《圆峤内篇》Vol. 6

This passage explains how ding (steadfast concentration) and the hui jian (Sword of Wisdom) function in neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation, and how cai yao (gathering the Medicine) should be understood.

Iron Face and the True Sword (Ding and Hui)

To “display the iron face one was born with” is to bring forth unshakable concentration that does not turn with circumstances—“even when deliberately tested, there is not the slightest wavering”—so that however the outer world provokes, the heart does not follow. To “raise the true azure dragon sword” and “pluck every blossom on the wall-top” is the same move as “drive back the demon hordes, angrily lift the sharp Sword of Wisdom, dare to gather them—the fresh blossoms over the wall”: wield the sword of wisdom to subdue inner demons, and at the moment when the firing is most true, gather that yang qi that has “gone over the wall.” Liu Wuyuan’s reading of the iron face as ding and the sword as hui shows real mastery; yet if ding and hui have not passed through lian ji (refining the self—firming up one’s character and essence-qi first), the ding is not true ding and the hui is not true hui, and they cannot be relied on when it matters.

“One Branch of Flowers” and True Ding

The aria “One Branch of Flowers” says: “Constantly guard the mind-horse, moment by moment tether the heart-monkey, day and night without sleep, refining the self without break”—ward off the scattered heart (the “mind-horse”), tie up grasping thoughts (the “heart-monkey”), and ceaselessly practice refining the self. Ding must be refined until “I am a clear pure sea, not a speck of dust”—that is true ding; hui must be refined until “I am a night-pearl, forever suspended in emptiness”—that is true hui.

Wall-Top Blossoms and Gathering the Medicine

Blossoms on the “wall-top” are those that have already gone over the wall yet still cling to its edge—chu qiang hua er (“flowers over the wall”). In neidan this marks the instant when the fire is clearest and the timing most true; without a master’s transmission or the eye of one who has walked the path, it is hard to grasp. Once you see the moment of “branches and flowers over the wall,” gather them at once—that is the immortal’s method. “Pluck them all” does not mean picking blossom by blossom; it means drawing them in in one breath and swallowing them into oneself. If you take it as gradual picking and gradual gathering, that belongs to the later stages of wen yang (nurturing) and chou tian (drawing out and adding)—a move still further on.

The Celestial Cart and the Treasure Mountain

“Catch the wind in the sails, return fully laden”—when the four phases of firing unite into the elixir, you must promptly start the he che (the “celestial cart”: the circuit of qi through the channels that carries the Medicine back). How can you pass empty-handed through the bao shan (Treasure Mountain—the place of prior-heaven generation)? In the alchemical method: during refining it is Medicine, during gathering it is Medicine; during nurturing it becomes fire. Where there is Medicine there is fire, but that is not the fire of the nurturing stage. This chapter gets cai yao right; bao shan is precisely where prior-heaven life arises.

Commentary by Liu Yiming: When a person’s spirit wanes and the true spirit scatters, it is like blossoms falling and fading. Yet when flowers wither they can bloom again; when a person declines there is still a path of “return.” What is return? It is yang arising again within yin—what has withered can blossom once more.

Lead Flower (qianhua) is the light emitted by the mind of Dao and true knowing; Gui Water (guishui) is private desire and adventitious qi in the human mind. When Lead Flower appears, the mind of Dao is not obscured; when Gui Water is exhausted, the human mind stays quiet. With the mind of Dao clear and the human mind still, the true spirit is neither depleted nor harmed, and what was originally complete shows itself again—this is “the flowers fell yet the branches are full again.” Because Gui Water must be exhausted, there is “gathering up the worn sutra by moonlight”; because Lead Flower must appear, there is “hurrying to mend the robe at dawn.”

Adventitious desire in the human mind is like a worn sutra to be put away by moonlight; the mind of Dao and true knowing are original upright qi, like the morning sun. Gathering the worn sutra by moonlight and sweeping away private desire is retreating yin; mending the robe at dawn and adding true knowing is advancing yang. Retreating yin must continue until yin qi is wholly gone—that counts as the worn sutra fully gathered; advancing yang must continue until yang is purely complete—that counts as the robe fully mended. Yin exhausted and yang pure, returning to the origin and restoring the root, the original face fully appears—“withered yet blooming again” is no empty phrase.

Few in the world know this secret of “withered yet blooming again.” To know it, one must pursue it from beginning to end together with someone who understands this Dao, and only then can one truly grasp it.

Li Yan (verse): Rootless tree, flowers flying—when all have fallen they will open again in season. When Lead Flower shows and Gui is exhausted, the western garden is once more full of blossoms. By moonlight the worn sutra is just gathered; again one turns toward the dawn sun to mend the robe. This mystery is rare in the world; one must examine it closely with those who penetrate this Dao.

Commentary by Liu Wuyuan: the explanation is sound in itself, but it is not the original meaning of this chapter. Here we should read it in terms of nurturing with gentle warmth after Huandan (the internal elixir has formed). “Flying” means ascending and descending—morning advance of yang fire and evening withdrawal of the yin talisman. “Having unloaded” means Huandan has reached the stage of ye luo gui gen (leaves fall and return to the root: spirit and qi return to the root), which is exactly fuming (returning to the root). After fuming, one again takes gold and water (the lead–mercury image) from the outer furnace, extracts lead and adds mercury, and nurtures the lingtai (spirit embryo formed from the inner elixir). The Wuzhen pian says “increase and decrease on the outer furnace require applied effort”; the Cantong qi says “observe carefully, adjust cold and warm, move through the twelve nodes—when the nodes are done, intimacy is still needed”; Feng Weng (a certain elixir master) said “at zi and wu apply fire strictly, at mao and you bathe the golden elixir”—hence “reopening on a fixed schedule.” What “reopens” is the west-garden branch spoken of below. When lead flower appears and gui is exhausted: the great medicine of Huandan comes after lead generates gui; when lead arises, gather it. When metal meets “looking from afar,” it is not fit to taste—only after roughly five thousand four hundred forty-eight days, when gui water first rises, should one weigh the work and seize the supreme treasure of the first classic— that is the highest method. Gui arising is the fourteenth stage, gui exhausted the fifteenth—a single stretch of yang light, right at this moment. In the human body, it is nothing but great movement within great stillness. Gather and swallow, and Huandan is complete; yet once the great elixir is in hand, outer lead arises again, and Danjia must take it for nurturing—hence “again the west garden, branches full of flowers,” and so on. “Just now the moon passed, we put things away”—that is extracting lead; “again toward the morning sun, mending the patch robe”—that is adding mercury. The method of “putting away” follows the moon’s dark and new; hence the image of the moon; the method of “mending the robe” uses the sun’s dawn and dusk—hence the metaphor of the morning sun. This is the subtle intent of the esoteric school. Such subtlety is rarely known in the world; to understand it one must discuss it carefully with an immortal who has attained the Dao, so as not to go astray.

Rootless Tree (in internal alchemy, a metaphor for the root of the human body and true nature): the flower (the first sign of the “spiritual root” or the image of yang spirit in cultivation) is in bloom; you must gather it in the Yan Yue Furnace (the dantian or “cauldron” shaped like a waning moon—the place in the body where refinement happens) and refine it there.

Thus you can extend life and reduce illness and calamity; it is also fitting to seek good companions (fellow cultivators who can protect and support one another) and to prepare fa cai (the provisions needed for practice: time, precepts, a lineage teacher, and bodily and mental conditions—not merely worldly money).

Only then can one speak of refining the heavenly treasure (the pre-heaven true spirit, the achievement of the inner elixir; in Li’s commentary this “heavenly treasure” is what is meant); people lost in fame and profit may laugh at me as foolish—let them.

“Urge the merchant of talent: learn to play clever in the world”: if the heart stays caught in goods, profit, talent, and reputation, one only learns slickness in human affairs—that has nothing to do with refining the elixir. “Without meeting a clear teacher, do not guess by force”: without a clear teacher to open the crucial points, do not hard-guess the oral formulas or practice at random, lest you go astray.

[Liu’s commentary] The crux of this section is the Yan Yue Furnace—gathering the medicine and moving the fire are completed within this “furnace” in the body, not sought outside.

[Li’s commentary] The crux of this section is the heavenly treasure—what is refined is the formless treasure of pre-heaven, not something that can be bought and sold in the world.

The pre-heaven true numinous spirit is this “treasure”: without form or image, without direction or place. You cannot grasp it with your hands—so from where would you “gather” it to form the returned elixir? Even so, it is not that it never has a season of “appearance.” When the time comes to bloom, a hint of an image shows in vagueness and drift; essence hides in deep obscurity and silence. That essence is utterly real; within it is its own verification, and its emblem is like the tilted crescent (yanyue). Lay craftsmen who do not understand the ancients’ intent in choosing images say it is between the two kidneys, or the Mingtang between the brows, or the stubborn heart-mind in the chest; worse still, heterodox teachers point to a woman’s birth gate—all grossly wrong.

What is meant by the tilted crescent is the moon lying slantwise, leaning back. Heaven’s moon, on the third day of each month, shows a new moon like curved brows beneath the black qi in the southwest Kun position; its light and shape lean back, hence “tilted crescent.” In the hexagrams, this is pure yin below with the slightest yang newly born—the Fu hexagram. In the human body, it is stillness reaching its limit and then movement arising, the empty chamber generating white light, and the Heart of Heaven and Earth beginning to stir. Within this heart lies a point of pre-heaven ancestral qi, barely emerging from the dark; its image is like the light of the tilted crescent. This point of ancestral qi is the root of Heaven and Earth and the foundation of the Five Phases; it can make immortals and buddhas, sages and worthies, and secure nature and life—so it is also called the Tilted Crescent Furnace (yanyue lu).

This “Heart of Heaven and Earth” matches Heaven and Earth in virtue, sun and moon in brightness, the four seasons in order, and ghosts and spirits in fortune and misfortune—such a meeting is rare. If you are fortunate enough to encounter it, the moment must not be missed: you must at once set about gathering it, seal it tightly, and not let it leak—only then can you extend life and lessen calamity. But extending life and lessening calamity is not for anyone without great merit, great conduct, great resolve, and great strength. Outwardly you must bind good affinities to cultivate de; inwardly you must prepare Dharma wealth (facai) and employ sincerity—only then can you move the Great Ultimate (Huangji) and obtain the Heavenly Treasure (tianbao).

Dharma wealth is not gold and silver in the world; it is “wealth within the method”—single-minded devotion, genuine practice, and a thought that does not turn back: sincerity and effort. Shangyang Zhenren said: if Heaven for a time does not grant what one wishes, one should seek it with the sincerity of Dharma wealth. To seek the Heavenly Treasure, you must exhaust human effort; if human effort is not complete, there is no Dharma wealth; without Dharma wealth yet dreaming of the Heavenly Treasure—hard indeed. To seek the Heavenly Treasure, can you fail to prepare Dharma wealth first?

The Heavenly Treasure is nothing else: it is the Golden Elixir refined from the true numinous spirit—that is, the returned elixir formed when the Heart of Heaven and Earth is fully restored. Before cultivation it is called the true numinous spirit, the Heart of Heaven and Earth; when cultivation is complete and mature it is called the Heavenly Treasure, the Golden Elixir. Once the Heavenly Treasure is obtained, the ten thousand things are all empty, root and dust both transform, and you enter a realm of no knowing, no awareness, no self, no other—letting the crowd of the deluded laugh at you as a fool. This “foolish” work must be passed mouth-to-ear and heart-to-heart by a clear master; it cannot be forced by guessing. The Immortal Lord said: “I urge the talented—do not play clever; without a clear master, do not guess hard”—the reminder to later generations has already been said enough.

[Li’s Commentary · Opening Chapter]

The “opening” spoken of here refers to how the deluded crowd in the jade assembly laugh at me for being dull. That “dullness” is not genuine foolishness; its subtle meaning must be passed from an enlightened master mouth to ear and heart to heart—it cannot be forced by one’s own guessing. The immortal elder said: “I urge you talented ones, do not show off cleverness; without a clear master, do not guess hard”—he has already warned later generations more than enough.

[Li’s Commentary · Opening Chapter]

The “opening” spoken of here refers to the stage when the jade pistil first forms. The crescent-moon furnace (yanyue lu) has no fixed place in the human body and no fixed hour, because when Yang qi has just stirred, light appears in stillness—hence the new moon at the depth of obscurity (huiji shengming) is used as a likeness. The moon in the sky has its Geng direction and its third-day phase; time and direction can both be pointed to. In the person, wherever light appears is the Geng direction; whenever light appears is the “third day”—nothing can be fixed in advance. What shape is the crescent moon? What Liu Tu (Liu Tu) drew is exactly it. “Yan” also implies “yang” (upturned): nine parts dark, one part white; white seen within black—Yang qi just born, so above it shows white light and is the crescent moon. What people say today, if it is a whole arc turned upward, that is an upturned moon, not a crescent moon. Why say “pick it down”? Because qi is in empty space. When alchemists see this thread of white light, they must not lightly start the celestial river chariot (heche); they should only, with a spirit of plain detachment and an intention of gentle harmony, gather it where qi is born—hence “pick it down from the crescent-moon furnace.” When spirit and qi unite, before long the great sunlight appears, like the full circle of the fifteenth day—that is the mid-autumn moon, that is qi full and the tide rising (qi zu chao sheng)—only then may one move on the yellow path (huangdao) and send it to the Yellow Court (huangting); from this years of life may extend and illness and calamity lessen. “Good companions” and “dharma wealth” (facai) mean like-minded seekers of the Way who are willing to spend good resources to protect the dharma and help others attain the Way. Wuyuan, in Discerning True Cultivation (Xiuzhen bian) and in his notes to this chapter, still treats facai as something within the body—that is language to correct greed. Evenly considered, facai has two kinds: inner facai is true gold; outer facai is borrowed treasure. “Borrowing the false to cultivate the true” (jie jia xiu zhen) truly cannot do without it, but one should not grasp for extra gain. After the heavenly treasure (tianbao) is refined, playing the fool, clutching uncut jade in the bosom while the crowd of the deluded laugh that you are a simpleton—all of that may be left as it is. Yet refining the heavenly treasure is no easy matter! Without meeting an enlightened master, one cannot know it.

Entry Ten

Liu says: The returning elixir is already complete.

Li says: Take the returning elixir and withdraw into the mountains to live in seclusion.

The rootless tree is now in full bloom, and the fruit has all been gathered—rich and full in flavor. The fruit is like a red tangerine, or like a small pellet. At this stage you must all the more hold fast to the “embankment” (meaning intention and refined essence-energy); do not slacken or grow lazy.

You should learn the principle by which plants and trees “gather in their tops”—when autumn comes, plants and trees draw their essential vitality back into the root; likewise, a person must let life return, return to the root, and return to the original source.

Choose a place where spiritual energy is abundant, build a small hermitage for cultivation, and there unite with pre-heaven Qi (xian tian zhi qi) to complete the work of the great returning elixir (da huan dan).

[Commentary by Liu] The treasure of true spirit departs yet returns; the old becomes new again without harm—it remains what it originally was. This is the meaning of “round” (yuan): achievement fully gathered, flavor complete. When the Golden Elixir is accomplished, the Five Phases gather in one place, the Four Images harmonize, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust merge into one body, and Jing (essence), Shen (spirit), Hun, Po, and intent return to a single Qi (vital energy). Then, with the “symbolic fire” (fu huo—the alchemical “fire method” of regulating breath and refining according to the firing phases) cooked to maturity, it becomes a purely yang substance, lively and bright, colored like a red tangerine, round as a pellet. At this stage one must hold the “embankment” (a metaphor for steady guarding of intent—neither leaking nor dispersing) and not slacken through the twelve double-hours, hide one’s light and bide one’s time, and learn from plants the method of “drawing in the head” (shou tou—gathering in and returning to root): restore life and return to the root, go back to the source; only when stillness reaches its limit and movement arises again, and one unites with the pre-heaven (xiantian), can the work of the “Great Returning Elixir” (da huandan) be undertaken. What is described here is the practice after the returning elixir is already formed—the further work of the “Great Elixir” (da dan).

The returning elixir merely restores what one originally possessed; it belongs to the realm of transcending the ordinary. Lü Zu (Lü Dongbin) said, “Of the three lead, only one lead need be completed; the golden fruit and immortal sprout have not yet taken form”—that is exactly this meaning. The Great Elixir is cultivation carried further upon the foundation of the returning elixir; it belongs to entering sainthood. Lü Zu also said, “Set up the furnace again, re-establish the cauldron, stride the tiger and ride the dragon to leave the mundane scene”—that is this meaning as well. If one only cultivates the returning elixir and does not proceed to forge the Great Elixir, one reaches at most the initial vehicle (the doorway level)—merely a “whole person”—and how could one enter the domain of the sage?

“Choosing a numinous ground and establishing a dao hermitage” does not refer to an external sacred place or hut; it means the inner numinous ground and inner dao hermitage. When cultivation has reached return to root and restoration of life, and the work of the returning elixir is finished, after long gentle nurturing Qi and spirit are full—this is the “numinous elixir”; wherever one abides at that time is the “numinous ground.” To set up the furnace again and re-establish the cauldron there is to “establish the dao hermitage.” Saying “choose the numinous ground” means awaiting the birth of one yang (yiyang sheng). The one yang spoken of here is the yang that moves when stillness reaches its limit within the pre-heaven—it is not the pre-heaven yang produced from within the post-heaven (houtian) during the returning-elixir stage. Though both are called pre-heaven, there is an order of before and after. To accomplish the Great Returning Elixir, union with the yang that stirs from utmost stillness in the pre-heaven is indispensable; hence “uniting with the pre-heaven completes the great return.”

Only when the Great Elixir is achieved does one enter the foundation of sainthood; if the Great Elixir is not complete, one is only halfway—not the full work of the Way. A Buddhist scripture says: “At the top of a hundred-foot pole, if you do not move, though you have entered, it is not yet true. From the top of the hundred-foot pole, advance once more—the worlds of the ten directions are your whole body.” Is that not precisely the meaning of “great completion of return”?

Plain-Language Explanation

“Round” (yuan) refers to the returning elixir (huandan), with the sense of bringing nature and disposition into full, unified completion. The method stresses attaining emptiness and guarding stillness (zhixu shoujing)—making the mind empty and still, holding to clarity—then observing the image of “the moon rising in the geng direction,” a metaphor for the first stir of yang; one then meets it with the “mercury” of one’s own body. Outer contact stirs inner response and images arise; inner contact responds outward and spirit is born—like a magnet drawing iron—gathering it into the dantian: this is returning the outer elixir. The method is extremely simple and easy; ancient immortals said: “Within half a watch, achievement stands at hand.”

The elixir has two grades; in finer terms there are three vehicles (sancheng). All three vehicle methods gather the lead flower; all are called returning the elixir; only the sequence and scale differ.

The first is the initial vehicle, named forming the elixir, also called Jade Liquid Returning Elixir (yuye huandan): from post-heaven one returns to pre-heaven, shedding gui and taking ren, nourishing with jade liquid until the inner elixir is complete—this is the study of fulfilling nature (jinxing) and attainment of the human immortal (renxian).

The second is the upper vehicle, titled returning the elixir, also called Seven Returns (qifan): from the pre-heaven returned from post-heaven, one again “plants” pre-heaven and establishes the elixir mother—this is the study of establishing life (lming) and attainment of the earth immortal (dixian).

The third is the great vehicle, named Nine Revolutions Great Returning Elixir (jiuzhuan dahuandan): taking the full moon on the fifteenth night as a figure, one again takes pre-heaven from within pre-heaven; when the firing is ripe it proceeds, turning into white liquid, swallowed back into the belly, congealing until hard—this is Golden Liquid Returning Elixir (jinye huandan), supremely numinous and subtle, becoming sage and becoming true—this is the study of both nature and life fully completed (xingming juliao) and attainment of the heaven immortal (tianxian).

“Flower perfectly round” speaks from the foundation of the upper-vehicle elixir: one fruit is counted as set, one harvest as gathered. The method of refining lead is the mutual swallowing of the two substances, the five phases all present—called the full flavor (ziwei quan).

Though this elixir is not the great-vehicle elixir, it is still bright red like a vermilion tangerine, round and firm like a pellet. When practice reaches this point, one must silently tend it, fine and enduring as if always there; otherwise the embrace is not intimate and it easily slips away—so one must guard the dyke and not relax. The line “learn a bit of the method of gathering in plants at their peak” is what the Book of Changes means by “with this wash the heart, withdraw and hide in the secret”; “return life to the root and turn back to the origin” is what the Cantong qi means by “the true dwells in the white, square and round, an inch across.”

Choosing numinous ground and binding a Daoist hermitage: Wuyuan holds that numinous ground and the hermitage are in the human person, with inner and outer uses. Inner: numinous ground and hermitage require the spirit platform (lingtai) clear and pure, essence and spirit harmonious and full, binding the Wayfarer’s Heart-Peace Hermitage within; outer: one seeks numinous mountains and blessed land, free of clamor and dust, binding the Wayfarer’s White-Cloud Thatched Hermitage within that setting. Thus mind and traces are both clear, true power brims full; yang arises from the lead, one meets and merges it, the Way completes the nine-revolution great return, and the sage work is finished.

Eleven

[Liu’s remark] The Qi of True Unity.

[Li’s remark] What is joined in sexual union.

Scripture verse (main idea)

The rootless tree, its blossoms in full bloom—speak of “no root,” yet in truth it has a root.

The aperture of the Three Powers and the essence of the Two Fives: when Heaven and Earth meet, the myriad things are born; when sun and moon meet, cold and heat follow their seasons; when man and woman meet, pregnancy begins to form.

Say it as plainly as you will—still one fears that face to face you will not recognize what is true.

[Liu’s commentary] Plain-language explanation

The single thread of true spirit Qi in the pre-heaven state is complete in all principles and responsive to every affair. Ordinarily it is still and unmoving; when stirred, it penetrates everywhere—so nothing in the world fails to benefit. This is what the verse means by “the blossoms in full prosperity.” When the flowers flourish, though the tree is called “rootless,” the flowers do have a root—and that root is precisely the aperture of the Three Powers (Heaven, Earth, and Human) and the wondrous union of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases known as the essence of the Two Fives.

Because it is the aperture of the Three Powers and the essence of the Two Fives, in the pre-heaven phase it is born from Yin and Yang; in the post-heaven phase it is stored within Yin and Yang. One Qi divides into Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang reunite as one Qi. Thus when the upper and lower Yin and Yang of Heaven and Earth meet, the myriad things are generated; when the Yin and Yang of sun and moon alternate, cold and heat stay in order; when the Yin and Yang of man and woman meet, pregnancy begins to take shape. Observe Heaven and Earth, sun and moon, and man and woman: only when Yin and Yang join does creation occur. From this you can know that the way of Xingming (nature and life) cannot be accomplished unless Yin and Yang unite into one Qi. This one Qi is the root of nature and life and the gate of birth and death: with this aperture, Yin and Yang meet and life arises; without this Qi, Yin and Yang turn away and death follows. Human birth and death hang entirely on whether this “one Qi” is present or lost.

Yet most people do not know what this one Qi is or where it resides: some take it for the breath of respiration; some move it up and down in the Huangting (Yellow Court); some gather it in the Dantian, between the eyebrows, in the celestial valley (tiangu), or behind the head—methods multiply, and in the end all come to nothing. In fact the pre-heaven Qi of True Unity cannot be seen, heard, or grasped. The sages use the solid to reveal the empty and the existent to reveal the nonexistent: what is solid and present is true Yin and true Yang; what is empty and absent is the Qi of the “two eights and two strings” (erba liangxian). The two appear side by side; one Qi sits between them and condenses into the elixir—fundamentally a matter in empty space. How could it be guessed at with things that have form and image? How could it be forced through an aperture with fixed location?

Because people universally fail to recognize this one Qi, the Immortal Master pointed to it with the Three-Powers aperture and the Two-Fives essence, and used the meeting of Heaven and Earth, sun and moon, and man and woman as a clear analogy—yet still feared that even when it stood before them they would not know it for what it is. Wuyuan (Liu Yiming) ventures to pass on the message once more: know that the pre-heaven Qi of True Unity is nothing other than a speck of true spirit Qi. Because it is firm, healthy, and centrally balanced, it is called True Unity (Zhenyi); because it is easy to know and simple in its power, it is called true spirit (Zhenling). True Unity and true spirit are different names for one thing, not two substances, utterly without dross—hence they are called pre-heaven entities.

[Li’s Commentary] “Heng” (success/penetration) means unobstructed flow. When primordial qi flows freely, the meaning of “exchange” (jiao) in the following lines unfolds from it. Flowers grow on trees, trees grow from roots, and roots grow from nothing—yet a rootless root still has root. This rootless root is precisely the root that gives birth to Heaven, Earth, and humanity; this root is the aperture of emptiness and nothingness, hence it is called the Three Treasures Aperture. This aperture is where essences meet in exchange, so the text says “Three Treasures Aperture, Two-Five Essence.” The Two-Five means: Heaven’s five is one five, Earth’s ten is another five—Two-Five is the two Earths; when the two Earths unite, the elixir spoon (daogui) is formed. The Mud Pill Palace text says: “The single aperture of the Mysterious Pass—no one recognizes it; this is where the elixir spoon is wonderfully unique.” The place where Two-Five essences exchange is precisely the source where the medicine is produced. The great cultivator, at this aperture of emptiness and nothingness, knowing it as the site of sacred union, must be able to draw the pre-heaven primordial qi from within emptiness and nothingness—then the power of exchange is great indeed! Thus when Heaven and Earth exchange, the myriad things are born; when sun and moon exchange, cold and warmth follow their seasons; when man and woman exchange, pregnancy begins—all are proofs of sacred union. This principle is very clear and easy for everyone to grasp, yet everyone fails to grasp it. The immortal master, in vast compassion, speaks to you: you need only at the place where “two and eight meet,” merge the two breaths into one ball, and the great medicine can be born. Only beware that when dragon and tiger meet they may exhale the qi of the two strings, and the alchemist may not recognize what is true.

Twelfth

[Liu’s Statement] The metal essence opens in fullness. [Li’s Statement] Recognize the metal essence.

Rootless tree, flowers at their best—facing the scene, forget emotion; playing with the moon’s glow. The metal essence is strong, dazzling the eyes with flowers—do not wrongly pick melons in the garden. The five metals and eight stones are all false; ten thousand herbs and a thousand formulas are all wrong. The golden toad, the jade crow—when you recognize what is true, you are the adept.

Commentary by Liu: The innate numinous treasure (xian tian ling bao), firm, correct, and centered, is pure essence; its “blossom” is the most precious. At the peak of fullness it is like moon radiance in bloom and golden essence at its height—one should attend to it with the heart and not let it pass by in plain sight.

“Opening month by month” means opening in season and not out of time, fixed by the lunar month, with constancy in movement and stillness, not a hair’s breadth off. Golden essence is the utmost refinement within metal; in heaven it refers to moon radiance, in the human body to true essence (Zhen Jing). True essence is the refinement of the true spirit (Zhen Ling); ordinary people rarely notice it, so moon radiance and golden essence serve as images. The true spirit is hard to know—one may infer it from the “truth” in moon and metal; hard to see—one may contemplate it in the manifestation of moon radiance and golden essence.

The essence of all things, held long, eventually declines; only moon radiance opens every month and golden essence is undiminished across ten thousand years. As with moon radiance and golden essence, so with human true essence. Sometimes true essence seems not “refined” only because post-heaven yin qi veils it—the root nature is not extinguished. When golden essence is vigorous, true essence is vigorous; when true essence is at full vigor, it illumines the world and Qi fills the cosmos—like white snow flying in the void, Yellow Sprout (Huang Ya) covering the ground, golden light dazzling. Whatever meets the eye on every side is “blossom.”

Yet this true essence has neither form nor image, is neither color nor emptiness; it cannot be sought with intent, nor guarded with non-intent—only the spirit can unite with it, it cannot be passed mouth to mouth. Though bright and clear, present and complete, everyone sees it daily, everyone fails to recognize it—the hardest thing is to know what is truly real. Those who cultivate the Dao must study deeply and observe finely and attain genuine insight before they can begin; they must not take the false for true or what seems so for what is, like picking the wrong melon in the garden.

(The text continues:) The five metals and eight stones are all deceptive; ten thousand herbs and a thousand formulas all fall short. The golden toad and jade crow—only when you recognize what is real are you an insider.

Among those in the world who practice blindly and refine haphazardly, some take “Golden Essence” (Jin Jing) to be something you can see and touch, and so they refine the five metals and eight minerals, swallow myriad herbs and formulas—those things are not of the same kind as “me”; how could they form the elixir and connect to life? Is that not wildly mistaken?

The toad is a creature of water and belongs to yin; when we speak of the toad’s “gold,” we mean yang within yin, white within black—that is the “true knowing” (Zhenzhi) in my body. The crow is a creature that flies in heaven and belongs to yang; when we speak of the crow’s “jade,” we mean yin within yang, the female within the male—that is the “spiritual knowing” (Lingzhi) in my body. True knowing and spiritual knowing are the things of the same kind as me, the treasures of my nature and life (Xingming). Take these two and unite them into one elixir: where truth reaches its utmost it becomes spiritual, where spirit reaches its utmost it becomes true; true and spiritual do not scatter, they merge with heavenly principle as one, neither stuck in form nor fallen into emptiness, neither born nor destroyed—“Moon Essence” (Yuehua) is this, and “Golden Essence” is also this. When Moon Essence opens and Golden Essence flourishes, how could there be any reason not to attain longevity? It is only that most people do not recognize what true knowing and spiritual knowing really are; if someone truly can recognize them, they are an old hand at cultivation—there is nothing they cannot accomplish. Alas! On the path of the Golden Elixir (Jindan), miss by a hair’s breadth and you err by a thousand li; those who can truly recognize this—how many are there?

[Li Jie’s commentary] “Jia” (beauty/excellence) refers to what is fine and perfect—it is another name for the “golden beautiful flower” (meijin hua). Alchemists call “true lead” (zhen qian) the golden beautiful flower. The Cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the Three) says: “Lead appears black on the outside, yet within it harbors the golden flower”—meaning that from black lead one refines white gold, which is then paired with cinnabar mercury (zhu gong) to generate pre-heaven single qi (xian tian yi qi); only this is the genuine golden beautiful flower. When it is reflected back upon oneself, one can form the return elixir (huan dan); but before the return elixir, one must first “refine the self” (lian ji)—when self-refinement is pure and mature, the return elixir comes easily.

“Facing the scenery while forgetting emotion” (dui jing wang qing) means that after self-refinement is fully mature, one faces every beautiful scene without the heart stirring in attachment, and devotes oneself solely to guarding this single thread of true qi (zhen qi). This single thread of true qi is called “moon brilliance” (yue hua). Why also call it moon brilliance? Because the waxing and waning of the moon can be used to gauge the flourishing and decline of qi. The Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) says: “On the fifteenth of the eighth month one plays with the toad’s radiance—right when golden essence (jin jing) is at its peak,” which is the same method as “playing with moon brilliance.” The moon gradually grows from the third day of the month; Master Lu (Lu Qian’an) compared this to qi still tender; at the fifteenth when it is full, he compared it to qi already sufficient. When qi is sufficient, golden essence is vigorous. Golden essence is what appears within moon brilliance—it shares one origin with moon brilliance but bears a different name: when vigorous, yellow sprout (huang ya) fills the cauldron and white snow spreads through the void; seen with the eye of wisdom, light shines brightly like flowers. The adept, with the “heaven-penetrating sword” (tong tian jian—a metaphor for the secret of drawing qi) takes it in good time, applies fire to refine it, and the return elixir achieved is nothing other than this one “flower.”

Do not lose this true flower and instead go to the garden to pick false melons, lest you regret it too late. It is not only picking melons that is wrong—the five metals and eight minerals (wu jin ba shi) are all false and not true; ten thousand herbs and a thousand formulas are all off and not right. What one seeks that is neither false nor mistaken is only this golden essence. From where does this golden essence arise? Look at the “golden toad” (jin ha ma) and the “jade crow” (yu lao ya)—those are the places where it is generated. The toad is a yin creature in water, yet is named “gold,” symbolizing the true yang (zhen yang) hidden within the Kan trigram (water); the crow is a yang creature in heaven, yet is named “jade,” symbolizing the true yin (zhen yin) hidden within the Li trigram (fire). When true yin and true yang interact, they give birth to “qi of the two crescents” (liang xian zhi qi—the first- and last-quarter moons metaphorizing the waxing and waning of yin-yang qi), and from qi of the two crescents arises “true one qi” (zhen yi zhi qi). Moon brilliance and golden essence are one and the same thing—but one must recognize what is truly real. When one recognizes the real, one is a seasoned alchemist who clearly understands firing times and distinguishes lead from mercury.

Liu’s explanation: To “gather the medicinal ingredients”—in the language of neidan (internal alchemy), this usually does not mean picking herbs in the mountains, but drawing from body and mind the “medicinal substance” (often tied to metaphors of jing, qi, and shen, or the pairing of Kan and Li).

Li’s explanation: To “pluck the yellow flower”—again a figure of speech: to reach for the “yellow flower” that stands for true yang, the central yellow, or the “golden flower,” so as to complete the work of cultivation.

Plain sense of the verse:

There is a “rootless tree” on which blossoms are in full bloom, so many they cover the ground; yet though these flowers fill heaven and earth, they are cut off by the “River of Love”—the river of love often stands for lust, worldly ties, and clinging, so that one sees the flowers but cannot cross, cannot pluck them.

When the flowers are hard to reach and hard to break off, what then? One can only go step by step into the “dragon-tiger lair” (in neidan, often the place where water and fire meet and Kan and Li unite—such as the dantian or where qi harmonizes).

Once the yellow flower is gathered, one returns “within the cavern” (a image of returning to inner emptiness, the dantian, or the “bridal chamber” in the body); in the “Purple Chamber” (often the head or the spirit hall in the dantian) one inscribes a mark that will never be erased—standing for the proof of attaining the Way, the seal of the primordial spirit (yuanshen).

Then, full of joy, one speaks to the white clouds: prepare the “heavenly ladder” to ascend to “Daluo” (Daluo Heaven—in Daoism often the highest heaven, standing for ascension in the Way or the spirit reaching the utmost realm).

Plain sense of Liu’s commentary:

Between heaven and earth, nothing is not filled with Dao-Qi; wherever the light of the true spirit shines, there are “flowers”—and they are many, blooming everywhere.

Alas, though the flowers bloom all around, people face them and do not recognize them, as if blocked by a river (the River of Love); the note here follows the verse: ordinary people are lost in the river of love, so they find it hard to gather the flower or pluck the yellow flower—they must enter the dragon-tiger lair, return to the cavern, reach the Purple Chamber, then use the heavenly ladder to ascend Daluo. The whole path says: Dao-Qi and true light are everywhere; what blocks us is knowing or not knowing, whether we can cross the river of love, enter the dragon and tiger, gather the yellow flower and return—and the commentary carries that line through.

Between heaven and earth, there is nowhere that is not filled with the Qi of the Dao. Wherever there is true spiritual light and illumination, one can say that place “has flowers”—and such “flowers” are many; they bloom everywhere.

Sadly, though flowers cover the world before our eyes, people fail to recognize them face to face. It is like standing across a river: you want to pluck a flower but cannot reach it—the hardest flower to pick, and nothing to be done. The reason it is hard to pick is that most people in the world are pulled by fame and profit, bound by affection and desire; they take the false for real and bitter for sweet, step by step entering the perilous “Dragon and Tiger” situation—the opposite of the path that preserves life and cultivates the Great Dao—so the most correct flower is the hardest to gather.

If a man truly has courage and can resolve at once, let go of worldly ties in that moment, seek the oral formula from a master, and use this borrowed body to cultivate truth; among ten thousand “flowers,” pick only the most central, most correct “Yellow Flower,” gather it into the “Grotto Chamber” within the body, nurture and refine it into Neidan (internal alchemy), extend life and years—then his name can be recorded in the immortal “Purple Goverment” and never fade. Here “Yellow Flower” means the flower whose color is correct and position is central—in the homeland of Wu and Ji: the flower in the central, upright place, pure living vitality without mixed qi. When that vitality returns to the Grotto Chamber, the four seasons are like spring, as if dwelling in a “White Cloud Nest,” free and at ease—a realm apart, not to be compared with the human world; how could one not laugh with delight and know that joy for oneself?

At this stage, the “returning elixir” is complete; then one sets the furnace anew and re-establishes the cauldron for higher work, builds the “heaven ladder,” and can attain the rank of Great Luo immortal.

Fourteen

Liu says: Yang arises from within Yin. Li says: It is like refining the medicine in the cauldron.

[Li’s commentary] The innate, original endowment—sages add not a single fraction to it, and fools subtract not a single fraction from it; everyone possesses it, each person is born with it—just as “flowers” naturally bloom in abundance. Yet they are often blocked by the “River of Desire,” so the original nature is buried; even when immortal flowers bloom everywhere, the River of Desire still stands between one and them, hard to reach. The River of Desire means the heart in the post-heaven realm of desire that clings to craving; it can obstruct the pre-heaven heart that turns toward the Dao. Once the heart of the Dao is blocked, it is hard to pluck those immortal flowers. What is one to do now?

The immortal master instructs those who cultivate the Dao: unless one seeks step by step and visits line by line, crosses mountain after mountain and ford after ford, and goes straight to where dragon and tiger dwell, there is little hope of seeing original nature. Here the dragon emerges from fire and the tiger is born from water—they can refine pre-heaven unified Qi from the post-heaven. The dragon is hidden in Yin and the tiger in Yang; when Yin and Yang unite, dragon and tiger arise, and when dragon and tiger unite again, the golden flower is born. The golden flower sits in the southwest Kun position; Kun earth is yellow, and its flower is a yellow flower. If one can gather the yellow flower, bring it back into the “cavern-dwelling” within the body, and refine it into the Golden Elixir, inscription in the Purple Palace will never fade. Then one may “laugh with ease”—deep cultivation and self-possession; like white clouds, dwelling in peace, at ease and with virtue full.

If one still wishes to advance further on the pole and seek the rank of celestial immortal, one must again set up furnace and cauldron and raise the heavenly ladder high; otherwise one cannot become a great Lu celestial immortal. Whoever would become a celestial immortal should begin here by preparing the “heavenly ladder.”

Main meaning of the scripture

On the “Rootless Tree” the blossoms are in full fragrance—like the moment in inner refinement when the “lead cauldron” is gently warm and the treasure-light appears. Standing on the “Golden Bridge” and gazing toward the “Qujiang” (the bent pool), one clearly sees the sun within the moon. Swallowing the black liver and the rabbit’s marrow, one replaces the old belly and bowels that were thick with dust. The arena of fame and profit, the country of love and attachment—if you turn back to cling to them again, it is only empty busyness.

What Liu’s commentary explains (inner-alchemy imagery)

“Full fragrance” refers to the utterly pure qi when the innate true spirit gathers and all goodness returns to one. This is exactly the firing time of “the lead cauldron gently warm, the treasure-light appearing.”

The lead cauldron stands for true knowing—genuine discernment that tells right from wrong and points toward the Great Dao. True knowing can shed the old and take up the new and complete the immortal; hence it is called the lead cauldron. Treasure means the true spirit; the true spirit can only show itself through true knowing. Within true knowing is the heart of Dao; within the heart of Dao is hidden the innate true-one qi—together they are called the true spirit. When the lead cauldron is “gently warm,” firm and yielding are balanced and neither extreme is taken—the cauldron image is complete; the heart of Dao is discovered, the light of the true spirit gradually arises—that is “the treasure-light appearing.”

The Golden Bridge belongs to metal; Qujiang belongs to water. To stand on the Golden Bridge and look toward Qujiang is the image of “metal within water”—yang arising within yin, like seeing the sun in the moon; it is the same realm as the gently warm lead cauldron and the appearing treasure-light.

Once the treasure-light is present, yin and yang unite in virtue, spirit and qi mutually govern—you should enter the nest of creation (the place in practice where change condenses) and let the true spirit “stay” rather than “leave.” This is swallowing the black liver together with the rabbit’s marrow: the black liver is green in color, symbolizing the sun’s essence and the spiritual aspect within knowing-as-spirit; the rabbit’s marrow is white, symbolizing moon radiance and the genuine feeling within true knowing. Nature does not leave feeling, feeling does not leave nature; the genuine reaches spirit, spirit reaches the genuine—nature and feeling are one, the true spirit is never dimmed, round and full, bright and blazing. When accumulated habit of the postnatal world is drained away, the heart of Dao always remains and the ordinary human heart is forever extinguished—that is replacing the old belly and bowels full of dust.

Once belly and bowels are replaced, all affairs are empty—what is there left to cling to in fame, profit, love, and attachment? The scripture’s closing line, “turn not back again or you busily waste yourself in vain,” is precisely urging one not to sink again into the world and squander effort for nothing.

[Li’s Commentary]

The “incense” spoken of here is not ordinary fragrance and carries no vulgar odor—it is the utmost pure and clean incense, symbolizing the moment when the pre-heaven (xiantian) first appears, before it has yet been tainted by post-heaven (houtian) dust and defilement.

The “lead cauldron” (qian ding) is the external cauldron. To refine lead, one must first set up the external cauldron in the southwest direction; this place is called the Kun homeland, also known as Kun Mother. Kun Mother is inherently empty and still; she must rely on the sun essence of Qian Father before she can produce lead. Sun essence is dragon mercury (long gong): the dragon is the eldest son, standing in for the father; entering the mother’s womb, qi and essence interact, and the cauldron of pre-heaven true lead is thereby established. Zhong Liquan said “the sun shifts into the brightness of the moon”—that is the method of establishing the cauldron. The later line “clearly see the sun within the moon” refers to when nurturing in the cauldron reaches the proper firing time. When the lead cauldron is gently warm, the treasure light appears—treasure light is the light of the life-treasure (ming bao); when this light flares once, it is precisely pre-heaven qi, like a white elephant reflected from between the brows and eyes. Lü Dongbin said “the lead cauldron warm and mild, light piercing the curtain,” and also “examine the brow—there is an omen”—all describe this scene.

The “golden bridge” (jin qiao) is the lower magpie bridge (xia que qiao), on the road to the southwest, where metal qi shines. “Qujiang” (Curved River) is where qi circles the magpie bridge and light reflects on the southwest. Ancient commentators on Lü Patriarch’s “on Qujiang, moonlight pure and bright”—if they take Qujiang as the twelve bends of the small intestine, or as the space between mouth and nose, they easily fall into demonic paths. Only Master Chen Niwán spoke to the point: “On the road to the southwest moonlight shines bright; the great medicine is still born from this place. Remember one line from the ancients: above Qujiang the magpie bridge spans.” Why? The southwest belongs to Kun; Kun is the belly; where treasure light appears, moonlight is exactly bright; where moonlight is bright, metal qi is exactly issuing. Thus from atop the golden bridge one sees Qujiang; upon the river is the moon, shining directly on the golden bridge. Moonlight blazing clear—Yin within Yang is born—hence “clearly see the sun within the moon.” The sun is the day; the Yang raven within the sun is the essence of the day. Swallowing raven liver means taking the sun essence of the east; swallowing rabbit marrow together means taking the moonlight of the west; essence combined and taken, the great medicine is born; sun and moon swallowed together, the golden elixir (jindan) takes concrete form—hence “swallow raven liver and rabbit marrow together, replacing entirely the dusty old belly.” Favor, profit, and fame—how could they disturb my clear heart? Turn and reflect: busy all day yet empty—how lamentable.

Fifteenth Lesson: Approaching the Furnace to Apply Effort and the Work of Gentle Nurturing

Plain Sense of the Verses

On the rootless tree the blossoms blaze in full color—like using “talisman fire” to slowly cook “mercury” and “lead.” When you truly “apply effort at the furnace” and the signs appear, whether you can gather the “medicine” depends entirely on whether you can hold the helm steady and sail the “dharma boat” well. The artisan’s skill must be high and the rudder firm; even if surging waves roll on the ocean floor, let them be. Pass the “three passes” in order and penetrate to the Mud Pill (the place in the crown where spirit is stored); eventually the blockage of the “nine orifices” throughout the body will be opened one by one.

Liu’s Commentary in Plain Language

The treasure of true love washes away dust and grime until it is utterly pure; then the flower naturally blooms bright. That brightness comes from cooking lead and mercury with talisman fire—in internal alchemy, the fire-timing work on yin-yang and on the state of body and mind.

Here true spirit (Zhenling) is the substance of true knowing (Zhenzhi) and spiritual knowing (Lingzhi); true knowing and spiritual knowing are in turn the functioning of true spirit. True spirit divides into two and the two merge back into one. So cooking the “lead” of true knowing and the “mercury” of spiritual knowing is, at bottom, cooking true spirit. How? Use true knowing to restrain and regulate spiritual knowing, and let spiritual knowing follow true knowing; when the two congeal, they return to the treasure of true spirit—its “freshness of bloom” cannot be put fully into words.

Yet though true spirit is easy to describe in outline, fire timing (huohou) is hardest. Perfected One of Purple Yang (Zhang Boduan) said: even if you recognize cinnabar and black lead, without understanding fire timing it is in vain; forming the elixir relies mostly on the power of sustained practice—fall short by a hair’s breadth and it fails.

On the path of the Golden Elixir: gathering the medicine requires knowing the right moment; refining the medicine requires knowing the method. Without timing and method, the great medicine can be right before you and still not be obtained. So when you approach the furnace to apply effort, in trance there is an image and in the dim void there is essence—a thread of light of true spirit shines out from emptiness, seeming to exist yet not, neither form nor void: this is the moment when the great medicine stirs. Then the three corpses and six thieves, the five aggregates and seven emotions—all sorts of phantasmal scenes may also appear. You must sail the dharma boat steadily and grip the helm; facing situations, forget attachment; let the ocean floor churn with waves while mind does not move and intent does not waver.

With such effort, gather and refine step by step, support yang and check yin; the longer you work, the stronger the force. When the work matures, essence transforms into qi, qi into spirit, spirit into emptiness; you pass the three passes, wind rises at the Mud Pill and the dharma form shows, and yin throughout the nine orifices of the body is also transformed away.

Liu’s note stresses: the three passes here are not the external-alchemy or meridian line of Weilü, Jiaji, and the like, but refining essence into qi (first pass) → refining qi into spirit (middle pass) → refining spirit into emptiness (upper pass). Passing these three, spirit merges with the Great Void, coming and going without obstruction—that is what penetrating the Mud Pill means; the Mud Pill Palace is precisely where spirit is stored.

“Nine orifices throughout the body” has two layers in the commentary: one is the hundred meridians and nine openings of the illusory body (the flesh)—yin turns to yang and each opening shines; another is that even hair can become guardian spirits. Students must not harm the main point by fixating on words; grasp the overall meaning of the dharma body accomplished and yin fully transformed.

Cultivation Note (Background)

“Approaching the furnace to apply effort” compares to internal practice entering a critical phase; “gentle nurturing (wenyang)” is using soft fire to hold the medicine after it is obtained, without rushing. Both the verses and Liu’s note say: when signs appear, steadiness is tested most—phantasm and true sign often arrive together; “dharma boat” and “holding the helm” mean sustained, method-aligned practice that does not turn with circumstances, not hard drilling at one fixed acupoint.

Li’s Commentary: This chapter focuses exclusively on the warming and nurturing (wenyang) phase of practice. Wuyuanzi says: passing the three passes (sanguan), penetrating the Mud Ball (niwan), and opening the nine apertures is not the route through the tailgate (weilü), spine center (jiaji), and so on that artisans speak of, but rather that after the three refinements (sanlian), spirit merges with emptiness and comes and goes without obstruction, so that the nine apertures of the illusory body each shine with light—that reading is acceptable. But the earlier lines, if not understood from the warming-and-nurturing stage, mix returning the elixir in the chamber (rushi huandan) with warming, nurturing, and emergence from the shell (wenyang tuotai) into one lump, which does not seem to match the master’s intention of guiding step by step. Here we interpret it only as warming and nurturing.

Xian means vivid and bright, growing clearer day by day; when warming-and-nurturing gong is deep, there is the sign of daily renewal and daily flourishing. Fu huo (talisman fire) refers to the Hexagrams Tun and Meng holding the office: advancing yang fire in the morning and retreating the yin talisman at evening. At the zi hour yang qi arises, so advancing fire properly belongs at zi; when the text speaks of morning, that is already the yin hour—not zi but yin—because fire is “born” at yin and yang qi flourishes, so fire is advanced then. At the wu hour yin qi arises, so retreating the talisman properly belongs at wu; when the text speaks of evening, that is already the xu hour—not wu but xu—because the fire “storehouse” is at xu and yin qi governs storing and gathering, so the talisman is retreated then. Retreating the talisman is for adding mercury; advancing fire is for drawing off lead; lead restrains mercury and mercury holds lead—lead daily decreases while mercury daily increases—hence “talisman and fire together refine mercury and lead.”

Lin lu (approaching the furnace) here means approaching the outer furnace, not the moment of approaching the furnace to gather medicine in the chamber. When refining lead in the chamber one must use the cauldron-vessel (dingqi); in warming and nurturing one uses the furnace (lu) and not the cauldron. There is an outer furnace and an inner furnace. Perfected One Ziyang says: “Within there is the natural true fire; in the furnace it blazes red without ceasing”—this is the inner furnace; he also says: “On the outer furnace increase and decrease demand diligent effort; nothing surpasses the true seed”—this is the outer furnace. At the moment of approaching the furnace, beautiful scenes appear before one; this is not the precious light appearing, nor illusory scenery, but gentle fire (wenhuo) in the inner furnace and intense fire (wuhuo) in the outer furnace. Gentle and intense fire cook and refine together—gradually gathering, gradually taking; gradually taking, gradually adding. In warming and nurturing there is work that must not be interrupted for a single moment; it all rests on the “craftsman’s hand” on the method boat (fachuan): not moved by what appeared earlier, nor disturbed by illusory scenes, not letting wind and waves shake the primordial work (yuangong). Then the method boat sails widely, coming and going without break, like Bodhidharma carrying gold across the sea, straight to the other shore—hence “gathering depends entirely on steering the method boat; the craftsman’s hand is skilled and holds the helm firm, let the great waves roll at the bottom of the sea,” and so on. The last three lines are already clear in Liu’s commentary; they are not repeated here.

Section 16

Liu’s commentary: You must recognize what “true lead” (zhen qian) is.

Li’s commentary: Put your whole mind into working on “true lead.”

Plain sense of the verse

When the “rootless tree” is in full bloom, recognize true lead (zhen qian) as the root ancestor.

Put jing (essence), qi (vital energy), and shen (spirit) together in one “cauldron (ding)” to refine them; the legendary effects of “woman becoming man” and “the old returning to youth” all come from this practice.

If you want to go west to seize the White Tiger, you must first go to the “eastern house” and subdue the Green Dragon.

The two kinds of “medicine,” inner and outer, must be of matching nature before you can work effectively; when outer medicine (wai yao) is open, inner medicine (nei yao) follows—and only when inner and outer are aligned together is the firing of the furnace truly right.

Liu’s commentary (plain language)

“Nong” means lush, abundant, thick, and full. When the flowers are at their fullest bloom, that is the right moment to begin practice—but before you start, you must first subdue the Green Dragon in the “eastern house,” and only then speak of the White Tiger in the west. Like attracts like, and only then can you apply effort; when outer medicine opens, inner medicine opens of itself—this is the meaning of inner and outer cooperating, with stages that must not be reversed.

[Commentary by Liu]

"Nong" (abundant, lush) means rich and plentiful. When flowers are in full bloom, good and bad, partial and complete are mixed together; one must distinguish the true "immortal flower" before it can be gathered and used. What is that true immortal flower? It is true lead (zhenqian). This lead is the genuine feeling within true knowledge (zhenzhi)—where true spirit shows itself. Because true knowledge is yin outside and yang within, black outside and white inside, it is called true lead; it is also called gold in water, lead from the watery realm, and moonlight at mid-month. The names are many, but all are metaphors for this thing called "true knowledge."

Only this true knowledge holds within it the primordial breath of innate primordial unity (xiantian zhenyi)—root of yin and yang, foundation of the Five Phases, seed of immortals and buddhas, lineage of sages and worthies, the orthodox ancestral line of those who cultivate the Dao. Recognize this ancestor, take it back to your own house, revere and guard it without leaving it for a moment, and Jing, Qi, and Shen naturally gather in one cauldron without forcing. When the father has returned, where can the son go? Add talisman fire (fuhuo) to refine and cook, and "the woman can turn into a man, the old can become a child again."

"Woman turning into man" is not the physical body becoming male: a woman is originally pure yin; when cultivation is complete, yin transforms into yang, and she walks the same path as a man. "Old becoming child again" is not the face returning to youth: the old person's qi is already depleted; when cultivation is complete, one returns to the root and restores the origin, like the state of a child.

Yet whether woman turns to man or old returns to child, though it rests on recognizing and taking true lead and true knowledge, one must first succeed in refining the self (lianji). If refining the self is not ripe, true knowledge does not come; even if it comes, it cannot be kept. Hence the saying: "If you wish to lead the White Tiger from the western garden, first go to the eastern house to tame the Azure Dragon." The White Tiger belongs to metal in the west and stands for true feeling (zhenqing); the Azure Dragon belongs to wood in the east and stands for true nature (zhenxing). True feeling and true nature were always one family—why go elsewhere to lead or tame them?

Because post-heaven qi intermingles with it, the genuine is mixed with the false, true feeling turns into false feeling, and kindness carries killing intent within it—like a tiger leaving its den and rushing west to harm people: it no longer belongs to me but lodges in another house instead. Once true feeling has become false feeling, true nature grows dim and likewise turns into false nature; when the false takes charge, the true steps aside, nature and feeling fall out of harmony, like a dragon in the east and a tiger in the west, never meeting each other.

If you wish to restore true nature, you must first remove false intent; if you wish to draw back “feeling” (desire, post-heaven emotion), you must first harmonize “nature” (original nature, the primordial spirit). The work of harmonizing nature is the work of refining oneself. Refining oneself means refining and transforming acquired nature—the temperament-nature. When acquired nature is fully transformed, true nature appears of itself; when true nature appears, it neither moves nor wavers, and true feeling also shows; once true feeling shows, false feeling does not arise, and you can draw back the White Tiger to pair with the Azure Dragon, so that feeling and nature love each other.

The White Tiger is the ancestor of true lead; it springs from one source under different names: because its true knowing is firm, strong, and unyielding, it is called the White Tiger; because its true knowing hides strength within softness, it is called true lead. Drawing back the White Tiger means taking true lead. “Drawing” is not forced pulling—it is drawing without forcing: when nature is settled, feeling naturally returns; like attracts like, yin and yang respond inward and outward on their own. Nature governs the inner and belongs to yin—it is the inner medicine; feeling governs the outer and belongs to yang—it is the outer medicine. Yin and yang are originally one qi; nature and feeling share one root. When the inner medicine is open, the outer medicine cannot fail to be open; when inner and outer connect, nature seeks feeling and feeling cherishes nature—nature and feeling harmonize, the true spirit congeals, and signs of returning the elixir appear.

Plain-Language Reading of Yuanqiao Neipian

The Perfected One of Pure Yang (Chunyang Zhenren) said: “When the heart-mind settles, Qi (vital energy) naturally turns back; when Qi turns back, the inner elixir naturally congeals.” The Perfected One of Purple Yang (Ziyang Zhenren) said: “If you wish to complete the nine-turn golden elixir, you must first refine the self and steady the will.” All of this means: before returning the elixir, you must first refine yourself (lianji). Alas! True lead is easy to find, yet refining the self is hardest—how vast is the work of refining the self!

[Li’s commentary] “Dense” refers to the density of emotional and desiring thoughts. Lead means the body’s true lead (zhenqian). Once true lead appears, when emotional thoughts are at their thickest, if you recognize the real and can take hold of it, the golden elixir is accomplished at once. This true lead is the substance that occupies the central, correct position—the root of the great elixir. Taken to control mercury, the three families meet and form the infant; extended outward, thousands upon thousands, sons and grandsons, all issue from this true lead—hence true lead is called the ancestor. Jing (essence), Qi, and Shen (spirit) are cooked in one cauldron—that is what happens after lead returns, mercury submits, and the three families meet. But to create true lead, there is first the secret of woman turning into man, the old becoming a child. The fire of the Li palace is true Jing; the water of the Kan palace is true Qi; between Kan and Li there is wondrous earth as the function—that is true Shen, also called true intent (zhenyi). When Qi and Jing interact, with Shen presiding, gold is born at the bottom of the water and mercury descends in the fire; again Shen holds the balance and adjusts victory and defeat—fierce cooking and extreme refining—then fire steams and water boils, and gold rises with the water: that is the power of Jing, Qi, and Shen cooked in one cauldron. When it reaches the Li palace, Li fire is extinguished by Kan water—it neither flies nor flees; Qi dwells through Shen, Jing congeals through Shen, lead and mercury both “die” and together return to thick earth; the three surnames unite in the central palace and are refined into one purple-golden elixir—again the marvel of Jing, Qi, and Shen in one cauldron. At the beginning, the child of the eastern house was lent a body in the west; the western Dui position is exactly the young maiden, and the maiden acts for the Kun mother; in the female cauldron the Zhen male appears—that is woman turning into man. This male is titled the Nine-Three Lord; though young in years, he is in truth born from Mu Gong (the Eastern Lord) entering the womb of the child—so woman turning into man and old becoming child both lie in this passage.

This boy is known as “Lord Nine-Third.” Though he appears very young, he is in fact born when Duke of Wood (Mu Gong)—the longevity deity who symbolizes the East and spring wood—enters the human womb in a father-body form; hence Duke of Wood styles himself “Young Lord,” the old body turning back into a child. This young lord rides a white tiger westward, bold and vigorous. A Daoist once saw him and stepped forward to ask: “You boy on a tiger—are you perhaps Duke of Wood transformed?” The boy knew the other had genuine insight and did not dare hide it, and answered: “Yes.” The Daoist then turned and smiled: “Water-district lead is but one flavor. Master Cui’s words are true.” (Master Cui refers to Tang internal alchemists such as Cui Xifan.)

To call this boy back, you must first capture his white tiger—the white tiger is the mount formed from the boy’s attendant primal Qi. If you wish to go west to capture the white tiger, you must first subdue the azure dragon in the east. The white tiger belongs to metal and governs feeling; the azure dragon belongs to wood and governs nature (xing). When wood meets metal, fire arises within wood, and fire presses metal to turn back; when metal joins wood, water arises within metal, and water in turn extinguishes fire and brings stillness. Metal, wood, fire, and water differ in name yet are one in reality; they differ in category yet are actually of the same kind. Being of the same kind, one can apply Neidan (internal alchemy) skill to bring them together in one place—inner welcomes outer in union, outer returns to dwell within—when outer medicine is open, inner medicine is open; when inner medicine is open, outer medicine is open.

This section speaks only of true lead, not of true mercury; being of the same kind, one can use arcane practice to unite them in one place, so that inner welcomes outer and outer returns within—outer medicine open, inner medicine open; inner medicine open, outer medicine open. It mentions only true lead and not true mercury because where there is lead, mercury is already there; not naming mercury means mercury is already included—hence “when outer medicine is open, inner medicine is open.” Lead, Qi, male, boy, and tiger all belong to outer medicine; Jing (essence), female, old age, and dragon all belong to inner medicine. Shen (spirit) hangs between the inner and outer essence-Qi.

The “rootless tree” is in bloom, tender and fresh—at this moment heaven’s signs are like starlight just beginning to gleam, and earth’s qi is like tide-moisture about to rise but not yet wet. The cultivator should wield the “dragon-slaying sword” and tie the “tiger-binding cord,” turn the celestial pivot and rotate the Dipper handle, refine in the furnace the “true sun” and “true moon,” sweep away all three thousand six hundred side paths, and at last step onto the clouds in free ease; the grime of the mundane world can then be wiped clean in one stroke.

What Liu’s commentary explains (in the language of Neidan)

True spirit is originally stored in the post-heaven body, yet is covered by accumulated habits and guest dust, so the “flower” is hardest to open. When a trace of light occasionally breaks through and appears from emptiness, like pearl or dew—tender, delicate, and fair—the scene is most “tender”: as if about to bloom yet not blooming, still primordial yuan qi.

At this time in heaven it is like a star bright but not large; on earth like soil moist but not soaked. Star-brightness and earth-moisture are both images of yang qi first stirring; when yang qi first stirs, it is precisely when the true spirit’s “flower” is still tender.

When the flower is tender, it is also when the knowing spirit (shishen) most easily borrows spirit to spawn delusion and nature scatters while feelings shift—so one must cook fiercely and refine swiftly, nipping trouble in the bud, supporting yang and restraining yin, guarding the treasure of life.

• Dragon-slaying sword: guard against the “qi-nature” flaring up in delusion;
• Tiger-binding cord: restrain “wild emotion” from rising unchecked.

When qi-nature does not flare, true spirit appears; when wild emotion does not rise, true feeling is born. When true nature appears and true feeling is born, that is turning the Kui-Gang pivot and rotating the Dipper ladle—transforming killing intent into living qi, turning punitive intent into virtue—so one can “refine in one furnace the true sun and true moon.”

• Sun: yang within which yin hides, likened to the spiritual knowing contained in true nature; spiritual knowing is “the female within the male,” belonging to true yin.
• Moon: yin within which yang hides, likened to true knowing contained in true feeling; true knowing is “the white within the black,” belonging to true yang.

Refining these two great medicines of true yin and true yang, returning them to one qi, condensing into the elixir (dan)—after ingesting it one can extend life and defer the appointed term. This is the supreme path, not the methods of the three thousand six hundred side doors that cling to emptiness or fix on appearances.

Only when the Great Dao is achieved can one step on the clouds and wander freely, and the myriad stains of the mundane world be erased in one stroke. Those three thousand six hundred side paths mostly work on the stinking skin-bag (the coarse body), and instead draw in stains of the mundane world—how then can one speak of “eliminating them all”?

Li’s Explanation: The character jiao (“delicate”) carries the sense of tender, fresh vitality: it describes the moment when the first yang stirs and yang qi has just begun to rise.

In antiquity, signs on the path of cultivation were pictured thus: heaven above, earth below. When yang qi first appears, the space between the brows may show specks like starlight (what ancients called “heaven responding with stars”); in the belly one feels a vast surge like the tide (what they called “earth responding with tides”). Before the medicine forms, these omens come first—so it has always been, not empty fancy.

Liu Yiming (Wuyuan) compared the first rise of yang to starlight in heaven and dampness on earth—neither too fierce nor too dry—a useful image.

Others, following the Ruyaojing (Mirror for Compounding the Medicine), take “heaven responding with stars” as the upper Magpie Bridge and “earth responding with tides” as the lower Magpie Bridge—each reading has its point.

What I have heard is that “responding stars” and “responding tides” are better read as responding to the month and responding to the hour: the star is awakening to the moon, the tide to the time—that is precisely the firing time most crucial in refining the great return elixir (da huandan). A few lines from the Cantong qi (Kinship of the Three) may serve as proof:

“Gold is counted at fifteen; water’s number is the same. At the furnace fix the ounces: five parts water remain. Take these two as true; gold’s weight matches the primal. The third then does not enter; fire’s two go with it.”

That is the proper meaning of “responding stars, responding tides.” Gold must be fifteen ounces, because gold’s number matches the moon’s number—drawing on the fullness of golden essence. In five thousand four hundred and eighty days the breath of celestial truth is complete; fifteen ounces of gold can generate fifteen ounces of water, corresponding to the fifteenth day of the waxing moon in the lunar month. Water’s number answers to gold’s number—tide-number to star-number. If gold and water fall short, true water does not arise; then heaven does not respond with stars nor earth with tides—how then could one fix the water in ounces and grains?

This passage explains how “gold and water” work together with fire timing (huohou) in neidan practice, and what it means for cultivation to truly “match the stars in heaven and the tides on earth”—using celestial time and lunar phases to fix the zhu and liang (exact measure and proportion), not rough guesswork.

If gold (true lead, zhen qian) and water (true mercury, zhen gong) are insufficient, true water cannot arise. That is like heaven not answering to the stars and earth not answering to the tides—then on what basis do you set the huohou in zhu and liang? To genuinely match star and tide, you can take the fifteenth day of the waxing half-month as the standard: from new moon (shuo) on the first to full moon (wang) on the fifteenth, treat one and a half days as one fen (part). Two such one-and-a-half-day spans bring you to the third day—then geng (in alchemical language, the first stir of metal qi and the birth of water) appears. That counts as two fen of true water: in the sky, the stars are answered; on earth, the tide is answered.

If you wait until the fifth day, you are already at three fen—three fen should not be taken. By the eighth day, you are at five fen, and five fen still leaves surplus—none of these is a true answering to star and tide. You must use two fen of water paired with two fen of fire for genuine star-answer and tide-answer. Kan (north, water) holds true faith (zhen xin)—the root of water; metal generates water, and at exactly two fen the water source is clearest: there is qi but not yet form. That is the state The White Tiger First Classic (Baihu Shoujing) describes. The tiger (yin, lead) is exhaling; the dragon (yang, mercury) meets it with two fen of true fire, refining the root of the elixir (dan ben).

As for the bit of gold that begets two fen of water, you must wait until the fifteenth, when metal essence (jin jing) is strong and the water tide rises—the so-called “period of two sevens (er qi zhi qi)” around the fourteenth—before true lead (zhen qian) descends. Only then is it star-answer and tide-answer.

Someone asks: why must the fire be two fen? Answer: in the work of one shichen (two-hour period), time is divided into three fu and six hou (stages of firing). Using only one fu and two hou of fire, dragon and tiger stay balanced and can swallow each other. When it is time to stop, you must wield the sword to subdue the dragon and use the cord to tame the tiger (with intent, restrain the restlessness of yin and yang), turn the gang star and rotate the Dipper (yun gang wo dou) (move the handle of the Dipper and the gang qi), return to the central palace (zhong gong) (Huangting, dantian), let sun and moon exchange essence, then cook and refine again—only then is the correct path complete.

Teacher Wushan has another exposition, finer and more explicit; it is summarized here as well: Qian heaven is yang; the star is the fire essence in the sky. Subduing dragon and tiger, turning gang and returning to the center, sun and moon exchanging essence—that is precisely aligning this celestial fire with the water and fire within the body.

Heaven of Qian belongs to Yang; the stars in heaven are like the essence of fire within heaven, which is “Yin within Yang.” Earth of Kun belongs to Yin; the tides on earth are like the Qi of water within earth, which is “Yang within Yin.” Essence (Jing) is the father of fire, and Qi is the mother of water. When Qian (Heaven, the Father) and Kun (Earth, the Mother) join in union, they give birth to Li Fire and Kan Water. Hence the saying “Heaven responds to stars, Earth responds to tides”—“respond” means the mechanism of mutual resonance and reciprocal attraction.

The Cantong Qi states: “If the fangzhu were not illumined by stars and moon, how could it gather water dew?” From this we know: celestial light shines down upon the earth, responding through stars; earth’s Qi receives heaven, responding through tides.

Cultivators of immortality use the stars in heaven as a metaphor for the fire in the human heart; fire is human nature (xing), and nature belongs to the dragon (Long). If nature does not descend, it is like stars flying and fire scattering. Therefore one must wield the Dragon-Slaying Sword to subdue it; the sword symbolizes Great Wisdom (Dahui). Likewise, the tides of earth metaphorize the water within the human body; water is human emotion (qing), and emotion is the tiger (Hu). If emotion is not subdued, it is like rising tides and ceaseless flowing water; hence one should hold the Tiger-Binding Cord to restrain it, the cord symbolizing Great Prudence (Dazhi).

Great skill appears clumsy, great wisdom seems foolish; wisdom in profound obscurity gives birth to the Wondrous Mind (Miaoxin). Only the Wondrous Mind has the power to turn the Celestial Net (Tiangang) and rotate the Dipper Handle. The Celestial Net is the Northern Dipper (Beidou); the Celestial Net governs generation and growth, and the key lies in where the Dipper Handle points—wherever the handle points, there is vital generative force. If the human body possesses the Wondrous Mind and can revolve the handle of the Celestial Net, one can transform destruction into generation.

As the Dipper Handle rotates, the Golden Elixir (Jindan) enters within; when the Golden Elixir enters within, the Wondrous Mind returns to me. The Wondrous Mind is the indestructible True Body (Zhenshen), harmonizing its virtue with Heaven and Earth, harmonizing its brilliance with sun and moon—it is the true sun and moon within the human body. To seek the Wondrous Mind, one must return from post-heaven (houtian) to pre-heaven (xiantian): first unite the external sun and moon in external light exchange, understand the firing process (huohou) and know the timing (fuke), and only then can it be obtained.

When the stage of “return” within the “seven returns” is reached, the practitioner must again let the inner “sun” and “moon” (standing for yin and yang, spirit and qi) meet in light within, mutually absorbing and nourishing each other, so that the inner landscape stays bright day and night; then, with harmonizing warmth and nurturing, it is as if one forges in the furnace a whole charge of “true sun” and “true moon.” That is the crux of the great path of the golden elixir, and the deepest layer of mystery in “seven returns and nine reversions.” Whoever gains power here can sweep away all three thousand six hundred side paths and heterodox ways, and only then tread the void and walk the clouds in free ease; past karmic stains and worldly entanglements can also be dissolved in a single morning. If one cannot clarify this great path, there is no day of liberation; karmic stains and dust-bound ties only grow heavier day by day—how can one fail to wake up and be alert!

Entry Eighteen

[Liu’s point] says: One must reverse the use of qi movement (with a way of moving qi that seems contrary yet accords with the Dao, drawing qi back to the origin). [Li’s commentary] says: One must be skilled at using “stealing the mechanism” (within the waxing and waning of heaven-and-earth yin and yang, cleverly taking qi for use without being pulled by outer conditions).

[Lyrics]

On the rootless tree the blossoms are just opening; the sea waves surge to the sky, moon and tide play with each other. The path of the Silver River pierces straight through the nine heavens; the shadow of the raft of wood crosses the sky, as if brushing the handle of the Northern Dipper. The hand touches the stone by which the Weaver Maid propped her loom; the feet walk to the end of the magpie bridge the Cowherd crossed. Once one enters the immortal court, courage and bold spirit rise high—one can even steal the immortal peach in the charge of the Queen Mother of the Jade Pool.

(These lyrics use immortal lore—the Cowherd and Weaver Maid, the Silver River and magpie bridge, the Jade Pool peach—as images for inner refinement: borrowing heaven-and-earth timing, reversing the movement of qi, and at last attaining the Way and “stealing” heaven’s secret mechanism; they continue in one vein with the preceding passage on “inner sun and moon exchanging light” and “seven returns and nine reversions” of the golden elixir.)

[Commentary by Liu] The innate great Dao encompasses heaven and earth, moves the sun and moon, and transcends all things with form. Its realm is sublime—like the bright moon hanging in the sky: moonlight reaches the ocean floor; though waves may rage, water cannot extinguish the moonlight; on the contrary, the moon can even draw the tides. This is like a person amid the many situations of the sea of suffering: circumstances cannot harm your “true nature”; instead, you can use circumstances to refine and nourish true nature.

Again, the Milky Way is vast and distant, reaching straight to the nine heavens; ordinary people can hardly cross it. Yet if a celestial raft (the immortal vessel that crosses the River of Heaven) spans the sky and turns the tip of the Dipper (where the handle of the Northern Dipper points), one can cross. Legend says Zhang Qian once crossed the Milky Way on a celestial raft and witnessed the meeting of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl stars—this can serve as evidence. In principle, there is also a “celestial raft” in the world that can cross the “Milky Way.” What is that raft in the world? It is the Golden Elixir great path. The Golden Elixir path works in emptiness: it can turn heaven and earth, reverse Yin-Yang, seize creation, and transcend the mundane to enter sagehood—that is the celestial raft. The subtlety of the raft lies in how one uses the tip of the Dipper: the tip is the seventh star of the Dipper, Yaoguang, also called Tian Gang (Heavenly Gang). Where Tian Gang points is auspicious; where it sits is inauspicious, because at the pointed place vital Qi (vital energy) remains. In the instant one turns back the Dipper tip, Yin and Yang unite and living force stirs—almost without effort—hence “touching the Weaver’s loom stone, treading the Cowherd’s Magpie Bridge.” The Weaver is Yin, the Cowherd Yang; the Magpie Bridge is where the two meet. Touching the loom stone and treading the bridge means drawing Yang with Yin and Yang coming to join Yin; when Yin and Yang meet, the Golden Elixir shows its signs. Such principles are entirely “work amid waves, action in emptiness,” and so one can enter the ranks of immortals. One must have bold spirit to “steal the peach from the Queen Mother of the Western Pool.” The Western Pool is in the west; the Queen Mother is old Yin, the Kun mother. The peach is the elixir—the single Yang line in the Zhen trigram. The Queen Mother’s peach is the image of Yang of Zhen gestated within Kun. The elixir is in the west; stealing it and bringing it east makes it ours—that is returning the elixir (huandan). The wonder of returned elixir lies in the meeting of Yin and Yang; the wonder of that meeting lies especially in reversing the flow of Qi amid the ocean’s waves without moving or swaying. To be unmoved amid the waves is to be a true adept. Why worry about not ascending the nine heavens? Why worry about not crossing the Milky Way? Why worry about not stealing the Queen Mother’s flat peach? Those who only sit still, forget form, and work solely in stillness and extinction know nothing of this!

[Li’s Explication] “High” refers to empty space. What is called “waves surging to the sky” is the critical juncture of which the Purple Cloud Real Person spoke—“rough wind and waves, giving birth to the Mysterious Pearl”: wind rises and great waves roll, their sound shaking the void, hence “surging to the sky”; and that single Mysterious Pearl is like a full autumn moon floating on the sea—hence also “the moon playing with the tide.”

Reversing the pull of the Silver River and piercing upward through the nine heavens is like Zhang Qian riding his raft, his shadow stretching across the sky; at this point the vital Qi shoots straight upward. Yet for the river-raft to advance, there must first be guidance, so the water does not run wild or take a crooked course; therefore one takes the tip of the Dipper as the place to make fast. The word “moor” is used with utmost finesse: among ordinary people, mooring a boat means stopping for the night; in the immortal’s river-raft, one takes the Dipper’s tip as one’s support and goes straight ahead—the momentum must not stop. To say “moor at the Dipper’s tip” is precisely to “moor” there in the manner of “must not moor, cannot moor”—moving with the Dipper’s rotation, rest within motion, finding life amid danger, like a bold hero acting forthrightly: when the wind is favorable, one refuses to stop—that is the moment of the grand finale and the great gathering. Not mooring surpasses mooring; mooring yet as if not moored—only then is it truly “mooring at the Dipper’s tip.”

The Weaver Maid and the Cowherd are the yin and yang stars of heaven; they meet every year on the Qixi festival. The Weaver Maid belongs to yin; the loom-stone stands for mercury (Hg in the alchemical sense). The Cowherd belongs to yang; the Magpie Bridge is where ox and maiden meet—it is the place where gold and mercury unite. The text above speaks of the Dipper’s tip; here it speaks of the Maid and the Ox—meaning the Northern Dipper is the matchmaker who joins the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid. For the Cowherd to meet the Weaver Maid, the circle cannot be completed without the Dipper’s turning; once the Dipper turns, the Cowherd crosses the river, and gold and mercury combine. Patriarch Lü said, “In advancing the fire, the work is perilous at the Ox and the Dipper”; the Niwan (upper elixir field) text says, “The wonder lies in the Tail, the Winnowing Basket, the Dipper, the Maid, and the Ox”—all the same meaning.

Touching the loom-stone is using mercury to welcome lead; treading the Magpie Bridge is lead and mercury traveling the whole way together. From then on heaven’s affinity has its bond, ambition can unfold, and one may meet the immortal company with bold spirit. Why again? Because one has stolen the peach of the Queen Mother of the Jade Pool.

[Wuyuan’s Note] The Jade Pool lies in the west; the Queen Mother is the Kun mother; the peach is the image of Zhen (Thunder) gestating within Kun (Earth). The elixir is in the west yet is stolen and brought back east to complete the returned elixir—other commentators explain this clearly, but the word “steal” is not as apt as “rob.” Robbing the peach in the east is one layer of meaning; the Kan trigram as robber is another. Robbing the peach in the east is exactly going west to take gold; Kan as robber is exactly seeking lead at the bottom of the water. The character “rob”—how fine it is!

Liu’s commentary says: When Yin and Yang qi meet and congeal. Li’s commentary says: From this arises what is called the “Mysterious Pearl” (xuanzhu).

The poem Rootless Tree says: On the rootless tree, flowers must come in pairs—like dragon and tiger ascending the altar together, contending once upon the Dipper. Lead meets mercury; Yin and Yang are matched; in that emblem the Mysterious Pearl’s worth cannot be weighed. It is the true seed from one’s own inner garden: it can restore youth and extend life; ascend to heaven and enter bliss, and be spared meeting the King of the Underworld again in the wheel of rebirth.

Liu’s note in essence: The Golden Elixir is the “image” revealed when Yin and Yang qi stir each other; the flower must be paired before the elixir is effective. Here Yin and Yang mean one dragon and one tiger, one lead and one mercury. The dragon stands for true nature, mercury for luminous knowing—and also the original spirit (yuanshen)—all on the Yin side; the tiger stands for true feeling, lead for true knowing—and also the original essence (yuanjing)—all on the Yang side. “Dragon and tiger at war” is nature and feeling gathering and merging into one; “lead entering mercury” is spirit and conscious mind congealing together. When nature and feeling unite and spirit and mind congeal, Yin and Yang are complete, one qi blends into wholeness, the true spirit is clear and round, and the dharma body takes form—round and full, bright and blazing, like a single Mysterious Pearl, a treasure beyond price. This treasure is not brought in from outside; it is the true seed that was always in one’s inner garden, only lost through later habituation. Now Yin and Yang are harmonized, what was lost is found again and what departed returns. Planted in the “inner garden,” once the root is set the Way arises by itself, generation without end—one may restore youth and extend life without limit, ascend to heaven and bliss, and escape the suffering of rebirth in the wheel of samsara.

Li’s supplement: “Pair” refers to the qi of the two “strings” (the Yin and Yang phases of the lunar month in internal alchemy). When the qi of the two strings combines, dragon and tiger share the altar, swallowing and reflecting each other; “battle” means mutual swallowing and assimilation. After one great contest dragon and tiger balance: when the tiger dominates, lead enters mercury; when the dragon dominates, Yin matches Yang and Yang matches lead.

[Li Jie] “Double” refers to the pairing of the qi of the two strings. When the qi of the two strings joins, dragon and tiger ascend the altar, mutually swallowing and reflecting one another; “battle” means mutual devouring and contention. After one great battle, dragon and tiger reach balance: when the tiger battles the dragon, lead is cast into mercury; when the dragon battles the tiger, yin is paired with yang. When yang lead and yin mercury unite, the priceless treasure is born. Wuzhen pian says: “The tiger leaps and the dragon soars, waves and wind run rough—at the central true position the mystic pearl is born.” The mystic pearl is the pre-heaven single qi, the root of immortals and buddhas, the true seed of this school—not something external; it is only that it has long been hidden by post-heaven qi and does not show. Now in the dragon-tiger altar, yin mercury and yang lead become true husband and wife, returning from within post-heaven Kan and Li to the pre-heaven; hence “the emblem is the priceless mystic pearl.” From then on, those who obtain the true seed of the homeland can return to youth and extend life, ascend heaven and enter bliss, and avoid the wheel of rebirth and meeting the King of Hell. This section explains the method of dragon-tiger yin-yang battling and pairing; details of firing times can be looked up in the commentary on the chapter “The Flower in Full Bloom.”

Twenty

[Liu Yan] For a time, returning the elixir. [Li Yan] Returning the elixir: warming and nurturing.

Rootless tree, flower most wondrous—cultivated in the moon, in a brief span of time. Cloud-grasping hands, cloud-stepping ladder, gathering the first branch of the pre-heaven. Drinking wine, wearing flowers, spirit and qi refreshed, smiling to see the immortal elder drunk as mud. Entrust the heart to “knowing,” carefully guarding and sustaining, for fear the firing in the furnace scatters and flies.

Liu’s Commentary

The true spirit of the pre-heaven (xiantian)—the authentic state before heaven and earth were divided—seems to be nothing, yet it can give birth to the myriad things; it seems incomplete, yet it is fully sufficient in itself. Its “flower” (in Neidan, internal alchemy, a figure for pre-heaven essence) is extraordinarily rare. Precisely because it is so rare, pre-heaven qi is often veiled by the post-heaven (xiantian)—desires and discursive thought after birth—and becomes dark and hard to find. If you wish to cultivate it again, in a moment you can “return spring” (restore pre-heaven vitality). The crux of returning spring is to gather the flower of the “first branch of pre-heaven”: the ancestral qi from which heaven, earth, and humanity arise, the spiritual root of life. It does not settle in visible form, nor does it stick to a fixation on blank emptiness. In gathering it is true emptiness; in function it is subtle being (miaoyou). Utmost centeredness and uprightness, utmost refinement and purity—dim and indistinct, deep and obscure, like dew, like lightning. You must not seek it with deliberate intent—seeking fixes you to appearances. You must not “not seek” and merely guard emptiness—such guarding drops you into void. Settle the nature, forget the emotions, turn the light inward and reflect back (huiguang fanzhao), reach utmost emptiness and sincere stillness (xuji jingdu). Without forcing gathering, gathering happens; without forcing taking, taking happens. Then pre-heaven true-oneness qi condenses from emptiness and forms a grain-of-millet pearl (the inner elixir). Inner and outer are bright, as if wearing an immortal flower; spirit and qi are refreshed, as if drinking immortal wine. Flower on the head, wine in the cup—joy within; neither knowing nor scheming, following heaven’s Way, as if entering a drunken ease. At this point the returned elixir (huandan) is formed and you see again your original true face. There is no need for further “adding and subtracting” with the outer furnace; you must promptly warm and nourish with the inner furnace, let spirit and brightness work in silence, guard carefully, and keep one intent undivided, always watching lest the fire phases (huohou) slip. Here “heart-knowing” (xin zhi) is not outward-grasping knowledge but the heart that knows itself inwardly. Whether the fire should be urgent or gentle—the heart knows by itself. When heart-knowing does not confuse and disturb this heart, the fire phases naturally stay true, and the golden elixir (jindan) can ripen.

“Qi” (the marvelous/unpredictable) means change that cannot be fathomed or foreseen. Not only can others not guess it—even the dual energies of Yin and Yang cannot measure it. If it could be measured, Yin and Yang would not unite and sink into the vast obscurity, and how then could innate Qi (xiantian zhi qi) be cultivated?

What is called “cultivation within the month” corresponds to “the third day brings forth geng”—when the medicinal material first sprouts and is still tender, it is in this position of “geng,” in this cycle of the “month,” that one nurtures the “golden flower” (jinhua). One must match two parts fire to two parts water, first letting water and fire mingle in chaos for a moment; only then does the cauldron (ding) give birth to the “first branch of the innate.” All of this happens in an instant no longer than a flash.

In that instant, the first branch of the innate indeed appears; the subtle heart (miaoxin) takes charge, then reverses the celestial pole (tiangang) and circles back—this is the “hand that grasps clouds, the ladder that steps on clouds,” used to gather the first branch of the innate.

“Drinking wine” means drinking this first immortal wine—innate Qi transformed into white fluid; “wearing flowers” means wearing this first immortal flower—innate Qi returning to spring yang. Flower is wine, wine is flower; in drinking and wearing them, wine is the good companion and flower the intimate partner, so that spirit and Qi harmonize and one is muddled as if drunk—hence “drinking wine and wearing flowers, spirit and Qi refreshed, laughing until the immortal elder is drunk as mud.”

“Heart knowing” (xinzhi) is shared heart—one’s own subtle heart. “Carefully protecting and maintaining” (jin hufu) means using the subtle heart to watch the firing times (huohou). There are several essentials in protecting and maintaining: the fire power in the furnace has two phases—when the firing is not yet sufficient, use the adding-and-withdrawing method of the hexagrams Zhun and Meng to protect and maintain, relying on adjustments at the outer furnace (wailu); when the firing is already sufficient, protect and maintain by holding light day and night, without further adding or subtracting at the outer furnace. When the ten months are complete and nine years of work are done, the true person (zhenren) emerges from the crown gate (dingmen).

Otherwise: if the outer furnace should be removed but is removed too soon, the elixir will not be fully formed when firing is insufficient; if it should be removed but is not, excessive firing will damage the elixir; if the inner furnace (neilu) should be removed but is removed too soon, the elixir will lack efficacy when firing is impure; if it should be removed but is not, firing like dullness will prevent the elixir from emerging—all of these are discrepancies in the furnace’s firing times. Here “fei” (fly) means discrepancy, and should be read together with the earlier chapter “When the Flower Is Flying.” What is hoped from “heart knowing” is meticulous protection and maintenance, so that there will be no discrepancy.

Twenty-One

[Liu’s note] The work lies in harmonizing yin and yang. In the heart one must hold a clear aim: diligent guarding without slack—through sustained yishou (intent-guarding), breath regulation, and restraint from impatience—so one does not “fly,” that is, slip into error or deviation in practice. “Flying” here means mistake or going off course; read it alongside the earlier line “the rootless tree, the flower right— the flower flies right,” where the same warning applies to fire-timing (huohou).

[Li’s note] Harmonize yin and yang; then one may obtain the medicine and return the elixir (de yao huan dan)—meaning true essence and true Qi unite within and condense toward the Golden Elixir.

The verse runs in mnemonic form:

The rootless tree stands for the human body: no fixed root in the ordinary sense, yet one may borrow the false to cultivate the true. The flower blooms bright yellow is the image of central earth virtue and the Golden Elixir about to form; it arises in the Wuji homeland—Wuji belongs to earth, pointing to the central palace (the region behind the navel and the Dantian), where essence, Qi, and spirit gather.

The east-house maiden and the west-lane lad are standard neidan metaphors: one yin, one yang—Kan and Li, or lead and mercury—who must be matched as husband and wife and enter the bridal chamber, meaning yin–yang congress completed inside the body, not sought in an external man or woman.

The Yellow Granny is the go-between who joins lead and mercury, often standing for intention (yi) or spleen-earth; she urges one to drink the ambrosial wine—the finest metaphor for the purest Qi, the innate primordial breath—steeped day by day in fire-timing, as if tipsy yet not truly drunk: that is nourishment by heat and permeation.

The text finally names this method Returning Soul Drink and king of medicines: the inner medicine of accomplished neidan can fill loss, restore essence, Qi, and spirit, hence reviving what seemed dead—the central metaphor for cultivating life and returning the elixir.

Liu’s Commentary — Plain-Language Reading

Yellow is the true color of the central earth positions wu and ji. Wu is yang earth and governs active movement; ji is yin earth and governs quiet stillness. When wu and ji meet and unite at the center, that is true faith (zhenxin), also called true intention (zhenyi). If the “flower’s color” is purely yellow, it means true spirit (zhenling) has already entered the central, upright position.

Yet for true spirit to rest in central uprightness, nature (xing) and emotion (qing) must be as one—otherwise it cannot be done. The girl from the east household stands for wood-nature; the lad from the west neighbor stands for metal-emotion. One nature, one emotion, paired as husband and wife, enter the hidden bridal chamber (dongfang youmi)—the secret place in practice where spirit and qi intermingle—and with Yellow Woman (Huangpo) in the middle urging them to drink ghee (tihu) and adjusting the fire phases (huohou), what was not in harmony must come into harmony; once in harmony, it lasts.

Here ghee (tihu) is not the lees of ordinary wine, nor bodily essences such as semen, fluids, or blood in visible form. It is the yin–yang mutual stirring and harmonizing, yunyun (thickening) breath: united it becomes essence of true oneness (zhenyi zhi jing); flowing through it becomes water of true oneness (zhenyi zhi shui)—sweet on the tongue. Ancients called it jade liquid (yuye), jade nectar (qiongjiang), sweet dew (ganlu), or grouped all under ghee (tihu)—every name describes this single thread of central-harmony qi (zhonghe zhi qi). “Urging to drink” means tuning until central harmony (zhonghe) is reached.

When cultivation reaches yin and yang in mutual harmony, there is constant response yet constant stillness (chang ying chang jing); looking far at things, things are not things; looking near at the body, the body is not the body; looking within at the mind, the mind is not the mind—without knowing, without scheming, following the rule of the sovereign (shun di zhi ze). Day after day one drinks this ghee and enters the land of intoxication (zuixiang). The flavor of that drunkenness is the immortal’s recipe, the soul-returning draught (fanhun zhi jiang)—it can raise the dead and restore life; it is the great king of elixir (dayaowang).

Central (zhongyang), wu and ji, and Yellow Woman are all alternate names for true faith: speaking of yin–yang union, call it Central; speaking of how yin and yang move, call it wu and ji; speaking of harmonizing yin and yang, call it Yellow Woman; in action, call it true faith; in still fixation, call it true intention. One thing, many names—all return to one true faith. Recognize this faith, and on this faith lay solid work above and below: first use nature to seek emotion, then use emotion to return to nature, then nature and emotion unite, then nature and emotion melt into one, and bind into one true-spirit treasure (zhenling zhibao). From start to finish nothing but this one faith completes the work—the power of faith (xin) is vast!

Reduced to what is real: true spirit in central uprightness is nature and emotion in mutual accord; when nature and emotion accord, true faith is within; when true faith appears, nature and emotion no longer part, and true spirit is naturally central and upright—the three need one another and still cause one another.

Yellow is the orthodox color: in Buddhism it corresponds to right enlightenment, and in Confucian and Daoist usage to upright qi. Buddhist scriptures often speak of the “yellow flower,” while texts of immortality often speak of the “yellow sprout” (huangya). “Yellow sprout,” however, carries two senses: one is the new medicine at the “third day” (chusan), the other the great medicine at the “fifteenth day.” The Wuzhen Pian says, “Where the yellow sprout grows, Kan and Li meet”—that is the first sense, the new medicine of the third day. “Where the yellow sprout grows” is the moment when the Kan and Li trigrams join in copulation, planting the second yellow sprout. The Wuzhen Pian also says, “Plant the yellow sprout and it gradually grows to maturity”—that is the second yellow sprout, the great medicine of the fifteenth day.

For the yellow sprout to grow to maturity, the root lies in Kan–Li copulation. Kan–Li copulation takes place in the Central Wuji Village (zhongyang wuji xiang—the center belongs to earth; Wu and Ji name earth and point to the “central palace” in the body, the place of mindful intent and harmonizing). The center is where essence and qi condense into a mass; the Wuji Village is where movement and stillness unite in harmony. When harmonizing is correct, the yellow sprout arises from the center in an instant—hence “produced in the Central Wuji Village.”

This yellow sprout has many names; in this chapter it is the West Lodge Gentleman (xishe lang). The West Lodge Gentleman stands for metal qi; the East House Daughter (dongjia nü) stands for mercury essence. Gathering metal qi back and subduing mercury essence is the path of metal and mercury returning—the image of husband and wife in accord, entering the bridal chamber. Once they are in the chamber, the Yellow Matron (huangpo) must still keep watch—the Yellow Matron is the heart-knowing (xinzhi) (self-awareness, right mindfulness) mentioned in the previous chapter. If the pair fear discord, spirit and intent-breath cannot reach neutrality, and the elixir cannot be refined—so the Yellow Matron serves at their side and urges them to drink ghee (tihu). Outwardly, ghee is the subtle nourishment used in warming nurturance; inwardly, it is harmonious qi. The Yellow Matron is the one who truly knows the heart; then the furnace fire is never wrongly timed. Morning and evening she often urges them to drink; each day is like being steeped in warmth as in a drunken haze—hence the Yellow Matron attends and urges ghee.

Ti Huo (clarified essence) means nurturing essence and qi from without while harmonizing the qi of central equilibrium from within. Huang Po (Yellow Dame) is like a trusted confidant: the furnace’s fire timing stays true; morning and evening she often urges one to drink, and each day one passes through a steaming, intoxicating session—sheer delight. This is not ordinary wine but Fan Hun Jiang (Return-of-Soul Elixir) compounded by immortal recipes; it can bring the dead back to life. Neither minor elixirs nor external medicines can match it—it is the sovereign among medicines.

This chapter treats the work after er hou qiu qian (the second stage of seeking lead) and si hou huan dan (the four stages of returning the elixir). Qiu qian (seeking lead) belongs to outer work: in the first three months one works at chu geng (bringing forth the metal), called matching water with fire, letting the dragon meet the tiger, joining yin with yang, interchanging Li and Kan, joining nature (xing) with feeling (qing), casting mercury into lead, marrying the woman to the man, using the postnatal to generate the prenatal—in sum, joining essence with qi; this is wai yao (external medicine). The work lies outside; only yi fu er hou (one tally and two stages) are used to lay the foundation of the elixir.

Huan dan (returning the elixir) belongs to inner work: at the full moon of the fifteenth one works, called using water to extinguish fire—here “water” is the water of tian gui (heavenly dew). The tiger marries the dragon (the tiger is the tiger of the west); yang subdues yin (yang is yang containing truth); Kan fills Li (Kan is prenatal Kan); feeling returns to nature (feeling is the feeling of metal nature); lead controls mercury (lead is the lead of true unity); the man pairs with the woman (the man is the man of pure Qian)—using the prenatal to govern the postnatal—in sum, joining true qi with true essence; this is nei yao (internal medicine). The work lies within; er fu si hou (two tallies and four stages) are required to form the golden elixir.

The ancients did not spell all this out in detail; I explain it here so readers may see at a glance how the two medicines differ when reading alchemical classics.

This verse is a mnemonic for neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation. It uses the “rootless tree” as a metaphor for the human body: though it has no external root, it can blossom within with the flower of wisdom, bright and luminous. In practice, one gathers the “moon’s soul” (yinjing, qi from the lower dantian) and joins it with the “sun’s soul” (yangshen, light from the upper dantian) as sensed through the “heart of heaven”—yin and yang interact and propel each other.

“Golden crow” stands for the sun and yang essence; “jade rabbit” for the moon and yin essence. Capture these two streams of true marrow and refined qi and “cook” them in one place—that is, harmonize and warm them in the dantian (energy center). Then apply the firing phases of “yang fire” and “yin tally,” timing them at midnight and noon; coordinate steps such as “bathing” and “approaching the hexagram” at the pass-gates of the mao and you hours to regulate breath and break through barriers.

Finally, “guard the yellow court” (fix attention on the central palace—the region of the chest and middle dantian) and “nourish the valley spirit” (sustain the spirit of emptiness giving birth to the One—that is, the pre-heaven single qi). At the utmost, it is said that “a man too can conceive”—meaning yang qi turns inward and spirit-qi condenses like a forming embryo, so unbelievable to outsiders that it is called “laughing and wearing one down” (both amusing and hard to endure). The whole passage means: using the logic of sun and moon, yin and yang, to refine essence into qi and qi into spirit in one’s own inner furnace—not planting trees literally or sexual union in the ordinary sense.

[Liu’s Commentary]

The true numinous spirit that comes from the pre-heaven realm carries its own luminosity in its essence: it can penetrate heaven and earth and illuminate all things—this is what “the flower is rightly bright” means. It becomes bright because the two qi of Yin and Yang unite and complete one another. The human side alone is purely Yin—like the moon in darkness when there is no sunlight; one must rely on the “other’s” method of non-death for Yang qi to arise, as when the moon borrows the sun’s light and then appears bright. When the moon’s soul (po) and the moon’s spirit (hun) press upon each other and Yin and Yang intersect, illumination breaks forth at the “heart of heaven”—the image of true knowing and numinous knowing joining, and the true spirit undimmed.

Golden Crow marrow is the sun’s hun-soul; in the human body it corresponds to “the female within the male”—the true Yin within numinous knowing. Jade Rabbit essence is the moon’s po-soul; in the human body it corresponds to “the white within the black”—the true Yang within true knowing. Earlier the text spoke of “crow liver and rabbit marrow”; here it says “crow marrow and rabbit essence”—the difference is great and they must not be confused. Crow liver and rabbit marrow are the medicinals used for the Returning Elixir: they refer to the state when true knowing and numinous knowing have not yet united and are on the verge of union, hence “crow’s liver” and “rabbit’s marrow.” Crow marrow and rabbit essence are the medicinals used for the Great Elixir: they refer to when true knowing can transform the numinous and numinous knowing can return to the true, Yin and Yang already united and mutually fused—hence “crow’s marrow” and “rabbit’s essence.” Not yet united and about to unite is forced effort, the false returning to the true; already united and mutually blending is natural operation, the true becoming more true. Take these two genuine medicinals, combine them in one place and refine them, and refine out “Yang within Yang”—then one must apply the firing according to the zi, wu, mao, and you phases of the cauldron to accomplish the Golden Fluid Great Elixir. But the zi, wu, mao, and you here are not the zi, wu, mao, and you hours on the horizon; they are the zi, wu, mao, and you within the body: when true knowing appears, that is zi—then use firm, advancing fire to rouse true knowing to emerge from the mystery; when numinous knowing arrives, that is wu—then use gentle retreating talisman to draw numinous knowing into the receptive (pin); when true knowing advances to the central correct, that is mao—then bathe in this centrality without over-advancing…

When Lingzhi—the yin-leaning, softer strand of moment-to-moment awareness—withdraws into Centrality (the upright middle that neither tilts yin nor yang), the oral formula places that phase at the you direction; at that point one should apply ice bathing (cooling and stabilizing the firing first) together with a slight advance of fire (a modest increase in yang movement), so that Zhenzhi—the yang-leaning, more solid strand of awareness—can emerge from Xuan (what is subtle and not yet formed).

When Lingzhi comes forward, the correspondence is wu; then one should use a soft method of withdrawal of the token (reducing fire and gathering inward), drawing Lingzhi back into pin (the yin gate, the door of inward reception).

When Zhenzhi advances to Centrality, the correspondence is mao; then one should ice-bathe so that Centrality holds steady and does not advance too far.

When Lingzhi withdraws to Centrality, the correspondence is again you; likewise one must ice-bathe Centrality and not withdraw too far.

The above is the gist of fu huo (acting by inner landscape and by the phases of firing, not by the clock) and ice bathing (cool when cooling is due, bathe when bathing is due)—what the ancients called a method that does not change through the ages. If one works only by the clock hours of zi, wu, mao, and you on the horizon, one has strayed far off course.

When token-fire is exact and bathing matches the moment, yin and yang respond to each other without bias; Yuannpin (the root portal where yin and yang meet) stands firm, and Gushen (the spirit that dwells in emptiness) arises within it.

Huangting is the central upright position—the aperture where yin and yang unite; it is also called the gate of Yuannpin. Only when primordial yang and receptive yin join does this aperture exist; if yin and yang are skewed, there is no such aperture. Where there is an aperture there is a valley (the hollow that holds emptiness); where there is a valley there is spirit; without the aperture there is no valley, and without the valley no spirit. The valley is Huangting. Huang is the central color; ting means emptiness. Because the inside is empty, it is named Huangting. Emptiness becomes numinous; numinosity becomes spirit—this is Gushen.

Consider two cliffs facing each other with a valley between: when a person calls into the valley, an answering voice returns from within—that echo is a figure for Gushen; folk sometimes call it a “cliff doll.” In the human body, when yin and yang meet, there is likewise spirit; the principle is similar. But until one reaches the station where yin and yang truly unite, there is no such “middle,” no such “valley”—where would spirit abide? When yin and yang do unite, there is a “middle” and a “valley,” and spirit naturally arises. What is meant by saying primordial qi comes from nothingness is this; what is meant by the void yet holding subtle being is this; what is meant by “for Gushen to endure, one must root it in Xuannpin” is also this.

If Yin and Yang truly merge into a single stream of Qi, the “Valley Spirit” (Gu Shen) arises on its own—what is meant by innate Qi coming forth from emptiness is this; what is meant by marvelous being held within true emptiness is this; and what is meant by making the Valley Spirit long-lived and never dying, with the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin) as its root, is also this.

When Yin and Yang unite as one Qi, the Valley Spirit settles in the Yellow Court (Huangting—the central palace of the Dantian). This is called “a man gestating.” “Guarding the Yellow Court” is guarding the center; “nourishing the Valley Spirit” is embracing the One (holding to unity). Guard the center and embrace the One; when the ten months of practice are complete, one obtains the body outside the body and shares the same longevity as Heaven and Earth.

Such genuine patterns of the Way belong to the realm of emptiness; they are not produced by manipulating form or appearance. Those who perform “moving Qi” exercises on the physical shell and fantasize about refining a sacred embryo—how could they understand what the Valley Spirit truly is?

In [Li Jie's interpretation], “ming” (clarity/illumination) means the moment the great medicine (dayao) first stirs—the cultivation state described as the empty chamber generating white light (xushi shengbai), when inner light expands. That is the point of thorough awakening and full enlightenment. Here, the great medicine is the yang within lead and the gold within the elixir (dan)—it belongs to the “prior-to-heaven within prior-to-heaven” (xiantian zhong de xiantian). It is like the moon’s soul (yuepo) at the heart of heaven (tianxin), pressing close to the sun’s soul (rihun) so they merge; what forms is not the third-day new moon—a thin crescent far on the horizon, “distant in the sky yet seeming at the brow”—but a gathered radiance. The word “bi” (pressing close) is used tightly: mutual nearness, mutual refinement in the same place. Sun and moon joining as one (riyue hebi) means the sun’s soul fully enters the moon’s soul—myriad miles of light, the heart of heaven bright as snow. “Capture the two substances and cook them in one place” does not mean first seizing the golden crow (jinwu) and then the jade rabbit (yutu). Rather, by the method of seizing the golden crow, the jade rabbit is seized along with it—outwardly only one thing is brought back, but in fact both are captured together. After they are captured, one still follows the four watches of zi, wu, mao, and you to “insert the pass and apply fire” (touguan yonghuo). Then the golden crow flies into the Palace of Vast Cold (Guanghan gong), and with the marrow of the golden crow harmonizes the essence of the jade rabbit, until the jade rabbit’s essence is wholly transformed into the golden crow’s marrow. That is the way the moon’s soul presses the sun’s soul and excels at refining in one place. At that stage the yang soul is full and the yin soul has no fixed form; the two become one substance, and within that one substance both are still contained—yin exhausted, yang complete, light fully released. Hence it is called yang within lead, gold within the elixir, prior-to-heaven within prior-to-heaven. Only then is it the golden liquid great medicine (jinye dayao). One must still take it according to the four watches of zi, wu, mao, and you—only then is it the nine-revolution great restoration elixir (jiuzhuan da huandan). When is zi? Yang arises at zi, so one should advance the yang fire (jinyang huo).

Where is “Wu”? When yin qi is descending—that is Wu—and at that time one should “withdraw the Yin Talisman.” What is meant by “ice bathing” is regulating and resting the breath, following nature, neither hurried nor slack; such practice must be paired with the period when “yang fire” is applied—only then does it count as the path of refining the “Nine Turn Great Returning Elixir.”

When is “Zi”? When yang qi is first arising—that is Zi—and at that time one should “advance yang fire.” Where is “Wu”? When yin qi is descending—that is Wu—and at that time one should “withdraw the Yin Talisman.” “Ice bathing” likewise means harmonizing with nature, neither hurried nor slack; this practice is especially applied at the two “gates” where yang fire reaches Mao and the Yin Talisman reaches You, so yang does not become too hard and yin does not become too soft—firm and yielding stay balanced, and entry and exit of fire all match the proper measure.

Formerly Mr. Tao Cuncun expounded the secret of applying fire in the Cantong Qi (by Wei Boyang of the Eastern Han, a major classic of internal alchemy), and copied his master’s Song of Fire Timing in his commentary; I greatly admire this and now append it in the book for cross-checking. The song runs:

“Recalling my immortal patriarch’s Dao, it all comes down to the orifices of our single lineage. Originally there is no arbitrary adding and subtracting by Zi and Wu, nor any talk of rabbit and rooster as punishment and virtue. If you ask when my ‘Zi’ is, the answer is the season when the medicine arises. If you ask when ‘Wu’ is, it is simply when the medicine ascends to the Golden Gate (essence and qi rise to the head). When is the ‘bull’s-eye’ of ‘Mao’? When Red Boy arrays his ranks in the Fire-Cloud Cave. Without the protection of Guanyin Who Saves the Suffering (symbolizing stillness and strict restraint), the great medicine will surely burst. This is the hour of bathing; past this barrier it is like crossing the Yellow River and boarding the boat. Ask again what the ‘You gate’ is—it is where Ren and Du meet. If there is no protection of Yellow Garment (symbolizing the central palace, yellow qi wrapping), how can the medicine achieve Primordial Fortune (wholeness preserved)? Beyond here is the Xu storehouse—go into the storehouse and seek the message. This is the heart transmission of one lineage; the utmost Dao need not be sought elsewhere.”

When the medicine reaches the Mao gate, one must use Guanyin’s stillness: Guanyin’s stillness means strict restraint, not letting “Red Boy” flaunt his fire power—then sweet dew can arise; at the You gate one must wrap with “Yellow Garment,” not letting the “primordial pearl” spill—then white fluid can congeal. This is the subtle use of ice bathing.

Huangting refers to the center (central palace); Gushen refers to empty spirit (original spirit).

Overview

Guard the “central” within the body (usually the Dantian or the region of the heart aperture), warm and nourish the spirit of empty stillness, and only then will the Dharmakaya—the form of the “body of the Dao” as it appears in practice—take shape. The ancients said: when a man cultivates, it is like a woman carrying a child—outsiders may find it laughable, but those who understand cherish it. That image captures how inner refinement is both hidden and precious.

Section Twenty-Three

Commentary by Liu (paraphrase)

The Great Way of the Golden Elixir takes what is without sound or scent, beyond all images, as its destination; the Dharmakaya aspect abides without falling into emptiness. Called Perfect Penetration (Yuantong), titled Great Hero (Daxiong)—the Nine Patriarchs ascend by this path to the ninefold summit (the highest level).

Commentary by Li (paraphrase)

True Emptiness and the Dharmakaya aspect are one; Perfect Penetration without obstruction, liberation in freedom.

Verse

On a rootless tree, the blossoms are bright red;

Pick every red flower from the tree, and the tree too is empty.

Emptiness is form, form is emptiness—to awaken True Emptiness, see it within “form” (phenomena and appearances).

When you truly grasp True Emptiness, appearances self-extinguish; yet the Dharmakaya aspect long abides, never void.

Named Perfect Penetration, called Great Hero; the Nine Patriarchs by this ascend to the ninefold height.

Brief notes

• Rootless tree: A metaphor for the “root of the Dao” with no fixed substance, yet able to give rise to all transformations—common in Neidan (internal alchemy) verses.
• Form and emptiness: Borrowing the Buddhist “form is emptiness, emptiness is form”; in internal alchemy it often means the visible stages of practice and formless “emptiness” interpenetrate—you cannot cling to only one side.
• Pick every red flower, the tree is empty: Often read as refining away yin residue and returning to empty clarity, or, upon accomplishment, no longer grasping outer appearances.

Commentary by Liu: The great path of refining the Golden Elixir takes as its goal what is without sound or scent, beyond all images and forms; originally there is no “red flower” to pluck. If any trace of form remains, it shows that postnatal qi and temperament are not yet fully transformed and the great Dao is not complete. Ancient immortals said: “Until not one hair’s breadth of yin qi remains unspent, one is not an immortal.” As long as the slightest yin qi is uncleared, true yang is incomplete, and the true spirit can still be impaired—then one is not on the orthodox path of the nine returns and seven reversions, the golden liquid great elixir.

The cultivator must pluck the “red flower” entirely, extinguish the guest qi and dust roots accumulated since beginningless kalpas, return to the emptiness in which the ten thousand things are void, and revert to the original face before one’s parents conceived—silent, scentless, without form. Yet this “emptiness” is not the emptiness of dead wood and stone, mindless and cut off; within it lies the meaning of borrowing the false to cultivate the true and using the true to transform the false. Hence it is said: “Emptiness is form, form is emptiness; recognize that true emptiness dwells within form.” Clinging only to no-mind, one falls into “emptiness”; stirring even slightly toward mind, one falls into “form.” “Em emptiness is form” means not falling into emptiness; “form is emptiness” means not falling into form. Neither empty nor form, both empty and form at once—that is true emptiness present within form.

It is also said: “When true emptiness is fully clear, it has no marks; the dharma form abides without falling into emptiness.” True emptiness, once completely resolved, has no marks of its own; being without marks, the dharma form appears; having the dharma form, one does not fall into emptiness. Because it is true emptiness, there is dharma form; because there is dharma form, there are no marks—no marks yet dharma form: emptiness holds the real, and the real never leaves emptiness.

When cultivation reaches the point where true emptiness has dharma form and dharma form preserves true emptiness, one spirit subtly exists and the dharma realm is perfectly round—then one achieves the vajra indestructible body: water and fire cannot harm it, blades cannot cut it, tigers and rhinos cannot wound it; this is called the great hero. One not only joins the ranks of immortals but also lifts nine generations of ancestors to transcendence and becomes a spirit. In antiquity Shakyamuni Buddha cultivated the sixteen-foot golden body and seated the dharma form in the great hall of the brave—this is that same path.

Li’s commentary: “Red” is the symbolic image (faxing) of the great elixir (neidan). The immortal master’s Song of the Dao of Love and Rootless Tree are both essential works; you can grasp this from those texts. Song of the Dao of Love says: “Myriad symbolic forms are none of a kind; a single red light is utmost truth.” When red light appears, that “flower” is precisely red; when the red flower is in hand, the true medicine is already obtained—apart from this “red flower,” there is no other medicine to gather. When nurturing work is complete, the furnace and cauldron can all be set aside; all talk of flowers and trees is no longer insisted on—hence “when every red flower is picked, one tree stands empty.” Once the flower is empty, my Dao is attained; once Dao is attained, emptiness is no longer emptiness. Since emptiness is not empty, emptiness is form, and form is not the form of vulgar appearance—form is emptiness. Penetrating “vacuum that is not empty,” vacuum resides within form; this form is not form in outward shape but form as symbolic image (faxing). Fully awakening to vacuum, all appearance (xiang) is extinguished; when appearance is extinguished, symbolic image (faxing) endures; when faxing endures, that is vacuum not empty. “Perfect penetration” (yuantong) means merit and practice complete, all methods penetrated—the substance and function of true vacuum both complete. Called yuantong, one must bear the title Great Hero; bearing Great Hero, one must be patriarch of immortals—how could one not surpass the nine patriarchs and ascend together to the ninefold heaven!

Twenty-fourth poem

Liu’s line: Return to emptiness and non-being.

Li’s line: Attain rank in the Three Pure Ones.

On the rootless tree, the flower is truly without form—no phase, no shape, hard to depict. Without name or surname, yet someone calls; it is seized and placed in the furnace of creation. Turning the celestial circuit, refined by samadhi’s true fire, vacuum is smelted back to grand non-being. Paying court at the immortal capital, receiving the heaven’s tally—this is what a true man, a great husband, should do.

Plain-Language Commentary

Liu’s commentary says: The supreme treasure of the pre-heaven true spirit (xian tian zhen ling) is in essence empty void; it is formed from a single blended qi—what “flower” could there be? With no flower, there is neither form nor image; it cannot be drawn or depicted. If it cannot be drawn or depicted, neither painting nor diagram will do—so what name or surname could it have? Though without name or surname, it is utterly empty yet utterly spirit-like: ordinarily still and unmoving, when stirred it responds and connects—like shouting into a valley and hearing an echo. That is precisely “wondrous being hidden within true emptiness.”

Once you have this efficacy of “responding when stirred and connecting,” you must work at the point of that “connection,” seize it into the furnace of the three fields’ transformation, and refine it into truth with samadhi true fire (the true fire that arises in concentration). From true emptiness you return again to the Great Void (Tai Xu). When the Dao returns to the Great Void, emptiness is no longer bound by emptiness; only one truth remains, nothing else.

The three fields spoken of here are not the usual neidan trio of the “sea of qi,” the “crimson palace,” and the “mud pill” (niwan). They are where the three elixirs—jing (essence), qi (vital energy), and shen (spirit)—gather; also called the gate of primordial transformation, the primordial pass and aperture, the central yellow court, the furnace of creation and transformation, the Taiyi altar, and the wuji gate—collectively named the void aperture (xu wu qiao). The treasure of pre-heaven true spirit governs the three substances jing, qi, and shen. When true spirit is restored, the three are all restored; they self-create and self-transform, blend in harmonious fullness, and coalesce into one block. At first from non-being something comes to be; then from being it transforms back to non-being. Refining true emptiness is the wondrous use of transforming from being to non-being. From being to non-being, form and spirit are both subtle, of one body with the Great Void. When merit and practice are complete, one visits the immortal capital, receives the celestial tally, and becomes a Perfected One of the ten supreme great Luo—here the great person’s work is finished.

In praise: It expounds the secrets of Laozi and Zhuangzi, continues the heart-transmission of Zhong and Lü; reveals the wondrous principle of the pre-heaven; cuts through crooked paths and empty pretense; distinguishes orthodox from heterodox in cauldron and furnace; makes true and false in “medicine” plain; emptiness and form mix as one qi; soft and hard match the two “strings.” Ah! The elixir method.