《古文参同契集解》Vol. 4

King Wen of Zhou, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius all looked back to Fuxi (the ancient sage traditionally credited with first drawing the Eight Trigrams). So Master Xu (Xu Congshi) said: Confucius comes close to being the foremost hero among sages; who, in all the generations after him, could surpass Confucius? Moreover, the Yellow Emperor’s Yinfu in three hundred characters and Laozi’s Daode jing in five thousand words accord with each other without discrepancy; only one who understands this Dao can enter by this gate. Therefore the Old Ancestor (Taishang Laojun), the Celestial Master (Zhang Daoling), Ge Hong, Xu Xun, Master Fuqiu, and other immortals all entered from here. Again, books such as Ziyang’s (Zhang Boduan) Wuzhen pian and Yuanduzi’s (Zhao Youqin) Jindan nanwen all take the Cantong qi as their ancestor-text. Compare Buddhist scriptures with Daoist classics, and none fail to harmonize with this.

If someone opens his mouth and at once claims whom he studies under and whom his teacher studied under, reeling off a lineage with perfect fluency, yet when asked about the Cantong qi most of them do not understand—it is all seed for hell. They turn around and say the utmost Dao is not in written texts, using empty words to lead people blindly. Do they not know that one must cross-check this book, confirm what is genuine, and only then begin practice? Moreover, the seasonal nodes and yao-fu (correspondence of hexagram lines with firing times) in the six hundred chapters of the Huoji, and the secret words and subtle phrases within, are earnestly enjoined from beginning to end. If a person does not ponder deeply and trace their source, he cannot fathom why dark and bright dwell together. This book was originally meant for the worthy—how dare one speak of it lightly?

If one seals the lips and binds the tongue, from where would the Dao be transmitted? Yet if everything were written on bamboo and silk, the heavenly talisman (tianji fu) would leak. The you in “hesitation adds sighs” (youyu zeng tanxi) was originally the name of a beast. This creature is naturally suspicious; living in the mountains, when it hears a sound it climbs a tree beforehand, going up and down more than once—hence inability to decide for oneself is called youyu (“hesitation”). Master Xu is speaking of himself: as if standing by a river and faltering, fearing obstacles, adding sighs on his own, looking up and down again and again before stringing together this text, dreading any mistake. Yet to cultivate those who come after, within it there is inevitably a method that is now hidden, now revealed; the oral formulas cannot all be stated—only the framework is narrated, with the branches slightly shown.

Quan Yangzi Yu Yan said: Fu Xi modeled heaven and earth when he created the Yijing, and first drew the eight trigrams (Bagua). In his “prior heaven” arrangement, Qian was above and Kun below, Li in the east and Kan in the west, with Zhen, Xun, Gen, and Dui at the four corners. King Wen of Zhou followed the structure of the hexagrams to develop the Yijing and wrote the line statements. In his “later heaven” arrangement, Zhen and Xun belong to Wood and give rise to the fire of Li, which Kun Earth then stores; Dui and Qian belong to Metal and give rise the water of Kan, which Gen Earth then holds back. Confucius had no noble rank, yet he was teacher to emperors for ten thousand generations—the outstanding sage among sages—and composed the Ten Wings to clarify the Yijing. These three were great sages of antiquity who rose in succession and responded to their times. Their methods differed in degree, but measured by merit they were one and the same principle, without distinction. The eight trigrams, the line texts, and the Ten Wings contain no idle talk in their sections and no spare words in their lines; every weight was weighed with extreme care, and in their making each part had what it inherited from before. Master Wei’s Cantong qi precisely borrows the hexagram images of the Yijing to expound the way of the elixir—it too can be said to carry on what came before.

The method of the elixir is formless and leaves no trace; it cannot be fathomed by guesswork and scheming. If it were not spoken, on what basis could later people learn? That is why the Cantong qi was written. Yet this was not Master Xu’s own invention; he merely put into writing what his teacher had transmitted. If people today can be humble and sincere and seek teachers and friends, a true immortal will come in person to pass on the oral formulas. Then every doubt will vanish at once—bright as when a curtain is drawn back and a screen removed, open as when one mounts a high terrace and looks out over the wilds—how exhilarating.

Later students do not grasp the true intent. As soon as they see the phrase “six hundred scrolls of fire records,” they lose their bearings and think the huohou—the art of advancing and retreating in practice—is impossibly elaborate. They do not know that six hundred scrolls means matching sixty hexagrams to one month’s huohou, and six hundred scrolls to ten months’ huohou. The sixty hexagrams are the same hexagram to hexagram; the six hundred scrolls resemble one another scroll to scroll—hence it is said their direction is not different. Daoist books ancient and modern contain thousands upon thousands of words—is that not repetition with solemn intent? Trace the source and it is nothing but one Yin and one Yang. The two issue from one source but have different names. Ancient immortals often poured out their hearts in telling this, yet people’s blessings are thin and they themselves have no leisure to think deeply.

The Cantong qi sets forth the origin of the cauldron and vessel—the furnace and tripod of alchemy, in inner alchemy a figure for body and mind—the source of the medicinal ingredients—the essences that are refined— the rules of huohou, and secret themes such as survival and perishing, being and non-being, host and guest, before and after—every sentence penetrates, every word lands. It was written for the worthy in the world; how could the author casually compose to fish for empty fame? The supreme code says: to meet one who should receive transmission and not transmit is to fail the way of heaven; to transmit wrongly to one who should not receive it is to leak the heavenly treasure. Transmit to the right person and you yourself gain merit; transmit wrongly and seven generations bear punishment. So Master Xu wished to keep silent yet feared that cutting off the lineage of the way would bring guilt; if he wrote the truth on bamboo and silk, he feared leaking the heaven’s secret tally and drawing condemnation. Thus he hesitated, sighed, and turned it over again and again. He wished to speak plainly yet dared not lightly reveal the true mechanism; he only outlined the essentials of cauldron and vessel, medicinal ingredients, and huohou, so that later people might infer the intent from these words and hope this way would not be lost. Unable to bear full disclosure and unable to bear silence, he could only lift up this great classic and gather its essentials, scattering the measures of cultivation through three chapters like branches spreading in four directions.

The lower part of the middle fascicle of Collected Explanations on the Ancient Text of the Cantong qi, included in the Imperially Commissioned Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. This is the first section of the lower fascicle, compiled by Jiang Yibiao in the Ming dynasty; the Cantong qi with Annotated Commentary is attributed to Xu Xiuxiu of the Eastern Han. What follows is a passage from the middle fascicle together with its commentary.

The yang mirror (a concave bronze mirror used to kindle moxa by facing the sun) draws fire; without the sun, no light is produced. The fang zhu (a vessel used to collect dew under the moon) cannot obtain water or dew without the stars and moon. Though yin and yang are profound and distant, they still respond to each other and communicate through change; how much more so for yin and yang that are nearer—within one’s own body, close to the heart and chest? The yin and yang of the human body match sun and moon; water and fire correspond—this is evidence that can be verified.

Zhenyi zi Peng Xiao said: When the yang mirror and fang zhu sense qi, they can still produce water and fire; once the images of qian, kun, sun, and moon are set up, could they fail to generate and transform? Moreover, taking what is near from the self and what is far from the myriad things: first gather the mother-qi of heaven and earth as the foundation of the elixir (danji), then unite the essence of sun and moon as the ancestral source of the medicine (yaozu). Kinds transform one another; water and fire constrain each other—is there not proof of effect?

Baoyi zi Chen Weixian said: The yang mirror is made by refining five-colored stone into a mirror; facing the sun, one kindles moxa with it—the Huainanzi calls this the “fire fang zhu.” There is also the “water fang zhu,” a crystal bead used to draw water under the moon; it is also called the yin mirror. Without relying on sun and moon, neither the yang mirror nor the fang zhu can produce water or draw fire. Within the human body, the ascent and descent of yin and yang turn in the same way as the creation and transformation of heaven and earth; the principle by which water and fire communicate likewise depends on the timing of the sun and moon’s mutual encounter—from this one seeks verification.

Chen Zhixu (Shangyangzi, a Yuan-dynasty master of Neidan [internal alchemy]) said: The yang sui—the bronze mirror that focuses sunlight to kindle fire—is a yang object; it holds qi within, so it can respond to the sun and produce fire. The fang zhu—the vessel used to draw water from moonlight, often a large clam—is a yin object; it holds jing (essence) within, so it can respond to the moon and produce water. The sun and moon hang so high in the heavens, while the yang sui and fang zhu lie close at hand; yet yin and yang qi can still mutually sense and transform. How much more so when the true yin and true yang of the human body sit between heart and chest—close, intimate, near, and easy to reach—how could they communicate without responding to each other? Only because later generations never obtained this method. The yin and yang of the human body are like the sun and moon in the sky; the water and fire drawn by the yang sui and fang zhu stand for the jing and qi of the body. Even inanimate things can connect; sentient beings can interact all the more naturally. Of all beings under heaven and earth, none is more spiritually endowed than the human being—even the most lowly and ignorant know that yin and yang generate and nurture life, without waiting to be taught or commanded. Deluded people only know how to follow yin and yang to beget people and things; as for reversing yin and yang for use, without a teacher one cannot grasp it. Reversing yin and yang means refining jing and subduing qi to form the internal elixir (Neidan). This passage only explains that yin and yang qi, through mutual connection and resonance, accomplish creation and transformation.

Yu Yan (Quanyangzi, a scholar of the late Song and early Yuan) said: In the Rites of Zhou, the Director of Fire in the Ministry of Autumn (si xuan shi) was charged with using the fire drill (mu sui) to obtain bright fire from the sun, and the fang zhu to obtain bright water from the moon. The fang zhu is the yin fire mirror—a large clam; rubbed repeatedly until it grows warm, when turned toward the moon it yields water. Sun and moon hang in the void, countless miles above the earth; the yang sui meets the sun and obtains fire, the fang zhu meets the moon and obtains water—why is their resonance so swift? What is nearer still is that within the body there is water and fire of one’s own, right in the heart and chest, with the “medicinal ingredients” of one’s own (meaning one’s jing and qi, not external drugs). If a person can empty the mind and concentrate the spirit, settling silently within without a shred of stray thought, gathering the light with the body’s own sun and moon (internal yin-yang), before long the qi settles; when it is time to stop, one stops—and wondrous effects arise of themselves. The ultimate Dao is not far; it is always before one’s eyes. When yin and yang meet their kind, they naturally influence each other. Rabbits are said to form embryos and clams to form pearls (in ancient belief, both by receiving moonlight)—they can still steal the vitality of heaven and earth and seize the work of creation; it is only that people themselves are lost in outward pursuit and do not know to turn inward, unable to seek within the body.

The ears, eyes, and mouth—these three treasures—should be sealed shut and not opened outward in free exchange with the world. The True Person (the true spirit within the body) sinks into the deep abyss and drifts in guard within the inner pivot (the center of circulation inside the body). Turn and look again: the principle is right before you—Yin and Yang naturally respond to each other and transform. The rabbit can form a fetus and the clam can form a pearl; they can even steal the living force of Heaven and Earth and seize the work of creation—yet people alone lose themselves in confusion, forget to turn back, and fail to seek within the body.

Turn sight and hearing inward; opening and closing alike follow one and the same pattern—this is your own pivot, and in movement or stillness it never runs dry. The qi of Li (Fire, corresponding to the heart and eyes) fills inward to nourish the Ying and Wei (the qi that nourishes and guards the body); Kan (Water, corresponding to the ears and kidneys) no longer sends hearing racing outward; Dui (corresponding to the mouth) stays closed—speak little and accord with Hongmeng (primordial undifferentiated chaos). Once these three gates are locked, relax the body and dwell in an empty room; lodge the mind in emptiness and take no-thought as your constant way. The sign of success is that you are not easily shifted by outer things: the spirit stays single-minded and does not scatter in every direction. In sleep, spirit and essence embrace; awake, observe whether the breath survives or fades. The complexion gradually grows moist and bright; the joints day by day grow firm. Drive out every kind of yin evil, and then establish upright Yang.

If cultivation does not stop halfway, the myriad qi move like clouds and rain: continuous as spring’s moistening, the fluids melt like ice, flowing from head to foot and, at the end, rising again. Coming and going penetrate without limit; full, overflowing qi spreads through the body and is contained within. Repeated return is the mark of attaining the Dao; softness is the handle of De (Virtue/Power). Like tilling the field, clear away long-built filth until the finest parts are harmonized and smooth. Turbidity is precisely the path to clarity; long darkness in time turns to light.

Zhenyi Zi Peng Xiao said: The Yi (Book of Changes) takes Kan as the ear, Li as the eye, and Dui as the mouth—Kan, Li, and Dui correspond to Water, Fire, and Metal. Using restraint like keys and locks to fix Water and Fire and seal the Mother of Metal means letting the Baby and the Maiden (the two streams of vital energy, one Yang and one Yin in internal alchemy) form the True Person, floating within the womb; allowing the mother to relax and settle in the empty cauldron, and at the moment when thoughts do not arise, verifying that Yin and Yang are originally self-generating.

Once the ascent and descent of Yin and Yang are harmonized inside the cauldron, the Dragon and Tiger (the two Qi of Yin and Yang symbolized by lead and mercury) rise and fall while embracing each other, guarding the true essence—the complexion grows moist and the bones and joints become firm. Practicing in this way without stopping, results appear after long cultivation. Extracting and removing Yin fire means driving out Yin pathogen and taking in the Yang method (the fire phases that belong to Yang), properly initiating the circulation of Yang Qi in endless cycles. The Chamber of the Spirit is at peace, like clouds moving and rain falling; the Golden Fluid flows on for a long time, like ice melting and spreading from the feet to the head throughout the body of the True Person, moving back and forth within the matrix of Gold. Fire Qi gathers and steams within the cauldron; Gold essence holds to softness and yielding at the center of regulation. After long darkness it turns bright—this is the juncture when Yin reaches its extreme and Yang is born; within clarity turbidity appears—this is when fire departs and Water returns. The four seasons turn in succession; the Five Phases act upon one another. The arising of reversal is the verification of the Way—Kan departs and Li arrives; softness and yielding are the foundation of establishing De (Virtue), with Yang Qi spreading while Yin Qi lies hidden. The ear ruled by Kan does not listen outward, so the Yin soul joins with true Water and does not scatter; the eye ruled by Li does not look outward, so the Yang soul nourishes true Mercury and does not flee; the mouth ruled by Dui does not speak rashly, sealing the Golden embryo and not opening it casually, lest the essence of the Red Dragon (precious primordial essence) leak away. Master Xu received and taught the three parts of the Cantong Qi; in wording and metaphor he always drew from distant images and close daily life—the principle is clear yet the language is guarded: neither willing to disclose celestial secrets outright, nor willing to conceal the supreme Way, and so here the inner imagery and outer function are explained together, showing that the two are fundamentally the same.

Chen Xianfang, Master of Embracing the One, said: When the ears do not listen outward, the Kan water (water associated with the Kan trigram and corresponding to the ears within the body) settles and clarifies inward. When the eyes do not look outward, the Li fire (fire of the Li trigram, corresponding to the eyes) circulates inward. When the mouth does not speak, the Dui metal (metal of the Dui trigram, corresponding to the mouth) no longer rings out. Once these three are closed, the True Person (the settled true nature and true yang within) can move freely and at ease therein. At this time one must be free of stray thoughts and worry, must not distress the spirit with grief, and should rest the mind in emptiness (xuwu), keeping the spirit unified and not scattered outward.

What is meant by “relaxing the body and dwelling in an empty room” is nothing other than asking one to guard the feminine (shou ci—hold softness and stay below) and embrace the One (bao yi—hold to unity), so that body and limbs are soft and yielding and one stays alone in a quiet chamber. In sleep, spirit and breath embrace each other; when awake, one finely observes whether that single breath is present or lost, then dispels yin deviance and lets pure yang gather throughout the body until the great harmonious qi fills one completely. The image is like ice melting into water, or like spring pools flowing warmly; qi moves like clouds, like rain or mist, rising and falling from head to foot. If one does not stop this practice, impurity is cleared away, sinews and bones become supple, the complexion brightens, the joints firm, blood turns to white cream, and both spirit and form reach subtle perfection.

It is just that when the seven gates (the seven orifices and their inner closures) all turn inward, one almost seems dead: the hundred vessels sink into stillness, form and breath seem to dissolve, strength fails and cannot be sustained, and one is dazed and murky as if drunk. This is precisely the proof of the Dao and the pivot of De. Murkiness is the root of clarity; turbidity is the source of purity. The round brilliance that shines through, the emptiness that penetrates and connects—none of it arises except from this beginning in murk and turbidity.

Chen Zhixu, Supreme Yang Master, said: This section explains in detail the secret essentials of entering the chamber to refine the elixir (neidan cultivation in stillness). After receiving the oral formulas from a teacher, the student should recite this text ten thousand times, savor every line, weigh every word, and not pass lightly over it. If a single word cannot be understood and punctuated clearly, one cannot complete the elixir. This section is the most crucial meeting-point in the Cantong Qi; what is not spoken plainly is treasured and sealed by Heaven.

Human nature is good at birth; yet as people grow older, unless they are endowed with the highest sage-like capacity and can hold firmly to themselves, few manage it. Lewd and corrupt companions pull from without; sounds, colors, and cravings bewilder from within. The six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) greedily grasp at every gate, and day and night every act harms the self. Most poisonous are ear, eyes, and mouth: the ear hears sounds, the eyes see colors, the mouth craves flavors. Thus fortune is ruined through lust for color, harm follows upon sound, and illness enters through the mouth—drunkenness, dreamlike living, an endless cycle. Many who study the Dao fail to attain it because ear, eyes, and mouth, like close neighbors, entice one another and drown the true nature. The Immortal Patriarch took ear, eyes, and mouth as the three treasures, honored them and did not dare release them lightly, hence he sealed them and did not allow them to open outward. When entering the chamber, the great work is at hand; only when the six senses are settled and stable can one gather and refine. The True Person is ji earth (in neidan, wu and ji are earth; ji earth often denotes one’s own true intent). “Sinking into the deep abyss” means using ji earth to overcome water and seek the elixir; “floating and guarding the regulated center”—the regulated center is also called the grotto of creation (the central palace of transformation within the body). Refining the great elixir depends on this one brief interval of the symbolic moment; one must be utterly secret and careful. “Floating” means always still yet always responsive, never leaving this function for a moment; “guarding” means diligently turning the light inward, sincerely awaiting what is to come. These two lines are the crux of the commentary—like wielding a great axe on the root work. Such words of true immortals and holy teachers are hard to fathom for ten thousand generations. Supreme Yang Master therefore explained as fully as he could, hoping that everyone would understand this path and put it into practice.

“Turning and bending sight and hearing” does not mean stupidly sealing them shut, but hearing and seeing inward with careful, winding attention, so that the opening and closing of wu earth is neither hidden nor deceitful and aligns with ji earth—now swallowing, now guarding. The nature of ji is unruly and wild; it must have wu earth as its pivot and restraint. That movement and stillness do not reach exhaustion is because the way of ji is upright and firm in motion and single-minded in stillness—used well, it does not run dry. Li qi guards within; the gaze turns inward. Kan does not use the outer sharpness of the ear—the ear must listen within. Dui closes and does not rely on talk—few words and regulated breath, obeying the transforming work of Hongmeng (primordial undivided chaos). Only when these three are skillfully made the key can one relax the body and dwell in the empty room. Relaxing the body is ease without strain; the empty room is strict purity without clutter. Resting the mind in emptiness is because emptiness is where qi is born—the primordial single breath comes from emptiness; to obtain this breath one must seek it through indirect, yielding thought. Take “no-thought” as the constant. The two words “no-thought” are most useful: the True Person in the deep abyss responds with no-thought; floating and guarding the regulated center awaits with no-thought; breath in and out mutually nourish with no-thought; once the three natures unite, one enters with no-thought. Being able to respond, await, bring forth, and enter—the work lies in doing it often, hence it is called the constant.

What is “hard to verify and not to be shifted” is because this wu substance is called the White Tiger; the tiger’s nature is changeable, easy to stir and hard to settle. When using ji earth to join with it, one must not shift it this way and that at will; if the heart is not single-minded, fear disasters and anomalies. Earlier it said no-thought; here again it says single-heartedness and no shifting—how can one not ponder this carefully?

“In sleep, spirit mutually embraces” means the heart neither shifts nor slides; in that brief sleep, spirit and breath naturally embrace as one. One must also often feel awake while awake, observing whether that single breath lives or dies. When elixir work reaches this point, one knows the effect for oneself. Long ago when my teacher pointed this out, I still thought it very hard; recently, practicing this great work north of Mount Daluo, I found it easy. The main point is to cultivate without stopping—not to stop—then the full achievement is possible. Hence the Immortal Patriarch states clearly: in gathering and firing there must not be the slightest error. From the complexion gradually becoming moist and bright downward, every line applies; not one idle sentence—all are the natural signs after obtaining the elixir. All who practice this path live in the world of the five turbid defilements yet cultivate the transcendent dharma; if one goes on without slackening, in time the work must succeed—do not abandon the path halfway because of small demonic obstructions. This is it: turbidity is the road to clarity; after long murkiness, brightness finally appears.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: Treating the ears, eyes, and mouth as three treasures, and saying they should be sealed and not released outward, means one should gather in the cleverness of ear and eye and guard the true Qi (xian tian zhen qi, innate vital breath) in the mouth, keeping it all inside the body and not letting it leak outward, as one would store precious treasures. Calling the primordial spirit (yuan shen) the “true person” and saying it should be hidden in the deep abyss and kept at the center of regulation (gui zhong, the body’s midline and the place of mindful guarding) means letting it follow the true breath in its coming and going, allowing genuine Qi to rise and fall; from morning to night the primordial spirit dwells constantly in the mud ball (ni wan, the upper dantian within the head).

This is the simple way of the Dao. Gently move the pivot at the gate of the crown (ding men), evenly and silently lifting upward, and the three palaces (san gong, the upper, middle, and lower dantian) will naturally rise and fall; the bones and orifices of the whole body will naturally open through. The Huangji Jingshi says: Heaven’s spirit lodges in the sun; human spirit shows itself in the eyes. Humans are born before Heaven and Earth and die before Heaven and Earth. The Five Phases (wuxing) gather here, and the luminous clarity of the five viscera is concentrated here. The seven refinements—saliva, nasal discharge, essence, fluid, Qi, blood, and liquid—all form refined breath here. At its greatest it can hold Heaven and Earth; at its smallest it admits not even a mote of dust. This is the great treasure within the body.

In elixir methods one speaks of returning the light and reflecting it inward, gathering light back into the dantian; then breathing harmonizes with it, the three palaces naturally rise and fall, and ascent and descent flow without end. It is like a cart with wheels—the use lies in the heart; the wheel has an axle, and the key is in the eye; again like the linchpin on the wheel. The saying “containing the light is the medicine of long life” means just this.

The Li trigram governs the eyes; “inner guarding” means drawing the eyes inward and not letting light shine outward. The Kan trigram governs the ears; “do not use keen hearing” means turning the ears inward to listen and not letting hearing leak outward. The Dui trigram governs the mouth; “do not speak idly” and “rare words accord with primordial chaos” mean a mind at ease, cool as ashes, silently not speaking, to guard the holy embryo (sheng tai, the newly formed inner elixir).

Once these three gates are closed, one must also relax the body, dwell in an empty room, be unhurried and at ease, and not strain the form; enter a quiet chamber, not entangled in worldly affairs, and entrust the mind to emptiness: no stray thoughts in the heart, the will not wandering outward, tasting emptiness all day long. “Thought after thought as constancy” means keeping thoughts continuous without break, so that the rhythm of the breath long accords with the Way of Heaven.

Broadly speaking, in practice one measure of effort brings one measure of effect. If one cultivates diligently without ceasing day or night, when the hundred-day mark brings signs of efficacy, the two kidneys feel like boiling water, the bladder like burning fire; the eyes have divine light, the ears spiritual sounds, the nose strange fragrance, the mouth sweet fluid; the whole body is harmonious and signs advance day by day. What matters most is a single-pointed heart that does not scatter—truly one fears that principle is not yet clear and that, in stillness bordering on dream, one is pulled by demonic visions.

When spirit and Qi first congeal, they are easiest to lose. In sleep one must embrace the spirit and not sink dazed into dreams. After waking, one should still be like a hen brooding an egg—subtly as if present, warm breath unbroken, only fearing the fire grows cold and the elixir is delayed. Therefore one must guard its survival and perishing: through the twelve double-hours, in walking, standing, sitting, and lying, thought stays here; then the work is pure, the medicinal materials are not wasted, the firing is not deficient—this is called cultivation.

Xiaoyunfeng says: When the natural season arrives, even in dreams one is made to know. The Confucian “constantly watchful” method is the same. The face grows moist and the joints strong because the supreme treasure is stored deeper and refined essence shines forth more richly—like jade hidden in a mountain so the mountain gleams, or a pearl in marsh waters so the marsh shows beauty.

Everything in the body that has form is nothing but yin turbidity and dregs. Immortals in cultivation take only “being from non-being,” seizing a point of true yang from Heaven and Earth to form the elixir seed; then day and night they tend the fire, refining away yin breath; in ten months the fetus is round, in three years the work complete; then the body becomes pure yang and transforms into an immortal.

The Tongxuan Mijue says: Day and night without pause one makes the great elixir; refined essence pierces the crown and the hundred spirits bow. One can dwell alone in a quiet room, continuing day and night without slackening; after long effort, once penetration comes, the essence of great yin in the Qi sea of the dantian passes the weilü point, along the jiaji double pass, wind mansion, and mud ball, then returns down through the bright hall and nasal pillar, enters the flower pool and becomes sweet fluid, swallowed down the layered tower (throat) to irrigate the five viscera and six bowels, reaching the dantian; it circulates up and down, fills the four limbs, cycles without end, and spreads through the whole body. Like mountain clouds rising in the great void, like nourishing rain on the wilds, like spring water filling the four marshes, like river ice about to melt—ascending and descending, the hundred pulses harmonize, ease through the four limbs; one feels only spring fullness in the breast, as if slightly drunk.

The Ruyao Jing says: Prenatal Qi and postnatal Qi—those who obtain them are often as if drunk. If one cultivates in the morning and stops at night, the heart not single-minded, how can one obtain them?

“Return” (fan) means to turn back, to cycle. The Daodejing says: Reach emptiness to the utmost, guard stillness sincerely; the ten thousand things arise together and I observe their return. The signs of elixir work come from emptiness to the utmost and stillness to sincerity, harmonizing with Heaven and Earth; then primordial Qi returns at the revival of one yang. If emptiness does not reach the utmost and stillness does not reach sincerity, it is a nine-tier mountain with one basket short—where then would efficacy come from?

“Weak” (ruo) means soft and yielding. The Daodejing says: Concentrate the breath to reach softness, like an infant. The root of elixir work lies in holding the will and not violently expending Qi, soft as an infant. If the will is not held and true Qi is not nourished, what is gained is not a thread or hair, while what is lost is already like a cliff—what then can serve as root?

Elixir methods speak of clearing away old filth: all kinds of thought must cease, inauspicious Qi disperse, the corpse demon (shen gui, yin turbidity in the body) driven off, the six roots quiet, the five skandhas empty; in right mindfulness one is pure, bright, and vacuously shining; then the five viscera are cool, the six bowels harmonious, the three hundred sixty joints and eighty-four thousand pores unobstructed—all open through, and Dao Qi abides constantly. It is like cutting wicked grass and severing its root so it cannot grow again; then the good can stand firm.

The Cuixu Pian says: When spirit merges in darkness and Qi returns, flesh and bone blend and one is unaware. Then the three fields are full of Qi, as if suddenly in a dream—is that not turbidity? At this stage the student must not collapse; one must know that long turbidity must clear and long dimness must brighten; when the season comes, Qi transforms and divine light appears of itself, clear and plain all shown within trance—could it remain turbid forever?

These lines say: the yellow at the center gradually runs through in an orderly way, and its moistening reaches straight through to the skin. Set the beginning upright, and only then can the end be perfected; establish the trunk, and only then can the tips be grasped. That “one” is covered and hidden—people in the world do not know it.

Zhen Yizi Peng Xiao (a Daoist of the Five Dynasties period and author of this commentary) cites the Yijing: “The noble person: yellow at the center, penetrating in principle; dwelling in the correct position; beauty held within; flowing through the four limbs; issuing as achievement—this is the utmost of beauty.” The meaning is: the Golden Tiger (in external alchemy, the medicament corresponding to lead) is in the cauldron (the elixir vessel); it first receives incoming yin–yang refined qi, and gradually moistens the skin. Once this first single qi is obtained, sprouting begins; the branch is set upright from the start, and only then can it bear fruit at the end. This is a metaphor for gold sand and true cinnabar (mercury; the original reads zhen yong) just putting forth tender shoots. What is called “one” is water. True gold as the root of water, in the vessel, is concealed and made dense through guji (sealing the cauldron tight)—ordinary people cannot know it.

Baoyizi (Daoist name) Chen Xianfang said: Yellow is the color of the Central Palace (the central position among the Five Phases); the elixir is the treasure stored within the Central Palace. The Wenyan commentary on Kun hexagram, line five, in the Book of Changes says: The junzi (noble person) holds centered virtue within, understands affairs clearly, occupies the correct position, stores beauty in the heart, extends it through the four limbs, and manifests it in achievement—this is the utmost of beauty. How much more when one carries the Great Elixir within and holds the supreme treasure (gained through inner refinement): spirit and mind naturally differ from ordinary people, and the skin takes on a moist luster. To become an immortal, one must first become a junzi. If virtue still falls short of a junzi’s, the human way is not yet complete—how much less the way of immortals. Therefore Master Xu took the Book of Changes’ words on staying centered and upright to show that when the inner is full, the outer naturally appears: those of superior root (high natural endowment), hearing this, accumulate virtue and merit and ascend to immortality; those of middling capacity, hearing it, still do not fail to be good people and junzi. The scripture says: Understand “One,” and all undertakings succeed. But how easily can the subtle principle of “One” be known? One must first recognize this “One” before one can obtain it. This “One” is the True One, not the one of counting. The True One is born from the Dao; the one of number is the “one” of “Heaven-One generates Water” (as the Book of Changes and Hetu tradition teach). When you see that One comes forth from the Dao, the way of the Celestial Elixir (Tiandan) leaves nothing further to be said. That is why “One” is used to veil the mystery—only that ordinary people cannot understand.

Chen Zhixu, Master Shangyang, said: Only in this way can one achieve “yellow at the center, penetrating in principle,” with the skin moist and lustrous. “Yellow at the center” comes from the Book of Changes and refers to the central, upright earth; in internal alchemy it stands for the root at the center. At first one straightens body and mind—this is “refining the self” (lianji), that is, first cultivating oneself. The final practice is “approaching the furnace” (linlu), that is, formally lighting the fire and refining the elixir. Once the Qian hexagram is established, the work of refining the self is complete; what remains is steadfast guarding, and then the work of entering the chamber and closed retreat. The “One” here is the self, is Wu (central earth)—both belong to earth. To hold fast to and penetrate this single character is to touch the heart-ground of Wei Boyang, author of the Cantong qi. Confucius said his Way is threaded by One; Laozi said that obtaining One, all undertakings are fulfilled; Buddhism says the myriad dharmas all return to One. Hence “Heaven generates water at One”—know that this water is born from “One”; the center of One is the middle line of the Kan trigram, the true yang hidden within water. When “One” is concealed, one can gather essence and guard spirit; when “One” covers and protects, one can distribute spirit and spread qi. When a person knows One, the cosmos is in the palm; when a person obtains One, every transformation arises from the body. The subtlety of One cannot be understood without a teacher. Therefore it is said: One is used for concealment, and ordinary people have no way to know. If one truly meets an enlightened master’s transmission and practices accordingly, sagehood and true immortality are close at hand; the effect is swiftest, and for this reason it is called the divine elixir (shendan).

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: When there is a genuine presence within the Dantian (energy center in the lower abdomen), one Qi circulates; when harmony and smoothness accumulate within, the refined brilliance naturally extends outward. As the saying goes, when the pole is upright, the shadow must be straight; when the source is deep, the flow runs far. Obtaining this “one,” all things can be accomplished. This is the principle from beginning to end, from trunk to branch. The Zhixuan Pian (Pointing to the Mystery) says: As long as each breath mutually attends to the other, the bodily form can be fully transformed and Yu ye (jade liquid produced in inner refinement) will flow. If exhalation lacks spirit to preside over it, that breath is incomplete; if inhalation lacks spirit to preside over it, that breath is likewise incomplete. When spirit and Qi rely on and guard each other, thoughts continue in an unbroken thread and merge into one whole—then form and spirit both enter the subtle realm and unite with the Dao in truth. The Lingyuan Dadao Ge (Song of the Spiritual Source and Great Dao) says: Spirit is nature (xing); Qi is life (ming). When spirit does not run outward, Qi naturally settles. Ordinary people’s Qi may breathe within the body, yet spirit is constantly dragged and enslaved by external affairs—from youth to old age they never rest a single breath within the form; spirit and Qi then go their separate ways and cannot guard each other, until in the end the dwelling is empty, the walls collapse, and the master cannot remain. Is this heaven and earth killing them, or ghosts and spirits harming them? It is merely losing the Dao and passing away on their own. Those who aspire to the elixir path—how can they fail to set the beginning aright and establish the trunk? In sum, the root source of the Great Dao does not go beyond one Qi; from it come transformations: dividing into black and white, then into green and yellow, further likened to sun and moon, dragon and tiger. Though the names are many, all are but the two words yin and yang, lead and mercury (metaphors for yin-yang)—in reality one substance. Spirit-water, Flowery Pool, lead furnace, earthen cauldron are also one place. These names pair off separately—zi, wu, mao, you (the four double-hours), dark of moon, new moon, quarter moons, full moon, the twenty-four solar terms, seventy-two micro-seasons, and the yearly unions and monthly cycles—all are one time. One time is one place; one place is one thing; all are born from this “one,” the so-called place of true unity. In the world, how many people truly know this “one”?

None of these are the correct method. The method of inspecting the organs one by one (li zang fa, inner visualization by organ) cannot avoid stirring thoughts in the mind; pacing the steps of the lodge stars (bu dou su, walking according to star positions) is paired with calculations using the Six Jia and the day-branch and hour (ganzhi and shichen). Techniques of the “yin path” press down according to the numbers “nine” and “one,” disturbing the primordial cell (yuan bao, the root of prenatal essence and qi). Eating qi makes the intestines and stomach rumble, expelling upright qi and drawing in external deviant qi. Going without sleep day and night, never resting even at the dark of the moon or the new moon, the body grows daily more exhausted, the mind vague as if mad; the hundred vessels boil like a cauldron, unable to dwell in quiet clarity. Again one piles earth to build an altar and establish a shrine, offering morning and evening sacrifices, seeing images of ghosts and spirits, sighing in dreams, rejoicing in the heart, thinking oneself sure to extend life—then suddenly dying young, the body putrefying and exposed. In every move one strays from the correct path and loses the pivot (shu ji, the critical hinge). Methods and arts number in the thousands and tens of thousands; in advancing or retreating all turn away from Huang-Lao (the way of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi); winding and crooked, they offend against the Nine Capitals (jiu du, the gathering place of the correct path). When the clear-sighted examine and guard against this, the heart opens at once and knows whence the harm comes.

Zhenyi Zi Peng Xiao said: What is discussed here is not the “visiting the organs” method—winding through the viscera in circuitous paths to reach the nine passes (jiu du, the body’s nine vital stations). Xu Gong pointed out that people who have not penetrated the root source of the Great Dao go instead by side paths and byways. Some then practice minor skills such as inner contemplation, pacing the Big Dipper (kui and gang stars in ritual step), and calculating the six jia day-hours—things that serve only as introductory steps for beginners. Others cultivate bedroom arts of “matching the scene and receiving qi,” together with bending and stretching the limbs, clenching the fists, holding the breath, and swallowing saliva—with the result that breath and qi fall into disorder, spirit grows weary, the hun soul is injured and the po soul withers, the yang spirit flees the body’s inner palace, and yin devils invade like bandits, harming lung and liver. The reason is mutual encroachment between inner and outer: at the yin and shen hours they press upon each other; the seven po wander in a corpse-like shell; the three corpses (san shi, the three life-harming “corpse worms”) battle in the eyes; the hundred vessels boil; and the three dantian (energy centers) fall into chaos. Wishing for long life, they instead harm life—how then can they see a realm of pure clarity?

Still others set up altars and platforms outside, offering sacrifices to improper ghosts and spirits, hoping to encounter the Great Dao and achieve longevity—until ghost qi seeps into essence and soul, evil wind rises from the heart chamber, they join in dreams or see forms and hear voices, and they imagine that long life is near. They do not know that “my fate is in my own hands,” and in the end they shorten their lifespan and leave a rotting corpse behind. Such practices are many; all belong to the left path (zuo dao): wanting to advance yet stopping, wanting speed yet slowing, turning away from and disturbing the utmost truth, distorting heavenly principle, falsely calling themselves lofty adepts, openly contradicting the writings of the Yellow Emperor, hiding true meaning, and altogether losing what Lord Lao warned against and guarded against. Therefore Xu Jun did not wish people to study side gates, but to enter the correct path directly.

Even if methods of visiting the organs yield small results, in the end one still cannot escape death and decay; only the golden liquid returning elixir (jinye huandan)—after ingesting it—can return old age to infancy and certify the fruit of a true person (zhenren), lasting as long as heaven and earth. Hence the text below says: golden sand enters the five viscera; mist scatters like wind and rain; steaming reaches the four limbs; the complexion is moist and fine; white hair turns black; tender teeth grow anew; an old man regains vigor; an old woman becomes a young girl; form is transformed and worldly calamities are removed—this is called a true person.

The Yellow Court Scripture (Huangting jing) also says: up to one hundred and twenty years one may still be restored; beyond that age, cultivating the Dao is truly difficult; even if one waits for the nine-revolution eight-jade elixir, one still depends on the essence of sun and moon to remedy decay and damage. From this it is clear that this method is the superior Dao of ascending in broad daylight and long life—it is evident.

Xu Gong admonishes those who love the Dao: examine and pursue its meaning carefully, and you will naturally see it open clearly.

Bao Yizi Chen Xianfang said: The number of worldly methods and techniques is beyond counting. Even among the many approaches such as li zang (inward visualization of the viscera), everything depends on the practitioner discerning what is heterodox from what is orthodox and weighing right against wrong. Some close the eyes and look inward, fixating on the luminous essence of the five viscera; others step out under the stars to draw in the upright Qi of the Gang of the Northern Dipper; some offer sacrifice to the Six Jia according to the day and hour; others use “nine-one” arts for averting harm and walking the yin paths; some exhale upright Qi only to breathe in turbid, heterodox Qi; still others cultivate the primordial embryo, swallow breath, go without sleep day and night, and never rest even on the dark-of-moon or new-moon days—until the body grows daily more worn and the spirit drifts in confusion. Some set up altars to worship ghosts, or seek the spirits through dreams. Though such arts are many, none is the correct method. Intending to extend life, they die the sooner; the body putrefies, and they vainly injure their allotted span—a thing truly pitiable. How could they know that the golden elixir of returned cinnabar (jinye huandan) can transform the flesh-and-blood body born of one’s parents so that it ascends and soars together? The practices described above all violate the great Dao of the Yellow Emperor and Lord Lao (Laozi). Judged by their conduct, they instead incur guilt in the Nine Capitals Prefecture (the underworld tribunal). Those in the world who understand this path should reflect on the admonitions Master Xu set forth here, and thereby grasp the legitimate origin of correct cultivation.

Shangyangzi Chen Zhixu said: Those who cultivate the Way must understand the true path of the Great Dao. Unless it involves the complementary union of yin and yang and the transformative interplay of Kan and Li (water and fire—the paired opposites that shift within internal alchemy), everything else belongs to heterodox bypaths. Practices such as inwardly viewing the five viscera, visualization combined with he-xi-hu-ha breath regulation, outwardly treading the Dipper stars and pacing the Big Dipper pattern while holding hand seals, or studying bedroom arts and the “three peaks” of female-partner cultivation, or the “nine-one method” and the “five affairs of the sword method,” or drawing qi from the external environment until the primordial seed of life (yuan bao) is clouded and disturbed—these are all defiling practices, the lowest rank among heterodox paths. Other examples include exhaling the upright and inhaling the deviant, enduring hunger while ingesting qi, or sitting in meditation year after year, going without sleep day and night, or erecting altars to worship spirits and making ghostly beings manifest in visible form—these too are heterodox methods that disrupt the correct Way. They leave the spirit confused and adrift, the hundred meridians seething and racing; by day the mind is restless, by night dreams multiply. Though such paths number in the thousands, in the end they yield no real effect. They violate the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi and fail to investigate the principle of yin-yang union set forth in the Cantong Qi by the True Master. Twisting and turning along these routes, one instead invites punishment from the Nine Depths of the underworld—how then could one ever form the elixir pearl as small as a single grain of millet? Hoping to extend life, one in fact shortens it. When a person of clear understanding meets the guidance of a true master and reflects on the safeguards laid out in the Cantong Qi, the true path opens at once—and one is no longer misled by heterodox bypaths.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: Methods for nurturing life are said to number three thousand six hundred kinds and dozens of schools—confused and mixed, impossible to list one by one. Practices such as closing the eyes for inner vision (neishi), visualizing and holding images in the five viscera, treading the Big Dipper (Beidou) and pacing the void, or offering sacrifices to the Six Jia (Liujia) according to day and hour—is any of this the Way of the elixir (dandao)? Those who practice yin methods take “nine shallow and one deep” as their firing times (huohou), disturbing the primordial embryo (yuanbao); those who practice breath-regulation take expelling the old and drawing in the new (tugu naxin) as their medicine, until the belly and intestines rumble empty. Dry sitting in stubborn emptiness is like going without sleep day and night; toiling at practice without heed for bodily fatigue. Some shake the head and sway the body, clench the fists with force, until the hundred vessels surge and abscesses and sores arise; some pile earth to build altars, sacrifice morning and evening, dream at night of coupling with ghosts, and still must guard against demonic harm. At first they are pleased in heart, sure they will extend life—then they die young midway, and the body still rots in the end. All these are absurd methods, openly violating the Yellow Emperor’s written intent, actions disordered, wholly losing Laozi’s warnings. To be this deluded is to bring calamity on oneself—whom else can one blame? Therefore Wei Gong composed the Can Tong Qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three), bright as a candle on a dark road, clear as a pointer on a misty sea, so that later clear-sighted people might follow the words and grasp the original meaning, suddenly see it through, and understand the true origin of cultivation.

Collected Explanations of the Old Text Can Tong Qi, upper part of juan xia, as preserved in the Imperially Commissioned Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. The lower part of juan xia of the same work was compiled by Jiang Yibiao of the Ming; the Can Tong Qi with Annotated Commentary is attributed to Xu Xiuxiu of the Eastern Han—this belongs to the lower section of the text. “When lead powder is thrown into fire, the color is ruined yet returns”—that is, when lead powder is put in fire, the color spoils and then is restored. What follows is still the lower part of juan xia of that work, by Jiang Yibiao of the Ming; the commentary is by Xu Xiuxiu of the Eastern Han, likewise belonging to the lower section.

Lead white powder (hufen, a cosmetic made from lead) thrown into fire loses its color and turns back into lead. Ice and snow meeting warm water melt and dissolve into their primal state (tai xuan). In alchemy, cinnabar (dan sha) is primary and is harmonized with mercury (shui yin); all transformations come from their true natures, which from first to last depend on one another.

If you wish to become an immortal through ingestion (fu shi, taking elixir), you should use substances of the same kind. Plant grain with grain seed; hatch chickens with chicken eggs. When you assist nature by category, things are easily refined. Are fish eyes pearls? Weeds (penghao) do not grow into fine timber (jia). Only what is of the same kind follows along; once things go against their kind, they cannot become treasure. Swallows and sparrows do not beget phoenixes; foxes and hares do not raise horses. Water flows downward and will not burn upward; fire moves upward and will not moisten downward.

The world has many learned scholars of talent, yet when fate does not meet them, they waste furnace fire and wealth in vain. Clinging to written words and acting from private whim, they have no thread or basis and lose hold of measure. They pound chalcanthite (shi dan), mica (yun mu), alum (fan shi), and lodestone (ci shi); burn sulfur over Zhang wood (Yu zhang mu, camphor and similar trees); refine mud together with mercury; and cast “five-stone copper” (wu shi tong, copper smelted with five mineral drugs)—taking these as auxiliary pivots. Confused natures are not of one kind; how could they willingly fuse into one body? Do it a thousand times and you fail ten thousand; trying to be clever, you end a fool. Those who rely on luck never get there in the end; only the perfected person (zhi ren) understands alone. From youth to white hair, halfway doubts arise; turning your back on the Way you wander lost, leaving the correct and entering crooked paths. It is like peering through a bamboo tube—sight is narrow and hard to measure what is to come.

Perfect Unity Master Peng Xiao said: “Hufen” is refined from black lead; throw it into fire and it turns back into lead itself. Ice and snow form when water-qi condenses; pour hot water on them and they become water again. Golden sand and mercury share one substance; with gold as the mother, sand and mercury can be produced again. Hence the saying: to grow grain you use grain’s own seed; to hatch a chick you use a hen’s own egg—once the received qi is full, grain grows and a chick emerges. This is because the ten thousand things beget their kind and carry beginning and end in succession—natural principle. If you misuse stone and metal, plants and trees, frost and dew, ice and snow, brine, and the like, every application is wrong; the commentary below explains this in detail. You should take heaven and earth’s root as the medicine’s root and the true golden mother as the medicine’s mother, so that it gives birth to yin and yang and forms pure golden sand and numinous mercury as the elixir of long life—is that not so? Hence also: swallows and sparrows do not beget phoenixes; foxes and hares do not raise horses. Fire-nature naturally burns upward—it cannot be made to moisten downward; water-nature naturally moistens downward—it cannot be made to burn upward. When you follow each thing’s natural disposition and root-kind, the golden mother producing golden sand is perfectly clear. Master Wei said: Many learned Confucians in the world, devoted to the Way and eager to seek immortality through fire refinement, fail to meet a clear teacher. Relying only on written formulas and oral instructions, they improvise on their own, waste money in vain, and compound miscellaneous drugs in hope of long life and escape from the mundane world. They hold to one narrow view until old age and white hair, walk a crooked path themselves, fail a thousand times in ten thousand trials—and what lies ahead is hard to foresee. That things of mixed nature and unlike kinds cannot complete each other has already been explained in the commentary above.

Master Baoyizi Chen Weixian says: Things of the same kind affect one another; this often needs no human arrangement—it simply cannot be otherwise. Hu fen (lead-based white powder) is originally derived from lead; once it has been calcined and is thrown into fire again, its color spoils and it reverts to lead. Ice and snow are originally condensed from water; when they meet fire again, they melt back into water. The birth of the supreme treasure arises from the sun. When true essence (Jing) gathers spiritual brilliance, it first forms cinnabar (the scripture reads zhusha, i.e., cinnabar); within it true mercury is already present. When true mercury leaves its matrix, it is called shuiyin (liquid silver, mercury). Mercury, refined by the sun in the great furnace, over time congeals into white silver; white silver, after long maturation, becomes gold. Thus gold is fundamentally rooted in cinnabar: cinnabar is Shen (spirit), and is therefore called shensha (spirit cinnabar); mercury is Jing (essence), and is therefore called shuiyin.

At the beginning of elixir-making today, one first gathers yang essence and transforms it into cinnabar; then one takes mercury and joins it with cinnabar, grinding fine and blending evenly, calcining until it becomes gold. Only after gold is achieved does one use lead to nourish it. Because the generation and transformation of true essence proceeds from the sun, it must unite with Taiyin (the yin represented by the moon) before it can be produced; only when true lead is obtained can it be taken as food. True lead is born of Taiyin, and is therefore called “of the same kind.” When gold obtains true lead, it is like a child obtaining its mother—they assist each other, and smelting succeeds easily. This is like sowing millet to grow grain, or a hen brooding eggs: the endowment is the same, so they resonate; their qi belongs to the same category, so they need one another. If one fails to understand this and seeks a different kind, effort is wasted—swallows and sparrows cannot hatch phoenixes, foxes and hares cannot suckle horses, water cannot steam things, and fire cannot moisten things.

Once this is clear, cinnabar and mercury unite and Shen and Jing arise; water and fire meet and steaming and moistening are accomplished. Then fire beneath water can perform the work of burning upward; water above fire can fulfill the virtue of moistening downward. Unless it is the most subtle thing under heaven, who could reach this stage? The principle of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) wondrously seizes creation itself, far beyond what thought and measurement can grasp. Without meeting a zhiren (a person who has attained the Great Way), speculation is futile; to substitute outer things is only more reckless; to hold to heterodox paths while turning from the correct Way is not what the wise do. Those who study the Way often refuse to seek a teacher steadfastly or to pursue it with bitter resolve—some start but do not finish, some doubt halfway—until hair turns white and old age still brings no achievement. This is the fault of viewing heaven through a bamboo tube and pride in one’s own cleverness. Yet the sun and moon shine, heaven and earth are vast, cold and heat alternate, dawn and dusk succeed each other—all of this is nothing but the principle by which the Great Way arrives. Without meeting a zhiren, it is hard to fathom. Students should first accumulate virtue and merit, seeking responsive affinity and timely meeting; they must not deceive themselves and leave this treasure mountain empty-handed.

Master Chen Zhixu of Shangyang said: Ceruse (lead white) is refined from black lead; once it meets fire it returns to its original nature. Ice and snow form from cold water; once they meet yang qi they melt back to their source. Gold placed in mercury turns white; with fire it regains its red color. Ordinary people disturb their true nature through desire; only if they preserve that nature can they attain long life.

The saying that gold takes cinnabar as its master and shares a nature harmonious with mercury means that practitioners must understand creation and transformation and penetrate Yin-Yang. To refine the golden elixir, one first gathers Li (fire, symbolizing the heart) and the cinnabar within oneself, harmonizes the mercury in the Yuchi (the mouth in internal alchemy, also standing for the kidney’s water), then uses the water in Kan (water, symbolizing the kidney) to support the fire in Li. When water and fire mutually accomplish (shuihuo jiji—water and fire blending and completing each other), gold and cinnabar become one substance; transformation depends entirely on the true nature of kindred substances, and the pairing of male and female principles remains central. The scripture’s line—“Those who wish to eat elixirs and become immortals should use substances of the same kind”—is aptly put.

Planting grain requires seed grain; hatching chicks requires eggs. To become an immortal or a buddha, without kindred substance, even a thousand years of sealed meditation will come to nothing. Without investigating kindred substance yet pursuing side paths—bedchamber arts, “plucking and battling,” or the Three Peaks battle-gathering (using lust and sexual extraction as cultivation)—is a crooked road, like taking fish eyes for pearls or tares for fine timber. How could one know that transformation must arise from what is genuinely true?

Swallows and sparrows cannot beget phoenixes; foxes and hares cannot suckle foals—they are not of the same kind. Water cannot burn upward; fire cannot moisten downward. Yin and Yang interact only by following the natural way. Master Xu taught people: to seek a clear teacher one must investigate kindred substance and harmonize Yin-Yang—only then does elixir work become possible.

My Master Ziqiong, when he first received chamber transmission from the Taixu Immortal, asked: Is the Cantong qi (Token of the Agreement of the Three) for understanding the Changes, or for practicing them? Taixu replied: The Changes are nothing but Yin and Yang; to understand and to practice them is to be a sage. Hence the Changes say, “In the southwest one gains companions and walks with one’s kind”—kindred following kind; if things diverge, the treasure cannot form. First understand, then practice—that is the sage.

Later, some possessed lofty talent yet sought no true teacher, guessing blindly at old texts: refining gold with Shaozhou chalcanthite, firing elixir with Chenzhou cinnabar and silver, pounding the five metals and calcining the eight minerals, taking the Three Yellows (sulfur, realgar, and orpiment) for kindred substance and refined red copper for the pivot. Those stones and metals are not one’s true kind; how would they merge with one’s qi and abide in the body?

Long ago Zhang, Duke of Jiujiang, refined and ingested elixir. Lü Dongbin, pitying his earnest quest, disguised himself as a technician to save him. Zhang, confident from long use of his medicine that he would ascend, showed no respect. Dongbin left at once, leaving only a verse: “Pity Duke Zhang of Jiujiang—after taking his medicine his eyes failed and his spirit withered. He never reflected that the returned elixir has no fixed substance, yet swallowed metal and stone—how foolish!” Zhang indeed went blind and died.

Such people waste fine endowment, stubborn and unawakened, willingly misled by blind teachers, taking metal and stone for kindred substance, exhausting wealth on ingestion and firing, never waking. They measure heaven through a tube—how could they know that heaven and earth have true immortal sages and teachers? Accustomed to the ordinary, they refuse to rise above the crowd and seek wide corroboration; with narrow ears and eyes, how could they hear or contemplate what is far and high? Yet they hold their heads high as great men—in truth they only squander lofty talent, undone by self-conceit.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: Hu powder (qianbai, a white powder produced by refining black lead) is originally made from black lead; throw it into fire and it turns back into lead. Ice and snow form from condensed yin-cold qi; pour warm water on them and they melt into water. Why? Because all things return to their root source—this is how principle must work. In refining gold, cinnabar is primary, combined with mercury.

Mercury is born from cinnabar and is of the same kind as cinnabar, so they always stay paired and can transform—because their essence is the same. The Wuzhen pian (a classic of internal alchemy by Zhang Boduan) says: When bamboo splits, patch it with bamboo; to hatch a chick you need an egg; what is not of the same kind, however hard you try, is in vain—better to unite true lead with true mercury. The meaning is: true mercury (the true yin within internal alchemy) obtaining true lead (the true yang within internal alchemy)—one yin and one yang, qi of the same kind mutually resonating—this alone is called “same kind.” It is like sowing grain you need grain seed; to brood a chick you must use an egg. Same kind follows same kind; transformation completes naturally without forced effort. If you leave your kind and seek elsewhere, it is like fish eyes cannot become pearls, or wormwood cannot grow into the noble jia tree. Kinds differ—how could there be transformation? It is also like swallows and sparrows only bear swallows and sparrows, not phoenixes; foxes and hares only nurse foxes and hares, not horses. Fire’s nature rises—it cannot be made to sink; water’s nature sinks—it cannot be made to rise. Therefore, if you wish to make a elixir for ingestion and immortality, you should use things of the same kind. Same kind follows same kind; if things oppose each other, they cannot become treasure—this saying is trustworthy.

In the world there are not lacking clever, eager learners, yet those who meet a true master and receive the authentic transmission are few. Some refine the “three yellows” and “four spirits” (mineral drugs common in external alchemy), mistakenly thinking the Dao lies there. They do not know that the five metals and eight stones are all things with form and substance—kinds differ and natures are not the same. The golden elixir is the supreme medicine born from emptiness—how would it consent to mix with them? Those who practice such methods invariably fail a thousand times in ten thousand tries, yet still dream of success. The reason is lack of a correct thread: measure and handling lose their standard. Hence it is said: People do not recognize true lead and mercury, treating them as ordinary cinnabar and mercury; they often waste fire and spend wealth, never succeeding, still bewildered with white hair, and instead lament that all is empty. The true Dao is simple and not tedious; supreme principle is plain and not richly flavored—who will believe it and hold to it? Some even receive the authentic transmission yet doubt midway, then leave the right path and enter a byway. The Tongxuan miju says: Relying much on cleverness and arguing right and wrong, even after hearing the essentials one goes against them oneself. Thus they abandon the great Dao and cling to lost paths—like viewing heaven through a tube, the sight is not wide; how then can they discuss the boundless mystery of what lies ahead?

Records of the firing process (huohou) are not made up out of nothing; they use the Zhou Yi (Book of Changes) to explain. The cauldron and furnace take the form of the “inverted moon”—that is, the upward-facing crescent, like the first-quarter moon. The White Tiger (metal of the west; in inner cultivation it often means lead) is the pivot of smelting and refinement; the mercury called “flowing pearl” turns like the sun, and the Azure Dragon (wood of the east; often mercury) stays with it in the same place. “Raise the east to meet the west,” and hun (soul) and po (corporeal soul) tie themselves together on their own. The upper crescent matches the Dui trigram, number eight; the lower crescent matches the Gen trigram, also eight. When the essences of the two crescents merge, the forms of Qian and Kun are complete. Two eights make sixteen liang—one jin—and the Way of Change stands straight, without leaning.

Zhen Yizi Peng Xiao said: Even though the firing process is written down, you must still act by the Way of Change, turning with the hexagram lines from Pi to Tai. The cauldron’s inverted moon is the upward crescent. The golden Tiger inside is the pivot of the medicine. Cinnabar mercury and the Azure Dragon, chased at all times by the Vermilion Bird of bing and ding (fire), enter the golden womb together—hence “raise east, join west.” Hun is the dragon of the east; po is the tiger of the west. Upper and lower crescents make the one-jin measure; Qian and Kun are fully formed, the same as one round of heaven’s degrees.

Master Chen Weixian, the One Who Embraces Unity, says: In antiquity there were elixir writings that explained the work of huohou (timing the “firing” in practice), called the Fire Record (Huoji), six hundred sections in all, none of which drew on anything outside the Book of Changes (Zhouyi). Yet was the Fire Record written without basis? One need only unfold the Book of Changes to make this clear.

The Changes has three hundred eighty-four yao (lines in the hexagrams)—the huohou of the celestial circuit (staging advance and retreat in cultivation according to heaven’s round). The upper and lower half-moons together make two eights, sixteen liang, the weight of one jin. One jin is counted as three hundred eighty-four zhu, exactly matching the number of lines. Qian contributes one hundred ninety-two lines, Kun one hundred ninety-two (yang lines belong to Qian, yin to Kun); the way of Qian and Kun is thus complete.

The “reclining-moon furnace” names the body and use of the Yiguan yiqiao (the single aperture of the pass of mystery—in inner alchemy, the gate that is half yin and half yang). That aperture is half white and half black, like a half-moon, hence the name. To take the reclining moon as furnace and cauldron is already to see more than half of the great elixir (dadan). The White Tiger (emblem of yin below) at the bottom is the hub where fire is kindled; the Azure Dragon (emblem of yang above) in the upper place completes the way of ascent and raises wind and waves like clouds. Within this, true mercury transforms into the flowing pearl (both figures for essence and qi in the body)—the eastern dragon meeting the western tiger, yin soul (yinpo) and yang spirit (yanghun) checking and holding each other. In the golden cauldron (jinding) one applies divine skill; in the jade furnace (yulu) one smelts the sacred medicine; one reverses the pivot of creation and inverts the work of Qian and Kun. Who but the most penetrating person under heaven could do this?

Shangyangzi Chen Zhixu, a Yuan-dynasty master of Neidan (internal alchemy), said: This passage is about the tripod furnace, the dragon and tiger, and the qi of the upper and lower moontide chords. The crescent-moon furnace, the White Tiger, the upper chord, the Dui trigram, and Po (the corporeal soul) all belong to the west—they are “the other,” namely the Jade Pool. Mercury, the sun, the flowing pearl, the Azure Dragon, the lower chord, the Gen trigram, and Hun (the ethereal soul) all belong to the east—they are “self,” namely the Golden Tripod.

The crescent-moon furnace is the Taiyi divine furnace; it is also called the yin furnace, because its curved, upturned shape resembles the first sliver of a new moon. The White Tiger belongs to the western palace of Dui; when heaven and earth were first divided, it originally stood on “the other” side. The tiger’s awing force answers at a single knock; it holds vastness within and lets the myriad things grow by relying on it. Though the tiger can wound and kill, within it is the atmosphere of dasheng—the broad, complete efficacy of the Way. When King Wen gave weight to the Changes, he said: “Step on the tiger’s tail; it does not bite—this is penetration (heng).” He also said: “Walk on level ground; the hidden person who holds the center is auspicious.” Confucius said: “Respond in harmony with Qian (the Creative).” He also said: “Go forward in plain sandals—this is carrying out one’s resolve alone.” Those who refine the elixir, if they know awe before this tiger, must first subdue it; once subdued, it becomes the pivot of firing and refinement and no longer bites.

The Li trigram is the sun and also mercury; within mercury is cinnabar, called the flowing pearl. The Azure Dragon belongs to the eastern palace of Zhen; after the kalpic cycle runs its course, it originally stands on “my” side. This dragon’s momentum—its power can transform; one touch and it opens, like clouds moving and rain falling, giving form and flow to the myriad things. The second line of the Qian hexagram says: “The dragon appears in the field; it furthers one to see the great person.” Confucius said: “This is dragon virtue properly occupying the central position.” Ordinary people do not grasp this dragon’s unceasing generative function and often suffer harm from it instead. If one can awaken to it, hold it in awe, and tame it, one can mount and use it. When east meets west, that is a fine union—and one that accords with ritual propriety. Dui and Gen each count as eight: this is Wu Earth (central earth) flowing toward Ji Earth (receiving earth); Hun and Po check each other, so metal and water are no longer parted. The essences of the upper and lower chords unite, and the body of Qian and Kun is fulfilled. The way of change must not lean: the two eights must balance each other and combine into one jin (catty). One jin is the number of full accomplishment.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: The ancient immortals’ Fire Ledger (Huoji) comprises six hundred sections, but in essence it simply extends and extrapolates from the sixty hexagrams of the Yi (Changes) to explain the full course of the ten-month firing cycle in internal alchemy (Neidan). The crescent-moon furnace is the lead furnace, situated in Kan (the Water trigram), where the White Tiger keeps watch; the Flowing Pearl Palace is the mercury cauldron, situated in Li (the Fire trigram), where the Azure Dragon keeps watch. Calling the White Tiger the “pivot of simmering” means that the White Tiger guards the Dantian (the energy center below the navel where essence is stored), and fire arises from below the navel. Saying the Azure Dragon accompanies it means driving the Azure Dragon down to draw near the White Tiger. East and west refer to Kan and Li; hun and po (soul and corporeal soul) refer to sun and moon. The places where dragon and tiger emerge and where lead and mercury are produced were never two separate paths. If one who studies the Way understands the secret of “driving the dragon to approach the tiger,” one also understands the saying about casting mercury into lead. The elixir method is extremely simple and easy: one need only empty the mind and keep silent, concentrate spirit into the qi-acupoint, and east-west will naturally pair, dragon and tiger will join on their own, hun and po will mutually accord—and then purple gold is produced. Why force or strive? At the first quarter, the Dui trigram presides; the moon gives half its light, hence “the number eight.” At the last quarter, the Gen trigram presides; the moon shows half its shadow-soul, hence “also eight.” Viewing both quarters together, Qian and Kun as the vessel is established, and both medicaments and firing are contained within. Two eights make sixteen ounces, which combine into one jin; the Yi has sixty-four hexagrams, and the count matches the way of change. This too is a metaphor for the subtlety of the elixir path: yin and yang are complete on both sides, and their pairing is exactly proportioned.

Gold placed in fierce fire does not lose the purity of its luster. Since heaven and earth were opened, sun and moon have never diminished in brightness, and gold has not lessened in weight; the forms of sun and moon remain as always. Gold originally arises from the moon; on the first day of the month, at dawn, the sun receives the talisman-mandate; gold returns to its mother. On the dark of the moon, sun and moon embrace each other; gold hides within its own outline and sinks into empty nothingness; gold recovers its original nature, its august radiance flourishes, and the cauldron grows warm and shines.

Zhenyi zi Peng Xiao (a Five Dynasties Daoist who commented on the Cantong qi) said: Among the mutual restraint of the Five Phases, Fire naturally overcomes Metal; yet when Metal receives Fire, it can be forged into vessels, and neither side is harmed. Thus the golden embryo (the nascent form of the elixir substance) in the cauldron (the alchemical furnace) is not dissipated, and the golden hue grows only brighter. Since the qiankun cauldron and furnace (the vessel figured as Qian Heaven and Kun Earth) were set up, Sun and Moon have carried their essences into it; each benefits the other, and together they refine to clarity and brightness. The weight of the Metal remains as at first, and Sun and Moon still wheel around and shine upon it.

That Metal originally arises from the Moon is because Metal is yin essence, lodged in the west—hence the saying that Metal is born from the Moon. The Moon, from the new moon at dawn, receives the tally of the day’s cycle (the sun’s cyclical token in its course), and from this Metal is generated. That Metal returns to its mother means the Moon turns to receive governance, and Metal goes back to Water. At the dark of the month, yang qi is exhausted; Metal and Water’s natures wrap each other, hidden within the encompassing frame (the outer boundary), sunk in empty silence and stillness. The dark moon is like year’s end; the new moon like year’s beginning. Once Metal and Water take form, the cauldron chamber long holds harmonious qi, and when the work is done it appears. Hence when the light and color in the cauldron are warm and bright (xixi), harmony follows; with harmony, Metal and Water naturally congeal, and the way of spontaneity is complete.

Baoyi zi Chen Weixian (a Song Dynasty Daoist who commented on the Cantong qi) said: Sun, Moon, and Metal are the most enduring of all. Since heaven and earth were opened, the bodies of Sun and Moon stay as ever, their light undiminished; true Metal’s weight is still what it was at first, its color never seized away. The three are originally one body. People only see that when Metal’s essence is strong the Moon doubles in brightness, and so they know Metal comes from the Moon—but they do not know the Moon’s light is originally born from the Sun. Therefore at the meeting of dark moon and new moon, the Moon hides its light and sinks into empty silence and stillness to receive sunlight; only then can it generate Metal. Metal’s nature originally comes from the Sun, so it is hard and heavy, endowed with the Sun’s color and also the Sun’s character. Of all things, none fails to be destroyed by fire except Metal, which in fire loses neither light nor color; the more it is refined the firmer it grows, and in the great smelting furnace (the grand refining vessel) it turns more red. Fire is the qi of the Sun; Metal is the essence of the Great Yin. Metal entering fierce fire is precisely the recovery of its innate nature. Thus when the cauldron furnace’s fire blazes, the golden color increases all the more, its radiance warm and bright, utterly lovely.

Shangyangzi Chen Zhixu said: What is discussed here is the function of jin (Gold/Metal). Without the efficacy of Gold, the elixir cannot coalesce; hence it is called the Golden Elixir (jindan). It is not the gold of ordinary gold and jade in the world, nor something dug from earth and stone. It is the wondrous operation of heaven-and-earth’s creation and the inversion of the Five Phases (wuxing), produced from the great furnace-like “workshop of creation” of Qian (Heaven) and Kun (Earth)—that alone is the Gold meant here.

Nowadays some blind teachers, at the mere mention of the Golden Elixir, panic and do not know what it refers to. They speak of cultivation yet have never truly heard the name Golden Elixir, nor investigated the words of the Cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three); they only deceive the world. How could they know that the Immortal Master (Wei Boyang, author of the Cantong qi) had already pointed clearly to the wondrous transformative power of this Gold? Some foolish people, reading this book, fail to distinguish the substance and function of Yin-Yang true Gold and guess it is something like firing a furnace and smelting—pitiful, and truly muddled.

If one did not disclose a hint to the world, this book of later ages would seem ever more remote; people unable to see its bounds would all cast it aside unread—then from where would they seek a method of cultivation? Those of superior capacity should know: this Gold, before primordial chaos and before Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate) had divided, originally belonged to Qian; hence it is called Qian Gold. When the great kalpa is about to converge, what intends to repay the virtue of chaos arrives. Then Qian first couples with Kun; this Gold tumbles and leaps, rushing into the Kun palace—called Gold within Kun. Kun receiving this Gold, inwardly turns from empty to full, and becomes Kan (the Water trigram). Kun’s three lines were originally hollow throughout—called Kun earth; once filled with this Gold, it becomes the Kan image. Kan’s proper place is in the northern region of gui water; Kan is water, and Gold is hidden within—hence “Gold within water.”

Gold within water is a treasure of the pre-heaven (xiantian); it cannot long remain in post-heaven Kan, so it transforms into Dui (Lake, Metal, west). Dui leaps out from Kan’s northern gate and occupies the western you position; then this Gold grows by day and lengthens by night. The proper position of you belongs to Dui; therefore this Gold in Dui presides over running the elixir path—hence Dui Gold.

Those who refine the elixir must trace the subtle and profound, examine beginning and end, investigate things to extend knowledge, probe source and flow, and scrutinize root and sprout. To refine the Golden Elixir one must seek this Gold; to seek this Gold, one does not seek in Qian, not in Kun, not in Kan—one seeks solely in Dui. Dui shares one body with Kun and with the moon; only with the same body is application easy—without this body its subtlety cannot succeed. The marvel of Dui lies in standing in for Kun to carry the Way. Thus in refining the Golden Elixir, apart from this Dui Gold, all else is bypaths and cannot achieve the Way. The Yellow Emperor, Laozi, and sage-immortals since antiquity all used this Gold to complete the Way.

King Wen valued the Xun hexagram; its fifth line in the upper trigram says, “Three days before geng, three days after geng.” Confucius’s exposition of Xun says: the yielding all follow the firm; the junzi thereby clarifies commands and advances affairs. Geng is Metal. The classic’s “on the third day the moon emerges at geng” refers to this. Shakyamuni also achieved Buddhahood by borrowing this Gold; hence he is called the Golden Immortal (jinxian). Because the Gold in Dui shares one body with the celestial Taiyin (Greater Yin, the moon) to give forth light, it simultaneously gives birth to the elixir. The celestial moon is called Taiyin; this Dui Gold matches it in function, and is therefore also called Shaoyin (Lesser Yin), also named Gold within Yin.

The celestial Taiyin’s function is to receive the sun’s radiance to complete the seasons; this Shaoyin of Dui continues the great thousand worlds and generates beings. The Immortal Master penetrated the intent of former sages, knew the root of this Gold, traced its wondrous transformation, and alone revealed its spirit-change. Ordinary gold can yet endure as long as heaven and earth; entered into fire its color becomes purer, and long refining does not lose weight—how much more this Dui Gold born from the great furnace of Qian and Kun. Moonlight wanes and waxes; Dui Gold flows and turns. Hence its form is as constant: at dawn on the new moon sun and moon join in one tally; the moon receives the sun’s token and at the geng direction a single yang light appears—this is celestial Taiyin; while this Dui Gold, corresponding at each month’s beginning, also at the third day in the position of chaos begins to generate yang elixir—this is human Shaoyin. Thus: Gold originally is born from the moon; at new-moon dawn it receives the sun’s token.

What is “Gold returns to its mother”? Gold’s dwelling is Dui; Dui’s mother is Kun. Dui cannot long store this Gold, and Gold must also exert its function in season. The Wenyan on Kun says: “Embodied brilliance, correct and firm—issuing forth according to the time.” The sage’s intent—its subtlety lies here. Once Gold moves, Dui returns to the mother body and wraps it back into Kun, as at moon’s dark when covered by the sun. Why? From dark moon to new-moon dawn, the moon as Gold-body hides within the kuanglang (the contour of cosmos and lunar disk), covered by the sun; after one, two, three days, having run a fixed number of degrees, its radiance is emitted again. Again like Gold returning to the mother: Gold’s true essence sinks in empty stillness, supplied for worldly use; one generates two, two generate three, the kalpa converges again, and Gold will be reborn.

If this Gold is reborn, it must recover its original nature. Why? Nature is Qian’s function; Qian’s quality is straightness. Gold lodges in Kun, Kun lodges in Kan, Kan lodges in Dui. Dui Gold extends its disposition, restores its inherent nature, and returns this Gold to the Qian palace. Qian’s golden cauldron again obtains this seed and refines the Golden Elixir. Therefore this elixir is called Golden Fluid Returned Elixir (jinye huandan), and the cauldron is called the Vigor-Brilliance Golden Cauldron (weiguang jinding). As for the Vigor-Brilliance cauldron—“xi xi” means the fire’s blaze is intense.

Master Yu Yan of Quanyang said: When the things of the world are thrown into fire, they are destroyed—only gold does not perish. Among the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), mutual generation runs its course until it reaches Metal at the extreme. Metal melted becomes water; struck, it can spark fire; in pliancy it is like wood; in color it is like earth—it holds the nature of all four seasons. Thus true gold, refined a hundred times, grows ever harder and never loses the weight of its original substance. Since heaven and earth were opened, untold myriads of years have passed, yet the sun and moon keep their former aspect and their light has not diminished—because the essential Qi of Yin and Yang dwell hidden in each other’s abode, each secure in its place, so the forms of sun and moon do not change. Among luminous images in the sky, none surpass the sun and moon; in the methods of the elixir (Dan), none surpass Metal and Fire. Metal is the moon, Fire is the sun; Metal is born from the sun.

“At the new moon’s dawn, one receives the talisman (fu)” means that the lunar true gold is born in the Kun Palace (the seat of the Kun trigram). In origin it is transformed by the solar true fire. When it first receives Qi, it is just as moonlight is born from the sun—the moon from the first day of the month begins to receive the sun’s light at dawn.

“Metal returns to its mother; on the last night of the month sun and moon embrace each other” means that metal in the Kun Palace keeps company with fire, like on the last night of the month when sun and moon wrap around each other.

“Concealing the encompassing vault, sinking into the cavernous void” means that spirit (Shen) and Qi sink deep into the root, gradually settling to the “ seabed” (the place where spirit and Qi are stored)—as when the moon’s soul is hidden and can no longer be seen.

“Metal restores its original nature; majestic light blazes in the cauldron”: The moon’s body is originally dark; only by receiving the sun’s light does it show white. Now, embracing the sun, it hides its outer rim and returns to its native blackness. Hold fast to this blackness—there is no need to chase the white. In time, spirit and clarity will come of themselves. In an instant, radiance shines beyond the cauldron (the vessel of refinement); the fire power burns bright—this is the “third day”: the light of Geng (Metal of the west) issues from the Dui gate (the door of the west), and black silver is refined into white silver.

People of the world love petty arts and cannot tell the depth of the Dao; they leave the straight path for crooked byways, rush for quick results, and only block themselves. It is like a blind man who will not lean on a staff, a deaf man who strains to hear pitch and mode, diving into water to catch pheasants and hares, climbing high mountains to seek fish and dragons, sowing wheat yet expecting to harvest millet, or turning the compass yet wanting to draw a square. They exhaust strength and wear out spirit, and year after year see no effect. If you wish to know the method of “ingesting and serving” (the practice of cultivating the golden elixir), the matter is in essence simple—it is not complicated.

Zhenyi Zi Peng Xiao (a Five Dynasties Daoist priest, styled Zhenyi Zi, commentator on the Cantong qi) reports that Master Xu (Xu Congshi, an early transmitter of this scripture) said that people love petty arts (side-path minor methods) and only want a quick shortcut, yet they do not see that such arts ultimately fail. It is like using a compass to obtain a square: the spirit is drained, and for a whole year no effect appears. If you wish to know the method of fu shi (ingesting and refining—whether outer elixir or inner alchemy), the matter is in truth simple and not tangled.

Peng Xiao adds that Xu held petty arts and shortcuts to be “a start with no finish”—much labor, little success. It is like the blind and deaf forcing themselves to see and hear, or like fishers and hunters mistaking rivers and hills. Once choice and rejection are wrong, how can right and wrong be sorted? One should diligently seek the highest Dao, with a gate that is simple and not elaborate. All the more so because jinye huandan (returning essence, breath, and spirit to the prenatal state—the supreme inner alchemy) is the loftiest path of ascending in broad daylight. If one meets a ming shi (clear-eyed master) or receives a divine transmission and cultivates by the secret formula, one may grasp the principle of yijian—easy in practice yet fully penetrating.

Bao Yi Zi Chen Xianwei (a Song-dynasty Daoist priest) said that people cast off the orthodox way and follow crooked paths, dote on petty arts, and spend their strength in vain, ending with nothing gained. How could they know that the wonder of the great Dao is originally the simplest and easiest—plain, not complicated?

Shangyang Zi Chen Zhixu (a Yuan-dynasty Daoist priest) said that people love petty arts, and petty arts are not the Dao. When capacity and insight are small, the great Dao cannot be heard. The Dao is as vast as heaven and earth and as deep as the sea; by nature it is hard to encounter. First one is poisoned by a mang shi (blind teacher); what was heard first takes the seat, and the orthodox Dao has no way in. Side paths favor cai zhan (cultivation through sexual union and plundering partner essence)—they leave the correct way for the crooked; they swallow drugs hoping the body will grow light, yet in seeking speed they only block themselves. Essence and breath are spent without nurturing the true nature—it is like a blind person who refuses a staff. They borrow talk of the Dao as mere conversation, like a deaf person straining after gongshang (tones and modes). They dive into water to catch pheasants and hares—why not instead investigate the Cantong qi (the classic on the accord of the Yijing, Huang-Lao, and the elixir way)? If the wuxing (Five Phases) are not reversed—as inner alchemy requires, while straight cycling remains ordinary nature—they climb mountains seeking fish and dragons; they sit in dry meditation to become immortals, plant wheat and expect millet; they speak wuwei (non-action) yet act in the opposite way—no different from using a compass to get a square. All of this is exhausting the spirit in vain. Without meeting a sheng shi (sacred master), there is no achievement for years on end. If you wish to know the method of ingestion and refinement, the words of the ancient immortals are not complicated: you must fu qi (make the true qi hide and return to the root, close to taixi, fetal breathing)—not merely fu qi in the sense of swallowing breath alone; even when one speaks of ingesting breath, one must be able to fu qi. Swallowing breath alone cannot extend life; extending life requires fu qi. That is the true secret formula, meant for those of superior root and capacity.

Quanyang Zi Yu Yan (a Yuan–Ming Daoist priest) said that the great Dao of the golden elixir is accomplished by accumulating jing and amassing qi. In an instant one may jie tai (form the inner elixir embryo); in a hundred days one li ji (establishes the foundation); in one year one ru shi (enters the chamber for closed cultivation). These words are precisely the wonderful secret, offered to those of high root and capacity.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: The great path of the Golden Elixir is achieved by gradually accumulating Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy). One may form the embryo in a moment, establish the foundation in a hundred days, enter the chamber for dedicated practice in a year, and refine and nourish it over three years—there is a proper sequence to all this. Unfortunately, students do not distinguish the depth of Daoist methods from shallow tricks, nor do they choose between upright and heterodox teachers; they only want quick results and favor small techniques. Some know one part but not the other; some grasp the root principle yet lose how to apply it, trapped in one-sided views while thinking themselves complete. Some even spread deviant doctrines and slander the true way, or force meanings onto authentic scriptures to win later students’ trust—teaching delusion for delusion, passing confusion to confusion; such people are many. Now and then a clever person appears who still will not humble himself to seek a teacher, but digs only in old books hoping to awaken that way—as if a blind man could do without a staff. The dull and ignorant, not grasping the highest principle, insist on matching alchemical texts by guesswork—as if a deaf man could judge the tones of gong and shang. If one takes the navel as the Xuanguan (the pass where yin and yang meet), it is like entering water to catch pheasants and hares; if one takes the two eyes as the Huachi (the pool where fluids are refined), it is like climbing a mountain to find fish and dragons. Again, to practice sexual cultivation (caizhan) for immortality, or to sit in rigid dead emptiness (wankong) for long life—is that not planting wheat and expecting millet, or drawing squares with a compass? All is wasted effort until white-haired and still lost, with no result in the end—how regrettable! The Golden Elixir is born within Kan (the Water trigram—kidney water, the yang hidden in yin); fire presses it until it leaves its place, passes through the three palaces (the three Dantian), descends to enter the mouth—hence it is called ingestion (fushi). The principle is extremely simple, and the oral instructions equally so.

Use metal as the dike so that when water enters it can settle at ease. The number of metal is fifteen, and the number of water is the same. When approaching the furnace, fix the measure in zhu and liang: of the five parts, water still has surplus; take two parts as the true medicine—the weight of metal remains as at first; the remaining three parts are not added, and fire accompanies it in two parts. When the three substances unite according to the method, their transformations are as if divine. Below, the qi of the sun secretly steams; in a moment it first becomes liquid, then congeals—this is called the Yellow Chariot (Huangyu), the elixir quality borne by central Earth. When the years are spent, the original nature is ruined, life is shortened, and the body turns to ash fine as dust before a bright window.

Zhenyizi (a Daoist sobriquet; i.e., the commentator Peng Xiao) said: The gold mother (jīn mǔ—the matrix that bears gold sand) rests in the central palace (zhōng gōng—the earth position among the Five Phases). Like an embankment she holds back the mercury (shuǐ yín); then gold and water can move back and forth at ease, and their natures incline toward one another. Gold and water receive qi according to the hours, each taking half; together they amount to exactly one jīn. Once the gold sand has been produced, the mother is not depleted—hence it is said the measure of gold is still as at the beginning. The portion that in the end never enters is the true earth (zhēn tǔ). Gold, fire, and wood—the three substances—are brought into the vessel together with water and fire according to the hours. Then the three natures meet and are held in check; the two flavors restrain each other, and transformation is wondrous as if divine. At first the gold mother relies on the refined qi (jīng qì) of the sun steaming upward from below before she can produce liquid sap; afterward it congeals—this is called the yellow carriage (huáng yú—the bearing of central earth). When the cycle of the week-star has run its round, the work of yin-yang and the Five Phases has been mutually tested and completed; each withdraws from its place and hides its form, and all merit returns to the earth virtue (tǔ dé) presided over by the Yellow Emperor (Huángdì) in the central palace. Therefore it is said: when the nature of things is spent and the years of the firing are at an end, they turn toward earth virtue and become earth; then spirit (shén) is like bright-window dust (míng chuāng chén)—fine, subtle, and luminous.

Baoyizi Chen Xianwei said: To refine the great elixir (the fundamental fruit of neidan practice), you must first use pure gold to raise city walls, enclosing all four sides, then pour in true water so nothing leaks away. Whether one calls it a golden dike or ramparts, the meaning is the same. To build the golden dike you need only grasp how the Four Images and the Five Phases all depend on Earth—then gold arises of itself. Using true Earth among the Five Phases, you can complete true gold among the Five Phases, because Earth is the mother of metal (Earth begets metal). Once true gold is formed, it can hold true water among the Five Phases, because water is the child of metal (metal begets water). When water, Earth, and metal intertwine, they form the body of square Earth, and the infant (the bit of innate spirit after the elixir has formed) appears within it. When circulation rises, golden light fills the chamber, surging as if a carriage were moving—hence the name huangyu (yellow carriage). At the furnace, when the firing is set, the metal need not exceed five parts in weight; a little extra water does no harm. The saying “three do not enter; fire-two goes along with it” means Wood is three and Fire is two: neither Fire-two nor Wood-three enter this refinement. It is like hun and shen (soul and spirit)—they have no fixed form of their own and only show themselves when lodged in things. In cultivating the Dao one refines only water, Earth, and metal; when the three become the treasure, hun and shen naturally share its wonder. Water entering the golden dike is originally congealed fluid; borrowing the qi of the lower sun (yang fire) to hide and steam it, it turns into huangyu. When firing runs all around and divine work is full, then myriad changes arise—phoenix palanquins and dragon chariots are all transformations of this substance. At the moment of tuotai (shedding the shell), the form flickers like sunlight through a bright window casting on dust. This is the scene in which Master Xu displayed success and transformation. Pity that ordinary people do not understand: they guess at random, never having dreamed the reality, yet dare to speak freely; only those who arrive in person can know.

Chen Zhixu of Shangyangzi says: What is discussed here is entering the chamber, approaching the furnace, beginning to form the elixir, and sending the elixir into the cauldron. Those of superior capacity should understand that this book is most orderly in its sequence and is not empty talk. This section is precisely the crux; without its detailed explanation, how could later generations know how to begin refining the elixir? Those who have not met with proper transmission do not grasp how hidden and profound this book is. When they read this far it is like chewing wax—they cannot find the entry point and can only guess that it means the external work of smelting with the five metals and eight minerals. In the end there is no effect, and they blame the sage for empty words—a truly pitiable outcome. Here each layer is made plain so that later doubts may be dispelled.

What is meant by “using metal as the dike and barrier”: the great practitioner who cultivates the nine-return Golden Elixir must understand that the metal here is the metal in the western trigram Dui. First prepare the true heart, seek this Dui metal, set up the altar platform, and at all times guard it with care. The dike and barrier must be solid and thorough, so as to await the water that this metal gives birth to.

The water that is born must especially be calculated and distinguished: is it pre-heaven water or post-heaven water? If it is post-heaven, the water is turbid and cannot be used to refine the returned elixir; if it is pre-heaven water, one must still wait until it clears before using it. The Book of Poetry says “the Jing runs clear while the Wei runs turbid”—because the Jing is clear and the Wei is turbid. The elixir cultivator must wait until this Jing-like clear water appears, guard it calmly, and not stir it. This is what is meant by “when the water enters, then one may move at ease.”

Within this clear water there is true metal. Zhou Xingsi said “metal is born in beautiful water”—meaning clarity to the utmost. One must also first know its weight in ounces and pounds before using it. This Dui metal should weigh about fifteen ounces; speaking by the standard close to one jin, this is “the metal is reckoned at fifteen.” Only when the metal weighs fifteen ounces can it give birth to beautiful water.

What does “the number of water is likewise so” mean? It does not mean the water is also fifteen ounces, but that the water must match the metal. However much water fifteen ounces of metal can produce, that much is said—hence “likewise so.” Therefore Master Xu admonished: only when approaching the furnace does one finally fix the ounces and taels.

If fifteen ounces of metal has already produced water up to five parts, the water is excessive and cannot be used—this is “five parts of water are surplus.” If this metal at first produces only two parts of water, then it is truly usable—this is “the two are taken as true.” These two parts of water must still be paired with fifteen ounces of metal—this is “the metal’s weight is as at the beginning.” If the water has already reached three parts, it still cannot be used—this is “the third then does not enter.”

When the proportions of metal and water are timely and matched, one quickly uses two parts of fire to join them—this is “fire two goes together with them.” After metal, water, and fire unite, fire receives the metal’s qi and is also restrained by water, and the returned elixir coalesces, able to transform with a spirit-like appearance. Among the skills of approaching the furnace and beginning the work, nothing is more essential than this.

Therefore the sage, within a year, takes the moon to place the metal; within a month, observes the day and listens for the tide; within a day, chooses the hour to align with the hexagram lines; within an hour, fixes the fire to apply the talisman.

What is applying the talisman? The ancient sages treated refining the Golden Elixir as a great matter. They calculated seasons and established the method of gathering and clustering: compressing the seventy-two seasonal nodes of a year into one day, the three hundred sixty lines of the hexagrams into one month, and the thirty-six talismans into one day and night, distributed through the twelve double-hours—so that one double-hour has six seasonal nodes. Compared with seeking the elixir, one uses only as long as two of those nodes; one double-hour has one line, and seeking the elixir uses less than half a line’s time; one double-hour has three talismans, and seeking the elixir uses only one talisman’s brief moment. What is called the single talisman and single secret formula is exactly this. The Yin Talisman that the Yellow Emperor spoke of is also this. Hence it is said: people know the spirit that is obvious, but do not know that what is not obviously spirit-like is the truly spirit-like.

The elixir cultivator, in this brief moment of one talisman, gathers and collects three thousand six hundred parts of upright qi and leads it in reverse into the embryo. At this time one seizes the creating-and-transforming power of Heaven and Earth, takes the essence of sun and moon, the earth’s axis appears in the heart, the heaven’s pass is held in the hand, joins the qi of the dragon and tiger on the two strings, and pounds and refines the true essence in which metal and water become one. It is like a serpent coiled in the elixir furnace; the black and white hare run along the yellow path, black and white reflect each other, hard and soft rise and replace in turn; the jade gate stores auspicious signs, purple brilliance mirrors the sunlight; Mars guards the western pole, the Vermilion Bird blazes upward in the void, urging water to move metal and fire to enter the cauldron, densely steaming with the qi of the great yang, forming the elixir named the Yellow Chariot.

At first, when refining metal and water, the dike and barrier are reckoned by months and years; when it comes to combining the elixir, only one talisman’s work is used. Too long a time will ruin the nature and harm the elixir body; the slightest loss will injure the years of life. This is “as the months and years are about to end, nature is ruined and the years of life are harmed.” Refining the elixir is originally for extending life and achieving the true body; if one misses by a hair’s breadth, one instead harms longevity. Therefore Master Xu taught later students that they must be careful and secret. “Bright window dust” refers to how subtle this elixir is at the extreme.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan held that refining the elixir was originally meant to extend life and ascend to the true Way; miss by a hair’s breadth and life is shortened instead—hence Master Xu warned later students to be meticulous and thorough. What is meant by “bright-window dust” is that after the elixir is complete, refinement reaches the utmost subtlety, like motes drifting in sunlight at a clear window.

The elixir method takes “half a pound of metal” at the upper waxing phase as the outer furnace, forming a dike toward the southeast; then lets “half a pound of water” at the lower waning phase descend from the west and enter the inner furnace in the north, so the water’s force is not rushed and can circulate at ease. Metal rises from the first day to the fifteenth—fifteen days; water falls from the sixteenth to the thirtieth—the same count. That is metal and water, each half a pound. In operation one must first use wenhuo (gentle fire) to ascend, then wuhuo (fierce fire) to descend; otherwise one cannot penetrate the jiuchuan (the body’s deepest yin region). Hence it is said that at the furnace one must fix the zhu and liang (weights in ancient units); the water has a surplus of five parts in ten. Metal and water together make “two-eight,” one full jin (pound); one opening and one closing, coming and going without end—this is the body’s true yin and true yang. Water must be half a jin with a slight surplus; metal must not fall short of half a jin, so it is said that only these two count as real, with metal’s weight still as at the beginning.

It says earth does not enter because around the cauldron and vessel there are only half a jin of upper-waxing metal and half a jin of lower-waning water—earth has no fixed place. In fact it is not that earth truly stays out: without a fixed position, earth can reach anywhere. Among the twenty-four directions of heaven and earth, though wuji (central earth) is not listed separately, from renzi to qianhai, coming and going without fixity and rising and falling without rule—everywhere is where wuji passes. “The two are joined with it” means that throughout the entire cauldron-vessel there is earth; metal and water run together with earth, the three substances mutually containing one another and merging into one. Then it is like gathering ten thousand acres of cloud on green mountains or drawing a round moon from a jade-green pool—wondrous in transformation. What ascends is metal, what descends is water; what brings about ascent and descent is earth. Yet metal, water, and earth are only metaphors. The Great Way has no name or form from the start; there are not really metal, water, and earth.

The Yuzhi shu says that firing the elixir must begin when yang qi first stirs at the zi hour (midnight period), so the fire power is complete—other hours will not do. At zi the sun is in the north; the body’s qi reaches the weilü guan (the gate at the base of the spine). Firing then aligns inner and outer, so one can take the pivot of heaven-and-earth’s turning and complete the elixir. At first yang qi is below; water and fire meet, the two qi mingle and steam into liquid; then fire arises within water, yang qi grows strong, the liquid congeals inside and presses out the golden flower—this is true lead (zhenqian). When it rises, billowing like a carriage rolling on the yellow track, it is called the yellow carriage (huangyu). When skill is deep and the firing fills one celestial circuit, it is like the thirty days of the twelfth month nearly spent: true nature gathers and hides, long life and early death are no longer weighed separately—what is meant by caring for the body alone without regard to short or long life and waiting in peace.

Ordinary people only know that at zi hour kidney qi arises and, refined by fire into liquid, they mistake that for true lead and want to use it to “dot” true mercury in the ligong (the heart-fire position). They do not realize that once it has become liquid it has form and substance, heavy and turbid, and cannot flow upward against the stream. When immortals make the elixir at this stage, they only kindle fire below to draw its qi upward; when fire is strong, qi naturally surges up, like clouds rising from a mountain. Reaching the niwan (upper dantian in the head), it turns into sweet dew and descends into the chonglou (the throat); they do not take the dross that has form. The elixir method speaks of taking the clear and discarding the turbid: the turbid sinks and the body turns to ash and soil; the clear floats, like bright-window dust. The Cuixu pian says that when the hundred vessels are driven back to the root, pulses stop and qi rests—then the elixir congeals. An old verse says lead is the mother of the sprout and the sprout is lead’s child; once the golden flower is obtained, lead is abandoned. It also says that when lead should truly be used, using lead is wrong. The warning runs very deep.

Peng Haogu adds: This discusses diyuan (the earth phase). Entry in diyuan depends entirely on the three—metal, water, and fire—and on drawing white from black. Using metal as water’s dike, metal and water can love each other at ease. In weight, metal’s number is fifteen, matching half a jin of upper-waxing metal from day one to fifteen; water’s number is fifteen, matching half a jin of lower-waning water from sixteen to thirty. When gathering, one again fixes zhu and liang at the furnace: twenty-four zhu make one liang, one hundred ninety-two zhu make eight liang; two zhu four lei make one qian, one zhu two lei make five parts in ten. Water’s extra weight is five parts in ten—only one zhu two lei—originally extremely light, yet here it counts as surplus; dui metal remains eight liang throughout, so metal and water are not strictly equal. Heaven-one generates water, earth-four generates metal; in refining the elixir only these two are taken as real. Wood from heaven-three is not added. Fire from earth-two is the primordial fire in the sun, always together with metal and water and inseparable. For refining is only metal and fire: the medicine is fire’s parent, fire is the medicine’s child, and water lies within metal—together three substances. When the three accord with the method, spirit is naturally marvelous and change is boundless. At first yang qi is below; essence is secretly nourished in steam and golden liquid gradually forms; then fire arises in water, yang qi is at its peak, golden liquid gradually solidifies; when fire is sufficient, golden liquid all returns to the central palace as the spirit chamber and produces spirit-mercury—called the yellow carriage. When refinement is deep and the years are nearly spent, the three substances all disperse; if in that process nature and lifespan are harmed, the body turns to ash and soil, flickering like dust in sunlight at a window—beyond grasp.

“Only the two are taken as real; the third then does not enter”—explanations differ through the ages. Some take “two” as the two stages of obtaining the medicine and “three” as the third stage, with subtle use in a fourth stage outside the third; some take “two” as the second yang, the moon leaving the geng direction when one should gather medicine, and “three” as the third yang, when at full moon metal has gone too far and is unfit to gather; others take “two” as half a jin of metal and half a jin of water, with lead holding three parts spirit-water and cinnabar three parts spirit-fire, intangible medicine not counted in dui metal’s weight. On careful thought none of these may be quite right; those who truly understand should judge for themselves.

The scripture says: pound the medicinals, blend and merge them, and send them into the Red Gate—the sealed space within the cauldron that belongs to southern Fire. Seal the rim tightly so nothing leaks; the enclosure must be perfectly firm. Below, kindle blazing fire so its roar never ceases day or night. First refine with wenhuo (slow, gentle fire); only at the end apply wuhuo (strong, martial fire). Stand watch with utmost care, scrutinizing and adjusting cold and warmth. As the firing cycles through the twelve jie (the twelve double-hours in sequence), at the end of each phase you must inspect it again yourself. When qi is spent and ming (life) is nearly exhausted—as if resting in stillness or dying—hun and po (the yang soul and yin soul) fade away, the color turns purple, and a brilliant light flares forth: the huandan (Return Elixir that restores the original root) is complete. The elixir powder is gathered into one pellet; though it amounts to only a daogui (the tiniest measure of medicine), it is supremely wondrous.

Zhenyi zi Peng Xiao said: When the elixir foundation is pounded solid and sealed whole, it is placed in the cauldron; inside the cauldron this is called the Red Gate. Water above flows downward; fire below burns upward. Firing follows the advance and retreat of dark and bright moons and the rise and fall of day and night: wenhuo begins at the start of the zi hour and wuhuo stops at the si hour; from the wu hour the yinfu (the yin phase of firing, when yang recedes and yin advances) runs until the hai hour. Cold and warmth are regulated by Pi and Tai. When the twelve phases finish, the cycle begins anew. When one round of firing is full, hun and po change form and become purple gold, blazing forth as the elixir. Swallow one pellet—no more than a daogui—and its marvelous effects cannot be fully told.

Baoyi zi Chen Weixian said: This describes the work of application—stirring Heaven and Earth’s tuoyue (the bellows-like mechanism that turns yin-yang breath). It is like preparing medicinals until, at the southern Red Gate, they are sealed shut, so the boundary between Water and Fire is guarded without pause day or night. First wenhuo ascends; then wuhuo descends, turning through the twelve double-hours. When the day’s cycle ends, you must examine it even more closely. When qi is withered and ming is about to fail, the hundred vessels return to the root and the ten thousand openings fall silent: it is not true death, yet it is as death; after utter cutoff there is revival—the golden light turns purple, like purple powder. About a daogui’s worth appears now and then, showing everywhere—transformations beyond measure, wonder beyond words.

Shangyang zi Chen Zhixu said: When qi is withered and ming is about to fail, the hundred vessels return to the root and the ten thousand openings are all still—not death, yet like death; after extinction one revives—the golden light turns purple, like purple powder. Above and below, a daogui’s measure shows itself at every moment, visible in every place; change is unfathomable, wonder inconceivable.

Shangyangzi Chen Zhixu says: “Pounding and treatment” means the union and refining of Yin and Yang qi. “Holding and bringing in” means to guard and hold fast, then gather inward. The Red Gate is the portal of Qian (the hexagram of yang); through that gate the elixir returns to the Divine Chamber—the place where the medicine settles and congeals. “Firmly blocking” means sealing the breath. “Boundary defense” refers to the nine apertures: all must be kept solid and tight so nothing leaks. Fire burns strongly below; day and night one must practice earnestly and without slack. When the yang elixir first appears, signs are already there; suddenly one obtains the fire within Li (the fire trigram), and it circulates through the whole body day and night, every joint and every spirit answering the command. At that point one should diligently hold inward so that sound is still, mind is calm, breath is even, and the pulse is steady—only then does the elixir begin to form.

At first refining uses gentle fire (wen huo); at the beginning and end one uses martial fire (wu huo): first martial fire to refine the self, and at the last martial fire to warm and nurture. Hence the Sanxiang Lei says: “Martial fire at the head and tail, gentle fire in the middle.” Watching and adjusting must be especially careful; one must not neglect or grow lax. The Niwan says: If the work is not complete, fulfillment is impossible. One must inspect and regulate cold and warm phases and not be misled by people or outer things.

Purple Yang Elder (Ziyang Weng, Zhang Boduan) says: Tune and balance the firing, relying on Yin and Yang. Turn through the twelve nodal phases in cycles without end, until mercury is added and lead is drawn off—when lead is exhausted and mercury dry, the seven po are dead and the hun has transformed: the image of qi spent, life nearing its end, hun and po at rest. Then the color shifts to the golden-crimson restored elixir. A pinch of powder, one pellet—the amount of a knife-grain (daogui) is most wondrous: as small as a pinch or one pill, millet-sized called a “pellet,” light as the tip of a knife-grain—so fine, yet its marvel is beyond words. This section treats the initial practice; the fine checkpoints must be passed mouth to ear by the master—who could succeed from writing alone?

Quanyangzi Yu Yan says: The great medicine of the Golden Elixir is produced in Kun (the yin hexagram) and sown in Qian. Qian above is the cauldron, Kun below is the furnace. Without fierce fire to cook and intense calcination to refine, it cannot leave the furnace. And again, who could finish this affair by text alone?

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: The great medicine of the golden elixir is produced in Kun and planted in Qian. Qian above is the cauldron; Kun below is the furnace. Without fierce fire to cook and refine it and intense calcination, the medicine cannot leave the furnace; without running counter to the ordinary flow to circulate it, the medicine cannot rise into the cauldron. What is called pounding, treating, and combining is capturing the medicines from two places and merging them into one furnace, so that a pool of divine water congeals into true cream. What is called bringing it into the crimson gate (the crimson gate, a metaphor for the pass where medicinally charged qi is taken in during refinement) is seizing the essence and marrow of the black and white (the crow in the sun and the hare in the moon, metaphors for yin-yang quintessence)—it must at once be gathered into the cauldron and fired. The Dacheng ji says: Move the medicine to the crown of the head to form the three flowers, and firmly shut the golden pass and jade lock. When golden sand rises in the cauldron, the seal must be tight; only then can the sacred embryo be whole and firm. This is practice that begins from the post-heaven realm. Within it there is also the subtle use of moving divine fire to illuminate the true mind and stirring the qi of Xun (the breath symbolized by the Wind trigram) to draw in the true spirit—most people do not recognize this. The Jianwu ji says: When firing the elixir, fire burns downward and the waters of the Yellow River flow upward against the current. Thus the fire of refinement cannot fail to blaze strongly. When the fire in the Dantian (energy center) flares, clouds steam and mist surges; when wind arises in the Niwan (upper Dantian in the brain), it is as if dragon roars and tiger cries are heard. When gathering the medicine, fix the spirit and gather qi; breathing continues fine and unbroken. After long practice, spirit rests and qi settles; the Xun gate naturally thunders like rolling thunder—dragon soars and tiger leaps, qi is driven back from the Weilü point and rushed upward with flame into the Tianqu (the upward passage to the crown), surging straight up. Wang Baoyi said: Gentle fire is used to initiate; martial fire is used to consolidate. At the start use gentle fire; at completion use martial fire—you cannot cling to only one method of firing. What is called waiting and observing with redoubled care means blocking Dui (the mouth), lowering the eyelids, holding light within and keeping silent, awaiting the qi of heaven and earth to arrive, then settling the breath to gather medicine and gather fire to refine; you must distinguish whether the medicine is aged or tender and must not act rashly. What is called examining cold and warm means adjusting the fire, seeing clearly what is urgent and what is slow, progressing from gradual to fierce—you must not rush forward in haste. The twelve nodes are the twelve double-hours of the celestial circuit; on the body they are the positions of firing. Firing rises from the zi hour and descends at the wu hour, circling outside the cauldron-vessel to traverse the full circuit; the celestial guideline again points back to zi, so you must personally observe and verify. When the golden elixir congeals, the Xuanji and Yuhang (metaphors for the inner mechanism of circulating qi) momentarily stop their wheel; the soul of the sun and spirit of the moon both sink to the northern sea floor, fading away as if dead. Then returning to the root and restoring life, spirit congeals and qi binds; the eight vessels all still, breathing entirely absent, qi as if cut off; after cutoff comes revival again—this is what is meant by having died utterly this once and only now being alive. The Cuixu pian says: Shedding yellow and donning purple is solely because the river chariot (true qi circulating along the Ren and Du channels) has turned deeply enough. When the number of the nine revolutions of firing is fixed, the returned elixir blazes forth and turns into purple-golden light. It also says: Gathering and refining take but a short while; one thread of qi, fine and continuous, opens the three passes; the three passes cycle back and forth and qi knows no end—a white channel runs toward the Niwan. Above the Niwan is a purple-golden cauldron; inside the cauldron a clump of purple gold melts into jade nectar flowing into the mouth, sweet and refreshing spreading over the tongue; swallowed, it enters the five viscera, the organs clear and the body healthy. When the returned elixir enters the mouth, it is sweet as honey, cool as pālan (a fragrant cooling substance). What is called the knife-edge and jade sliver is no more than the tiny amount at the tip of a knife or the corner of a jade tablet. When success is achieved, transformations are myriad and subtleties beyond measure—not comparable to side-door minor arts. To call it divine is indeed fitting.

The numbers of zi and wu combine to make three. Wu and ji (the text reads “wu si”) are the central earth, with the number five. Three and five in harmony merge into eight, and only then are the “eight stones” (the eight mineral numbers in elixir scriptures) properly ordered. Breathing mutually nourishes and contains; standing still in concentrated thought, they become husband and wife. Yellow earth begets metal—metal’s “father”; the flowing pearl is cinnabar-mercury (shuǐyín), water’s “child.” Earth overcomes water, so for water, earth is the “ghost”; when earth restrains it, the mercury does not rise and fly away. The Vermilion Bird (Zhuque) is the southern fire spirit; it balances and adjusts the contest between water and fire. When water prevails and fire is extinguished, the old man returns to vigor and the aged woman becomes the “radiant maiden” (chànǚ—the young girl in the elixir books, also the yin essence); their forms change, they escape worldly calamity, and are called a true person (zhēnrén—one who has attained the Way) and True One (zhēnyī—the pure unified original nature).

Peng Xiao (the commentator) says: Zi is water, number one; wu is fire, number two; together they make three; wu and ji earth is five; when three and five become eight, that is “when three and five are already in harmony, the eight stones’ main thread is correct.” Thus the Green Dragon (eastern wood) calls the White Tiger (western metal), the White Tiger absorbs the Green Dragon; breathing contains and nurtures, concentrated thought binds them as husband and wife. Earth can check mercury so it does not fly away—like the seasonal node when fire hands off to earth at the end of the four seasons. Metal needs the Vermilion Bird fire spirit to even the contest before it can be completed; when water wins, fire is quenched; both the dark of the month (huì) and the new moon (shuò) reach their end, and the merit returns to the virtue of earth. The three natures unite, hold to their original nature, and share one ancestor: this means metal and fire are produced from water qi numbered as one; that qi arises from the primordial qi before Heaven and Earth, can generate the Five Phases (Wǔxíng), and is not limited to the two ingredients metal and water.

Bao Yizi Chen Weixian says: The eight stones unite in mutual holding; their original natures share one ancestor—again meaning metal and fire come from water qi numbered as one; it precedes Heaven and Earth, and in primordial qi can give birth to the Five Phases; it is not merely gold and water in two flavors alone.

Baoyi zi Chen Weixian explains: The Eight Stones are the mineral ingredients of external alchemy (Waidan). The numbers three and five serve as a metaphor: Zi corresponds to Water and counts as one; Wu corresponds to Fire and counts as two; adding Zi and Wu yields three. Earth’s number is five, so the Earth-associated stems Wu and Ji are called “five.” “Three-five harmony” means Water, Fire, and Earth meet and mutually restrain one another. These three act as paired partners—husband and wife—and alternate as ruler and minister, much as the Eight Stones check and balance each other.

Earth generates Metal, so Earth is Metal’s father; Earth overcomes Water, so Water is Earth’s “ghost” (the phase it subdues). Liuzhu is mercury (Hg): it arises under the sun’s influence and congeals into Metal; Metal generates Water, so Liuzhu is Water’s mother. Water poured on keeps Fire from flaring; Earth stationed in place keeps Water from spreading—then the three substances become one household, all returning to Wu-Ji (Earth). Water meeting Earth subsides; Fire meeting Earth stills; Metal meeting Earth returns to its father. Earth is Metal’s father, and Fire generates Earth, so Fire is Metal’s ancestor. Hence the three natures meet and mutually restrain, and in essence they share one lineage.

Master Shangyang Chen Zhixu explained that zi in the north is the proper position of the Kan trigram, numbered as heaven-one; wu in the south is the proper position of the Li trigram, numbered as earth-two. Within Kan there is earth called wu (Wu), also numbered five; within Li there is earth called ji (Ji)—the text sometimes writes this as si (Si)—likewise numbered five. Wu alone guards the gate of Kan and presides over the innate true-one Qi; Ji directly faces the gate of Li and gathers the post-heaven utmost true mercury (hong). To seek innate Qi one must first open the path through wu earth in Kan; to employ post-heaven mercury one must first subdue ji earth before harmony can be achieved. When zi and wu unite in joyful coordination, and wu and ji join in peaceful intercourse, the subtle essences of the two “fives” meet and congeal. Wu flows toward ji; in the cauldron the two earths bind together—hence the name gui (the “double-earth” character). The eight stones belong to Kun; Qian and Kun supply their symbolic images. The parental seat of the stones cannot be established without Kun. The discipline of Dui metal turns with the waxing and waning of yin and yang: zi and wu breathe into each other, wu and ji nourish each other, and when lead and mercury intertwine they become husband and wife.

Yellow earth is wu earth. Wu earth can generate metal within Dui, so it is called the father of metal. The flowing pearl is mercury within wood; lead-water can support mercury within wood, so the flowing pearl is called the son of water. Lead-water takes wu earth as the “ghost” that restrains it. Wu earth holds the central palace, so water does not rashly flow outward. The red sparrow (zhuque) is what belongs within Li—the essence of fire. Only when mind is calm and the pulse steady can one harmonize the competing forces of victory and defeat.

Water overcomes fire, fire overcomes metal, metal overcomes wood; when the workings of the four are dissolved, the merit returns to thick earth—and thick earth is ji earth. The three natures mean wu, metal, and water: the gate of Kan is wu, the middle line of Kan is Dui metal; metal generates taiyi water, and after water is produced it is again checked by wu—this is the three natures jointly guarding. Wood nature is ji earth. The gate of Li is called ji. Wu, metal, and water unite with ji of wood nature; wood then slowly restrains, until all finally transform together into the great elixir—therefore it is said that their original nature shares one source.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: Zi is water, its number is one; Wu is fire, its number is two—together they make three. Earth’s number is five, so the central Wu and Ji are called five. Three plus five is eight, hence the phrase “eight stones.” “Three-five harmony” means water, fire, and earth unite as one.

Earth by nature overcomes water, and water overcomes fire—so why call it harmony? Earth is taken as the go-between for water and fire, mediating between them so water and fire become husband and wife; that is why it is called harmony. When the eight stones merge into one body, the guiding thread is straight and the myriad openings open accordingly. Yang rises and yin descends, like heaven and earth breathing within the body—hence lasting life; if a person follows this, they too may endure.

The Jin Dan Da Cheng Ji (Collection on the Great Completion of the Golden Elixir) says: Exhalation comes from the heart and lungs and connects upward to the celestial root (where heaven’s qi attaches), like a dragon’s cry and rising clouds; inhalation returns to the liver and kidneys and connects downward to the earthly root (where earth’s qi attaches), like a tiger’s roar and rising wind. That wind and cloud condense into golden liquid (the refined essence produced in inner cultivation). This is the natural breathing of the single qi—not the breathing of mouth and nose. If one empties the mind, gathers spirit, turns the light inward, and illumines where the true person (innate true nature) breathes, following its ascent and descent and naturally holding to it, before long inhalation and exhalation mutually nurture each other and come to a still stand as one piece, joined as husband and wife.

Liao Chanhui said: In front lies the navel wheel (the region of the navel), behind lie the kidneys; in the center is the true golden cauldron (the place where the furnace is set and the vessel established)—this is what is meant. Earth sits in the center, so it is called yellow earth; earth generates metal, so it is the father of metal. True mercury moves back and forth without fixed place, hence it is called flowing pearl; entering water it forms metal. Metal generates water, so it is the mother of water.

Originally earth generates metal and metal generates water; now earth enters the water, water is constrained by earth and cannot bear metal upward—so it is said that water takes earth as its “ghost,” and once earth fills and blocks, water cannot rise. The Vermilion Bird is the fire essence of the south, holding the balance and governing summer. At this time Kan water is just being subdued by earth; if it receives the fierce firing and extreme refining of southern fire, fire flourishes and water boils, and metal rises with the water—so the Vermilion Bird is called the fire essence, leveling the scales and adjusting victory and defeat. After the boiling water rises into the Li palace, Li fire is in turn extinguished by Kan water; water must not be excessive either, so earth again overcomes water—water meeting earth stops—hence it is said that fire and water both return to earth. Water and fire meeting earth become three natures; the three natures unite and mix as one, all returning to the Kun palace—so it is said the three natures share one ancestor.

The scripture says: Even sesame (jusheng) can extend one’s years when eaten; how much more so when one takes the huandan (the elixir said to return to the source in Daoist cultivation) by mouth. Gold’s nature neither rots nor perishes, so it is the treasure among the ten thousand things. When adepts ingest it, their lifespan becomes long-lasting. Earth moves through the four seasons, whose role is to guard boundaries and fix the measure. Golden sand (jinsha) enters the five viscera (the five inner organs), spreading like mist in wind and rain, steaming through to the four limbs and giving the complexion a moist, radiant look: white hair turns black, and teeth that have fallen grow back in place; an old man becomes vigorous again (dingzhuang), an old woman becomes a young maiden (chänu), the form is transformed, worldly disasters are escaped—and such a person is called a Zhenren (True Person).

Zhenyi zi Peng Xiao said: Jusheng is sesame; if eating it can still extend life, how could golden-liquid huandan taken by mouth fail to grant long life? Huandan arises from true gold; therefore the golden body does not decay. True gold is the source of heaven-and-earth primordial qi and is taken as the mother of the ten thousand things—just as the Daodejing says: “The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of the ten thousand things.” Before heaven and earth there was only one qi, from which the myriad forms arose. Metal is the root of water; taken as the foundation of the medicine, the mother of true gold can produce golden sand and refine huandan. Earth’s movement through the four seasons marks the measure of the elixir path from start to finish. Master Xu told those who came after: After cultivation, taking this elixir is wondrous and unlike ordinary drugs; once it enters the mouth, it is like cloud, mist, wind, and rain pouring into the five viscera and four limbs, restoring youth, turning white hair black, regenerating the teeth, and enabling long life with enduring vision.

Bao Yi Zi Chen Weixian explains: Huma, also called jusheng (“giant victory”), is only an ordinary drug—eat it and you can still extend life. The divine elixir, by contrast, is the essence of pure Yang; its nature is like the vajra—unbreakable—and gold is the most precious thing among the ten thousand kinds. If you can ingest it, life is long indeed—how could it not surpass common medicines by ten thousandfold?

Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei—the four quarters—all have Earth. Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire only stand because Earth supports them. The five viscera are numbered to Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire, yet in fact they are nourished through Earth. Metal is the child Earth bears. When the true cinnabar enters the belly, metal qi enters the five viscera; a hazy mist then steams through the body, as when a smelting furnace is at its hottest and water vapor rises and spreads like smoke and fog. The four limbs and the hundred vessels flow moist and smooth, like spring water everywhere. Then naturally the face changes and the bones renew—you return from old age to infancy: the complexion is lustrous, the spirit glad; white hair turns black and fallen teeth grow again; an old man becomes a robust youth, an old woman a young maiden. The form is transformed, and worldly calamities keep their distance; day and night are clear and the spirit is not dim. The Dharma body (the body of realized true nature) and the illusory fleshly form are both full; yin soul and yang spirit are wondrous together—only then may one be called a Zhenren (True Person).

By then, though you still move among sages and ordinary people, you are no longer of the three realms (desire, form, and formless); though the body remains in the turbid world, no one can fathom your comings and goings. When you wish to leave, you reach Peng Isle directly; when you let the mind go free, you are beyond all images.

Shangyang Zi Chen Zhixu says: Jusheng is Huma. Eating Huma as a staple meal often can extend years—how much more the returned elixir (Huandan), a treasure of Heaven and Earth refined from Metal, Water, and Wuji (the two Earth stems Wu and Ji—in internal alchemy, the “true earth” that harmonizes the medicines). When cultivators “conceal” it and ingest it, life lasts as long as sun and moon.

Fu means concealing innate Qi; shi means swallowing an elixir the size of a millet grain. Later writers wrongly wrote fu as “to serve” or “to take”—they did not grasp the subtlety of fu. Immortal masters say: you must fu qi—not merely “take” qi; and even when you speak of taking qi, you must first fu qi. Taking qi alone cannot grant long life; long life requires fu qi. The whole secret is the one word fu: reversing the creative, transforming pulse of nature and putting it to use.

Earth wanders through the four seasons—and those seasons are Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei. Each season Earth has its days of dominance; in every season Earth is strong for eighteen days—this is called “wandering.” Only in summer does Fire generate Earth, so Earth’s virtue is strongest then. Metal fears Fire, so Metal is discussed only in autumn, in the Shen month. The ancients said Water and Earth are both born at Shen: Earth is born from summer Fire; Water gathers in a certain celestial region before it appears; Water restrains Fire, and Earth then begets Metal. So at the start of autumn Earth is dominant for nine days and begets Geng Metal; from there to Xu, another nine days of divided Earth dominance follow.

What is meant by “guarding the boundaries” and “fixing the compass and square”: the Di Earth of the east can hold the boundary of the Azure Dragon (eastern Wood); the Wei Earth of the west can bridle the White Tiger’s (western Metal) force; the Liu Earth of the south can square the gate of Li Fire (southern Fire); the Nu Earth of the north can stabilize the inner gate of Kan (northern Water). Thus cinnabar sand and true Metal qi are subdued and returned within the five viscera.

When elixir qi first arrives, it scatters like fog, moistens like rain, steams and reaches the four limbs. Spirit and qi are complete; the complexion is fair; teeth grow and hair blackens; old returns to young; the withered form is changed; worldly calamities are forever avoided; form and spirit are wondrous together. Zixia Zhenren said: to begin refining the elixir, you must first harmonize the two Wuji Earths—only then can you gather Metal and Water and complete the elixir.

Quanyang Zi Yu Yan says: Jusheng is Huma; ingesting it can still extend life—how much more the nine-turn great returned elixir of golden liquid, which at the height of metal essence steals Heaven and Earth’s vital qi and forms the holy embryo (the true “fetus” of internal alchemy). How could it fail to grant long life? Metal is hard and firm, undecayed for ten thousand years—the treasure among the ten thousand things—so immortals prize it above all; they do not speak of elixirs of Water, Fire, Wood, or Earth, but call it solely Jindan (Golden Elixir).

Earth has no fixed place; it circulates among Chen, Xu, Chou, and Wei—the four seasons are all places where Earth wanders. Earth can drain Water and hide Fire: guard Water and it does not flow; guard Fire and the flame does not flare outward. Now use it to guard Kun (Earth—the belly, where medicine is gathered) and to guard Qian (Heaven—the head, where fire is circulated): that is guarding boundaries and fixing compass and square.

Therefore golden sand rises into the ding (crucible): it passes the two kidneys, is guided up the jiaji (spine), runs through the heart channel, enters the sea of marrow, surges through the lung shu (back points), passes liver and spleen, and returns to the Dantian (energy center). On the ascent it is like cloud and mist filling every side, like wind and rain arriving suddenly, like waking from a bright-day dream, like a grave illness lifting at once; spirit joining like the union of husband and wife, flesh and bone melting like rising fresh from the bath—these are all real signs.

From then on, warm and nurture day and night without break; true qi steams to the four limbs; naturally the spirit is clear, the qi refreshed, the face pleasant; white hair turns black and fallen teeth grow again; the old man is a robust youth again, the old woman a young maiden again. The form is changed and you transcend the mundane world, leap from the cage, forever leave worldly disaster, and share Heaven and Earth’s boundlessness—then you are called a Zhenren (True Person).

To deduce the numerology of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) is, by comparison, concise rather than tangled. When water strikes fire, the light is suddenly snuffed out. When sun and moon mutually obscure each other in eclipse, it usually falls between the last day of a month (hui) and the new moon (shuo). When water’s force is excessive, Kan—the trigram of water, yin—encroaches upon yang; when fire is weak, Li—the trigram of fire, yang—grows dim even in broad daylight. Yin and yang mutually consume and mutually nourish one another; their mutual resonance is the way of nature itself.

Peng Xiao, Master Zhenyi, said: The Five Phases are formless qi (vital energy); they are hard to see clearly. If one measures them against the full tally of heaven and earth, their operation cannot escape detection. When resonance arises within the crucible, the Five Phases constrain themselves of their own accord, and yin and yang unite: when fire rises, water recedes; when water surges, fire weakens. The sun’s soul (ri hun) arises from the new moon; the moon’s spirit (yue po) ends at the month’s close; male and female alternate, and cinnabar and mercury—the emblematic “medicines” of the elixir path—beget one another. This is the principle of heaven and earth in nature; the Dao of the inner elixir (Neidan) is thereby made clear.

Chen Xianwei, Master Baoyi, said: If one compares them only by the Five Phases, at the first sight of water, fire’s light is suddenly extinguished. Sun and moon likewise belong to water and fire—yet at conjunction on the new moon they do not harm each other. Why? Because heaven and earth’s yin-yang resonance and mutual “eating” have fixed numbers and fixed seasons; there is no harm of water overwhelming and fire declining. Whoever can discern this pivot and apply it holds the cosmos in the hand, and the myriad transformations are born from a single body. Though water and fire mutually overcome, they are joined as husband and wife; though metal and wood stand apart, they can still communicate naturally. People under heaven neither see nor know this—how pitiable.

Chen Zhixu, Master Shangyang, said: The numbers of the Five Phases—namely metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—are unfolded as the numerology of “three-five-one” (san-wu-yi), the reckoning by which the Five Phases are gathered back into the One. In refining the golden elixir (Jindan), lead, mercury, silver, cinnabar, and earth are taken as the Five Phases to match yin and yang. That water can extinguish fire means yin can dissolve yang. That sun and moon are eclipsed only at new and full moon is yin and yang in waxing and waning, mutually encroaching. When yin and yang are harmonized and mutually nourish, the way of mutual resonance arises of itself.

Yu Yan, Master Quanyang, said: The Book of Changes says: Heaven one, earth two; heaven three, earth four; heaven five, earth six; heaven seven, earth eight. When yin and yang are harmonized and mutually nourish, the way of mutual resonance arises of itself.

Quanyangzi Yu Yan said: What the Yi (Classic of Changes) calls Heaven-One, Earth-Two, Heaven-Three, Earth-Four, Heaven-Five, Earth-Six, Heaven-Seven, Earth-Eight, Heaven-Nine, and Earth-Ten is the generative numbering of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water).

The Zihua zi says: In the great reckoning of Heaven and Earth, nothing exceeds five, and nothing is more central than five. Five is the number of Earth (tu), and its position is at the center. Combined with Water in the north as one, it becomes six; combined with Fire in the south as two, it becomes seven; combined with Wood in the east as three, it becomes eight; combined with Metal in the west as four, it becomes nine. Counting stops at nine—nine is the extreme of number. Five stands exactly in the middle between one, two, three, four and six, seven, eight, nine; it is the true middle number.

Originally there was no ten in the reckoning. What is meant by “Earth completes ten” is that the north’s one, the south’s two, the east’s three, and the west’s four gather at the center and together make ten. When the central five is distributed to the four directions, six, seven, eight, and nine arise; Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal all depend on Earth to be completed. If the four directions’ one, two, three, and four return to the center to form ten, then Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal all turn back to their root and source and are gathered within Earth. Alas! When the person who truly understands turns inward to seek within themselves, the principle is utterly simple and not at all cumbersome.

The Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) says, “The two substances altogether depend on the child producing the mother in reversal; the Five Phases must all enter the center.” The two substances of yin and yang rely entirely on this inversion whereby the child in turn generates the mother; the Five Phases must all be gathered into the center. The Hunyuan baozhang says, “The four positions are clearly used in reversed order; the Five Phases rise together and return together.” The four directions must be employed with clear reversal; the Five Phases arise as one and return as one. Both passages expound this meaning.

The Huangji jingshi says: When sun and moon eclipse each other, it is a meeting of numbers; in principle this is no different from Water overcoming Fire. When water strikes fire, fire is overcome by water and its light is instantly extinguished. When the Great Yin (the moon) covers the Great Yang (the sun), yang is overcome by yin and the daylight’s sunlight also dims. Why? Mutual intersection and mutual “devouring” of yin and yang is the natural way of the Dao. Yet solar and lunar eclipses usually occur between the last day of the month (hui) and the first day (shuo). Practitioners of Neidan (internal alchemy) aim precisely to “steal from Heaven and Earth” and seize this meeting from within it.