《大道真传》

The True Transmission of the Great Dao was spoken by Wei Yaoze of Western Shu and recorded by Chen Weigong Meng of Eastern Zhejiang.

Seek the Great Dao within your own heart. Only when the heart is quiet, still, and clear can you cultivate the Dao. If you cultivate the Dao merely to seek blessings and rewards, it is like trying to cross a river by boat while keeping your distance from the far shore: you remain apart from the Dao.

Now that you have heard the Great Dao, do not cling to distinctions between self and others. You must let go of both body and mind; only then can you break through the “Dragon and Tiger,” symbols in Neidan cultivation for forces such as Yin-Yang and Jing and Qi. Cultivate diligently on your own, examine your conduct, restrain distracting thoughts, give rise to neither greed nor anger, and remain wholly sincere and reverent. The gateway to the meaning of the Dao is the “Mysterious Female,” a term for the profound hidden source from which all things arise, also used in Neidan for its secret aperture.

One day, when you have cultivated the “medicine”—the Jing and Qi gathered through Neidan practice—your whole body will brim with vitality, as if spring had arrived. Then your De will be fragrant as osmanthus blossoms, and the fluids in your mouth will taste sweet as honey. You will be able to experience the benefits of cultivating the Dao. Give your utmost sincerity and effort; do not delay or grow lax. You must encourage yourself! The cycle of calamity has already begun, and the cycle of the Dao is about to open. Do not delay of your own accord and thereby fail to live up to Heaven’s grace. Be careful in your actions and circumspect in your cultivation. Keep these words firmly in mind!

The exhortation at the beginning of The Oral Instructions for the True Transmission of the Great Dao reiterates: the cycle of calamity has begun, and the cycle of the Dao is about to open. Do not delay or fail to live up to Heaven’s grace. Cultivation must be careful and circumspect; remember this well.

What are the firing phases of the Lesser Celestial Circuit? “Phase” refers to timing: the fire is kindled when a time such as the “living Zi hour” or “living Wu hour” arrives. Hence the term “firing phases.” The “fire” here refers to the Li trigram, which symbolizes the spirit and mental activity within the heart-mind. Working with the firing phases depends entirely on the subtle activity of the heart-mind and spirit; the key is awareness.

One should refine the “Great Medicine” through natural spiritual awareness, following the naturally occurring firing phases. Although there are certain rules, the alchemical scriptures describe them only in accordance with those rules. In actual practice, one should follow nature rather than exert oneself deliberately. By acting through Wuwei (non-action), one can accomplish everything. The firing phases should unfold in their natural order, and their course can be verified through direct experience.

Only through natural cultivation can spiritual awareness become keen. The slightest unnaturalness makes it falter; once one clings to outward appearances or gives rise to delusive thoughts, the firing phases can easily go awry. The author therefore calls this state “natural spiritual awareness.” The alchemical scriptures call it the “Yellow Matron”: yellow symbolizes the center, while “matron” evokes pure Kun. Kun represents yielding, and also carries the sense of kindness and gentleness.

The author uses the eighty-one trials Tang Monk undergoes in Journey to the West as a metaphor for errors in the firing phases. Along the way, encounters with demons sometimes arise from a lack of vegetarian food and sometimes from the need to find lodging; at root, they all concern clothing, food, and shelter, and lead people to develop craving. Humans are born with appetites for food and sex: some are inherited from their parents, while some come from the past karma brought by the intermediate state between death and rebirth. The appetites for food and sex inherited from one’s parents are one aspect; the accumulated karma of such desires across past lives, stored in the heart-mind during the intermediate state, is another. From these arise thoughts of greed, anger, delusion, and attachment that are difficult to quiet. At the slightest lapse in care, a thought stirs and the firing phases go awry. Zhu Bajie’s constant talk of breaking up the group symbolizes the dispersal of the firing phases.

The firing process in the Lesser Celestial Circuit—the stage of Neidan cultivation in which True Qi circulates along the Ren and Du meridians—is of utmost importance. By the time cultivation reaches the Greater Celestial Circuit, the stage in which the practice unfolds further, spiritual awareness has naturally become complete, so there is less chance of error. During the Lesser Celestial Circuit, however, spiritual awareness may be keen at times and dull at others, so each step must be carefully attended to. This is precisely why the alchemical classics explain the firing process in such detail. The Wuzhen pian says, “The slightest deviation prevents the Elixir from forming,” showing that the firing process must not be mistaken in even the smallest degree.

Yet excessive detail can also lead students astray. Terms such as “employing nine” and “employing six,” and the numbers assigned to the Qian and Kun trigrams, do not mean that one literally follows those numbers in practice. They use numerical and symbolic correspondences to explain the underlying principles. To cultivate mechanically according to the words on the page is to become attached to outward forms. The Song of the Lesser Celestial Circuit by Patriarch Qiu, in the Longmen Secret Instructions, likewise should not be practiced by following its verses literally. The Perfected Liu Huayang’s Classic of Wind and Fire also explains the firing process in detail, but it too uses images of the body as metaphor. In conducting the firing, one must not rigidly act out the lines as written; this is the same principle that applies to the Song of the Lesser Celestial Circuit.

What is “fire”? It is the spirit’s natural awareness. What is the “medicine”? It is the primordial Qi, the original vital energy that precedes acquired activities such as breathing and thought. This describes the relationship between medicine and fire. From the perspective of “refining,” Qi is the furnace and Shen is the fire within it. The aperture of emptiness is the cauldron; the primordial Qi gathered and drawn forth when Shen and Qi unite is the medicine within the cauldron.

Bai Yuchan said, “Refine the medicine with fire to form the Elixir: this is to govern Qi with Shen and thereby realize the Dao.” Li Qing’an said, “To become a Buddha or an immortal takes no exertion; it lies only in gathering Shen and entering the Qi cavity.” These two sayings have already explained the meanings of medicine, fire, cauldron, and furnace.

During alchemical practice, gathering is the most crucial step, but sealing and stabilizing must not be overlooked. After gathering true Yang—the Yang energy spoken of in cultivation—one may fear that it will disperse again. The work of sealing and stabilizing is therefore needed, and it hinges on two words: “settling” and “forgetting.”

“Settling” means allowing true Yang, once it reaches the body, to become stable and abundant. “Forgetting” means that gathering is completed naturally, without deliberate effort; drawing it in is likewise accomplished naturally, without consciously trying to do so. Sealing and stabilizing means stopping the fire—in other words, ceasing to apply the stages of heating. After true Yang has been gathered, continuing to work the fire beyond what is appropriate can defeat the purpose and make it more likely to disperse. The fire must therefore be stopped, and the essence sealed and stabilized. This, too, is a vital stage of alchemical practice.

The Verses on the Lesser Celestial Circuit describe phenomena and principles that can be verified in cultivation; they do not prescribe specific practice methods. How to practice in actual terms still depends on holding to three words: “settle, forget, stop”—settle the mind and spirit, do not cling deliberately, and do not act recklessly.

When Yang Qi stirs, if you can perceive it, the “living Zi” and “living Wu” have already appeared. These refer to the moments when the Yin-Yang energies begin to move during cultivation. Wu corresponds to the Li trigram and symbolizes fire; Zi corresponds to the Kan trigram and symbolizes water. Once you perceive the stirring of Yang Qi, Zi and Wu have already joined. After they join, it is time to refine the medicine. In cultivating the Greater Celestial Circuit, this corresponds to Qian and Kun joining—that is, the moment to apply the firing times.

Even when the living Zi and living Wu appear, you may fail to respond to the living Wu and so not perceive it; or you may perceive it but fail to apply the firing times according to the proper principles; or, while applying them, you may become attached to forms or deliberately direct your intention. Any of these can make the “source of the water unclear”—that is, the fundamental conditions for cultivation are not pure enough. The Awakening to Reality says, “To understand the numinous workings of the firing times, one must ask the immortals to explain them carefully.” What the book does not explain in detail is precisely the three words “settle, forget, stop,” so one must seek instruction from an enlightened teacher. Lü Zu says, “Simply settle the spirit and let the breath follow its natural course.” The word “settle” is crucial. When the mind and spirit are settled, you will naturally perceive the firing times; as long as you follow what is natural, you will not go wrong.

When the Lesser Celestial Circuit has been practiced to proficiency, it can complete one cycle in as little as a minute. If, as the book says, one calculated the breaths according to Qian and Kun joining and the 360 degrees, the process would necessarily take several minutes; it could not be completed in one minute. This shows that the numbers in the book embody principles and methods; the actual circulation does not mechanically follow a numerical count, so there is no need to be troubled by this.

“Extreme stillness gives way to movement; one Yang returns.” This means that practice of the Microcosmic Orbit, a Neidan method centered on the movement of Qi through the body’s Governing and Conception vessels and other channels, should begin when Yang Qi first arises. Yang Qi can emerge only when body and mind are deeply still. The text holds that Yang Qi born of profound stillness is true Yang, whereas ordinary arousal caused by desire is called “lustful essence.” This is why “extreme stillness” is emphasized here.

The text cites the Perfected Zhang Ziyang’s saying that “the medicine is born in the Mysterious Cavity.” It holds that the “medicine” required for Neidan—the essence and Qi spoken of in cultivation—arises from emptiness and stillness, then enters the Gate of Life through the Yin Heel vessel. The Gate of Life is a Neidan term for the area between the kidneys, behind the navel; the Yin Heel is a Daoist Neidan term for a point in the lower body where a channel opens. Once the Qi mechanism at the Gate of Life is activated, the external kidney—the male sexual organ—naturally becomes erect. When practitioners notice this change, they call it the “living hour of the Horse.” The text describes this as true Fire rising within Kan Water and joining with Li Fire.

“One Yang returns” draws on the Return hexagram in the Yijing: beneath five Yin lines, a first Yang line is born, symbolizing the renewed sprouting of Yang Qi. The ancients also compared this to the winter solstice, when Yin reaches its extreme and Yang is born. They said that the Yang Qi between Heaven and Earth returns according to a “seven-day cycle,” and called this life-generating impulse the “Heart of Heaven,” a Daoist shorthand for the creative force of Heaven and Earth. The text holds that when the body is profoundly still, Yang Qi stirs from below and rises, corresponding to the renewal of Yang Qi in Heaven and Earth. The sudden erection of the external kidney is a sign that “one Yang has returned.”

At this first stirring, Yang Qi is still weak: the external kidney rises but is not yet firm. Practitioners should not immediately try to gather it, but should regard it as a signal that practice is beginning. The text says that amid “obscurity and trance”—a state in which body and mind are still and perception grows faint—all thoughts fall silent, and the practitioner suddenly senses Yang Qi beginning to move. This is a sign that the Qi of Heaven and Earth is responding to the human body. The text cites the Daodejing: “Vague and indistinct, yet within it there is an image… Its essence is utterly real; within it there is a token.” It interprets the “image” as a sign that Yang Qi is just beginning to arise, and the “token” as the dependable, timely appearance of this life-generating impulse.

The text also distinguishes this “Original Essence” from the semen produced by ordinary sexual desire. The former is regarded as innate essence and Qi arising from emptiness and stillness; the latter arises from sexual arousal and desire. Only after recognizing the sign of Yang Qi’s first stirrings does the practitioner proceed to the subsequent work of “gathering.”

The text holds that regardless of age, anyone who reaches a state of deep emptiness and stillness may experience signs of Yang Qi returning; yet this can be perceived only by entering a state of obscurity and trance. It also connects the “token” to Confucius’s saying, “Without trust, the people cannot stand,” and argues that mastering this life-generating impulse enables one to establish one’s life and escape the constraints of life and death. Finally, it says that if it is difficult to become still while sitting, sleep may also be used to rest the body and mind. But if desire and dreams continue to disturb the practitioner during sleep, this does not count as true stillness. Only when body and mind are calm and sleep is dreamless may Yang Qi begin to stir; the practitioner becomes aware of it through the joining of Shen and Qi.

“When the medicine arises, Shen becomes aware; the subtle formula connects one with the numinous.” This means that when the medicine arises—the innate, true Yang Qi in Neidan practice—a person’s awareness of Shen perceives it. Mastering the subtle formula allows one to connect with the numinous Qi of Heaven and Earth and with one’s own inner nature.

“Awareness” refers to “know the white, keep to the black, and Shen will naturally arrive”: one remains aware inwardly while holding to emptiness and stillness, and Shen naturally manifests. “One Yang” is the medicine, and “return” means that the medicine arises. “One Yang returns” is also called the “living Zi hour,” the moment in cultivation when true Yang stirs. “Awareness of Shen” is called the “living Wu hour,” the moment when awareness of Shen follows the arrival of true Yang.

According to this passage, true Yang enters through the Yin Heel vessel, a channel associated with the lower part of the body, and stirs the true fire of the Gate of Life, causing the external kidneys—that is, the male sexual organs—to become erect. Qi then surges upward toward the heart, where awareness of Shen perceives it. When Yin reaches its extreme, Yang is born, and the medicine arises; Yin then arises within Yang, and awareness of Shen follows. The living Zi hour and living Wu hour are linked: when the Qi mechanism stirs, awareness of Shen stirs with it.

The Cantong qi (the Token for Joining the Three, also known as the Zhouyi Cantong qi) says: “In sleep, Shen and Qi embrace; when awake, observe their continuance and change.” This means that in sleep, Shen and Qi embrace one another; when awake, one observes whether the movement of Qi continues or changes. The “subtle formula” in the passage is the instruction for recognizing the arising of the medicine and awareness of Shen, and the living Zi and Wu hours. If practitioners can recognize and cultivate at the moment when the medicine is gathered, they can reach the state in which “Heaven and humanity act together, establishing the foundation of all transformations.” This is why it is called “connecting with the numinous.”

The words beginning “the faint Yang has just begun…” at the end repeat and fragment the preceding text. The surviving phrase can be understood as “the faint Yang has just begun…”

“When the faintest Yang first arises, it is still tender and must not be gathered” means that when Yang energy has just begun to emerge, it is still very weak and should not be gathered and refined at once. Even after mastering this essential instruction, one must still know how to judge the right moment: the medicinal energy must not be gathered when it is too tender, nor when it has grown too old. Confucius said, “I know why the Way cannot be put into practice: the intelligent go too far, while the foolish cannot reach it. I know why its principles cannot be made clear: the able understand too much, while the incapable cannot understand them.” Both excess and insufficiency are unsuitable. Only what is precisely fitting and in accord with the right moment conforms to the proper method.

Confucius was called the “Sage of Timeliness” because he knew how to judge the moment. When “joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure have not yet arisen,” the mind is in a balanced, unbiased state called “the Center.” When one applies effort in cultivation, it is like the emotions arising in due measure; this is called “Harmony.” At the stage of sealing and consolidating—the step in which the gathered medicinal energy is drawn together and condensed—Yin and Yang unite and take form.

The “tender Yang” spoken of here means Yang energy that has only just arisen. Though it has begun to move, it is not yet firm, and so must not be gathered and refined. In terms of the trigrams, the Earth over Thunder hexagram, Fu (Return), in which one Yang line first emerges, must not be gathered; nor may the Earth over Lake hexagram, Lin (Approach), with its two Yang lines. One must wait for the Earth over Heaven hexagram, Tai (Peace), when Yin and Yang above and below reach balance. Only then, when “true lead weighs eight ounces and true mercury half a catty,” may it be gathered. When Yang energy first arises, it is still tender. One should settle into quiet watchfulness in the empty space beyond the nose, and use the firing times to set the movement of Metal energy in motion, allowing Yang to grow to fullness. True Gold must be accumulated gradually, drop by drop.

“When the medicine is firm and full, its light is complete on the fifteenth day; when the moment arrives, gather it promptly and do not let it pass” means that once the medicinal energy is firm and abundant, like the full, bright moon on the fifteenth day, the time has come to gather it without delay. The original text goes on to say that true Gold must be accumulated gradually, drop by drop.

When the medicine—the Jing and Qi generated through cultivation—is abundant and condensed, it becomes full and bright like the moon on the fifteenth day. At that point, one should gather it at once and not miss the opportunity. Once the medicine has condensed, it can be gathered. “The light is full on the fifteenth” refers to the moment when Metal Qi is full. “Firm” means that, after Yang Qi stirs, the external kidney (the male sexual organ) becomes erect and hard. At this point, the timing is exactly right: neither excessive nor insufficient. It is like the full moon at its height, an opportunity that must not be missed; one must act in time.

The “gathering” described here means applying the practice of “forgetting”: at this moment, remain focused and hold steady, without letting the mind and spirit scatter. This is what is meant by “gathering without gathering, taking without taking.” Yang Qi stirs every day, yet people often miss the moment right before them because they do not know the secret or understand how to gather it.

When the medicine is firm, this is called the “correct Zi hour.” When one first senses Yang Qi stirring, this is called the “living Wu hour.” In “the time is right; gather it at once,” “time” refers specifically to the Wu hour. The external kidney first rises slightly, then rises high, and afterward becomes firm. This happens because the medicinal Qi is abundant and surges toward the heart. When one senses it becoming firm once more, that is the correct midday moment. This is the key instruction within the oral formula, and students should commit it to memory.

“Wait too long and look into the distance; gathering it will bring no success” means that if one delays too long and waits until after the full moon to gather it, the practice will fail. This is the same as the line in the Wuzhen Pian: “When Metal meets the waning moon, it is not fit to taste.” The word “long” deserves particular attention: if the medicine has already become firm and remains so for too long, the right moment has passed. It is like the moon on the seventeenth, eighteenth, or nineteenth day, after the fifteenth: it has begun to wane and is no longer usable, so the Elixir cannot be refined.

These lines have explained the medicine’s transition from tender to mature within the Lesser Celestial Circuit, along with the corresponding timing of the fire. The following passage will discuss how Shen and Qi depend on one another, and why the “living Zi hour” and “living Wu hour” are linked.

“When Qi (vital energy) moves outward, Shen (spirit—the person’s awareness and consciousness) moves outward with it. When Shen returns to its root, Qi returns to its root as well.” The first sentence says that as Qi moves, Shen moves along with it; the second says that when Qi comes to rest, Shen settles too. The first describes the arising of the medicine—a term for the inner Jing (essence) and Qi cultivated in practice—and Shen’s awareness of it. The second describes gathering the spirit and settling it in the Qi cavity. In the first, Qi stirs and Shen follows; in the second, Shen settles and Qi settles with it.

“Living Zi and living Wu” refers to the moment when the Yin-Yang Qi mechanism stirs and joins in cultivation. When it stirs, the practitioner senses it, and Shen moves in response. This describes Qi arriving from outside. True Yang—the pure Yang Qi of Neidan (internal alchemy)—stirs and comes from outside. As Qi arrives, Shen goes out to meet it. This is called “Lead arrives and Mercury welcomes it,” with lead and mercury serving as metaphors for the corresponding Yin and Yang energies.

The second sentence describes the work of gathering the medicine and sealing it in. At first, one uses “stillness”: the mind and spirit are brought to rest. Once the outer medicine—the True Yang Qi that stirs from outside—takes effect and Yang Qi emerges and stabilizes, it should be gathered. At this point, one practices “forgetting.” When Qi returns, Shen enters the cauldron, the body and mind where Jing and Qi are refined in Neidan. Qi is the medicine, and Shen is the fire. When Shen returns to its root, Qi also regains its original state, as the Dao De Jing says: “Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is returning to one’s destiny.”

Nourishing Qi is the work of establishing the foundation of life. First, let the mind and spirit settle. When Yang Qi then stirs from outside, use the practice of forgetting to guide it back to its root. In gathering the medicine, forgetting is essential: as Qi returns to its root, Shen returns there too. When refining the medicine with fire, Shen returns to its root while True Yang stirs outside; gather this Yang Qi into the cauldron. This is called “gathering without gathering, taking without taking”: it seems that nothing is deliberately gathered or taken, yet the Qi is gathered at the proper moment. Once enough has been gathered, return to the root and forget the body; Qi, too, returns to its root. When Shen and Qi return to their root together, Qi will become full, and the outer kidneys—here meaning the male genitals—will relax and hang down.

Gathering the medicine counts as one phase, and sealing it in counts as another. Together they are called “the two phases of gathering the Muni jewel.”

When the movement of Qi turns back and Yang Qi is about to become full, the timing for gathering the medicine and sealing it in place has been fulfilled. When the time comes to kindle the fire at the Zi hour—the middle of the night, when Yang Qi first arises—the timing must be judged with even greater care. In other words, once Yang Qi has begun to stir, and the medicine has been gathered properly and sealed in place, the fire should be stopped and the practice brought to completion. The fire’s timing should not be applied further. If one does not know when to stop, the medicinal Qi will dissipate again.

The following passage describes signs that appear during cultivation; it does not set out specific methods. Lü Zu (Lü Dongbin) said, “There is naturally a true, innate timing of the fire.” The timing of the fire follows a natural sequence. What follows explains the principles of advancing the Yang Fire and withdrawing the Yin Talisman: applying the fire’s timing at the proper moments to increase Yang Qi and cause Yin Qi to recede.

Once stillness has reached its utmost, the movement of Qi begins, and one Yang returns—Yang Qi is born. Through the practice of settling the mind, true Yang is brought into the body. When Yang Qi is sufficient, the medicine should be gathered. After gathering the medicine, Shen and Qi have returned to their source, and the fire should be stopped. This completes one cycle of practice. Cultivate in this way each day. Over time, when enough Yang Qi has been gathered—when “accumulating gold and filling the abdomen,” or gathering vital energies to fill the abdomen, reaches the stage of “true gold filling the abdomen”—begin the process of refinement. Bring the movements of the three hundred and sixty celestial cycles to completion as quickly as possible, so that Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire converge at once and the external medicine, as described in cultivation, can be gathered.

At this stage of cultivation, advancing Yang and withdrawing Yin can proceed together. Once the timing for gathering the medicine and sealing it in place has been fulfilled, the fire can naturally be kindled to dispel the Yin Qi in the body.

“What is meant by fire? It is postnatal breathing. How is fire used? As you exhale, the movement of Qi descends; as you inhale, it rises.” Here, “fire” refers to the Qi of postnatal breathing. This is a form of cultivation that follows the natural course of things. At this stage, the Original Spirit—the person’s spiritual awareness—can become responsive, giving rise to a natural sense of awareness. As you exhale, the movement of Qi descends along the front of the body; as you inhale, it rises along the back.

“The subtlety of using fire lies in seeming to be present and yet absent.” This means that in cultivation one does not cling to either “being” or “nonbeing”: the rise, fall, entry, and exit of breath and Qi seem to be there, yet also seem not to be. “Simply settle the mind and breath, and let them follow their natural course” means practicing “forgetting,” without deliberately chasing images of changes in body or mind.

“Let the fire move within the cauldron, and let the breath emulate that of the Realized Person.” This means gathering postnatal Qi within the cauldron, a term in internal alchemy for the place within the body where cultivation takes place, and modeling one’s breathing on that of the Realized Person. “The Realized Person breathes through the heels” means that the Realized Person’s breathing is deep and continuous, as if it could reach the heels. This is what is called “true breathing.” At this point, the Qi of the breath is described as reaching down to the heels.

“The firing times must follow a rule: count the breath as it enters and leaves. This is called the clepsydra, used to determine the hours.” The practice of counting the breath—silently attending to and counting each inhalation and exhalation—is what is meant here by the “martial fire of the clepsydra,” a method of cultivation that uses breath counting to regulate the firing times. While counting, one should silently listen to the breath as it enters and leaves. A clepsydra was originally a timekeeping device; here it also marks the moments of cultivation. The text holds that listening attentively to the breath in this way steadies the practice. Only when the “true Zi hour,” the opportune moment for gathering and refining the elixir within the Zi hour, arrives may one undertake the gathering and refining of the elixir.

The final phrase, “from Zi onward,” is incomplete in the text provided; it means “from the Zi hour until …”.

From the hour of Zi to the hour of Si, corresponding to the six Yang lines and symbolized by the Qian hexagram’s “Use of the Nine,” there are thirty-six breaths in all. This marks the period for advancing the Yang fire. At the exact hour of Zi, one should practice “forgetting” and let body and mind function naturally. The thirty-six breaths are a rhythm that arises naturally; they serve as a symbol for advancing the fire.

From the hour of Wu to the hour of Hai, corresponding to the six Yin lines and symbolized by the Kun hexagram’s “Use of the Six,” there are twenty-four breaths, which are used to withdraw Yin Qi from the body. At this time, one may feel coolness, or sense a cool fluid passing from the crown of the head through the throat—called the “Ninefold Tower” in ancient terminology—and descending into the abdomen. This is known as the Yin Talisman of Withdrawal. The twenty-four breaths likewise form naturally; do not deliberately count them. The practitioner’s spirit awareness will naturally discern the timing of the fire, which is used for the cooking and refinement.

The hours of Mao and You are periods of bathing in Yin and Yang: at Mao, the Yang fire should cease; at You, the Yin Talisman should come to a halt. At these times, nothing descends or rises, and breathing should also pause. This is the scene known as bathing at Mao and You. Compared with the Great Heavenly Circuit, a method in which Qi circulates throughout the body, this is only a smaller, subtler movement.

In general, the impulse to move appears at Zi, and awareness arises at Wu. Once the medicine—the term for inner changes such as Jing and Qi during cultivation—has formed, spirit awareness will know. Then one should begin the practice and settle the mind. “Settling” means using the clepsydra’s martial fire, a term for regulating the rhythm of cultivation through intention: keep the attention on the empty space outside the nose and listen quietly to the breath. By noticing the breath as it enters and leaves, stabilize and consolidate the “medicine” that has been gathered. When the exact hours of Zi and Wu arrive, one should gather it and practice through “forgetting”; these are also the times for bathing at Mao and You.

At the crucial moment when Yin and Yang Qi meet, once you sense that the exact Zi hour—the moment when Yang Qi first arises—has arrived, advance the Yang Fire: in other words, nourish Yang Qi according to the prescribed method. Once you sense the exact Wu hour—the moment when Yang Qi reaches its height in circulation—withdraw the Yin Talisman, shifting instead to gather in Yin Qi. The Zi and Wu hours arrive together. The figures thirty-six and twenty-four describe the prescribed measure for circulating the firing process: the Governing Vessel, which runs along the back of the body, follows a longer course of thirty-six breaths, while the Conception Vessel, which runs along the front, follows a shorter course of twenty-four breaths. Their lengths correspond precisely.

The two currents meet between Mao and You. Within, Water and Fire meet; outwardly, Metal and Wood meet. Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire converge at the central palace, the center of the body. This is the meaning of “taking Kan to replenish Li”—using the Water symbolized by the Kan trigram to nourish the Fire symbolized by Li—and “the two Earths form a gui,” the joining of two kinds of Earth Qi into the shape of a jade tablet. Yet this work is accomplished through “forgetting”: the six Yangs and six Yins simply describe the prescribed measures and symbols of the firing process. The Governing Vessel follows thirty-six breaths and the Conception Vessel twenty-four; one is long and the other short, but the work unfolds naturally through forgetting deliberate action. The practitioner notices nothing and makes no effort with body or mind, while Shen and Qi circulate of themselves.

Above and below, Water and Fire meet; to the left and right, Metal and Wood meet. Both converge at the central palace. “Nine returns and seven reversals”—a Neidan term for the cycles of transformation of Yin and Yang, Jing and Qi during cultivation—take place at the same time, without precedence. This differs somewhat from what is commonly called the Great Heavenly Circuit.

“The heavenly circuit has three hundred degrees, excluding Mao and You; it has three hundred and sixty when Mao and You are included. Add one quarter of five degrees to represent the intercalary remainder, and one complete circuit of the heavens is formed. Then return once more to stillness and resume bathing—the stage of gathering oneself in and cultivating stillness. Shen gathers in the Qi cavity, where Shen is focused and Qi refined, awaiting the return of Yang Qi.”

This means that each cycle of practice counts as one complete circuit of the heavens. When the circuit is complete, stop the firing process and do not continue circulating. Instead, bathe in stillness, gathering Shen and Qi in the Qi cavity until Yang Qi arises again; then begin the next circuit. After 360 such circuits, the work of the Lesser Heavenly Circuit is complete. The circuit runs from the Zi hour to the Wu hour, then from Wu to Hai. When the outer kidneys—the external genitalia—hang downward, one complete circuit of the heavens has been completed.

The Great Dao’s True Transmission says: “With prolonged practice, essence transforms into Qi; returning wind rises straight upward, and results can be seen in a hundred days.” Here, “returning wind rises straight upward” refers to circulating the microcosmic orbit, completing one circuit each day.

Another interpretation is that daily practice of the microcosmic orbit gradually transforms the body’s essence into Qi. The microcosmic orbit practice takes about a hundred days to complete. After this period, the foundation-building stage of cultivation is complete, and one becomes a “fetal immortal,” a term in Daoist cultivation for a state of attained accomplishment. This is why it is said, “The practice bears fruit in a hundred days.”

“Six kinds of movement, seven-day formula; the great circuit begins, then ask again about the way through the maze” means that, from this point, a year of nurturing is still required before the “six kinds of movement”—bodily sensations described in cultivation—appear. After a year of nurturing, one should begin the macrocosmic orbit practice and seek the formula for practicing over seven days to complete this stage. Hence the saying, “The great circuit begins, then ask again about the way through the maze.”

In summary, the key to practicing the microcosmic orbit lies in three words: “settle, forget, stop.” In actual practice, the focus is on the moment of yang arousal, when the male genitals become erect: practice while the erection lasts, and stop when it subsides. The bodily sensation is simply a diffuse tingling. With mature practice, the tingling travels from back to front, and a cool fluid seems to descend from the crown of the head. These are said to be signs of advancing Yang and withdrawing Yin. When the arousal subsides and the tingling disappears, one practice cycle is complete; there is no other method. Practitioners need only pay attention to these two conditions.

The second lecture of The Great Dao’s True Transmission Formula quotes Qiu Zu’s “Song of the Microcosmic Orbit” to explain the visions and timing that arise during cultivation: when the yang arousal subsides and the tingling disappears, one practice cycle is complete; there is no other method. Practitioners should attend to these two points.

The Song Formula for the Small Circulation of the Celestial Circuit, by Patriarch Qiu (Qiu Chuji), describes in detail the visions and timing involved in cultivating the Small Heavenly Circuit. This practice begins when Yang Qi first arises; that is the moment to kindle the fire. When Yang Qi recedes, it is time to stop the fire. The Nine Chapters on the Elixir Way by Master Wu also discusses the “three appearances of Yang light,” a vision that may occur during Small Heavenly Circuit cultivation.

At the beginning of practice, it is difficult for cultivators to notice this vision clearly. Consciousness is then hazy and indistinct. The principle is “gather without gathering, take without taking,” and practice should proceed in a state of undifferentiated awareness. Deliberately observing with a fully alert mind is considered to make the “water source unclear.” So even when a vision appears, one may not recognize it.

In the later stages of cultivation, when the “three appearances of Yang light” occur, the foundation has already been established, and the fire should be stopped. Yang light refers to the vision described as “brightness arising in an empty chamber”: a white light seems to shine from the space between the eyebrows, appearing like a flash of lightning. The Jing’s account of the Tathagata emitting a ray of white light from between his eyebrows refers to this vision. The first appearance of the white light corresponds to the initial arising of Yang Qi and is hard to notice. Only after the active Zi hour—the moment when Yang Qi stirs in Neidan practice—arrives, followed by the active Wu hour, the corresponding stage when Yang Qi is abundant, does the cultivator begin to perceive it.

When the Yang light flashes and vanishes, this is called the “first appearance.” The Direct Treatise on the True Principles of Celestial Immortality explains it in detail. When Yang Qi is sufficient and the medicine—the term for refined substances such as Jing and Qi in Neidan practice—has solidified, the cultivator gathers it. After beginning this gathering, the Yang light flashes again; this is called the “second appearance.” During practice, one may remain unmoved by external circumstances and let the mind and body grow still, yet still fail to perceive it clearly, since the second appearance may also pass unnoticed.

The earlier passage describes the moment when the external kidneys—the male genitals—descend as the time to stop the fire. The “third appearance of Yang light” also occurs at this stage. When the external kidneys retract, this is called the third appearance, and the fire should be stopped. One may perceive it faintly at this point, but the Yang light appears extremely quickly. Master Wu once failed to stop the fire at the third appearance and waited until the fourth; by then, the timing had passed. Stopping the fire at the third appearance is the proper moment.

If cultivators cannot distinguish the appearance of Yang light, they need not use it to decide when to stop the fire. They can instead observe the extension and retraction of the external kidneys: when they retract and a wave of tingling passes through the body, the fire should be stopped, to avoid errors caused by failing to withdraw the fire in time. Once the accumulation of the Golden Elixir is complete and the Original Spirit—the fundamental spirit spoken of in cultivation—has become clear and luminous, perception will naturally become distinct.

The Yang light described here is also called the “light of lead flowers.” At its first appearance, lead has just arrived in the body; at the second, it is sufficient; at the third, lead is full and enters the cauldron. “Fasting of the mind and sitting in forgetfulness”—stilling the mind and letting go of attachment to body and self—and “brightness arising in an empty chamber” describe this same condition. The “empty chamber” here means the space seen before one’s eyes. The light does not emanate from inside the body; it seems instead to appear outside it.

The practice of the Lesser Celestial Circuit is a process of cooking and refining. “Gentle cooking and vigorous refining” refers to refining the medicine—that is, transforming the innate, undifferentiated Jing-Qi within the body. As this Jing-Qi is refined, the body’s Yin essence is transformed into Qi. This is called “refining essence into Qi.”

At first, the practice takes a great deal of time. As one becomes more proficient, the time required grows shorter; this is known as “gathering and concentrating.” The practice time gradually contracts from an hour to a quarter of an hour, then to a minute, and finally to as little as a second. With continued practice, the process becomes faster and faster. Once the work is fully mature and true Yang has accumulated in abundance, laying the foundation is complete. The accumulation of Yang-Qi is also called “returning to emptiness and refining the self”—through cultivation, bringing body and mind back to stillness, emptiness, and purity. When this refinement of the self is mature, the foundation becomes even more secure.

At this stage, the practitioner experiences corresponding signs: breathing seems to enter and leave through the whole body, all eighty-four thousand pores open, and Yang-Qi gathers inward like a turtle withdrawing into its shell. At this point, the practice of the Lesser Celestial Circuit is complete, and the foundation has been laid.

Cultivation also requires a stage of gentle nurturing, which must be completed. After Yang Qi begins to arise, it must be gathered and refined promptly, then sealed and secured. The Neidan (internal alchemy; the essence and Qi obtained through internal refinement) is sealed within the Dantian, but still needs continued nurturing so that it remains condensed over time and reaches the state described as “contracted like a tortoise, appearing like the hidden form of a horse’s yin.” Without this nurturing, even someone who has obtained the Elixir may find it difficult to preserve. This is why gentle nurturing is most important.

The period of nurturing is usually reckoned as one year, or twelve months. The months of Mao and You are regarded as times of bathing, so these two months are excluded, leaving what is called ten months. This is the work of nurturing the Dao embryo, an image that compares the growth of the Neidan to that of a fetus. The Huangting Jing says, “The heart of the zither, in three layers, dances with the embryo immortal.” According to the account here, once the Lesser Celestial Circuit—a stage of cultivation in which Qi moves through the body—is complete, the embryo begins to form. After the Greater Celestial Circuit, it matures, and Shen can emerge.

“Forming the embryo” is only a metaphor; in practice, it means that after obtaining the medicine, one condenses the Neidan. Nurturing it for a year is only an approximate description. The actual period may be longer or shorter, depending on the person, and has no fixed duration. Only after this nurturing does the “hidden form of a horse’s yin” truly appear. The practitioner then becomes an immortal on earth who preserves the body’s childlike purity over time, also called an embryo immortal or an Earth Immortal—a terrestrial immortal. According to the scripture, this allows one to preserve life and avoid death.

Between the Lesser Celestial Circuit (the stage of cultivation centered on the movement of Qi within the body) and the Greater Celestial Circuit (the stage described in the scripture in which the Great Medicine is gathered and refined, followed by further refinement and cultivation), practice does not proceed continuously. A year of nurturing and consolidation is required in between. In the Lesser Celestial Circuit stage, Yang Qi first arises from the void, moves into the body, and is then gathered and put to use. The Greater Celestial Circuit proceeds in the opposite order: first comes gathering and refinement, and only afterward does new growth arise. Accumulation is therefore necessary before the Great Medicine can be gathered and refined and new growth brought about.

This year of nurturing and accumulation prepares one for the gathering and refinement of the Great Medicine in the Greater Celestial Circuit. Only after a full year may one gather the Great Medicine, a key term in Neidan (internal alchemy), through seven days of oral instruction in the secrets of the Way—the cultivation essentials transmitted by a teacher—and then undertake the Greater Celestial Circuit. When ancient perfected beings spoke of this year of practice, they often avoided stating it directly and reversed the sequence, saying that nurturing took place after the Greater Celestial Circuit. They did so to keep the secrets of cultivation from being revealed. In fact, after the Greater Celestial Circuit there is a separate three-year period of nursing, also called returning to the void, a practice that further stills and empties body and mind. Only after this year of nurturing can one undertake the Greater Celestial Circuit and spirit emerge, the state of cultivation described in the scripture. Once the Greater Celestial Circuit is complete, one then practices nursing for three years. Finally, there is a nine-year period of facing the wall, called shattering the void; this step is optional.

The nine years of facing the wall belong entirely to the cultivation of nature: refining the heart-mind and nurturing one’s original nature. Those who cultivate the highest vehicle take returning to the void as their starting point from the very beginning and make cultivation of nature their foundation at every turn. Since they have already mastered it, they need not devote themselves separately to these nine years. But if one began with a method of alchemy other than the Great Way of primordial nature, these nine years are indispensable. They can be used to clear and purify body and mind, making cultivation of nature the foundation.

After spirit emerges on the seventh day of the Greater Celestial Circuit, one may choose to let go of the bodily form and no longer remain attached to the physical body; in that case, the three years of nursing are unnecessary. If one does not wish to let go, one may continue cultivating for another three years.

What needs to be explained most urgently now is the year-long practice of nurturing and warming—the stage of sustained regulation and consolidation during cultivation—not the practice of facing a wall for nine years. This method of nurturing and warming differs from the ways of cultivation commonly used today. It is best to withdraw to the mountains for quiet practice. If one continues to live amid the world, one should at least prepare a secluded, quiet room where outside sounds cannot enter; only then is it suitable for cultivation. If one can live in such a quiet room and devote oneself wholly to practice, there is hope of completing it in a year.

If one cannot withdraw to the mountains and has no suitable quiet room, it will be hard to concentrate on cultivation. One can only practice as people do when cultivating alongside other pursuits today. In that case, a year will not be enough; the practice must continue for three years. Nowadays, we all cultivate alongside other pursuits: we handle worldly affairs while practicing the way beyond the world. The process may need to extend to four or five years, but that is no great concern, since in the end one can still complete the practice. This work is not especially difficult; the key is to achieve genuine stillness and single-mindedness.

The Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality, a Daoist Neidan classic) says: “Before the Return Elixir—the Elixir formed through Neidan cultivation—has been refined, do not enter the mountains to cultivate; in the mountains, before and behind…” The quotation appears incomplete here; the surviving text conveys that one should not withdraw to the mountains before the Return Elixir is formed.

The Wuzhen pian says: “Before the Returning Elixir has been refined, do not enter the mountains; neither in front of the mountains nor behind them is there lead.” The “lead” spoken of here is obtained through cultivation in the world; it is not produced in the mountains. A person can refine it only by attaining a state of emptiness, stillness, and single-mindedness. Now that the Neidan has been obtained, one must enter the mountains to cultivate it.

Small Circulation practice involves deliberately applying a method. It is invisible to outsiders and can be done in bed, morning or evening. Once one reaches the stage of Wuwei (non-action), however, family members will notice. At this point, one must enter the mountains and cultivate with full attention; this differs from the earlier stage of deliberately applying the method. At this stage, practice consists mainly of entering meditation for extended periods. “Entering meditation” is a Buddhist term for a mind and spirit that are settled and focused. Cultivation also requires balancing “stillness” and “forgetting”: stillness means focused quiet, while forgetting means letting go of the body and distracting thoughts.

If one has a secluded dwelling deep in the mountains, one can set aside a period each day and practice with sustained attention. Of the twelve double-hours in a day, subtract four for nighttime sleep and set aside two for rest, leaving six double-hours for cultivation. If it is not possible to practice with full attention, one should still set a fixed period and practice for four or six double-hours each day; there is no need to specify the exact clock time. This is the work of cleansing the heart and mind and dispelling distracting thoughts, which helps body and mind enter a state of Wuwei.

Cultivation begins with “stillness,” as expressed in the Great Learning: “Only after becoming settled can one become tranquil, at ease, and able to reflect.” It then involves “forgetting,” as the Laozi says: to forget the body while the body remains. In practice, stillness and forgetting must be kept in balance. If one practices for two double-hours, one should spend one double-hour focused in meditation and one double-hour practicing the letting go of distracting thoughts. There should be neither more stillness than forgetting nor more forgetting than stillness; nor should one mix forgetting into stillness, or stillness into forgetting.

This is the method of cultivation represented by the two hexagrams “Morning Tun” and “Evening Meng.” At sunrise, one guards against excessive Yang Fire damaging the Elixir, so the fire must be withdrawn. Withdrawing the fire requires the practice of “forgetting.” After sunset, as the sunlight fades, one guards against cold damaging the Elixir, so the fire must be advanced. Advancing the fire requires the practice of “stillness.” In the end, the aim is to keep Water and Fire in balance: in the morning, one guards against dryness and heat by using Water to harmonize lead—this is “Morning Tun,” or forgetting; in the evening, one guards against cold by using Fire to harmonize mercury—this is “Evening Meng,” or stillness. Here, lead and mercury are terms from Neidan cultivation, referring to two inner elements that work together in the process.

In actual practice, Morning Tun and Evening Meng can also be done in the same session, as long as the time is divided: half for stillness and half for forgetting. At first, although the mind and spirit are aware, they cannot yet settle naturally. With sustained practice, they gradually become calm and at ease, and the mind and spirit learn to regulate themselves; there is no need to deliberately arrange for stillness or forgetting. At this point, the six senses are clear, and sensations no longer disturb the mind and spirit. In seated meditation, one naturally enters stillness and lets go of distracting thoughts. The practitioner need only keep the two in balance; otherwise, the practice will tend toward heat and dryness or toward cold.

Even if one practices for only ten or twenty minutes, stillness and forgetting must be paired: forgetting must be matched by stillness, and stillness by forgetting, with equal time devoted to each. This is the key to regulating the firing process. If one can practice for six double-hours a day, a year will be enough; if one can practice only one or two double-hours a day, the cultivation period should be extended accordingly.

The key to understanding the “stillness” and “forgetting” described above is this: stillness generates mercury, and forgetting generates lead. Since the Neidan has already been obtained, these two elements, lead and mercury, are present. If one maintains balance throughout the refining process, lead and mercury will harmonize naturally and reach equal proportions. Once lead and mercury are abundant, one has reached the stage of carrying out the firing process of the Great Circulation.

What we cultivate now is “the precelestial within the postcelestial”: originally, it is Yang Qi arising in the void and belongs to the precelestial realm. Once it enters the body, however, it transforms into the postcelestial realm. Thus, its essential nature is precelestial, while its actual state is postcelestial.

After obtaining this Qi, another substance arises from it; this is called “the precelestial within the precelestial.” The year of gentle nourishing practice is preparation for obtaining this “precelestial within the precelestial.” The Mirror for Compounding the Medicine (Ruyao Jing) says, “Water fears drying out; fire fears growing cold.” It also says, “When gathering the medicine, regulate the firing process; only when the firing is just right will the Elixir remain unharmed.” These words express precisely this principle.

The hexagrams of the Book of Changes (Yijing) often come in opposing pairs. The Kan hexagram, associated with water, is opposed to the Li hexagram, associated with fire; Water and Fire Already Joined is opposed to Fire and Water Not Yet Joined; and Standstill, Heaven above Earth, is opposed to Peace, Earth above Heaven. The two hexagrams oppose one another yet also work together. In regulating the firing process, apart from the four hexagrams Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li, the remaining sixty hexagrams serve as standards. This accords with the principle in alchemy of opposing Yin and Yang and matching them in the proportion of two to eight: at times one is used, at times one stops; there is water and there is fire, opposing one another yet completing one another.

Thus, in coordinating the hexagrams with the firing process, Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li are the foundation, while the other sixty hexagrams are put into practice. Two hexagrams may be paired for each day—for example, using Zhun in the morning and Meng in the evening, linked and coordinated from beginning to end. This is exceedingly subtle. Likewise, pairing “settling” with Earth above Heaven, Peace, and “forgetting” with Heaven above Earth, Standstill, can also accord with this method.

The hexagrams indicate good fortune, misfortune, remorse, and distress, and these changes arise through action. When the firing process is regulated evenly, there will be no mistakes. If it becomes too strong or too weak, danger will follow. The Mirror for Compounding the Medicine says, “When receiving Qi, the moment is auspicious, but one must also guard against its later turning inauspicious.” At the beginning, receiving Qi tends to go smoothly; during the nourishing process, however, one must guard against danger. This is what is meant by guarding against peril and anticipating danger.

The Great Learning (Daxue) says, “Only after becoming settled can one think things through.” Even after completing the Lesser Celestial Circuit, one must continue to tend it carefully, without allowing the firing process to become unbalanced and either too cold or too hot. The key is to maintain equilibrium. This is also why the earlier passage said that cultivation requires a secluded, deep-set room.

Practice should take place in a quiet room, with someone stationed outside to keep watch and provide assistance, so that no disturbance occurs. Once the mind and spirit are startled, it becomes difficult to keep the firing process steady. Since ancient times, accomplished adepts have practiced with companions nearby for this very reason. Practitioners should set regular times, such as once in the morning and once in the evening, and have someone keep watch outside to prevent people or events from disturbing the practice and affecting the firing process. This practice calls for following what is natural while leaving nothing undone, and outsiders find it difficult to discern. It differs from the Lesser Celestial Circuit method, which can be practiced on a bed while gathering Qi without being noticed. This method requires a quiet room and a companion on watch, so others will naturally be more likely to know about it.

Through this period of gentle nurturing, the Neidan gives rise to Golden Liquor. Only when the Golden Liquor is abundant can the Great Elixir be formed. Here, “inner” and “outer” refer to the greater and lesser voids. The Lesser Orbit gathers from the world outside and brings its results into the body, where they condense into the Neidan; this is called “using external medicine to form the internal elixir.” The Greater Orbit gathers and refines within the body, and its results manifest outside it, condensing into the Waidan; this is called “using internal medicine to form the external elixir.” This is the difference between the two, and what is meant by “uniting the ways of inner and outer.”

The True Transmission of the Great Dao: Essential Instructions, Lecture Three: The Practice of Ten-Month Nurturing

Daoist alchemists through the ages have generally said little about the “practice of ten-month nurturing,” treating it as a secret of the alchemical Way. In brief, it means keeping “stillness” and “forgetting” in balance. “Stillness” means settling the mind and spirit; “forgetting” means not clinging to thoughts or perceptions. At this stage, the practitioner has already attained a true, natural spiritual awareness, and stillness and forgetting will balance each other naturally. If they do not, the practice has gone astray. The Wuzhen Pian says, “The slightest discrepancy prevents the Elixir from forming.” This is precisely what it means. To “bring them into balance” is to bring the two into equilibrium.

By now, the Neidan has formed. Only by continuing to nurture it through balanced stillness and forgetting can the Waidan arise and the Yang Spirit be perfected. The scripture holds that the Neidan can only dispel the body’s Yin qualities, enabling a person to become an “earthly immortal.” It cannot dispel the many Yin qualities contained in the Yin Spirit, the roots of karma accumulated over successive lives, or the intermediate state during rebirth—the transitional condition between death and the next incarnation. Only the Great Elixir can do this. Therefore, after the Neidan has formed, it is still necessary to continue nurturing it until the Waidan arises. Only then is the practice complete, and the practitioner ultimately becomes a “Great Awakened Golden Immortal,” a Golden Immortal who has attained perfect awakening.

In addition to the Song of the Lesser Orbit attributed to Patriarch Qiu, he also wrote a section of the Song of the Great Dao, which serves as the guiding principle for the songs in the Secret Instructions of Longmen. The following is an attempt to explain it line by line:

“The Great Dao is profound and subtle, yet present before our eyes.” The opening line points directly to the key. The Great Dao is far-reaching and elusive, beyond measure; yet where it appears is right before us.

“Though the Great Dao is profound and subtle, it is present right before us.” These opening words immediately state the central point: the Great Dao is deep and elusive, beyond measure, yet it manifests before our eyes.

“From ancient times, the way to reach the heights has always been passed down by a teacher.” The books say little about the source of the Great Dao; it is transmitted orally, from a true teacher to a student.

“Vague and obscure, expressed through many metaphors, these accounts are ultimately all partial.” Even when books offer explanations, they are often couched in metaphor, indistinct and obscure. A metaphor should not be mistaken for a literal thing, and such accounts often describe only one side. The ancients generally wrote to address the shortcomings of their own times. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, people became mired in stillness and isolation, so writings tended to emphasize “active methods”—cultivation practices involving deliberate effort. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, some people drifted toward “female cauldron and harvesting practices,” theories of cultivation framed in terms of sexual intercourse and replenishing oneself by taking from another. Writings of that period therefore often corrected these ideas by emphasizing “Wuwei (non-action),” a cultivation approach that avoids deliberate intervention. Since the true oral instructions cannot be disclosed in full, books often convey them through metaphor. Their accounts are therefore obscure and metaphorical, and in the end each has its own bias.

“Ten thousand volumes can be condensed into a few words; the starting point is the precelestial state.” This means that although the instructions for cultivating the Dao may fill countless books, their essential point is contained in the phrase “begin with the precelestial.”

“Named but without form, the original Qi is empty in its substance.” This means that although original Qi has a name, it cannot be seen in any concrete form; its nature is emptiness. Cultivation of the Dao begins within this emptiness, and what one gathers and obtains is this very original Qi.

“Yang stirs faintly; the body raises its outward form in an instant.” This means that the precelestial One Qi—the precelestial vital energy in Daoist teaching—comes from the void. At first it is extremely faint and gradually accumulates, hence the phrase “stirs faintly.” How can one tell that it has arrived? The scripture takes a slight erection of the male organ as its sign: when it first rises, this indicates that the precelestial True Yang has arrived. “In an instant” refers to the very moment it begins to stir. As soon as the mind turns, the opportunity has passed. One must therefore gather the precelestial Qi just as it begins to stir, before thought has arisen. If distracting thoughts follow, it is as though the source water has become cloudy.

“In a hazy, dreamlike state, move it into the Dantian.” When does the male organ rise? When the mind is hazy, between sleep and wakefulness, or just after waking from a dream. The scripture explains that this happens because Shen (spirit and awareness) has entered the Dantian (the bodily region where Daoist internal cultivation focuses and refines its energies) and joined with Qi. This is why one can sense the stirring when it occurs.

“Stirring the Xun wind to harmonize the medicine before gathering it” means that, before gathering the medicine, one should use the Xun wind to bring it into balance, so that it is neither too mature nor too immature. Here, “Xun wind” refers to applying the martial fire with measured regularity—that is, a stronger, more active degree of heat. Otherwise, as soon as a thought arises, the source of water becomes impure.

Stirring the Xun wind serves two purposes: first, to quiet distracting thoughts; second, to harmonize the medicine. Therefore, whenever awareness arises, settle the mind in the empty space outside the nose and listen quietly to the breath. Only after the medicine has been properly harmonized can it be gathered. Otherwise, one falls either into “emptiness” or into “existence.” Falling into “emptiness” leaves nothing to gather; falling into “existence” brings a rush of distracting thoughts and clouds the source of water, making it impossible to gather the medicine. This is why first using wind and fire to harmonize the medicine is essential. Only through measured application of the martial fire can the medicine fully form without leaning toward either “existence” or “emptiness.”

“From emptiness, existence is born, and the heavenly mechanism appears before one’s eyes” means that the medicine emerges from emptiness, and once it has formed, the heavenly mechanism becomes visible before one’s eyes. That is, a scene appears in front of one, also called the “Mysterious Pass” (the pivotal sign that appears during cultivation). A white ring of light appears before the eyes, like the full moon. When it resembles the full moon of the fifteenth day, formed by the joining of the waxing and waning crescents, it is the right time to gather the medicine. The appearance of this scene indicates that the “true hour of the Rat” has arrived. It is through tempering with the martial fire that the so-called true hour of the Rat and hour of the Horse appear.

“‘The tiger inhales the dragon’s soul; when the time arrives, it comes of itself’ means that, during cultivation, Yang Qi arises from emptiness and enters the body from outside. It travels from the Yin Heel vessel—a region associated with reproduction and the movement of Qi—to the Gate of Destiny, an important point in the lower back, causing a response in the external kidney, meaning the male genitalia. At the same time, Yang Qi surges upward toward the heart, and the practitioner becomes aware of its activity. At this point, the practitioner uses martial fire, a stronger method of regulating intention or breathing, to set the Qi in motion. The external kidney then becomes firm, and the mind-spirit also registers this change. This is what is called ‘the arrival of true noon.’

“Next, one fans the bellows and regulates the fire—that is, adjusts breathing and intention so the Qi moves steadily—while keeping attention settled outward. Yang Qi continues to come from outside and gradually grows abundant; the body responds, allowing the external kidney to become firm. Once Yang Qi is full and moves upward, stirring the mind-spirit, the mind-spirit in turn descends. This is called the joining of Water and Fire and the union of Shen and Qi. Hence the phrase, ‘the tiger inhales the dragon’s soul.’ Only after Water and Fire have joined do the signs of true midnight and true noon appear. Hence the phrase, ‘when the time arrives, it comes of itself.’

“‘The body and mind are hazy and indistinct; the limbs feel soft as silk floss’ means that at this point one seems both to feel and not to feel. The whole body is relaxed and soft, and the limbs feel especially comfortable. This is the state of true midnight; for the practitioner, however, it means that true noon has already arrived and can be perceived.

“‘The medicine.’ This means that this is what is called the ‘medicine’: the inner Jing and Qi spoken of in cultivation.”

“Mind and body are in a hazy, half-aware state, and the limbs feel soft as silk wadding” means that one seems both awake and not quite awake, with the whole body relaxed and the limbs especially comfortable. This state is called the “True Zi Hour” (in Neidan cultivation, the Zi Hour symbolizes the moment when Yang Qi stirs). The practitioner perceives it at noon.

“The medicine is born and the spirit knows; this is precisely when the source is clear” means that the “water source” (a Neidan term for the Jing and Qi perceived within the body during cultivation) is now very clear and can be gathered. “The medicine is born and the spirit knows” means that one has become aware of the inner “medicine” stirring and feels it growing substantial. Only when this occurs can the water source be considered clear and suitable for gathering.

“Fire urges Metal to move; the bellows turn by means of Xun; the River Cart revolves, advancing the fire to raise true lead” means that once the water source is clear, one should maintain this state and keep it from becoming clouded again. At this point, cultivation is advanced through the method called “Fire urges Metal to move,” as if working a pair of bellows (tuoyue), turning and circulating by means of “Xun wind” (which symbolizes wind and can also refer to natural breathing). Gathering should be guided by natural breathing. This is the so-called “gathering without gathering, taking without taking”: one does not force the process, but lets gathering happen naturally. Breathing should be left to its natural rhythm, without using intense “martial fire” (forceful intention or rapid breathing).

When one follows this natural course, the “River Cart” (a Neidan term for the pathway along which Jing and Qi move within the body) will revolve naturally with the Xun wind. This is also called “advancing Yang fire and withdrawing Yin tally” (a Neidan term for the process in which Yang Qi grows while Yin Qi retreats and settles). “Advancing the fire to raise true lead” means gathering. The River Cart should move forward and back naturally, without deliberate control by the mind.

“Breathing through the full cycle of Heaven, four divisions turn with the seasons” means dividing Heaven’s cycle of 360 degrees into four parts, each of 90. Here, it refers in practice only to 90 breaths. These breaths follow their natural course and turn with the seasons; there is no need to count them deliberately.

“Bathing at Mao and You, hidden within Zi and Wu” means that these 90 breaths include such cultivation terms as “bathing at Mao and You” and “adding and subtracting at Zi and Wu.” Mao and You are concealed within Zi and Wu, and Zi and Wu can also be used to explain Mao and You. The phases of the four seasons correspond to the 90 breaths and are represented by Zi, Wu, Mao, and You. Here, Zi, Wu, Mao, and You are all symbolic expressions.

“Returning to the root and restoring life; the intercalary remainder completes Heaven’s cycle; when the count reaches 300, a sign appears before the brows” means that when cultivation reaches “returning to the root and restoring life”—when the movement of Qi gathers back to its source and becomes calm—a full cycle of Heaven is complete. Once the essence has been gathered correctly, the Yang organ retracts; this is called returning to the root and restoring life. When it is raised, the spirit and Qi move outward; when it retracts, they return within. When the cycle of Heaven reaches 360 degrees, the firing process should stop. At this point, a sign that the fire should cease appears before the eyes: between the brows, it seems as though light arises in an empty room, flashing like lightning. When this vision appears, the work should be sealed and secured so that the stage of cultivation becomes stable.

“The moment to cease the fire has arrived; the sign of light draws three times” means that the time to stop the fire has come: the firing process should cease, and one should rest. The “sign of light” refers to the manifestation described earlier. At this point, the work should also be sealed and secured so that it settles into stability.

When “the mechanism for stopping the fire is complete, and the light has appeared three times,” it means that at this point one should stop the practice, become still, and rest. What the Perfected One Wu calls “the sun’s light appearing three times, the scene for stopping the fire” refers to the same condition.

The preceding passage explains how to gather the medicine in the Lesser Circulation: one must wait until Yang energy is abundant and Jing-Qi (essence and vital energy) is pure before gathering it. After gathering the medicine, one must seal and secure it. Once the “sun’s light appears three times”—a sign in which the light appears three times during practice—this stage of the work should cease. The following passage explains how to seal and secure the medicine during the nourishing phase.

After three hundred cycles of the circulation of the breath according to Neidan (internal alchemy) practice, the inner elixir forms. At this point, the “elixir’s source” appears, a sign that the inner elixir is beginning to form. It is about the size of a soybean and bounces up and down inside the body. Next comes the practice of gathering the medicine and returning it to the furnace: the gathered medicine is collected in the furnace. Other texts also call this step “moving the furnace and changing the cauldron.” The statement in the Scripture of the Yellow Emperor on the Hidden Talisman, “the mechanism lies in the eyes,” refers to the key point at this stage as well.

“Secretly fixing both eyes on the middle field” means that when the inner elixir has formed and is bouncing up and down, one should gaze intently at the navel. This is a method transmitted in secret and should not be seen by others. After several days of focused gazing, the elixir’s movement changes. At first it bounces up and down between the heart and the Gate of Destiny; later, it moves around the navel and gathers into a single mass. This indicates that the inner elixir has formed.

After this, one should nourish it gently according to the method described earlier. The elixir’s source circles the navel, and in time one gradually ceases to notice it. Continue nourishing it for a year so that it can develop into the “great medicine,” a further-consolidated medicine produced through Neidan practice.

“Gathering the Great Medicine is difficult; for seven days, maintain an unbroken practice” means that gathering and refining the “Great Medicine”—a term in Neidan (internal alchemy) for an important form of Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy)—is not easy. It requires seven consecutive days of stillness and concentration. Each day, one must remain still for a long time, about six shichen (traditional Chinese hours, each roughly two modern hours). The methods described below concern the cultivation of the Great Heavenly Circuit.

“Guard against danger along the winding paths; the mechanisms are most mysterious.” Here, “winding paths” refers to the upper and lower Magpie Bridges, Neidan terms for the channels connecting the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel. Practitioners must guard against risks and proceed with care. “Mechanisms” also refers to the movement of the upper and lower Magpie Bridges. Their workings are subtle and mysterious, and the movement of Elixir Qi may go awry, so exceptional caution is essential.

“Seek earnestly and lament; seek the true transmission early. Choose the recipient before imparting it; seal the pledge with an oath. When the moment comes, take in the medicine; everything depends first on virtue.” This means that because the Great Medicine is difficult to gather and the path through the Magpie Bridges is risky, one must receive the true transmission before beginning the practice. A teacher, too, must be cautious in imparting it: teacher and student should make a solemn oath before the teachings are passed on. The opportunity to obtain the Great Medicine and take it in depends entirely on the practitioner’s virtue. If virtue is lacking and blessings are scant, demonic obstacles may arise during practice. The Wuzhen Pian (Awakening to Reality) says, “Cultivating the Great Dao can be easy or difficult; it depends both on oneself and on the timing of Heaven. If one does not accumulate good deeds and cultivate virtue, all kinds of demonic obstacles will often arise to obstruct the practice.” This is the principle being described.

“Through ten months of silent illumination, do not lose the awareness of meditative insight” means devoting oneself to stillness and concentration for ten months, until distracting thoughts fall away and the mind and spirit become clear. The text calls this the practice of “increasing forgetting and diminishing concentration.”

“Ten months of silent illumination without obscuring awakened awareness” means that after ten months of cultivation, the mind becomes focused and settled, reaching a state in which distracting thoughts are forgotten while clear awareness is maintained. The practice known as “increasing forgetfulness and diminishing stillness” is undertaken after completing the Great Heavenly Circuit.

“The two Qi rest in ease; nature is settled and the embryo complete. Yang is pure and Yin exhausted; snowflakes drift and move” means that the Great Heavenly Circuit has now been completed. Practitioners are said to be able to attain the six spiritual powers—the extraordinary faculties of perception described in Daoism—and then reach a state of spiritual transformation. Once Yin Qi has been exhausted and Yang Qi made fully pure, a scene of drifting snowflakes appears before the eyes.

“Transcend the Three Realms, and nurture the embryo in the upper field” means that one now transcends the Three Realms—the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Formless Realm—and can project the spirit, so the Elixir is moved to the upper Dantian. In the early stages of cultivation, the Elixir is in the lower Dantian; during the Great Heavenly Circuit, it moves to the middle Dantian; at this stage, it enters the upper Dantian. Here, the middle field refers to the area above the navel.

“Neither coming nor going, an Immortal at ease and free; should fate bring you this encounter, cultivate early and do not put it off; do not wait until old age arrives, when a withered body and bare bones leave you to suffer in vain” means that one is now free of constraints and at ease. The closing lines urge anyone fortunate enough to encounter the formulas for cultivating immortality to begin practicing early rather than wait until age and frailty set in, lest they suffer to no purpose. This reflects the True Person’s wish to guide people toward the Dao and help them attain deliverance.

This song covers the complete method of Neidan cultivation. It explains the Lesser Heavenly Circuit in some detail, while only outlining the general meaning of the Greater Heavenly Circuit. Among the chapters of Longmen Miazhi, only “Song of the Lesser Heavenly Circuit” and this “Song of the Great Dao” are considered to have truly been written by Patriarch Qiu. Although the principles in the other chapters contain no obvious errors, they were probably not written in Qiu’s own hand, as can be seen from differences in their wording and style.

Earlier, we discussed how a year of nurturing and refining requires keeping “settling” and “forgetting” in balance. Here, “settling” means resting the mind in focused stillness, while “forgetting” means letting go of deliberate attention to the practice. If you focus for ten minutes, you should relax for ten minutes; if you focus for an hour, relax for an hour; and if you focus for two hours, relax for two hours as well. Too much relaxation can make the body tend toward coldness before the Neidan has matured. Too much focus can make it tend toward dryness, causing the Neidan to mature too quickly. Both imbalances must be avoided. At the beginning of practice, take care to keep the two in balance. Once the practice becomes familiar, let it proceed naturally, and Shen and Qi can circulate throughout the day while remaining balanced.

A year of nurturing and refining prepares one for the practice of the “Macrocosmic Orbit.” Only when the “nascent medicine” of the Neidan—the Jing and Qi gradually gathered through practice—has matured can the Macrocosmic Orbit be set in motion. Once foundation building is complete, this year of nurturing and refining should begin. Practice must be carried out with steady focus, allowing the nascent medicine to gather little by little and gradually increase. Only then will what is called the “innate before the innate” arise: the moment when work on the Macrocosmic Orbit can begin.

When nurturing and refining have gone on long enough and the nascent medicine has fully accumulated, it is said that a vision will appear before the eyes: first, a black sphere with white within it, initially level with the navel and then gradually rising to the space between the eyebrows. With continued nurturing and refining, it becomes a red sphere. This is the vision used in practicing the Macrocosmic Orbit. The Huangting Jing says, “Accumulate Jing and gather Qi to become real.” Gathering nascent medicine each day is what “accumulate Jing and gather Qi to become real” means. For the practice to be effective, however, settling and forgetting must remain in balance.

If this year of nurturing and refining is done well, practicing the Macrocosmic Orbit will bring no dangers or difficulties. When practice naturally gives rise to awareness, one will naturally settle and forget at the proper times without making mistakes. Whether the Macrocosmic Orbit can be completed depends on how soundly this year of nurturing and refining has been carried out, so practitioners must take it seriously.

Oral Instructions on the True Transmission of the Great Dao, Lecture Four: The first two lectures discussed “nourishing through warmth.” To nourish the Neidan (internal alchemy) is to let its power fill the whole body and transform into “Golden Liquid”; this is called “returning the Elixir through Golden Liquid.” Only after Golden Liquid fills the body can “external medicine”—the so-called “great medicine”—arise.

Many books say little about the work of nourishing through warmth and regulating the firing process. They often move straight from a hundred days of cultivation to a discussion of the Great Circulation. In fact, once the Neidan has formed, it is initially only the foundation of the Elixir; it is not yet sufficient and cannot transform directly into Golden Liquid. It must first undergo nourishment and transformation, after which the Great Circulation can be carried out.

After a hundred days, the root of the Elixir settles in the lower Dantian (the area below the abdomen where Neidan is cultivated). It is called the “root of Jing.” Only after this root of Jing has been nourished through warmth can it fill the whole body and transform into Golden Liquid, also known as primordial essence. The terms “gathering the medicine,” “sealing and securing,” and “cooking and refining” all refer to this primordial essence.

Only after Jing and Qi have transformed into Golden Liquid can the Great Elixir form. The Great Elixir is the Elixir used in Great Circulation practice. It has form and appearance, so it is called the “outer medicine” or the “Great Elixir.” How fully must it be nourished before one can begin practicing the Great Circulation? This is something one must understand.

Each day, settle the mind and let go of distracting thoughts. Clear awareness will then arise naturally, allowing you to grasp the timing of the firing process. There is no need to rely on acquired consciousness to nourish the Elixir; Water and Fire will harmonize of their own accord. Only after settling can one reflect; only after reflection can one gain insight. Once insight comes, it can be sustained.

Remain settled and free of thought throughout the day, keeping body and mind in balance. The true breath (the body’s inner breathing process) will naturally open and close. Neidan gradually transforms into Golden Liquid without form, and the practitioner does not notice it. They only feel the six pulses gradually cease and Qi return to its root; the pulse becomes so faint it can scarcely be felt, and breathing also stops. The red blood seems to turn entirely white. When Golden Liquid fills the whole body, breathing then takes place through the pores, after which form gradually emerges from formlessness.

Once practitioners have formed the Neidan (internal alchemy)—an elixir condensed through inner cultivation—a treasure has formed in the abdomen, much as bezoar forms inside an ox. When a treasure is present within the body, an outward sign also appears: while nurturing the Neidan, a black circle appears in the open space before the eyes. At first it is roughly level with the navel; then it gradually rises and grows larger. Initially, it can be seen only by lamplight and not during the day; later, it becomes visible in daylight as well. The circle is white within and black without. The Wuzhen pian says, “Within black, white is the mother of the Elixir; within the male, the female harbors a precious treasure”—a reference to this very vision. The “mother of the Elixir” is the foundation of the Great Elixir. Its shape is like a sphere, hollow in the middle, and so it is called “female.”

This is the treasure within the human body—that is, the Golden Elixir—which moves along the Yellow Court (a Neidan term for a site or region of cultivation within the body). At this stage, one must still keep stillness and forgetting in balance: when a visible form appears, do not cling to it; enter meditation when it is time, and let go when it is time. After a while, the black sphere turns red. At first it is only a tiny point; with time, it grows to the size of an orange and is called the “vermilion tangerine.” Once it has become a vermilion tangerine, it is called the Waidan (external alchemy; here, the great medicine formed through cultivation), or the “great medicine.” The method of the Great Circulation of Heaven (the broader movement of Qi in Neidan cultivation) should be put into practice at this point.

The foundation of the Elixir Field (Danyuan), on which Neidan (internal alchemy) practice depends, must be gradually nourished and strengthened. With steady accumulation over time, it condenses into a pearl, then transforms into a vermilion orange. If one gathers and refines the Elixir Qi at this stage, one is practicing the method of the Great Circuit of Heaven.

The Great Circuit of Heaven differs from the Lesser Circuit of Heaven. In practicing the Great Circuit, one remains in a state of chaos throughout each day for seven days. Hence the saying, “Seven days of chaos: die, then be reborn.” Here, “die” refers to entering a state of chaos resembling death, followed by rebirth. Only after passing through these seven days is this stage of training complete. Without completing it, the Waidan (external alchemy) cannot be brought to fruition.

Cultivating the inner elixir simply allows the lost True Yang—the innate vital energy of life—to return to oneself. Thereafter, “Metal” arises each day; accumulated over time, it can revive a deeper level of innate Qi. Only by obtaining this power can one dispel the Yin Qi accumulated over many lifetimes, transform the hun and po souls throughout the body, and reach the state beyond birth. The Dharma Body, a bodily manifestation of cultivation’s attainment, is established in this way, after which one can send forth the spirit. This practice is therefore of the utmost importance and must not be neglected.

This practice is extremely difficult. In just seven days, one must drive out the cognitive spirit—the acquired consciousness that thinks and makes distinctions—sever the intermediate-state soul-consciousness between death and rebirth, and dissolve deeply rooted habits formed over many lifetimes through parental inheritance, one’s own temperament and desires, and patterns of eating and drinking. It is natural, then, for all kinds of demonic obstacles to arise. These obstacles are nothing other than the cognitive spirit itself; the hun and po souls are karmic roots left behind from past lifetimes, and they can obstruct the Dao everywhere. Only through seven days of training can they be transformed away.

During practice, events from one’s life will surge into the mind one after another, and people connected to oneself will appear before one’s eyes. These visions are not limited to experiences from this lifetime: they may reach back to events and people encountered since beginningless time.

Passing through the barrier of the Great Circulation is like crossing the Flaming Mountain in Journey to the West: only by using the Plantain Fan to put out the flames can one cross the mountain. The Plantain Fan mentioned here is made of wood and belongs to Rakshasi, the wife of the Bull Demon King. The Bull Demon King symbolizes Kun Earth, while Rakshasi symbolizes Dui Metal. To pass this barrier, one must employ the work of pure Yin—that is, “returning to emptiness” (letting thoughts and attachments settle into stillness and emptiness).

All six lines of the Kun hexagram symbolize the realm of emptiness, so everything must be emptied out. One must relinquish attachment both to the forms of things and to the forms of cultivation, reaching a state as vast as the Great Void. Only then can this barrier be crossed. If one cannot empty oneself, it is like adding more fire to a blaze, which can be dangerous; great care is therefore essential.

By this point, a year of gentle nurturing has passed, along with a long period of practicing the refinement of emptiness. If the practice has naturally taken hold and the mind is clear and empty, without attachment to the forms one sees, one can pass through safely. If one cannot do this, and thoughts or attachments to outward forms arise at the last moment, danger lies everywhere. The year of gentle nurturing is therefore extremely important. The method is to keep “stillness” and “forgetting” in balance during this nurturing, using them to harmonize Water and Fire. Once Water and Fire are harmonized, they gradually gather into a black circle. Continue to nurture it through the balanced practice of stillness and forgetting. When the black circle gradually expands and white appears within the black, one should begin preparing to pass through the Great Circulation.

While practicing stillness and forgetting, if a round orb appears suddenly, black with white within it, and can also be seen during the day, one should begin the preparatory practice for passing through the Great Circulation.

When practicing “settling and forgetting” (stillness and the letting go of thoughts), you may sometimes suddenly see a white sphere in the dimness. It may also appear before your eyes in daylight. When this happens, increase the time spent forgetting and reduce the time spent settling: spend more time forgetting and less time settling. For example, if you forget for an hour, settle for half an hour.

Here, “forgetting” means letting all thoughts subside into emptiness and stillness. “Settling” still involves the mind and retains a trace of true intent. “Forgetting,” by contrast, means setting all of this aside completely, leaving nothing behind. Gradually increasing forgetting and reducing settling is “diminishing and diminishing again”: first, one continually lets go; only afterward can something grow.

Thus, someone who originally spent two hours each on settling and forgetting may now change the practice to an hour and a half of settling and two and a half hours of forgetting. They can then gradually increase the time spent forgetting and reduce the time spent settling. When the red glow (a cluster of red light appearing during practice) arises, it indicates that the Waidan (essence and energy formed through internal refinement) is abundant and continuing to grow. The luminous halo that appears outwardly will also grow larger.

“Settling” still retains some form of cultivation. Although it relies on natural spiritual awareness, the original spirit still needs to exert effort. “Forgetting” leaves nothing behind; even the form of cultivation returns to emptiness. Settling retains a subtle thought and belongs to the embodied state of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate); forgetting is pure emptiness and belongs to the embodied state of Wuji (Non-Ultimate). In settling, one uses natural spiritual awareness; in forgetting, even this awareness is set aside. Settling still involves more conscious effort, while forgetting reaches a state of mindlessness.

The deeper the practice of forgetting, the more abundant the Waidan becomes. When time spent forgetting is at its greatest and settling is practiced hardly at all, the red glow will shine brightly, moving up and down before the eyes. After reaching the Greater Circulation of Heaven (the stage in Neidan when Qi circulates throughout the body), one should abandon settling and devote oneself to forgetting: let go completely, know nothing, allow all appearances to fall silent, and become one with the Great Void. This is the meaning of “diminishing and diminishing again, until one reaches Wuwei (non-action).”

During practice, one continually reduces until entering a state of “increasing forgetfulness and diminishing stillness.” This reaches Wuwei (non-action): the point at which body and mind are entirely forgotten and there is no contrived action. In the alchemical scriptures, the vermilion pearl is also called the fire pearl, the mysterious pearl, the mysterious pearl beneath the water, or the fireball. The appearance of these visions indicates that the practice of the Great Heavenly Circuit has reached a corresponding stage. The Great Heavenly Circuit is the stage of Neidan (internal alchemy) in which Qi (vital energy) circulates throughout the body.

At this stage, six bodily responses may occur: the six faculties—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—may tremble; wind may arise at the back of the head; golden light may appear before the eyes; the nose may twitch and the breath may feel blocked; the kidneys may seem to boil in a cauldron, the bladder may grow hot, and the inner kidneys may feel as though they are being simmered; and a fireball may seem to rise and fall within the body. These are all bodily sensations. The most important thing is not to cling to the body or let thoughts arise from these sensations. Practitioners should remain unaware of them, forgetting them completely. If they cannot fully let go, the “medicine” of internal cultivation cannot rise, and the Golden Elixir will be difficult to refine.

When one truly forgets, the mind seems to merge with the Great Void—the boundless expanse of emptiness. This is called “refining the Elixir in the fire,” or “crossing the Flaming Mountain.” At this time, one clings to no visions, yet the mind remains focused and undistracted; body and mind seem to abide within the Great Void. Though this practice is not easy, there is no need to worry. Simply establish the practice of nurturing and warming first, and in time, forgetting will come naturally. After a long period of nurturing and warming, one naturally enters the state of forgetting at this stage: awareness remains, but there is no attachment or heedless action.

After the vision of the mysterious pearl appears, practitioners should let go of sensations day by day, allowing mind and spirit to return to the Great Void. When the practice is mature, they can naturally forget body and mind completely, as if merging with the expanse of space. In Buddhist terms, the six responses described above are called the “six kinds of trembling.” The scripture regards them as signs that true Yang within and without is abundant and is driving out Yin Qi that has accumulated over a long period. This brings about various sensations, which the text compares to “the Samadhi fire burning the body.”

In addition to these six responses, another vision may occur: the pores across the body itch and feel hot, as if beans were being fried. The scripture explains this as Golden Liquid flowing outward throughout the body, and says it occurs during the gathering of the medicine, when life’s vitality begins to stir.

What follows is a line-by-line explanation of “Ode on Gathering the Great Medicine” from the Longmen Secret Instructions.

“After a hundred days, Qi is full and the stopping-fire sign arrives; when the three appearances come, gather the original Jing”: After a hundred days of cultivation, the Qi mechanism is full, and the Great Medicine begins to form. When the “three appearances” arise—the signs of the Yang light appearing three times—one should stop circulating the fire, gather the original Jing, and seal it in place.

“True Earth captures lead and returns it to its original point”: “True Earth” and “lead” are terms used in Neidan cultivation. Here, the breath returns to its root, and the various forms of Shen and Qi within the body return to their source as well.

“The Dragon comes from the east; Qi is full and Shen is settled”: This is a sign that the Great Medicine has arrived. The “lead” mentioned in the previous line has now reached the stage of forming the Elixir through the Lesser Celestial Circuit. “Qi” here refers to the inner Qi mechanism; when Qi is full, the spirit becomes settled.

“Qian rests in Kun’s palace; body and spirit unite”: This describes the practice of regulating the firing times and settling body and mind. “Qian” refers to being, and “Kun” to nonbeing. Returning being to nonbeing means allowing the mind and spirit to settle and letting go of the external world, entering a state of gentle nurturing.

“For seven days, the workings of Heaven; the firing times proceed without intention”: The firing times of the Greater Celestial Circuit unfold without intention, unlike those of the Lesser Celestial Circuit. In the Lesser Circuit, one notices signs such as Yang stirring and rising, which involve conscious application. The Greater Circuit does not proceed in this way.

“Forget the body, dwell in the formless; the true intent does not scatter”: The true intent exists naturally within emptiness. Only by forgetting the body and not clinging to concrete forms can the true intent remain undisturbed.

“The Dao is in Wuwei; asked about it, there is nothing to say”: The Dao lies in Wuwei and cannot be explained clearly in words. There is no particular method to cling to; at this point, one holds nothing in mind and makes no deliberate effort.

“Stillness joins the single phase; after seven days, return comes again”: Cultivating in a state of utmost emptiness and deep stillness allows the Great Medicine of the Greater Celestial Circuit to form, bringing about the circuit phenomenon known as “return after seven days.”

“The moon is full and its light complete; the Great Medicine’s Dao is numinous”: A full moon and abundant Jing and Qi are signs that the Great Medicine has formed. At this time, one may see a full moon shining before the window, with a red sun rising beside it. This is called “the sun and moon joined as one.” The scripture describes these as illusory visions appearing outside the body.

“Gui arises within Yang; the image of a fire pearl”: The “fire pearl” is a ball of fire. The scripture says that when the Elixir forms outside the body, one sees a ball of fire bobbing up and down before the eyes, like the scene said to occur when a fox cultivates an elixir. The fireball’s rising and falling is also called the circulation of the Celestial Circuit.

“It rises to the Li position above, then returns to Kun’s source”: The fireball first rises to the Li position at the crown of the head, then returns to Kun’s source below the abdomen. The scripture says that one may see it rise and fall; at this point, the practitioner should forget the body completely, as if unaware of anything. At the same time, the external vision rises and falls, while the true breath within the abdomen opens and closes.

“The Qi (vital energy) moves along the lower abdomen and then surges toward the Weilü (the lowest end of the spine, behind the anus).” This means that the Qi also rises along the back and descends along the front of the body, moving up and down in turn. Once enough Qi has accumulated, it travels upward along the back and downward along the front. At this point, the Yang Qi in the lower abdomen also rises from the Weilü and surges toward the heart. When the Qi reaches the Weilü, one may worry about “losing the elixir”—here meaning that Qi leaks out through the lower opening, described in the text as passing gas—so the anus must be tightly contracted.

But once cultivation reaches a state in which body and mind are completely forgotten, along with one’s form and surroundings, and nothing at all is perceived, it is no longer possible to contract the anus deliberately. Another means of protection is therefore needed: wrap cotton around a wooden plug and insert it into the “grain passage” (the anus). Because the Qi surges downward, there is concern that the elixir may be lost if the grain passage is left open. This is the danger associated with the lower Magpie Bridge, the lower passage through which the breath moves during cultivation, and the grain passage must be plugged. The upper Magpie Bridge, where the breath passes through the upper passage, presents a similar danger, so the nostrils must likewise be tightly plugged.

“These are all caused by the power of the medicine; this is the natural operation of the celestial mechanism.” This means that the surging of Qi toward the Weilü and the other events described above are brought about by the “power of the medicine,” a term in Neidan (internal alchemy) for Jing, Qi, and related substances, and are part of a natural process. At this point, the true intent—a focused, undistracted awareness cultivated in practice—merges with the void, entering a state beyond conscious awareness, so it cannot be directed by the will. If someone says it can be guided by conscious intent, that is because they understand what is happening at this stage; but, ultimately, these changes still arise through their natural course.

The three orifices at the coccyx are filled with essence. To pass through the Magpie Bridge, an opening along the Qi’s route in cultivation practice, one must seek instruction from an immortal who has truly attained the Dao.

The three orifices at the coccyx are all blocked with essence. To pass through them, one must ask a true immortal for the method. If one can break through this point and continue moving upward, it shows that one has obtained the “Great Medicine,” an important achievement in Neidan cultivation. Yet even after passing through the lower Magpie Bridge, one may lose what one has gained if unable to cross the perilous upper Magpie Bridge.

This Qi rises through the lower Magpie Bridge, then passes through the Gate of Life and the Spinal Pass. Together, these are called the Three Passes. The three passes contain nine orifices in all, described as “one arrow piercing nine layers of iron drums.” All nine are blocked with essence, and only primordial True Qi—the original vital energy spoken of in cultivation—can break through them. Thus, the Three Passes and Nine Orifices can be opened only by primordial True Qi; nothing else can open them.

When carrying out the Great Circulation, there are four methods: “inhaling,” “closing,” “contracting,” and “touching.” “Inhaling” means using the breath gently to help clear the way when Qi moves upward but has difficulty passing through the gates. Sometimes the Qi is insufficient: it reaches places such as the Gate of Life, and a gate seems to open but then the flow stalls. At such times, breathe lightly to help the Qi pass through. When the Qi cannot get through a gate, it should also be guided gently with focused stillness. This happens because Yang Qi is insufficient. As it is warmed and nourished, Yang Qi gradually becomes abundant, and the flow no longer stalls; this method is then unnecessary. In three hundred cycles of the circulation, this usually happens only once or twice at the beginning, and not thereafter.

“Closing” means drawing the anus closed. “Contracting” means closing the nostrils as the Qi rises through the Magpie Bridge, the throat passage connecting the Ren and Du vessels. “Touching” means touching the upper palate with the tongue. Some interpret “inhaling” as internal breathing, “closing” as shutting the six gates—the sensory openings of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—and “contracting” as drawing in the anus. Under this interpretation, “inhaling” and “closing” are merely figurative terms; the actions need not actually be performed. Some also interpret “closing” as tightly shutting the gates. The openings of the six sense faculties can all be called “mouths,” which gives it the same meaning as closing the six gates mentioned earlier.

The Great Circulation must also be carried out a total of three hundred times, completed within seven days. One must remain settled continuously for seven days for the work to count as accomplished. This is like undergoing a great death, then seeking life from within death and being reborn after death; these expressions all describe the state of the Great Circulation. Once the cinnabar pearl appears—the Neidan sign referred to here—it can be gathered. This happens spontaneously and is gathered spontaneously, unlike the method of gathering used in the Lesser Circulation.

“Tail Gate, below, at the fullness of the Zi hour” means that the Tail Gate is located in the lower part of the body, at the point when the Zi hour is nearly over. The Zi hour symbolizes the time when the medicinal substance first comes into being. Here, the Tail Gate refers to the location behind the Yin Heel opening.

The six double-hours from Zi to Si correspond to the six hexagram positions from the Returning hexagram to the Creative hexagram in the Classic of Changes. According to the correspondences described in this passage, the Tail Gate falls between the Chou hour and the Approach hexagram; the Gate of Destiny, a part of the body associated with vital activity, falls between the Yin hour and the Peace hexagram. Reaching the crown of the head corresponds to the Si hour and the Creative hexagram. The original text says that the correspondences become clear when read alongside the diagram.

“The twenty-four vertebrae mark the beginning of the joints” means that there are twenty-four joints from the coccyx, at the base of the spine, to just below the crown of the head. The first begins at the coccyx, the place corresponding to the moment when the Zi hour is about to end.

“The nine openings of the Scorched Hollow, and the path that forks three ways”: the “three-forked path” refers to the Yin Qiao, a crucial opening in internal cultivation. The “nine openings” means that each of the Three Passes has three openings, making nine in all. The Buddhist scripture’s saying, “One arrow pierces nine iron drums,” refers to the same idea. The nine openings are all filled with bone marrow; only the primordial Qi, the Qi present from before birth, can pass through them.

Why does each pass have three openings? For those who practice the middle- and lower-grade methods of Elixir cultivation, tradition speaks of three rivers: the River of Shen, the River of Jing, and the River of Qi. The “Great Medicine”—the Neidan formed by the conjoining of Jing, Qi, and Shen—is itself composed of Jing, Qi, and Shen. As the Great Medicine rises, the River of Shen runs in the middle, while the Rivers of Jing and Qi flow on either side. Each follows its own passage, hence the name “three rivers.” They move together and come to rest together.

The movement of “spirit, essence, and Qi” through the “three central apertures” refers to three aperture sites in the middle of the body and to the distinction between spirit, essence, and Qi within them. These descriptions use symbolic imagery. In practice, there is no need to assume that the body literally contains three holes or to investigate how they move. It is enough to know that a warm current rises.

The “postnatal blood vessels” are likewise said to carry “spirit, essence, and Qi.” This also refers to the three aperture sites in the middle of the body and to the distinction between spirit, essence, and Qi within them; it is another symbolic description. In practice, it is enough to know that a warm current rises. There is no need to assume that three literal holes exist or to specify their route.

“Postnatal blood vessels flow through below” means that precelestial Qi—the original Qi spoken of in cultivation—can open the passes and apertures invisibly. The practitioner senses only warmth rising and sees no form. Once precelestial Qi has opened the passes and apertures, the postnatal blood vessels also flow through them. The scripture holds that in people who have lost their precelestial state, the passes and apertures are mostly blocked. After the passes have been opened through the Microcosmic Orbit, a practice in which Qi circulates throughout the body, the blood vessels can flow through them as well. With this training, one can “transform red blood into white blood.”

“Here there is great substance, but true essence cannot penetrate” means that this place is blocked and only precelestial Qi can pass through; the Three Passes and Nine Apertures, technical terms for the body’s inner barriers and aperture sites, are not naturally open.

“To cross the Yin Pass, one must understand the Dark Emperor” means that opening the Yin Pass requires understanding what the “Dark Emperor” signifies. The Dark Emperor refers to the True Warrior, the Great Emperor of the Mysterious Heavens of the North. In the language of Neidan, it also refers to the Yang energy within the Kan trigram—that is, the true Yang within the Gate of Life. “One must understand” means that the external medicine, refined through cultivation, must unite with the true Yang of the Gate of Life. Only when these two of the same kind resonate can they open the passes and apertures. This process is also called the “Five Dragons.”

“Casting oneself into the valley, the five dragons manifest their numinous power” means that “self” here refers to the Dharma Body—the body spoken of in cultivation, not merely the physical body. When Qi is drawn into the lower abdomen, spiritual awareness naturally arises, revealing the scene known as “the five dragons bearing the sage.” This is what it means for the five dragons to manifest their numinous power. In other words, when the great medicine formed from the true primordial Qi of the Five Phases reaches the coccyx at the base of the spine, it passes from five into three, from three into one, and gathers into a single Qi. Only then can it move upward and open the body’s various gates and apertures.

The key to this stage is “the center.” Five belongs to Earth, the central phase, so “five” also symbolizes the center. The center is emptiness; when stillness and emptiness are complete, they become true emptiness. Only when body and mind grow quiet, and natural spiritual awareness becomes one with the Great Void—the boundless expanse of empty space—can Qi move upward. If thoughts remain in the mind, or one clings to a particular vision, true emptiness has not been reached, and Qi cannot rise. All thoughts must be released and allowed to settle into stillness and emptiness; only then are the requirements of cultivation met. The dragon symbolizes unpredictable transformation: when true intention reaches the state of true emptiness, Qi rises on its own, as if five dragons had appeared.

“The ultimate body borne by them rises slowly upward” means that the “ultimate body” borne by the five dragons is the great Elixir, the great medicine. It moves slowly upward from the coccyx.

“Breath harmonizes with empty intention, and rising follows of itself” explains how Qi ascends. When the true breath—the natural, subtle, and deep breathing of cultivation—joins with the true primordial intention of emptiness, free of attachment, Qi rises naturally. At this point, one must completely forget body and mind and become one with the Great Void; only then can the ascent happen of itself. This is what it means for the five dragons to manifest their numinous power, and also what is meant by “the five dragons bearing the sage.” Here, “breath” refers to the breath of emptiness, the true breath.

“Closing the six gates to the outside, while one Qi circulates within” means that at this point the ears hear nothing, the eyes see nothing, and the mind is free of distracting thoughts. The whole person settles completely into emptiness and stillness, allowing the true Yang Qi within the body to rise. The six gates are the six faculties of perception: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. If any one of them clings to the external world, the circulation through the microcosmic orbit cannot proceed smoothly. This is why cultivation requires one to be as if dead, abiding in a state of undifferentiated stillness, with all six gates closed. “Circulating within” means that Qi rises through the body.

“The three passes and nine apertures are clearly discernible” means that in ordinary practice of the microcosmic orbit, Qi may move up and down without the practitioner necessarily noticing, and the three passes and nine apertures—the points through which Qi travels—may remain unclear. Here, by contrast, the practitioner can clearly sense every place Qi passes. Because the fire pearl is associated with the Northern Dark Emperor, it is called the “Dark Pearl”; it is also called the “Fire Pearl.” From outside, it is felt as a sphere; within, heat seems to billow from it. As this mass of fiery Qi rises, the practitioner clearly senses where it passes. This is awareness that arises naturally: wherever Qi travels, it is known, while everything else goes unnoticed.

“Yang essence returns upward, above the pass of the channel” means that after passing through the three passes and nine apertures, Yang Qi reaches the crown of the head—that is, the area above the pass of the channel. This is the place referred to in the Wuzhen Pian as “planting the seed in the Palace of Conjunction in the Qian domain.” When Yang Qi reaches the Qian Palace, the elixir ingredient has been obtained. It then descends from the Qian Palace; this is the function of reducing the fire, like the flames going out after one has crossed the Mountain of Flames.

“Silently, the dark pearl rolls past Kunlun” describes the dark pearl—an image symbolizing Jing and Qi, or true Qi, in internal alchemy—moving through the body and passing Kunlun. Here, “Kunlun” means the crown of the head. Its movement up the back to the crown, then onward and down, is called “rolling past Kunlun.”

“Bearing the blue sky on its back, it sets its sights farther south” draws on the story in the Zhuangzi: Free and Easy Wandering of the great Peng bird migrating from north to south. It illustrates the cultivation practice of “using Kan to replenish Li”: nourishing the fire associated with the Li trigram, and the heart, with the water associated with the Kan trigram, and the kidneys. The scripture interprets the “fish of the dark expanse” as the dark pearl. The pearl moves upward to the crown of the head, then onward toward the south; this is called “setting its sights south.” It then moves downward, forming a cycle that rises along the back and descends along the front of the body—the “Yang rising and Yin descending” described in the scripture.

“Six months’ breath,” as used here, is interpreted to mean that the movement must pass through six trigrams or six periods of time. “Riding the wind” refers to accumulating and drawing on the force of the wind. The scripture holds that this passage from the Zhuangzi: Free and Easy Wandering also describes the regulation of the firing times in cultivation—the practitioner’s command of the rhythm and timing of movement. Only those who understand the relevant methods of cultivation can discern its meaning.

“Stretch and bend in turn, following the cycles of Heaven” refers to extension and flexion—the transformations of Yin-Yang (yīn-yáng). “Follow Heaven” means to accord with the cycles of the celestial bodies. When the Mysterious Pearl, a symbolic term in Neidan (internal alchemy), rolls past Kunlun, here referring to a corresponding region within the body, it passes through the Magpie Bridge, a key passage linking the upper and lower parts of the body, where danger may arise. The upper Magpie Bridge lies around the Hall of Light and the Root of the Mountain, so caution is needed on reaching the Hall of Light. The scripture says that the dangers at the upper and lower Magpie Bridges are the same, because at both locations solid apertures alternate with empty ones: above, the Root of the Mountain is a solid aperture and the nostrils are empty apertures; below, the Tail Gate, an aperture at the base of the spine, is solid, while the anus is empty. Empty apertures have channels, while solid apertures contain marrow. The solid places cannot be traversed. If something leaks out through an empty aperture, below it is called “Elixir Loss,” and above, “Elixir Leakage”; both must be avoided. At this point, one has entered a state without breathing—that is, there is no outward breath through the mouth or nose. This may seem harmless, but the scripture warns that the Qi (vital energy) still follows its familiar course, so a moment’s inattention may lead to leakage. To guard against danger, one may plug the relevant places with cotton. Whether one does so makes little difference; what matters is that the mind accord with the Great Void and follow its natural course. Then it can descend without danger.

“On reaching the Hall of Light, guard carefully against danger” means that at this point one must not deliberately use any form of ordinary breathing. Once outward breathing begins, the Qi may leak out along with it, so great care is needed.

“Hasten to gather the Golden Elixir and place it securely in the Dantian” means that on reaching the upper Dantian, the site of Neidan practice in the head, one has gathered the Golden Elixir and should “consume” it so that it enters the abdomen. This does not mean literally swallowing anything. Rather, it flows down of its own accord from the upper Dantian—what is called “sweet dew sprinkling Mount Sumeru.” Sweet dew refers to bodily fluids. The scripture also compares this to the scene in Journey to the West in which Sun Wukong fans Flame Mountain with a palm-leaf fan: first a light rain falls, then a heavy downpour.

“From here it flows downward into the mysterious organs” means that, following this pathway downward, it naturally reaches the organs within the body.

“Gently raise the face, and meet it with the tongue” means that, to avoid misalignment when crossing the upper Magpie Bridge—the point where the tongue touches the upper palate and guides the flow of saliva—the tip of the tongue should lightly touch the palate while the face is raised slightly, allowing the sweet dew to flow down naturally. Some also believe that the sweet dew here is saliva produced in the Mysterious Chest, an area around the throat.

“The medicine passes over the tip of the tongue and descends through the multi-storied tower” means that the “medicine” of internal cultivation—the Jing and Qi gathered through practice—travels along the tip of the tongue and descends through the multi-storied tower, or throat, into the abdomen. Since the elixir travels down the throat, this process is also called “ingesting.”

“This is called ingestion; proceed gradually, as on a staircase” means that this process of cultivation should advance step by step, like walking up a flight of stairs.

“When the Cinnabar Palace meets it, water and fire are harmonized” refers to the Cinnabar Palace, a small empty space within the Muddy Pellet Palace. Reaching the Cinnabar Palace is called the harmonizing of water and fire, or the balancing of Yin and Yang. At this point, true Yin and true Yang unite and then move upward, transforming into sweet dew. Primordial true Yin appears only after reaching the Cinnabar Palace, which is why the text says they “meet”; when true Yang encounters true Yin, water and fire are harmonized.

“Returning to the homeland of the Emperor and obtaining the ‘One’ to return to the root” refers to returning the Elixir after ingestion, thereby obtaining the One and returning to the root. “Returning the Elixir” is the name of a stage in Neidan (internal alchemy) practice; “obtaining the One and returning to the root” means returning to the source and reuniting with the One.

“Spirit and essence contain movement; gold resides within. This is what is called obtaining the Elixir: the foundation of the spirit embryo has taken shape. All the channels and vessels return to their original positions. The outer is cast aside and the inner is swept clean, so that the truth of Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) reaches completion.” These four lines describe the effects that appear after the first completion of the Great Heavenly Circuit and the attainment of the Elixir. The work of the Great Heavenly Circuit rises up the back and then descends along the front. The circuit runs three hundred times and takes about seven days to complete; the number of cycles actually performed each day is not fixed. This passage describes the first course of practice: if it goes smoothly the first time, subsequent practice can proceed naturally and steadily. Practice ultimately returns to “great forgetting”—entering a state free of thoughts and attachments. The spirit embryo then gradually takes shape, and the spirit can emerge from the body.

After the Great Heavenly Circuit is complete, all the channels and vessels return to their proper places. The six senses—the perceptive activities of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—are cut off externally, while the seven emotions are cleared away internally. As a result, emotional and cognitive activity recedes, and one returns to the original truth of Taiji. The practice usually takes seven days, though some complete it in five. With refined practice, progress naturally comes more quickly.

The text continues: “When the perceptive functions of the six sense faculties recede, six kinds of shaking may occur. The eyes seem to emit golden light, and behind the head there seems to be the cry of a vulture. The two kidneys feel as though water were boiling in a pot, while the Dantian (energy center) blazes like fire. The body surges and the nose twitches; wind arises in the ears. When true Qi (the primordial energy cultivated within) becomes the breath, corresponding signs will appear. When spirit and essence gather in the center, they can be preserved for a long time. Transcend the realm of essence and attain the true state of being without leakage. From then on, essence is no longer produced through transformation, and the Qi within the body comes naturally to completion. The substance of the spirit takes shape, and sound emerges first. The Great Heavenly Circuit begins, and one enters the stage of refining Qi into spirit.”

These ten lines describe signs that may appear before entering the Great Heavenly Circuit. Once foundational work is complete and sufficient nourishment has been accumulated, the practitioner should be able to remain without leakage for a long time, with essence and Qi no longer escaping. The next stage is refining Qi into spirit: the practitioner experiences what are called the “six kinds of shaking” and then proceeds to cultivate the Great Heavenly Circuit.

The greatest dangers in the practice of the Greater Circulation of Heaven are the large-scale emergence of Yin demons and the hazards associated with the upper and lower Magpie Bridges, the points through which Qi moves in traditional Neidan practice. If one is careful and avoids mistakes the first time one passes the upper and lower Magpie Bridges, there is usually little trouble afterward.

The Greater Circulation of Heaven is also said to involve three hundred cycles. Once practice has become proficient, demonic trials may appear before one’s eyes. The Greater Circulation of Heaven uses the Samadhi Fire, a metaphor in Neidan practice for the proper intensity of cultivating the heart and spirit, to refine the body and gradually dispel the Yin Qi within the heart. The text calls this Yin Qi “demons”: it includes karmic roots accumulated in the intermediate state between lives over countless kalpas, inherited temperaments from one’s parents, and attachments to food, sexual desire, and other things.

When practice has become familiar but progress seems impossible, difficulties often arise on the second day of a seven-day period of cultivation. At this point, a ball of fire may rise and fall; whenever it rises, it stirs the emotions. Experiences from everyday life may come to mind, including cravings for sights and sounds, wealth, and fame, as well as thoughts of greed, anger, delusion, and love. All kinds of scenes that evoke sadness, joy, affection, or fear may appear. These may include not only events from this life but experiences from past lives as well.

Therefore, when cultivating deep stillness, one should pay no attention to whatever visions arise. Heavenly and earthly demons may also come to test one’s concentration. If one covets women, a beautiful woman like a celestial maiden may appear before one’s eyes; if one covets wealth, a mountain of gold or a cave of silver, free for the taking, may appear. The text calls temptations that seem to come from outside “heavenly demons.” “Earthly demons” may also seem to come from outside, but in fact arise through the mind’s own response. Friends one has known throughout one’s life, as well as relatives and friends who have died, may also appear. The text holds that these are neither real people nor ghosts, but manifestations of demonic thoughts in the mind.

During the seven-day practice of the Greater Circulation of Heaven, the ordeal can feel as though spirits and ghosts are wailing; it is most intense on the fifth and sixth days. On the sixth day, things grow somewhat calmer, and by the seventh, all is peaceful. The “three calamities and eight ordeals” are overcome by clarifying the mind and seeing one’s original nature—that is, by allowing true intention to return to emptiness and stillness. If one can return to emptiness, nothing will go wrong. Before this, one must also reduce distracting thoughts and strengthen concentration through gentle nurturing, until the mind is completely empty and still. The state in which intention does not scatter and thoughts do not arise is called “utmost sincerity” in Confucianism. Only when the mind has been cultivated to this point can one undertake the Greater Circulation of Heaven.

The practice of the Dao depends entirely on virtue. Virtue means remaining unstained by the Six Dusts—the external objects of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and thought—and unattached to the Four Marks: the mark of self, the mark of others, the mark of living beings, and the mark of lifespan. Thus the Diamond Sutra says, “If someone can dwell nowhere in appearances, their merit is immense.” The greatest merit comes from attaining a state free of attachment, in which there is no mind or thing, no self or other, and no fixation on any form. The Laozi says, “By setting the self aside, the self is cultivated; by forgetting one’s form, the form endures.” This “forgetting” encompasses the three thousand eight hundred merits. Through great forgetting, one can accomplish the Greater Circulation of Heaven and emerge in spirit, bringing the practice to completion. The final work of returning to emptiness may be undertaken or left undone.

After seven days of practicing the Great Circulation, the red sphere of light outside the body transforms into a purplish-golden light that envelops the whole body. There is then another formula, the “Formula for the Spirit’s Departure,” which describes how the Yang Spirit leaves the body.

The Great Circulation practice refines away conscious thoughts and emotions, dissolving them. Once this process is complete, what remains is called the Yang Spirit—the spiritual awareness said in Daoist cultivation to form from pure Yang Qi. It leaves no karmic roots created by conscious thoughts and emotions, and thus no Yin Qi remains. There is no need to regard this practice as so difficult that you become afraid of it. Simply follow the method step by step, and success will come naturally.

Cultivation requires all four: method, material resources, companions, and a place. For the place, choose a quiet mountain forest for practicing the Great Circulation. You can first survey the terrain and its fengshui, avoid inauspicious influences, and select a secluded, peaceful spot. Companions are needed so that three people can take turns providing care; one person cannot manage everything alone. The method is the formula for the Great Circulation, while material resources are the necessities of food and clothing. All must be prepared in advance.

If someone practices the Great Circulation but the “Great Medicine”—a term in Daoist internal alchemy for an important response to cultivation or a state of vital essence and Qi—does not appear, or if the red sphere has appeared but there is no Qi during practice, Daoists say that the person’s virtue is not yet sufficient and that they must give away wealth and accumulate virtue. Since the Elixir is regarded as a treasure of Heaven and wealth as a treasure of the world, one should give away wealth in offering to Heaven and vow to begin cultivating again. Confucians consider this a sign that refining oneself—cultivating one’s character—is not yet complete, so one’s efforts meet with no response. Buddhists attribute it to past karma and say that repentance is needed to dispel it. In the author’s view, the Buddhist explanation is closer to everyday understanding; the Daoist explanation has depth but seems vague, while the Confucian explanation is the most apt.

After receiving his master’s teachings, Bai Yuchan once thought he was sure to attain the Dao and become an immortal. Later, when he encountered the calamity of “wind and thunder at midnight” during cultivation, he privately considered giving up. When the Perfected Zhang Ziyang heard of this, he sent a scroll of Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir from Tiantai. Bai Yuchan read it as soon as he received it and then understood the importance of the fine details of timing and regulation. He resumed his practice and ultimately succeeded. At first, he had been somewhat careless, which brought about this calamity.

When Emperor Lü practiced the Great Circulation, he too failed three times to grasp the subtleties of timing and regulation. He continued practicing and eventually succeeded; his…