《古书隐楼藏书》Vol. 13

Preface — Author’s Statement

This is a preface written by the author himself. The celestial immortal cultivation transmitted by my late master I first heard of in the Xuanyu grotto-heaven (a Daoist grotto-heaven in the Jingai Shan region) in the bingwu year of the Qianlong reign; I kept it secret in my heart and have now held it for forty-seven years. I have often taught it to others, yet very few have truly received and practiced it. I have worn out my shoes traveling to the ends of the earth; for a thousand years and ten thousand ages I have toiled in spirit seeking long life and lasting vision—yet it has largely been in vain. Fearing that my master’s transmission would be lost in the wild grass, I dared to carve the oral formulas on pearwood blocks so they might endure.

Beginners, however, often have minds not yet pure enough for the passes and orifices to open; or they have long been stirred by desire and worldly thoughts, with obstruction running deep. The method must first cleanse, then employ cunsi—cun is to anchor the mind in visualization; si is refined, single-pointed contemplation. If one is blocked midway, though it seems like something of postnatal form is stuck, the root is truly wandering thoughts running wild in the heart, so that true Qi (primordial vital breath) stays hidden and the passes stay closed. At this point the superior adept does not “move and guide” (deliberately circulating qi) but stresses stopping thoughts, advancing until things are natural, holding one mind without division to the end—then one returns to the prenatal state of oneself, and the body becomes clear as crystal.

Therefore, to return to the prenatal, the method is simply to remain empty and still to the end, with no thought within thought. Postnatal breath naturally subsides; the prenatal reappears, primordial Qi runs again, the body’s passes open wide, and one feels myriad gatherings of five-colored divine light. This is the real proof of cuancu wuxing (gathering the Five Phases into one place). The student neither panics nor rejoices, relying wholly on the True One (zhenyi) with undivided mind—and thus attains the great fixed absorption (ding), still and unmoving. Pure and refined, one still nurtures with this True One; when practice is complete, fanqi (pure primordial breath) fills heaven and earth, and the embryo of the primordial origin can serve as a model for the ten directions.

If one says it appears and shows virtue outward—is it not rather that it penetrates the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) above and below, while the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji) was originally nothing? If one says it hides and stores its function within—is it not rather that it rides the six qi (the six transformations of heaven and earth) in circulation, empty to the utmost yet not playing master? Securely guarding the true realm of the Great Void, one long remains a golden immortal in the Limitless (Wuji). If one still says one will ascend to prove fruition, where is there a heavenly stair to climb? One simply does not know whether I have become the primordial Jade Pure (Yuqing), or the primordial Jade Pure is me.

Alas, people still chase outer things. Having this simple oral formula, they withdraw and remain confused and give it up themselves. The disease lies in obscuring the single phrase “put down the ten thousand ties”—and so for a lifetime they never find an entry. Even when someone does not neglect that phrase, they only sweep away distractions for a moment, then assume the mind is already empty and still, and rush by the formula “welcome the gang” into the Yellow Center (huangzhong, the central region within the body)—yet they bring along postnatal ordinary spirit and ordinary breath, blocking the mysterious orifices within, no different from carrying water and mud to fill the Kongtong paradise (the pure inner realm). Later, even if one exhausts the strength of the Five Ding (legendary mighty diggers) to clear it, traces of mud and water are hard to wash away. Even if washed clean, the whip of Xihe urging the sun does not stop—days and months fly past. Those who can hold the Way to the end count as seeds of our lineage. To discard it halfway is almost like refusing to eat for fear of choking—how pitiful!

Therefore I record my late master’s heart transmission and pass it to the world. Now, as various editions are about to be printed, I strike the morning bell once more for students with the phrase “put down the ten thousand ties.” Recorded on the intercalary Double Yang day of the twelfth year of the Daoguang reign by Jin Gai Shan ren Min Yide.

On the intercalary Chongyang day of the twelfth year of the Daoguang reign, Jin Gai Shanren Min Yide, a Daoist of Jin Gai Mountain, recorded the following: the various recensions are copied here; once again, with the phrase “let ten thousand affinities drop away,” the morning bell is struck anew for those who study the Way.

Inner Section (Nine Chapters). The master’s teaching says that hunhua—blended, harmonized transformation—is the work of the Celestial Immortal (Tianxian). When ten thousand affinities are let go, the body naturally becomes still, empty, and spiritually responsive. One then ushers in clarity and stillness (qingjing), constantly receiving and holding its illuminating presence, uprightly sustaining the middle and lower energy centers (zhong and xia dantian) without a moment’s neglect. Emptiness, stillness, clarity, and harmony are all complete; inside and outside are not divided, and neither being nor non-being is posited. Endless generation and transformation are entirely entrusted to suchness (ruru, things as they truly are); the marvelous use of return and reversal is just this. From this one refines the body-within-the-body, called the true self (zhenwu); it is honored as the inner master (zai) and cherished as a child (er)—the holy embryo nurtured like an infant. Warming, bathing, and suckling must not be slighted. When skill is pure and virtue refined, one is restored to the primordial beginning (taichu). Tracing from the end back to the start, the admonitions are few: only delight in blended stillness and luminous clarity (hunmu); strictly avoid muddled vagueness. How far apart are hunmu and vagueness? One is still perfect awakening (yuanjue); the other becomes sheer confusion. Awakening makes a sage; delusion makes a demon. Such is the master’s instruction—do not misunderstand it.

Outer Section (Eight Chapters). The heart-transmission of the Celestial Immortal is this: regard the self as crystal-clear transparency; by means of it welcome and uphold stillness, as if receiving illumination in sunlight. Stillness with illumination gives birth; stillness with infusion transforms—generation upon generation, transformation upon transformation, and the work is only this one path. Heaven initiates with the One; earth completes with the One. If the body loses this One, how can the crystalline form act at all? The One is simply the One: without deliberate thought yet utterly sincere, neither being nor non-being is established, and person and method dissolve together. The spirit originally employed, and the other, are mutually rooted; settle the body in the One, settle the One in the heart-mind. Expanded, it pervades the celestial realm; refined, it enters the finest motes—no color or form, no fixed method; through hunhua it becomes perfectly real. This is the true I, named the body outside the body (shenwai shen)—the true form refined within that can leave the physical frame; it cannot be seen, cannot be heard. Supernatural powers and changes, hiding or appearing as the heart wishes; when merit is round and conduct full, one ascends smoothly to Jade Clarity (Yuqing), the heaven of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing).

The two essays above I heard directly from my master. In the renchen year of the Daoguang reign (1832), I wrote them down for the students on Jingai Mountain. The methods of both Neidan (internal alchemy) and Waidan (external alchemy) are complete, so the collection is called the “Inner and Outer Chapters.”

Round Instructions (Four Chapters)

Reach upward to the limit of the Nine Heavens; extend downward to the depths of the Nine Abysses. Heaven, Earth, and Humanity—the three powers—should be guarded as one would guard a single egg; the central yellow (Huangting, the “middle yellow” locus in Neidan) is the field of blessing.

I settle within it, letting Kun and Qian (Earth and Heaven, Yin and Yang) blend and transform. To know return and to know turning back—what comes later is nothing other than what was there at first.

Pure upon pure—there is no place that is not Heaven. The constant is the true; the true is the constant; within mystery there is yet deeper mystery.

Fine and unbroken, never interrupted—nowhere is the Dao incomplete. When practice reaches its utmost, I myself am Buddha, I myself am immortal.

The four chapters above were instructions for my disciple Xue Yanggui. The mind-and-nature teaching of the celestial immortal (the highest grade among immortal ranks) is already complete, so they are called the “Round Instructions.” Recorded by Xiao Gen shi.

Continuation (Twelve Chapters)

Alas, you aspirants with real resolve: where there is resolve, accomplishment can follow in the end. The “Three Ni Healing the World” (applying the heart-methods of the sages of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism to remedy the age)—why not go and do it?

What you uphold is still blending and transformation; do not waste effort on what is fragmented and partial. Borrow emptiness to nourish stillness; borrow stillness to return to emptiness.

When emptiness is extreme and stillness is deep, the utmost Dao already has its root. After three or five years, body, mind, and the world you inhabit all enter Xiyi (a realm so still and subtle it is beyond sound, color, and easy reckoning).

From that root, continue to nourish and transform. Without self-satisfaction, without falsity, you can be lasting and can be vast—how would the spirit-mind (Shen) dare to slacken?

Bhagavan (an honorific for the Buddha, “World-Honored One”) and the monastic community of Urus, since teaching through virtue, have seen their efficacy ever renewed.

Dwelling there for two thousand years, war and plague do not harm them; men uphold centrality and rectitude, women uphold quiet purity and chastity.

Western-region gazetteers say: the Buddha too is simply a human being. What the scriptures call “upholding the world” (chishi) is Xuanzang’s translation.

In practice nothing need be added or subtracted; it depends only on blending and transformation returning to simplicity and depth. When affairs reach their limit, whether hidden or manifest follows the heart’s wish.

This is the genuine utmost Dao—the heart-method passed down by sages through the ages, scattered in the sentences of various classics, while people remain in the dark and do not investigate.

Patriarch Lu (Lü Dongbin) once gathered and openly taught this lineage’s method; for a time it shone in the world, then sank again and was no longer passed on. Niwan took up this thread that was about to be lost; Taixu then spread it further. I, the junior, received this method and have already taken it in myself—I have not yet passed it on to others. That solemn, profound secret teaching of the grotto heavens I fully penetrated on Mount Dadi (Dadi). I therefore compiled it, wishing to verify with others the true utmost Dao. The heart-method essentials handed down by sages through the ages lie scattered in various scriptural phrases; people stay in the dark and rarely investigate them. Compiling them is also to share with fellow seekers on the path; the four words xu (empty/subtle), ji (still), heng (constant), and cheng (sincere) must be truly upheld—mind must be empty and subtle, thoughts clear and settled, practice steady and long, intention genuine and true.

The piece above, titled “Continuation,” has twelve chapters and follows Heart Transmission of the Celestial Immortal (the heart-method transmission of the celestial-immortal line). The practice formulas are simple and easy to apply, without tangled side talk. Follow them and you can attain great freedom. It pairs with the Western Sage’s (the Buddha Śākyamuni, discussed below) “wordless true scripture” (the supreme method that does not rely on words but points straight at the nature of mind)—the two are inner and outer to each other.

According to the Record of the Western Regions: the land of Urus stretches for tens of thousands of li, the soil is rich, and more than a thousand towns owe allegiance to it; each year they rely on its support, customs are especially pure and thick, more flourishing even than the age of the ancient sage Fuxi. Buddhist texts also say this was formerly Zhijiawu. Before Bhagavan (an honorific for the Buddha) had arrived, local customs favored extravagance; most people were idle, they suffered repeated flooding from the sea and did not know how to build dikes, and life grew harder to sustain. At that time there was an elder named Miaoyue who revered and trusted the Dharma; through this Bhagavan came from central India with two thousand five hundred disciples to this place and built dikes with zhijia (wooden piles). The elder followed at his side, supplied his own funds and grain, and hired workers to build along the dike. Before long the whole country was converted and followed; the zhijia was used up and the dike was finished. From then on the sea no longer rose in waves, and the land also ceased its unbroken heavy rains. Bhagavan then expounded the Sutra of the Dharani for Upholding the World and gave it to this elder, then returned to central India. Note: Bhagavan is Śākyamuni Buddha. In the Tang dynasty, during the Zhenguan era, Master Xuanzang returned from the Western Regions and, by imperial order, retranslated this sutra; the emperor’s preface records this matter in detail. Compiled by Min Yide.

Daidong Dongyin (“Sounds of the Great Cleanse Cave”—the Daoist grotto at Tianzhu Mountain in Hangzhou; the title refers to verse exchanged inside the cave) comprises eleven sections. Pengtou Qu (a Daoist who wore his hair loose in the manner of a wandering cultivator) said: Teaching is without sound and without taste; only the Buddhist tradition speaks in quite that way. In our dynasty’s Zhenguan era, Master Xuanzang returned from the Western Regions and, by imperial order, retranslated the Buddhist scriptures; the emperor’s prefaces to those sutras record the matter in full. Compiled by Min Yide.

Pengtou Qu said: Instruction itself has neither sound nor scent; one only feels a pervasive harmony. Do not fix on form, and form shows itself; do not fix on emptiness, and emptiness is at ease. Taixu Shenzi said: That is what we call the Dao (the Way).

Qu responded again: Take heaven as model and embrace the great earth; take earth as model and cultivate the person. Utmost sincerity never ceases—and the Dao is my own heart. Shenzi said: Yes—that is what we call De (Virtue/Power).

Qu sang again: Affairs succeed only by relying on one another; the ten thousand things leave room for one another and thus have surplus. Taixu took up the thread: Gain and loss were never fixed; if you keep reckoning them, is that not itself a fault?

Shenzi sang: Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Qu answered: Do not use clever discrimination; simply follow the law of the Lord of Heaven.

Shenzi answered: Shatter the void, and nothing at all remains. Qu said: Yes. Turn the body about and forget the self—then you see the inborn truth of heaven; know that within “having” there is no “I.” Shenzi continued: Only then is it the vajra indestructible body—the true body firm and unbreakable.

Shenzi sang again: The great Dao was never a “self” to begin with; to contemplate emptiness yet linger on emptiness is still to cling to emptiness. Qu answered: Neither “is” nor “is not” can stand; what is real lies right in the midst of being and non-being.

Shenzi said: Nothing is obtained, nothing is lost; each follows the other along the course of operation. Qu answered: That alone is the true tidings—and how many can truly hear and understand?

Pengtou sang: The supreme Dao has nearly vanished, yet a clay jar rings like thunder. Taixu answered: Only provisional skillful means remain; in movement and in stillness, obey the heart of heaven.

Shenzi sang again: When the clouds part, the sun naturally appears; when the sun appears, the clouds are gone. Pengtou answered: You must still turn inward and examine yourself—the tidings were never fixed to begin with.

Qu went on: “It is like healing the fortune of the age—when the times are blocked and constrained, that condition arises from people. Once it opens and clears, the sun shows itself; when the sun appears, the yin clouds vanish.”

Pengtou replied: “One must also examine oneself inwardly and take oneself to task—the waxing and waning of yin and yang is inherently without fixed rule.”

Qu went on: “It is like healing the fortune of the age—when the times are blocked and constrained, that is still for people to decide.” Taixu replied: “Having grasped this principle, I will first bring the shen to life.”

Pengtou continued: “Shen is master of body and mind; body and mind are earth and heaven.” Taixu rounded off the point: “The Creator has no fixed intent or necessity, so human beings hold the authority of the world in their hands.”

The above is the Cave Sound, eleven sections in all. The perfected ones Qu Pengtou and Shen Taixu expounded to each other in the Great Di Cave heaven (a Daoist grotto-heaven at Yuhang). I received and inherited it in my heart and at first took it simply as the voice of my own mind. In the first year of the Jiaqing reign, Li Pengtou of Fengtian came to Jingai (Jingai Mountain in Huzhou); when we met, we were deeply in accord. As I recalled these Cave Sounds in my heart, Master Li at once said: “The great tone is rare and hard to hear; unless the spirit chamber (the place where the mind is settled) is quiet, you will not hear the person who responds in song. Titles must be named from real circumstance to match the aim of the Way”—and so it was called Great Di Cave Sound. Now another thirty-seven years have passed; from far away I continue the voice that came from the empty valley, and therefore set down the title and put it in writing. Students of the Way should ponder it deeply. Recorded by Min Yide.

Self-Admonition (nineteen sections)

The hawk flies to heaven; the fish leaps the deep abyss. The natural operative qi (innate qi that stirs of itself) issues from the field of blessing (the inner locus where refined qi is generated in practice)—there is no need to seek above or below; it is so of itself. Utmost sincerity never ceasing, the great Way settles and holds right here.

My body is earth; my heart is heaven. In a single thought there are things and self, yet things and self are originally one body. Blending and transforming, fine and unbroken, there is no hour of dimness and no moment of clinging.

Easier said than done. When thought is cut off, there is no need to labor at bowing and rising—it is natural. Utmost sincerity never ceasing, the great Way settles and holds right here.

My body is earth; my heart is heaven. In a single thought there are things and self, yet things and self are originally one body. Blending and transforming, fine and unbroken, there is no hour of dimness and no moment of clinging.

Easier said than done. When thought is cut off, the spirit is clear—but how can thought be cut off? Do not chase it, and do not listen for it either. First borrow provisional emptiness and provisional stillness; through diligence arrive at simplicity, then from simplicity enter forgetting. Only sincerity held constant can accomplish this.

I can no longer be negligent. While the body remains, one can still bear responsibility; once dead and returned to things, nothing can be done. I am already old, with only one breath left—so on that breath I obey the command and act.

Under heaven and earth, those of one mind are few. I cannot wait in folly; what must be done, I do at once. Before I have returned to the Great Creation (the source from which all things are fashioned), spirit can still engender spirit—how can I merely watch? The Xi whip (the divine lash that drives the sun—a figure for relentless time) shows no mercy.

The layman Miaoyue and the ordinary man Zheqia devoted themselves to the Buddha-dharma and were in mutual resonance with Shakyamuni Buddha. The story appears in the Buddhist canon; would the scriptures deceive me? It is fully verifiable and trustworthy—I too can be like them.

All the more so with this supreme Way: the work lies entirely in one’s own guarding and holding—achieving centrality and correctness, constancy and harmony. Like the mind commanding the fingers, like water pouring into a whirlpool. Guard carefully, never slacken; be vigilant even alone, with no other thought.

I slept so deeply before—must I be forced awake only at the last moment? If I am like this myself, how can the world recognize it? Though I am without talent, how dare I shirk the charge?

People laugh again: If this transmission were truly real, learners would surely be many—why is it only you who hear it? Moreover, the age has long been in distress—why not take it up sooner?

Without talent, I can only be silent; there is nothing to answer. Then Spirit suddenly cried aloud: It can be spoken, yet it is hard to speak. In the past one had to wait until the Way was complete before opening one’s mouth—that calculation was wrong.

Sages such as Chunyang (Lü Dongbin) and Niwan (Chen Nan) also waited thus: birth year, month, and day—only after awakening did they announce it. That is heaven’s secret; how dare one leak it all?

When the time came, in the gengchen year, the Divine Mother issued a gracious decree, ordering the one who holds the world to receive and promulgate it; the penalty for disclosure was remitted by law. Taixu received this decree and only then dared announce it to the world.

The decree was to complete learning in “chun” (complete, whole) and “chun” (straight as a plumb line or measuring cord). The heart stays on the middle Way—no guessing, no stubborn fixation—and still depends on the person’s own further transformation. Conduct must be thus; the person must become a true human being.

With central harmony, calm the mind so outer things cannot intrude; guard and hold, and the self is at peace, the age at peace. If learning has not reached the utmost, it will only disturb the heart.

That is why I have long hesitated to speak lightly: I must first complete this purity—no arbitrary surmise in the heart, further transformation of the self, conduct necessarily thus, the person truly human.

Keep the mind in zhonghe (harmony and equilibrium) and quiet; let nothing from outside disturb it. Hold fast without letting go, and the self will be at peace—and the world will be at peace too. Learning that has not reached its depth will only stir up the spirit and mind. That is why I have spoken so slowly: out of caution, not from disdain. Now I can only urge myself; I dare not urge others. Each of you should examine yourselves and not keep two minds at once.

Fellow practitioners should grasp this and turn inward, each reflecting on the heart. Constantly maintain emptiness, stillness, and sincere reverence; the moment dullness or confusion appears, wake at once. This is yishi (healing the world through cultivation that harmonizes body–mind and the way of the world): neither body nor world is blocked or stuck.

Men should uphold zhongzheng (centrality and rectitude); women should uphold youzhen (dwelling in inner preservation and quiet integrity). From this nourishing and nurturing, one completes this life’s allotted body (the physical existence of this lifetime). One may bathe in the Buddha’s responsive grace—something no obstructive or demonic force can match. When such responsiveness is present, it is indeed so; when it is absent, one bears the same responsibility nonetheless. Carry out your own proper share; fail to carry it out and you have not fully fulfilled what it is to be human. May fellow practitioners act only according to ruru (accord with what is thus, without contrivance). Let everyone accept and uphold this; you, apply yourself vigorously to holding fast. Endowment is deep in some and shallow in others, so results will naturally differ. Whether you act or withdraw, stand in the open or in obscurity, entrust it all alike to ruru.

The preceding nineteen chapters, titled “Self-Admonition,” serve to close the entire Heart Transmission. The time was the fifteenth day of the second month of the Jiayin year of the Daoguang reign; the place was called Yao Altar, the palace Zanhua, the hall Bao Yuan, where five perfected ones—Lü, Qiu, Bai, Huang, and Shen—were enshrined. It had originally been a site where practitioners accumulated merit in cultivation, begun by Ren’an, Chunfan, Lanpo, Jingxuan, Nanyai, and Xinxiang, and brought to completion by Qingbo, Lanyun, and Zhixiang. Fellow students such as Jingtang, Jiatang, Buyu, Chunquan, Maotang, Xitang, Shixiang, and Yunbo intended, with reverent care, to carry on the ancestral altar of the Jingai lineage (the founding ritual platform of the Jingai Mountain school). I held, however, that such an arrangement belongs to youwei—purposeful contrivance: it endures while people endure and vanishes when they vanish.

Therefore I proclaimed the sage merit of Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) in healing the world, and set forth the heart transmission in plain terms, with the aim of guiding human hearts toward goodness. This is removing the firewood from beneath the cauldron of a declining age—addressing the root of worldly decline—and it is also the precious raft for self-cultivation. The whole work is titled Heart Transmission of Celestial Immortals, in three fascicles in two formats, to show that refining the person and performing merit in the world are one and the same undertaking. At that time my own course of fate was in hard straits; Jingxuan and Maotang obtained the manuscript and sent it to press. I then added nineteen further chapters of “Self-Admonition” at the end as a closing. Was this not a timely and felicitous gathering? These few lines of colophon record that good fortune. Min Yide, styled Xiaogen, of the Dingfan lineage, resident of Mount Jingai, compiled this reverently and wrote the colophon.

Heart Transmission of Celestial Immortals

Oral teaching of Master Taixu, recorded and annotated by the later student Min Yide (style Xiaogen).

Inner Section

The master said: Hunhua (mixed transformation). Hunhua means that within inner cultivation, before chaos divides, transformation proceeds of itself.

The master spoken of here is Patriarch Li of Niwan (Niwan is the name of the upper dantian at the crown in inner alchemy). The “mixing and transformation” (hunhua) described in the text is the Gong formula of the Three Ni for Healing the World transmitted by Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin)—a practice named after the three traditions’ sages who save the world. The method is to bring the body into a state equal to emptiness (xuwu), welcome the downward shining of the Big Dipper’s gang qi (stellar power), and single-mindedly perform “guarding the egg of the Three Talents” (sancai)—Heaven, Earth, and Humanity united in stillness as if tending an egg—without mixing in any other thought; that is all.

Taixu shi said: This is the supreme elixir formula (danjue); it can only be grasped with the heart-mind, not fully handed on in words. My master Niwan shi taught me: This is indeed the heart-transmission of the Supreme One (Taishang, often identified with the Supreme Old Lord). At entry one must first stop stray thoughts; or one may first do visualization and circulating qi, then proceed to cunsi (holding specific images in the mind). Above all one must understand the aim. What is the aim? Nothing beyond knowing “return” (huan) and “revert” (fan). Return is returning to the origin (huanyuan); revert is reverting to the root (fanben). If one does not understand that the root of the Dao is utmost emptiness and its substance utmost non-being, then return is not true return and revert is not true revert; to return and revert in that way is to go south when the chariot faces north.

Once the aim is clear, one may then engage in deliberate (youwei) work without being snared or hobbled by methods of doing, so that in every place one accords with the Dao. The key is to understand “provisional methods” (jiafa). So-called provisional methods either borrow temporary emptiness to nourish what is real, or borrow temporary solidity to refine what is empty. Both paths belong to the approach of cultivating toward what is true through provisional and illusory means; the intent in each is to lead the person toward the ultimate. To fix on one side and hold it rigidly is called attachment. One who is attached does not truly understand the Dao and De (Virtue/Power).

Worldly elixir books all take Huang-Lao (the Yellow Emperor and Laozi line) as their foundation—nothing more than a precious raft for reaching the “center”—yet each school clings only to its own aim, not knowing how to cross-check and confirm one another, and so easily misleads people; often a hair’s breadth of error leads to a thousand li of mistake.

Our lineage traces in an unbroken thread to the Qin and Han, beginning with Master Guan (Guan Yinzi, traditionally the one to whom Laozi transmitted the Dao). After Patriarch Lü inherited it, the aim was revived; later it dimmed midway, and my master Niwan shi received the transmission. I, Bing (a name in the Taixu lineage), am ashamed of my shallow virtue and can only respectfully record what I received. Those who obtain this method must consult Daoist scriptures and mutually confirm them with Buddhist sutras; neither fixating on being nor on non-being, but cultivating only along the substance of the Dao. In practice, combine cunsi with daoyin (guiding and pulling); above all one must cultivate until it is utterly natural—then one will nearly have lived up to what was indicated.

Heavenly Immortal Gongfu

Immortals are ranked in five grades: Celestial Immortal (tianxian), Water Immortal (shuixian), Earth Immortal (dixian), Spirit Immortal (shenxian), and Ghost Immortal (guixian). Although the grades differ, anyone who truly completes the work is generally called a zhenren—a person whose cultivation has reached fruition—meaning only such a person can accomplish this matter. Human endowment and temperament differ, so methods of refinement cannot easily be uniform; that is why immortals are divided into five kinds. Later students each record the beginning and end of what they cultivate, to carry the teaching forward and pass it on. The alchemical scriptures preserved in the world are largely of this sort; without xin chuan—the oral formulas transmitted heart-to-heart from master to disciple—one is at a loss and does not know where to begin. Patriarch Bai, Master Qiongguan (Bai Yuchan), took pity on the world and therefore wrote the Xianxiu Bianhuo Lun (Discourse on Distinguishing Doubts in Cultivating Immortality) for posterity. Regrettably, the world lacks people of the highest wisdom, and many deem themselves too humble; they often set this treatise aside and do not investigate it. My teacher Niwan shi practiced it in person and held that one can begin directly with the gongjue (merit formulas) of “San Ni Yi Shi” transmitted by Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin). In that way both oneself and the world benefit; there is no need to take up further tasks—this one lineage suffices to reach completion. When one examines the method, it is nothing beyond hunhua—making inner and outer fuse and transform. Hence it is labeled “Heavenly Immortal Gongfu,” meaning it is not something Water Immortals or Earth Immortals can cultivate together in the same way.

In cultivation, yuan (conditions of attachment) means the dust of emotion (the staining of desire) and the root of emotion (the source of desire). Whether it wells up from within or is stirred by the outer world, it must all be released before the Heart of Heaven (the innate true mind) can appear. This is the first step in entering the practice. Cultivating xing (nature) begins here, and cultivating ming (life) begins here as well. The subtle meaning within this, practitioners taste for themselves; there is no need to say much. Still, the methods of letting go are more than one; here the purest approach, free of harmful side effects, is chosen for discussion.

Master Niwán (Mud Palace) said: When a thought of attachment arises, remove it at once—that is one method. When attachment arises and tangles tight as a hedgehog, with the heart burning like fire, gather it in and then release it—that is another method. When attachment arises, see it only as through a thin veil, and allow the condition to live and die on its own—that is yet another method. Among the three, the last alone is the way of the immortals. Then it is like clouds brushing across empty space: the void itself is not stained, so there is neither loss nor gain. Later students who practice accordingly need only watch themselves with careful, fine attention.

Master Taixu (Great Void) said: Exactly so. That is why the teacher does not speak of “sweeping away,” but of “letting go.” For yuan is made by thought, and thought issues from the heart; when the heart is stilled and silent, thought naturally dissolves, and the condition withdraws from its root by itself, without any further contrivance. Students should grasp this point. At this stage, body and mind will naturally return to stillness and clear emptiness.

“Body” (shen) here means the body within; “self” (zi) means what happens of itself, naturally and spontaneously. When the breath is still, that is called “silence” (ji); when thoughts do not arise, that is called “emptiness” (xu). In this way the body becomes one with emptiness, and “radiant light inevitably illumines”—wherever it can receive light, brightness enters without fail.

This line is the first secret for entering the practice of “mixed transformation” (hunhua)—blending body and mind and transforming one’s temperament. The work begins from “preserved contemplation” (cunsi): quiet inward holding and visual observation. How is preserved contemplation done? At first one uses the outer scene to verify the inner landscape; next one uses the inner landscape to verify the outer scene; going further, inner and outer are equally such, without distinction.

Niwanshi (a Daoist commentator whose name is tied to the “mud pill” [niwan] at the crown) said: Such signs of efficacy, if they are not obtained through the eyes, count as genuine—but that is not something beginners can do at once. Hence “using the outer to verify the inner” is the method of entering through intention (yi) from the eyes; “using the inner to verify the outer” is the method of entering through the eyes from intention; when inner and outer are equally such, that is the sign of neither fixing on intention nor fixing on the eyes.

Only when the student has cultivated to this point may one undertake “welcoming the Gang” (yinggang)—receiving the qi of the Big Dipper’s celestial gang—and what one does will not fall empty. With long, unbroken practice, one reaches a state in which the true mind is always present yet seems void, and true Qi (xian tian wei miao zhi qi—the primordial subtle vital energy) is always full yet seems absent. This subtle state appears without being held in mind and is attained without deliberate thought—then it accords with nature (ziran). To reach this in practice is no small matter; the crux lies solely in “no-thought within thought” (nian zhong wu nian).

Then one draws in the celestial gang so that this single light shines into the field and is constantly maintained.

This passage continues from the efficacy described in the previous line. By further employing the method of "yin gang" (guiding the Big Dipper celestial gang qi), one establishes a truly empty, truly formless mysterious state. The "jin zhao" (advancing illumination, from the Jin hexagram in the Yijing, meaning advance and ascent) has a definite orientation. Mud Pill (Niwán) adepts say: jin zhao shines from above downward—from the crown (top of the head) forward to the space between the eyebrows, then from between the eyebrows down to the root of the nose (the bridge between the eyebrows). Above all, one must first use true intent (zhēnyì—a focused, sincere mental focus) to penetrate straight upward from the crown gate to meet the Stabilizing Star (Zhènxīng—Saturn, the central star among the five planets), so that celestial gang descends to merge with the body’s gang, gathering at the root of the nose and shining toward the quepen (the chest basin). When one reaches utmost emptiness and deep stillness (xūjí jìngdǔ), one can penetrate deeply into the mysterious aperture (xuánqiào). Once one knows the aperture has opened, one cultivates in accord with nature and holds fast to the key of “no-thought” (wúniàn), and then one obtains the genuine effect of embryo breathing (tāixī—breathing as subtle and natural as a fetus in the womb). This is not something achieved by occasional practice; it must be maintained constantly. From beginning to end this method must be relied upon, until ordinary substance is fully transformed into a sage body with nothing left unrefined—only then may one stop.

“From heaven to the abyss, without gap for a moment”: “Heaven” means the fontanel and cranial bone at the crown; “abyss” means Yongquan (Gushing Spring) at the sole. The Stabilizing Star sits at the center of heaven, higher than sun, moon, and stars; it is condensed from the essence of the earth rising upward and is truly the lord of the Big Dipper’s celestial gang. It is also the central star among the five planets, its light shining on the five directions while its own measure never shifts. Below it is the Northern Pole (here, the Celestial Pivot/Tiānshū), which governs the myriad things and phenomena; in the human body, this corresponds to the fontanel bone. That bone forms after birth when life Qi (shēngqì—vital life force) condenses, connecting upward to the Stabilizing Star in heaven. Therefore, to draw celestial gang, one must first meet the Stabilizing Star; once the Stabilizing Star connects, celestial gang naturally pours in. From then on jin zhao remains day and night, like a bottle tilted up to catch sunlight—inner and outer bright, above and below clear—until postnatal (hòutiān—the acquired habits and turbid body after birth) is fully transformed.

This step is precisely the essential secret of Return to the Origin (Huán Yuán)—returning to one's original nature—and the key lies in maintaining and preserving it long-term: like holding a bottle upright to catch sunlight, inner and outer become luminous, above and below are transparent, and the acquired temperament is thereby completely transformed.

This step also belongs to the essential secret of Return to the Origin, and the secret formula is called Return to Yellow (Guī Huáng)—directing qi toward the Central Yellow. What occurs is that the breath of respiration ceases, and the pre-heaven Qi (xiāntiān yīqì) penetrates through from before the Lü (the lower-body gate in Neidan, generally referring to the tailbone region), rising from below toward the center, following the central path straight to the crown of the head—yet it seems neither to ascend nor to descend. Because pre-heaven Qi is clear and bright, there is no form or substance to grasp. Sages who cultivated according to this believed that one must practice only when the single thought is free of distraction; only then do both ascent and descent belong entirely to the pre-heaven, so there are no harmful effects and the efficacy is extraordinarily wondrous. If emptiness and stillness have not yet reached a state of naturalness, the method can only be: when rising, allow it to rise; when descending, do not forget the secret of Returning to the Sea (Yín Hǎi—guiding qi back to the Qihai). Taixu (the title of the transmitter) precisely taught it this way by word of mouth, in order to prevent beginners from rashly performing Return to Yellow and causing acquired ordinary qi to rush upward along with it. If one is ignorant even of this point, the harm suffered will be no small matter.

One must achieve Round Emptiness, Round Stillness, Round Clarity, and Round Harmony—that is, emptiness, silence, clarity, and gentle harmony all perfected. The practice esteems thoroughness and requires complete perfection; only when not the slightest trace of acquired ordinary substance is mixed in does it count as exquisite. Master Taixu said: Emptiness and stillness are the foundation; clarity and harmony are the verification. When application reaches perfection, naturally there are no harmful effects. This is entirely different from beginners who rely on deliberate guiding (zhuóyì dǎoyǐn qìxuè—consciously directing qi and blood) to open passages and rely on visualization (cún sī—meditative contemplation) to achieve thoroughness. Once one has penetrated and achieved thoroughness, one must still purely maintain practice with no thoughts in the mind, and Return to the Origin will naturally be accomplished; such methods are all called Blending Transformation (Hùn Huà—merging and transforming), so one must apply them through purity, stillness, and naturalness. If this is not done, there will inevitably be the maladies of Disturbed Yellow (Nào Huáng) and Rushing Yellow (Chuǎng Huáng—disturbing or rashly forcing entry into the Central Yellow).

The phrase “such as such” (ruru) in the commentary refers to entering more deeply into what is naturally inherent and originally so. Taixu shi says: “inner” means within the physical body (the flesh body)—the viscera and the like; “outer,” with respect to that body, means the skin, flesh, sinews, and bones. Niwan shi, however, says: inner is the physical body; outer is the Dharma body (the body formed through cultivation). This is the gong formula of Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) for the Three Ni to heal the world. Cultivated accordingly, it is like lawfully preparing “immortal’s flesh”: taking Heaven and Earth as pot and stove, the Yin’e (the boundary that guards the elixir embryo) as the earthen jar, and the body of form like bubble and shadow as the meat, then sustaining it with samadhi (focused concentration) and prajna (clear insight). The method is extremely simple and easy: simply close the six gates (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) and do not let the qi leak—this is practicing fetal breathing (Taixi, breath so fine and prolonged it is as if one were still in the womb).

What is indicated here is that because the student’s body and mind are not yet settled and the passes and orifices are not yet opened, one must first work on the physical body with “moving and carrying” (guiding the circulation of qi and blood), and then continue with preserved contemplation (concentrated focus and visualization). Only when all passes and orifices are open and preserved contemplation is free of stray thoughts does one follow the subtle instructions of the lineage, practice on schedule without interruption, and thus avoid the fault of self-deception. Students should grasp this point and must not advance by skipping stages in haste.

The subtle efficacy of “return” (huan) and “revert” (fan) is exactly this. Huan is returning to the original root; fan is turning back to the fundamental source. Taixu shi says: one must know that the Dao is originally utmost emptiness and the substance is originally utmost non-being. If students do not understand this principle, often with one “return” they lose the true return, and with one “revert” they lose the true revert. The “subtle efficacy” spoken of in the commentary means that within it there are functions such as using the empty to embrace the real and using the real to refine the empty. Later students should examine this carefully: do not fixate on emptiness, and do not fixate on reality either. Hence it is said “such as such, such as such.”

When the body-within-the-body is accomplished, this is called the true self. The commentary points out that this is the True Person (Zhenren) of elixir books. The gong method here is far simpler and easier than in those books. One must avoid practicing now and then stopping, and avoid a scattered or dull mind. Its method takes utmost emptiness (Taixu) as furnace and cauldron (the vessel and place of alchemical work), and employs both the physical body and the Dharma body together.

What is discussed here is the zhenren (authentic person) of the elixir scriptures. The practice it uses is far briefer and far easier to take up than what those books describe. You must neither practice intermittently nor let the mind drift or sink into dullness. The method takes the boundless void of the Great Void as furnace and cauldron, the form body and the Dharma body as the medicinal ingredients, samadhi and prajna as water and fire, and unbroken continuity as the firing rhythm. When the work of firing is sufficient, the true self manifests. There is no need to break open the crown gate and fly off to distant realms; whether hidden or revealed follows the mind at will, and there is no question of nearness or distance in place—one only notices movement and stillness.

When you revere it, you call it the Master; when you cherish it, you call it the Child—the infant-like true nature.

Everything the elixir scriptures point to belongs to expedient, provisional methods. Fail to grasp their inner meaning, and the harm of being led astray is considerable.

As for nurturing by warmth, ablution (bathing), and suckling (nursing)—you must guide these with living adaptability.

Taixu said: Although teachings on nurturing by warmth, ablution, and suckling already have fixed formulations and all appear in elixir books, in practice one must use a flexible, living approach—like Yu the Great channeling the nine rivers, guiding according to the terrain. Rely on your inner, subtle condition and hold it with the heart; then you naturally respond as intended without overstepping measure, and arrive at centrality and harmony.

When inner work is pure and inner conduct refined, you return to my Primordial Beginning. “Work” means inner work; “conduct” means inner conduct. “Return to me” means giving back to me what I always possessed. Primordial Beginning is the opening of the pre-heaven, the root of the Limitless (Wuji)—that is, True Unity.

Tracing from the end back to the origin, the admonitions are few: delight only in unified blending and tranquil clarity (hunmu), and strictly guard against vagueness. How far apart are vagueness and hunmu? One is still complete awareness (yuanjue); the other ends in confusion. Awareness becomes sagehood; obscurity turns toward the demonic. Such is the master’s instruction—do not mistake one for the other in confusion.

These twelve lines are likewise words of admonition from Elder Taixu.

Outer Fascicle

Heart Transmission of the Immortal: See this body as crystal-clear and translucent.

“Shi” (seeing) means neishi—inner vision, seeing with the heart-mind. “Shen” (body) is the se-shen, the ordinary physical form. “Jing” (crystal) is crystal itself, a metaphor for clarity and transparency. This stage of practice begins entirely from releasing all worldly entanglements; one must enter the subtle state of “as if present, as if absent,” so as not to fall into delusion and fantasy. Hence it is called “jing ruo”—like crystal—meaning great awakening in suchness: after awakening, one abides as things truly are, without forced contrivance.

“Jia yi ying gang, ru cheng ri xia”—for the moment, one receives gang qi (true qi associated with stars such as the Big Dipper), as if catching it beneath the sun. The method is set out in detail in the Yishigong Jue (methods and formulas for practice that benefits the world). It is like placing a crystal vessel in sunlight: light enters naturally, and inside and out become clear and bright.

When gang qi shines upon one, life arises; when gang qi gathers and settles, transformation occurs—endless generation and transformation, yet the work rests on a single principle. Zhao is universal illumination; zhu is concentrated infusion; sheng is spontaneous arising; hua is change and transformation. Though the roles differ, all is accomplished through “Zhenyi” (the undivided, unmixed true One)—hence “gong wei yi fa”: the work has but one method. Fa is the principle; gong is its functioning. What presides over this single method is the true self within.

“Tian yi yi sheng, di yi yi cheng”: Heaven generates through the “One”; Earth completes through the “One.” The subtle use of celestial immortals is nothing but generation; Heaven and Earth’s verification is likewise only generation. The depth of meaning is fulfilled entirely through this “One.” If humans seek immortality, how could they abandon this “One”?

“Shen shi qi yi, pin he de neng”: If the body loses this “One,” from what could rank and capacity come? The body is born from the One; the body’s crystal clarity is achieved through purity of the One. How can the One be pure? By knowing return to the source, and sincerity without discursive thought. This was transmitted orally by Taixu (the predecessor who taught this method).

Why the “One” is the “One” lies in no-thought yet sincerity: neither being nor non-being is fixed; person and method dissolve together.

The so-called “no-thought” (wunian) means only that among one’s thoughts there is no obsessive fixation. “Sincerity” (cheng) is the sincerity meant in the saying “without sincerity there is no reality”—that is, the True One (Zhenyi, the utterly real and undivided). “Being” refers to having something heard or seen; “non-being” refers to having no reckless stirring and no empty change. “Not establishing” means letting things hide or appear as they may. “Person” means human feeling and disposition; “law” means the governing pattern. “Dual extinction” (shuangmin) means doing away at once with both scrutinizing and grasping. When practice works in this way, thoughts naturally grow quiet and the heart returns to great settling (taiding, stable tranquility). This is what must be upheld with sincere reverence from start to finish. Upholding it in this way, emptiness can reach its limit, stillness can become deep and solid, fetal breathing (taixi, breathing as fine as an infant’s inner breath) can be achieved, the mysterious pass aperture (xuanguan qiao, the crucial opening through which true Qi passes) can open, ordinary breathing can stop, and primordial Qi (zhenqi, innate authentic energy) can circulate through the body without scattering or stagnating. Then whether hidden or manifest, everything is simply the real state of affairs. Always rely on quiet observation without attachment, so that no harmful drift arises.

The spirit originally put to use is tied together on one root. Place the body in the “One,” and place the “One” in the heart; at the largest scale it pervades the heavens, at the smallest it enters the finest dust; without form or color and without fixed rule, it blends and melts into complete, authentic reality.

“Origin” (yuan) means to trace things back to their beginning and end. “Mutual” (hu) is mutual coming and going—in other words, cycling. “Root” (gen) is the root from which something emerges. “Its” points to the True One (zhenyi)—the Dao in its true body, whole and undivided. “Placing” means to set in place. “Body” means the physical form (se shen, the flesh body); “one” means the True One; “mind” means the discriminating mind (the mind that splits things apart). Speaking of “the heavenly realm” refers to the body; speaking of “fine dust” refers to nature (xing, original nature). “Form” is the physical body; “dharma” is the Dharma body (fajie, the pure body of dharma-nature). “Blending and transformation” (hunhua) means joining the physical body and the Dharma body and setting them in the Heavenly Heart: both settling them there and refining them through firing. The physical body is coarse and worldly, yet it holds the True One; the Dharma body is pure and subtle, yet it still mixes with post-heaven vulgarity. It must be washed again and again, merged and smelted, before true nature (zhenxing) shows fully and becomes complete. The heart of the method is entirely in the line “mutual rooting of its root” (hu gen qi gen). What follows—placing the physical body and placing the True One—already carries the wondrous working from vast extension down to the finest detail. One can reach that wondrous working because the mind does not stick to one spot as it arises—“letting the mind arise without abiding anywhere” (wu suozhu er sheng qi xin). Hence: neither clinging to form nor clinging to dharma, blending and changing until true nature is complete. The subtlety here cannot be fully put into words.

This is the True Self, also called the body outside the body (shen wai shen): unseen when you look, unheard when you listen; spirit powers and transformations, concealment and manifestation, all follow the mind. When practice is complete and virtue is sufficient, one can step evenly into Jade Clarity (Yu Qing), the highest pure heaven of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) in Daoism.

The true self is the true person (the one who has attained in cultivation). Calling it the “body outside the body” is by contrast with the physical body of flesh and blood: it can leave the physical body, yet going out and coming in and hiding and appearing are ultimately one matter, not two different things. The next two lines quote scriptural language to show that the true self is the Dao-body (the substance of the Dao). The intent is to startle people awake from their confusion so they are no longer bound by old fixed opinions, lest they fall into empty delusion without awakening.

The last four lines mean: true emptiness is not empty nothingness, and true non-being is not absolute absence. Fools do not understand that Heaven, Earth, and Humanity—the three powers—were originally one; they only admire how the perfected person now hides and now appears, without knowing that hiding and appearing are entirely this one mind: when the mind appears, there is appearance; when the mind hides, there is hiding. The perfected person’s mind is no different from Heaven and Earth, operating without ceasing, and therefore able to hide and appear without limit, with spiritual powers beyond measure.

At first one is still within the physical body and has not yet reached the realm of “pure method,” so one must practice the work of transformative blending (hunhua). When one reaches pure method but has not yet reached “spontaneous nature,” one still cannot ascend evenly to Jade Clarity (the highest heaven among the Three Pure Ones), and so there is blending with being, blending with non-being, blending transformation, and blending completion—holding this body and dwelling in the world to carry out the task. Only when merit is complete and practice full does one ascend to Jade Clarity. “Even ascent” means one need not labor to break through the crown (exit through the crown gate) and fly far away. For the six directions (above, below, and the four quarters) and the three continents do not lie outside this one mind; originally there is no fixed place—what high or low, near or far is worth the toil of going out and in, rising and falling? All of this is the divine skill of blending into oneness and accomplishing the macrocosmic circulation that is vast yet penetrating in detail, thereby uniting virtue with Heaven and Earth. This differs greatly from earth immortals, water immortals, and immortals among spirits and ghosts—they are still far from Heaven and must ascend before they can reach Jade Clarity. Hence this is called the work of heaven immortals.

The round formula (complete oral instruction): upward to the utmost of the nine heavens, downward to the depths of the nine abysses.

The “nine heavens” refer to the head—that is, the mud pill (the upper Dantian in the brain). The “nine abysses” refer to Yongquan (the acupoint at the center of the sole). This treats the human body as a small cosmos, which is why the ancients spoke this way. “Exhaust” means to reach the limit; “extreme” means the utmost point. This contains the practice of mutual tracing and following between above and below: working on the “heaven” above the head and the “abyss” below at the feet, without a moment’s break.

“Guard the egg of the three powers; yellow is the field of merit.” The egg stands for an hen’s egg, a metaphor drawn from inner scriptures (Buddhist classics). Yellow is the yolk, used to stand for the human world. “Guard” here means taking the Great Void as the furnace and cauldron (the vessel for refining in cultivation) and the three powers (Heaven, Earth, and Humanity) as the medicine. Such is the master formula for blending and transforming; this yellow is also the field of merit.

“I abide within it, blending and transforming Kun and Qian.” “I” is the true self; “abide” is to settle and hold; “within” is the yellow center (the central, upright place). “Its” is used because this is where the true self is naturally fulfilled. In practice, one blends body and world within the yellow center, simply following the body of the Dao: one thought of emptiness leading to stillness, stillness leading to emptiness, not lingering in any place and not mixing in knowing and distinguishing—then Heaven Qi naturally descends and Earth Qi naturally rises, turning Pi (Heaven and Earth not meeting) into Tai (Heaven and Earth meeting). The first signs of blending and transforming are just this; hence “blending and transforming Kun and Qian” (Kun is Earth; Qian is Heaven).

“Knowing return, knowing reversal—no post-heaven that is not pre-heaven.” Return is returning to the origin; reversal is returning to the root. Post-heaven is what comes after birth; pre-heaven is what precedes it. Knowing is awareness, like clear understanding. Only with clarity can there be sincerity; once sincere, there is no returning to the origin and no returning to the root that fail to occur. Such return and reversal naturally leave no post-heaven that is not pre-heaven. This is the wondrous effect that arrives of itself, spoken in terms of Jing, Qi, and Shen, and still belongs to the workings of the inner section.

“Pure upon pure (first “pure” read shéng, second read zhěng)—no earth that is not heaven.” To be pure and again pure is for there to be no patch of earth that is not heaven.

“Ke” means “able to” or “capable of.” As applied to practice, “chun” (pure) means single-pointed concentration; as applied to results, it means one unbroken whole without gaps. The principle of earth is even (cou); the principle of heaven is odd (qi, read as “ji”). Odd numbers belong to yang, even to yin. When yin and yang are blended to this degree, the outcome is pure yang—not a trace of yin remains—hence “there is no earth that is not heaven”: nowhere is still “earth” (yin); everywhere is already “heaven” (yang). This is the level of attainment and verification spoken of in the outer chapters—not something easily reached.

“Chang zhen, zhen chang—mysterious upon mysterious.” What is enduring is called chang; what is not false is called zhen. The point is that what is cultivated and what is achieved are at once lasting and genuine, genuine and lasting. When practice reaches its utmost, verification naturally becomes real—hence “mysterious upon mysterious”: one has already cultivated to the extreme that is Wuji (the limitless). Tracing beginning and end, nothing falls outside the two words “return and reversion” (huanfan); pushed to the limit, it is nothing but returning to the substance of the Dao.

“Continuous and dense—no Dao is not complete.” “Continuous” (mian) pairs with chang zhen; “dense” (mi) pairs with zhen chang. To be continuous and dense is to have cultivated to utmost sincerity without stopping—what Dao could fail to be whole? Therefore the master concludes: no Dao is incomplete.

“When merit surpasses the utmost, I am Buddha and immortal.” “Merit” (gong) is the work of return and reversion; “surpass” (chao) means to go beyond; “its” refers to this Dao; “utmost” (ji) is the pole of Wuji; “I” is the true self. Examined closely, this is what the outer chapters call the “body outside the body” (shen wai shen)—said to be without form yet to have form, like the Buddhist “purple-gold body” (the purified golden body of a buddha), and also the seed of true constancy in the Xuan teaching (the Daoist mystery school)—hence “I am buddha and immortal.”

“Abreast of Fuxi, shoulder to shoulder with Yuanshi.” At this level one may drive alongside Fuxi (the ancient sage-king), and stand equal with Yuanshi (Yuanshi Tianzun, the primordial celestial worthy).

Xi refers to the Heavenly Sovereign Fuxi. “Qiqi bingjia” means riding side by side as equals. Yuanshi is the ancestral title of all being and non-being (Yuanshi Tianzun, revered in Daoism as the source of the cosmos). “Bijian” means standing shoulder to shoulder. These images extend the metaphor above. Students of the Way must not cling to outward names and forms; as in the saying “What kind of person was Shun? What kind of person am I?”—the point is that everyone can reach it; one need not get stuck in physical traces.

The Xiantian Xinchuan Yishi Xuan Ke Yize (Ritual Regulations of the Profound School Transmitted from Heavenly Immortals through Mind-Transmission for Healing the World) describes the altar setup as follows: use a small room with one clean table and one low side table—one placed before the sacred seat, one placed in the east of the room. The room need not be large, but must be clean and bright. Doors and windows should be closed tight so no draft enters. Place two meditation cushions, one before the sacred seat and one in the east of the room. Prepare one palm-fiber mat, one table valance, and one set of three ritual vessels. In the center offer a plate of white rice, with a cup of pure water on top, plus one lamp of clear light and a pair of offering candles; for incense use three sticks of good thread incense; also prepare one set of clean clothes and one pair of clean shoes. Nothing else is placed in the room.

“Jintan” means entering the ritual enclosure.

Before entering, show reverence at every step; keep your bearing dignified, as if absorbed in quiet thought, and only then go in. Once inside, sit upright and straight; empty the heart and fix your intention on the True Unity (zhenyi). After you cease looking and listening, face upward and perform the three obeisances. When the rites are finished, withdraw to the side and sit facing west. Place a low table before you with Daoist liturgical texts upon it, and a thin meditation cushion beneath you. The cultivator sits properly and waits until the breath has settled; then open the ritual text and silently intone the syllables “Om” and “Lan,” three, five, or seven times, to purify body, mind, and intention. While silently holding “Om,” the mind must be free of stray thoughts: visualize and give rise to primordial Qi (xiantian yiqi) in empty clarity, like water, like sky—and only then voice “Lan.” Some Western instructions mark “yin” (prolongation) under “Om,” meaning simply to lengthen the sound of “Om.” If you visualize, hold, and intone with sincere adherence to the method, three rounds are enough. When that is done, proceed to bowing and recitation of the precious litanies (baogao). Full ceremonial notes are omitted here because this practice uses divine ritual (shenli)—ritual performed by the Shen, not by the form alone. To withdraw, rise and go before the sacred presence, show the same solemn reverence as before, bow three times, and leave. In divine ritual the Shen bows toward empty clarity; the physical body (se body) stays utterly still.

Retirement

When the body goes out to meet affairs, the Shen remains inwardly concentrated. More than refraining from speech, sight, and hearing, inwardly you only guard the image of clarity and harmony. Meet what arises and respond; as soon as the response is done, let it go—do not chase desire and emotion, lest you lose what you were guarding. If you lose it, immediately concentrate again; once concentrated, letting go is as if nothing hung in the mind. Thus the Shen stays naturally clear and Qi naturally still. When you enter again, the ceremonial order is the same as at first. After the session is complete, withdraw to solitude; always take cutting off thoughts and forgetting emotion as the root. At first you must apply effort by force of will; in the end you reach effortless mastery. Do not fear difficulty, and do not settle for slack ease.

Reporting completion (gao yuan)

You need steady sincerity and a broad aspiration; then the Shen is naturally ever clear and Qi naturally ever still. On entering again, the rites are as before. When the work is complete, withdraw to solitude; still make severing attachment and forgetting emotion your aim. Begin with forced effort until you are fully adept; do not shrink from hardship, and do not be complacent.

Rite of Completion

To perform this practice, you need lasting sincerity and a great vow. Hold the gatha in mind, bow low, and recite silently: “I, [name], have received transmission from my master, who teaches one to borrow emptiness to nourish stillness, and from stillness to return again to emptiness. When emptiness reaches its limit and stillness is solid and true, the Three Origins (heart, body, and thought—the heaven, earth, and human of what follows) align with the right moment; each side ‘heals the world’ through practice (cultivating oneself and the way of the world through cultivation), and subtle signs and portents appear at once. At this very instant, without the slightest break, pray earnestly to reach Xiyi (the vacant stillness in which there is nothing to see and nothing to hear).” After reciting, kowtow three times, rise, go before the sacred seat, and again perform the solemn rites as at the start; after three prostrations, withdraw.

The liturgy above has only four sections, handed down by sages of every age—it is extremely simple. Yet it is the rule for entering the gate, so there are still protocols for advancing and withdrawing. Whoever is resolved to practice must in the end bring it all to rest in this one body. Discourse on Distinguishing Doubts in Cultivating Immortality says: take the body as altar, furnace, cauldron, and stove, and take the heart as the place where spirit is settled. Here, the heart is taken as heaven, the body as earth, and a single thought as the human—thus reaching emptiness, stillness, centrality, harmony, roundness, and the utmost; body and world transform of themselves. At that point the form-body (the visible body) and the Dharma-body (the formless body of the Dao) must be both united and seemingly not united, yet without the least dimness or confusion. This is called blending and transforming. The heart-teaching transmitted when Master Lü (Lü Dongbin) opened the liturgy is just this; if one clings to ritual detail and to appearances in the realm of experience, one is far from the true teaching.

Orthodox Text of the Mysterious Liturgy, with Commentary

Opening-Liturgy Gatha:

From within emptiness, conceal the real; from the real, return to emptiness. Real and empty fuse into one, and body and world can be healed.

The method is set out in detail later in the text.

Rongyi (Melt-to-One) True Words:

Om (draw the syllable out) kou lan.

Do not fix a count of repetitions. Recite until you enter clear emptiness and only the One Qi (pre-heaven unified breath) remains—as if there were neither world nor body, sound and scent both gone. That is rongyi (melting into one). The main force lies in the syllable “Om,” so the tone should be long and sustained; the essence of “kou lan” is gathered in the vowel of “Om.” In Buddhist inner scriptures, however, this state is called the Pure Realm (the realm of purity), not rongyi.

Sacred Encomium

A sacred encomium is praise offered to the sacred in the ritual hall.

The Spirit Treasure, Numinous Treasure, and Divine Treasure—the Three Treasures of Daoism—are Jade Clarity (Yuqing), Upper Clarity (Shangqing), and Supreme Clarity (Taiqing). The primordial single Qi flows in unceasing cycles, and from this the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) unfold. Light is held within, silent and without words, yet it turns and arranges the four seasons; true color is empty and still, doing nothing, yet it gives birth to the three realms. In the heaven above the Great Canopy Heaven—the highest among all heavens—in the palace of the golden gate, within void and natural spontaneity, stand the Three Pure Ones, the three realms, and the Three Treasure Celestial Worthies.

This is the Jade Clarity Divine Mother Canon (a canon transmitted from the Divine Mother of the Jade Clarity realm), promulgated by Taiyi at the beginning of primordial time; the version circulated in the world has long been called the “General Canon of the Three Pure Ones.” Niwan shi said: When practitioners recite this canon, they must not mix in intellectual views; the root is to take boundless emptiness and the simultaneous vanishing of sound and breath as the foundation. The canon speaks directly of the body of the Dao; only a sage such as the Divine Mother could bear it, and only the brush of Taiyi could record it. Those who cultivate and advance toward the Dao should hold it in the heart at all times. Though people may misunderstand in places, the full meaning of the Three Pure Ones is complete here; to call it the General Canon is also fitting.

Petitionary words (text of supplication presented to the divine truth):

Reverently report: The age is in the lower cycle of the cosmic order; only the “One” can renew. I have received the grace of profound stillness and secrecy, gathered worldly ties and turned the heart toward the Dao, honored benevolence and honored compliance, so that the breath of ordinary beings may be made new. I humbly hope for vast compassion and universal attentive care.

Heavenly Qi bestowed downward is called benevolence; earthly Qi received upward is called compliance. Between one inhalation and one exhalation, these two meanings circulate together: at first one must visualize and refine; when pure and mature they come of themselves—throughout, not clinging and not lodging anywhere is what counts as subtle.

The repentance and release true words are mantras used to repent, resolve karma, and return to true constancy.

Examining the inner canon (Buddhist scriptures), this is the Great Bright Mantra—the Six-Syllable Mantra (Om mani padme hum)—the heart-sound of the Bodhisattva Who Contemplates at Ease (Avalokitesvara). If one recites it with genuine sincerity, one can resonate with the world of affairs, transform things accordingly, and the body follows in response, giving rise to the thought of supreme bodhi (awakening). For this reason it can dissolve the karmic ledger (the record accumulated by one’s actions). Yet according to the practice method, the requirements for refinement and strictness are carried to the utmost limit. Niwan Shi says: This is what Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) took up and applied. The calamities of the late yuán cycle are all brought about by people themselves; the cosmic process (zaohua) then operates accordingly. If the karmic ledger is not cleared, the course of the age cannot run smoothly.

The mantra reads: Om (draw the syllable out) ma ni pad me hum (pronounced close to “hǒu”).

The method still begins with contemplating emptiness: one must contemplate until body and mind are forgotten together, and oneself and the world become one. At that point something naturally appears, like a grain of millet, moving within it, black as lacquer—that is the body-and-world of the lower yuán; the black comes from habitual defilement. At this stage one holds the mantra in mind with spirit and heart, cultivating until it seems as if one is reciting and yet not reciting—only then is there the response of sound penetrating inward and mind-spirit communicating. One must strictly avoid deliberately thinking and scheming; only then can one obtain the sound without sound, ringing through the ten directions, without knowing whence the sound comes. This is gained by bringing sincerity to the extreme, within “holding without holding,” like the verification of still reciting even in dreams. Only when practice reaches this step can there be resonance with the world, transformation of things, bodily response, and gathering of Qi (vital energy). The sacred work of Patriarch Lü’s medical tradition is just this—how could it be achieved by chanting with throat and tongue alone? Yet the Dao does not depart from the world; to enter the sage’s realm, one still begins in the end with recitation through throat and tongue. Students cannot afford to miss this point.

Cloud script (yunzhuan): the heavenly writing said in Daoism to be formed from cloud-qi.

This cloud seal script (Daoist script formed from cloud-vapor patterns) is what the Great One (Taiyi, the supreme deity who governs heaven and earth’s transformations) calls “Xuanyun” (the hidden treasury). It refers to what is condensed from innate true Qi (primordial cosmic source-energy)—the essence within the heart of the Divine Mother (the maternal source that generates all things); in every stroke of the seal script lie heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers.

The doctrinal purport of the three teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—can be traced in their substance, yet their efficacy has no end. In his day Guo Lao (Zhang Guolao) grasped this meaning and composed the Xuanyun Zhenyan (True Words on the Hidden Treasury) to transmit it to the world. People took it for an opening hymn before reciting scriptures (kaijing ji), not knowing it was originally meant specifically to accompany the cloud seal script.

What can be traced as substance is yuanming (original mandate and root life); hence one can through inner cultivation regulate the course of worldly fortune. Whoever cultivates transformation in accord with the law, and whose merit and practice are complete, benefits both the world and themselves.

What the seal script holds is the substance of the Dao. When that substance is utterly real, efficacy is naturally marvelous—yet it cannot be measured by personal cleverness. Therefore its efficacy is said to be inexhaustible; this explanation of the Xuanyun verse is no empty talk.

The eighty-four seal characters described above were disseminated by the Divine Mother (the goddess who spread the celestial writings), transcribed by Huangren (a heavenly True Person), corrected by Zhen Mu (a female immortal and teacher of Xu Xun), collected by Jingyang (Xu Xun), elucidated by Guo Lao (Zhang Guolao), applied by Chunyang (Lü Dongbin), and then inherited by Niwan shi, who passed them on to Yibing.

My teacher Niwan shi said: The Taisu cloud-seal script (characters formed from cloud-qi and written in heaven’s seal form) is scattered through the Great Void; encountering it is an exceptionally rare karmic opportunity. Huangren, a child of heaven, saw it, copied it down, and stored it in the Celestial Repository, transmitting it to True Persons in the human world. It is like a measure of mani pearls spilled and poured into the human realm—“poured” (cheng) means filled and dispersed—yet there were neither punctuation (du, “reading” breaks) nor rhyme patterns to consult. After Jingyang collected it, he lamented that methods of longevity were scattered without fixed rule, so complete attainment of life was hard to achieve; moreover the seal script was strange and difficult to copy faithfully. Zhen Mu therefore descended in response, imparted the rhymes and tones, and enabled people to chant the text. After Jingyang received this, he rendered it into regular script, compiled it into a continuous text, and only then did it receive the name Scripture of the Great Cavern Jade (Da Dong Yu Jing). It had not yet entered the Daoist canon; only in the Liu Song period did Lu Jingxiu of Wucheng (who received imperial orders to organize the scriptures, often called Lu Xiujing in histories) compile it into the canon by decree.

I have examined how these characters are used in the world. Broadly speaking, there are several kinds of “use” in overlapping forms, and also “use of the origin,” “use for contemplation,” “use of the stem,” and “use of the ghost”; in sum, the regular-script translation is taken apart character by character and reassembled into the hook-and-stroke forms, each carrying hidden meaning. Lü the Patriarch’s medical writings take only the “play bundle” (wan bao) from among them; considering the name, this is what is called the Primordial Jade Method—also the sense of the line “Nanwu Jue Method” in this collection of seal characters.

My teacher also said: Every thing has the source from which it arises. Cloud-seal script arises from the Golden Writings (the golden documents of heaven); the Golden Writings appear through Wang Ni. What is Wang Ni? It is yuanming (one’s innate, prenatal destiny). If the learner can investigate and exhaust this point, they have traced matters to the source. Once it is clear, one carefully transforms and circulates so that transformation and generation continue without break, never violating the body of the Dao. Know that the Dao is rooted in the Great Void, and its substance is rooted in utmost non-being. Once this principle is understood, the two words “emptiness” and “non-being” are precisely where Wang Ni emerges from. This is called thorough penetration. The learner should reverently and carefully embody this recognition and not neglect it. The twelve seal characters below were supplemented by Patriarch Lü; their hidden meanings can still be inferred and measured.

(1) This concerns the Dao received and handed down within the Confucian tradition. (2) This concerns the Dao received and handed down within the Xuanzong (Daoist) tradition. (3) This concerns the Dao received and handed down within the Shizong (Buddhist) tradition; students should reflect on this with solemn respect and not treat it lightly.

The twelve Dao talisman scripts that follow were extended by Lü Zu (Lü Dongbin); their arcane meaning can still be inferred. The twenty-four Dao talisman scripts above were extended by the Niwan lineage (transmitters linked to the Niwan Palace)—that is, the invocation text.

The Niwan liturgy states: This school is the supreme Dao; the cloud-script talismans (yun zhuan) are the true writing. A single talisman script is transformed from the heart; the spirits of the Three Powers (Heaven, Earth, and Humanity) shine down from above. Nothing sought fails to respond; every wish naturally comes round. When the full set of scripts is opened through transformation, each turn of transformation issues from the Heavenly Heart, without falling into being or non-being—the original spell line “wulu si de zheng” then obtains verification. Randeng (Dipankara Buddha) once gave a prediction: hiding and revealing follow the mind at once.

Niwan further says: The method of holding and transforming has been transmitted; those without karmic affinity can hardly even hear of it. What is the method? The Dao patriarch Chunyang Weng (Lü Dongbin) said: In cultivating and transforming talismans, practitioners need only store the cloud scripts in sequence, each in its place—either at the navel or in the brain—and must not confuse the order. Proceed by the rule: first transform Wang Ni, next Jin Shu (Golden Writing), then the talisman script; do not reverse the sequence. What is Wang Ni? It is an empty circle. What is Jin Shu? It is also an empty circle.

Niwan also says: When Lü Zu transformed Wang Ni and Jin Shu, he used the Heavenly Eye (the inner eye at the brow); oral work used only the two mantra syllables “Om” and “kou lan” (mouth-blue)—the practice is like polishing a mirror; that is the correct way to hold fast with Shen (spirit). Therefore talisman transformation employs the Heavenly Eye and works the transformation toward empty space. Once the script is complete, it is gathered inward and stored at the navel or in the brain; within that lies extremely subtle arcane meaning. Although transforming the talisman begins from receiving Jin Shu, Wang Ni is the original mandate of the Three Powers, the root from which utmost birth-and-transformation proceeds. As for the body: before leaving the womb, its seat is in the brain; once born, it settles in the qihai (the sea of qi below the navel). Jin Shu is the original nature of the Three Powers; all things, whether hidden or manifest, depend on it. As for the body: before things are yet felt, its seat is at Li (the heart locus); once there is feeling and response, it presides at tiangu (the “heavenly valley,” the Niwan in the head). Hence whoever receives Jin Shu to transform talismans always descends forward from tiangu—and for that single descent to attain clarity is the finest outcome.

If one refines and circulates the cloud script (secret cloud-like characters used in Daoist practice to support cultivation) according to what Wang Ni (an ancient sage of attainment recorded in Zhuangzi) transmitted, qi rises from behind the Qihai (the energy region below the navel around the lower Dantian). The subtle point lies in using this ascent to attain chonghe—Yin and Yang qi blending in balanced harmony. Cultivating in this way, intention may rest in the brain or in the navel, carrying the sense that what moves above has its effect below: when the upper stirs, the lower responds accordingly, and the method then proceeds in orderly sequence. One stroke of the script must ascend while another descends, and each stroke must be silently held in the heart as the full script is circulated once through—only then will cultivation not lean to one side. Held thus, ascent and descent balance, Yin and Yang adjust, breathing evens out, and advance and retreat fall into proper rhythm.

One must also hold as though not holding, and refine as though not refining—only then does one reach ziran (naturalness). When practice reaches ziran, the operative qi of the Three Origins (primordial vitality corresponding to Heaven, Earth, and humanity; “qi” here means pre-heaven vital breath) returns of itself to the pre-heaven state (the original condition before life’s essence has scattered). When the root nature returns to pre-heaven, how can body-mind and affairs in the world fail to be put in order? After this, one need not cling to one fixed hour; over three or five years one nourishes and cultivates: what age would not be transformed, what fortune would not flourish, how could Heaven fail to be Heaven, how could Earth fail to be Earth?

Understand that calamities and tribulations come in succession are brought upon people by people themselves. Therefore immortals, buddhas, sages, and the founders of every teaching all instruct people to examine and rectify body and heart and return to the Dao-nature; whether life is long or short, the heart holds no second intent. The learning that heals the world was opened and gathered into clear teaching by Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin). It uses the cloud script to deepen practice and verify attainment. The method is simple; the crux is guarding a single thought. That is: when intention is sincere, the heart is upright; when the heart is upright, the person is cultivated; when the person is cultivated, the household is ordered; when the household is ordered, the state is secure; when the state is secure, then all under heaven is at peace. How could this aim only at profit for oneself alone? As for the saying “the Dao is not outside me,” its meaning is at once subtle and profound and also concrete and verifiable. Did not Taiyi (the supreme unique Way honored in this lineage, cited here from its ancient teaching) say: in this life, all one has is this body; the heart is Heaven, the body is Earth, and a thought is the person. The person stands between Heaven and Earth, small as a single grain of millet; yet Heaven originally envelops Earth, and Earth bears the myriad things and receives Heaven above.

Heaven and earth are shaped like an egg: heaven above is clear and bright, earth below is yellow, and human beings together with the myriad things live closely packed within. Only the human can preside over and bring all this to completion. For that reason the two poles of heaven and earth seem in turn to be upheld by the human; the human is none other than the shen (spirit) of heaven and earth. Therefore shen holds emptiness and stillness as supreme worth.

A gatha puts it this way: with one foot you step beyond the dusty world; when passion and emotion are forgotten and discursive thought is severed, you then behold the heart of heaven. This is called zhixu—bringing the mind to emptiness; this is called shoujing—holding to stillness. From there, through unceasing refinement, one can enter youmi, the deep and hidden subtle realm. When cultivation has reached youmi and returned to naturalness, one can yishi—heal and benefit the world—and no longer be misled by the mundane. Such a thing is not something one achieves by light talk. Without sincerity one cannot advance; without constancy one cannot attain realization. Clearly this learning turns on no more than four words: emptiness, stillness, constancy, and sincerity.

The Puying zhenyan (Universal Response True Mantra) is a spell that prays for universal resonance. Om is the opening Sanskrit seed syllable; the notation yin marks a drawn-out sound; pu and long are two syllables read as one; svaha is the usual closing word of blessing in such mantras.

This passage explains how mantras are selected and recited in Buddhist teaching and in the Doufa ritual line. Although the method comes from Buddhist canonical sources, its practical application may follow the practitioner’s intent, so both Buddhist dharma and Doufa adopt it. On close examination of the two traditions, beneath the syllables marked “kou pu” and “kou long” one proceeds directly to “svaha” (the Sanskrit closing word of dedication and accomplishment at the end of a mantra). Above “svaha” both are marked “erhe” (two-syllable combination): according to the western regions’ pronunciation, two sounds are fused into one, approximating the sound “ge.” Therefore when chanting, the vowel of “Om” should be held between throat and nasal passages, long and subtle; only when it is voiced openly does it accord with the secret formula—this is what “erhe” means. Below that, “kou pu” has a short, gathered vowel; “kou long” has an open, resonant one. In the next two syllables, “sa” is read quickly; “ha” is near the sound “huo.” The mantra’s purpose is to subdue (the text notes that “jiang” is read as “hang”) various demonic obstacles, hence the name “One-Syllable Usnisa-Cakra Raja Mantra” (a spell in which a single syllable gathers the merit of the Buddha’s crown-wheel king). The scripture says that when this mantra’s sound goes forth, within forty li the implements of all maras fall away of their own accord.

The Doufa lineage honored in this school reads the combined sound as “he,” meaning to solemnly declare the invocation—hence one combination, two combinations, up through eight and nine combinations. Lü Dongbin (Lü Zu) drew on Doufa and called it the “Universal Responsiveness Mantra” (puying zhenyan), taking the sense of universal communion and universal verification.

Niwan further says: when holding and refining are complete, one should always perform obeisance and recite the proclamation (gao), then withdraw. As for the number of repetitions, students must guard against greed for quantity; even eight seal-script iterations (ba zhuan) in a day is not too few. What matters overall is that spirit and qi are full and nothing is lost. Whether the work takes effect depends solely on whether the ascent can harmonize and the descent can clarify.

Dedication vow verse

Both Buddhist and Daoist liturgical books—whether scripture or repentance—include dedication (huixiang) passages. This means gathering the essential meaning of what was held and circulated back into oneself, guarding it so it does not scatter: keeping this intent right here, never parting from the present body of practice.

This passage first sets a grand vow of “healing the world”—using cultivation to harmonize body-mind and the human realm: to receive and uphold a Way that is peaceful yet hidden, neither seen nor heard, beyond even spirits and ghosts, and to gather both self and world into what is most subtle.

Jia (borrowing) means using this to disclose that, as a method of counter-practice: borrow emptiness to nurture stillness, borrow stillness to return to emptiness. Emptiness refers to the heart-mind; stillness to the body. Han is to nurture and also to return to the original source; ji is the utmost point; du is solid and sincere. When the heart-mind is empty to the extreme and the body’s stillness is thoroughly grounded, the “three non-being unite and transform”—Heaven Yuan, Earth Yuan, and Human Yuan meet and merge, interacting in the work of healing the world. Ji here is the true mechanism of innate primordial Qi (xiantian zhenyi zhi qi). Zheng is the subtle sign of what is almost imperceptible—the source of original nature, something that can be attested and trusted; yan is what is verified in actual experience. Qi (read like ji) means non-dual, without a paired opposite. In this very moment, this very hour, there must not be the slightest break: keep the will single and the spirit complete, until one reaches xi-yi: to look yet not see is xi; to listen yet not hear is yi.

When the recitation is finished, bow the head three times, rise, approach the sacred presence, perform three reverent salutations, then withdraw.

The ritual text above is the “rectifying the root” section; what is to be upheld is only eight items—simple to the utmost. Those who practice accordingly and are swiftly moved, as if echo answered call, do so because they have attained emptiness, silence, and sincerity together. Few learners succeed, and the reason is lack of persistence. In study, penetrate the commentary; in practice, follow it the same way.

What follows is an appendix to The Heart Transmission of the Celestial Immortal—a teaching saying spoken by the divine man Li Pengtou (Pengtou is a nickname for a practitioner with disheveled hair).

What is “hunhua” (blended transformation), and why must one go on to practice “hunwang” (blended forgetting)? Hunhua is like placing a crystal bottle in sunlight to receive its rays. At the outset one begins from the “false” (jia). False here means an expedient method: treat this body and the world one inhabits as if they were a crystal bottle. One must practice with sincere intent, firmly renounce expecting quick results, and not cling to what one sees or hears. The method is simply to blend body and world together within emptiness and stillness.

Before you begin, you must thoroughly grasp this principle, so you do not fall into delusion and fantasy; you must not be careless. Once you have understood it in experience, you may put it into practice. The principle is: what has form and seems solid is not true solidity; what appears empty and visible is not true emptiness. Hence the ancient sages said: true emptiness is what gold and jade obtain, and thereby become firm; true fullness is what empty space obtains, and thereby becomes vast. Take heaven and earth on either side: the azure sky is formed by the gathering of earthly Qi, yet it cannot but be called heaven; the solid earth is formed by receiving heavenly Qi, yet it cannot but be called earth.

Acting on this principle in blended illumination (hunzhao), thoughts naturally have nothing to grasp, and the mind naturally becomes unified and no longer splits into two sides. Practicing and realizing in this way, solid and empty inevitably fuse into one by themselves. When the work reaches fusion into one, one has already entered the realm of transformation (hua); because there is no discrimination, it is called “hun” (undifferentiated blending). One must still go on to hunwang: release even the holding on to this undifferentiated body and its function, before one can penetrate to the level of ziran (naturalness). Cultivated to ziran, flaws will never recur. This is what the ancient sages meant by taking one more step when the hundred-foot pole is already at its top.

This passage was transmitted by the divine adept Li Pengtou—a master with hair worn loose in the manner of one who has attained the Way—and was obtained from his disciple Xu Sheng. Xu styled himself Genyun; he was a native of Taizhou. He had ample sincerity but less natural brilliance. After the text was handed to him, he wept and bowed before it day and night. When his sincerity reached its utmost, the spirits were moved, and the perfected Li then appeared and in the end transmitted the Great Way to him. I questioned him privately; he said: what was conferred was only a single sheet of paper, together with an oral explanation—that the Way takes “stopping thoughts” as its classic thread (making cessation of wandering mind the guiding principle), takes “comprehensive illumination” and “comprehensive transformation” as its warp (wholehearted contemplation and wholehearted transformation, without making distinctions, working in tandem), and takes “comprehensive forgetting” as the ultimate fulfillment (going further to forget even in a unified, non-clinging way, until one no longer clings to cultivation itself—that is completion). He kept that sheet but could not understand it, and so passed it on to me (the character “de” in the text refers to the colophon writer himself). The full text runs to a little over two hundred ninety characters. On checking, it is exactly the teaching my master Taixu Weng practiced; the paper’s color is also dim and aged. It was probably not written specially for Xu Sheng, but simply used his hand to turn it over to me. I then read it thoroughly. Now, gathering the heart-to-heart transmission (the teaching passed directly from master to disciple in mutual understanding), I write these few lines to record how I came to read and receive this matter. Xiaogen shi (Min Yizhi’s style) respectfully colophons.

One teaching utterance of the true master Taixu shi—that is, one instructional saying of the true master Taixu shi.

Taixu Shi said: Heaven, Earth, and Humankind together are called the “world”; my own body may also be called a “world.” Thus the outer world and the self may be viewed apart, or taken as one.

My teacher Niwan Shi said: In terms of practice, humankind emulates Earth, Earth emulates Heaven, Heaven emulates the Dao, and the Dao emulates naturalness (as in the Daodejing—layer upon layer of emulation, until one returns to the natural). In terms of principle, naturalness is the root substance, and the Dao is the functioning of that substance. The root is originally utterly empty and spirit-like; the Dao originally arises from “non-being.” To cultivate according to this principle, the method lies solely in emptiness and non-attachment. If one clings to contrivance and deliberate action, one goes against naturalness, drifts from the root, and this is called the lesser path (a side track that does not accord with the Great Dao)—aspirants should not follow it.

Did not the sages and the virtuous of old say: “At first, because there was deliberate action, people could not yet recognize it; only when non-action was reached did the multitude begin to understand”? This speaks of the fa (the norm one should follow): there must be functioning, yet within functioning one does not fixate on use; within the work of non-action, real efficacy is still deployed. Hence the ancients said: it is so and yet not so, not so and yet precisely so—only then does one accord with “so” without straying from “so.” Only one who is sincere and can persevere may enter the Dao and realize it.

Taixu also said: The human body is a small heaven-and-earth. When we speak of heaven and earth, the person is within them. Did not Taiyi (the sage cited in the text) say: My mind is Heaven, my body is Earth, my thoughts are the person. Understand it in this way. Only one who is sincere and has constancy may enter the Dao and realize it.

Tai Xu said again: The human body is a small heaven and earth. When we speak of heaven and earth, the person is right within them. Taiyi (the supreme Unity) did not say: my mind is heaven, my body is earth, and my thoughts are humanity? Understood in this way, the three powers—heaven, earth, and humanity—are originally one and the same self; how could body and world be split apart? This is why our Daoist ancestor, the Pure Yang Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin), opened the sacred work of healing the world (using the cultivation of oneself to settle the world). Later disciples who inherited this method found that when they had regulated themselves, the world too was at peace, with effects as swift as a shadow following the body or an echo answering a call. Yet the real experience lies only within one’s own person; heaven, earth, and spirits cannot fathom it. For this is precisely where the meaning of the character for “rob” (dao) in the Book of Changes (Yijing) is grasped—and what is that meaning? Nothing other than “complete secrecy” (the mechanism kept whole and tight, not leaking outward). When you trace its method, it comes down to two words: stopping thoughts (zhinian). Did not Patriarch Lü say: the Great Dao first teaches people to stop thoughts; if thoughts do not stop, everything is in vain. The Great Dao spoken of here means just this lineage. If students can receive it, three thousand meritorious acts and eight hundred virtuous deeds can be fulfilled in an instant. What one fears is not believing, not understanding—or understanding yet being unable to persist, unable to be sincere.

Tai Xu said again: A human body is hard to obtain, and the Great Dao is hard to hear. My master Niwan Shi (Chen Nan, a Song-dynasty Daoist) said: Having already become human, first cultivate the human way. You must know that without cultivating the human way, how can you merge with the Dao? The Dao has no division between self and other; in the heart there is no subjective guessing or stubborn insistence, so one can always respond to affairs yet always remain still, and always keep clarity—this is the mind knowing how to stop thoughts. How can thoughts be stopped? The method is simply not chasing them and not engaging them. It is like wanting to cover over empty space: the method is simply to let it be—empty space is empty by nature and cannot do harm. Did not the ancients say: do not fear thoughts arising; fear only that awakening comes too late.

Taixu said: My teacher once told me that people fall into several ranks, and the Dao does too. I am not afraid to say this plainly, so I will tell you directly. Those in the world who rush about in ordinary, unremarkable lives, simply going with the flow of the times, are the masses (zhongsheng). Those who know how to cultivate and examine themselves are ordinary practitioners (fanfu). Those who can cultivate and clarify principle, who also align with worldly affairs and take the Dao as their standard, are true humans in the Daoist sense. Those who act according to the Dao and can transform themselves are Daoists (daoren). Those who, through their own cultivation, rescue and renew the world are immortals (shenxian)—here “rescuing the world” (yishi) means aiding the world through spiritual attainment, not ordinary medical care. Those who live in the world yet can transform and uplift it are true immortals (zhenxian). Those who merge and transform together with the world are celestial immortals (tianxian).

My teacher asked: Which rank do you wish to become? I knelt and answered: Though I am not sharp-witted, I wish to learn to become a celestial immortal. Only then did my teacher speak with gravity: To aspire so highly is not reckless ambition. To merge and transform together with the world—that is the celestial immortal.

The master asked: What kind of person are you willing to become now? I knelt and answered: Though I am not clever, I wish to learn the path of the Heavenly Immortal—the highest grade of immortality in Daoist cultivation. Only then did the master instruct me: A lofty aspiration is not empty talk; those who can achieve it act accordingly, but one must earnestly sweep away old habits of seeing and hearing. What one has seen and heard before is all fragmentary and belongs to the small path—the very situation where methods multiply yet success is hard to attain. The mind-learning of the Heavenly Immortal has neither hexagram lines nor measured fire phases; from beginning to end it holds only to the two words “no-thought” (wunian). The moment a thought arises, or the idea of “gaining something,” cast it aside like driftwood; only then does the mind begin to settle in one place.

I listened, kowtowed, and asked: Then are the Can Tong Qi (the alchemical classic by Wei Boyang) and the Wu Zhen Pian (the internal alchemy classic by Zhang Boduan) also fragmentary small paths? The master said: It is because you have not awakened yourself that you practice according to them yet cannot penetrate through. The words of the ancient sages were originally spoken for people who did not understand that the world and the self are one body. Now that you have thoroughly understood this principle, you should grasp its essence inwardly and put it into practice in your own person—how can you still nail yourself to dead words like a stake, repeatedly questioning? Did the ancients not say “once you have the secret, you may read the books with profit,” and also “once you have the secret, you may discard the books”? Why doubt again? It is simply that you have not understood my words.

These two books are only fish traps—the gear for catching fish; once the fish is caught, the gear may be set aside. The teaching I gave you before is now turning your very body into the fish trap. You do not fish from your own body, and so you ask this question. From now on, only contemplate body and mind as a whole, then dissolve distinctions in seamless fusion, and go further to blend and forget—only then can you reach the natural state. Then morning will naturally correspond to the Tun hexagram and evening to the Meng hexagram (in alchemical texts hexagrams match the day-night flow of qi, meaning the circulation adjusts itself), and you will naturally accord with the resonance of stars and tides. If you still seek the horse by the picture, how can the mind be single, how can thought be pure?

Niwan Shi (the speaker’s Daoist name; niwan refers to the upper Dantian at the crown) said: There are no lack of aspirants in the world, yet most cling to the small and lose the great, and so are boxed in by the mundane, unable to step outside that range. My path takes escape as its root, and therefore can melt the whole person together with the world into one piece. This realm cannot be named; we call it “blended transformation” (hunhua) for lack of a better word.

Master Taixu said: Most people of aspiration in the world only cultivate the person to harmonize with worldly life. They stop once they can dwell in the dust of the world and transform themselves, and add no further cultivation after that. So they may wish to leave the world, but they never achieve it in fact. It is like using all one’s strength in a single somersault of one hundred and eight thousand li and still landing in the palm of the Tathagata (Buddha).

Our school is not like that. As long as a breath remains, this resolve must not slacken. At first one still cultivates the person to accord with the world. Next one transforms this body within the world. Then one goes further and uses this body to heal the world—through one’s own practice to adjust and transform the condition of the world—until the world is continually guided and transformed. World and person must be fused into one; from stability one enters the realm of transformation. Only then is the work complete. Only then can one leap beyond heaven and earth and not be bound within the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).

The method our school has established is exactly this. Whether one can reach it is not something to fret over. What vow is this? It is what the inner scriptures (Buddhist sutras) call: “Exhausting this life’s karmic body, ascending together to the Pure Land of Bliss.” Respectfully recorded by Min Yide.

This school’s methods take Tian Yuan (cultivation in accord with nature at the highest level) as the standard throughout. Where some youwei (deliberate, contrived) practices appear, it is because students have long entered through paths valued in the world; those methods are borrowed only provisionally to guide them toward zhonghe—inner balance and harmonious expression in action.

If one has not yet gone by worldly paths, one need only begin with the Biyuan Tan Jing, then proceed in order through Patriarch Bai’s (Song Bai Yuxian) commentary on the Daode Jing, Patriarch Zhu of the Yunmen line (Zhu Yunyang)’s commentaries on the Cantong Qi and Wuzhen Pian, and return to Patriarch Zhang’s (Zhang Boduan) Jindan Sibai Zi (Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir). Next, accumulate practice in the Sanni Yishi (using the teachings of Confucius, Laozi, and the Buddha to heal self and world), reach transformation in the Tianxian Xin Zhuan (Heart Transmission of the Immortal), use Wuyuanzi (Liu Yiming)’s earlier and later Bian Can Zheng to correct abuses, and verify the path with the Yinfu Jing Xuanjie Zhengyi and Niwanshi (Li Niwán)’s Shuangxiu Baofa (a guide to xingming shuangxiu, dual cultivation of nature and life).

All of this, repeated and turned over, aims at nothing but the two words zhonghe. The purpose is solely fanben huanyuan—returning to the root and restoring the Yuan—what is called receiving the whole endowment and returning it whole (keeping intact what heaven gave in body and mind and handing it back to the source).

Already printed are: Biyuan Tan Jing; Lü Zushi Sanni Yishi Shuo Shu; Zhang Sanfeng Zhenren Xuan Tan Ji; Lu Yue’an Xiansheng Jiuzheng Lu; Lü Zu Sanni Yishi Gong Jue; Lü Zushi Chong Shen Xiwangmu Nü Xiuzheng Tu Shi Ze (Lü Dongbin’s restatement of ten rules for women’s correct cultivation transmitted by the Queen Mother of the West); Niwán Li Weng Nüzong Shuangxiu Baofa Shi Ze (ten articles on women’s line of xingming shuangxiu by Li Niwán); Zhang Zushi Jindan Sibai Zi; Taixu Shi Tianxian Xin Zhuan; Taixu Shi Tianxian Xin Zhuan Yishi Xuan Ke; Wuyuanzi Qian Bian Can Zheng; Wuyuanzi Hou Bian Can Zheng; Gufa Yangsheng Shisan Ze; Dao Cheng Jie Ji; Suoyan Xu; Ru Shi Wo Wen; Shangpin Danfa Gongfu Jieci; Xie Tianji; Lü Zushi Jinhua Zongzhi; Yin Pengtou Huangji Hebi Zhengdao Xian Jing; Yinfu Jing Xuanjie Zhengyi; and one volume of Yuxiang Tian Jing Zhou Zhu. These twenty titles are bound as one set, collectively titled Gushu Yin Lou Cang Shu (Hidden Tower Library of Ancient Books). There is also Jingai Xin Deng (transmission lamp of the Jingai lineage), eight fascicles, in a separate set under the same series title.

Six works have not yet been reprinted: Song Li’s commentary on the Yuanshi Tianzun Xiantian Daode Jing; Song Patriarch Bai’s hand commentary on the Daode Jing; Yunmen Patriarch Zhu’s Cantong Qi Chanyou; his Wuzhen Pian Chanyou; Wang Wuyi’s Zhouyi Tushuo; and Chen Weng, prefect of Yunyang, Yishuo. For lack of means they could not be sent to the block again; this must be planned together with someone both able and willing. Inscribed in person by Ding Fan in the Qinghe month of the Jiawu year of the Daoguang reign (fourth month, fourteenth year of Daoguang).

The Treasure Rules of the Celestial Immortal Path was transmitted by Mud Ball Master (Niwan shi), recorded by Old Man of Great Emptiness (Taixu weng), compiled by Lazy Cloud (Lanyun shi), and collated by Return-to-Truth (Fanzhen zi).

First rule, originally titled “Complete Luminosity.”

Heart and nature are complete and luminous. Mud Ball Master said: When heart and nature are complete and luminous, the feet stand firm on the ground, and the path of the celestial immortal (xian who dwell in heaven) opens before you.

Old Man of Great Emptiness said: Heaven and earth are vast, yet at first there was nothing. “Being” arose from delusion; delusion piled on delusion, and the world appeared. The Tai Xuan Jade Classic speaks of “Luo San Lan Bo, Dai Qia Tai Li, Tang Yun Tui Ru, Lian Guang Ling Du, Yu Luo Shu Miao”—that is the remote, unfathomable state at the very beginning. The human four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind—the constituents of the body) are the same. Tracing back to before my parents begot me, it is like that empty clarity in the scripture: only a single breath of empty clarity, not two with the primordial (xiantian—the undifferentiated source before all things): no coming or going, no blockage or flow, nothing to call movement and nothing to call stillness—only deep clarity and quiet composure.

When, through parents, I received life, deluded awareness arose from delusion; conditions and deluded perception interwove, and these four elements became “me.” Deluded form appeared dependent on conditions and was no different from the world before my eyes. After that one might dwell in nurture, in decline, in transcendence, or in dispersion; thought stirred back and forth among them, and movement and stillness arose. Because there was expansion and constriction, the seven emotions were stirred and the six desires responded; the four elements lost their master, untimely death and violent end were fixed, and omens followed.

Those who understand see clearly that this body’s origin is obscure and say: This flesh-and-blood body and every visible form are deluded substance born of deluded causes; extend that to plants, soil, and metal and stone—none is not the display of delusion heaped on delusion. What is truly one’s own within the body is only the subtly luminous, perfectly awakened heart-nature. It comes from the realm of subtle being (miaoyou): full and round, light flashing—it does not perish along with illusory existence. Only because it now clings to the body (ni, “mud”—attachment that will not let go), and though the body is like a relay inn where one lodges briefly, heart-nature is ultimately cut off from heaven. In such a situation, one can only live out this one lifetime shaped by karmic fruit—and no more.

The Discourse on Distinguishing Doubts in Cultivating Immortality says: one must reach a state in which there is no thought within thought. These are all secret formulas for nurturing the “who” (the true nature that can awaken and illumine) and washing the marrow (purifying body and mind). The seven emotions and six desires, and the three corpses and nine worms (the corpse-spirits and worms in Daoist lore that dwell in the body and stir up desire), all arise from delusion upon delusion, born of wandering thoughts. They are produced when a person’s postnatal contact with qi takes form; they have no root and no foundation, no real skill, and no genuine spiritual power. What passes for skill and spiritual power is merely making people doubt, using slander to provoke, and usurping authority to act recklessly. Once they meet the “who” of wondrous clarity and perfect awakening, it is like bright light shining forth—their power is instantly lost and they flee without a trace. Therefore the method is only to return this illusory bodily constitution to the “land of nowhere” (the realm of empty non-being), to watch it and attend to it, to make it empty and make it still, and then to cook and refine it (with inner fire)—only then does this constitution become true. Second, one must only hold the army still, cultivate one’s inner virtue, feed and instruct them, not delegate power downward, and let commands issue from the “who.” This is concentrating the spirit and gathering qi, not letting thoughts move rashly, guarding the central harmony with one mind, so that even the finest detail can be seen. In time, all yin influences are transformed away; it is like the realm at peace and the people secure—and the body is likewise well governed. Therefore those who cultivate the body must take making the mind-nature perfectly round and bright (xinyuan yuanming) as the first treasure-principle.

The second treasure-principle was originally called “round purity.”

Upholding precepts with perfect purity means holding the precepts until they are complete and clean. Master Niwan said: When this is achieved, the karmic burden of ingrained habits is cleared away, and the four great elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—that make up the body become pure. Master Taixu said: The cycle of birth and death arises from habitual karma; if habitual karma is not pure yet one hopes to cultivate the supreme Dao, it is like steaming sand to cook rice—there is no possibility of success. It is not only lust, anger, greed, and delusion that must go; anything that obstructs body, mind, nature, and life should be renounced and not clung to—only then can one speak of upholding precepts with perfect purity. The ancients said: There are many ways to lose one’s life, but those who indulge in lust die early; when the mind stirs, jing (essence) must sway, and when jing sways the mind is disturbed—how then can one cultivate the Dao? Yet this very body already dwells amid desire, and is nourished by the seven emotions and six desires; there is nothing that does not hinder practice, no place that does not bind one’s resolve. Only a person of great wisdom can suddenly raise a sharp sword in the sea of desire and waves of passion, cut open the path through birth and death, enter deeply the gate of purity, and treat form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and mental objects all as blades that slaughter the self—avoiding them as one would flee from harm. Only then does one approach perfection in precept-keeping: at first one holds them with effort, then gradually they ripen, and the precepts can be complete and pure. This is the meaning of “to gather the mind, first gather the body.”

If the karma of lust is not removed, one cannot leave the dusty world; if the mind of lust is not removed, one will eventually fall into the demonic path, drop into the pit of love and desire, and lose the road to realizing truth. If the karma of killing is not removed, one likewise cannot leave the dusty world; if the mind of killing is not removed, one must fall into the spirit path (the way of ghostly resentment driven by killing karma), sink into a sea of hatred, and lose the road to realizing truth. If the karma of deceit is not removed, one still cannot leave the dusty world; if the mind of deceit is not removed, one must fall into the heterodox path, flow into the realm of leakage (where qi and virtue leak and sink), and lose the road to realizing truth. Therefore those who are resolved must first cut off acts of killing, stealing, lust, and the like, and cut off the corresponding thoughts in the mind, as the foundation for entering among the realized ones.

Know that although this body seems to come from the sea of passion, in truth it does not come from the sea of passion; qi (the pre-heaven single breath) has no coming or going, and the Dao is the same. Abandoning the false is realizing the true; if one abandons even this truth, one becomes false again. Thought after thought returning to the source is the one qi of empty clarity; then what habit is left to stain, and what Dao remains to be realized? Only now false karma is not yet cleared and karmic habits are still firm—so one must deploy the battle array of wisdom and search and cut away completely. If anything remains disrespectful or impure, one can only turn inward and examine oneself; only then can one hope to make the path of realizing truth pure. Therefore the school of true cultivation values holding precepts, and lists “upholding precepts with perfect purity” as the second precious rule.

Third Treasured Principle (originally titled “Complete Essence,” meaning essence and qi are full and not lost)

Cultivation depends on steady progress without interruption. Niwan shi says: If you advance without stopping, the field of the heart-mind is tilled until it is ripe, and you need not fear leakage of essence and qi. Taixu Weng says: Know that the three fields (upper, middle, and lower dantian) have long lain fallow; the brambles have only just been cleared. A moment of slackness or neglect breaks the work; stray thoughts sprout again, and the aftermath is hard to put right.

Within the person, inner demons lurk inside and outer demons tempt from without—both sides watch for any gap; that is how things are. People often grow slack after sudden gain or loss, and grow careless when they have already gained something but have not yet truly put it into practice. Once they fail to examine themselves, the harm is no small matter. Moreover, turning toward the good is like climbing a mountain—very hard—while long-standing habits are secretly cast deep at the passes of desire and emotion.

What the master calls “leakage” is broad in scope; it is not only loss of essence. If the eyes are not guarded, spirit leaks through the eyes; if the ears are not guarded, through the ears; if the mouth is not guarded, through the mouth; if the nose is not guarded, through the nose. When the heart-mind races, essence and qi stir, intention scatters, spirit sinks into dullness, breath turns turbid, and purpose goes astray—all of this is leakage, and already close to “seepage.” Seepage is loss you do not notice, against which you cannot guard in time, like water seeping from a field. The harm seems slow but is actually swift; seems small but is actually great. The wise stay on guard; the confused overlook it.

On examining this principle, it largely pairs with “intermittent and unfocused” practice in the Xianxiu Bianhuo Lun (Bai Yuzhang’s treatise clarifying difficulties in cultivating immortality). Though the words sound like they concern the heart-mind, they are in fact a daily path those who cultivate life—the body and essence and qi—can rely on. That is why the master made this the third treasured principle of true cultivation.

Fourth Treasured Principle (originally titled “Complete Ordinariness”)

Walk the ordinary path. Master Niwan says: Hold to this ordinary path, and inner demons—the wandering thoughts and inner disturbances that arise—will not appear; outer demons—the outer confusion and illusory states—will have nothing to latch onto, and the path of refining the elixir becomes smooth and level.

Master Taixu says: You need to be clear about what Dao is meant here. It is the great Dao of returning to the root and restoring the source. Though vast, it is utterly centered and upright, utterly ordinary, with no contrivance and no strangeness—this is the path of the Heavenly Immortal. Everyone has it from the start; each person is already complete. It is supremely firm yet supremely empty and numinous, supremely subtle yet whole and undivided; you cannot see it by looking, you cannot hear it by listening. It runs through all things without leaving anything out, yet it can hold a single speck of dust without feeling cramped.

If a student recognizes and cultivates it in this precise way, progress comes day by day. There is none of the fault of competing and pushing, none of the spirit flying off into excitement, and naturally none of the risk of being pulled off course by every sort of vision and experience. That is why my master said the path of the elixir is level.

Yet it is not that visions and experiences never come. When this Dao is fully realized, above you merge in De with the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing); below you merge in Qi with the Three Realms—the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm—that primordial unified Qi. Then, in the three thousand great thousand worlds, the lords of heaven and earth, soldiers and civilians, demon kings and demon lords, humans and non-humans—all may seem like attendants you can command; one word and they move, fast as wind and fire. What spiritual power could surpass that? What marvel could sit above it?

If you cannot raise the resolve that is diamond-indestructible—firm and unbreakable—how can you cultivate a Dao that is diamond-indestructible? The moment you set your mind to practice, demonic trials are sure to be many. Compared with the paths of the Earth Immortal and Human Immortal—the two ranks below the Heavenly Immortal—they are heavier by a hundred or a thousand times. Strange, unexpected visions and experiences of every kind may appear; the whole secret is in two words: do not move. You must also see deeply that every vision and experience is illusion: it looks real, but it is not. It is like someone whose eyes are clouded, who takes the floaters and halos before the eyes for solid things, and so misleads their own mind and will.

One must also understand this: the substance of the Great Dao was originally all-embracing and originally all-possessing. Everything seen and heard is not something outside oneself; all is of one body with me. It is only because the mind sets up distinctions that seeing and hearing arise, and from that arise birth and death. Knowing that birth and death are nothing but empty illusion, joy and fear have no basis, the heart becomes calm and settled, and effort in cultivation is no longer obstructed. Therefore those with resolve seek only to settle the mind; they do not count success or failure.

Moreover, the human body is nothing more than the two qi of Yin and Yang. Yang qi favors human goodness; Yin qi favors human evil. Cultivating truth means refining Yin and transforming it into Yang: when Yin is fully refined, accomplishment is reached; when Yang is pure and unified, that is the Dao. While refining Yin, day by day the intention rests in stillness at the “seabed” (the region of the lower Dantian). Yin is refined by Yang; essence and qi fill the body like clouds and mist. When Yang prevails there is warmth and flow; when Yin prevails there is coolness and stagnation. When they contend there is pain; when they merge there is harmony. Yang tends to rise and spread; Yin tends to sink and hide. Yang is fire, Yin is water; qi belongs to Yang, jing belongs to Yin. All the things ordinary people see and hear are illusory forms produced by yin jing riding upon qi.

The secret is solely to concentrate the spirit at the seabed: with a single thought, attend quietly, not letting the mind stray, guarding with the whole spirit. Whether there is flow or blockage, pain or itch—pay no heed; life and death, existence and extinction—let all go. Thus inner demons will never run wild, nor will outer demons succeed. This is exactly what I and my late master experienced in person; the method of subduing them is no more than this. A former fellow student, Liu Jun, did not follow this formula; he abandoned the path midway and died—that was self-destruction and has nothing to do with the Dao itself.

The secret is simply to value De (virtue/power), comply with wuwei (non-action), and not use scrutinizing pursuit. If one acts with deliberate effort like “lower De,” the expenditure is endless—that is all.

What is meant by “not using investigation or seeking” is that even when one encounters all kinds of sights and sounds, one must still hold fast to the essential method of “no hearing, no seeing,” without letting a single thought arise of approaching, avoiding, complying, or submitting—thus preserving the aim of “superior De, wuwei” (the highest virtue, non-action). This is precisely what helps “inferior De, youwei” (lesser virtue, deliberate action) to function. What is meant by “not stopping” is that there is no other method: one simply fixes the spirit at the “sea bottom” (in internal cultivation, often the lower dantian region), gathers Qi to refine it, and does not shift the spirit aside to attend to pain, itch, or whatever one sees or hears. Though this is only doing the work of inferior De, it is exactly what supports superior De. The ancients’ achievement was so subtle, yet the rules they set were so plain—hence this is the fourth treasure rule for those who cultivate the Dao within. The master said: Exactly so, exactly so.

The fifth treasure rule (originally named “Yuanyi,” meaning completeness and return to the One).

Concentrate the qi until it becomes supple.

Niwan Shi said: When one can concentrate the qi until it is supple, the pre-heaven and post-heaven do not mix, and the elixir path stays pure.

Taixu Weng said: You must know that the qi of celestial immortals is called qi in name, yet it is not ordinary qi—it is utmost empty, utmost clear, utmost pure, and utmost numinous, so it only rises and does not linger. “Concentrating the qi” means that if qi is not concentrated, spirit (Shen) cannot coalesce and the fire cannot blaze; if the fire does not blaze, essence (Jing) and qi cannot transform. Post-heaven qi remains coarse and turbid and cannot meet the grade of the elixir. If you gather only when the moment seems ripe, you will pull pre-heaven and post-heaven together into one intake, and then in sitting you get the ailment of qi rushing upward. Once qi in the Mystery Pass (Xuanguan—the pivotal meeting place of qi in neidan) is adulterated, above it feels wrapped and bound, below as if blocked by a floor. Without the secret of refining spirit and cooking the elixir, qi and fluid cannot be dried out, the embryo cannot become numinous and sacred, and the error is no small one. Even if you can warm and nourish, you will at best become an earthly immortal (one who stops in the human realm and cannot ascend)—is that not a pity? To avoid these faults, you must first concentrate the qi until it is supple, then refine spirit until the fluid is dry—only then is it safe.

I see people in the world who cultivate and often fear the fire is too strong. I have often cried out loudly, yet few wake up—how sad. The reason is nothing else: they do not understand the work of concentration and stillness and wrongly apply post-heaven ordinary fire. Whenever the so-called “union” moment comes, the whole body feels open—something like marital intercourse—and they mistake it for the same as vulgar coupling. In a flash the whole body goes numb, the body trembles, breath comes in gasps, and the pleasure exceeds ordinary intercourse tenfold; they think they have gained merit and method. How could they know this stirs ministerial fire (the reckless fire in the kidneys), fanning the body’s true essence and true qi until all turn into post-heaven things like mutual response and breathing?

Those who practice this way invariably look like children—plump and moist. How could they know that when life is spent, they die either from inner elixir fire burning and the five viscera charred, or from the three wasting syndromes (shang, zhong, and xia wasting, akin to wasting-thirst illness), or from sudden death with massive seminal loss? I am not very old, yet I have clearly seen twenty-three such cases. Some were celibate, some not; some kept many concubines, some borrowed a yang cauldron (a partner in dual cultivation). All could take pleasure without ejaculating and thought they had gained benefit, even boasting to others without seeing the fault. Of them, only the celibate one died well—and he still died of the three wasting syndromes. Can one not fear this?

What our path calls “union” is openness pushed to the extreme—that is, harmony pushed to the extreme: in trance one cannot tell heaven, earth, person, and self apart; one sees only a misty fullness, not even breath-sound, let alone bodily trembling. If that appears, the secret is only to clarify the mind further and place this body as if it were nothing—there is no need to stop. Remember this. Otherwise what is transformed is still post-heaven; in the end it is still post-heaven—is that not a pity?

My teacher listed “concentrate the qi until it is supple” as the fifth treasure rule for those who refine the true—there is reason in that.

The sixth Treasure Principle was originally named Yuanji—the mind’s stirrings stilled, resting in unmoving peace.

Its scripture line is: Not a speck of dust clings. Niwan shi said: When nothing clings, there is nothing left to hold back. My master made “concentrate the qi until it is utterly soft” the fifth Treasure Principle for those who practice Neidan and return to the original truth—and for good reason.

The sixth Treasure Principle still bore the name Yuanji. The scripture line is: Not a speck of dust clings. Niwan shi said: When nothing clings, ordinary breath qi fades away, and the xuanguan—the inner pass where true qi appears and opens from within—begins to open.

Taixu weng said: Understand this: while breath qi remains, true qi will not show itself; only when true qi appears does the xuanguan start to open. That opening may be real or illusory: opening from inside outward is real; from outside inward is illusory. There are also cases that look like an outer opening but are actually inner—one must examine this for oneself. The secret lies entirely in the work of “forgetting, and forgetting again” (wangwang)—putting aside stray thoughts until even “forgetting” is forgotten. Then the pass opens by itself, and it will never be false.

To say “not a speck of dust clings” is to be free of stray thoughts. When thoughts are gone, breath can stop; when breath stops, the pass opens. That is fixed principle. Yet some need only one thought of empty stillness and the pass opens—then what opens is the qi cavity, not the Qi cavity. The qi cavity is where ancestral qi (the source of pre-heaven oneness) emerges; the Qi cavity lies within it. When the Qi cavity opens, the xuanguan is truly established. This is one way of putting it, and few know it.

Alas—this is likely why earthly immortals (those who stop at long life and remain in the human realm) far outnumber celestial immortals (those who go further and enter a higher attainment). A hair’s breadth of error, and one is wrong by a thousand miles. As the saying goes: to know the path at the foot of the mountain, ask those who have already walked it. Without a teacher’s guidance, one may cultivate to old age and still be no more than an empty shell, antique in form only. I was fortunate to receive my master’s instruction. Did he not say: If the qi cavity does not open, there is no gate for advancing the fire (yung fire according to the firing phases); if the Qi cavity does not open, the sage embryo (the inner elixir formed from true qi) cannot coalesce; forget, then forget again—and only then does the xuanguan open. Call them two, yet they are not two; call them one, yet they are not one—like a hen brooding an egg: no explanation is needed; the work itself shows what is happening. My master also said: This secret begins with “not a speck of dust clings,” which is why practitioners of internal alchemy made that line the sixth Treasure Principle.

The Seventh Treasure Rule (originally called Complete Illumination, meaning thorough contemplative observation)

Fix the spirit-mind in concentration and gather it into the qi acupoint.

Master Niwan said: When the spirit-mind is concentrated into the qi acupoint, the acupoint grows warm and the true fire (the innate yang qi of inner refinement) flourishes. When true fire is strong, the passes and orifices open and demonic obstructions no longer interfere; ordinary fluids do not seep in, the sacred embryo (the body formed by inner elixir) has a place to settle, and the so-called infant (the newly formed original spirit) is not mocked for losing its nourishment. Yet few understand this and it cannot be spoken of to outsiders.

Master Taixu said: How compassionate my teacher was! If the passes and orifices lack the qi acupoint, the elixir grows cold; if the embryo lacks yin essence, nourishment is lost. (Here yin essence means true essence, not ordinary fluids. Ordinary fluids arise from ordinary qi, so seepage must be avoided; true essence arises from true qi and belongs to jade fluid—it is not yet the higher golden fluid.) Alas, without a master’s transmission, how would I know this? I lived forty-five years, toiled diligently for thirty-five, traveled the whole realm, and met seventy-eight teachers. Each had heard of the supreme Way, yet I had no affinity—none ever taught me. Worn out, I returned to Zhejiang and only on Mount He met my teacher, bowed in reverence, received and recited this rule, and thus became who I am today.

I tell you now because your blessings and merit run deep; people know you would not trade this for money, and you can break others’ stinginess and soften violent tempers—so it is entrusted to you. Guard it solemnly; when the time is right, reveal it, and you will surely meet a true person of the Way. Strive hard. (He also said: The first wu keep it secret, the second wu avoid exposure, the third wu hide it as if discarded; by the fourth wu secrecy ends and it is carved and circulated—after that, matters are no longer in one’s own hands. Remember, remember.)

Later one day Master Taixu said again: You always feel the phrase “concentrating the spirit” is awkward in wording because you have not grasped the inner meaning of ning (concentration). As for concentration: first fix the gaze on the place of concentration, then gently use intent to gather true qi so that misty qi returns from all directions; I entrust the meaning of he (harmony) within this, withdraw cunning and calculation, abide in a state between presence and absence, seeming to remain yet seeming to forget—and then devote yourself to forgetting, forgetting until he reaches its utmost; only then is the spirit truly concentrated. (The teacher said: Concentration happens precisely at the moment when even forgetting is forgotten.) Thus how could there be the flaw of miscellaneous qi and blood seeping in?

As for Laozi’s “let the heart-mind wander at the primordial beginning of things” (letting spirit roam where nothing has yet arisen)—that is the secret of forming the embryo and settling the nature-spirit, not the moment for advancing the fire (raising yang fire in the firing process); you must distinguish clearly. Therefore my teacher made “concentrate the spirit and enter the acupoint” the seventh treasure rule of true cultivation—its intent is truly subtle and deep.

The Eighth Treasure Rule (originally titled “Complete Awakening,” meaning full and perfect enlightenment)

Sit upright and practice fixedness (ding). The Mud Ball tradition says that sitting upright and practicing fixedness is the secret of “gathering” (caiqu—collecting and taking the medicine in Neidan, gathering innate essence and Qi), transmitted from Cui Xu Weng (Chen Nan, a Southern Song Daoist of the Southern School lineage). Regrettably, people only read it in a general way and never chew it over carefully. In fact, the essentials of cultivating the Dao, the knack of applying effort, the rationale of what is gathered, and the secret of receiving and refining are all contained in these four characters. How compassionate Cui Xu Weng was: even a merely general reading hits the mark; acting on this alone can still lead to accomplishment. Taixu Weng said: Exactly so.

“Upright” (duan) carries the meaning of remaining upright and single-minded through the six periods of day and night—is this not the essential of cultivating the Dao? “Sit” (zuo) carries the meaning of turning the eyes inward and fixing intention upon “Earth” (in Neidan, intention belongs to the Earth phase)—is this not the knack of applying effort? “Practice” (xi) carries the meaning of “yin rushing in like feathers” (yu qu) and “yang hiding below” (qian yang)—is this not the path by which gathering becomes possible? “Fixedness” (ding) means stillness without stirring—is this not pointing straight at the secret of receiving and refining? (The master said: An old saying has it that while one is in the phase of movement and preservation, it is called “receiving” (shou); when one no longer clings to receiving, it is called “refining” (lian).)

The Dao takes diligent cultivation as its core. Being upright and single-minded through the six periods already contains diligence. Cultivation takes “single intention” (yiyi) as its formula; with the eyes fixed upon Earth, single intention is entrusted here. What requires human effort to move and work ends here. “Yin rushing in” and “yang hiding below” are natural subtleties and natural effects; one need not rely further on artificial contrivance. Without yang, yin stagnates; without yin, yang scatters. Yin and yang depending on each other—this is the natural subtle Way. When desires are purified, yang hides at the bottom of the sea (the lower Dantian region); myriad yin naturally converges from the four directions—this is the natural effect. Yin is called “feather-rush,” so yin no longer stagnates; yang is called “hidden yang,” so yang receives yin’s covering and concealment. Yang hides and yin comes to attach—then refining is not empty refining, and gathering is not reckless gathering.

Understand that this work of gathering is extremely simple and easy; the whole secret lies in the one character “practice” (xi). Its meaning is this: alchemical texts value this work of gathering above all, because yang must be nourished by yin, and yin must be transformed by yang.

I need only fix my spirit entirely on the lower pole (the lowest part of the body, which in internal alchemy (Neidan) often corresponds to the haidi and the perineum), and the latent yang (qianyang) will flourish. Then I get both the effect of yin coming to attach and transforming at once, and the effect of every kind of yin substance gathering without being summoned. I need only release and relax the Qi mechanism (the circulation of qi within the body), and the channels need not fear blockage; if blockage occurs, I relax the Qi mechanism all the more. Then between the limbs may appear itching or pain, numbness or twitching, coolness or warmth, burning or cold, and sensations like threads or ribbons, mist or cloud—many different feelings. I still only empty and relax my Qi mechanism, set aside seeing and hearing, rest the mind at the haidi, raise not a single thought, and single-mindedly guard the lower pole. This is what Patriarch Bai (Bai Yuzhao) meant by “open Qian, close Xun; retain Kun, block Gen.”

Qian (i.e. Heaven) is the crown of the head—the head itself. Kun is the abdomen; the lower pole and the soles belong to Kun. Xun is the nose, the gate where breath enters and leaves. “Close” means no breath going in or out—breath stilled within the body. Gen is the earth gate, the anus; “block” is like holding back a bowel movement. “Open” is the image of qi surging up to heaven and down to the abyss. “Retain” is to hold and keep—to hold fast the yin essence, yin qi, and yin spirit that flock in as latent yang gathers. Patriarch Bai’s eight-character alchemical scripture should be applied in light of the rules above; hence it is copied here for others. Alas— the ancients wrote books to guide the lost, yet passed to later ages they often lead astray instead; called, they do not wake; leaned on, they still do not understand. Pitiful.

What are called “joining” (jiaogou) and “gathering and replenishing” (caibu) were originally topics of the utmost rectitude and subtlety; today they have been seized by the “cauldron-vessel” school (those who take man and woman as furnace and crucible and practice bedroom caibu) as grounds for heterodox doctrine. People like Peng Haogu, in commenting on texts such as the Cantong qi and Wuzhen pian, drag orthodox teaching over to serve deviant interpretations—using confusion to point at confusion, with harm that knows no end. How lamentable! In all heaven and earth, in famous mountains and grotto-heavens, how could debauched persons be allowed to dwell among them? Immortals and Buddhas are indeed compassionate; in the mind there is no self and other, no pure and defiled—yet that is speaking from the standpoint of original nature (xingti, the innate heart-nature). Otherwise, why would there be such refined admonitions and parables as “steaming sand to make rice” and “carving dung into a Buddha”? Precisely because such things can never succeed, these parables are used as proof.

You must understand: the yin within me is all transformed from my own true yang (the body’s innate pure yang vitality) through failure to guard it—it has already dispersed, poured through the three hundred joints and into the four limbs and five viscera. When true yang is once exhausted, the person collapses and falls; the earthly yin turns to dust in the ground, and there is no longer any principle of life. The sages pity the world and specially open this gate of repair to deliver the deluded. The secret is only this: use intention to concentrate spirit, gather presence at the “sea bottom” (the lower dantian region); yin then seeks its mate on its own, drawing inward and descending to pour in. I further stabilize and hold it; the true fire grows ever stronger; as yin arrives it is at once transformed, becoming qi that clings where one holds. When full, it follows qi (xian tian yi qi, pre-heaven unified breath) to the limbs; yin, baked by yang, becomes pure and vital; it joins spirit and qi below and turns toward yang. It must immediately become qi-breath—both penetrating and held. Day by day, month by month, the multitude of yin is all transformed; only then is true yang unified and pure, and the immortal way can be achieved. The elixir verses of Patriarch Bai (a patriarch of the elixir way) differ in no essential way from this teaching; hence it is fixed as the eighth treasure rule of those who cultivate truth.

The ninth treasure rule was originally called “Round Smelting” (yuan rong)—using fusion into round completion as a metaphor for practice.

Like a hen incubating eggs—warm, steady, and never letting up. Muduan Shi (the master who transmitted this method) said: if you can be like a hen brooding on her eggs, you will discover the subtle wonder of inner and outer qi mingling and harmonizing. Taixu Shi said: to grasp how this principle works, it all depends on never forgetting, for even a moment, to guard what must be guarded. Once you forget, the shen (spirit) scatters and cannot gather; the true fire (the yang fire of inner refinement) weakens accordingly, and the true water (the yin essence-water of inner refinement) turns cold, so that ordinary jing (essence) and ordinary qi cannot be transformed. This is not merely harmful—the misfortune is no small matter: yin turbidity accumulates without being transformed and inevitably becomes ordinary fire, which burns the true jing dry. What is the secret formula? Nothing beyond “continuously present yet subtle; use it without forcing.” What “without forcing” means is really the right kind of effort: use it wrongly and it will not succeed; only when use is exactly right does it work. The master said this line must be read with a break in it (du duan—“du” pronounced like “dou,” meaning a pause in the sentence), and that is why I explain it in this way.

Taixu Weng said: How profound, how profound—is it only these nine teachings? Long ago at the foot of Mount He I obtained this method, received it orally from my teacher Muduan Shi, and by practicing accordingly have come to where I am today. This is a secret method that true celestial immortals are reluctant to transmit lightly; my teacher in turn received it from Precept Master Zhang Wuo.