《天乐集》Vol. 1

These headings are the outline of Neidan cultivation in Tianle Ji (The Collection of Heavenly Joy). “Mao–You Bathing” refers to stopping the fire phase (huohou) for warming and nourishment at Mao and You—Mao being 5–7 a.m. and You 5–7 p.m., though in alchemical methods the terms refer to the cessation of the fire phase and warm nourishment; “Small and Great Heavenly Circuits” refers to the levels in which the circulation of Qi movement grows from small to great; “Passing the Gates of the Great Heavenly Circuit” means opening the gates and apertures of the Great Heavenly Circuit; “Deliverance from the Womb and Spiritual Transformation” means that Shen (spirit) leaves the mortal womb and transforms freely; “Shattering the Void” means breaking even the attachment to the void; “Guarding Against Danger and Anticipating Risk” reminds one to prevent deviations; “Harmonizing Light and Mingling with Dust” means blending with the mundane world without revealing sharp edges; “Scheduling the Course of Dao Practice” arranges a timetable for cultivation; “Benefits of Learning the Dao” explains the benefits of cultivating the Dao. “Wondrous Metaphors of Fire Phase” uses such Zhuangzi-style stories as Cook Ding butchering an ox, the hunchback catching cicadas, the ferryman handling a boat, Qing the carpenter making a bell stand, Ji Xing raising fighting cocks, the man of Lüliang treading water, Dongye’s mastery of charioteering, Gong Chui turning the wheel, Liezi practicing archery, and the painter loosening his robe and sitting at ease, to metaphorically say that the fire phase must follow principle, be single-minded, forget the water, observe fasting stillness, keep to simplicity, follow the way of water, avoid scattering, let heart and hand respond to each other, be without self, and be free. “Secret of Subduing Demons” discusses counteracting demonic obstructions; “Wondrous Realm of Harmonious Balance” discusses the Qi of central harmony; “Wondrous Function of Naturalness” discusses accomplishment through Wuwei (non-action); “Essentials of Great Samadhi (dading)” discusses the key points for entering concentration; “Wondrous Use of Killing Life” is a metaphor for cutting off deluded thoughts and turning the killing mechanism into the life-giving mechanism; “Secret Meaning of Giving and Sparing” discusses the profound meaning of giving and of sparing and cherishing Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy); “Verifications of the Dan Dao” discusses the effects and signs of cultivation; “Classic of Guarding Life” discusses principles of health preservation; “Wonder of Being Buried Alive” is a metaphor for dying the mind and cutting off conditions; and from “Homeland of Dao and De (Virtue/Power)” to “Sixty-Eight Beauties,” they successively indicate the destination of Dao and De, the joy of leaving the dust, the wandering of gathering the true, the profundity of heart fasting, reversing the current and returning to the root, Yang harmony, emptiness and stillness, the purity of the infant, the De of primordial Chaos, the subtleties of double mystery and double emptiness, the bird path crossing the sky, the sparrow’s-egg image of the elixir, and beautiful realms. The entire passage takes the sequence of cultivation, fire-phase metaphors, and states of mind-nature as its thread, displaying the Dan Dao outline from the cultivation of life (minggong) to the cultivation of nature (xinggong) and from youwei (intentional action) to Wuwei.

The following are plain-language notes on the chapter titles listed in Tianle Ji (most are section names rather than full text expansions).

Sixty-one: The Benefits of Vacuity and Stillness

Explains what vacuity and stillness bring: the mind is not scattered, spirit does not disperse, which helps one enter the Way.

Sixty-two: The Purity of the Infant

Treats the infant’s state—pure and as yet unstained—as the essential point in practice for preserving the true and holding to oneness.

Sixty-three: The Virtue of Chaos (Hundun)

Treats the virtue of “chaos” (Hundun)—undivided and undifferentiated—as the basis for returning to the root and restoring the source.

Sixty-four: The Profundity of Redoubled Mystery (Chongxuan)

Treats the deep meaning of “redoubled mystery” (mystery upon mystery)—a higher gate for awakening to the Way and to principle.

Sixty-five: The Subtlety of Redoubled Emptiness

Treats working at the finest level by “emptying emptiness again”—an extremely subtle stratum in inner cultivation.

Sixty-six: Traveling the Bird Path

Treats the “bird path”: a path of practice narrow and perilous like a bird’s flight, figurative of Neidan (internal alchemy) or heart-method practice that must not swerve or scatter.

Sixty-seven: Signs of the Sparrow Egg

Treats signs in practice such as the “sparrow egg” (metaphors for inner scenery and firing times) used to verify accomplishment.

Sixty-eight: The Auspicious Red Sun

Treats the image of the “red sun” in inner scenery or auspicious signs, symbolizing yang qi, true fire, or a point of inner luminosity.

Sixty-nine: The Fragrance of Sweet Dew (Ganlu)

Treats “sweet dew” (sweet saliva in the mouth, inner elixir) and its clarifying, nourishing power.

Seventy: The Marvel of White Blood

Treats “white blood” and similar phenomena spoken of in inner practice (figures for changes in essence and qi)—for verifying work and describing stages.

Seventy-one: The Wonder of Square Pupils

Treats odd signs such as “square pupils” (the ancient physiognomy of immortals), figurative of spirit in the eyes gathered inward and essence and qi full.

Seventy-two: Sleep Is Most Suitable

Argues that among modes of practice, “sleep” (being able to sleep, to nourish, and rest in accord with the Way) is most fitting.

Seventy-three: Intoxication Is Most Mysterious

Here “intoxication” mostly means spirit and intent steeped and merged with the Way—not worldly drunkenness—and figures the most mysterious state.

Seventy-four: Concentration (Ding) Is Most Excellent

Holds that “concentration” (gathering spirit, stabilizing mind, entering samadhi) is supreme among all practices.

Seventy-five: Forgetting Is Most Spirit-like

Holds that “forgetting” (forgetting contrivance, forgetting attachment, merging with the Way) is most wondrous.

Seventy-six: Leisure Is Most Precious

Holds that “leisure” (free of miscellaneous affairs, mind at ease) is most valuable and aids nurturing and refinement.

Seventy-seven: Withdrawal Is Most Constant

Holds that “withdrawal” (retreat and distance from worldly disturbance) best preserves constancy and guards the Way.

Seventy-eight: Compassion Is Most Auspicious

Holds that compassion is most auspicious, linked to cultivating virtue and aligning with the Way.

Seventy-nine: Sincerity Is Most Responsive

Holds that sincerity is most efficacious—with a sincere heart one resonates and accomplishment advances more easily.

Eighty: Wisdom Is Most Transcendent

Holds that wisdom (penetrating clarity, illuminating through) is most surpassing.

Eighty-one: Renunciation Is Hardest

Holds that “renunciation” (letting go of desire, attachment, and clinging to body and views) is hardest—and also pivotal.

Eighty-two: Equanimity Is Steadiest

Holds that “equanimity” (peaceful and even, without bias) is steadiest.

Eighty-three: Resting Is Most Subtle

Holds that “resting” (stopping thoughts, ceasing fire, taking repose) is most excellent.

Eighty-four: The Conduct of Heaven

Treats “heaven’s conduct”: the running of the heavenly Way, natural principle, or acting in accord with the Way of heaven.

Eighty-five: The Conduct of the Sage

Treats what the sage practices: conduct and norms aligned with the heavenly Way.

Eighty-six: Pure Conduct (Fanxing)

Treats “pure conduct” (Fanxing)—clean, preceptual, single-minded practice—using Buddhist phrasing for Daoist pure cultivation.

Eighty-seven: Refining the Self and Establishing the Foundation

In Neidan, one must first “refine the self” (mind-nature and habitual energy) and “establish the foundation” (lay the base, regulate body and breath) before discussing higher work.

Eighty-eight: Nurturing the Self and Refining the Self (Part One)

A divided chapter on the relation between “nurturing the self” (nourishing and holding) and “refining the self” (tempering)—first part.

Eighty-nine: Nurturing the Self and Refining the Self (Part Two)

Continuation of the same theme.

Ninety: Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger

Treats Neidan terms “subduing the dragon” and “taming the tiger”: figures for subduing the heart-monkey and will-horse, lead and mercury, water and fire, and the like.

Ninety-one: Simmering Refinement and Withdrawal and Addition

Treats “simmering refinement” (gentle warming, firing) and “withdrawal and addition” (withdrawing lead, adding mercury; advancing and retreating the “medicines”) in firing times.

Ninety-two: Drawing from Kan and Filling Li

Treats “drawing from Kan to fill Li”: taking the true yang of northern Kan water to fill southern Li fire—a common figure for returning the elixir.

Ninety-three: Jade Refinement and Gold Refinement

Treats different levels or stages of “refinement” (such as jade refinement and gold refinement), figurative of transforming essence, qi, and spirit.

Ninety-four: Subduing Qi and Ingesting Qi

Treats “subduing qi” (reining in and settling true qi) and “ingesting qi” (feeding on qi, regulating breath)—methods for establishing the foundation.

Ninety-five: Ordinary Breath and True Breath

Distinguishes ordinary respiration from the “true breath” (embryonic breath, inner breath) attained in practice.

Ninety-six: Mysterious Breath and Embryonic Breath

Further distinguishes “mysterious breath” (a deeper stratum of inner breath) from “embryonic breath” (like a fetus in the womb, scarcely using outer breathing).

Ninety-seven: Responding to the Stars and Responding to the Tides

Treats firing times corresponding to “stars” (celestial signs, the Dipper’s handle) and “tides” (lunar tides, waxing and waning of yin and yang).

Ninety-eight: Obscure Depth and Chaotic Darkness

Treats the realms and application of “obscure depth” (deep stillness and gloom) and “chaotic darkness” (chaos merged in darkness).

Ninety-nine: Naturalness and Undifferentiated Oneness

Treats the effects and heart-method of “naturalness” (without forcing) and “undifferentiated oneness” (wholly fused as one).

One hundred: Numb Softness and Numbness

Treats reactions such as “soft numbness” and “numbness” in body or sensation during practice—how to understand and handle them.

One hundred one: Before Gui and After Gui

Treats “before gui” and “after gui” in divisions of lunar phase, yin and yang, or firing times (period figures tied to gui water, yin at its limit, and the like).

One hundred two: Yang Fire and Yin Talisman

Treats the paired use of “yang fire” (advancing yang, gentle warming) and “yin talisman” (retreating yin, storing and holding)—part of withdrawal-and-addition firing.

One hundred three: Rising and the Embryo

Treats the relation between “rising” (activation, the living zi hour, and the like) and the “embryo” (sacred embryo, elixir foundation)—stages of forming the pill and nurturing the embryo.

This passage from the Tianle Ji is not a long scripture in continuous prose; it uses paired terms “A and B” to explain, one by one, how key words in internal alchemy (neidan) differ in meaning. Below, each block is rendered in plain language to show what each chapter is mainly contrasting (book titles and technical terms are kept; brief glosses appear in parentheses where helpful).

Ninety-seven through ninety-nine (realms and states)

“Responding to the stars and responding to the tide”: one line says practice should align with celestial timing and star patterns; the other says it should align with the waxing and waning of Yin-Yang, like the coming and going of tides. “Remote obscurity (yaoming) and merged obscurity (hunming)”: yaoming stresses deep stillness and gathering spirit and intent inward; hunming stresses undifferentiated chaos before division, one qi fused as a whole. “Natural (ziran) and blended (hunran)”: ziran is not forcing, letting things unfold; hunran is not yet distinguished, Yin and Yang not yet judged apart.

One hundred through one hundred four (bodily sensation and firing cycles)

“Melted softness and numbness”: in correct practice, blood and qi flow and the body knows light, soft joy; if one goes too far or practice is wrong, numbness and stagnation appear—good and ill must be told apart. “Before gui and after gui”: taking gui (water, Yin) as a metaphor for the stretch of a cycle before Yin arises and after it has arisen, which bears on gathering the medicine and withdrawing the tally (fu). “Yang fire and Yin tally”: yang fire is ascending refinement, warm nurturing, advancing the fire; Yin tally is storing, cooling, withdrawing the tally—the two alternate. “Raising fire and stopping fire”: when to hold intent and lift and gather, when to rest in stillness and rest the fire—you cannot only advance and never stop. “The geng month and the full moon”: using stem-branch timing and lunar phase to fix nodes in the firing cycle, each with its place in time.

One hundred five through one hundred eight (lunar images and return)

“Toad and hare’s soul (tu po)”: both are figures for moonlight and Yin essence; the wording differs, but both often tie to descending mercury and gathering Yin. “Spirit water and flower pool (huachi)”: spirit water is the transformative fluid and true water generated within; the flower pool is the name for where water is stored and meets—often the mouth or the dantian in metaphor. “Heaven’s root and moon’s cavern”: Heaven’s root figures Yang, ascent, and Qian intent; the moon’s cavern figures Yin, descent, and Kun intent—one gathers, one releases. “Restoring life (fuming) and restoring nature (fuxing)”: fuming leans toward restoring the root of life and continuing life; fuxing leans toward returning to the source and uniting with the Dao.

One hundred nine through one hundred thirteen (modes of effort)

“Deliberate action (youwei) and non-action (wuwei)”: youwei is guided intent, guarding the aperture, moving the fire; wuwei is non-clinging and purely letting nature take its course—at the advanced stage, wuwei often completes what youwei began. “Reaching stillness and reaching harmony”: first reach stillness, heart and breath mutually resting; then reach harmony, Yin and Yang in tune. “Having feeling and having trust”: having feeling means the mind and intent are genuine, not false; having trust often means trusting the timing and the method, or matching the virtue of sincerity (cheng) to the Dao. “Pre-heaven (xiantian) and post-heaven (houtian)”: pre-heaven is the unborn, original body, true qi; post-heaven is form, qi, daily use, breath and food. “Within the body and outside the body”: within the body means one’s own dantian, spirit and qi; outside the body sometimes means heaven and earth, sun and moon, or external-alchemy metaphor—meanings must be separated.

One hundred fourteen through one hundred eighteen (medicinals and classic phrases)

“Inner medicine and outer medicine”: inner medicine is one’s own essence, qi, and spirit; outer medicine is what alchemists call lead and mercury—internal alchemy often rejects outward seeking and stresses inner medicine. “Wutu earth and jitu earth”: two faces of earth at the center of the Five Phases—wu often figures firm center and advancing fire; ji often figures soft center and receiving qi, paired with Kan-Li union. “Upper closure and lower closure”: closing and gathering at upper and lower passes or paths of intent, guarding against leakage and deviation. “Knowing harmony and knowing the constant”: from the Daodejing—knowing harmony is knowing the qi of central harmony; knowing the constant is knowing the unchanging Dao. “Knowing the male and keeping the female”: knowing the function of yang firmness, keeping the virtue of yin softness, using the female to bear the male. “Knowing the white and keeping the black”: knowing displayed brightness, keeping hidden silence, using black to store white.

One hundred nineteen through one hundred twenty-three (holding the one and returning the elixir)

(as above for knowing white and keeping black) “Nourishing the mother and keeping the mother”: nourishing the mother is nurturing root and source; keeping the mother is not leaving the root, not chasing branches. “Embracing the one and obtaining the one”: embracing the one is single-minded guarding of the center; obtaining the one is entering the body of the Dao, the true one. “Forgetting the one and transcending the one”: forgetting the one breaks attachment to the idea of “one”; transcending the one lets go even of the mark of “one.” “Small return and great return”: small return is still the small heavenly circuit, preliminary reversal; great return is the great heavenly circuit or the return when the golden elixir is achieved.

One hundred twenty-four through one hundred twenty-nine (center, embryo, and origin)

“Guarding the center and nurturing the center”: guarding the center leans toward holding the yellow court without moving; nurturing the center leans toward warm nurturing and letting central qi grow on its own. “Nurturing the elixir and nurturing the embryo”: nurturing the elixir is refining spirit and qi into an elixir; nurturing the embryo uses the ten-month immortal embryo—spirit and qi condense as if in pregnancy. “Paying homage at the origin and returning to the origin”: paying homage at the origin is spirit and intent ascending to the mud palace (niwan) to the seat of honor; returning to the origin is essence and qi going back to the root, restoring pre-heaven. “Great Yang and great Yin”: Great Yang figures pure Yang, firm brightness; Great Yin figures pure Yin, storing and hiding. “Mastering life and discarding life”: mastering life is clear about nurturing life and preserving the whole life; discarding life is forgetting life, not clinging to life and death. “Mastering life and mastering fate”: mastering life leans toward life of form and spirit; mastering fate leans toward nature and the fulfillment of fate (ming).

One hundred thirty through one hundred thirty-six (arcane meaning and one-sided error)

“Keeper of the tally and opener to the clear”: keeper of the tally holds to formulas and what can be named; opener to the clear breaks names and marks and sees through—figures of the paths of youwei and wuwei. “Opening people and opening heaven”: opening people is guiding students; opening heaven is entering the way of heaven—not to be mixed with vulgar arts. “Warming harmony and burning harmony”: warming harmony is gently nurturing great harmony; burning harmony is excess fire harming harmony—worth guarding against. “Having method and having no method”: having method is fixed methods and stages; having no method adapts to the vessel—one must not cling to a single form. “Harmony with heaven and harmony of persons”: harmony with heaven is sharing the timing of heaven and earth and the four seasons; harmony of persons is Kan and Li, Yin and Yang uniting within. “True emptiness and stubborn emptiness”: true emptiness is emptiness after awakening, not blocking subtle function; stubborn emptiness is dead emptiness, dry sitting without living qi. “Holding the rear and whipping the rear”: from the Daodejing’s metaphor of using troops—in cultivation often read as keeping softness, staying behind, not contending for the lead, contrasted with “whipping the rear” as harsh urgency, on the difference between holding back and forcing ahead.

In the Tianle Ji, these entries usually “each stand as one chapter, separately setting out the meaning of two terms, how they differ, and how they support each other.” Readers should treat them as a lexicon of internal alchemy read in pairs, and cross-check with oral transmission and the full book—not take a single term in isolation and apply it to practice on one’s own.

Plain-language notes on each chapter title in the Tianle Ji table of contents, to clarify the paired concepts the whole book compares.

Chapter 133 · Youfang and Wufang (Having Form and Having No Form)

Explains the difference between “having shape and image” and “having neither shape nor image,” and how to relate to both in practice.

Chapter 134 · Tianhe and Renhe (Harmony with Heaven and Harmony with Humanity)

Explains what it means to align with the Way of Heaven versus aligning with the human heart and human affairs, how they differ, and how to tell them apart.

Chapter 135 · Zhenkong and Wankong (True Emptiness and Stubborn Emptiness)

Explains true emptiness (which does not fall into annihilationism) versus dead, rigid emptiness (treating everything as nothing)—and why the two must not be confused.

Chapter 136 · Chihou and Bianhou (Staying Behind and Whipping from Behind)

Drawing on Laozi’s theme of “not daring to be first under Heaven,” it contrasts willingly staying behind and not competing for the lead with forcing others to the rear by pressure or coercion.

Chapter 137 · Xiangtui and Xiangsheng (Mutual Push and Mutual Overcome)

Contrasts relationships in which things support and complete one another with those in which they undercut and dominate one another.

Chapter 138 · Gushi and Yishi (Ancient Beginning and Doubtful Beginning)

Contrasts accounts of the “ancient beginning” as the origin of the cosmos with the “doubtful beginning” that suspends fixed claims about how things started.

Chapter 139 · Neihuo and Waihuo (Inner Bridle and Outer Bridle)

Uses the image of inner and outer harness (like reins and bit) for inward gathering versus outward constraint—inward cultivation as opposed to chasing externals.

Chapter 140 · Baoguang and Baozhen (Preserving Inner Light and Preserving True Nature)

On nurturing inner light without display, and holding to what is truly oneself without being turned by circumstances.

Chapter 141 · Xiuxing and Xiuming (Cultivating Nature and Cultivating Life)

In the neidan (internal alchemy) tradition, how “cultivating nature” (heart-nature, original spirit) and “cultivating life” (essence, qi, and the body) are emphasized and combined.

Chapter 142 · Yinshen and Yangshen (Yin Spirit and Yang Spirit)

On teachings about yin spirit and yang spirit and what those terms point to in cultivation contexts.

Chapter 143 · Shaji and Daoji (Killing Pivot and Stealing Pivot)

In alchemical classics, “killing pivot” and “stealing pivot” often refer to the stirring and appropriation of qi and heaven’s pivot; this chapter sorts their meaning from common misuse.

Chapter 144 · Tianji and Shenji (Heaven’s Pivot and Spirit Pivot)

The difference between the opening shown by the Way of Heaven (tianji) and the deeper hinge of transformation (shenji).

Chapter 145 · Xinji and Muji (Mind’s Scheming and Eye’s Scheming)

How mental calculation and cleverness (xinji) and what the eyes chase and external things entice (muji) disturb practice.

Chapter 146 · Huiji and Xiji (Returning the Pivot and Resting the Pivot)

Bringing the outward-scattering mind-pivot back inward (huiji) and stopping restless movement to settle in stillness (xiji).

Chapter 147 · Juyuan and Jude (Full Conditions and Full Virtue)

Whether causal conditions are complete versus whether virtue and gongfu are complete—and why one cannot substitute for the other.

Chapter 148 · Pinghuai and Pingxi (Level Heart and Calmed Breath)

A heart that stays even without wild swings, and breath and emotion that truly settle—inner and outer in accord.

Chapter 149 · Anju and Anxin (Settled Dwelling and Settled Mind)

Whether outer residence and environment are stable matters less than whether the mind is truly settled—and how the two support each other.

Chapter 150 · Jiandu and Yidu (Seeing the One and Doubting the One)

Seeing the “One” (the unchanging root) versus still doubting the One without direct realization—different stages of attainment.

Chapter 151 · Jiansu and Tisu (Seeing Plainness and Embodying Plainness)

Not only perceiving plain simplicity but embodying and keeping to it in conduct.

Chapter 152 · Xichang and Ximing (Inheriting the Constant and Inheriting Clarity)

What it means to carry on the constant Way without deviation, versus inheriting clear insight so it can be applied.

Chapter 153 · Dashun and Daning (Great Accord and Great Tranquility)

The great accord of following Heaven and responding to things, and the great tranquility in which body and mind are both at ease.

Chapter 154 · Xuande and Xuantong (Profound Virtue and Profound Unity)

The difference in level between profound virtue (xuande) and aligning with the profound mystery of the Dao (xuantong).

Chapter 155 · Zhirong and Shouru (Knowing Honor and Keeping Disgrace)

Knowing the emptiness of favor and rank yet willingly keeping a low, non-contending place—a steady theme in Laozi.

Chapter 156 · Xingqi and Yuanqi (Arising from Nature and Arising from Conditions)

Acting from innate nature and heart-nature versus acting from causes, conditions, and outer circumstances—a Buddhist–Daoist vocabulary contrast.

Chapter 157 · Shengmi and Miesheng (Birth-and-Death and Death-and-Birth)

Ordinary talk of birth, abiding, change, and extinction versus the alternate teaching that “within cessation there is birth.”

Chapter 158 · Xiaowo and Dawo (Small Self and Great Self)

The small self (selfish desire, the bodily “I”) and the great self (the “I” one with the Dao and Heaven and Earth).

Chapter 159 · Yangsheng and Shesheng (Nourishing Life and Gathering Life)

General care for life versus a more active gathering and securing of essence and qi for longevity.

Chapter 160 · Xiantian Yangsheng and Houtian Yangsheng (Prenatal Nourishment and Postnatal Nourishment)

Nourishing life by “prenatal” (unmanifest, originally complete) principle versus by “postnatal” (manifest, physical) conditions.

Chapter 161 · Xiantian Gewu and Houtian Gewu (Prenatal Investigation of Things and Postnatal Investigation of Things)

Understanding the ten thousand things from root and prenatal qi, versus investigating things through postnatal senses and names.

Chapter 162 · Neile and Waile (Inner Joy and Outer Joy)

Joy that stays inward and does not depend on things, versus joy that relies on outer stimulation.

Chapter 163 · Shifa and Daofa (Worldly Law and Way of the Dao)

The boundary and connection between worldly rites, law, and institutions and the methods of cultivation and the natural Way.

Chapter 164 · Jingshenhua and Wuzhihua (Spiritual Transformation and Material Fixation)

The path of spiritual refinement and transformation versus leaning toward material enjoyment and attachment to form.

Chapter 165 · Zhengqiyu and Zhenqiyu (Steam Bath and True-Qi Bath)

Outward steaming and bathing as appearance, versus the cultivation metaphor of “bathing” in true qi and inner vision.

Chapter 166 · Changsheng and Wusheng (I) (Long Life and Non-Birth, Part One)

The first part on seeking lasting body and spirit versus the meaning of “non-birth” (not falling into the appearance of birth and death).

Chapter 167 · Changsheng and Wusheng (II) (Long Life and Non-Birth, Part Two)

Continues the same topic: how longevity and non-birth relate and how not to misunderstand either.

Chapter 168 · Zhiren and Zhenren (Perfect Person and True Person)

How Zhuangzi and related texts describe the “perfect person” and the “true person”—their portrayed realms and what practice aims at.

Chapter 169 · Deren and Shenren (Person of Virtue and Spirit Person)

The ideal of one who takes virtue as root versus one who is nearly divinized and one with the Dao—what each ideal person signifies.

Tianle Ji — Chapter Titles (Excerpt)

The following are some chapter titles from the book. Most are short pieces that use stories from antiquity to expound and verify the Dao:

• 170 Hongmeng Shows the Dao: In primordial chaos, the great Dao is revealed
• 171 Nieque Asks about the Dao: Nieque inquires of others concerning the great Dao
• 172, 173 Guanyin Discourses on the Dao (Part One and Part Two): Guan Yinxi expounds the great Dao in two sections
• 174 Kangcang Verifies the Dao: Master Kangcang confirms the Dao through his own experience
• 175 Zang Zhang Angling: The tale of the angler Zang Zhangren
• 176, 183 Beigong Casts the Bell: The story of casting the bell at Beigong (the title appears twice in the table of contents)
• 177 Confucius Praises Withdrawal: Confucius commends hidden withdrawal from the world
• 178 Yanzi “Sitting in Forgetfulness”: Yan Hui’s “sitting in forgetfulness”
• 179 Liezi Rides the Wind: Liezi traveling on the wind
• 180 Changfang Shrinks Distance: The legend of Fei Changfang’s art of shortening distance on a journey
• 181 Nüwa Mends Heaven: Nüwa mends the sky
• 182 Shu’ao Regulates the Breath: Sun Shu’ao’s breath regulation and nurturing life
• 184 Master Hu Conceals His Form: Master Hu’s concealment of his physical form
• 185 Queen Mother Plants Peaches: The Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) planting peaches (linked to the Jasper Pool and immortal peach lore)
• 186 Grand Harmony as One Hue and After the One Hue Passes: Titles for discussions on “grand harmony” and “one hue” in succession

The same block of titles is listed twice in the original (e.g. 177–183 and a later matching block).

Tianle Ji — Editorial Preface on Collation and Supplementary Collation Notes

These are explanatory notes on how different editions were collated and compared. The headings mean “statement of editorial method for collation” and “supplementary notes on collation”; the main text of those sections is not included in this excerpt.

Appendix: Daoist Lineages

Daoist learning, also called xuanxue (Learning of the Profound), has very deep roots in China.

Legend says that Duke Ai of Lu once asked Zixia: “Did the Five Emperors also have teachers?” Zixia replied: “I have heard that the Yellow Emperor studied with Da Fen, Zhuanxu with Lu Tu, Di Ku with Master Chicheng, Yao with Master Wucheng, Shun with Yin Shou, Yu with the Queen Mother of the West, Tang with Master Chengbozi, King Wen with Master Xichou, King Wu with Taigong (Jiang Taigong), the Duke of Zhou with Guo Shu, and Confucius with Laodian (Laozi). Had these eleven sages not met these teachers, their achievements would not have shone under Heaven, nor would their names have been handed down to later ages.”

The appendix uses this list to show that sage-kings of high antiquity and Confucius all had masters—many figures associated with the Daoist tradition, early immortality lore, or reclusive ways—and thus to link the lineage of “Daoist learning” with ordering the world and attaining sagehood.

According to the scripture, most of the eleven sages listed were ancient immortals who descended to the world. The number of ancient immortals who appeared in history is beyond counting. Among those who wrote books and had the greatest influence, Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) and Laozi stand foremost; later generations commonly call Laozi the “Patriarch of the Dao.” Because Laozi authored the Daodejing, expounding the subtlety of the profound Dao of the Daoist gate, he has been revered by posterity.

First lineage: Laozi transmitted to Chen Xiyi (Chen Tuan, a famous Daoist of the Five Dynasties period). Xiyi transmitted to the Fire Dragon True Person; the Fire Dragon transmitted to Zhang Sanfeng (a renowned Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) master of the Yuan and Ming periods). Sanfeng in turn transmitted to Shen Wansan, Qiu Yuanjing, Master Li, Wang Yuantong, and many others—his dharma heirs were numerous. This line is known in the world as the Wen Shi school, also called the Hidden Immortals school.

Second lineage: Laozi transmitted to Wang Xuanfu (i.e., the Donghua Emperor, also styled Shaoyang). Shaoyang transmitted to Zhongli Quan (True Person of Zhengyang). Zhengyang transmitted to Lü Yan (Lü Dongbin, styled Chunyang, commonly called Patriarch Lü). Under Patriarch Lü, four branches formed:

1. Patriarch Lü transmitted in the Yan region to Liu Haichan; Haichan transmitted to Zhang Boduan (styled Ziyang). Ziyang founded the Southern School (the Southern branch of Neidan (internal alchemy));

2. Patriarch Lü transmitted in the Southern Song to Wang Chongyang; Chongyang founded Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) and opened the Northern School;

3. Patriarch Lü transmitted in the Jiajing reign of the Ming to Lu Xixing of Huaihai (courtesy name Qianxu), who founded the Eastern School;

4. Patriarch Lü transmitted in the Daoguang reign of the Qing to Li Xiyue of Jiading, Sichuan (courtesy name Hanxu), who founded the Great River Western School (the Western School).

This lineage is known in the world as the Donghua school, also called the Shaoyang school. On the Southern side, Ziyang Zhenren transmitted to Shi Xinglin, Shi to Xue Zixian, Xue to Chen Niwan, and Chen to Bai Ziqing. From Zhang Boduan to Bai Ziqing there were five generations in all, known collectively as the “Five Southern Patriarchs.” After Bai Ziqing came Peng Helin, Peng transmitted to Xiao Zixu, and below them many others carried the lamp forward—all direct heirs of the Southern lineage.

Wang Chongyang belonged to the Northern school. He was a native of Xianyang. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song he traveled on Zhongnan Mountain, met the two patriarchs Zhong and Lü, and in secret cultivated the Way until he attained the Dao. After leaving the pass he founded the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) teaching and guided seven people to enlightenment in succession: Ma Danyang, Sun Buer, Qiu Chuji, Liu Chuxuan, Tan Chuduan, Wang Chuyi, and Hao Datong—the group later called the “Seven Perfected Ones of the North.” Qiu Chuji later opened the Longmen (Dragon Gate) school in the Yan region, a branch within the Northern school. Among the Northern Seven, Ma the patriarch and Qiu the patriarch probably had the widest influence in transmitting the teaching. Figures such as Song Piyun, Li Qizhen, Zhang Ziqiong, Zhao Yuandu, Chen Zhixu, and Zhang Tianyu all came down from the line of Danyang (Ma Danyang); figures such as the Tiger-Skin Seat Zhang Zhenren, Li Xu’an, Cao Huanyang, and Wu Chongxu all came down from the line of Chuji (Qiu Chuji).

Quanzhen spread widely in the north. Reading Jin Yuanhao’s (Jin xueshi) “Record of the Purple Void Observatory” in the Yishan Collection gives a general picture. The record says: From the Zhenyuan and Zhenglong eras of Emperor Shizong of Jin onward, there was also the Quanzhen teaching, led by Wang Chuyi of Xianyang (i.e., Wang Chongyang), with Tan, Ma, Qiu, Liu, and others in support. It rested on teachings of quiet purity and depth, without the empty practices of ordinary Daoists such as drawing talismans to avert disaster; it also drew on methods of Chan-style meditation, without the ascetic self-binding of forest dwellers. Ploughing fields and digging wells, they began from cultivating body and nurturing life, and used whatever strength remained to help others. Compared with the noisy, busy ways of the world, this seemed simpler, so the lazy and fallen flocked to it. South to the Huai River, north to the desert, west to the Qin region, east to the sea—in mountains, cities, and clustered dwellings, often ten or a hundred households would gather together. After the chaos of the Zhenyou and Tianxing years, law and civilization were utterly lost; destitute common people did not know where to turn, and the teaching that could give them a path was largely this one alone. From this one can see how great Quanzhen became and how much living beings benefited—something not to be compared with retiring deep in the mountains and perfecting oneself alone.

On the Eastern School Lineage

The Eastern School lineage is almost impossible to trace as a complete genealogical record in the classical texts; what can be stated with some clarity often has to be picked up from the Western School’s Patriarch Li and a few later transmitters. From this alone one can see that when the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) tradition flourished, the scope of benefiting sentient beings was not something a person hiding in deep mountains, cultivating alone and seeking only personal liberation, could match.

Donghua, Wenchu, and the Eastern School Transmission (Master Wang’s Line)

With no books to rely on for the Eastern School lineage, transmission runs through Patriarch Li of the Western School, then through Wu Tianzhi (Master Wu) of Shaanxi, to Ke Baozhen of Hubei, and on to my master, the mountain recluse Wang Tizhen. Counting from Patriarch Lü to my master makes the sixth generation, spanning more than two thousand years—a continuity that can indeed claim its own thread. That is the broad picture of how the Donghua and Wenchu lineages carry forward together.

The Convergence of the Wen and Hua Lineages

According to accounts such as Shanhai Qiyu (Marvelous Encounters in Mountains and Seas), Lü Dongbin and Liu Haichan transmitted the elixir formulas to Chen Xiyi (Chen Tuo); Zhang Sanfeng the Realized One also passed elixir teachings to Li Hanxu (Li Bashi). Thus after the Five Dynasties period, the ritual streams of the Wen and Hua lineages had in practice already merged— a matter of season and karmic affinity, not mere chance.

Four Branches under Patriarch Lü: Named by Region, Not by Distinct Methods

Later, under Patriarch Lü, four branches came to be spoken of as North, East, South, and West—mainly because people worked in different regions, not because there were two sets of secret formulas or two paths of realization.

Zhenren Ziyang (Zhang Boduan) opened the teaching at Tiantai, and later generations honored him as ancestor of the Southern School; Wang Chongyang spread the teaching in the north and was hailed as patriarch of the Northern School. “Western Star” was born in the Huai-Hai region and “Western Moon” in southern Sichuan, so later followers respectively called them founders of the Eastern and Western branches.

Master Wang once said: the Northern and Southern schools both descend from Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin; dividing names by local territory can still make sense, but to say the Dao itself differs between North and South—that has no basis. That counts as a judgment that holds firm.

II. Sources of the Dao

When Fuxi drew the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), it was to reveal the mysteries of heaven-and-earth and creation; when Nüwa mended heaven, it symbolized mending and continuing the way of heaven and balancing Yin-Yang (in internal alchemy, ideas often linked to this, such as “drawing from Kan to fill Li,” also trace back to such cosmology).

If the various ritual lineages are traced upward, most converge on what Zhong and Lü, the two patriarchs, transmitted: calling them North, East, South, and West by region is still intelligible; but to split the Dao itself into several separate “great ways” is unreasonable—on that point too, the same firm conclusion stands.

The gist of this passage from Tianle Ji is as follows:

Fuxi devised the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) to reveal the mysteries of heaven and earth’s creation and transformation; Nüwa mended the sky, using images such as “drawing from Kan to fill Li” to point to the subtle principle of Kan and Li interacting. These remained at the level of images and symbols, however, and had not yet been set down as systematic writing.

When it comes to explaining the way of “cultivation” in words, one can trace it back earliest to Guangchengzi’s instruction to the Yellow Emperor. The Zhuangzi, “In the World” chapter, relates that in the nineteenth year of his reign, when his orders had spread throughout the realm, the Yellow Emperor heard that Guangchengzi lived on Mount Kongtong and went to seek instruction. The Yellow Emperor said: I have heard that you have penetrated the utmost Dao (the supreme Way); I wish to ask about the essential meaning of the “utmost Dao.” I want to gather the qi of heaven and earth to help the five grains grow and nourish the myriad people, and also to harmonize yin and yang so that the ten thousand things each find their place—how should this be done? Guangchengzi replied: What you ask concerns the form and substance of things; what you wish to preside over is meddling in what is already damaged in things. Since you have governed the realm, clouds need not gather for rain to fall, plants yellow and wither before their season, and the light of sun and moon tends instead toward dimness; how could the minds of crafty flatterers be fit to discuss the utmost Dao? The Yellow Emperor then left the throne, withdrew from government, built a quiet chamber, spread white rush mats for a seat, and lived alone for three months before going again to seek Guangchengzi. Finding Guangchengzi lying with his face to the south, the Yellow Emperor approached from the leeward side, advanced on his knees, bowed and knocked his head on the ground, and asked: I have heard that you have penetrated the utmost Dao; how should one cultivate the self to endure long? Guangchengzi suddenly sat up and said: Well asked! Come—I will tell you the utmost Dao: the essential meaning of the utmost Dao is deep and yet deeper still; the utmost reach of the utmost Dao is dim and silent…

(If the text continues elsewhere in this juan, it still develops how to guard unity, embrace the spirit, avoid exhausting the body, and other essentials of governing the person— in the same vein as the Guangchengzi chapter of the Zhuangzi.)

This passage comes from Guang Chengzi’s instruction to the Yellow Emperor on self-cultivation. Its core is inward stillness and embracing unity in harmony—widely treated in Daoism as essential for long life and clear vision.

Guang Chengzi’s teaching: Do not let the eyes roam or the ears chase after things; gather spirit and mind in quiet, and the body will naturally align. You must be still and clear—do not wear out the physical form or stir and scatter Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy). Only then can longevity be possible. Let the eyes seem to see nothing, the ears seem to hear nothing, and the heart seem to know nothing; then Shen (spirit) can hold the form, and the form can endure without decay. Be careful with what is inner; shut out grasping at the outer world. Knowing too much in the wrong way becomes defeat. I can lead you up to the realm of “Great Brightness” and to the root of utmost Yang; I can also guide you through the gate of “dark mystery” to the root of utmost Yin. Heaven and earth each keep their place; Yin and Yang each have their store—guard yourself carefully, and the “ten thousand things” within (the Qi and Jing in the body) will strengthen on their own. What I guard is the “One”—the pure unity of the Dao—and I dwell in harmony; therefore I have cultivated the body for twelve hundred years without the form aging.

The Yellow Emperor bowed and kowtowed and said: What you have said, Guang Chengzi, is already at the level of Heaven’s Dao. Guang Chengzi replied: Come—I will tell you (here the original repeats earlier lines with the same meaning): That which is “other” is inexhaustible, yet people always assume it has an end; that which is “other” is unfathomable, yet people always assume it has a limit. One who obtains my Dao may be sovereign above and king below; one who loses it may merely shine above and turn to dust below. Now the hundred things are born from earth and return to earth. I will leave you, enter the gate of the inexhaustible, and wander in the field of the boundless. I share light with sun and moon and share constancy with heaven and earth. All people die; I alone endure.

Brief context: “Guarding the One” and “dwelling in harmony” are staples of Neidan (internal alchemy) and stillness practice: the heart does not chase phenomena, intention does not run outward—form and Shen return to one whole. Guang Chengzi’s language of Yin–Yang, dark mystery, and Great Brightness names both the cosmos and the inner Qi and Shen. When the Yellow Emperor asks whether he is “aligned” or still separated by dullness, Guang Chengzi answers with “all die while I alone remain”—stressing the difference between the view of one who keeps the Dao and ordinary ideas of life and death, not a simple claim of physical immortality alone.

This is the core principle of Daoist health cultivation and a key gateway to seeking long life and enduring vision. The most essential phrase in the entire piece is “guard the one and dwell in harmony” (shou yi chu he)—that is, the practice of uniting mind and breath (xinxi xiangyi). The source of Neidan (internal alchemy) lies precisely here. When the student achieves mind-breath unity, spirit and qi harmonize and yin and yang adjust; in still silence one enters a deep, hidden realm—this is called “Kun concealment” (Kun cang), belonging to utmost yin. Yet when I return to pure Kun, the qi of pure Qian in the void inevitably responds in resonance; in dim awareness we meet, and when the moment arrives one knows it naturally. What the alchemical classics call “after lead arises in the gui phase, one yang returns” (yiyang laifu) is utmost yang and great brightness. “Yin and yang have their hiding place” means storing mind and breath in the mystery aperture (xuanqiao); “embrace spirit in stillness” (bao shen yi jing) means spirit and breath rely on each other and gradually enter quiet concentration; “drowsy and silent” (hunhun momo) means that over time, following this path, one enters a realm of emptiness and primordial chaos. “Guard the one” (shou yi) means guarding this single thread of true-one qi (zhenyi zhi qi) to form the Dao embryo (dao tai); “dwell in harmony” (chu he) means water and fire in balance, true qi harmonized, the whole body soft and pleasantly intoxicated as if drunk. In alchemical method, by my empty stillness I draw the Qian yang true qi of the other; day by day it gathers into the elixir, always using the inexhaustible primordial qi (yuanqi) of heaven and earth to nourish both the form body (se shen) and the dharma body (fa shen). In time qi transforms, and one may become an immortal. “Without toil,” “without agitation,” “without seeing,” “without hearing,” and “without knowing” are all essentials for nourishing spirit and resting in peace. Only when spirit is settled does qi return; only when qi returns does the elixir coalesce—thus nourishing spirit is the beginning of mysterious cultivation and the forerunner of return. If spirit is not settled, the Dao cannot be borne. “Enter,” “follow,” “hide,” and “guard” all point to the subtlety of firing process (huohou), and in sum they are gathered in “dwell in harmony.” “Enter the gate of the infinite” and “wander in the field without limit” mean merging virtue with heaven and earth— the image of great concentration and true emptiness. “Things will strengthen themselves,” “those things are inexhaustible,” and “those things are without limit” reveal the profundity of the medicinal substances. The three occurrences of “things” (wu) are the “one” in “guard its one”—namely, innate true yi qi (xiantian zhenyi zhi qi). Store it in stillness, gather it in movement; accumulated over long time, body and mind both transform, form and spirit both wondrous; the Dao gathers in the person, all others die while I alone remain.

Though this short piece is not long, it touches on what inner alchemy often calls “medicinal ingredients, firing phases, true earth, gathering, and nurturing,” as well as the principle of long life and lasting vision. In the Ming, Lu Xixing wrote in Nanhua Fumo (Supplementary Ink on the Zhuangzi): “Reading a thousand volumes on the elixir is not as good as reading one passage from ‘In the World’”—that hits the mark. Some identify Guangchengzi as an embodiment of the Dao Ancestor (Laozi), but stopping at that layer still stays shallow.

A deeper reading: when the Yellow Emperor went to Kongtong Mountain to visit Guangchengzi, it can also mean the Emperor entered great stillness and true emptiness and thereby saw the “Dharma-nature body” in person—Dharma-nature is vast without bounds; the proper vessel realm, the realm of sentient beings, and the realm of perfect awakening all depend on it, hence the name “Guangcheng” (vast accomplishment). This is the self-nature everyone already possesses; only because of wandering thoughts and emotional views it cannot be realized. When self, person, and dharmas are all empty and emotional consciousness is exhausted, suchness and Dharma-nature naturally appear— the ten directions are perfectly bright, great awakening is clear, like clouds parting and the sun rising.

Therefore the Yellow Emperor had to reach “Kongtong” (empty sameness) before he could see the secret teaching Guangcheng transmitted. The Yongjia Zhengdao Ge (Song of Enlightenment) says: “The heart-mirror is clear, reflecting without obstruction; utterly pure it pervades the sands of worlds. Myriad forms appear as shadows within it; one round light is neither inside nor outside.” Master Ziyang said: “Wonderful awakening, round light, shining through inside and out, wrapping the six extremes, nowhere near or far.” Master Miaozheng said: “Mind and Buddha are equal to empty space… recognize the one bead of the wish-fulfilling jewel—its light always pierces the Ganges’ sands of worlds.” Are these not the Dharma-sign that Guangcheng symbolizes? Thus Daoist Guangchengzi can also connect with the Buddha’s tathāgatagarbha, Chan’s formless suchness and wondrous mind of nirvana, and Huayan’s one true Dharma realm. Whoever awakens to this is not merely what the world calls ascending to immortality and long life (what the scripture calls “constant abiding”); when the Yellow Emperor could attend upon Guangcheng, he naturally attained the Dao and became true.

Guangcheng’s words on cultivating the Dao—be careful within, closed without; guard the one and dwell in harmony; hold essence and nourish spirit; form and Dao merge—are also the Yellow Emperor teaching in person, opening the lineage of our Chinese subtle teaching.

This passage comes from the Liezi, in a section where the Yellow Emperor discusses the Dao, together with guidance for those who study the Way.

Main meaning of the scripture

Things that have form, once they move, display form; when form moves, shadow appears. Things that have sound, once they move, produce sound; when sound moves, echo and reverberation arise. Without movement, the various phenomena do not arise; from “non-being” (wu) comes “being” (you). Form perishes—do the heavens and earth perish as well? In truth, heaven and earth are like “me”: in the end, all pass away.

Points emphasized by commentators

The hinge of this passage is dong (movement): arising and ceasing, flux and change, all hang on this single movement. If one wishes to turn against the current of birth and death, the key lies in wu dong (no stirring)—once there is movement, one leaves the root; only stillness allows return to the source. The four characters wu dong bu sheng (“without movement, nothing is born”) are especially crucial: this is not a command to sit motionless like a mountain, but a warning that if the heart constantly follows circumstances and stirs with every thought, one remains forever trapped in the cycle of birth and ceasing.

If a student of the Way can cultivate until “the mind does not stir”—not by crushing thoughts, but by not being dragged by outer conditions and not losing the root through movement—then the birth-and-death one ordinarily sees can be transformed into the aspect of stillness and quiescence (jimo). On the level of principle, the gate of birth and death becomes intelligible; on the level of practice, there is a path—not empty talk.

“Yellow Emperor” and “Liezi” are names from antiquity. “Birth and ceasing” (sheng-mie) and “stillness and quiescence” (jimo) are shared vocabulary in Buddhism and Daoism; here they refer to the flux of life and death and to its cessation. “No stirring” (wu dong) and “return to the root” (gui gen) are common in internal alchemy (neidan) and mind-nature cultivation, meaning to turn back to the original source.

The second section discusses the passage in the Daodejing: “The valley spirit does not die; it is called the mysterious female. The gate of the mysterious female is called the root of Heaven and Earth. Continuous and subtle, as if present; in use, it is not forced.” The author holds that this chapter covertly points to the “external mysterious pass” (waixuanguan) in cultivation—as opposed to the “internal mysterious pass,” it names the layer where body-mind meets Heaven-and-Earth qi through breath, intention, and exchange with the world.

Mutual reliance of heart and breath—neither forgetting nor forcing is the sole orthodox path in the Xuan lineage (the internal alchemy stream of Daoism): let mind and breathing align naturally; neither abandon them nor yank them by force. This is the master theme of turning breath back and returning it to the source.

Master Hanxu (a major figure in internal alchemy) said: “Valley spirit” means original nature (yuanxing)—that innate clarity of the person. “Valley” images emptiness; “spirit” images luminosity. When nature is empty yet spirit-like, it is not dimmed; “not dimmed” is what “does not die” means—not that the flesh never dies, but that spirit is not extinguished by scattering.

Why is it also called the mysterious female (xuanpin)? Xuan denotes Heaven; pin denotes Earth. Only where Heaven and Earth unite does the mysterious female appear—a place utterly hollow and open. The sage cultivates the self by using this hollow mysterious female to nourish the empty, spirit-like valley spirit; hence “valley spirit” names the mysterious female from the angle of function.

At this locus yin and yang circulate; Kan and Li (the Water and Fire trigrams, in alchemy often standing for heart and kidneys, water and fire) couple within; Heaven and Earth in harmonious exchange do not go outside this gate. Thus it is also called the root of Heaven and Earth—where Heaven and Earth mutually conceal and mutually root one another; also the place of returning to the root and restoring the original, and the region of refining qi to transform spirit (lianqi huashen).

“Continuous and subtle, as if present”: this is nurturing the valley spirit until one naturally enters embryonic breathing (taixi)—breath as fine, even, and deep as a fetus in the womb, almost imperceptible.

“In use, not forced”: the adjustments and firing of the outer furnace accord naturally with talisman fire (fuhuo)—cultivation “fire” timed to Heaven-and-Earth rhythms; “not forced” means without strain or contrivance.

The formula says: Fix spirit in emptiness; with breath, move like a serpent; follow nature; continuous and subtle, as if present—this is the subtlety of “not forced.” “Floating and roaming, guarding the center” in the Cantong qi (Zhouyi cantong qi) hits the same point.

Third section says: “When spirit enters that gate, and bones and marrow return to the root—do I still exist?” This chapter teaches: when spirit and breath are both settled, merging the formed and the formed into emptiness and returning to the root—that is the mystery of the “root.” The line in Cantong qi, “floating and drifting, guarding the center of the compass,” aligns with the meaning of this verse.

Third section says: “Spirit enters its gate; bones and marrow turn back to their root—what of me is still there?” This chapter reveals: with spirit and breath both stilled, blending being into non-being and reverting to the fundamental root—root and realm vanish together, and one attains the subtlety of “emptiness of self.” What Lengqie jing calls “no person, no self”—perhaps that; Yang Renshan said, “In the end, self too is fully manifest.” “Gate” means the gate of the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin); “root” means the root of Heaven and Earth. When bubbles are utterly gone and merge into the great sea, to seek the mark of “me” is fundamentally unattainable. This chapter’s destination lies in the four words “what of me is still there.” Worldly people stray from the Dao largely because they are harmed by “clinging to self.”

The verse says: mind and breath rely on each other until outer breathing ceases entirely, and one rests in great stillness; long stillness leads to silence—forgetting form, forgetting images, subtly matching true emptiness; even if yang arises, it is like not noticing at all—only then can one be said to have reached “what of me is still there.” The words “enter” and “turn back” in the text both point to the mystery of going against the stream and stepping out of birth and death.

This “gate of the Mysterious Female”—the ancients called it the “gate of life, door of death”: when spirit goes out through the gate, it follows transformation and dies; when spirit enters the gate, it goes against the stream and lives. Going out disperses; entering gathers; going out is loss, entering is preservation—hence “the door of death and gate of life take this aperture as their pivot.” This chapter of the Yellow Emperor reveals the aim of “turning the pivot and returning to restoration”—what Laozi called “returning to the root and restoring life.” The previous chapter showed “regulating breath and nourishing spirit”; this one shows “form and spirit returning to emptiness” and entering the realm of great void; it goes deeper than the former, yet the work is one continuous path. If one can truly practice these two chapters, the road of return is already open.

Fourth: The Yellow Emperor’s Spirit Wanders to Huaxu

The Liezi, in the chapter on the Yellow Emperor, records that the Yellow Emperor then set aside all affairs of state, no longer held court, dismissed his personal attendants, stopped bells and drums, simplified his meals, and withdrew to the great hall’s lodge to live in quiet. He purified body and mind through fasting and discipline, united form and spirit in single focus, and for three months did not govern. By day he fell asleep and dreamed that his spirit wandered in the “land of Huaxu.” Huaxu lay west of Yan Province and north of Tai Province, countless miles from Qi—far beyond what boats, chariots, horses, or human strength could reach; only the wandering of spirit-consciousness could go there. There was no ruler; everything followed nature. The people had no fixed cravings; everything followed nature. They did not know joy in life or dread in death, so none died young. They did not distinguish self from other things, so there was no love or hate. They did not know opposition or compliance, so there was no gain or harm. Nothing was grudged, nothing feared: entering water they did not drown, entering fire they did not burn; cuts and lashes did not hurt, itching did not itch; walking in empty air was like treading solid ground, lying in the void like resting on a bed; mist did not block sight, thunder did not disturb hearing; beauty and ugliness did not move the heart, valleys did not hinder the step—it was purely spirit wandering.

When the Yellow Emperor awoke, he was calm and at ease. He summoned Tianlao, Limu, and Taishan Ji and told them: “I have lived in quiet three months, purified heart and subdued form, seeking the way to nurture life and govern things, yet could not find it. Weary, I slept—and dreamed thus. Now I know the supreme Way (zhidao) cannot be pursued through emotional attachment and discriminating mind. I have attained it, yet cannot fully tell you.”

This passage is also an allegory: the land of Huaxu is the “village of rare stillness,” the realm within deep stillness (dadìng). The Yellow Emperor could release the myriad entanglements, forget both body and mind, and let feelings and views all fall silent—then suddenly he matched the constant truth. This is effortless operation, the most free and transcendent state. That “the supreme Way cannot be sought through emotion” is a judgment that has not changed through the ages. Elder Zaibo said: “While views and attachment remain, one is ordinary; when emotion is forgotten, one is an immortal”—so forgetting emotion and resting from views is the most crucial point in learning the Way.

After the Yellow Emperor, among those who wrote books and expounded Daoist learning, Laozi (La Dan) ranks first. The Daodejing opens by presenting the two concepts of “being” (you) and “non-being” (wu). The lines “constantly without desire, one observes the marvel; constantly with desire, one observes the boundary” (jiao denotes the subtle gateway)—from the perspective of cultivation practice, these mean “mind and breath interdepend”: thought and breathing stay coordinated and never part. The “gate of all marvels” is the “single aperture of the mysterious pass”—in neidan (internal alchemy), the crucial locus where spirit (shen) and qi meet.

“Indistinct and dark, there are images and things, there are essence and trust” describes gathering primordial qi—taking the one breath of the prenatal, not postnatal respiration. “Can you carry soul and embrace the One without leaving them? Can you concentrate qi until it is soft, like an infant? Can you open and close the heavenly gate and remain receptive?” all point to the essentials of regulating breath. “Empty the heart, fill the belly” corresponds to refining the self (cultivating mind and nature) and laying the foundation (establishing the base of practice). “Feed on the mother” and “hold to the mother” correspond to gathering (collecting qi) and warming and nourishing (nurturing spirit and qi). “Hold the center and embrace the One” corresponds to nurturing the sacred embryo (the coalescence and growth of spirit and qi within the elixir). “Attain emptiness, hold to stillness, return to the root and restore life” sums up refining the jade liquid to form the body, the work of self-nurturing, and related essentials.

“A great state flows downward,” or “descend to receive,” hints at the alchemists’ secret of “yin and yang reversed, heaven and earth in union” (the order of pairing in metaphors of male and female, fire and water). “Put the body last” and “take the back” are principles for warding off harm and avoiding danger. “Block the openings” and “close the door” are keys to warming and nourishing. “The Dao is empty, yet use it; blend qi to make harmony” is qi circulating the heavenly circuit (true qi cycling through the Conception and Governing vessels and related paths). “The good traveler leaves no tracks” is the spirit traveling the circuit (spirit and intent follow the qi without leaving traces). “Return to the state of no-thing” and “return to the limitless” are returning to emptiness and uniting with the Dao (huanxu hedao).

Alas! The subtle meanings in alchemical scriptures are, one might say, fully disclosed here.

When Laozi was about to enter the western regions, Yin Xi met him at Hangu Pass and asked him about the Dao. Laozi said: “Emptiness and indistinctness are the root of the Dao. The Dao, in emptiness, gives birth to me; in nothingness, completes me. Thus what gives me life is shen (spirit); what extinguishes me is the heart-mind. So the body is like a carriage, a dwelling, and a master: when the body is at peace, shen dwells within it; when the body is restless, shen departs. Therefore, by outwardly releasing attachment to the body and inwardly nurturing shen, jing and qi can long endure. When dao and de unite, one merges with the Dao. The good person does not contend with the ten thousand things, and is humble and without desire. Desire is the root of calamity; wu (non-being/emptiness) is the foundation of heaven and earth. The sage casts off desire and enters wu, using this to nourish the self. Thus when I look, I hold nothing in desire; when I listen, I am unstained by what is heard; when I speak, I do not speak the Dao in vain; when I eat, I do not greedily savor flavors. Still and plain, one then becomes tranquil and wuwei (non-action), and qi naturally returns to the state before birth. I see that loving others is not as good as loving one’s own body; loving the body is not as good as loving one’s shen; loving shen is not as good as being able to release shen; releasing shen is not as good as being able to guard the body—guarding the body is the constant Dao. Shen gives birth to form; form completes shen. Without shen, form cannot nourish itself and live; without form, shen cannot complete itself and abide. When form and shen unite, mutually generating and mutually harmonizing, then all is as it should be. The greatest filial piety under heaven may be said to belong to those who can nourish their own body. Only by loving one’s “mother” (the root of receiving form—such as the Dao or the body’s origin) can the body endure long. When the body is empty, the ten thousand things can arrive; when the heart-mind is without [attachment], harmonious qi can return. Therefore those who skillfully nourish the body hide the body within the body without running outward, and hide the person within the person without showing themselves. Why is this? (The text below should continue with the principle of guarding and concealing.)

This passage sets forth the essentials of cultivating the body and guarding the Dao: take emptiness as the body and Wuwei (non-action) as the heart.

Emptiness and Non-Being

One is told to treat emptiness as one’s own body and Wuwei as one’s own heart—what is meant by “a body without body, a heart without heart.” When the body is empty, the ten thousand things can gather naturally; when the mind holds nothing fixed, harmonizing Qi returns. Those skilled at nurturing life hide the body within the body so it does not show, and hide the person among people so they are not singled out—relying precisely on emptiness as body and Wuwei as heart.

Guarding Spirit and Life in One’s Own Hands

To guard spirit and connect with the profound is called being one with the Dao. My life is in my hands, not in Heaven’s—not subject to heaven and earth. If one can avoid looking, listening, and knowing in the wrong way (not chasing external conditions in delusion), spirit does not leave the body and long abides with the Dao. I and heaven and earth alike receive one Qi yet each keeps its root.

Softness and the Root

Under heaven nothing is softer than Qi, and nothing is softer than the Dao; the Dao seems soft because it wraps heaven and earth and runs through the ten thousand things. Softness gives birth to hardness; weakness overcomes strength, yet most people do not know the root from which life arises. “Having” is mother to “non-being,” “non-being” is mother to emptiness, and emptiness is mother to the Dao—this is the root of the Dao.

What the Daoist Does

What is a Daoist? Spirit is in the body, yet one must keep spirit from leaving the body. Fullness arises from decline; yin arises from yang; having and non-being give birth to each other; emptiness and fullness complete each other—thus birth returns to having, non-being returns to non-being. A person in the Dao is like a fish in water: when the Dao goes, the person dies; when the water dries up, the fish perishes. Therefore the sage returns to the state before birth: the form may be hidden, but spirit remains—the world comes of itself. Wuwei, no contrived affairs—the state is solid, the people rich. Holding to the constant way of the Dao is called Xuantong (profound unity with the Dao).

Spirit and Cultivating the Body

People live because they obtain spirit, yet they do not know where spirit dwells; only the sage stores spirit within and does not let Po (the yin aspect of spirit, bodily consciousness) run outward. Guard the mother (the Dao or emptiness), and the child (form and function) is whole and the people flourish. The way to cultivate the body lies in penetrating Xuanyuan hunqi (primordial blended Qi), using thought and judgment while still guarding oneself. Heaven does not force clarity—clarity returns to heaven; earth does not force stillness—stillness returns to earth. People do not force life—life returns to people. Heaven, earth, and humanity each keep their nature and each return to their root—this is the principle of ziran (spontaneous nature).

Earth does not want to be muddy—yet what is turbid naturally settles upon it. Dampness does not want water—yet water naturally flows toward what is low and wet. Dryness does not want fire—yet fire naturally clings to what is dry. Emptiness and wuwei (non-action) do not want the Dao—yet the Dao naturally returns to dwell within them. Seen this way, is there anything in the nature of the ten thousand things that is not ziran (so of itself)?

When Laozi had finished speaking of the Dao, he said further to Yin Xi: “I will tell you the marrow of the supreme Dao—jingxin shouyi (quiet the mind and guard unity): every kind of defilement will be cleared away, and every affair will be brought to completion.”

The subtlety of this chapter lies in cangshen shoumu (conceal the spirit and guard the mother) and xu wu ziran (emptiness, non-being, and naturalness)—both belong to the most original purport of the Daoist lineage. If one can jingxin shouyi, then the multitude of stains is removed and the myriad tasks are finished.

The subtlety of the Way unfolded in this chapter turns on hiding the spirit and guarding the mother and on emptiness and naturalness—truly the most original teaching of the Daoist lineage. The opening says that “emptiness and vagueness are the root of the Dao,” hinting that one should settle spirit (Shen) and breath (Xi) in outer emptiness and pass them into unity to enter stillness. Hence what follows: “It gave me birth in emptiness and placed me in nothingness”; “release the spirit outward, yet keep the spirit”; “though spirit is in the body, make it as if it were not in the body”—is this not exactly instructing one to gather spirit in emptiness and empty body and mind? Thus embracing spirit to nourish nature (Xing), harmonizing and blending to nourish Qi, mother and child linked, nature and life united (Xingming heyi)—the gist of cultivating body and mind. When the text speaks of nourishing the mother, cherishing the mother, and guarding the mother, it is the same learning as nourishing the mother and guarding the mother in the Daodejing. As for body and mind both entering stillness and subtly accord with true emptiness, one returns to before birth; when form and Dao merge, hidden and manifest are free. From this one knows that emptiness and naturalness are the great Dao’s main theme and the path to true realization. It also says: “When the body is empty, the ten thousand things arrive; when the heart is without [clinging], life-breath returns—constantly take emptiness as body and non-action as heart: this is called the bodyless body, the heartless heart.” And: “Emptiness and void, non-action—the Dao returns of itself.” Is there anything more essential to the cultivation key handed down from the Mysterious Ancestor (Laozi)? This may truly be called the dark net of all subtleties and the destination of the five thousand words of the Daodejing.

Verse: Spirit and breath wondrously united, return to primordial chaos; guard the center and embrace the One—body and mind at peace; empty, still, and plain—the abode of all sages; return to before birth and see the Dao’s source; nature empty, essence bare—beyond words’ praise. Great compassion of sages, showing the outline: body empty, heart still—the Dao comes home of itself; constant De never parts—return to the limitless.

III. Laozi’s Three Treasures

Laozi said: “I have three treasures that I hold and never let go: the first is compassion (ci), the second is frugality (jian), and the third is daring not to take the lead in the world. With compassion, one can be truly courageous; with frugality, one can act broadly and generously; by not striving to be first, one can become the leader whom the multitude upholds. If one abandons compassion yet plays the brave, abandons frugality yet seeks breadth, and abandons staying behind yet races to be first—that is not far from death.”

Here is a brief unpacking of the gist. Laozi’s “Three Treasures” are not decorative objects but three roots of self-cultivation and ordering the world. Compassion is not weakness: it is the capacity to embrace and protect, to put others in one’s heart first—so that in crisis one can truly take responsibility and act with real courage. Frugality is not stinginess: it is restraint from excess and waste; only the energy and resources saved in this way can sustain “breadth”—generosity and lasting achievement. Daring not to take the lead in the world is not passivity or falling behind: it is refusing to grab fame, profit, or the chance to show off, willingly standing back and yielding benefit to others—whereupon the multitude in turn elevates such a person as the “chief of vessels” (qizhang), the leader people rely on and look up to. The three form one whole: with compassion as the root, courage does not turn brutal; with frugality as the foundation, breadth is not empty; with yielding as the order, being “first” does not harm the person. Turn it around—courage without compassion is reckless force; breadth without frugality is hollow display; striving to be first while putting oneself last is the way to invite disaster. When Laozi says bluntly “death,” he means the spirit destroying itself and bringing ruin on oneself—not a mere figure of speech.

Below is a concise explanation of what this passage is saying.

I. Two Layers of Meaning in Ci (Compassion)

First, not harming sentient beings; second, bringing sentient beings ease and happiness.

Because one must not harm sentient beings, one should keep the four fundamental precepts: no killing, no stealing, no deceit, and no sexual misconduct.

Because one should give ease and happiness, one should benefit beings as circumstances allow—through material giving (helping with food and clothing) or dharma giving (nourishing their wisdom-life with Buddhist or Daoist teaching). Seeing sentient beings as one with oneself, one widely applies skillful means and broadly bestows spiritual ease. Then the spirit of compassion grows day by day, while the wind of rivalry fades; people set aside selfish gain and honor moral substance, and only then can the realm be at peace.

The Buddha is called “great compassion” and also “great hero” precisely because the virtue of saving beings through compassion is vast.

II. Two Layers of Meaning in Jian (Frugality)

First, living simply; second, few thoughts and few desires. When inner and outer life nourish each other, vital essence becomes full, goods are not exhausted, and the people’s virtue can return to its root.

III. Two Layers of Meaning in “Not Daring to Be First in the World”

First, cultivating at ease without rushing to success—what is called “great vessels mature late,” the image of the Da Xu hexagram (Great Taming): solid substance with bright honor.

Second, humbling oneself and placing others above, like a host receiving guests—what is called “a great state flows downward.” The Qian hexagram (Modesty) says, “The modest, modest noble person—fit to cross the great river”—that is this image.

Laozi said: “Rivers and seas can be kings of the hundred valleys because they skillfully stay below; therefore they can be kings of the hundred valleys.”

The Changes also says: “Modesty succeeds. Heaven’s way descends to illumine; earth’s way is humble and rises; heaven’s way diminishes the full and benefits the modest; earth’s way changes the full and pours into the modest; ghosts and spirits harm the full and bless the modest; human way hates the full and loves the modest. Modesty is honored yet bright; low yet not to be overstepped—the noble person’s end.” This virtue of humble restraint is what Confucius and Laozi both revered.

IV. The Three Viewed Together

Compassion belongs to benevolent virtue (rende); frugality to pure virtue (jingde). “Not daring to be first in the world” means not contending with the age, not competing with people, not going against things—it is the virtue of empty center without self (xu zhong wu wo).

This passage explains that the De of benevolence completes others, and completing others is completing oneself; the De of frugality and restraint is for cultivating oneself. People usually know how to save money but not how to save in the heart and in desires—hoarding jing (essence) to sustain life: is that what Laozi meant by “jian” (frugality)?

Master Tan said: Fire and water are used every day; misuse them and the household is ruined—that is failure in not simplifying. Food and drink are taken daily; misuse them and the body is harmed—that is failure in not moderating. To remedy these faults, nothing matters more than jian (frugality).

Frugality in listening nourishes emptiness; frugality in seeing nourishes the shen (spirit); frugality in speech nourishes qi (vital energy).

Frugality in private matters nourishes wealth; frugality in public matters nourishes honor.

Frugality at the gate (fewer comings and goings, fewer entanglements) keeps thieves away; frugality in guard and display (no ostentatious retinue) keeps rebellion away.

Frugality toward consorts and pleasure lengthens life; frugality in the heart can resolve birth and death.

This is called the handle of transformation for the ten thousand things—grasping the key to change.

The extravagant feel poor even when rich; the frugal feel rich even when poor: the extravagant always feel want in the heart; the frugal often feel sufficiency in the heart.

The extravagant love to draw crowds, so faults multiply; the frugal can keep distance from improper ties, so faults are few.

The extravagant who serve their lord invite disgrace; the frugal who serve their lord preserve stipend and rank.

The extravagant have many worries, the frugal many joys; the extravagant are restless, the frugal still; the extravagant prefer difficulty, the frugal the easy; the extravagant prefer complexity, the frugal simplicity; the extravagant chase pleasure, the frugal dan (plainness) and tian (natural ease).

Some use one utensil all their life without lack; some wear one fur coat ten years without ruin—such people can approach the way of clarity and stillness.

Master Tan’s teaching on using frugality to transform people aligns with Laozi’s De of frugality (jiande).

Laozi placed “great compassion” first among the “three treasures,” and also said, “When Heaven would preserve someone, it protects them with compassion,” and again, “One who is constantly skilled at saving people is constantly skilled at saving things—therefore nothing is to be discarded.” Given this, how can those who study the Way slaughter living beings for the sake of mouth and belly? If you wish to seek long life, you should wish that all sentient beings may attain long life—only this is “equal, great compassion,” and only this counts as being a disciple of Laozi. If you use other lives to prolong your own life, you gravely violate the teaching of “constantly being skilled at saving things,” and you are far from “compassion.”

Fourth: The Laozi Family Method

Laozi said, “Push emptiness and stillness to the utmost; guard stillness until it is solid and real.” He also said, “Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called returning to destiny.” He also said, “Chaotic and undifferentiated, signs not yet shown; bland like the great sea, empty like a deep valley.” He also said, “Tranquility is supreme.” The “Heaven’s Way” chapter of Zhuangzi says, “Emptiness, stillness, solitude, and wuwei (non-action)—these are how Heaven and Earth keep their balance and how virtue reaches its utmost; therefore emperors and sages take them as their resting place.” It also says, “Emptiness, stillness, solitude, and wuwei are the root of the ten thousand things. Understanding this and facing south is the principle by which Yao ruled as lord; facing north is the principle by which Shun served as minister. With this in the upper place, it is the virtue of the emperor Son of Heaven; in the lower place, it is the Way of the mysteriously sage, plain king. With this, retiring to wander at leisure, the recluses of rivers, seas, mountains, and forests all submit in trust; with this, advancing to govern the world, then merit is great, fame is clear, and the world is unified.” (The following passage repeats the same idea: in the upper position it is the Son of Heaven’s virtue, in the lower the plain king’s Way; in withdrawal the hermits submit, in advance the world becomes one.)

He said that these eight words—xu (emptiness), jing (stillness), tian (ease), dan (plainness), ji (silence), mo (solitude), wu (non-being), and wei (non-action)—are the family teaching of the Laozi lineage and what Xuanxue (Dark Learning) holds in highest regard; they can also be applied in parallel to Confucianism and Buddhism as the common path of entering the Dao and the standard for cultivating truth. All who study Laozi’s teaching, as well as later followers of the Wen and Hua schools, should observe them.

Xu, jing, tian, and dan are the nature as it truly is. Emptiness opens communication; stillness brings clarity. Ease and plainness mean no craving and a return to simplicity. Solitude means dwelling alone without mixture; wuwei (non-action) means responding without deliberate mind, so that distant illumination and the merging of awareness are complete. Therefore the Dao takes this as its root—“still in sanctity, active in kingship”—and nothing fails to return to it. If students can practice “mind and breath depending on each other,” and once reach “great samadhi” and “true samadhi,” they accord with this root and obtain self-enjoyed states such as “Heavenly Harmony” and “Heavenly Joy.”

V. The Three Treasures of Xuanzong

Xuanzong takes the outer ear and mouth as the outer three treasures, and original Jing (essence), original Qi (vital energy), and original Shen (spirit) as the inner three treasures; Jing, Qi, and Shen as the three treasures, and Dao, scripture, and master as the true three treasures. If students can practice “mind and breath depending on each other,” and once reach “great samadhi” and “true samadhi,” they accord with this root and obtain self-enjoyed states such as “Heavenly Harmony” and “Heavenly Joy.”

In Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy), ear, eye, and mouth are treated as the external three treasures, while Yuan Jing (original essence), Yuan Qi (original vital energy), and Yuan Shen (original spirit) are the internal three treasures. When Laozi speaks of the “three treasures,” he is teaching how to live and conduct oneself in the world; when the Xuanzong (mystery school of internal alchemy) speaks of the three treasures, it is teaching how to cultivate and attain realization. The Classic of Mental Seal (Xinyin Jing) says: “The supreme medicine has three grades: Shen, Qi, and Jing.” Refining these three together is called Golden Elixir.

Qianxu Weng said: Yuan Shen is the spark of spirit at the first opening of chaos—not the spirit tangled in everyday worry and idle thought; Yuan Qi is the single breath when heaven and earth had just parted—not the breath that goes in and out through nose and mouth; Yuan Jing is the essence of “its essence is most true, within it is trust”—not the essence lost through sexual union. Only when these three are recognized and put to use can one support and heal decline, injury, and debility, extend life, restore yang, and transform the body, and cultivate to become a supreme nine-rank celestial immortal.

Ear, eye, and mouth are also called three treasures: turning the light inward and reflecting it back depends on seeing inward by oneself; hearing harmony in silence depends on hearing inward by oneself; at first one often uses ear and eye to stabilize the mind and observe the heart. The mouth is the pivot of breath going in and out; through breath one gives voice and can teach the Dharma to benefit beings, so it too is called a treasure. Xuanzong practice stresses inner and outer in mutual response, with sayings such as “mouth to mouth, aperture to aperture” and “the outer mouth finds the center, the inner mouth finds harmony.” At a deeper level: the mouth symbolizes the cavern of emptiness, the image of true void; the eye symbolizes the mind’s eye opening, illuminating the ten directions—what Zhuangzi calls “the great eye sees”; the ear symbolizes the mind’s hearing awakened, nothing hidden from view. From this one sees that the precious ear, precious eye, and precious mouth are pure, complete, and vast as empty space—inner and outer, body and mind cannot be split; they are only one true body filling the Dharma realm.

The Perfected Sanfeng says in Daoyan Qianjin Shuo (A Simple Discourse on the Dao): The beginning of cultivation must be understood at the very initial stage; broadly, it means purifying the mind and reducing desires, first closing the “external Three Treasures” (ears, eyes, and mouth) and nurturing the “internal Three Treasures” (Jing [essence], Qi [vital energy], and Shen [spirit]). He also says: let the mind and thoughts become utterly still in order to nourish Qi, and stop clever contrivance in order to purify the mind. Jing, Qi, and Shen are the internal Three Treasures; ears, eyes, and mouth are the external Three Treasures. One should constantly keep the internal Three Treasures from chasing external things and wandering abroad, and keep the external Three Treasures from penetrating inward and interfering. Let the breath be continuous, fine, and long, sinking deeply into the Dantian (the crucial place in inner cultivation), so that breathing is like husband and wife united and Shen and Qi are like mother and child depending on each other. When mother and child, husband and wife, gather and do not separate, the mind does not gallop outward, intent does not grasp outward, Shen does not wander outward, and Jing does not move recklessly; and when these constantly permeate and warm the four limbs, this is the authentic Great Dao of the Golden Elixir (the orthodox method of Neidan cultivation).

The Cantong qi says: the three treasures of ears, eyes, and mouth must be firmly sealed and not casually opened and communicated. The Perfected One hides in the deep abyss, floats and roams while keeping within the compass (the norms of inner cultivation); seeing and hearing turn back and are gathered inward, and opening and closing both correspond to inner cultivation, serving as the pivotal key to one’s own functioning; in movement and stillness, do not let Jing and Qi be depleted and exhausted. This points to the essential principles of the initial practice and of concentrating Shen and regulating the breath. The instructions say: inherited in the Dajiang West School (a Neidan lineage), one begins regulating the breath by using the method of reverse hearing—turning hearing back to listen to one’s own breathing, with mind and breath relying on each other, using only the ear faculty as the instrument, which best suits the requirements of this method. This is what Zhuangzi calls “hearing harmony in soundlessness” (perceiving inner harmony within silence). If seen in convergence with the teaching in the Lengyan Sutra—Avalokitesvara’s perfect penetration through hearing, turning hearing back to hear the self-nature—one could say they are two zithers in the same hall and two mirrors in the same box, fully bringing out the subtle wonders of the cultivation practices of both the Chan and the Mysterious Gate.

In the Xuanzong (the Daoist Mysterious Gate), among the three transformations, the first is Qi transformation, whose essential principle is “harmony.”

In Daoist internal alchemy (Neidan), what the profound teaching calls the three transformations are first Qi transformation, second Shen (spirit) transformation, and third void transformation. When these three are united as one, it is called Dao transformation. This is the same kind of teaching as the Tiantai Buddhist three contemplations—emptiness, provisionality, and the middle—never straying from one mind: every method in the end returns to the one.

Qi transformation means mind and breath work together and are refined finer and finer, until spirit and breath are both settled—the spirit quiet and the breath so fine it is almost still. Taking one’s own empty stillness as the inner pole, one outwardly resonates with pre-heaven true one Qi (the innate breath regarded in Neidan as the root of life). It steams and permeates Ying and Wei (the two systems of blood-and-Qi circulation and surface defense), circulating and irrigating so that nothing is blocked. The ancients often said: “Keep Qi thrusting through the joints until it penetrates; then essence naturally fills and the valley spirit is preserved.” The Cantong qi (Scripture on the Interaction of the Three) also says: if you cultivate without stopping, Qi moves like clouds and rain; it flows abundantly like spring rain, trickling as if ice were melting—from the head it reaches the feet, and in the end rises again; going and coming through the boundless depth, gently suffusing the appearance within. “Reversal is the proof of the Dao; softness is the handle of De”—hoeing away old filth, the subtle is tuned until smooth; for the turbid there is a path to clarity, and long darkness gives way to brightness. It speaks of the effect of circulating Qi through the heavenly circuit—this is what is meant by Qi transformation.

Second: Shen Hua (Divine Transformation)

“Shen hua” (divine transformation) is the stage in the Profound Mystic Teaching (the deep, esoteric transmission associated with the Yellow Emperor) that follows refining essence into qi, closing the essence gate, and the body returning to something like childlike purity.

After that, spirit (shen) and breath settle together in emptiness. When pre-heaven true yang arises, it first circulates once through the physical body; because spirit is fixed outward, it soon moves beyond the body and merges with the spirit body (fashen) as one. Shi Jianwu said: “Yang comes from the void and embraces my master within.” When spirit is settled, breath is settled too; primordial spirit (yuanshen) and primordial qi (yuanqi) fuse in one furnace and become one whole—what elixir classics call the “embryo of the Dao (daotai).”

Under the nourishment of primordial qi, primordial spirit grows day by day, and stable concentration deepens with time. When the “ten-month embryo is complete,” only primordial spirit remains in silent illumination, no longer aware of qi—for qi has been transformed into the formless. Suchness in silent illumination appears; spiritual light (lingguang) shines alone and the myriad forms merge in harmony: no eating or sleeping, breath and pulse still, day and night constantly bright—gradually entering the realm of immortals. This is the wonder of “shen hua” and the effect of spirit circulating the microcosmic orbit (shen xing zhou tian).

Master Lü said: “After nine years the firing is complete, suddenly the gate at the crown breaks open; the true person appears with great divine power—from then on one may congratulate the heavenly immortal.” Zhang Sanfeng said: “When the microcosmic firing is sufficient, bone and flesh are remade; utterly transformed into a beam of golden light, the great earth becomes treasure; a body outside the body, the yang spirit leaves the shell.”

Buddhism calls this the “mind-born body (yishengshen)”; Daoism calls it the “divine person (shenren).” The Surangama Sutra says: “Having entered the embryo of the Way, one personally receives the heir of awakening”; it also says: “Form completes, one sheds the shell and personally becomes a child of the Buddha”—the meaning aligns with this, namely “shen hua.”

Third: Merging with Emptiness (Xuhua)

“Merging with emptiness” is a method of neidan (internal alchemy) in the profound Daoist teaching: from start to finish one never leaves “emptiness”; the whole work is carried out in the emptiness outside the body. The initial “return to emptiness” (refining oneself—first refining oneself until one is one with emptiness) and the final “return to emptiness” (attaining the Dao—ultimately realizing emptiness and completing the Way) form one continuous line, hence it is called the “great Way of mysterious emptiness” (xuanxu dadao). Here the focus is on the final return to emptiness: when one first obtains the “body born of intention” (a body formed from intent, spirit, and qi—not yet flesh and blood), it is as weak as a newborn infant, so one must enter again into very deep meditative absorption (ding). With the emptiness of one’s own body, one connects with the emptiness of heaven and earth; then with the emptiness of heaven and earth, one connects with the emptiness of the dharmadhatu (the totality of all phenomena). Emptiness and emptiness interpenetrate; one enters the “samadhi of great emptiness” (dasanmei)—abiding in vast, silent stillness. When one remains long in that absorption, spirit and emptiness dissolve together; above, below, and in the four directions all become mind, and the four directions all become body; they merge without boundary, leaving only one round radiance, all-embracing, able to manifest innumerable bodily forms and limitless spiritual powers, pervading the boundless dharmadhatu, without contrivance, without forced action—each stirring of thought is accomplishment. The Lankavatara Sutra says: “No longer born of species; accomplishment is the body born of intention”—no longer relying on a body born from species, but achieving the body born of intention. Daoists call this person the “perfected one” (zhiren); this is the efficacy of “merging with emptiness.” Hence Lü Dongbin said: “The dharma body shatters and fills empty space”; Zhang Ziyang said: “When empty space is shattered to pieces, the whole body is seen.” The transmission verse of the seventh Chan patriarch, the venerable Parsva, runs: “Mind is the same as the realm of empty space; one teaches the dharma equal to empty space; when one has realized empty space, there is neither existence nor nonexistence.” The transmission verse of the eighth patriarch, the venerable Buddhanandi, runs: “Empty space has no inside or outside; mind-dharma is likewise. If one understands empty space, one has reached the principle of suchness (zhenru).” In Buddhism the Buddha is called the “King of Emptiness,” also the “Dharma King who breaks attachment to existence.” When Daoists return to emptiness to the utmost, shatter empty space, and transcend the world with nothing to rely on—is that not also the realm of the King of Emptiness? Li Daoshun of the Northern school, in his Song of Refining Emptiness (Lianxu Ge), develops the intent of “merging with emptiness” in neidan with the greatest precision; students should read it carefully and probe it deeply.

Ode to Refining the Void — Plain-Language Commentary

(Appended to Collection of Heavenly Joy, by Li Daopure)

Whether one follows the way of immortals, Buddhas, or Confucian sages, the three teachings transmit one word: xu (void). From antiquity to the present, whoever has risen above the ordinary has worked within void.

Immortal cultivation takes void stillness as the aim of refining the elixir; Buddhist practice takes sinking into void and ding (absorption in meditation) as essential. If one asks how Confucian sage-learning proceeds, the answer is: only when there is no self in the void can heavenly principle be known.

The body of the Dao is empty void; its subtlety cannot be exhausted. Heaven and earth move because of void, so qi can circulate freely; yin and yang stir creation through void. If a person can sink the heart into void, they can fully penetrate transformation.

The wonder of returning the elixir lies in the “Valley of Empty Void” (the void outside the body—the so-called outer xuanguan, outer pass). At the start one must reach void and guard stillness with sincerity (settle spirit outside, following the breath). When void reaches its limit, primordial qi condenses of itself; in stillness within stillness, yang qi is reborn. Empty heart and full belly are the foundation of the Way; not obscuring void spirit is the time for gathering the medicine. Emptying the self to respond to circumstances is true daily practice; sharing the body with the Great Void is the mark of a true man.

Gathering lead must be done in void stillness and wuwei (non-action); advancing the fire takes void as the bellows key. Withdrawal and addition, increase and decrease—all depend on void; only by shattering empty void does one attain great awakening.

In the end one must “let the Dao be empty yet in use” (the Way is like an empty vessel yet functions); resolving conflict and blunting sharpness must be practiced together. Blending with the light and mixing with the world, forgetting self and other; like the emperor before form, known only to oneself.

Before any hexagram, where was the hexagram? Qian is not above, Kun not below; a single point, utmost void and utmost spirit, eight faces bright and seamless. Four sides sealed firm, the turbid stripped away—that is the xuanpin gate of central void (pointing to the void outside the body—the outer xuanguan). If one works not in what is not void but in void, opening and closing naturally accord with Qian and Kun (heart and breath mutually relying, placed in outer void—coming and going is the wondrous use of void and naturalness).

When the xuanpin gate opens, work reaches its peak (breath regulation fine and continuous); spirit goes out from here and enters here. Out and in, returning again to void (heart and breath both settled, merging with the Great Void); on level ground, one spring thunderclap (extreme stillness gives birth to movement).

When thunder strikes, heaven and earth open; from within void bursts forth a wheel. Round and bright, vast light, neither lacking nor excess, illuminating the bamboo study.

The master of the bamboo study is most rare; examining closely, it matches the thing of the time. “Settle spirit in void, act in void” (seven characters in one line—speaks the whole mystery of elixir method); “speaking forth, revealing void’s message” (out of compassion, the brush forms the chapter).

“Void to no-void, cutting off a hundred wrongs” (seven characters—speaks the three essentials of guarding against danger); “sinking in void, heaven and earth all return” (discloses the profound Way of the Mystery).

The green bamboo, empty-hearted and straight in joint, is the first secret of refining void.

Note: This piece runs “void” through the three teachings and grounds it in neidan (internal alchemy): outwardly taking empty void (Valley of Empty Void, xuanpin gate, outer xuanguan); inwardly heart and breath mutually relying, reaching void and guarding stillness, through extreme stillness giving movement and spirit’s out-and-in, merging with the Great Void. The end uses bamboo as metaphor for empty heart and straight joints, pointing to where refining void begins.

This passage comes from the Tianle ji in the Daoist Canon (Daozang) in two parts: a colophon on a certain “song,” and an entry on the “Four Meditations of the Profound Teaching.”

Colophon on That Song

The song’s wording is concise and apt; among Neidan (internal alchemy) lineages it counts as a rare fine piece. The gist of Laozi’s “attain emptiness and guard stillness” is, in this song, explained very thoroughly. The author recalls that when he studied arduously under Master Wang, the master ordered him to memorize the song by heart and said: otherwise, when I later speak to you of “external furnace timing” (in alchemy, the stages and moments that correspond to the waxing and waning of yin and yang within the body—relative to “internal” work, more outward and sequential), you will not believe. This remark is recorded here.

Seven: The Four Meditations of the Profound Teaching

The Lengjia Sutra sets forth four kinds of meditation: first, “meditation used by the foolish”—meditation that ordinary people practice through delusion and attachment; second, “meditation of observing meaning”—meditation chiefly concerned with observing doctrinal categories and principles; third, “meditation of clinging to Suchness”—meditation that uses discriminating mind to attach to zhenru (Suchness, the unchanging real in Buddhism); fourth, “meditation of the Tathagatas”—the true meditation realized by all Buddhas, free of conceptual play.

Master Huzi, teacher of Liezi, also spoke of four meditations, named: “Earth-Pattern Meditation,” “Heaven-and-Earth Meditation,” “Great Surge Meditation,” and “meditation that has never departed from our school’s root”—the kind that always stays within the fundamental gate of one’s own lineage. Huzi’s account appears in the Liezi, “Huangdi” chapter, among other places, and is often tied to showing traces, hiding the true, and responding to things; it can be read alongside the four meditations of the sutras to grasp similarities and differences in how the Profound Teaching (here meaning the deepest import, not merely the Tang emperor Xuanzong) discusses meditation.

This passage comes from the “Huangdi” chapter of Liezi. It tells how Jixian, a diviner from Zheng, could foretell life, death, fortune, and misfortune, and how Liezi was once completely won over by him. His teacher Huzi (Master Huzi), however, used several different ways of “showing his face” to Jixian—each time presenting a different kind of appearance—so that every reading came out utterly different. In that way he awakened Liezi: the “form” and reputation of someone who has not yet attained the Dao cannot stand up to the probing of ordinary fortune-telling.

Plain-language reading

Liezi says: There was a shaman who claimed to communicate with spirits. He came from Qi to Zheng and was named Jixian. People said he could see a person’s death or life, survival or ruin, blessing or disaster, long life or early death, with uncanny accuracy—even down to year, month, and day. When people in Zheng saw him, they would steer clear. Liezi went to see him too, was completely overwhelmed, and on returning told his teacher Master Huzi: “I used to think what you taught me about the Dao was already the summit—but I never imagined there was something higher still.”

Master Huzi said: “Studying with me, you have only picked up the outer ornament, not the inner meaning—and you already fancy you have attained the Dao? If you have only the female and not the male, how can you hatch an egg? Take this half-baked Dao and compete with the world, and the world is sure to believe you—so others can read your face and see through you. Try bringing him here and let him read my face.”

The next day Liezi brought Jixian to see Master Huzi. When Jixian came out he said to Liezi: “Alas! Your teacher is failing; he cannot be cured—he will not live ten more days! I saw an ominous look, like wet ashes with no breath of life.” Liezi went in and tearfully told Master Huzi. Master Huzi said: “Just now what I showed him was ‘Diwen’ (Earth Pattern)—still and hidden like the earth; he probably saw me with the mechanism of De sealed shut (du de ji). Bring him again.”

Another day Liezi brought Jixian again. Jixian came out and said: “Lucky your teacher met me—he’s improving! A moment ago he was like dead ashes; now there’s life again! What I saw was the aspect of sealed transformation (du quan).” Liezi went in and reported this. Master Huzi said: “Just now what I showed him was ‘Tianrang’—the state when heaven and earth had just parted and name and reality had not yet entered; qi began from the heels—that is du quan. He probably caught a faint trace of something ‘good’ in me. Bring him once more.”

Another day Liezi brought Jixian again. Jixian came out and said: “Your teacher has not fasted and kept still—I cannot read his face.”

Brief notes on names and terms

• Jixian: A shaman from Qi, famous for face-reading and prophecy.
• Huzi / Master Huzi: Liezi’s teacher; in Daoist stories he often illustrates keeping De hidden within and not offering a measurable “face” to the world.
• Diwen, Tianrang: Names for different states or levels Huzi “showed” to Jixian—not ordinary geography, but images of deeply hidden de-mechanisms, or of heaven and earth not yet divided and name and reality not yet fixed.
• Du de ji, du quan: To close off and conceal De and its shifts so outsiders cannot read them from outward form.
• “Many females and no male”: A metaphor for having only the yin, ornamental side without the yang, substantial root—so one cannot “hatch an egg” or truly complete the Great Dao.

This passage cites and expands the story of Liezi’s meeting with Huzi (the “Pot Master”) in Zhuangzi, “The Normal Course for Rulers and Kings,” and ends with the author of Tiande Ji offering a comment.

“Try fasting and come again to read my face once more.” Liezi went in and reported what the physiognomist had seen. Huzi said: “Just now I showed him ‘Taichong Mozhen’—a state of utmost emptiness with no fixed trace; he probably saw me as ‘heng qi ji’—Qi in balance, not leaning to one side.” Then comes Zhuangzi’s familiar nine abysses image: where the giant salamander (ni) coils, an abyss forms; still water, running water, overflowing water, fertile water, gushing water, pooled water, surging water, and rich water each make an abyss—nine in all. Liezi came back to report; the next day he would bring the physiognomist to Huzi again. The man could not stand steady and fled in disarray. Huzi said: “Go after him!” Liezi could not catch up and returned to report: “He’s gone—vanished. I couldn’t overtake him.” Huzi said: “Just now I showed him ‘wei shi chu wu zong’—I had not yet stepped out from my root. I moved with him in emptiness, shifting and yielding; neither knew which was which, so it was like thatch in the wind, like ripples on water—that is why he ran.”

After that Liezi felt he had never truly studied the Dao. He went home and withdrew. For three years he did not go out; he cooked for his wife and fed the pigs as if serving guests, treating affairs of the world without favoring the near or distancing the far. Carving and polishing gave way to return to the uncarved block; alone he stood with nothing but the body, sealed and hidden in multiplicity yet ending in oneness.

Commentary (An, from Tiande Ji): Huzi had attained self-aware sacred wisdom and the samadhi of self-enjoyment; within the profound teaching of the Way he could be said to soar like a phoenix in the clouds and walk alone through the ages. Only after this trial did Liezi submit in heart and devote himself single-mindedly to the Dao.

Plain-Language Explanation

Below is an attempt to state the meaning of this passage clearly.

1. The “Earth-Pattern” Samadhi

At first Huzi entered the samadhi called “Earth-Pattern” (diwen). “Earth” here means the surface layer, what shows on the outside—grass, trees, and forest all belong to the earth’s “patterns and forms.” By day things rise up; by night they lengthen; all is calm and quiet, with no sign of disturbance—a classic state of stillness.

Earth-Pattern samadhi is like the earth itself, motionless and silent: even if treasures lie underground, they stay shut in and hidden. The Duren Jing describes “spirit-wind still and silent, mountains and seas hiding clouds, the sky without drifting haze, the four qi clear and bright, the land of one realm, mountains, rivers, and forest trees, all traced back to one level, no longer high or low”—the same idea: everything is concealed and not exposed; outwardly there is no opening or flaw. Daoists call this “Du De Ji”—virtue and vitality sealed inside, so the outside seems cut off or dead.

The spirit-diviner saw Huzi sitting in “corpse-like dwelling,” entering oblivion, breath deep and solemn, and said he was like wet ashes and would soon die. That was seeing only outer traces, not touching the inner root. In Buddhism, Earth-Pattern samadhi corresponds to Samatha—a samadhi of extreme stillness. Zhuangzi’s phrase “almost not quaking” fits this layer best: “quake” means vibration or stirring; here there is neither self-initiated movement nor self-initiated stopping—standing firm like a mountain—stillness pushed to the limit.

2. The “Heaven–Earth” Samadhi

Huzi went a step deeper into “Heaven–Earth” (tianrang) samadhi, which is slightly more lively and fluid than Earth-Pattern. Liu Xusi said: “Heaven–Earth is the space between heaven and earth”—more “marked by form,” easier to sense than Earth-Pattern. Xuanjing said: Heaven–Earth here means “emptiness (xu).”

Second: Hu Tzu enters the “Tianrang” absorption

Compared with the “Diwen” level, this already shows a slightly more lively quality. Liu Xusi said: “Tianrang is the space between heaven and earth—one step beyond Diwen, clearer and more distinct.” Xuanjing explained that Tianrang can also be read as void: empty yet not empty, with Qi circulating within it as the root from which the ten thousand things arise; all life germinates through it—the Yijing’s “subtle beginning of goodness” (the finest good, the first stir of living force).

The absorption of “Diwen” drops both movement and stillness. At “Tianrang,” name and meaning may both be forgotten, yet “ji” (responsive trigger) still stirs from places such as the heels (in Zhuangzi’s original account the shaman takes this for something tangible like “Duquan,” hopes the illness will improve, but only skims the surface). When quiet, the perfected person is silent like a deep abyss; when active, natural like heaven’s course—responding without contrivance, acting as conditions allow. How could one judge such a person by fixing on either movement or stillness alone? This “Tianrang absorption” corresponds in Buddhism to vipashyana (contemplative insight); shamatha is stopping, stillness, and concentration—ceasing discursive clinging and resting the mind in one place.

Third: Hu Tzu further shows “Taichong Moyin”

“Moyin” means so penetratingly empty that even traces of “I” cannot be seen. Buddhist teachers often class such states under vipashyana—insight and wisdom; shamatha remains stopping, stillness, and concentration. The point is to explain the two sides of stopping and seeing: one side is concentration, the other insight—parallel to Zhuangzi’s story of Hu Tzu revealing the Way layer by layer while the shaman understands less and less, using Buddhist terms as a matching illustration.

III. Hu Zi Shows “Tai Chong Mo Zhen” (Supreme Emptiness with No Manifest Signs)

Hu Zi (Liezi’s teacher, an awakened figure in the Zhuangzi) showed the spirit diviner yet another layer: “Tai chong mo zhen.” “Mo zhen” means emptiness pushed to the utmost—no trace or sign left to compare or guess from. The Zhuangzi text has “Tai chong mo sheng,” which is a copyist’s error; “mo zhen” is correct. “Heng qi ji” (balanced qi mechanism) is like still water with no ripples. Chan master Caoshan Benji said: “Blended within and without, harmonized above and below”—that is the idea. Xiang Xiu (Wei–Jin commentator on the Zhuangzi) said: abiding at the extreme of Tai chong, the mind is bright and clear like still water, one with all realms in mystery, yet no track can be seen—emptiness at its limit.

Below, the nine depths of water (each layer different) are listed in turn, while water itself is originally still, mindless, quietly deep—at first without change. The point: the perfected person has no fixed mind yet responds as conditions arise; they can enter non-dual samadhi amid differentiated realms, and manifest a differentiated body within non-dual samadhi, so the diviner Wuxian can no longer read faces and retreats saying “not uniform”—his art has reached its limit. This Chan of “Tai chong mo zhen,” this subtlety of “heng qi ji,” is a state of suchness in mind—stillness and illumination at once, even stillness and illumination both released. In Buddhist terms this is upekṣā (equanimity, abandoning both extremes, abiding in the middle way); here it is called “sublime contemplation of the middle way.”

IV. Hu Zi Enters the Chan of “Never Departing from My Fundamental Principle”

“Zong” means the mind-as-principle—taking mind as root, never leaving self-nature. Each and every subtle function never leaves self-nature; the whole body appears and vanishes, transformations without end, yet never strays from the thought-moment at hand. This is self-aware holy wisdom, self-aware realm—a cough, a spit, a shrug of the shoulders: nothing is not the embodiment of this single principle.

IV. Master Hu Entering the Chan of “Not Yet Having Left My Root”

“Root” (zong) here means the mind-root of the teaching: every subtle function never strays from inherent nature; the whole person comes and goes in manifestation, changing without limit, yet never leaves the thought of the moment. This is self-aware sacred wisdom and a self-aware state of realization—coughing, spitting, swinging the arms, raising a gavel or holding up a ceremonial tablet, a blink or lifted brow—none of it falls outside the first principle of truth. Neither ordinary people nor sages can fathom it; it is precisely what the Lankavatara Sutra calls “Tathāgata Chan.” Like thatch grass bending with the wind or waves following the current, the spirit-diviner (Ji Xian) at this stage no longer knows what to do; it lies beyond ear, eye, mind, and intent, and he loses himself without noticing and withdraws. This parallels the Tang episode in which National Teacher Huizhong tested the “other-mind penetration” of the monk known as Big-Ear Sanzang (on the third round the master asked, “Where is this old monk right now?” Sanzang could not answer; the master shouted, “You wild fox spirit—where is your other-mind penetration?” and Sanzang had nothing to say). Liezi then returned home, forgot the distinctions of self, other, and appearance, underwent further tempering until he stood alone like a block, and only then could truly align with realization. “Once one is held to the end” means: grasp the One and all affairs are finished; the sage embraces the One and becomes the model for the world.

VIII. The Ten Virtues in the Teaching of the Mysterious

The Scripture of the Great Cavern says: “When the ten virtues first form the foundation, they soar together with the seven awakened origins,” and again: “The eight scenes of the Great Clarity appear in contemplation, and the true text of the ten virtues is proclaimed.” This means that eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mouth, and mind return to the primordial origin; true nature merges into a rounded foundation and rises together with the seven awakened origins; the eight scenes of Great Clarity (Taiqing) are seen in contemplation, and the authentic teaching of the ten virtues is made clear. It also says that when eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mouth, and mind return to the origin, true nature is complete, the eight consciousnesses do not arise, breath and the Way are established, cultural brilliance shines forth, and the ten virtues are fulfilled.

As for the ten virtues, one explanation holds that the number of earth is five, and two “earth” figures combined form the character for a jade tablet (gui), used by homophony to stand for “ten virtues.” The teaching of the Mysterious (Xuan) also lists ten virtues: stability, harmony, purity, clarity, wondrousness, constancy, joy, plainness, emptiness, and softness.

This section explains two layers of practice—“ding” (stillness, settled concentration) and “he” (harmony)—and supports them with citations from the classics.

Ding De (Virtue of Stillness)

Zhuangzi says that those who mutually complete one another on the Dao find the mind naturally settled when there is nothing to do; he also says to uphold with “great ding”; and again, that the chamber of emptiness and stillness gives birth to white light, and auspicious signs naturally cease. The Dadong Jing (Great Cave Scripture) says that only with great ding can one attain full authenticity (quan zhen).

What is meant by xuanzong (the profound teaching, also the aim of cultivating ding), “supreme ding” (tai ding), and “spirit at peace” (shen ning) is that the mind is already deep and utterly quiet, so that every stirring thought and every moving appearance naturally does not arise. When one reaches the level called the “ground of non-movement” (budong di), birth-and-death is exhausted, quiescent extinction appears, one subtly enters xiyi (the utmost emptiness and stillness, a state hard to put into words), aligns with Wuwei (non-action) and transformative nurturing, and obtains inconceivable spiritual efficacy—this is ding de.

He De (Virtue of Harmony)

Xuanjiao (Daoist cultivation) stresses the subtle union of heart and breath, the blending of shen (spirit) and qi (vital energy), so that human harmony draws down cosmic harmony. Once xiantian (the innate true yang and true essence) is obtained, it is like ice and snow melting: a single mass of taihe (supreme harmony) qi returns, fills, and permeates, dissolving all yin influences, and the great elixir (Neidan, internal alchemy) is naturally accomplished.

Laozi says: “Knowing harmony is called the constant.” Zhuangzi says: “Rising and falling, take harmony as the measure.” The Wuchu Jing (Five Kitchens Scripture) says: “One qi harmonizes with supreme harmony; obtaining the Dao, all is peace.” The Datong Jing (Great Penetration Scripture) says: “Reach stillness without movement; reach harmony without shifting.” The Xinyin Jing (Heart Seal Scripture) says: “Supreme harmony overflows; bones shed cold jade dew.”

The above is the practice of “accomplishing harmony” (cheng he), called he de.

What is meant by “pure” (jing): The Mystery Gate has always taught sentient beings through “clearness and stillness” and “guarding the One.” The Dadong Jing says: “The cavern is empty, clear, harmonious, and pure; splendor opens and draws forth mystery and brightness.” Through mind and breath resting in mutual dependence, the mind grows clear and the breath steady; the six sense faculties become pure, and in turn the six consciousnesses and the six sense-objects are pure, until the ten directions of empty space and boundless Buddha-lands all at once return to purity together. Entering this gate of great purity, one obtains unobstructed freedom and ease in liberation. Thus the Dadong Jing also says: “Nine times mirrored clarity within; riding the radiance, one enters the four brightnesses.” The Xuanqi states: “The cavern is subtle and pure—the sacred ear attains Brahma-like penetration; without obstruction or hindrance, inner and outer are empty and bright. The cavern is empty and pure—mysterious breath and qi penetrate; without obstruction or hindrance, inner and outer are empty and clear. The cavern is vacuous and pure—the numinous tongue flowers in penetration; without obstruction or hindrance, inner and outer are mysteriously bright. The cavern is true and pure—responsive transformation is spontaneous, the Dao penetrates and long endures, the ten directions all appear.” Thus turning from dust to unite with awakening, reversing defilement into purity—mind pure, land pure, environment and principal transforming together—the true realm of silent light naturally manifests before one. This is called the “treasury of pure clarity and light.” To benefit self and others thereby, to leave the bitter sea together and ascend the Dao’s shore together, is most transcendent; therefore pure virtue (jing de) is most honored and supreme.

What is meant by “bright” (ming): From one’s own purity, wisdom-light arises, illuminating the ten directions, complete and unobstructed. The Dadong Jing says: “Spirit-light…” (corresponding to pure virtue above—brightness arises from purity; wisdom-light shines everywhere).

Plain-Language Reading of the Tianle Ji (Collection of Heavenly Joy)

What does “Ming” mean here?

“Ming” in this passage is not ordinary cleverness. It means that because one’s own nature is pure and still, the heart is not stained by stray thoughts, desires, or clinging—so the light of wisdom (huiguang) arises. That light sees inward and outward, penetrates how things work, shines in all directions, and leaves no corner unilluminated.

I. How the Dadong Jing (Great Grotto Scripture) speaks of Ming

The scripture describes this Ming in many lines:

“Lingguang ba hui, wan shen ju sheng”—the light of spirit has eight kinds of radiance; in that brightness, the “shen” aligned with practice—understood as inner spirit, awareness, protective forces, and the like—can arise and abide.

“Liu hui liu yao, min miao chen qian”—light turns and shines like sun, moon, and stars, dispelling gloom, stagnation, and restless change, so one can step out of confusion and obstruction.

“Dong ming guang jing zhong, di yi zhen xuan jing”—within a scene that is penetrating and bright, one can enter the Zhenxuan jing (true mysterious scripture) manifested by Di Yi (the “One” of supreme importance in Shangqing tradition)—that is, accord with the most fundamental mysterious teaching and the ground of reality.

“Shi hua miao xing xian, zhi mo sheng liu ming”—immortals who complete the ten kinds of wondrous conduct can subdue demonic obstacles and give rise to six kinds of Ming (six modes of penetrating clarity or six corresponding attainments).

“Dong guan wu ai kong, yuanshi tong qi ming”—one contemplates emptiness without obstruction and connects with Yuanshi (Primordial Beginning, one of the highest deities in Daoism, symbolizing the original Way); through that connection, Ming too is opened.

“Li zhu xian zhen xing, nei wai dong zhao qing”—the lique (black pearl), a metaphor for inner elixir or the treasure of the heart, shows its true form; inside and outside are illumined clearly.

“Dong yuan yu dong ming, wan dao you tong sheng”—when Dongyuan (the grotto source, the root of the Way) and Dongming (penetrating clarity) respond to each other, the myriad paths of the Dao all arise from this “opening through.”

“Dong yuan qing jing guang, cao chi you qi gong”—the pure light of the source only shows its merit through practice and steady holding (keeping the mind from laxity).

“Dong wei wu zhi ai, hua ji zhong you ling”—Ming reaches the finest detail without blockage and can transform and guide even distant ghosts and beings of the hidden realms.

“Ding he miao ming jue, xuan xi zi chang sheng”—when ding ( meditative stillness), he (harmony of body and mind), and wondrous Ming-jue (awakening) align, xuanxi (subtle breath or inner qi in tune with the Dao) naturally lengthens and links to the path of longevity.

“Dong xu biao he jing, hua tong yin xuan ming”—penetrating vacuity, outwardly harmonious and pure, hua (perhaps the “canopy” and other Shangqing practice visions or wondrous conduct) leads one into the deepest xuanming (mysterious illumination).

II. The Yushu Jing (Jade Pivot Scripture), Laozi, and Zhuangzi

The Yushu Jing says: “When Taiding (great stillness) is secure, sagely wisdom is complete; when sagely wisdom is complete, huiguang is born; when huiguang is born, one is one with the Dao.”

Only when the heart rests in taiding— settled and at peace—can sheng zhi (sagely wisdom) be whole; when that wisdom is whole, huiguang appears; when huiguang appears, one unites with the Dao.

Laozi (Daode Jing) says: “To know constancy is called Ming.”

Truly knowing and holding the chang Dao (the unchanging principle) is what “Ming” means.

Zhuangzi says: “Nothing is better than using Ming.”

Nothing surpasses using Ming to see through things and dissolve delusion—using illumination to dispel darkness and awareness to shine on illusion.

III. In brief: Ming De and “when Ming reaches its limit, that is Tathagata”

Taken together, this is a state of penetrating clarity that yet rests in stillness, without obstruction yet perfectly rounded:

Light is not something chased outward; it appears from inner purity. It shines yet does not cling; it is bright yet can empty itself.

The Surangama Sutra (Lengyan Jing) speaks of “when Ming reaches its extremity, that is Tathagata”—when illumination is pushed to the utmost, it is not other than Tathagata (the full manifestation of suchness and buddha-nature).

So what this section discusses is Ming De (bright virtue): purity as root, huiguang as function, and Ming that is one with the Dao.

Tianle Ji in Plain Language

I. What Is “Miao” (Subtlety)?

“Miao” means emptiness and form interpenetrate, reward-body and perfect body enter one another, mind and realm are not two, and one reaches the source where all boundaries are equal. True nature is perfectly fused without obstruction and pervades everything.

Laozi calls it the “gate of all subtleties.” The Scripture on Nourishing Life says: To know the dharma of nothingness and emptiness, see without obstruction, enter the gate of all subtleties—then awakening comes naturally.

At the beginner’s stage on the path, spirit and qi unite and body and mind harmonize—that is the practice before entering the gate of all subtleties. The subtle virtue spoken of in the profound teaching melts every relative realm into non-duality: form and emptiness unobstructed, body and mind interpenetrating, entering the realm of Samantabhadra’s dharmadhatu with its “Indra’s net, layer upon layer, mutual inclusion.” This truly cannot be reached by thought, words, or deliberate effort—it is called subtle virtue.

II. What Is “Chang” (Constancy)?

“Chang”—Laozi calls it “chang de” (constant virtue); the Nirvana Sutra calls it “ever-abiding.” Laozi says: “Constant virtue never leaves; return to the infant. Constant virtue never errs; return to the limitless.” He also says: “Be the valley of the world; constant virtue is then complete.” The Scripture of Purity says: “True constancy responds to things; true constancy attains nature.” It also says: “The way of true constancy—those who awaken attain it for themselves.”

This nature of “true constancy” is the root source of the Dao. Those who accord with it obtain the dharma-body, ever-abiding and indestructible. Hence the Surangama Sutra names it the “ever-abiding true mind, the pure and luminous nature of mind.” Great awakened golden immortals of old all fully realized this mind and entered the ocean of subtly awakened fruition; from nature they arise without fabrication and universally manifest the dharma-body. Among the four virtues of nirvana, “chang de” stands first—for this reason.

III. What Is “Le” (Joy)?

“Le” means the joy of self-aware sacred wisdom, also called the heavenly joy of nature’s stillness—abbreviated as tianle (heavenly joy). Zhuangzi says: Harmony with people is “human joy”; harmony with heaven is “heavenly joy.”

This passage discusses two virtues in Daoism—“Le” (Joy) and “Su” (Simplicity)—and often draws on the Zhuangzi and the Yijing to explain them.

On “Le” (Joy)

The “Le” spoken of here is not worldly pleasure or amusement, but the good joy that comes from awakened sage wisdom, also called the heavenly joy of a tranquil nature, or simply Heavenly Joy (Tianle).

The Zhuangzi says: harmony with people is called Human Joy (Renle); harmony with Heaven is called Heavenly Joy. One who understands Heavenly Joy lives in life like Heaven’s natural course, and in death merges with the transformations of the myriad things. In stillness, one shares the quiet virtue of yin; in movement, one shares the stirring of yang.

This “harmony with Heaven” and “Heavenly Joy” is what the profound teaching (xuanjiao) honors; the author also treats it as an important condition in what might be called a virtue of joy (Le de), linked to ideals of wholesome living.

On “Su” (Simplicity)

“Su” means the original nature of primordial essence: innocent and subtle, belonging neither to delusion nor to enlightenment as opposites.

The Zhuangzi says: the way of pure simplicity is only to guard the spirit without scattering it, to keep it without losing it, and to become one with the spirit; in oneness there is spiritual penetration, and union with Heaven’s pattern. Thus “Su” is freedom from admixture; “pure” is not impairing the spirit. One who can embody pure simplicity is called a True Person (Zhenren). The same tradition speaks of embracing simplicity and holding to the uncarved block (jian su bao pu), and of few desires and little thought: all worldly splendor arises only after birth; the source-nature is originally clear, calm, empty, and still—before feelings and cognition stir, how could habits of desire arise? Hence the profound teaching’s return to truth and restore simplicity (gui zhen fu pu) is how one unites with the Dao in truth.

The Zhuangzi also says: single-mindedness without change is the utmost of stillness; no friction is the utmost of emptiness; no commerce with things is the utmost of plainness; no opposition is the utmost of purity. This is called the virtue of simplicity (Su de).

The Yijing has the phrase plain conduct (Su lu) and the image of white ornament (Bai bi), both in accord with the profound teaching’s path of seeing and nurturing simplicity.

The “Xu” (emptiness) spoken of here refers to letting go of the physical form and forgetting the body, so that one is peaceful and at ease as if it did not exist; this is called the “Xu of the body.” Cutting off miscellaneous thoughts and forgetting discriminating cognition, so that the three periods (the three times) of past, present, and future are all emptied, feeling is forgotten, and the consciousness-mind is extinguished—this is called the “Xu of the mind.” The Zhuangzi says: “Only the Dao gathers in Xu.” It also says: “Xu, nothingness, tranquility, and blandness—then one accords with heavenly De.” It also says: “When it rests, it is Xu; being Xu, it can be full; being full, it has order. Being Xu, it is still; being still, it moves; moving, it attains something. The body can operate because of Xu; the mind can be numinous and bright because of Xu.” Therefore Laozi said: “Attain the utmost Xu and guard stillness firmly” (bring Xu to its extreme and guard stillness to the point of solidity). Xuanzong (the Daoist Mysterious Gate) takes “Xu” as its destination, just as the Buddhist tradition takes “emptiness” as its destination; this is called the “De of Xu.”

What is called “Rou” (softness/pliancy) refers to the state in which the one Qi—the prenatal Qi of harmony—is subtle and moistening, gently steaming and warming, nurturing and nourishing. Xuanzong takes “Xu” as its destination, just as the Buddhist tradition takes “emptiness” as its destination; this can still be subsumed under the “De of Xu.”

Softness (Rou)

What is meant by “softness” is the harmonious blending of Qi: subtle moisture, permeating and nourishing the defensive and constructive aspects of the body, renewing what is old and bringing forth the new. After the great circulation of the microcosmic orbit is complete, one refines the form in emptiness and returns from being to non-being; the body too is transformed along with Qi. Hence Laozi said: “Can you concentrate your Qi and achieve softness, like an infant?” He also said: “The softest thing in the world can move through the hardest. What has no form can enter where there is no opening.” “When a thing is full-grown it grows old—this is called not being in accord with the Dao; what is not in accord with the Dao perishes early.” Again: “When people are alive their bodies are soft and yielding; when dead they become stiff and hard. Grass and trees while alive are tender and brittle; when dead they are withered and dry. Thus the hard and strong belong to the category of death; the soft and weak belong to the category of life.” And: “Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water, yet for attacking what is hard and strong nothing surpasses it. The soft overcomes the hard—everyone in the world knows this, yet no one puts it into practice.” He also said: “Holding to softness is called strength.” The Mysterious Ancestor (Xuanzong) transforms form through Qi, turning hardness into softness—this is the key to passing out of death and entering life. To concentrate Qi and achieve softness makes long life and lasting vision inevitable. That the soft overcomes the hard is known throughout the world, yet no one acts on it. Again: “Holding to softness is called strength.” The Mysterious Ancestor’s Qi-transformation, changing the hard into the soft, is the essential means of passing out of death and entering life; concentrating Qi and achieving softness will surely bring long life and lasting vision to fulfillment. This is the virtue of softness.

The ten virtues above, taken together, are one—the Mysterious Virtue (Xuande); taken apart, they are ten, each with its own excellence. When the ten virtues are complete, the Dao is established.

This passage cites the Dadong Jing and the Zhuangzi to explain how “penetration” (tong) arises from cultivation, and how many kinds of tong correspond to each level of attainment.

The Dadong Jing says: “Dongyuan and Dongming—myriad paths are born from penetration”—when the realms of Dongyuan (Source of the Cavern) and Dongming (Illumination of the Cavern) interpenetrate, every method of the Dao sprouts from this tong. It also says: “In Dongming, pure and luminous light; the Emperor’s heart, great divine penetration”—within Dongming, clarity and radiance align with the imperial heart, and great divine powers manifest thereby. Again: “The ten penetrations arise from this; sublime practice unfolds from this”—the ten spiritual penetrations take birth here, and extraordinary conduct proceeds from the same root. And: “First one penetrates qi; next one penetrates shen (spirit); finally one penetrates the numinous. When myriad penetrations are complete, one becomes true; the Dao is fulfilled and one ascends the high seat”—first penetrating qi, then shen, at last the numinous; when all penetrations are complete one attains truth, the Way is replete, and one may ascend to the exalted station (rising to a higher fruit of realization).

The Zhuangzi says: “When ears and eyes penetrate inward, and outwardly unite with the heart’s knowing, ghosts and spirits will come to dwell—how much more so ordinary people?”—ears and eyes turn inward in penetration, outwardly harmonizing with the heart’s awareness; even ghosts and spirits will attach themselves, to say nothing of humans. This means the power of divine penetration must break forth from dhyana (meditative absorption).

Lesser vehicle immortals, what emerges from dhyana, ordinarily obtain only the five penetrations: miraculous penetration, heavenly-eye penetration, heavenly-ear penetration, penetration into others’ minds, and penetration into past lives.

Great vehicle immortals add to these five the penetration of exhausting outflows, making six penetrations in all.

When one reaches the greatly awakened golden immortal of the great vehicle, one obtains the ten penetrations (that is, the full divine penetrations unfolded in the scripture from Dongyuan and Dongming onward).

The so-called Ten Powers (ten kinds of spiritual penetration and wisdom) are as follows:

1. The spiritual penetration of knowing others’ minds

Once this power is attained, one can know the rising and falling of thought in all beings throughout the trichiliocosm—the three thousand great thousand-worlds—as clearly as if facing a single world alone; and one can likewise distinguish and understand the minds of beings in hundreds of billions of nayuta worlds and more.

2. The spiritual penetration of the unobstructed, pure divine eye and wisdom

Once the unobstructed, pure divine-eye wisdom is attained, one can clearly see the birth and death of limitless beings in all worlds in the ten directions—their passing from this life to another, their realms of good and evil destinies, and the marks of blessed retribution and karmic offense.

3. The spiritual penetration of recollecting past abodes with mindfulness

Once the power of recollecting past abodes is attained, one can remember and clearly know one’s experience of dwelling through past kalpas as numerous as incalculable, incalculable dust-mote kalpas: where one was born, one’s names and surnames, family and lineage, food, pleasure and pain, and how one has turned in the wheel of rebirth among the various destinies since beginningless time—all can be known.

4. The spiritual penetration of knowing events to the limit of future kalpas

Once the power of knowing the future to its limit is attained, one can know what will occur in future kalpas as numerous as incalculable, incalculable dust-mote kalpas.

5. The spiritual penetration of the unobstructed, pure divine ear and wisdom

Once the unobstructed divine-ear wisdom is attained, among all the various sounds in every land, one may hear when one wishes to hear and not hear when one does not wish to hear—freely, as one chooses.

6. The spiritual penetration of wisdom without fixed substance

Once the wisdom without fixed substance is attained, though the essence remains unmoved at the original limit, one can go to Buddha-realms in the ten directions to benefit beings.

7. The spiritual penetration of wisely distinguishing the languages of all beings

Once the power of languages is attained, one can know the various languages of all beings in worlds as numerous as incalculable, incalculable dust-mote kalpas within seas of Buddha-realms, and distinguish and understand their meaning.

8. The spiritual penetration of manifesting limitless forms

Once the power of form-manifestation is attained, one can display limitless, boundless wondrous forms, draw beings near to awakening, and deploy various spiritual penetrations to carry out works of salvation.

9. The spiritual penetration of wisdom regarding all dharmas

Once the dharma-wisdom power is attained, one skillfully expounds unobstructed teaching-gates, raises the cloud of Dharma, pours down the rain of Dharma, and with manifold wondrous voices leads beings to awakening and purity and liberation.

10. The spiritual penetration of entering the extinction wisdom regarding all dharmas

Once the extinction wisdom power is attained, one can abide in samādhi and right concentration while universally manifesting forms everywhere like light and shadow, yet remain utterly still and unmoved within samādhi.

These ten kinds of spiritual powers ultimately resolve into the spiritual power of the wisdom of complete cessation (the wisdom-power that thoroughly realizes the quiescence and cessation of all dharmas). Because one who attains this power can abide securely in samadhi (deep meditative concentration) while universally manifesting form bodies (the physical body and emanation body), appearing everywhere like light and shadow, and yet remain utterly still and unmoved within concentration.

These ten spiritual powers are those realized by the Greatly Enlightened Golden Immortal (the immortal sage of the highest enlightenment); they are called Daotong (Dao-penetration), entering the ocean of the fruition of perfect enlightenment, and are not within reach of practitioners of lower stages.

The excellences of Xuanzong (the cardinal teaching of Daoist Neidan cultivation) are many; to cite their essentials, there are ten.

The first is “excellence in health.” The Song Confucian Master Zhou (Zhou Dunyi) said: “Fullness and warmth are great wealth and honor; health and tranquility are priceless gold.” I hold that fullness and warmth are still easy to obtain, but the blessing of health and tranquility is not something everyone can enjoy; even if obtained, it is brief and does not last—in the blink of an eye one grows old, vitality decays, and illness comes to harass. The Xuanzong cultivator is different: holding Jing and nurturing Shen, body and mind are healthy; though old, one does not decline, because one can use pre-heaven One Qi (pre-heaven primordial Qi) to refine the physical body, temper and fuse the ordinary substance, causing the ordinary substance to be completely transformed—Yin turbidity wholly removed and pure Yang accomplished. Therefore Chen Cuixu (Chen Nan, a Southern Song Neidan master) said: “Golden light penetrates the body, the marrow is fragrant; golden sinews and jade bones, the body is pure Yang. Refine it until red blood flows as white; when Yin Qi is worn away, the body is naturally healthy.” This is excellence in practical benefit in this life, and it is the first point.

The second is “excellence in purity.” The Daoist teaching is established through purity and quietude. Through the mutual dependence of mind and breath (xinxi xiangyi), the student returns to the land of Xiyi (the invisible and inaudible) and the state of great samadhi. The numinous Yang Qi of heaven and earth comes without being summoned; this is what is called the first point of superior benefit.

II. The Superiority of Clarity

The Daoist way teaches sentient beings through clarity and stillness. Those who cultivate the Way begin with “heart and breath in mutual dependence,” and return to the realm of the rare and subtle (xiyi) and the state of great stillness (dading). The luminous yang qi (lingyang zhi qi) between heaven and earth needs no deliberate summoning; it arrives of itself—what is called “with my own empty void, I respond to that subtle existence”: using one’s own emptiness and stillness to resonate with the wondrous presence on the other side. Turning heavy, turbid qi into clear yang and ordinary substance into a spiritual body, one naturally feels worldly toil fade day by day, desires no longer disturb, and various harmful influences do not intrude. The six senses (liugen: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) are empty and still; body and mind are clear and at ease. Zhuangzi calls this “roaming in heaven” (tian you). The Duren jing (Scripture on Salvation) says: “Heaven has no floating clouds; the four qi are clear and bright.” The heart-mind is the same. This superiority in clarity and stillness is the second kind.

III. The Superiority of Ease

Here “ease” (yi) means comfort and repose, not indulgence and dissipation. Honor and disgrace do not hang on the mind; rank and status are not envied. Hidden in the world without vexation, holding fast to the one qi (yi qi) in deep stillness, the heart at leisure with nothing to do—all burdens are released. Easy and harmonious, plain and at peace, guiding without rushing ahead, responding only after sensing. Zhuangzi says: “Empty, still, tranquil, and without action—this is the root peace of heaven and earth and the utmost of the Dao; therefore emperors, kings, and sages take it as their resting place.” The Huangting jing (Yellow Court Scripture) says: “Observing intent, roaming in spirit with the three wondrous numina; at leisure with nothing to do, the heart is greatly at peace.” It also says: “Reigning by non-action (chui gong wuwei), the body is naturally at ease; the body empty of things, the heart naturally at leisure. Cultivating harmony and standing alone in the palace of the perfected, plain and without desire, roaming the garden of virtue.” And again: “Making the Way in ease, dwelling alone in the body, nourishing life and guarding emptiness and non-being, plain and without desire, without what-if thinking—the wings are formed, properly spread, long life and far sight, then flying away.” This is the subtle point of bodily and mental ease at leisure within the profound teaching (xuanzong) of the Way—the same as what ancient masters of Chan Buddhism called “the idle person of the Way who has ceased learning and practices non-action (wuwei).” Whether in worldly or transcendent life, nothing is more nourishing; this is called the superiority of ease, the third kind.

IV. Ji Sheng (Victory through Auspiciousness)

The fourth is called “Ji Sheng.”

Laozi advocated Wuwei (non-action): acting without claiming credit, and when the work is done, not holding onto it as one’s own. Blending with the light yet not clinging to dust, the mind stays clear as empty space, so every move and every stillness is naturally auspicious. This is the virtue of “not contending” and the subtlety of “non-attachment”: the heart does not split self from other, nor does it stick to coming and going. Like flowing water and drifting clouds, with no fixed “where to” or “where from,” it unfolds freely, transcendent and unburdened, vast and at ease with whatever conditions arise, roaming at will according to one’s true nature.

The Zhuangzi says: “Nothing is forgotten, nothing is lacking; serene and without limit, and all excellence follows from it.” How much more auspicious can one be? This is called “Ji Sheng,” the fourth teaching.

Fifth, Longevity. Among the “Five Blessings” in the Hongfan chapter of the Book of Documents, longevity comes first. The Book of Odes speaks of “mei-shou” (long life graced with age) and praises such as “longevity like the southern mountains.” Once Xuanyuan adepts have firmly established their elixir foundation and hold their fate in their own hands, they may wander at ease in grotto-heavens and blissful lands and rejoice among the Ten Isles and Three Islands. Li Tuo is said to have lived eight hundred years, and Anqi three thousand; the South Pole Broad Longevity Immortal Lord, from high antiquity through to the early Ming, is said to have reached a full myriad of years—immortal histories record it clearly. Hence Zhang Ziyang (Zhang Boduan) said: “Swallow one pellet of the spirit elixir, and you know at last that my life is not ruled by Heaven.” The Huangting Jing says: “All people feed on grain and the five flavors; [the sage] alone feeds on the yin-yang qi of Grand Harmony, and therefore does not die—the mandate of Heaven is fulfilled.” It also says: “Block the Gate of Life as if sealing a jade capital; life may be handed down for myriad years, always in surplus.” Chen Guanwu said: “Having crossed from this shore through those waves, freed at last—only there do you know longevity can be attained. Once gained, return and hold it forever; the raft that crossed the river becomes the ladder to Heaven.” Among Daoist teachings on enduring life and clear vision, longevity alone is supreme: the jade garden and heavenly palace may be one’s dwelling at will; even when mulberry fields turn to blue seas, one roams freely. This is the fifth outstanding excellence.

Sixth, Other Power. In the Xuanyuan three-tier elixir method, the earth tier and heaven tier both belong to external alchemy (Waidan) taken as medicine: when a pinch of elixir (daogui) passes the lips, one may sprout feathered wings in broad daylight, without grinding through long years—transcending the mundane and entering sagehood in an instant. Its wonder and transformation defy thought; it can also deliver deceased kin and touch dry bones so they live again. Such an inconceivable expedient path exists only in the Xuanyuan tradition. This is the sixth outstanding excellence.

The Seventh Superiority: Uprooting the Household and Ascending Together

Because methods such as the divine elixir and ingestion of medicinals are so exalted, they can lift an entire clan and allow a whole household to ascend in one ascent. A famous example is Perfect Man Xu Xun (Xu the True Lord) in the Eastern Jin: together with his father’s lineage, forty-two members of his immortal household, and six disciples, he ascended at once; even chickens and dogs rose with them. Such splendor of “uprooting the household and ascending together” (bazhai chongju) belongs uniquely to the Profound Teaching (Xuanzong)—Daoism; other teachings seldom know anything like it. That is the seventh superiority.

The Eighth Superiority: Unbroken Lineage

The lineage of the Profound Teaching is ancient and deep: patriarch after patriarch has handed it down without interruption for thousands of years to the present, and the lamp of the teaching still burns. Throughout all future time it will shine ever more brightly; those who meet it with the right affinity can verify it here and now. That is the eighth superiority.

The Ninth Superiority: How the Teaching Is Passed On

Buddhism often speaks of three ages—the age of the proper Dharma, the age of the semblance Dharma, and the age of the final Dharma. Ancient immortals of the Profound Teaching appear in the world through manifestation of the Dharma body; with bodily form and spoken teaching they guide those who have affinity, unchanged for thousands of years. The Dao patriarchs have no day of final nirvana, and the proper Dharma has no fixed term in the world. That is the ninth superiority.

The Tenth Superiority: Authorship of the Scriptures

Many Buddhist sutras were assembled from disciples’ later recollection and editing. Scriptures of the Profound Teaching were written by the Dao patriarchs themselves—in their own words, from their own mouths. Those who chant them feel as if they hear their voices and see them face to face. That is the tenth superiority.

(At the end, the heading “Eleven: The Seven Major [Themes] of the Profound Teaching” appears to be a section title parallel to the ten points above; the original text does not continue beyond that line.)

In Zhuangzi, “Xu Wugui” says that to truly penetrate things, one must grasp seven kinds of “greatness”: knowing the “Great Unity” (the root by which the ten thousand things are one), knowing “Great Yin” (the side that stays still, hidden, and yielding), knowing the “Great Eye” (the gaze that takes in the whole), knowing “Great Balance” (fairness and sameness), knowing “Great Constancy” (steady, impartial principle), knowing “Great Trustworthiness” (what is real and never hollow), and knowing “Great Fixity” (a settled mind not tugged by outer things)—only then has one reached the end.

These seven work together: Great Unity runs through everything; Great Yin dissolves blockage; Great Eye sees the full picture; Great Balance links the ten thousand things on one path of reason; Great Constancy is the reliable ground to stand on; Great Trustworthiness tests what is true from what is false; Great Fixity holds it all steady. Heavenly De fills the space between; follow nature and clarity appears; in the depths of the hidden there is still a pivot; and the beginning of the ten thousand things again rests in “that”—the other, the outer.

So their “release” looks as if they have not fully released; their “knowing” looks as if they do not know. Zhuangzi’s point is: first be at home in “not knowing”—do not guess hard or argue hard—and real knowing will grow from that. That aligns with the Daoist stress on quiet observation and becoming one with the Dao.

Plain-language commentary:

The seven great elements in the Surangama Sutra are meant to show that the wondrous suchness of the Tathagatagarbha pervades and embraces everything without exception—this is the subtlety of inherent virtue (xìng dé). Zhuangzi’s seven great ones do not only express inherent virtue; they also express cultivated virtue (xiū dé). Nature and cultivation are not two; root and branch are both honored. The phrase “the great unity pervades all” already subsumes the Surangama’s seven great elements—earth, water, wind, fire, space, consciousness, and the faculties. “Great samadhi holds it steady” explains cultivated virtue: through practice one accords with nature, so karmic consciousness is extinguished and innate truth appears; wisdom illumines without bound and responds invisibly to the infinite—this is what is meant by “heaven is fully present, response has its illumination, and the pivot lies in the dark.” “The great yin resolves it” likewise expresses cultivated virtue, as Laozi says: “Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called returning to destiny; returning to destiny is called the constant.” “Great yin” is the virtue of stillness, corresponding to the Kun (Earth) trigram; “great eye” is the universal eye, and “the great eye sees” expresses the virtue of fruition and the Dharma eye—seeing through to the dharmadhatu. “Great equality/jun conditions it” expresses the virtue of transforming others—equal great compassion, covering all beings. “The great square embodies it” expresses inherent virtue—the body and the buddha-field mutually interpenetrate, the image of dependent and principal perfectly fused. “Great faith examines it” again expresses cultivated virtue—faith is the root of the Way, the mother of merit, the head of all practices; with great faith one then realizes great fruition; there is no realization without faith, no practice without faith, no realization without practice. Thus these seven great ones gather cause, practice, realization, and entry completely without omission. The closing line “not knowing, and then knowing” especially matches the deep meaning of the Prajna teaching “non-knowing yet all-knowing”—one could say Chan and the School of Mystery (Xuan) walk the same path.

In his Nanhua Fumo (Supplementary Commentary on the Zhuangzi), Lu Xixing says: the various designations in this passage are names Zhuangzi himself established. Dayi (Great Unity) refers to primordial chaos before division, a single undifferentiated whole; Dayin (Great Yin) to utmost stillness, free of reckless movement and stray sensation; Daimu (Great Vision) to the level at which things can be distinguished and named; Dajun (Great Equalizer) to the principle that all things share one reason and do not stand apart as separate entities; Dafang (Great Expanse) to breadth and completeness without being trapped in any one corner; Daxin (Great Trust) to a layer of reality deeper than ordinary “trust”; Dading (Great Fixity) to using “stopping” to gather all stoppings—the fixity to which every stopping returns. These all belong to what “Heaven” speaks of: the summit, the limit, beyond which nothing more can be said.

For Dayi, one must tong (penetrate). Penetration means that before things have been distinguished, one can merge and drift with it, yet it cannot be grasped by thought—hence “penetrate.”

For Dayin, one must jie (release/resolve). Release means that in utmost stillness, without stray sensation, mind and it can be one body, yet it cannot be held by names and concepts—hence “release.”

Daimu can accommodate my looking; Dajun allows reasoning from this principle; Dafang can be embraced and embodied; Daxin allows inquiry into the season when it is about to stir; Dading allows holding fast to the pivot that never changes.

What “Heaven” speaks of is roughly this.

In the Zhuangzi, this teaching of the Seven Greats is subtle and all-pervading; only one who recognizes these seven truly understands. To penetrate the seven is to unite with the Dao in truth and dwell in transcendent ease.

Xuanzong Precept Studies

Daoist precept studies (the discipline of precepts and rules) are scattered across many books. In general, precepts serve to block wrong conduct and gather the mind, thereby achieving the heart-virtue of pure, tranquil unity.

(The text also mentions the Daoist account of the Seven Greats, in the same spirit as above: to know these seven is true knowledge; to complete the seven is to unite with the Dao in truth and dwell in transcendent ease.)

Vernacular Interpretation

When you devote yourself wholly to cultivating the Dao, you naturally will not do evil; inner harmonious qi resonates outward, and violent, harsh energy dissolves. Hence the Dao De Jing says that one whose De is deep and thick is like a newborn child—poisonous insects do not sting, fierce birds do not strike, and even tigers, rhinos, armor, and weapons cannot harm him. This is called “precepts shared with the Dao” (dao gong jie). “Shared” (gong) means possessing together, obtaining alike: cultivating the Dao is among the most excellent of all good practices; once the virtue of harmony is complete, precepts are complete as well. There is no need to set up a separate body of precepts outside the Dao—hence the name precepts shared with the Dao.

The formation of evil karma comes from ill intent. If one can still thoughts in twofold forgetting, remain unmoved in silence, enter great samadhi with ease, be utterly non-active in stillness, and open into vast emptiness, then good and evil are both forgotten. When not even a thought arises, how could one keep creating karma in this life? Thus with a single-minded still samadhi, the virtue of precepts is naturally complete. Beyond samadhi there is no need to keep precepts separately—this is called “precepts shared with samadhi” (ding gong jie). Zhuangzi says: “Those who meet in the Dao have nothing to do yet give rise to stillness.” It also says: Look closely at his form—deep and empty; gaze at him all day and you do not see him, listen and do not hear him, reach for him and cannot grasp him. Guangyao said: This is the utmost—who can arrive here? See how his samadhi reaches the six senses empty and still, utterly like the great void—is this not the sublime mark of “precepts shared with samadhi”?

Both of the above are supreme precepts: body and mind pure, the work of the Dao follows and completes, and no precept fails to be fulfilled.

Next is the Samvara Precepts—the precepts of receiving and upholding all wholesome dharmas. Laozi said: “Dwell in a good place; let the heart be like a deep pool; associate with others in good faith; speak with good trustworthiness; govern well; handle affairs with competence; move at the right time.” In Xuanlan (Broad Survey of the Mystery), the Hidden Void Elder explains: what is called supreme goodness is adapting to circumstances with skillful means, not contending over high or low, easy or hard—this is dwelling in a good place; settling peacefully with each situation, not contending over stillness or agitation—this is the heart like a deep pool; treating all equally, not contending over self and other—this is associating with others in good faith; following the flow to awaken the subtle, not contending over ultimate truth and provisional teaching—this is speaking with good trustworthiness; grace moistening all things, not contending over near or far—this is governing well; handling affairs with competence means being able to be round or square as needed; moving at the right time means acting when one should act and stopping when one should stop. These seven all embody the spirit of “the highest good is like water”—benefiting the ten thousand things without contending. Because it does not contend, self and other are both forgotten, inner and outer are fully accorded—whence could resentment arise? The above are these seven aspects…