《古书隐楼藏书》Vol. 17

This is the ceaselessly generating primordial qi—the root qi of life. It is clear and pure, full and round, bright red and vivid, refined and nimble, luminous and beautiful, radiantly shining, never still. Before the Image Lord who manifests all forms, this thing is the ancestor of ten thousand spirits; it holds all images within and begets the ten thousand things. Buddhists call it the mani pearl (wish-fulfilling jewel); Daoists call it the millet-sized mysterious pearl; physicians call it a single lively rolling pill—the true elixir and wonder drug, a secret truly never transmitted outside for ages. People today do not understand this principle, lack a master’s transmission, and do not awaken on their own—how could they know the subtlety of the two words “inner” and “outer”? The Ren and Du meridians (the two main channels front and back along the torso) are in truth where the mystery of pre-heaven and post-heaven lies; they are what ordinary people use every day without knowing it.

Du meridian ⊙: This aperture is the source from which the body is formed. Before this body existed, this aperture was already there. It is no ordinary point but the wondrous aperture where xuanji (hidden pivot) resides. The message here is precisely that bit of primordial yang qi from before my parents had yet begotten me.

Ren meridian ○: This aperture governs the five viscera of the whole person; inner and outer are both ruled by it, and it exists first. It is no ordinary point but the wondrous aperture where xuanji resides. The message here is precisely that bit of primordial yang qi from before my parents had yet begotten me.

Ren meridian ○: This aperture is master of the five viscera of the whole person; holding inner and outer all depends on this aperture. If one understands reverse gathering and clustering (in neidan, turning outward-dissipating functions back inward so essence, qi, and spirit gather together), it is the root of generating the five viscera. Before the five viscera exist, this aperture is already there; before this body is born, this aperture is already born. This message is the method of nourishing life—the root and stem that keeps life from perishing.

Upper, middle, and lower—the three true transmissions: once you receive the authentic lineage, you can return to the root and restore life (gui gen fu ming—returning to the source of life and reviving innate vitality), gather the four kinds of qi into the lower origin (the life root anchored in the lower Dantian), keep hun and po from scattering, and achieve water–fire harmony (shui huo ji ji—yīn and yáng, water and fire in balance). What illness could fail to be settled?

Once primordial yang (yuanyang—the congenital pure yang qi) has been clearly transmitted, if you are trapped by worldly bonds and cannot break free or complete the Way, you may have no choice but to treat the “sea-bottom life lord” (the root of life at the lower Dantian) as the root of the four qi, activate this life lord so the qi that returns to the origin does not disperse, and then use the move of “letting go without obstruction” (sa shou wu ai—at the critical moment, release and hold nothing). Even if you relinquish this one transmission, you can still rise again and resume learning the Way. This is a secret that even ghosts and spirits cannot fathom.

Primordial congenital qi is like the tiny mysterious pearl (xuan zhu—the finest congenital seed in internal alchemy, no larger than a grain of millet). When the true heart-mind has been clearly transmitted and you practice diligently, sudden great awakening may come. Then the scriptures of the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) will stand clear before your eyes; without deliberate thought, you will naturally grasp them.

Fundamentally speaking, blood and qi throughout the body, inside and out, are all postnatal turbid yin—dregs and sediment; only the hidden point of primordial yang is pure yang. This true form belongs to the heart, and this heart is the empty heart of vacuum—not the fleshy heart of flesh and blood. This true heart is unknown to the multitude; within it lies another world of heaven and earth. What follows distinguishes the three hearts, inner and outer.

The outer heart is the celestial heart (tian xin), symbolized by “○.” This heart is the empty heart of vacuum; it is called the Mysterious Pass (xuan guan—the pass where inner and outer connect), opens to the celestial aperture, and is precisely the true furnace and vessel (lu ding) of the inner and outer Five Phases. Whether opening gates and kindling fire, pacing the Dipper (ta gang bu dou—acting by the stations of the stars), wielding the sword and forming seals (holding the ritual sword and hand mudrās), or any secret that ghosts and spirits cannot penetrate—all of it is here. You should know the measure and rule within this.

The central heart is the human heart (renxin): this heart is the single aperture at the center, the dwelling of Huangpo (Yellow Grandma—in internal alchemy, spleen-intention seated in the middle to harmonize inner and outer). The gathering and convergence of inner and outer medicines, watching for the right moment, and judging the fire phases all depend on Huangpo. Setting the furnace and establishing the cauldron are for refining inner and outer medicines; telling whether the medicine is over-ripe or under-ripe and whether it is true or false is likewise governed by this heart.

The inner heart is the earth heart (dixin): this heart is the life-lord at the “bottom of the sea” (the lower Dantian and the root of life), the root to which the myriad spirits are tied. Whoever would cultivate the Great Vehicle must first cultivate the Lesser Vehicle: laying the foundation and refining the self, amassing dharma capital (jing, qi, and other resources for practice), and preserving mercury-qi (innate primordial jing)—all of this lies in this one cavity; one must also know hard and soft (gang and rou).

These three hearts are distributed through the inner and outer aspects of the one body.

The inner heart is the earth heart: this heart is the life-lord at the bottom of the sea, the root of the myriad spirits. For all who cultivate the Great Vehicle, they must first cultivate the Lesser Vehicle—laying the foundation, refining the self, amassing dharma capital, and preserving mercury-qi—all in this cavity; hard and soft must be distinguished.

The three hearts spoken of here are distributed inside and outside the body, corresponding to three kinds of waxing and waning in yin and yang. If one can invert heaven and earth and open that seamless lock, a single phrase can settle what has been called since antiquity the “Amitabha”—ultimate liberation. These three hearts are a secret never transmitted through the ages: besides the flesh-and-blood heart of the body, there are three true hearts, penetrating the empty void of true emptiness. To know this true heart is to hold all phenomena of heaven and earth within this empty heart. Within the empty heart lie true yin and true yang; yet the message of true emptiness is precisely that seamless lock—it never opens, so where can birth and death hide? An immortal said: “The golden needle is easy to obtain; the jade thread is hardest to thread. To recognize the road of birth and death is as hard as rolling a mustard seed onto the point of a needle.” This is a metaphor for yin and yang; yin and yang are nature (xing, innate nature) and life (ming, the root of life)—who truly recognizes them? At the junctures of three days, five days, and the seven-day periods of one seven, two sevens, and three sevens, if one wishes to turn back and preserve life so as not to die and scatter, one must seize water, fire, and wind (the kinds of qi that easily disperse at the end of life), not letting them scatter, gathering them back to the root of life in “that side’s” Dui trigram within one’s body, and without stirring thought—only then is this the method of not dying. When a person is old and can no longer cultivate the Dao, as the time of departure nears it is like a ripe melon falling from its stem; everything rests on these messages: once one knows the hour has come, one raises the lord of life from the “sea bottom” (the lower dantian region), returning upward into original nature in the void; hun and po naturally do not scatter, and going or staying can be decided by oneself, so one is not lost in confusion. The piece is titled “Song of the Correct Way.”

I have an oral formula that I can only sigh over—I have nowhere to speak of it. Search the whole world and you will not find it; it cannot be told casually to others. Follow the ordinary course and you remain an ordinary person; reverse the flow and return, and you become an immortal—that is the true formula. All other kinds of practice are wasted effort, mere fussing about. You should memorize the Wuzhen Pian (Understanding Reality, the Neidan classic by Zhang Boduan of the Northern Song), and ask a clear-eyed master to distinguish true from false. That subtle point will come of itself in time; the hidden mechanism within is unfathomably deep.

Gently draw in the essence of Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth); choose the right moment and sip it with light intent. You must obtain the treasure from below, and also understand the moon in the sky (to judge when to gather the medicine). Watch whether Qi rises or sinks, whether it is aged or tender; tell clear water from muddy. When “wild combat” arrives (when breath clashes fiercely), the heart-ape and will-horse must not run wild. When the guest comes, let the host preside first; when the host comes, step back as guest. Huang Po (the true intent that mediates in the middle) plays matchmaker, leading the Crimson Girl (true Yin) to meet; they join, and the elixir congeals by itself. Outside black as lacquer, inside white as snow, in the middle yellow and purple blazing, flesh green and skin the color of blood. When the elixir of the Five Qi (the Qi of the Five Phases) is formed, the Three Corpses (in old lore, three yin evils in the body that hasten decay) and yin ghosts are destroyed. The person who is truly clear and penetrating outwardly looks foolish, deaf, mute, and dull. Nothing to think in the mind, nothing to say with the mouth. Both civil and martial fire must be used; gathering and refining must follow the seasonal nodes. The golden cauldron (the place in the body where elixir is refined) must be kept warm; the jade furnace must not be overheated. Union lasts only an instant; nurturing in warmth needs ten months. A man too can “give birth,” and what is born is a guest of the Three Isles (immortals of the legendary isles in the sea—a figure for the Yang spirit). Swallow one living pill, and a celestial immortal comes to welcome you. When nine years of practice are complete, you may steadily ascend to pay court at the Golden Gate (the palace of Heaven).

This passage is a piece of Daoist sentiment (daoqing)—not ordinary idle feeling. Once you have grasped the profound mystery (xuanji)—the subtle principles of cultivating nature and life—you must not treat it lightly. First put down every worldly tie of affection and concern; then investigate the exquisite teaching for yourself. Before you have refined the returning elixir (huandan—the internal alchemy work of returning essence, qi, and spirit to their source), refine the heart-nature first; before you have cultivated the great medicine (dayao—the internal elixir formed from primordial qi), for now cultivate the heart alone. When the heart is settled, the nature of the elixir arrives of itself; when temperament and disposition are clear, the medicinal substance can arise.

At that point it is as if hidden thunder shakes the void, and in the Huangting (the body’s dantian and central palace region) purple mist rises to a height of a thousand fathoms. Having reached this stage, do not be alarmed—only keep the primordial spirit (yuanshen, the innate, original shen) guarding the cave gate (the mysterious pass, the portal of the dantian). Guarding the gate means holding the spirit still, like a cat watching a mouse or a rabbit facing a hawk. The various visions are not true verification; only a single thread of red light is utterly real. When that red light gives rise to strange signs, within it there seem to be drifting motes before a bright window, enclosing a speck of primordial qi (xian tian zhi qi). From afar it resembles a grape; up close it is nearly golden. When it is within reach, everything depends on caution—one stray thought and you lose true innocence.

Wait until this single yang returns to the inner cavern; then within the body it becomes spring in all four seasons. A sheet of white cloud passes; after one shower, the scene is new again. All day long it continues without break, like a drunkard—only gently, steadily guarding the spring warmth within the cavern. When yin essence is stripped from the whole body, it turns into a single block of pure yang gold. Then breath seems to stop, as in a small death; body and mind fuse into one—only then is it Complete Truth (Quanzhen). When practice has truly taken hold, you must still return to the world to accumulate merit and conduct. When merit is complete and conduct full, Heaven’s mandate descends, the yang spirit (pure yang shen) appears, and the true spirit is settled at last.

Do not speak these words to those who should not hear. Lightly revealing celestial secrets brings thunderbolts upon you. I charge my companions on the path: unless you meet someone truly enlightened, do not discuss this lightly. Every line concerns the accumulation of merit; every line opens into mystery. Apart from this truth there is no other truth. Store this brocade pouch well and seal it tight; in future cultivation you may use it to verify your own heart. Understand these fifty-two lines. If you utter empty falsehoods, you will die violently; if through this you lead someone astray, the Lingguan (Daoist guardian deity) will lash your body to pieces.

In the world there are people of shallow foundation and clouded understanding who, upon seeing what immortals and perfected ones of earlier ages called external yin-yang, external furnace and cauldron, and external medicinal substances, fix their minds on taking women as the cauldron vessel—a truly pitiable error. How could they know that the great way of purity and stillness inherently holds the subtlety of the three bodies and four wisdoms (in Buddhism: dharma body, reward body, transformation body, and four wisdoms; in internal alchemy, borrowed to mean the state of complete realization), of inner and outer furnace and cauldron, inner and outer medicinal substances, and inner and outer firing? How could they know that everything is already complete within oneself, and that the creative transformation of heaven and earth is as vast as one’s own person?

Those with karmic affinity who meet a true teacher first cultivate the jade-fluid internal return elixir (refining one’s own saliva, qi, and returning nourishment as preliminary practice), refine the self and harmonize the light (cultivating oneself and reining in outward brilliance), hold to nurturing and preservation, and return the light to shine inward—this is the work of clarifying the mind and seeing one’s nature. As for the golden-fluid return elixir, it is the return of emotion to true nature, until one reaches the realm of empty void, where great function appears and the dragon maiden reveals a single pearl (an internal alchemical image: the appearance of that one luminous pearl). Only then is it truly “gained once, possessed forever.” At the juncture of the Hai and Zi hours (around midnight), between the Kun belly (the lower abdomen), one applies effort as the first stir of yang arises—hand probing the moon cave, foot treading heaven’s root (metaphors for linking above and below at the moment yin and yang first stir), returning wind and blending—after which the hundred-day cultivation period shows its efficacy. The golden-fluid return elixir is the great affair of the five phases joining as one. Apart from this path of purity and stillness of dual cultivation of nature and life (simultaneously refining mind-nature and bodily life), everything else is merely heterodox side technique.

I thought I had mastered the secret of establishing the furnace and cauldron within body and mind, and the formula for clustering the Five Phases; I had grasped the finer points of the medicinal substances and fire phases as well. Yet I still did not understand the methods and measures of working in emptiness, so I hurried into the chamber to undertake the great work of external medicine entering the belly and kindling fire to raise the work. When I reached the hidden stage, I saw myriad spirits in emptiness paying homage, and immortal music playing above my head. Such visions even ghosts and spirits could scarcely fathom. The reason was simply that I had not yet refined myself amid worldly dust, nor accumulated true lead in the market streets; my qi channels were not yet deeply settled, and the foundation of the three completenesses—essence, qi, and spirit—was not yet whole. Though the principles were clear in my mind, I had not yet seen my true nature. Hence myriad spirits appeared, dangers arose one after another, mind and spirit grew confused, and I could not be master of myself. Outside there was no knowing companion or daoist partner to guard and watch over me; at the slightest contact with form and sound, my primordial yang scattered. The cauldron was shaken, the furnace disturbed; the heart-ape grew violent, the will-horse bolted; spirit did not stay in its place, qi did not return to its root—and so I fell prey to yin demons. What yin demons are need not be spelled out here; later students often do not know. All because once true yang disperses, yin qi holds sway: day and night within the body it is as if ghosts and spirits do harm. Whether eyes are open or shut, the ears hear only the clamor of ghosts and spirits; by day one can barely endure, but night is hardest—not a moment of peace. One’s own body clashed with the life-lord at the bottom of the sea and the wu earth in the dui metal of the partner’s field—internal alchemy imagery of directions and the Five Phases—stirring the five viscera and hundred vessels, blood and qi surging upward together, the whole body as if lifted off the ground, feet not touching earth, nearly losing life and falling into the ghost’s snare. I then set aside my earlier achievement for a time, followed my teacher’s instruction, hid myself in the busy market, accumulated lead amid the dust, drew emotion back into nature and returned the killing intent to the heart. From childhood to old age, innate truth is stolen away by heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things; now one must take it back from between emptiness and worldly form and return it to one’s own heaven-nature—only then does one obtain primordial essence, primordial qi, and primordial spirit. To bring the three back to fullness depends entirely on extreme emptiness and deep stillness, so that the myriad things in their profusion each return to their root. When the root returns, principle opens and flows; when principle flows, one can see nature. With body and mind deeply settled and the Five Phases clustered, one may then undertake the upward work and thus complete the Dao.

Among the sages of earlier generations, many gave up cultivation halfway because they had not first refined the self and steadied the mind (lian ji chi xin—sweeping away ingrained habits and guarding intention), and had not achieved “gold returning to nature” (jin lai gui xing—bringing the golden essence back to original nature). So at the stages of “obtaining the medicine at the second watch” and “advancing the fire at the fourth watch” (er hou de yao, si hou jin huo—fire phases in neidan internal alchemy: the second watch is when the “medicine” can be gathered; the fourth is when firing and refinement advance), they did not understand the measure of the void, and were careless. For that reason Bai Yuchan (Bai Gong in Daoist lore) sighed with the line about “hewing pine and bamboo once again”—meaning what was not yet mastered had to be cultivated again.

News from the void is extremely subtle and extremely perilous; if you cannot seize it, it will not spare you lightly. If students of the Way can see clearly the two kinds of news—within the body and outside it—and pass through without obstruction, then from that point on, through discipline and nourishment, casting off private mind and restoring heavenly principle, the work of returning the elixir (huan dan—refining scattered pre-heaven qi back to the source) becomes very simple: all day one need only tend the yellow flower outside the body (a name for pre-heaven “medicine”) and wait for the jade nectar of pre-heaven and post-heaven together. That is exactly the subtlety of “drinking wine and wearing flowers to awaken to long life”—wine and flowers stand for jade nectar and yellow flower.

As for primordial unity (hun yuan), one must be without arbitrary intent, without rigid expectation, without stubborn fixation, without clinging to self (wu yi, wu bi, wu gu, wu wo). Let life and death come as they may; forget both self and other. If one spends the day in markets and streets, chasing sights, sitting and idle talk in brothels and taverns, how can one avoid startled looks, ridicule, and slander? And if one uses “gathering the environment” to accumulate lead, applying method and “wealth” together, how can one not be toyed with by worldly people—or even bring disaster on oneself? Therefore one should rely on a powerful household in a great city as outer support, witness the Way where it is present, and conceal one’s light. The immortals said: “If you covet the treasure of heaven, you must use the wealth of the world.” That heavenly treasure is the great treasure in our own Nine Yang Cauldron in heaven—the inner vessel for alchemy.

All who dwell within the cosmos—men and women alike—depend for birth and for keeping life from ending on nothing more than this bit of yang essence (the pure yang vital seed of life). What sense is there in the idea that a man who seeks immortality must rely on a woman, or a woman on a man? That truly corrupts the morals of the world; even Heaven knows it for the conduct of beasts. Alas! If words cannot get through and one still clings to delusion, how can one be counted among the kin of immortals and buddhas?

If a student of the Dao can truly hold the heart-mind, nourish the root of origin, and not lose inner composure even in haste, hardship, and upheaval, then one may go on to the work of drawing external medicine into the belly—external medicine here means the qi and “medicine” generated in one’s own practice that still waits to be gathered back in—and in an instant clarity and stillness settle in, the old vessel is cast off and the cauldron is renewed (a thorough transformation at the root), the whole body turns into a beam of golden light, and great awakening arises in the heart-mind; the great earth becomes empty space, and beyond the body there is again a body, as the yang spirit (pure yang awareness) leaves the form, holds to emptiness, and stores up empty spirit. This is the Five Dragons Great Hibernation Method (a practice of deep stillness and fixed absorption after the yang spirit has left the body).

Immortal tradition says: if Neidan (internal alchemy—the elixir refined within the body) is not accomplished, Waidan (external alchemy) cannot be accomplished either. The meaning is: once one has received the authentic transmission, one must first accumulate essence and qi, gather both inner and outer “method wealth” (the conditions, methods, and provisions needed for practice), and nurture until qi is full and spirit is complete and golden light appears, shining day and night without going out—then Neidan is formed, and the corresponding signs of Waidan in one’s person also appear. In reading, one must not seek the steed from the picture (cling to the letter and apply it mechanically). The student must wait until day and night are constantly bright; only when the “medicine sprout” (the first sign of the forming elixir) has appeared may one take the medicine outside oneself and match it with the yin and yang within—once golden light enters the mouth and the fire of the circulation (the turning of qi through the prescribed cycle) is stirred, in a moment all is clear and still; one lets go without obstruction. That is what is meant by the golden cicada’s great shedding of the shell (the awareness leaving the husk of the body and gaining freedom).

Before meeting an enlightened master, the student should be cautious and humble, accumulate merit and conduct; face demonic obstacles without retreating, slander without anger, and value the Dao above wealth. When a true person (an authentic master who has attained the Dao) appears, one should devote oneself and seek bitterly, penetrate the two true “messages” inside and outside this one body, and suddenly awaken to where the real destination lies. This is what is meant by “this body of mine is itself a heaven and earth.” Yet though that true destination is said not to depend on outer form for its establishment, can the aperture within the aperture (the crucial opening inside the openings) be without any image at all? Take one thing as illustration: like the fork of a cleft—when the middle is full it opens, when the middle is empty it slackens. This opening can expand and contract in just that way.

When you begin practice, first settle and fix your mind-spirit so that it enters the cavity within cavities—the innermost point among all the cavities. As breath returns again and again to the root, the center fills; when the center is full, the inner embryo can be nourished. Shen is originally born in the cavity within cavities; it merely lodges in the heart palace. As I have said: it was always something native to our own house—now it simply returns to us.

The cavity within cavities is the Shen chamber—the place where the original spirit is settled. The Shen chamber is the Qi cavity; it is also the Central Yellow, the position of central Earth. Yellow is the true color of Earth and also expresses Earth’s intent. Thus the Wu Earth in Kan constantly turns its intent toward Li, and the Ji Earth in Li constantly turns its intent toward Kan. This is their nature, and within it lies the very pivot where they meet and join. If you can recognize this pivot and, with true intent, send the spirit back so that Shen congeals and Qi stays, a single point of Golden Elixir will naturally form—utterly simple, with no need to force or contrive. This is using mother Qi to hold child Qi, so that mother and child Qi cherish each other within the cavity within cavities. How then could the elixir fail to form?

Pure Yang Master (Lü Dongbin), having vowed to deliver all beings, already left the Commentary on the Nine Sovereigns Elixir Scripture as a bridge for men who seek immortality. He could not bear to watch women who had long carried karmic roots and a persistent resolve for the Way go without true transmission and stray onto wrong paths.

Pure Yang Zi (the Daoist name of Lü Dongbin) vowed to deliver and transform all sentient beings. He had already composed the Commentary on the Nine Sovereigns Elixir Scripture (Jiuhuang Danjing Zhu) as a gate of entry for men who seek immortality through cultivation. He could not bear that women who possessed an innate spiritual root from past lives and who in daily life kept the thought of the Way in their hearts should receive no true transmission, go astray, and fall into ghostly destinies (guìqù). Therefore, on the first day of the tenth lunar month in the jǐwèi year, he descended to Huancai Tower, responded to the Unique Immortal Lady (Bù'èr Xiānzǐ), and with sincere intent expounded the oral transmission that the Western Queen Mother (Xīwángmǔ) had imparted to Lady Wei (Wèi Yuánjūn, Wei Huacun). The original title of this work was the Great Female Golden Elixir Instructions (Nǚdà Jīndān Jué).

This book had been personally practiced, verified, and passed down by several great female immortals (nǚzhēn)—Lady Wei, Lady Jin, Lady He, Lady Ma, Lady Fan, and Lady Feng. Over hundreds of years the authentic line became mixed with errors, and false teachings were repeated as truth; I deeply regretted this. I therefore charged the Unique Immortal Lady to revise it with a calm mind, so as to continue the lineage of female adepts. The Immortal Lady removed what was impure, followed the true transmission, and presented the ordered text, so that beginning and end are clear. Those who study the Way in the world may from this point have a path to follow.

It is now reverently compiled and the title fixed as the Nine Regulations of the Correct Path for Female Cultivation (Nǚxiū Zhèngtú Jiǔ Zé). The name still bears the three characters “Western Queen Mother,” and the Nine Precepts for Female Adepts (Nǚzhēn Jiǔ Jiè) are additionally promulgated to rectify conduct within the Way—ten regulations in all. All of this was granted by compassionate approval for transmission and also carried out in accordance with the command of the Divine Mother of Jade Clarity (Yùqīng Shénmǔ).

When a woman’s practice reaches completion, every kind of transformation arises from within herself. By taking up Kun virtue (the virtue of yin and earth) to receive Qian virtue (the virtue of yang and heaven), she can powerfully assist in “healing the age”—guiding and harmonizing the world through the Way. On the day achievement is complete, she and the world’s Way are perfected together; edicts have already been issued by the Sovereigns of the Three Heavens, commanding the dragon deities of the three realms to receive their orders as one body—a fortune born of creation itself. Such an opportunity has not existed since heaven and earth were opened. From this time forward, not only virtuous laywomen may resolve to attain true immortality; virtuous female clerics (nǚguàn) may also resolve to complete the Way. Wherever heaven covers, earth bears up, sun and moon shine, and frost and dew fall, nothing will fail to rest as firm as bedrock. Yet what is especially precious is the person who can embody this in her own conduct. The Immortal Lady should strive to fulfill it. The efficacy of the Way has no boundary, but the root of cultivation still begins with these ten regulations. This is the preface.

Sun Zhenyi, the Buli Yuanjun, said: Are there truly no books on Golden Elixir cultivation for women in the world? It is not that none exist; rather, most are mixed with distorted and unfounded claims, so reckless people force strained readings and far-fetched explanations, deceiving themselves and misleading the world. Some even lead people onto paths of spirits and demons, and the harm spreads widely. The Dao Ancestor’s heart is broad; he only laments that such people sink into the ghostly way. Yet he also reflects that women are meant to be faithful to one partner—once they lose their integrity, there is no recovery; when vital essence (Jing) is already depleted, even if they cultivate again, how can they avoid falling because they took a wrong path? This is precisely what separates humans from beasts. I have grieved over this for a long time. Fortunately, entrusted by the Dao Ancestor to edit, correct, and compile, I have checked each item one by one and removed heterodox material. The whole work follows the original Scripture on the Great Golden Elixir of the Queen Mother of the West’s Daughter, with additions drawn from Mysterious Reflection of the Great Dao Orally Transmitted by the Divine Mother of Jade Clarity, arranged in nine sections and submitted for review and final approval. The Great Dao will not remain hidden forever; with permission to clarify and revise, it was titled Corrected Path of the Queen Mother of the West’s Daughter, with the Nine Precepts for Female Immortals placed at the head, making ten sections in all. Others were also asked to explain the inner meaning, so that people would understand: women’s cultivation of the Dao, like the earthly way (di dao) that cannot complete things alone yet can bring them to their end, has always included a great path that assists Heaven and Earth in nurturing the ten thousand things—something one can practice in person and earnestly uphold. All of this received compassionate approval and may be transmitted as circumstances allow. From then on, the line of women’s cultivation would not only cease to stray but would also more easily ascend straight to the celestial gate. The fortune of the Great Dao ought to revive. With joy I write this preface at Huancai Tower in Wulin (Hangzhou), to record this good fortune. Sun Zhenyi, later disciple of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) orthodox lineage, bows in respect one hundred times.

Corrected Path of the Queen Mother of the West’s Daughter comprises ten sections. After review and renaming by Patriarch Lü, Sun the Yuanjun carried out deletion, supplementation, and transcription as instructed; transmitted by Elder Void Master Shen; annotated by disciple Min Yide.

If one speaks of practice for women, they should first receive the Nine Precepts. The precepts say: if one can persist in cultivation without turning back, the benefit is great; when precept-keeping and karmic fruition are complete, one does not suffer the pains of hell, and in a future life one may be born into a household that upholds the Ten Wholesome Deeds (not killing, not stealing, not sexual misconduct, and the rest), one’s name is entered in the Purple Mansion (the place in the immortal realm where registers of names are kept), and one’s rank is listed among the immortal ranks. The correct path of female cultivation promulgated today takes the text of these Nine Precepts as the first section. The precept text runs: revere and support elders and superiors; keep a gentle disposition; speak with care and do not give rise to jealousy; maintain body and conduct in chastity and stillness, and stay far from all impure behavior; cherish all life, be compassionate and do not kill; be diligent and careful in ritual propriety and recitation, and cut off flesh foods and wine; keep clothing and utensils plain, without seeking ornate display; regulate temperament and do not give rise to afflictions; do not attend zhaihui (ritual assemblies) too often (“shu” read as “suo,” meaning repeatedly or incessantly); do not mistreat or overwork servants; do not conceal others’ good deeds or broadcast others’ faults. These nine precepts in all—only those who can keep them may receive and uphold this correct path. What is transmitted is extremely precious; to grant transmission without first holding the precepts is to profane the treasure of the Dao; both giver and receiver are punished together—one must be cautious and reverent.

Editor’s note: Each clause is prefixed with “ruo yue” (“it is said”) because the wording comes from the hand of whoever recorded the transmission, standing in for Queen Mother of the West (Xi Wangmu, sovereign among female immortals) speaking in person—it is the recorder’s voice, like Buddhist scriptures opening with “Thus I have heard” or Daoist scriptures with “The Dao says.” It is also said that these Nine Precepts were originally placed before the first section, together with texts on purifying the body, purifying the mouth, and purifying the altar; Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) revised the whole book, added explanatory remarks, and arranged them as the first main section, so that the great principle “the Dao is not lightly transmitted” is clear from the opening.

The second section of the Correct Path of Female Cultivation is titled “Benming” (natal root). In summary: a woman’s bodily constitution belongs to yin and takes the moon as its symbol. At ages thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, primordial qi (yuanqi) is full and true blood (zhenxue) is replete—in female alchemy (nüdan) this marks the time when qi and blood first flourish—and within this lies the meaning of “the one within yin”; the essential point is stated directly here.

The second section of The Correct Path of Female Cultivation is titled “Life Root.” It means that a woman’s constitution belongs to yin and corresponds to the moon. Around ages thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen, innate Qi is full and true blood abundant; within yin there is one yang, like the moon at its brightest fullness. When Heavenly Gui arrives—the woman’s monthly flow—the channel of innate Qi opens, and true blood leaks outward with it. After marriage, or bearing and raising children, innate Qi is gradually depleted and true blood gradually diminished. Although monthly blood may form again each month, each cycle also brings fresh harm through that flow. The difficulty of cultivating a woman’s life hinges on this very point. If a woman wishes to preserve her life and return to her original root, she must obtain the oral formulas of practice; once she has the formulas and cultivates, results come quickly. The section is called “Life Root” because a woman’s life is still bound up with Heavenly Gui. If Heavenly Gui cannot be transformed, how can life be preserved? There is no hope of returning to the root. The practice formulas are extremely precious, so “Nine Precepts” is placed as the first section and “Life Root” as the second, meaning first refine nature (xing), then refine life (ming). What follows this section is “Origin of Nature,” explaining that refining nature is precisely for the sake of preserving life.

[Editor’s note: Except for the first section, which was composed by Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin), sections two through nine were revised by the Uniquely One Primordial Lady (the female immortal who transmitted female alchemy) and personally corrected by Patriarch Lü, with the aim of making the meaning clear. The wording is therefore kept plain and direct, lest ornate phrasing hide the original sense and mislead later generations. Readers must not doubt that the text is not from immortal hands merely because the style is not archaic enough. The tenth section was entirely composed by Patriarch Lü, continuing the exposition after permission was granted from Chen Ming.]

The third topic on the proper path of cultivation is titled "Xingyuan" (the origin of true nature). The gist is that a woman's nature belongs to water, and her constitution is like a flower. While still young, when the mind is just awakening, she should restrain herself and not indulge in unrestrained play, and she should also avoid running and chasing about.

At this time there is within her a bit of "chujing"—the essence of the prenatal menstrual blood that has not yet been discharged—held within the "neipin" (the inner female portal at the Zhonghuang region). Small as a star and round as a pearl, it is a prenatal treasure stored above the "kunfu" (the lower abdomen in female cultivation) and situated within Zhonghuang (the central qi center in the body).

If a woman at this stage knows how to keep herself pure and guarded—avoiding lewd spectacles, refusing obscene words, comporting herself with quiet dignity, and in her movements following the inner norms of the women's quarters—then when at rest her heart-qi will be easeful, and this substance can cling to Xingtian (the heaven of true nature) and transform into Yuanyi (the primordial oneness of the pre-heaven). It will neither turn into a red pearl nor become Tiangui (menstrual flow).

Regrettably, ordinary women do not understand this principle. With a child's heart they love activity; they join in games or rush about in pursuit, so that qi is disturbed, intent wavers, and spirit is disordered within, and Zhenqi (pre-heaven true qi) cannot hold firm. Then this star-like heavenly treasure naturally melts, hot as fire, bursts through the gate and descends, breaking the door and flowing outward—what the world calls Tiangui. From that moment on, even if she remains chaste and unmarried, she is only an ordinary woman.

There is no other reason: she simply did not know Xingyuan. If she aspires to cultivate and return to the prenatal state, she can only begin from the next level of practice.

[Editor's note: Neipin is the female portal; below it is also the "quanfei" (spring gate), likewise called the female portal; hence the portal at Zhonghuang is termed neipin. Further note: This bit of chujing, the treasure of destiny—if one recognizes it and cultivates it—can cling to Xingtian and become Yuanyi. Among ancient holy women who cultivated thus, Guanyin Bodhisattva and Tianfei (Mazu) are clear proof. The world is not without wise women, yet within they lack "xianfumu" (immortal parents within—the inner affinity for cultivation), and without they lack holy teachers and friends; of a thousand with wisdom, a thousand fall—how lamentable!]

Correct Path of Female Cultivation, Section Four: “Cultivating the Classic”

Once a woman’s Heavenly Water (tiānguǐ, menstruation) has begun to flow, her prenatal Qi (xiānqì) has already leaked and her true blood is already depleted. If she does not practice “cultivating the classic,” true blood will dwindle day by day and true Qi will be consumed day by day—then even if she cultivates with all her heart, what benefit can there be? The alchemical texts say: “When bamboo is split, mend it with bamboo.” What is the method? Those who still have monthly bleeding must first “slay the Red Dragon” (zhǎn chìlóng, in female alchemy: stop menstruation through cultivation); those who no longer menstruate must first restore it, then slay it. In every case the entry point does not depart from the method of the celestial circuit (zhōutiān)—guiding Qi to rise along the Governing Vessel at the back and descend along the Conception Vessel at the front in a continuous loop.

At the zi and wu hours, sit in the crane-riding posture (used often in female alchemy), put aside all cares, and knock the teeth seventy-two times to open the two Feishu points (back points associated with the lungs). Then breathe gently through both nostrils thirty-six times to connect the blood vessels throughout the body. At this stage one fears Qi leaking downward, so the crane-riding seat must be firm and steady—do not slacken. Spread both hands and press them below the navel, above the lower “valve gate,” and with intention send the breath backward and upward about thirty-six times. Next, raise both hands in the “supporting heaven” gesture, place intention at the weilü (tailbone at the base of the spine), and lead Qi to rise backward and upward about thirty-six times. Then support slowly thirty-six times and quickly thirty-six times, until you feel movement at the weilü and signs of steam rising upward.

Then lower both hands, cross them at the waist, and thrust both shoulders upward straight thirty-six times, until you feel qi stirring upward at the Jiaji and Shuangguan passes in the mid-spine and at Feishu. If there is blockage, clench the teeth again, hold intention at the back of the neck, and pull straight upward thirty-six times, until the Jade Pillow (yùzhěn, at the occiput) and Mud Pill Palace (níwán, upper Dantian within the head) feel open.

Next, cover the upper lip with the lower lip and apply slight pressure, until you feel Mud Pill qi descend to the lower part inside the nose. At this point only press the tongue to the Heavenly Bridge (upper palate)—without forcing—and rest intention where the tongue touches; sweet dew (saliva) will descend on its own. Slightly constrict the nostrils and, with intention, swallow the sweet dew straight down to the Crimson Palace (jiàngquè, the heart region). Pause briefly, then with intention lead it back and down, dividing left and right to the two sides of the waist and storing it there, each side circling thirty-six times. Then lead it with intention to the navel wheel, thirty-six turns left and thirty-six right, until the belly feels fully open.

At this point keep both hands crossed below the navel, above the valve gate, and with intention lift left and right together thirty-six times, until you feel a trace entering the uterus; then maintain it as if present, as if absent, for a moment only. The above is the general outline of cultivating the classic. There are also higher living methods that cannot be spelled out here, but they never go beyond the phrase “still and empty, yet seeing”—silent emptiness with clear inward watching.

By bodily locus, the “uterus” here is the inner female (yin) aspect—the man’s mysterious aperture (xuanqiao). Alchemical texts say: “Yang is called xuan; yin is called pin.” Together they form what Laozi called the gate of the mysterious female (xuanpin zhi men)—also the “marvelous vessel” (qiqi) in the Yellow Emperor’s Yin Talisman Classic. Marvelous vessel, mysterious aperture, female portal, and uterus are four names for one cavity. The scripture speaks of “uterus” by analogy with human birth: the sacred embryo (the embryo formed by internal alchemy) and the ordinary embryo both coalesce here. “Not outside the husband” means that within this process there is news one can discern and put into practice—do not treat it carelessly.

When you feel a swirl of heat around the “uterus,” the spring gate (the portal where essence enters and leaves) must be tightly closed and not slackened, so that ease and stability can be preserved. What one fears most is rising thoughts and the slightest clinging: then the whole body goes numb and soft. At that moment you must fix the mind at once; the roads of immortal and mundane part here.

“Tightly closed” means do not be lax. If the gate loosens even slightly, true qi leaks from within, and what follows in the text grows more perilous. Inside the gate there will inevitably be unusual trembling and itching; with further lifting and holding, extraordinary delight arises in this female cavity. If you do not fix the mind, the whole body goes numb and you slide into the sea of desire—then trying to fix the mind may be too late. Hence “immortal and mundane divide from here.” Great Master Taixu Weng said: the method lies solely in anchoring at the back of the mountain (gen bei—settling mind in the back so emotional thoughts cease); only then can mind be fixed. Otherwise the gate will surely open wide and essence leaks like a pour— truly a pity.

At this stage, one must quickly settle the heart-mind into stillness and wait quietly for a long while, silently waiting until the womb chamber has become tranquil—only then may one proceed. This is what Lady Wei Yuanjun (the Shangqing female immortal Wei Huacun) meant by “the treasure returns to the Northern Sea, settled and secure.” Even so, this is still only a provisional measure—like using a yellow leaf to hush a crying child—and must not be mistaken for the true formation of the sacred embryo in internal alchemy.

[Cautionary note: The Sea of Awakening is the Southern Sea. Here the womb chamber is the Northern Sea, yet its position lies on the north side of the central pole and central yellow—the place the Book of Changes calls “central yellow, penetrating and orderly.” Here north and south are distinguished by front and back, not by upper and lower. Moreover Lady Wei’s words confirm this, so one must wait in stillness until the womb chamber is quiet before ceasing practice. In my view, this passage speaks of cultivating while still accompanied by the Red Dragon (in female alchemy, menstrual blood)—the methods after “cutting the dragon,” when menstruation has ceased—and these are best carried out in a body of quiet stillness. One rash move and the entire work is ruined; hence “immortal and ordinary part ways here.”

Also note: this passage is the complete reflected image of the work’s fulfillment—what is called returning to the original source, up through embryo formation, with the mysterious scenes already present. Yet because it refines the body’s own heaven-earth and Five Phases and returns the refined treasure, it still belongs to the small return and small restoration, which can be attained by practicing according to day and hour. What alchemical texts call “one grain and again one grain” refers to this treasure. That is why this passage uses the yellow leaf as instruction. But the formulas for gathering and refining, and for leading back and settling—these are entirely the mysterious reflected image of the great return. One should contemplate and recognize them most carefully, and must not read through rashly.]

The fifth section of the Orthodox Path of Female Cultivation is titled “Restoration.” It addresses women in the world: some grow old yet the body is still not pure (menstruation has not ceased); others are only forty-five or forty-six when the dragon—the Red Dragon, meaning the menses in female alchemy—has already stopped. In both cases one should cultivate until return to origin, so that the body becomes again like that of a maiden. The methods used are those of the first four sections. Only change what was formerly lifted upward and sent backward into sending forward and downward, pouring into the Stream and Sea—the breast stream and the sea below. The sweet dew (saliva in the mouth) that should be swallowed may only be kept mouthful by mouthful at the Que—the upper aperture before the chest—and must not be sent downward. Then rub the breast stream (the area of both breasts and between them): thirty-six turns left, thirty-six right, until you feel a soft flowing there; then rub the two breasts separately—slow thirty-six, fast thirty-six, light then heavy, each also thirty-six, one hundred forty-four in all. You will feel the true qi of both breasts and the stream interweave, and cool fluid like a spring gush from the Shuangguan (the bilateral passes) and return to the Southern Sea (the sea of the lower Dantian). The heart must wait quietly; afterward do not split the mind to both sides of the waist. Only in the Middle Palace release the myriad ties; do not use guiding or pulling methods at all—let it spread with the natural tendency until you feel the whole body extremely clear and harmonious. Practice this daily without a day’s break: the weak gradually strengthen, the declining gradually revive, the aged gradually return toward youth; the face gains luster, the two breasts gradually draw in like a young girl’s, and in the center something gradually forms like a peach pit. Within a hundred days you may obtain Tian gui (heavenly dew) colored like rouge-water; three days after that, perform the inner work of the fourth section without adding, subtracting, or changing anything, and the Red Dragon will cut itself off again. But you must see the sun and moon appear like twin rings—that is the true attainment.

According to Daoist scriptures, some elderly women still have xin shui (literally “faith water,” i.e. menstrual blood). That is not true menstruation. It is the fluid produced from food and drink, scorched by min huo (the “people’s fire,” i.e. xiang huo, minister fire, as opposed to jun huo, sovereign fire in the heart), which cannot be returned to the liver and spleen. It may appear as chang hong (bloody stool), chi dai (red vaginal discharge), or dao jing (menstrual blood flowing upward or outward by abnormal routes). All of these come from that same substance. Such conditions belong to depletion and damage. Like the early cessation of menstruation, one must first nourish and restore the body. Only when one has returned to a state comparable to that of an unmarried maiden may one undertake duan long (in female Neidan, stopping menstruation and refining menstrual blood).

Regarding the phrase with the repeated character jian jian: the jian here should be read as xian (to appear, to manifest), because in this context jian is used in the same sense as xian. Jian denotes the sign of what is manifesting; only when the mind is still and one verifies it in direct experience can one “see” it. Xian means that once it is recognized, it is immediately present. The two words carry both shallow and deep meanings and must not be read through hastily.

Section six of Correct Path of Female Cultivation is titled “The Breasts.” The breasts link upward with the fluid essences of the heart and lungs and convey downward the true juice of the xuehai—the “sea of blood” in the lower abdomen where blood is stored. When the breasts are refined until they resemble those of an unmarried girl or a small child, the female body is considered to have turned into the male body. The practice does not go beyond what sections four and five already teach.

In female cultivation, blood is the root. This section’s main aim is lian chi fan bai—refining the red to return the white, that is, transmuting menstrual blood back into pure, clear essence. Because one also fears depleting the original foundation (benyuan), there is first the method of refining liquid to transform blood. To turn fluid into blood, sweet dew should be held and gathered at the passes and barrier gates (guanque), with mind and spirit fixed on the shuangguan—the “double passes,” the gate points along the spine. The thick, turbid fluids long stored inside those gates then melt naturally, like streams flowing back to the sea, and blood grows vigorous again. The full meaning is set out in section five.

To refine blood back to white, fix attention on the xifang—the “stream chamber,” the path by which fluid reaches the breasts—clench the teeth, and let the mind grow ever more empty and still so that qi returns to the stream and reaches the breasts. Then use both palms to knead the two breasts separately: first slow, then fast; first light, then firm—for one hundred forty-four rounds in all. As qi gathers more strongly, use intention to draw it back and divide it to both sides of the waist. With the spirit of the gaze, lead the qi to rotate left and right for seventy-two breaths; you should feel warmth like moxibustion. Again with intention, guide it to circle the wheel (lun) without counting rounds, until the lower pole—the region of the lower dantian—feels like boiling. Then the red blood becomes fresh white essence and further transforms into qi; it passes through weilü (the tail gate), rises along the spine, crosses the Jade Pillow, and penetrates the Upper Valley (shanggu).

At that point, although visions such as the Three Mountains and the Mystic Orchard (xuanpu) may appear within, this is not yet the clear, pure realm. You must promptly practice “forgetting forgetting”—wangwang—and release even the thought of practice. Suddenly it may grow dark as night; you simply hold to stillness. After a long while, sensations of lightning and thunder may come; sweet dew pours down, the Golden Pool (huachi) in the mouth fills so that swallowing seems endless, and it descends naturally through the passes to the navel, spreading clarity and harmony through the whole body. Still in a body of silence, you continue to watch inward.

If you persist for a hundred days without break: breasts that were full become as flat as in youth; breasts that were slack become firm as walnuts—again like an unmarried woman. Flat as in youth means the work of turning white is sufficient; firm as a maiden means the work of turning red is sufficient. Many in this lineage who followed it found it effective. One who left verse as proof is Sister Fenggu; her poem reads: “Left sun, right moon—one Yin-Yang; circulate within the nose gate—this is called yungang. If you wish Yin-Yang to return to sun and moon, knead both chambers with the true fire in your hands.” The left eye is the sun and the right the moon, each belonging to Yin and Yang; circulating within the nose gate is named yungang. To bring Yin and Yang back to sun and moon, use the true fire of the hands to knead both breasts. Those who receive this teaching should each strive in their own practice.

According to the tradition: the Double Pass (Shuangguan) lies in front of the spine and behind the heart palace. Within the pass are two cavities—the places in the body where muddy fluid tends to lodge. The left is called Gao, the right Huang. Medicinal force cannot reach here, and genuine Qi (Zhenqi, the body’s original vital energy) will not arrive on its own. When muddy fluid stagnates, harm spreads through the whole body. When creation formed the human body, this pass was set especially to protect the heart—hence the name Double Pass.

This fluid called “mud” is like fluid yet not fluid. It arises from food and drink and belongs to the category of jinye (body fluids). It rides on breath, attaches to the lungs, and spreads through the body to moisten the meridians—that is this substance. When inner genuine Qi is strong, it is transformed as it passes through, with inexhaustible effect. When genuine Qi weakens, it passes without being transformed and enters the viscera and meridians, which still need not cause harm. Only when it meets extreme yin does it congeal into muddy fluid, like essence yet not essence, blocking the qi channels. The places where it is most poured in and retained are the Double Pass and the lower pole (the body’s lower end); of these, the Double Pass does the greatest harm, precisely because genuine Qi cannot reach there on its own. So it accumulates like ice and snow in the cold of Kunlun, unmelted even through the three hottest days of summer.

Though above there is the heart’s gang (the heart’s firm, upright protective power) on guard—when spirit is strong all is secure, when spirit fails all is perilous. Sages of old knew this, hence the formula “Gather the spirit to warm the pass” (jushen hong guan); yet it is rarely heard in the world. One who knew this method, verified it in practice, and set it in verse was Feng Zhen alone; his words are cited here for confirmation.

Investigation shows that Feng Zhen, cautious in practice and effective, still relied first on the formula “empty and still the mind-thought.” Only when mind-thought is emptied and stilled can spirit return to its place and genuine Qi flourish; added to the method of infusing the stream and kneading the chambers, the muddy fluid can melt and surge out beyond the pass, reaching the “yang” stage to receive cultivation—this is the subtle interplay of being and non-being aiding each other.

Further: the left breast chamber connects to the liver, the right to the lungs; the stream connects to heart and kidney, and also to the spleen—so one should attend to infusion at the proper times. In daily life, holding awareness with intent yet without forcing is enough. For women the root of life is in the heart: in hexagram terms, the middle line of Kun becomes yang to form Li, within which lies hidden true fire. Yet blood is generated in cool clarity; when blood is strong the spirit is at peace, so emptiness and stillness are all the more to be doubled. This is a crucial place for healing, nurturing life, restoring original nature, and completing the Way. It is enough to practice the three contemplations of the Scripture of Clarity and Stillness (Qingjing jing): look inward at the heart, outward at the form, and far at things.

This is the seventh section of Correct Path of Female Cultivation, titled “Jade Liquid.” The text first explains by way of male practice: starting from tranquility, when practice reaches the point where the He Che (the weekly circulation of true Qi along the Du and Ren channels) is fully open, true Jing (essence) is kept full and is not released from the Xuanguan (the inner alchemical pass), but is driven upward against the flow to the crown, like sweet dew falling on the Tian Gu (the “celestial valley,” the Niwan or upper Dantian), then pouring abundantly down into the Hua Chi (the “jade pool” under the tongue)—this too is called jade liquid. But only when the yin spirit appears, the Hun (soul) roams the jade palace where immortals dwell, the Po (corporeal soul) pays homage to the imperial truth, a round light covers the crown, the mysterious sea surges like a tide, and the sound reaches Yu Qing (Jade Clarity, the highest of the Three Pure Ones)—only then is it true jade liquid returning to the elixir, what ancient perfected immortals called “tihu guan ding” (pure ghee pouring over the crown). As for women’s jade liquid, it means transforming the Red Dragon (menstrual blood) into White Phoenix Marrow; only when this marrow is full can one perform the work of reverse flow without merely going through empty motions. The methods do not depart from what the fourth section shows, but the subtle meaning must follow the sixth section. When this is achieved, use is inexhaustible—what earlier sages meant by “one grain after another grain”: how could drawing and applying ever be used up? After obtaining the true seed, one must still apply effort here. The reason one can become full and can obtain it is always because one can hold to a mind of empty stillness. Those who receive this teaching should strive with diligence.

The commentary states that this passage should be glossed with the self-account of Fairy Cui’e, a female practitioner. She said: In the past, when I cultivated returning the elixir—the Neidan work of refining essence and qi back to their source—I began from “forgetting the person and forgetting the method.” When the moment came, I acted on it, and so could forget myself; and that forgetting of self is the true self. Day after day I held to this great matter of returning the elixir—today is today, tomorrow is tomorrow, this is this affair—until gradually I forgot even which day or which hour it was, and suddenly heaven and earth seemed to vanish. After a long while I seemed half awake, half aware: I only listened in silence and watched in silence, until I entirely forgot what I was doing. I felt heat like moxibustion, like burning; then appeared a scene like fat, like oil (here “after” means behind the northern pole; “like fat, like oil” describes the red dragon’s fluid turning into the white phoenix’s marrow—the female elixir’s image for refined essence). It was boundless, as if with sound yet without sound, now flowing, now still, clear and surging; sometimes hanging like a bolt of white silk, sometimes pure as an ice lake. Time was not one watch alone, place not one spot alone; my eyes did not swim, my spirit did not tire. Suddenly within it I again saw and heard things enough to confuse one’s true nature. I could still warn myself: do not be lured by these phenomena. Then I felt that what passes away is just like this—that qi seemed to move at a single thought. Just as I was about to rise and test it, I thought: heaven, earth, and I are originally one body; I should turn inward and examine myself—surely this body of mine is the same. If the principle holds outside, it must hold inside; if it holds inside, it must hold outside. So I turned to inspect myself and found no “I” at all; dwelling long in the body of silence, “I” then appeared. Wishing to look deeper within, there was absolutely no gate to enter; suddenly it was like waking from a dream. I felt heat like moxa from the lower body all the way to the lowest point, sound like thunder; wind and tide seemed to rise from there. In an instant it passed through Weilü, ascended along the spine, pierced Yuzhen, and reached Tiangu—the path Neidan describes as qi rising along the back—like pouring down sweet dew, then falling again from the nose. The waters of Huachi (the mouth’s pool for gathering saliva) were full; I could not swallow in time; in less than half a shichen the fluid had surged toward the Southern Ocean (the southern sea within the body), then poured into the waist and circled the navel like smelting. Heaven, earth, and I share one body: outside is thus, inside is thus—only then was it truly believable. I still followed my usual sequence; when the work was done I withdrew.

What the fairy describes is purely the phase of transformation—the stage after qi has been activated. Presumably in daily practice she first fixed her mind on emptiness and stillness, then advanced to forgetting even “forgetting” itself. Min Yide (the compiler, who styled himself Yide) included this account to confirm that the event itself is the method of cultivation.

Taixi (Embryonic Breathing), Section Eight of Nüxiu Zhengtu (The True Path of Female Cultivation)

Taixi is the highest Dao and the ladder by which one ascends heaven. After a woman reaches the stage of huandan (return of essence and qi, when the inner elixir is complete) in Neidan (internal alchemy), essence and qi are full and body and mind match a man’s state at that level; without relying on taixi, there is no day on which one returns to xuwu (emptiness and stillness). This single breath has boundless power, yet the method is extremely simple. Still, not everyone attains the same result—the differences are great. That is not because creation has another master; creation too only completes things according to their own conditions.

One seeks this breath through empty stillness: no discursive thought at the tip of the nose, morning and evening alike. When one touches the Zhuxiao (the root aperture where life and nature meet in Neidan), the aperture opens by itself—neither summoned nor refused. Suddenly breath and nose merge; vast without limit, deep beyond measure, until one cannot tell whether the aperture is oneself or oneself is the aperture. This breathing in which nasal breath becomes one, ancient sages called taixi. Within this aperture, Yin-Yang, the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), heaven and earth, and the ten thousand things all arise from here. As qi stirs with living potential, responses follow naturally, dividing into six grades of fruition: heaven, water, earth, humanity, spirit, and ghost. The secret is only to carry empty stillness to the utmost.

When virtue aligns with Zhenyi (True Unity) in practice, one becomes a tianxian (heaven immortal); aligned with Xuanyi (Mysterious Unity), a shuixian (water immortal); aligned with constancy unity (Zhenyī), a dixian (earth immortal); aligned with Jingyi (Essence Unity), a renxian (human immortal). The two lower grades align only with Qingyi (Emotion Unity): leaning yang one becomes a spirit, leaning yin a ghost. The fruition a good person obtains still cannot be called a true transcendent. When the gap is this wide, the hinge is how living potential is felt and answered. Though one speaks of inborn endowment, is it not also something one must earn? Those who receive this teaching should strive with all their might.

Reflecting on this section: the work of taixi is truly the utmost Dao, truly the heavenly ladder—how could one dare not exert oneself?

Correct Path of Female Cultivation, Section Nine, is titled “Namo” (homage and invocation). For a woman to attain great accomplishment in cultivation, there is no one more dependable than Guanyin Bodhisattva. One must practice arduous discipline and smelting refinement, and set aside miscellaneous methods—only then is this the true supreme Way and the ladder to Heaven; how could one fail to strive with all one’s might!

The whole force of this section lies in the two characters “Namo”; within them lies profound meaning. If you can recognize and hold fast to “this very body is Buddha,” it is like a crystal seven-tiered pagoda, firmly set upon Mount Putuo’s cliff. That “Red Boy” before the seat is the chief of the discerning spirit (the mind that splits and discriminates). The Great Being lets him roam east, west, south, and north on pilgrimage—until he completes the fifty-three visits (as Sudhana visited successive good teachers), visit after visit meeting the Buddha, and the koan is settled. Then, relying on the Dragon Girl of the Southern Sea to present the Self-Abiding Mystic Pearl, shielded by the purple bamboo grove; letting the white parrot fly up and down at will; holding the pure vase and inserting the willow branch to gather the natural sweet dew. Sitting steadily on Putuo’s cliff, using the method of the dharani Duoluozhi: place the syllable “Om” in the seat of true intent (Zhenyi), gather the supreme treasure, and put it in the fish basket. Then recite “Qieluo Faduo,” and lay down all of saha (this world of endurance): though you are in the Southern Sea and the waves roll as they will, you only calmly contemplate Contemplating at Ease (Guanyin as “Contemplator of the World’s Sounds” who sees with ease).

This great dharma cannot be separated from the internal work of Section Four; moreover, each breath must continue from the previous section, step by step returning to true emptiness and true stillness. When merit and practice are complete, you and the Great Being exchange a smile—harmonious and at ease. Those who receive this teaching should each strive accordingly.

This section resolves the mechanism of transformation entirely through transformative accomplishment; it can only be grasped in the heart and cannot be spoken of at length. Simply practice earnestly holding “Namo,” recognizing this body as Buddha—lively and free, unobstructed wherever you go.

The tenth section of the so-called “Correct Path of Female Cultivation” is titled “Caution at the End.” It explains that what women embody is Kun virtue (in the Book of Changes, the virtue of yielding and sustaining), and what they practice is the way of earth. The phrase “without claiming success, yet helping others to completion” means not taking credit for achievement oneself while enabling others to bring things to a finish; therefore one should also openly assist heaven and earth in nurturing and transforming, in broad daylight for all to see.

This work still begins from emptiness and stillness: not spending a coin, not exerting a thread of force—one can attain it simply by sitting at ease. Others need not know, yet one’s virtue already participates in creation and transformation. This is using one’s own cultivation to heal the world (to remedy and save the way of the world). The entire effort goes into regulating the mind and guarding emptiness and stillness: when the heart is tuned to clarity and quiet, it is as if the heavens are at peace; when the lower abdomen (the “Kun belly” in female practice) is tuned to openness and flow, it is as if the people are prosperous; when the four limbs are tuned to unobstructed circulation, it is as if the four quarters are secure. Thus regulating the body brings bodily peace, bodily peace brings order in the world—inner and outer respond to each other. Therefore each moment of clarity and equanimity is a moment of real merit; though no effect is visible before one’s eyes, the efficacy is naturally there.

The fear is that what one has learned day to day is not pure, and that the three dantian (upper, middle, and lower energy centers) are not yet connected. Never has someone who has not yet completed their own cultivation already possessed the capacity to benefit the world. The secret is only to practice without ceasing morning and evening: where others use one part of effort, use a hundred; where they use ten, use a thousand. Even if one were originally dull, one will surely come to understand. Those who receive this teaching should take it as encouragement for themselves.

This section was approved by Xi Wangmu (chief among female immortals) when she reissued the full text; Bu’er Yuanjun, following the oral transmission of the Jade Clarity Divine Mother on the great way of healing the world, revised the final section of the old transmission to close the series. This was indeed a grand occasion without precedent since the opening of creation. Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) called it a great fortune of creation and transformation; Yuanjun said this is precisely when the fortune of the Dao should be revived—such deep hope for later students. Min Yide wished that all who encounter this book would exhort one another.

The above is from the Treasure Raft of Female Dual Cultivation transmitted by Patriarch Li of Niwan, narrated and annotated by Master Shen the Grand Void Elder, revised by disciple Min Yide, under the title Guide to Female Practice.

Mudawan Shi (the voice in female elixir scriptures) says: In women’s internal practice (nügong), advance step by step—first still stray thoughts, then settle the heart-mind and spirit. Only when thoughts have stopped and the heart-mind is settled may you use massage, with light, slow strokes to gently nudge the flow of qi and blood.

In training, never shun warmth and cling to coolness. Women take blood as their foundation; their nature tends toward yin, and yin prefers coolness. Without using massage to move qi a little, you easily fall into pure yin. Pure yin turns cold; cold congeals and stagnates like ice. If you still do not move the body, phlegm congealing, blood stasis, and similar ills appear, and the work cannot go on. So you must start with stopping thoughts and regulating the heart-mind.

Women correspond to Kun (the yin trigram, earth). Within Kun lies true fire (inner yang): fire hidden is auspicious; fire released scorches metal (strong fire overcomes metal). If you circulate and refine before the heart-mind is regulated, metal is driven by fire and you get the image of “Han yin ascending to heaven” from the Book of Changes—hollow sound rushing upward.

Therefore the key to women’s practice is only this: begin with stopping thoughts and regulating the heart-mind. You need not fear doing much of it or doing it long, because it is movement within stillness.

When thoughts come to rest, the qi grows pure; when spirit and mind are in harmony, the qi flows smoothly. If you keep up the massage, you will have a chance for yang qi to stir. The only worry is that stagnant qi will give rise to restlessness and agitation, which is why there is this further admonition. Women for the most part prefer coolness and dread heat. At the beginning, when one has just managed to stop thoughts and settle the mind, and is in a state of calm and ease, if images of stagnant qi and inner agitation appear, one is bound to think of “lifting and irrigating true yin”—drawing true yin upward and pouring it in. That is because pure yin surges and gathers. In stillness yin congeals; without movement yang is pent up, and beginners inevitably suffer this defect. If one does not look into why restlessness arises and rushes to seek a moment’s cool relief, one goes wrong. One must add effort and use methods to circulate the qi; once the qi moves, agitation naturally subsides. Those who fail to grasp this yet demand results only make the condition worse; phlegm congealing and blood stasis arise from just this, hence the stern warning. The method insists solely on sustained massage precisely to shut off every opening where stagnation might set in. Again, because people delight in seeing progress and are eager to advance, massage may become too forceful; “earth fire” flares, ordinary fire follows, and there is the harm of fire so strong that it “scorches metal”—hence the warning about Han Yin ascending to heaven. Han Yin is the bird of the You hour (the rooster); driven to the limit, it flies upward. For this reason the subtlety of stopping thoughts and settling the mind is stated again. What is shown here is precisely the thread that runs through the female school (nüzong) from start to finish.

Article Two.

Nishi (Mud-Pill) tradition says: In women’s deep refinement, one begins when Yang qi is flourishing and ends when Yin blood is subdued and restored to its proper pattern. This method is extremely secret, and those who truly understand it are few. The deluded follow men’s oral formulas to practice; the somewhat clever turn to Chan Buddhism and can still verify a kind of fruition for themselves—even showing effects such as dying while standing or sitting in transformation—yet they do not know that in this way they still fall into the ghostly destinies (the realm of yin ghosts), already far from the Great Dao.

Women take blood as their root. When blood is abundant, essence (Jing) is full; when the heart is cool and clear, blood can be generated. The ancients said that refining saliva into blood and blood into essence still depends on the spirit (Shen) being clear and bright. If blood cannot be transformed into saliva, and saliva loses the warming nurture of the spirit, it congeals into phlegm, flows into the spleen and stomach, rises and steams to adhere in the lungs, then disperses into the meridians—whereupon the hundred diseases arise, the five viscera suffer harm, and the six bowels meet calamity. Therefore ancient elixir formulas must first settle the heart-mind. When heart and breathing are calm, the spirit is clear and bright, and the heart becomes cool and clear.

Hence one must wait until the heart is already cool and clear and saliva wells up, then fix intention on the Breast Stream (the channel of qi and blood between the breasts), and rotate and massage with the hands until qi must be full and overflowing. Next, raise both hands and separately rotate and rub the two breasts, until this obscure, swirling inner breath (yun) circulates all around and one again feels warm qi steaming from behind; the Dual Passes (the gates on either side of the spine) seem to give off smoke and flame, the momentum pressing through the passes until the passes are filled with thick saliva, which then surges separately into the Breast Stream like a spring gushing forth. At once use true intention to guide it into the Southern Ocean (the metaphorical “southern sea” in the body where qi and blood gather), and quietly hold for about “four-nines” breaths (thirty-six breaths). When intention relaxes, one feels what is within naturally descend, pouring separately into both sides of the waist, circling left and right, each for the count of “spirit-breath four-nines.” Again use single-pointed intention to gather it deep in the navel wheel (qilun), rotating slowly forty-nine times and rapidly forty-nine times, and observe the Weilü (the gate at the base of the spine): warm qi (the heat of inner refinement) pierces backward. If the momentum is sluggish, one may assist with the method of lifting and contracting the two orifices (drawing up and closing the front and rear openings), and naturally pass through the Weilü, ascend along the spine, cross Kunlun (the crown), and descend into the Mud Pill (upper Dantian). Then one feels the Mud Pill wide as a sea and can dwell there to nourish and hold; afterward it descends, pouring into Huachi (the pool of fluid beneath the tongue) and the Crimson Palace (the heart region), as if the whole body-world were densely sprinkled with dewdrops, utterly forgetting all one is doing—simply crossing Kunlun again and descending to anoint the Mud Pill.

When you perceive the upper dantian at the Mud Ball Palace (niwan) as broad as the sea, you may rest there and nourish yourself. Then descend and pour into the Jade Pool (huachi, where saliva gathers in the mouth) and the Crimson Palace (jiangque, the middle dantian before the heart), like dew spreading over the whole body (the text here borrows the image of Jambudvipa to mean the entire person). At this point you forget altogether what you are doing; everything feels hazy and dim: without forcing the breath, it comes and goes of itself; without deliberately lifting, the qi rises on its own; without consciously swallowing, the fluid descends by itself. The flavor within is sweet and fragrant; qi and spirit are full and harmoniously smooth; the three dantian (upper, middle, and lower) connect as one.

Next the subtle state fills you on every side; you must at once gather the mind back and look inward, letting go of every stray thought. Then the body feels hollow as a valley, the earth itself seems to vanish, and a faint coolness arrives; yin-yun (the yin and yang breaths intertwining and diffusing) saturates you from all directions. Suddenly mist scatters and clouds roll away; below appears the Sea of Nature (xinghai), clear green waves. You keep a single thought unmoved, forget outer scene and discriminating mind—and abruptly ten thousand rays of golden light, with pearl-like fine rain falling along the light, turn left and right into a bright full moon floating and sinking in a crystalline sea; then you wake as from a dream.

Niwan Shi said: At this moment hurry to look inward at yourself. Take clear breath, lucid spirit, and harmonious ease through the whole body as proof of effect; after the effect, hold the whole body in still clarity for an instant, then place the intention on the xuanpin (the mysterious pass where breath enters and exits and the one thought is held in inner refinement). When you feel quiet peace and stability there, you have it right. Then rub the hands and face, circulate the spirit around the abdomen, and work the shoulders like a well windlass—each of the above matched to forty-nine breaths; then slowly twist the waist, sway knees and legs, sit upright and point and circulate the toes, each action for twenty-four breaths, then stop. Continue for one hundred days, three times daily without break, and the foundation of the celestial immortal is laid.

Master Taixu says: This section is only a general outline; the ancients called it “Shang Tian Ti”—the ladder to heaven, a metaphor for the graded stages of cultivation from lower to higher attainment. The essential points of the great Way of Neidan (internal alchemy) lie here; only the final decisive stroke of practice is still missing. Later students must read it through until it is familiar, savoring every phrase, and quietly assimilate it in stillness, reading it dozens or even hundreds of times each day. Then when you practice, it is like walking a well-known path: you will not be misled by visions that arise; even if phenomena differ slightly, the stages remain clear. Do not treat it like Journey to the West and skim it casually. Works on elixir for men are enough to fill barns and strain oxen; complete texts on elixir for women are rare in the world. To obtain the eighteen sections of Jinhua Zhizhi (Direct Pointing to the Golden Flower) is already a secret transmission not ordinarily shared; compare them with this Guide, and the secrets of the Kun Way (the path of women’s cultivation) up to the celestial immortal (tianxian) are complete. If one has only Zhizhi, one may reach at most an earthly immortal (dixian) or human immortal (renxian). In Daoism the celestial immortal is supreme; earthly and human immortals rank below.

Niwan-shi said: For men practicing dual cultivation, one need not use the "ding" (external furnace, referring to a partner of the opposite sex used for cultivation). Those who use an external ding are ultimately not people who attain the Dao. "Adding oil" (gaining from a partner through plundering or supplementing) is merely a technique (Shu), not the true secret (Zhenjue). The true secret is the Three Powers (Heaven, Earth, and Man) uniting as one body. Female dual cultivation is largely the same: using "nothingness" (Wu) to contain the "three existences" (San You), thereby nurturing the Elixir (Dan). The true unity (Zhenyi) within is as numerous as millet in a granary; just use Creation (Zaohua) as the furnace, and once refined thoroughly, one can consume it oneself.

He also said: One must know that the world originally had the Unrestricted Assembly (Wuzhehui), and the seeds were originally spread throughout the great thousand worlds. Later generations, however, falsely borrowed ritual altars as the furnace and ding; after Lu Huineng (the Sixth Patriarch of Chan), the true transmission was lost.

He also said: When I speak this verse, the Eight Classes of Devas and Nagas (Bhubuta Tianlong Babu) will be startled, blaming me for being talkative, fearing I will suffer mystical punishment. I still speak clearly because I have received the mandate of the Jade Pure Holy Mother (Yuqing Shenmu). She deeply lamented that the Great Dao was about to be cut off, and had ordered the Holy Lady of Non-duality (Buer Shengshu) to solemnly declare it, personally transmitting it to me, intending to directly reveal it, no longer changing names or titles, lest later generations be misled again.

Her teaching is: Solitary practice alone is not the ultimate Way; those of the same kind originally need each other; only those who cultivate until they have a body outside the body (the Yuan Shen can leave the physical form) can forget the physical form and then undertake these matters.

The oral formula (Koujue) is: The Qian (Heaven) origin is obtained from the crown; the Kun (Earth) origin is lost through the female orifice (Pinhu). The Ren (Man) origin pervades the great thousand worlds; the Three Origins are all commanded by this one heart. It is nothing more than the heart being still, silent, and empty; nothing more than the body having no obstruction. Movement and stillness both accord with the True Constant (Zhenchang); I return to nothingness (Wu), and the Origin (Yuan) naturally unites. When the Origin unites, the One (Yi) also unites; this One Origin is emotion/desire (Qing) and nature/true nature (Xing). Emotion is the origin of nature; nature and talent (Cai) are received together. If one can cause the Origin to transform and return to Oneness in nothingness (Wu), one naturally transcends the supreme rank.

This is the mandate of the Jade Pure Holy Mother and the oral transmission of the Holy Lady of Non-duality; those who can practice it may follow it.

Taixu-shi said: The mutual need of the same kind is originally the principle of the Taiji (Great Ultimate), which is what is called the refined congealation of the Two and Five (Yin-Yang and Five Phases). What is discussed in the internal and external chapters of the Wuzhen Pian (Awakening to Reality) and the entire Cantong Qi (Kinship of the Three) is precisely the mandate of the Holy Mother and the oral transmission of the Holy Lady; those who can cultivate should act accordingly.

Master Taixu said: Things of the same kind depend on one another—this is the principle of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), what people call the wondrous meeting and gathering of Yin-Yang dual qi and the essence of the Five Phases. The inner and outer chapters of the Wu Zhen Pian (Awakening to Reality), and the whole of the Cantong Qi (Seal of the Unity of the Three), speak of nothing but this one principle. Because people misunderstood, there arose the filthy practices of the “Sanfeng” school—using male-female sexual supplementation as the path. Now, having received transmission from the master, the heart-method of a thousand years is at last clear. How fortunate Bing (the lineage name of the Taixu school) is to have received it, and how fortunate the world is to understand it. This may be said to be the final great clarification of the two traditions of male and female alchemy. Yet unless one has the power of wisdom, few can see it through to the end.

I have tasted this aim: the method lies solely in no-self—only then is one not pulled about by outer things. When things and self are both forgotten, true oneness appears. Once true oneness appears, hold to it and let it go; one and one naturally fuse and melt, generating and transforming without end. Of the great Dao within this, nothing surpasses the unrestricted great assembly (wuzhe fohui)—a dharma gathering without boundaries where all may join. The alchemical books speak of “dragons and tigers born, filling empty space”—the qi of true yin and true yang pervading the void. I have seen this at such a gathering. But one must fully follow the ancient rites, or regret and misfortune will follow. This assembly is utmost in meaning yet utterly open in form—do not misunderstand. What is “secret” is secret in the one mind: gain and loss within cannot be known by others. What is “manifest” is manifest like a market crowd meeting: coming and going without the least concealment. Because the rule is thus, it need not fear worldly taboo.

Alas—how painstaking the sage’s intent, how far-reaching the sage’s insight!

Mudan Shi said: It is exactly so. The ancient sages said: If the ordinary constitution is not transformed, there is no end to awakening to the Great Dao; if merit and practice are not complete, there is no day on which fruition can be attained. To leap ahead of one’s level is only to wander into error; to seek verification before completion is to gain nothing but a low-grade, minor fruition. Those who study the Dao should receive this compassionate instruction with reverence and care: you must first refine the Law Body—the other body cultivated outside the physical form—until it is firm; only then do you have the foundation to undergo further tempering. Without that foundation, the higher method cannot even be spoken of. What the higher method does is purely the work of transformation, and every step begins from the form body: lodging the empty within the real, and passing from the real into the empty. The path of the celestial immortal is just this.

Taixu Shi said: The Law Body is the body outside the body. That body is not something you can possess through visualization alone, nor something you can forge merely by ritual-style exercises. The secret is to borrow the false to cultivate the true; in advancing the practice you still never leave the form body—you only refine this form body until inside and outside are clear and pure, so that this body is no longer an ordinary body, and yet that extraordinary body is precisely this body. When the work is in motion, the body is as if absent; when the work stops, the body appears again. In the state of “absence,” cold and warmth, pain and itch are all experienced as not being “me”—that is awareness without clinging. How is it done? Let the spirit abide in emptiness and do not treat the body as body, and you can do it; if you can also recognize the True One and understand that everything apart from the One is illusion, you can do it all the more. Refine in this way until there is neither far nor near, neither inner nor outer, and you advance another stage. Refine further until there is neither departure nor arrival, neither entering nor leaving, and only then is there truly neither far nor near, neither inner nor outer. Refine still further until there is neither arising nor ceasing, neither movement nor stillness, and only then is there truly no coming, going, entering, or leaving. At that point the pure realm of the Law Body is already complete, yet it is still won from within the form body.

Section Five.

Niwan Shi said: Zhenyang’s words are correct. (Zhenyang is the style-name of Taixu Shi, bestowed by Niwan Shi.) If you cultivate diligently in this way, the Dharma body—the clear, true body attained after cultivation—will naturally be complete; if you do not regress, you will achieve “a body outside the body” (forming a yang spirit body in addition to the ordinary physical body). You should know that sages of old always relied on the “final decisive stroke” (the crucial last effort when completing the Dao) to finish the Great Way; this is precisely a shortcut within the path of completion. For the true yin and true yang of a single body are finite; used in cultivation, they amount to nothing more than pre-heaven and post-heaven refining each other. Practicing this method in daily life is not without cumulative effect over time; yet the pull of post-heaven worldly habits also grows day by day. Even those who cultivate bravely—many throughout history have met great calamity and failed, which is truly pitiable. There is no other reason: the pre-heaven true qi in one body can be roughly measured, while post-heaven false habits and stains increase in ways that are hard to gauge. Moreover, if cultivation does not begin from “childlike innocence” (when original qi has not yet been depleted from youth), contact with decay and ruin is something no one can fully avoid. On this point, you may well feel concern for people in the world.

Master Taixu said: When you drink water or soup, only you know whether it is hot or cold. If the Dharma body (the true body forged through internal refinement) is already established, then the secret of tending it and the measure of gathering and releasing need not be sought outside—you already have inner signs within yourself sufficient to judge. Even if the Dharma body is not yet established, the key to tending and the right way to gather and release should still be read only within this one body: nothing beyond blockage and flow, ascent and descent, cold and warmth, dryness and moistness. Acting accordingly means simply making what is blocked flow, what is cold warm, and what is dry moist, cycling through these states and regulating by their opposites.

The main point is to be single-minded and soft, not led astray by outer things, to harmonize mind and Qi (the true breath in internal practice), to unify the pivot of the breath (the hub of the breath’s opening, closing, rising, and falling), and to see clearly that this body is only a temporary lodging. Ordinary people do massage, lifting and contracting (daoyin and exercises of lift and squeeze), and all sorts of visualization and moving the breath, piling on effort again and again, merely so the breath may become nimble. Once the breath is lively and agile, the method should rely chiefly on focused softness: as soon as a thought arises, dissolve it; with each gathering, rest. Never “ride the ox while looking for the ox” (having it already yet seeking elsewhere); gathering without knowing when to stop is “putting a head on top of a head” (piling redundancy on redundancy). Effects already seen—flow and fullness, ascent and descent, warmth and coolness, balance and moistness—must all be free of stickiness; that is, after gathering you must know how to rest. Cultivate and tend yourself in this way, and there is no fear of deviation, harm to the body, or death. This is what Bing has observed.

The sixth entry is the sixth item.

Mudan Shi said: Yes, you speak correctly. In women, shen (spirit) tends to fly outward easily; in men, jing (ess essence) tends to become turbid and sluggish—both largely because of “putting a head on top of a head” (adding an extra layer of contrivance beyond the proper method). What shen attaches to is jing: when shen is settled and jing is calm, a person is stable; once jing is exhausted, shen is left alone and disperses. Those who do not understand mistake this for “transformation” (shedding the physical body and ascending in attainment)—a truly pitiable error. From this we know that overdoing massage and fixation (holding the mind on one point in concentrated attention) is wrong. Why? In women, the interior is yin and the exterior is yang; the trigram is Li (Fire). True yin is often lost with the monthly flow (menstruation), so when stillness outweighs movement it is auspicious, and when movement outweighs stillness it is inauspicious. For men the root is jing; for women the root is blood. Jing thrives through warm nourishment; blood is generated through cool clarity. Understand this, and you know how to cultivate.

Women’s practice does not wholly discard massage and fixation; the purposes are twofold: first, to open the flow of qi so the meridians are unobstructed; second, to refine the fluids so they do not stagnate into phlegm, and thus transform fluid into blood. The ancients took “quiet preservation” (holding fast in stillness) as the aim, which also has two layers: like a ruler at peace, ministers and people are at peace, and shen stays clear without flying outward; stillness also gives rise to wisdom, so one is not stirred by desire, and nature and life are thereby secured. This is the essential secret of dual cultivation of nature and life for the solitary practitioner.

Once qi is smooth and the mind is pure and still, and breath is further full and harmonious, one then maintains chastity and clarity (zhenbai—unmixed purity). Day by day progress may seem slight, but month by month there is surplus. Continuing in this way, when one verifies that the body is like empty space and the three dantian (upper, middle, and lower energy centers) are united as one, one feels every joint and every aperture throughout the limbs shining with light. When gongfu reaches this point, one’s “body outside the body” is in place. If one can continue without retreat, shen is full and qi is replete, thoughts do not race outward, and shen no longer chases after thoughts—then blood production must flourish, true yin is ample, and qi and jing naturally reach a state of filling heaven and earth. If one chases thoughts and soars upward, one falls into the “two vehicles” (the lesser paths to partial fruition)—what alchemical texts call “the yin spirit leaving the shell” (the yin shen departing the bodily husk). Practitioners cannot afford to be careless about this.

Master Taixu said: I (Bing) once heard my teacher explain that shen is the spirit of the heart-and-mind. It can be kept from scattering because it clings to jing and guards jing. Once jing is exhausted, shen will fly away. The jing meant here is kidney jing. That jing does not congeal into mud is entirely because shen steers it. Jing that can turn to mud is not yet original jing (the innate root-essence); it is only a kind of bodily fluid, not even blood fully transformed. When true shen departs, that jing stagnates and turns to mud.

The Book of Changes says: only when yin and yang pair together is it called the Dao. A verse says: “Half a jin and eight liang”—when yin and yang are evenly matched—true realization begins. It also says: lone yin cannot give birth; lone yang cannot grow. Qian and Kun, Kan and Li, Zhen, Xun, Dui, and Gen—the eight trigrams—earth and heaven, sun and moon, xing and ming, man and woman: all are one yin paired with one yang, cycling from end back to beginning; that is the constant Dao. If cultivation clings to only one side, or experience leans to one extreme, the practice becomes flawed and harmful.

Again: at first one cultivates only within this single body, seeking yin-yang coupling, yet there is an order of before and after. What comes first is called true; what comes later is called false. The false is bred from the true, so in that sense the true may also be called false; when the false returns to the true, it may again be called primordial. If gathering the medicine misses the moment, or one fixates on form and appearance, one falls into side paths—ordinary illusion and vanity—with great harm, though one may still recover. Worst of all is when, in solitary cultivation with skill already sufficient, resonance enters the dark unknown: the slightest bias in thought skews realization; then even wishing to stop midway is too late. For a woman, shen scatters; for a man, jing turns to mud—how can one not be cautious?

Know that what Cui Gong’s Mirror for Joining the Medicine (Cui Xifan’s elixir classic) speaks of is “xing and ming,” not ordinary “shen and qi.” When that scripture discusses shen and jing, it is like using yellow leaves in place of gold to hush a crying child—expedient talk only. Without recognizing real gold, how could one tell yellow leaves apart? Patriarch Zhongli said: the four greats (earth, water, fire, wind) and this whole body all belong to yin; one does not know what is yang essence; meet a clear teacher by fate, and becoming an immortal through this body alone is the whole matter. He also said: when being and non-being interpenetrate, that is the root of the elixir; when hidden and manifest support each other, that is water and metal. Do not fixate on this body and call it the Dao; cultivating only one thing is lone yin. Compared with the teacher’s instruction, there truly is what is called the true seed. Yet it still comes down to seeking within this body—the meaning is profoundly subtle.

Seventh Section

Niwan Shi said: Exactly so. The Daodejing says: There is one thing, whole and undivided, that existed before Heaven and Earth; silent and empty, it stands alone and endures, never changing; it circulates everywhere and never ceases—it can serve as the mother of the ten thousand things under Heaven. I do not know its name, and can only call it “Dao” by force of words. It also says: Vague and indistinct, yet within it there is something; deep and dark, yet within it there is essence; this essence is utterly real, and within it there is that on which one can rely.

This one thing is sealed within the Form Mountain (the human body as a mountain of form). The ancients said: Do not seek it inside the body, and do not fetch it from outside the body. It is hazy and unsettled, as if in emptiness and the hidden dark—yet in truth it is nothing other than the Yiguan yiqiao (the single pivotal aperture of the Mysterious Pass in neidan—not some fixed point on the physical body). This aperture is so vast that it has no outer boundary, so fine that there is no inner limit; you cannot grasp it by thinking, and you cannot open it by deliberate manipulation.

The method is only this: let the body become one with emptiness, and release every attachment; when empty, forget even “emptiness”; when still, forget even “stillness.” Then Shen (spirit) naturally enters the proper track, and Qi (the refined vital breath of inner practice) naturally arises from within. The breath stirs in a dense, indivisible swirl—you cannot tell head from tail. That is the manifestation of this thing, and also the first sign of the body-outside-the-body (a second, spiritual body that can exist apart from the flesh once cultivation matures).

If this aperture does not open, then even if you can “stop the dragon and transform the spirit” (stem leakage of desire and allow the spirit to change), you still have only the false being and non-being of yellow leaves (like holding up a leaf and pretending it is gold)—how can that be called jie tai (forming the elixir embryo), or called entering the gate? What the previous section pointed to was still yellow leaves, not real gold.

Master Taixu said: Massage and daoyin (guiding and breathing exercises), though not the ultimate truth, cannot be wholly discarded—if they are, the flow of qi will not be smooth. Focused visualization and contemplation are not necessarily dependable either; if they are abandoned, Qi (vital energy) and Jing (essence) will fall short. From here one ascends step by step in cultivation until one reaches a stage that has form and yet no form—and still the master does not call that the end, because it remains work on “this side” alone. When the work on this side is fully done, connection with “that side” comes easily; until that side is open, qi seems blocked by range upon range of mountains. Once they connect, if you use intention to lead, qi arrives on its own, full and strong, and the four directions gather of themselves. Thus, though mountains and lakes lie between, connected qi is like meeting face to face.

What is the method? The master said: Send out light to guide, gather mind and spirit, and wait in stillness. If it is only “the other rises while I descend, the other withdraws while I return,” that is a chance encounter with little benefit. The essential point is to stay utterly still without sinking into dead silence—empty within and ready to receive. When qi comes, though you feel harmony and ease, remain still; use intention to wrap and hold it and refine it inward. From Kun (below the abdomen) it passes through to Gen (rising along the back), as if riding a raft into the Celestial River. You may feel golden light flash like lightning, cool qi spreading through the air like clouds or smoke, circling inside and outside the body. At that moment you must cut off stray thoughts and intrusive intentions—envy, doubt, or any other thought must be dropped the instant it arises. Then you feel a kind of qi naturally filling everything, with no inside or outside and no boundary; in an instant transformations unfold layer upon layer—too many to count, impossible to sketch or fully describe. There are also states of silent stillness without light, black as night. All of these are called xuanying (“mysterious shadows”), also named the round image of the other shore; in truth they are the circular diagram in which self and other are one—the three realms spoken of in the Huayan, Lengyan, and Fahua scriptures, and the mysterious vistas of the three mountains and ten isles of legend. Ultimately this is the ebb and flow of creative qi between self and other; the so-called other shore is not some other place, and realizing that shore is nothing other than what is right here. The master said: I once asked the Pure Origin Lord (Qingjing Yuanjun) about this, and the Lord replied: “Exactly so, exactly so.” He also said: Is the cultivation of men not the same?

Section Eight

Niwan Shi (style name) said: There is a verse that runs, “Turn it over and over—nothing is outside the affairs of Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang). When the two Qi meet, essence joins with Gen Metal (the ‘metal’ at the Gen position in internal alchemy).” It also says, “The eagle seizes the sparrow; the hawk strikes the crow”—images of swift capture in practice. This is the finest within the fine, the subtlest within the subtle, yet it still comes down to knowing the white yet keeping to the black, knowing the strong yet keeping to the soft (ming bai shou hei, ming xiong shou ci)—and how could it go beyond “preserve the non-existent, guard the existent” (cun wu shou you)?

Taixu Shi (style name) said: This is exactly the point of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi (Nan Hua). The finest within the fine and the subtlest within the subtle still do not go beyond knowing the white yet keeping to the black and knowing the strong yet keeping to the soft—and they are no less bound to preserving the non-existent and guarding the existent.

Tai Xu Shi said: The Daodejing and the Nanhua jing (that is, the Zhuangzi) are not suitable for women to recite every day; the Qingjing jing, on the other hand, ought to be read until it is thoroughly familiar. Within the household one should honor the Neize; outwardly one should cultivate only the two scriptures Kun Ning and Zhen Yi. If the principles of nature (xing) and principle (li) are not fully penetrated, nature and life (xingming) can hardly be preserved; if precepts are not strictly kept, gongfu will not be solid. When you savor the verse the master quoted, its meaning is hidden and deep and truly hard to fathom. Even if one is pointed to the supreme method, how much can an ordinary woman understand? Most still stare blankly into the distance—such people are everywhere under heaven. The teaching contains the full fire records (huo ji—the log of advancing and retreating in alchemical firing); one must read the Huangdi Yinfu jing thoroughly, then consult the Longhu jing, the Cantong qi, and the Wuzhen pian, before one may speak of this method. Bing only sketched the outline: turn it over and turn it back again—affairs move in cycles. Recognize the “one” within the “one”; investigate it again and again, and this “one” is right before your eyes. In the end it is nothing but the two Qi's of Yin and Yang; when essences meet, myriad images shine forth. Do not fix on the body a visible “one”—only then does it appear and can embrace the great thousand worlds. The thousand worlds blaze with light; in that blaze is the primordial root (ben yuan). Not dragged away by that root, Yuanshi—the first source—is my own ben yuan. Ben yuan upon ben yuan is not joining piece by piece; count them one by one and wholeness is lost. In stillness, do not slacken your grip—such gongfu is no small matter. Let sparrows and swallows be sparrows and swallows; let crows endure the cold as they will. It does not come before the hour of hunger; when the time is ripe, I partake. This is mystery within mystery; within mystery there is mystery still. Know the white, therefore keep to the black; only in unified, undivided contemplation does one attain the great whole. If you ask why it is so, it is because the ultimate and the non-ultimate are both already complete. The master’s essential meaning is roughly this. Even so, being and non-being generate each other from the start; in choosing and discarding one must follow that single “one.” If the form body (se shen—the flesh) cannot be transformed, nothing in a hundred undertakings will succeed.

Niwan Shi said: Well said — you are right. As the common saying goes: if you wish to transcend the ordinary, first purify the mundane mind, and see through the three realms (the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm); at the same time do not violate the inner norms (the standards for conduct at home and in daily life), do not fawn upon ghosts and spirits, practice filial piety and kindness, and do not go against your husband (the master of the household). Be gentle, compliant, and upright, and do not depart from Kundao (the way of the receptive feminine — bearing and supporting through yielding). In action follow the Way; in stillness rest at ease. Entrust the subtlety of the Dao to sweeping and cleaning, and grasp the firing process (the measure of advance and retreat in cultivation) in tending the fire and cooking meals. The Book of Poetry says: “Composed and dignified in bearing, steady as a mountain, broad as a river; if a person’s virtue is not good, what can be done?” How profound the warning left to us!

Taixu Shi said: Master, in this passage your intent is very subtle. People in the world who take refuge in Daoism or Buddhism rarely follow the inner norms, rarely understand the nature school (the aim of illuminating mind and seeing true nature), and rarely serve their teachers with gentle compliance — yet they are often jealous and harsh. How profound this warning as well!

Taixu Shi said: The Master’s teaching in this passage runs very deep. People in the world who take refuge in Daoism or Buddhism rarely follow the rules of their lineage, and few truly understand the Nature School (the line that takes illuminating mind and seeing nature as its root). They ought to serve their teachers with humility and compliance, yet they often give way to jealousy and harshness and violate human relations. Such disciples and such teachers are already scorned by name and teaching; they further cast themselves toward Tiewei and Avici (realms of hell in Buddhist cosmology)—how pitiful.

Min Yide said: My master Taixu Weng’s supreme Dao was eight or nine parts out of ten transmitted from our patriarch master Niwán Shi; that is even clearer in this book. The heart-method passed down here is not only the precious raft of the Female School (the female alchemy line). Male-school secrets also show through in more than one place in the text. The base manuscript was copied and recopied, with many errors; I have carefully corrected and arranged it. Regrettably, Male School Dual-Cultivation Precious Raft was taken away by the Yuán family of Chángshān and still awaits recovery—it should not yet be lost. The male-school book also points to precious secrets of the female school, but many passages are missing in the copied text; if it can be found and corrected and published together with this book, the set would be complete and the two works could be read side by side—a great merit for helping the world. I hereby inform gentlemen who obtain the male-school book: destroying good books incurs punishment from the underworld bureaucracy; the classics state this plainly—how can one not heed it? Jin Gai Shanren Min Yide respectfully postscript. Dated the full-moon day of mid-autumn in the gengyin year, tenth year of the Daoguang reign (1830).

Below is the full ritual for upholding the Buddha Speaks the World-Sustaining Dhāraṇī Sūtra (with reference notes). Elaborated by the 100th-generation Túduō lüshi of the Western India Heart School (the mind-nature lineage transmitted from India); compiled by the 101st-generation True Immortal; printed by the 102nd-generation Shouxing.

Purification of the body mantra (body-purification spell): Oṃ (prolong the syllable), kū lán.

Purification of the mind mantra (mind-purification spell): Oṃ (prolong the syllable), maṇi padme hūṃ (pronounce hūṃ like “hǒu”). This is the same kind of mantra as the Six-Syllable Mantra.

Purification of intent mantra (intent-purification spell): Oṃ (prolong the syllable), sitāta-pattra. This relates to the White Canopy mantra and is used to purify intention.

Invocation: From here one begins invoking the holy ones to descend and protect the practice.

Homage to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha abiding in the ten directions; homage to Shakyamuni Buddha; homage to the Buddha’s Crown Śūraṅgama—the dharani that takes the Buddha’s crown as its name and holds all dharmas in one totality.

Mantra to Settle the Mind (Jingyi Zhenyan): Om, siddhāṭa bhraṭ. These are the opening syllables of the Śūraṅgama Mantra; reciting them gathers and steadies the mind.

Invocation: Again homage to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha of the ten directions, to Shakyamuni Buddha and the Buddha’s Crown Śūraṅgama, and to Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, Vajragarbha Bodhisattva, and the venerables Guangxuan Shoushou Miaoyue and Xicheng Dongyan Tuduo.

Verses Before the Sutra: The subtle, clear, and still World-Honored One who holds all without moving—Śūraṅgama King truly fills body-mind and the world. It can exhaust inverted delusion accumulated over billions of kalpas; without passing endless asamkhyeya kalpas, one may realize the dharmakāya. This was spoken by the Bhagavat in person; the scripture is named the Dharani for Sustaining the World. If people receive, uphold, and widely proclaim it, in the snap of a finger their vows are fulfilled with nothing left out. In this very life they may penetrate the supreme Way; in “neither being nor non-being” there is no birth and death. Thus one realizes the dharani in the world, with a mind unmoved like a cakravāla (firm and unwavering). We pray the World-Honored One will silently protect this vow, so that body and world are at peace and return to non-duality as one substance.

The Buddha Speaks the Dharani Sutra for Sustaining the World: Thus have I heard. At that time the Bhagavat was in the country of Kauśāmbī. An interlinear note in the source gives its old name as “Zhéjiā Island,” identified with present-day Russia; Western Region records are not very clear on this, and the note also mentions peace and non-dual unity. Kauśāmbī is in any case an ancient place name from the Buddhist scriptures. The title of the sutra is The Buddha Speaks the Dharani Sutra for Sustaining the World.

Thus have I heard. At one time the Bhagavān (an honorific for the Buddha) was staying in the country of Kauśāmbī. A note in the scripture says this place was once the island of Takka, which is today Russia; the Record of the Western Regions does not describe it in much detail, but the imperial preface to this sutra records it clearly. The Buddha was in the Takka Grove, dwelling together with five hundred great bhikṣus (fully ordained monks). There were also more than one koṭi (an extremely large number in ancient India) of mahāsattvas (great bodhisattvas), as well as immeasurable assemblies of devas, humans, asuras, and others, surrounding him before and behind.

At that time in the country there was a householder named Sucandra (Wonderful Moon). His bearing was gentle and handsome, his aspirations leisurely and lofty, and he had many male and female servants in his household. With deep reverence and faith in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, he came to the Buddha’s place, prostrated with his five limbs on the ground to venerate the Buddha’s feet, circumambulated him a hundred thousand times, then withdrew to one side and, with palms joined in respect, said: “World-Honored One, I wish to ask the Tathāgata, Worthy One, Perfectly Enlightened One about a small doubt; may you in your great compassion pity me and allow me to ask.”

The World-Honored One, pitying him, spoke in a voice soft with compassion: “Ask as you will; I shall explain for your benefit so that your mind may be glad.”

The householder, joyful and exuberant, bowed his head in homage and, with palms joined, asked: “World-Honored One, how can good men and good women enable the poor to become rich, the sick to recover, those with offenses to have their karmic obstructions cleared, and those who live in fear to find peace?”

Although the World-Honored One already knew, he deliberately asked: “Why do you say this?”

The householder reported again: “World-Honored One, we householders have many dependents but little wealth and find it hard to provide for them; we also suffer many illnesses, are dragged down by karmic offenses, and are often anxious and afraid.”

Therefore they asked the World-Honored One to teach expedient means: so that the poor might gain ample wealth and rank, support their kin, practice generosity on a wide scale, benefit all beings, and never exhaust their stores of goods; so that the sick might have the four great elements (earth, water, fire, and wind—the constituents of the body) in harmony and regain health, diligently cultivate wholesome acts, and be free of weariness in body and mind; so that those burdened with offenses might quickly cast off their karmic obstructions and, when this body breaks up and their life ends, be reborn on a good path; and so that those living in fear might find peace in body and mind, be able to approach and make offerings to the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), and swiftly realize anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi (supreme, perfect enlightenment).

Then the World-Honored One said to the elder: Good man, countless kalpas (aeons) ago I met a World-Honored Buddha named the Tathāgata Vajradhāra Sea-Voice. He was fully endowed with anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, perfect in conduct and knowledge, well gone, knower of the world, unsurpassed trainer of persons, teacher of gods and humans, Buddha, and Bhagavān. For the benefit and ease of all beings he expounded a dhāraṇī (a spell that “holds by sound” the merit and meaning of the Dharma) called “Upholding the World.” When I heard it I rejoiced and exulted, took it up and recited it myself, and also taught it widely to others, benefiting and easing immeasurable beings. Through that cause my merit and wisdom increased, and I quickly realized anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; then for gods and humans I taught the subtle Dharma. Now I shall teach you this dhāraṇī. You gods and humans should listen carefully, receive and uphold it after hearing it, and proclaim it widely. The spiritual power of this mantra is inconceivable; it can bring benefit and ease to all beings.

The dhāraṇī mantra runs as follows (recite according to the syllables): Surubhi, Badarapati, Pukkari, Akari, Akapari, Uñjanī, Avadani, Sasayapati, Danapati, Danapati, Saripati, Prabhapati. Yinmoli, Badarapati, Pukkari, Akari, Akapari, Uñjanī, Avadani, Sasayapati, Danapati, Danapati, Saripati, Prabhapati.

The first half of this scripture is a dharani—a mantra whose Sanskrit sounds are written in Chinese characters for recitation. These characters are meant to be chanted by sound; they are not ordinary Chinese prose and should not be read for literal word meaning. Recognizable names in the text include: tathagata (Thus-Come One), dharma (the teaching), sangha (the monastic community), satya (truth, the real), and sarvasattva (all sentient beings). Svaha is a standard closing phrase in mantras, meaning accomplishment or completion. The mantra invokes the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha in turn, and closes with syllables such as e nu sa mo luo sha he; the note “po ji (sound shu)” marks how that character is to be pronounced.

This dharani is said to possess great spiritual power. If good men and good women receive it with sincere faith, practice it, and teach it widely to others, then evil spirits, ghosts, dragons, nagas, yakshas (swift, often fierce spirits), and both human and non-human beings cannot harm them; benefits and ease increase day and night. If one devoutly honors the Three Treasures (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) and recites this dharani scripture without break for seven days and nights, the devas and dragon deities rejoice and, unseen, shower needed goods and grain like rain. Famine and plague are dispelled; karmic obstacles are exhausted; fears and dangers are stilled; merit and wisdom grow; wishes are fulfilled; and one may quickly realize anuttara-samyak-sambodhi—supreme, perfect enlightenment.

At that time, the Buddha said to the lay elder Wonderful Moon, a wealthy householder: You should have faith in this dharani—a mantra that gathers and holds the Dharma and protects sentient beings—memorize it, recite and uphold it, and teach it widely to others. Then whatever benefits and comfort you seek will be fulfilled without obstruction.

When the elder heard this, he rejoiced and was filled with delight. He said to the Buddha: I can receive and uphold it and proclaim it broadly so that immeasurable sentient beings—all living beings—may gain benefit and ease. I only ask that the World-Honored One look upon us with compassion. The World-Honored One said: It is so, it is so.

The elder then joined his palms in reverence, circumambulated the World-Honored One to the right a hundred thousand times—a Buddhist gesture of respect, circling clockwise to show honor—bowed at the Buddha’s feet, and left in joy.

At that time, the World-Honored One said to Ananda, the Buddha’s attendant disciple: The treasures and grain in each of Wonderful Moon Elder’s storehouses are now completely full. Ananda asked joyfully: What is the reason his storehouses suddenly became full?

The Buddha told Ananda: Wonderful Moon Elder heard this great dharani that I taught, believed it wholeheartedly, rejoiced in receiving, upholding, and reciting it, and wished to proclaim it for immeasurable sentient beings. By the power of that merit, his storehouses were filled. You too should receive, uphold, and recite it, and teach this dharani widely, so that all sentient beings in this great trichiliocosm—the vast world-system described in the scriptures—may obtain benefit and ease.

I see that the maras and Brahmas of this world cannot destroy or surpass the phrases of this dharani; the true Dharma cannot be broken, so those of slight merit do not hear it. Why? Because these sections and phrases are praised together by the Buddhas of the three times—past, present, and future—and are further empowered by inconceivable spiritual strength, so that those who now hear it, receive it, and uphold it may all gain benefit and ease.

The Venerable Ananda was deeply delighted at heart and praised the Buddha in beautiful verses: “The realm of all Buddhas is inconceivable; so too is the Dharma they teach. Those who practice it correctly likewise receive inconceivable results. The Dharma King, complete in all wisdom, has extinguished birth, old age, sickness, and death. Having reached the supreme shore, I pay homage to the Greatly Awakened World-Honored One.”

Then Ananda, joyful and elated, bowed to the Buddha, joined his palms, and said: “World-Honored One, what should this Dharma-gate be called? How should we now uphold it?”

The Buddha told Ananda: “This sutra is called The Questions of the Elder Chandraprabha; it is also called Capable of Responding to All Wealth Positions; also Healing Illness; also Coming to Destroy Offenses; also Capable of Removing All Fear and Dread; also Praised Together by All Buddhas; also Empowered by the Spiritual Power of All Buddhas; also The Sutra of the World-Sustaining Dharani. A dharani is a mantra that ‘holds’ the meaning of all Dharmas. You should uphold it and not forget or lose it, thereby benefiting and bringing ease and happiness to all sentient beings.”

At that time, the Bhagavan (World-Honored One), having finished this sutra, countless sravakas, bodhisattvas, and the entire assembly of devas, humans, asuras, and others, upon hearing the Buddha’s teaching, were all greatly delighted, accepted it in faith, and put it into practice.

Then they made the three refuges and withdrew.

I take refuge in the Buddha—may all sentient beings realize the Great Way and awaken the supreme mind.

I take refuge in the Dharma—may all sentient beings enter deeply into the treasury of scriptures and gain wisdom vast as the sea.

I take refuge in the Sangha—may all sentient beings guide the multitude and attain unobstructed mastery in all things.

Homage to the holy assembly.

All who recite and uphold this scripture and mantra should, as usual, set up a ritual altar, with offerings ample and pure, conduct themselves with calm refinement, keep heart and breath even, and let the sound of recitation be steady and easeful—neither pitched too high nor too low, neither scattered nor stuck—so that each word and each cadence flows naturally from xingtian (one’s innate nature). Above all, cast every thought of “Has it worked?” or “Have I attained it yet or not?” into absolute emptiness, no longer brooding on them. Only then can Buddha and the ordinary merge into one, and world with body, body with world, blend into a single field—thus realizing the great dharani (all-upholding mantra and method) of “world-in-body” and “body-in-world.” That matches the saying: “You seem to hold it, yet as if you do not; within not-holding, you are truly holding.” After long, settled concentration, the body again appears as “I”: the crown of the head is the innate heart-king (xiantian xinwang), and at its core is the Western Buddha Ushnishavijaya Tathagata (Foding Zunsheng wang rulai—the “Victorious Buddha-Crown” lord of the Foding Zunsheng tradition). At this stage, even “nonduality” is only a name reluctantly affixed. Whoever truly practices in this way always gains it between deliberate doing (youzuo) and non-fabrication (wuzuo), within leisure, peace, and harmonized recitation. The subtle meaning my master opened and transmitted to the world is exactly this. The true immortal (Zhenxian) records it faithfully.

Short Preface to the Rules for Practicing the Dharani That Upholds the World (Xingchi Chishi Tuoluoni Jingfa Guize Xiaoxu), narrated by Min Zhenxian: This is a brief preface by Min Zhenxian on the rules to observe when cultivating the method of the dharani that upholds the world.

Upon careful examination, the various rules governing the establishment of ritual altars in the world were originally devised for those who seek immediate direct realization in the present. As for daily practice among monastics and laypeople alike, a sincere heart is sufficient. The Surangama Sutra states: even if someone’s mind is scattered and they have not entered samadhi (a state of single-pointed concentration), so long as they recall it in mind and recite it with the mouth, the vajra kings will constantly follow and protect such good sons; how much more so those who resolutely arouse bodhicitta (the mind that seeks awakening and benefits all beings). The sutra also says: even without building an altar, entering a practice hall, or cultivating according to formal ritual, the merit is no different; indeed, merely reciting or copying this mantra, wearing it on the body, or placing it in one’s dwelling, courtyard, or garden pavilion will cause accumulated karma to melt like snow in hot water, and before long one may awaken to the patience of non-arising (abiding in the realization that all dharmas neither arise nor cease).

In sum, there must be correspondence of the three mysteries: the mouth recites the divine mantra, the mind visualizes the Sanskrit syllables, and the hands form the mudras—this is called the three altars. But this is not something beginners can manage. My teacher Yedepoye (Yeduo poye) fully followed the Sanniyi Shigong Fa (a method of harmonizing body and mind to regulate the fortune of the age), compiled simplified rules, and transmitted them to me. Because the Buddhist word “world” (shi) combines “world and body” with “body and world,” its meaning does not differ from the aim of regulating the world through healing. In the Daoist tradition it is said: “The mind is Heaven, the body is Earth, and thought is the human being.” Humans stand between Heaven and Earth; Heaven and Earth themselves have no mind, yet they entrust mind to human beings. Thus, with regard to body and world, what governs the world is the human being; and again with regard to body and world, what governs this body is the spirit (shen).

Because of this layer of meaning, the immortal sage of earlier ages, Master Lü Chunyang (Lü Dongbin), devised the gong formula of “egg guarding”: guarding as when brooding an egg, so that body and world blend and sustain each other, passing in order through birth and transformation, condensation and differentiation, and cultivating along that course. The method takes as its aim “no-no and also no-no”—not even clinging to “nothing,” returning to wuwei (non-action). It only borrows emptiness to embrace fullness, then from fullness returns to emptiness, placing being and non-being, truth and illusion, in a place of no abiding and no attachment. This is awakened awareness without grasping; cultivation deepens until even “forgetting” is forgotten, and that is taken as the ultimate. What is called the method is simply stilling the mind within, returning to pure oneness.

What is “one”? It is that thought after thought flows back to Xingtian (one’s innate nature). Thus even sound can become the natural music of heaven (tianlai)—when resonance is touched, it transforms in the moment. Yet few in the world can bear to receive and carry this on. Because people insist that recitation must go on day and night without pause, and do not understand the deep meaning of “seven days and seven nights” as return to Xingtian, they take themselves to lack the original raw material in their endowment and to be bodies no longer intact as virgin youth, with primordial vitality already leaked away—unable even to practice without break through one span of seven days and seven nights—so they sigh at the vast ocean they cannot cross.

Therefore people of insight in the world say that only one who knows from birth, granted by heaven, can do this. The master, however, said that from the time people are born into the world their own view makes them small, and so they are cut off from this path; they also dare not rise in compassion to transmit it. They do not know that even an ordinary “petty person of five mouths” can thereby attain Buddhahood. What is there to fear in learning the Dao, that one should neither cultivate nor record it?

Min Zhenxian received this and kept it in his heart for more than forty years. Probing the master’s instructions and comparing them with Daoist and Buddhist classics, they matched as if from one nostril—utterly the same. Only he had not yet met someone who could receive with the heart and transmit with the heart, so slander was hard to avoid. Yet what he had received to transmit was simply sincere transmission—that is, exhausting heart and exhausting nature. Therefore he took up the brush and wrote, titled Rules for Practice. Whether the world accepts it or not, he leaves that to his disciples. Min Zhenxian recorded this in retirement at Juyin Hermitage on Shun Lake, in the fourteenth year of the Daoguang reign (1834), year jiawu, the day after the winter solstice.

Rules for Practice has four articles. The first is “establishing the altar”—setting up the field for cultivation practice.

When establishing an altar, use three rooms in a single-story dwelling, or open them into one large hall, with nothing else placed around the sides. In the center set a round table; on it place a small wooden pagoda (stupa), six- or eight-sided, with one principal Buddha figure carved on each face. Before each figure offer incense, flowers, lamps, water, and rice—emphasis on cleanliness rather than lavish display. On each side of the round table place a small square half-table for lamps and incense. Outside the half-tables spread blue mats made of cattail, reed, cotton, or similar material, about one foot from the tables, for prostration. Cover the floor with felt or carpet so practitioners can sit in cross-legged posture on the mats. The altar hall should have service doors in the qian (northwest) and kun (southwest) directions, with the main entrance in the li position (due south). The round table’s skirt is made in the style of a flat-topped umbrella canopy and serves as the table covering, in pure purple; the half-tables and round table use pure bright red throughout.

For ritual vestments: for increase and benefit use golden yellow; for reverence and love use bright red; for dispelling calamity use white; for extending life use blue-green; for subduing use black. Initiated disciples wear an additional outer monastic-style robe over their main robe; ordinary lay participants may wear dao robes or simply neat, dignified dress.

“To hold” (chi) means to keep to the schedule and to sustain continuity. One must put this holding into practice in the present moment—who can gather the mind? By what agency does one hold? Only the Buddha can fully accomplish this. Thus holding in harmony with the proper time is not a matter of superficial mystification. According to this scripture, the Dharma is spoken from the Buddha’s mouth; to bring the work to completion one must settle body and mind within the secret teaching, so that stimulus and response mutually arise—where there is contact, there is answer. Once one has penetrated through, the root nature is complete and every application is efficacious. Those who wish to cultivate this method must first understand: within one period of seven days and seven nights, continuity moment by moment without the slightest gap, only then is the root nature whole. Going further, one no longer clings to those seven days and nights; cultivation reaches a state of unbroken continuity, then forgetfulness that yet has nothing left to forget—and application becomes unfailingly marvelous. This is the method of receiving and upholding this dharani (total-retention mantra).

On praising the Dharma: recite in accord with this scripture; its meaning is profound and abstruse, which is why its application is efficacious. The student must awaken to it and put it into practice, cultivating until there is no interruption, until one reaches the state where there is forgetfulness and yet nothing further to forget—then one’s own application in every respect is without exception marvelous. This is the method of receiving and upholding this dharani.

As this scripture indicates, the purpose of recitation and holding is profoundly subtle, yet its effects are wonderfully efficacious. Practitioners must first grasp the principle inwardly, then apply it in practice. The “recitation” spoken of here is neither vocal utterance through throat and tongue, nor “Vajra recitation,” nor “Yoga recitation” (both are recitation methods in Esoteric Buddhism). It arises directly from samadhi—the settled state in which mind rests without scattering.

“Holding” should be as if one were not holding at all. The five viscera, six bowels, and the Three Corpses and Nine Worms (yin turbid “corpse worms” within the body in Daoist physiology) hear only a lingering resonance; they do not understand what is meant by “sea tide” or “swarm of bees.” Yet when one meets that resonance with touch and preserves it through holding, whatever is touched dissolves, and wherever one holds becomes responsive and penetrating—as if receiving something and as if being instructed.

Such is the meaning of the Buddha’s “recitation” in this scripture; it must be realized through direct experience. My teacher often said: in holding any dharani (mantra), one must first obtain from sound the quality of the sea tide—vast, continuous, neither arising nor ceasing—and count until the count is forgotten; only then has one “recited into samadhi” (right concentration). Next is sound like “ten thousand bees answering the court.” All of these are subtle resonances that naturally flow forth when form is forgotten and consciousness extinguished; hence the response is pure and cannot be fathomed by deliberate thought.

For in the human body everything belongs to yin; only sound belongs to yang. Taiyi (the Supreme One) said: “Yang within yang is sound without sound”—that refers to this kind of resonance. He also said: “What, once issued, cannot be grasped or measured is the primordial subtle pivot”—that is also the primordial simplicity (taisu) before things are distinguished. When brought to the Way, this is true intent (zhenyi); at its core it is what Buddhist inner scriptures call “not reciting yet reciting, reciting yet not reciting.”

Lineage: the orthodox line of gatha (verse) begins with the primordial Bhagavan (honorific for the Buddha). On the Way it is true intent; at the core it remains “not reciting yet reciting, reciting yet not reciting.”

The orthodox line of the Gatha (ji song and incantation tradition) begins with the primordial Bhagavat (an honorific for the Buddha, “World-Honored One”). When conditions ripened, it passed to the Tathagata of Courageous Vigorous Progress; through the power of this mantra, that Tathagata realized Buddhahood in this age as Shakyamuni. The Buddha then transmitted it in season to the elder Miaoyue. The elder believed deeply, upheld it, widely explained it to others, and benefited and liberated beings—thus the second generation of the true transmission.

The record states: you are to pass it down in order; from this the Suzong (Pure Line) opens and assists the correct Dharma. Tracing the source, it is the mind tradition of Western India, transmitted from the holy monk Tie Niu, who in turn conferred it upon Bodhisattva Miaofan. When this scripture and mantra reached China (Zhendan), Tripitaka Master Xuanzang translated them into Chinese by imperial command.

In the Yuan dynasty, my master Yedaboshe came from Yuezhi into Yunnan and stopped at Mount Nanzu; looking upward in the lineage he was the hundredth patriarch of the Suzong, remaining there to await a successor. Not until the autumn of the renzi year of the Qianlong reign did I enter his gate to serve; only then did I receive the heart method of the Suzong and understand that what the Three Teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism) transmit has always been one thread. Taking heaven and earth as model, the work does not go outside body and mind; what is cultivated and circulated is only return and reversal, entirely according to nature—add the slightest contrivance and one falls into heterodox paths. From first step to completion, nothing more than purifying the mind.

My master was the hundredth generation of the Gatha auxiliary line and the prior branch of the Indic tradition (Zhu zong). I presumptuously succeeded and received the name Zhenxian, becoming the later branch of the Indic tradition. What one generation holds is heavy as a thousandweight, perilous as a single hair. I pray only that Bhagavat Buddha protect and remember the founding ancestors, that Elder Miaoyue extend great virtue, that compassion watch over Patriarch Tuduo of the hundredth generation, and that the great vow incline to shelter the faithful of the eastern land. Fortunate indeed! Fortunate indeed! The lineage is respectfully set forth as above. Composed by Zhenxian.

Forty characters continue the line, serving in order as generation names for the later branch: Zhen shou chu yuan yi, xian an xing ming yuan. De long cun xu ji, heng xin dao gen yuan. Xi cheng you dong zuo, qi hou bian cheng xian. Xian mi mian zong zhong, wu bu zai yan quan. The gist: guard the true and the initial One, so that nature and life are secure and complete; virtue lofty and the heart dwelling in emptiness and stillness, ever trusting the root of the Dao; accomplishment in the west comes from work done in the east, and to open the way for those who follow is to carry on those who came before; exoteric and esoteric alike continue the lineage seed, and awakening is not bound to words and explanations.

In all, forty characters: my teacher Ye Dabo She (explained in the text as “one who seeks the Way”) continued and developed this at Jizu Mountain in southern Yunnan, in the mid-autumn of the Renzi year of the Qianlong reign. It says: autumn harvest comes from spring planting; opening the path for later students is carrying on those who came before. Exoteric and esoteric teachings alike extend the seed of the lineage; awakening is not found in explanations bound to words and language. The heart-method of the true immortals has been handed down for many years. Because Shunhu Zhou Shouxing neither understood the rules nor grasped those who continued and opened the “tuduo,” the full story from beginning to end was told again.

“Gatha” (jiatuo) corresponds to what Chinese calls “all without obstruction.” “Dharani” (tuoluoni) corresponds to “supreme melody of the heart.” “Ye Dabo She” corresponds to “one who seeks the Way.” “Bhagavan” (boqiefan) corresponds to “one whose virtue and grace fill heaven and earth”—meaning one who transcends and stands above.

The preceptor Ye Dabo She, master of transmission and guidance, was a man of Yuezhi in the Western Regions. In the early Yuan he entered Jizu Mountain and lived at Youboluo She (a dwelling named for the blue lotus). He deeply studied the extra-scriptural, mind-to-mind transmission of the Bhagavan line within esoteric teaching (teaching heart-to-heart, not relying on written words) and was patriarch of the Miaoyue school; for a hundred generations its disciples were all called Jizu Mountain Wayfarers. In the Shunzhi era he went to the capital to visit and demonstrate the bowl method. Wang Changyue of Kunyang, patriarch of the Longmen lineage, found his virtue in harmony with his own and bestowed the surname Huang and the name Shouzhong, fulfilling his long wish to guard Jizu, and in sequence transmitted the three precepts of that gate. By then he already understood Chinese; after returning he practiced and encouraged one another with Guan Tianxian, Zhang Pengtou, Wang Jinying, Wang Xiuhu, Li Chijiao, Yun Dabian, Li Pengtou, Wang Dajiao, and others. In the summer of the Renzi year of Qianlong, on my first visit I stayed there. After three months, on the first day of the month I took leave and returned to Wuhua; on the road I met Governor Fu.