stable concentration. In that concentration, looking upward one sees the heavens, looking downward one sees hell, and one penetrates the countless kalpas of past and future and the roots of karmic destiny. This is penetration of karmic nature (sùxìng tōng)—the ability to know one’s karmic affinities and allotted fate. One can also manifest miraculous transformations, come and go at will, and discern what is hidden and subtle in the minds of sentient beings: before another person’s thought has even arisen, one already knows it clearly in advance. This is penetration of others’ minds (tāxīn tōng).

How can this be? Zisi (Confucius’s grandson) said: “When the heart-mind’s essence is pure and its spirit is luminous, that is called sageliness.” Therefore, when the heart is settled, wisdom can arise; when the heart is still, responsiveness appears; when the heart is quiet, knowing emerges; when the heart is empty, clarity shines; when the heart is sincere, penetrating illumination opens; when the heart is open and receptive, awareness reflects. When practice reaches this stage, one must not cling to or be stained by any realm of good or evil—pavilions, terraces, halls, all buddhas and immortals included. At this point one should expand oneself with the Way of emptiness (xūkōng), so that the spirit of the Heavenly Valley (Tiāngǔ—the Niwan or mud-pill palace at the crown, where the original spirit dwells) ascends into the Great Void and merges with emptiness as one. With further diligence, one refines the spirit of the Heavenly Valley to the utmost of refinement and subtlety, and thereby attains the fruit of the Dao.

The Supreme Venerable (Tàishàng, Lord Lao) said: Merge this body, this world, and body-and-heart into the aperture (the pass where spirit and qi converge in practice—the “mysterious pass”). Outwardly, blend with the world and practice “harmonizing one’s light and mingling with the dust”; move among the dusty world and walk the same path as others. In coming and going, advancing and retreating, do not show sharp edges, while steadily accumulating hidden merit (yīngōng). With open sincerity, universally deliver beings, cultivating and verifying at the same time. This is precisely the subtle application of dual cultivation of nature and life (xìngmìng shuāngxiū—cultivating both one’s inner nature and one’s embodied life). To trace its aim, it is nothing beyond the arcane work of the Sovereign Ultimate’s opening and closing (Huángjí hébì—taking the heart as the pivot, now opening, now closing). What the Book of Changes calls “acting before Heaven, so that Heaven does not go against” means that the trigger springs from within the heart: the qi of the two great domains of Heaven and Earth stir together with it and do not conflict. This is what is meant by a person being able to expand and manifest the Great Dao. As for the method, it is nothing other than settling the spirit in the Heavenly Valley and cultivating until one reaches a state of “not knowing, not cognizing—only depth, only stillness,” so that inner yang brilliance is not leaked outward; thus it grows ever wider and ever greater, ever farther and ever clearer, naturally transforming and giving birth to spirit, issuing together with the subtle mechanism of Heaven without going against it. This is the aim of a person’s ability to magnify the Dao.

In practice, the method comes down to letting the spirit (Shen) rest in the “Heavenly Valley”—the mud pill at the crown, the upper Dantian. What one actually does is only “not knowing, not aware,” seeking depth and stillness alone, so that the “sunlight” (the brightness of the Yang spirit) does not leak outward. Then the spirit-light can grow ever wider and reach ever farther in clarity, naturally transforming and giving birth to spirit. Born again and again without end; transformed again and again without limit.

The East Flower Emperor (Donghua Dijun) said: “The Dharma-body is vast and firm, communing with Heaven and Earth; the mind-nature is round and bright, penetrating past and present. If you do not recognize that the Three Powers (Heaven, Earth, and Humanity) were originally one, you merely let the mind-nature shine in isolation.” This means one should take universal benefit as one’s work—the sense of “fulfilling three thousand [merits] and completing eight hundred [virtues].”

He also said: “In the world there are also those who cultivate the primordial (Yuan): pre-heaven and post-heaven coalesce as one, like a holy infant (Shengying). If the crown gate has not yet opened the great eye, do not let the shadow scatter or the form split apart.” This means post-heaven still mingles in the mix. Post-heaven has form; a sheet of paper can block it—how much more flesh and bone? If it were purely pre-heaven, even gold and jade could be seen through—why struggle to “open the great eye”! Precisely because post-heaven is mixed in, even if one goes out with opened eyes and transformations seem limitless, one has still not united in virtue with Heaven. Hence one must add the work of “nine years facing the wall”—long stillness in meditation—to wash post-heaven clean before one can merge with Heaven. Then one naturally leaps beyond the Five Phases (Wuxing), returns to the village of Wuji (the limitless), and realizes true appearance—mysterious upon mysterious; attains authentic achievement—complete in the fullest sense; becomes a body diamond-hard and indestructible, a person undying for ten thousand years. One awakens oneself and awakens others, so the seed of the Dao flourishes and continues. When three thousand merits are full, the white crane comes to welcome; when eight hundred practices are round, the elixir writ arrives by decree; one ascends to the golden palace and in the Emperor’s realm bows with folded hands.

The Zhonghe Ji says: “After accomplishment, the crown gate opens one aperture; within it lies another layer of Heaven and Earth.” Yet is that crown gate easy to open! First send the samadhi fire (the inner fire of deep stillness) to penetrate what is blocked; then gather the sun fire to strike. The two fires blaze and assault without pause; in an instant red light fills the bounds and purple flame spreads through the sky—a clap of thunder—and is that gate easily opened!

First send forth the fire of samadhi (the true fire born in seated meditation), to clear blocked and obstructed passages; then gather the fire of the sun (yang fire) and strike. The two fires blaze and surge, attacking without cease; in an instant red light fills the realm and purple flames cover the sky. At a clap of thunder, the heavenly gate (where the yang spirit enters and exits at the crown) opens. Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) also said: “After one has truly passed through nine years of firing, suddenly the heavenly gate at the crown breaks open. The true person appears, with vast spiritual power; from then on one may rejoice in becoming a celestial immortal.” This refers to the case when the post-heaven aspect is not yet fully refined and one breaks out through the crown gate. As for accumulating merit and practice, it all lies in the spirit dwelling securely in the inner court (the mud pill, niwan). I said before: “Only when merit is complete may one ascend to the jade capital (the celestial court). Limitless spiritual power resides in this very form of flesh. When practice and merit are complete, one attains the method of transcendence—light as air, mounting a crane to pay homage to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). Child, the golden gate is in need of talent. Master Qiu (Qiu Chuji) won high merit because he saved people in disaster and guided them across. Merely stopping killing is inferior to dissolving the karma of slaughter, so that the three thousand worlds all become a spring terrace of great peace and joy.”

Master Nan Qiao said: How vast is my teacher’s intent! People today obtain one formula or one method and hide it in secret, dreading lest it leak out; compared with the teacher, should they not die of shame? Alas! To ferry others is to ferry oneself; accumulated practice is cultivation of immortality, for universal salvation is precisely the nature aligned with heaven (xing tian).

Min Xiaogen said: Dreading leakage—compared with the teacher, should one not die of shame? Alas! To ferry others is to ferry oneself; accumulated practice is cultivation of immortality; universal salvation is the nature aligned with heaven.

Min Xiaogen writes: After comparing the manuscript copies, this chapter has been heavily revised and cut; the annotations are almost beyond counting. Here I follow the Shanzhi edition’s supplements throughout. Reflecting carefully on the scripture, this is precisely the introductory practice for “healing the world” (yishi—using Daoist methods to remedy the world’s fate and deliver sentient beings). The aim of complete realization is also indicated, though the intent to heal the world is not stated outright. The immortal Patriarch Li of Niwan (the mud-pill palace) held that this book, together with the Jinhua Zongzhi (Essential Purpose of the Golden Flower) revealed in the Shanzhi edition, both appeared for the sake of yishi, and should carry forward the mandate of Yuanshi (the Primordial Lord). Yet this chapter does not explicitly speak of responding to the times and saving the world; it speaks directly of the essential teaching as nothing other than these principles—something grasped from what the Supreme Lord indicated. When the True Person was in the world, he manifested through magical arts; there is no record that he promoted yishi. This scripture was likely composed after ascension, also compelled by the turn of fate. Hence Patriarch Li’s verse: “What I wished to say but had not said, I now shall say,” which appears in the next chapter of this scripture.

Chapter Ten: Refining Emptiness to Merge with the Dao

The True Person Yin quoted the words of Master Qiu: “Shatter empty space; halt the turning of countless kalpas. Having reached the far shore, cast aside boat and oar. Read through myriad pages of alchemical texts—the final sentence no one has spoken.” True Person Li said: “Before, I wished to speak but did not; now I shall: outer and inner are originally one body, both returning to empty stillness. Take the qi acupoint (the place where qi gathers in inner cultivation) as the furnace; follow nature’s course. When merit is complete, return to Wuji (the Limitless).” True Person Gao said: “This secret heart-seal is transmitted Buddha to Buddha, patriarch to patriarch. At the Sixth Patriarch, the robe and bowl ceased to be passed on; the Buddhist secret treasury ended there. Now we are in a yuanhui (a great cycle in the cosmos’s turning)—Qiaoyang is reborn, and the true Way should flourish in the world. What circulates in the world stops at refining spirit and returning to emptiness; that remains at the second level of meaning, not the supreme, utmost true Way.”

Qieyang is the title of an ancient perfected one, surnamed Wang; which era he belonged to is unknown. Patriarch of the Precepts Wang Kunyang was a native of Luzhou. It is said that when he was born, an immortal passed his door and said: “Qieyang has been reborn! The Supreme Precepts lineage of the Highest Lord will flourish again!” This is recorded in Records of the Three Mountains Hall.

The Patriarch of the Precepts opened the Yubo Hall (the hall for transmitting precepts and receiving the robe and bowl) five times during the Shunzhi and Kangxi reigns, transmitted the three great precepts of the Highest Lord, and had more than three thousand disciples; the robe and bowl were passed on. There was also Patriarch Lü’s Discourse on Healing the World, received by more than three thousand copies—is not the true Way greatly flourishing?

The Patriarch’s precept hall was at the White Cloud Abbey in the capital. At that time, Buddhist and Daoist precept transmission could not be opened privately without an imperial decree. What was transmitted included precepts, scriptures, and hand scrolls. The hand scrolls recorded the branches of successive patriarchs from the Highest Lord downward; the transmitted precept verses were in five-character, seven-character, and four-character forms, passed down generation by generation without gap. Those without a basis in transmission were impostors; by the precepts they had to be investigated and handed over—never pardoned. Imperial edicts were recorded at the head of the scrolls; the precept rules of the Mysterious Gate were also extremely strict, to shut out false claims.

The books transmitted were not forbidden in principle from being shared outside, but because the precepts were weighty and people might treat them lightly, punishment for careless disclosure was severest. Descendants of the precept line therefore kept everything secret; branches with no suitable person to receive transmission would gather the books and burn them. This was a rigid custom that clung to the past; after three generations following the Patriarch of the Precepts, the thread of the Way was cut. In the Yubo opened in the Jiaqing era, Patriarch Qiu’s (Qiu Chuji) precept text was already lost; what is transmitted lately was sought from Records of the Pure Brightness Religion—the same in small points, vastly different in large ones, from what Qiu transmitted.

The predecessors of this mountain also kept the precept of burning books. Some books survived in copied form; the hand scrolls and precepts were lost. My late master, the Old Man of Great Emptiness, whenever he spoke of this would beat his chest and weep—it was for this.

The perfected one’s book is of one thread with the wondrous use of “healing the world” (cultivating to benefit the world). Cultivate according to it, and the Highest Lord’s aim is as clear as the palm of your hand. To collate and publish it without commentary—how could I face my master? To indulge private feeling again and not revise and clarify—how could I face the perfected one? This is the distress Min Yide could not avoid, not a love of many words. Min Yide, later student of the Dragon Gate, respectfully records this.

This single gate of the Chan barrier must be recognized by setting down discursive thought and attending directly to experience. (Min Yide’s appended note: If the mind cannot be kept upright, how can one face the Real Person? This is the hardship of speaking when one would rather not—it is not love of chatter. Min Yide, later disciple of the Longmen lineage, respectfully records this. This line is the pillow-secret for opening the Mysterious Aperture.) Once you penetrate it, you can unlock the treasuries of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, melt away the divisions among countless gates and methods, see the supreme principle of elixir-return suddenly run clear as one thread, and watch Dharma gates sealed by a thousand Buddhas open again in this very age.

Buddhism names it the Chan barrier; Daoism names it the Mysterious Aperture—the pivotal cavity in cultivation; Confucianism names it the Yellow Center—the inner core of centeredness without bias. Only by working sincerely upon this can one refine emptiness and merge with the Dao. This is the first meaning of the holy truth, the method of Buddhism’s supreme vehicle.

The method is nothing else but to refine the Yang Spirit (yang shen)—the pure yang spirit formed in internal alchemy—once more, so that it returns to its own Pílú nature-sea: the vast, clear sea of original nature symbolized by Vairocana. Cook and refine within it until turbidity is gone and clarity is one; then send it back to the Heavenly Valley—the mud-ball at the crown, the upper dantian. Again, conceal and store the spirit of the Heavenly Valley: like a dragon tending the pearl beneath its jaw, like a crane brooding the egg in the nest. Inner and outer are one; qi and mind are one; they condense into a single grain. Guard it carefully—neither releasing nor admitting—and before you stands the Land of Infinite Life, while the three thousand great thousand worlds—the measureless cosmos of Buddhist cosmology—quietly receive benefit.

When not a corner of artifice remains exposed, when emptiness is utmost and transformation is utmost, then creation and transformation naturally restore nature and life and naturally return to void. At this point one has already passed through five transformations. Transform again after transforming, refine again after refining—this is the most wondrous within spirit-penetrating change. Thus spirit, the more it is refined, grows more numinous; gold, the more it is refined, grows more pure. Refine again and again; the furnace flame gradually fades; the void is fine as motes of dust, and within each mote lies a world clear as an ice vessel spanning ten thousand acres. Before long, divine light fills every cavity; yang flame rises into the sky, reaching from the inner aperture to the outer. Without, there are nine great apertures corresponding to the nine provinces—within each great aperture, great divine light; within, there are eighty-four thousand small apertures corresponding to districts and towns—within each small aperture, great divine light. Inner and outer are transparent; from crown to sole, everywhere is great divine light.

Where radiant light (guangming) is infused and projected, people can benefit—therefore one should illuminate and attend everywhere. Illuminating and attending should reach full penetration; in the process one must not mix in the slightest artificial contrivance, and take constant stillness as the ideal. When the mind is settled, the light can pervade everywhere; when practice is sustained, the light can penetrate thoroughly. The secret of “healing the world” (yishi—benefiting the world through the power of the Dao) lies entirely in this chapter. Once illumination and arrival are achieved, primordial light follows: it can penetrate inward and fill abundantly—how could such application be empty? There is real principle in it, and effects that can be verified. The practitioner spends not a single coin, not a thread of forced effort; sitting at ease is enough. Do it whenever you have spare moments—counted by days it may seem insufficient, counted by months there is surplus; how much more so over three years or nine years of long cultivation? What must be strictly guarded is this: while the light is shining, do not rashly add deliberate intent on top of it.

According to the Qiongguan Shiwen Ji (Collected Poetry and Prose of the Jade Tube): Patriarch Bai (the “ancestral master” in the text) was originally the Lù Cún Star Lord (Lu Cun xingjun), one of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper (Beidou). In the era of Emperor Yao there was great drought; the Jade Emperor (Yuhuang, supreme deity of the celestial realm) gave him a bottle of water and a horsetail whisk (fuchen, a Daoist ritual implement), ordering him to ride a dragon to send rain, with instructions: “So many drops here, so many there—neither less nor more.” After he set out and saw the disaster zone scorched red, crops withered, streams dry, he disobeyed the command and poured out the entire bottle before returning, causing nine years of flood; the star lord was therefore demoted to be reborn as a human. This shows that when a person acts on heaven’s behalf in transformation, one must not decide for oneself within that role, lest the balance tilt too light or too heavy.

Among methods for healing the world, nothing matters more than the two words “light” and “illuminate” in this book; teaching and nurturing are both fulfilled thereby. As for adopting practices of “purification” and “harmony,” if our cultivation of nature (xing gong, the work of the heart-mind) is not yet thorough, or our mastery of life and vital principle (mingli—the aspect of essence and life in dual cultivation) is not yet skilled, misuse brings no small offense. Better to receive the light and illuminate universally without adding extra intention—that is safer. The above is my humble view, written for correction by those of greater insight.

Once more, gather heart-mind and spirit and return them to the Ancestral Cavity—the root aperture in neidan where nature and life converge—until not a speck of dust remains. Move back and forth between quiescent extinction and still concentration: stillness arises from extinction, and extinction from stillness. When stillness endures, red light appears like rushing clouds or lightning, shooting straight from the middle aperture through to the upper aperture; at that point one need no longer distinguish large from small apertures. Spirit-light leaps and shines, illuminating the ten directions—heaven, earth, and the human realm—leaving nowhere untouched.

At this stage of “healing the world” through pure, quiet cultivation, the reach of benefit is not limited to Zhendan (the ancient Chinese heartland) and Jambudvipa; Godaniya in the west, Purvavideha in the east, the northern regions, and the central lands all share in it. The whole efficacy rests on that spotless purity, with no deliberate effort in between. What follows in word and deed follows the same principle: to nurture and permeate subtly, and let transformation unfold of its own accord.

Thus one gathers inward more completely, melting everything back into the ancestral aperture (the locus in Neidan where pre-heaven qi returns), without a speck of dust, passing from quiescence into still concentration, and from still concentration back into quiescence. When still concentration is prolonged, the transformations of the six dragons (the six phases of yin-yang qi change) are complete, and spirit further becomes the light of the śarīra (borrowed from Buddhism: the luminous crystallized fruit of practice). This light is like a blazing sun disc, surging from within the ancestral aperture into myriad threads of fine radiance, ascending straight to the nine heavens and illuminating the great thousand worlds (the vast cosmos in Buddhist cosmology). This accords with the gāthā of the great awakened Chan master. Only then does one understand what the Most High (the supreme honored deity in Daoism) said: heaven and earth may perish, but this does not perish. This is the pre-heaven master of the house, the true nature itself, the diamond-like unchanging and unexchangeable complete truth, the unborn and undying spirit without beginning. This great divine power and great nature-light illumines Jambudvīpa (the human realm in Buddhist geography), universally saving all—this alone is the immeasurable merit that cannot be named, measured, or conceived. The gāthā says: One śarīra pearl, its flame blazing bright, illuminates endless billions of kalpas; the great thousand worlds all turn toward it, and the Heaven of Thirty-Three (the desire-realm heavens) is fully gathered in.

After Min Yide finished reading this scripture, he rejoiced and leaped for joy, bowed a hundred times with his head to the ground, and respectfully offered a gāthā: The supreme wondrous Dao was originally hidden in the Western Heaven; that the Eastern Land could hear it again depends entirely on the master’s teaching. This is entitled the Huangji Hebi Jing (Scripture of the Imperial Ultimate’s Opening and Closing); its Daoist mystery also embraces Confucian and Buddhist teachings. Cultivation and realization advance together, and its efficacy quietly extends into the doctrine of healing the world. Forgetting months and years, one guards it single-mindedly; whether or not results appear, how could one dare to stop? From without beginning until now, life after life one has toiled in vain. Yet in this life months, days, and hours still remain, and every inch of time is precious. Once complete, one returns to Daluo Heaven (the highest heaven in Daoism); Daluo Heaven was established for humankind. Seekers throughout the great thousand worlds must not lose heart— the Buddha too was an ordinary person who attained this through practice. Such true reality is no fabrication; the resplendent scripture is worth reading and interpreting again and again.

The original manuscript preserved at Qingyang Gong, the well-known Daoist temple in Chengdu, passed through many hands by repeated copying. Some dealers in Daoist methods took it to the Luzong—the branch that holds precepts and is reluctant to circulate secret techniques—for verification. When the Luzong masters saw that key points of cultivation had been disclosed too easily, they were greatly alarmed and removed the crucial passages; the dealers then added and cut further on their own, so most circulating copies lost the authentic text. Li Pengtou of Fengtian (the Shenyang region today), whose name was Yitqi, once spoke of this—the origin of spurious editions in the world.

A person of deep innate capacity and discerning eye saw that the transmitted copies were mixed and impure and asked me to collate them. Fortunately our mountain still held woodblock prints from the Kangxi reign; I checked them line by line, removed errors, and thus produced a complete and reliable edition. The alchemical books of our lineage have always been treasured by the world. My late master Master Taixu once wrote a colophon for this work, but unfortunately a fellow disciple took it away. I recall the gist of that colophon: this scripture carries the orthodox Daoist line and speaks of the great Dao that penetrates heaven and earth; long life and lasting vision are merely secondary matters. It also said this perfected one was born in the Eastern Han, appearing and vanishing in ways hard to fathom. Elder Li of the Niwan (Mud Pill), an immortal who dwells permanently in the world, said he once met him in the Liaoyang Hall at Qingyang Gong. The perfected one said he had shed his mortal form in Lingnan (south of the Five Ranges); in life he had used deliberate, showy methods (youwei fa) in the world, great calamity followed, and he then departed on an iron crane; now he expounds the Dao of emptiness to encourage fellow practitioners. From this it is clear that the Li-family poem cited in the chapter “Refining Emptiness to Unite with the Dao” is undoubtedly by our lineage’s patriarch, the Niwan perfected one.

In the Yuan and Ming the perfected Yin bore the surname Yin—the person the world calls Yin Pengtou; in the Eastern Han his surname was Qu, his given name Zhen, and his Daoist name Wuo. Over some fourteen centuries he changed his name many times and hid in the mundane world. I was born too late, yet had the fortune to live on the mountain where he cultivated, to receive his book, and now to obtain a spurious copy and correct it. Such an extraordinary affinity is beyond reckoning, and so I record it with care. Min Yide, a later disciple of the Longmen (Quanzhen) line, respectfully colophons.

Collected Questions and Answers in the Liaoyang Hall of the Perfected Yin, six fascicles in all.

This book is based on a manuscript transmitted from Qingyang Palace (a famous Daoist temple in Chengdu), collated and verified by Jin Gai Shan Ren Min Yide (Master Min Yide of Jin Gai Mountain).

The first chapter is the chapter on ascending the seat—the section in which the perfected one takes the seat to expound the teaching.

At that time, the perfected one Yin Kezhen (an accomplished adept) was at Baiyun Hall on Qingcheng Mountain in western Shu. After the disciples had completed sanzhai and zhizhai (fasting and purification, progressing from lenient to strict observance before ritual), they set up a seat in the east corridor of Liaoyang Hall and invited the perfected one to ascend the seat. The perfected one came before the seat (at this point the mountain edition and the manuscript copy differ slightly in wording). The disciples completed the triple obeisance and then stood in order. The perfected one expounded for them the profound workings of Hongji (the supreme cosmic pivot) in opening heaven and earth and in the opening and closing of transformation, as well as the non-dual method of pure tranquility and liberation (the path of practice that does not fall into discrimination). Among the disciples present, a disciple named Xuanzhen stepped out of the ranks, came before the seat, performed the jidaodao li (Daoist prostration), bowed twice, and asked: “I respectfully ask the perfected one, what is the principle of life and death and of yin and yang?” The perfected one replied. Among those present, another disciple named Xuanzhen left the ranks, came forward to before the perfected one’s seat, performed jidaodao and bowed twice, and questioned the perfected one.

Someone asked: “Could you explain how a True Person (zhenren, one who has attained the Way) understands the principles of life, death, and yin and yang?”

The True Person replied: “People cling to life and fear death, yet they do not know where life comes from or where death goes. While alive they only scheme and struggle all their days; when death comes, it is like a live turtle stripped of its shell or a live soft-shelled turtle dropped into boiling water—the four great elements of earth, water, fire, and wind each scatter and part. Once shen (spirit) leaves the physical form, the world looks like spilled ink: east and west cannot be told apart, above and below cannot be distinguished, and one falls into the six paths (liudao, the six destinations of rebirth), to be reborn again according to karma from the previous life. Then one sees only places to which one has karmic affinity shining bright as fire; at the sight of that light, the seed of craving and attachment arises, the mind enters it, and a fetus forms. After ten months in the womb, at birth the first cry sounds, and the true vital principle (zhenyuan) bestowed by Heaven pours into the zuqiao (the fundamental aperture where life’s original qi gathers). At that moment the situation corresponds to the Kun hexagram, with all six lines yin. From one to three years of age corresponds to Fu (Return), when one yang returns; by five years, Lin (Approach), with two yang; by eight, Tai (Peace), with three yang; by ten, Dazhuang (Great Strength), with four yang; by thirteen, Guai (Breakthrough), with five yang; by sixteen, Qian (Heaven), with six yang complete. From one yin line growing stepwise to six yang lines, if a man’s jing (essence) has not yet leaked outward, this is called the qian body (the undamaged yang body). If at that time he meets an enlightened master who transmits the secret oral instructions, cultivation can be completed in an instant—this is the shangde quanren (the person of superior virtue whose essence is intact and whose de is complete, and who can therefore attain perfection in one effort). After that, as soon as desire stirs, the true vital principle leaks at once; from then on, every eight years one yang is lost: from sixteen to twenty-four, the first yin appears, corresponding to Gou (Encounter); by thirty-two, Dun (Retreat); by forty, Pi (Standstill); by forty-eight, Guan (Contemplation); by fifty-six, Bo (Splitting); by sixty-four, pure yin holds sway and one returns to Kun. A human life cannot escape this tally of the six yin phases. Everything one does in a lifetime is empty illusion; the one thing that follows without slack and without a gap is only the two kinds of karma from life—good and evil.”

Someone asked again about the three fields (santian) mentioned earlier. The reply was as follows.

One inch and two fen behind the umbilical wheel (the navel), at the sound “lidi,” the true yuan settles here. This spot is called Tianxin (Heart of Heaven); it is also named Qihai (Sea of Qi) and Shenlu (Divine Furnace). It is the root of the bit of yuan qi of the embryonic immortal (the immortality embryo soon to form), so it is also called Tiangen (Heaven Root). Here essence is refined into qi and qi is further refined and raised upward; for this reason it is also called the Kun Furnace (Kunlu). In alchemical texts this is the lower field—the lower dantian.

Above the lower field is what is also called Huangting (Yellow Court), the place where the red child (in neidan, the bit of true nature) establishes its life. The heart that governs the blood is called Jianggong (Crimson Palace); one must not practice cultivation there, only nourish and preserve—keeping the body fluids so they become blood, and nourishing blood so it turns back into essence—so it too is a vital spot. Slightly below and to the rear of the heart is the middle field, named Huangtang (Yellow Hall), also called Tufu (Earthen Cauldron). The Yijing calls it Huangzhong (Yellow Center); the Daoist tradition calls it Xuanqiao (Mysterious Orifice). It is where the immortality embryo coalesces and is nurtured, and one must above all keep the three treasures of the post-heaven realm (post-heaven jing, qi, and shen) from seeping in. The Mud Pill (niwan) at the crown of the head, and the work of transforming essence, are likewise critical; slightly below and to the rear of the heart is the region just described above.