《女子丹经汇编》Vol. 1

What Collected Scriptures on Female Inner Alchemy Is

This work is a compiled catalogue of Daoist nüdan (inner alchemy for women) literature. It gathers scriptures, verse formulas, biographies, and commentaries from various periods that relate to female practice and kundao (the Way of the feminine) cultivation, arranged by title for reference. Most of what you see here are section and chapter titles, not continuous classical text meant for line-by-line translation.

Overview of the Table of Contents (in Plain Language)

Main title

Collected Scriptures on Female Inner Alchemy — a collection of texts on female inner alchemy.

“Records of Heterodox Branches” (Pangmen lu)

This section lists short verses and brief prefaces attributed to various “ancient Buddhas” or patriarchal figures, often from popular or heterodox lineages (e.g. Xiangyue Wentong Ancient Buddha, Wuliang Dushi Ancient Buddha, the Water Patriarch, Great Awakening Compassionate True One Who Transforms Heaven, Earth, and All Beings, Caili Cloud Buddha, Taiji Yuanqing Buddha, Qingfeng Ancient Buddha, and others). These are mostly eulogies or brief teaching lines, grouped by author or honorific title.

The Sun Buer Line (core female alchemy material)

• Secret Writings on the Elixir Way Transmitted by Perfected Lady Sun Buer: Esoteric essentials of the elixir path, attributed to Sun Buer (a Quanzhen female immortal).
• Authentic Scripture on Fetal Origin and Internal Nourishment from the Jade Clarity and Supreme Scripture on the Inner Landscape from the Jade Clarity: Methods of internal nourishment tied to fetal origin and the inner landscape.
• Precious Chapter on Guarding the One of the Great Dao and Poems on Guarding the One: The central practice of “guarding the one.”
• Kun Origin Scripture of Perfected Lady Sun Buer: A foundational classic for kundao (female practice).
• Sequential Poems on Female Inner Alchemy by Perfected Lady Sun Buer: Step-by-step poetic instructions for female inner alchemy in fourteen stages—

Gathering the mind → Nourishing qi → Performing the work → “Slaying the dragon” → Nourishing the elixir → Fetal breathing → Talismanic fire → Receiving the medicine → Refining shen (spirit) → Ingesting and transforming → Bigu (abstaining from grain) → Facing the wall → The spirit departing the body → Ascending in transcendence.

• Quatrains in Seven-Character Verse by Perfected Lady Sun Buer: Short seven-character verses.
• Commentary on the Sequential Poems on Female Inner Alchemy by Sun Buer, plus General Principles: Notes on the sequential poems and how to read them.
• Brief Account of Immortal Sun Buer: A summary of her life.
• “Commentary” and repeated entries for Gathering the Mind, First Stage through Ascending in Transcendence, Fourteenth Stage: Commentarial sections matching each chapter of the sequential poems (some titles appear twice in the catalogue, reflecting different editions or volumes).

Other notable texts

• Song of the Spiritual Source and Great Dao and Plain-Language Commentary on the Song of the Spiritual Source and Great Dao: Verses on cultivation of the Great Dao, with a vernacular explanation.
• Notice to Readers: Prefatory guidance before using the collection.

How to Read This Material

For line-by-line vernacular explanation, you need the full text of a specific piece (for example the verses of “Gathering the Mind, First Stage” or the body of the Kun Origin Scripture), not this catalogue alone. What you have here is essentially a list of titles and sections; the overview above describes, in modern language, what each part usually does within the literature of female inner alchemy.

Collection of Female Elixir Scriptures — Plain-Language Guide to the Contents and Titles

This book is a compilation of texts on female Neidan (female elixir cultivation). Most of what follows are section titles, author names, and chapter headings, not continuous scripture in one block.

Annotations

The commentary and explanatory notes on the book’s contents.

Anthology of Female Elixir Poetry — First Part

Poems and gāthās by several female immortals and female adepts, including:

• Wu Cailuan (Immortal Lady)
• Fan Yunqiao (Immortal Lady)
• Yuehua Cui Shaoxuan (Immortal Lady)
• Tang Guangzhen (Perfected One)
• Xuanjing Sanren Zhou Yuanjun

Anthology of Female Elixir Poetry — Second Part

Further poems on female Neidan, by:

• Bailian Zhenren (Perfected One of White Lotus)
• Xiangyi Lingzhen Fo
• Quanzhen Yihua Fo
• Wuji Zhenren (Perfected One of the Limitless)

Elixir Poetry of Wuji Zhenren

Elixir-cultivation poems by Wuji Zhenren. The first and second parts repeat the same author lists in the table of contents, indicating that this collection aligns with—or shares the same arrangement as—the first and second parts of the Anthology of Female Elixir Poetry.

Other Figures and Titles (Listed in the Contents)

Cibei Gumou, Lingzhen Taihua Fo, Qingyun Zhenren, Guangming Daci Zhenren, Caiyun Liuli Xian, Lingquan Gumou, Daci Chunzhen Fo, Wuji Qiong Zhenren, Jue Shijie Fo, Mingjing Fo, Ciren Jianshan Fo, Yiwang Huajie Lingquan Gumou—mostly honorific titles or author names in female elixir and spirit-cultivation lineages; the actual text sits under each entry.

Xichi Collection

• Preface
• Eighteen Poems on Xing Gong (eighteen pieces, “Number One” through “Number Eighteen”)—verses on Xing gong (here, inner work on Xing [inner nature] and gongfu [practice], not “gender” in the everyday sense; female elixir literature often treats mind-nature, Shen, and Qi).
• Postface (closing remarks at the end of the book)

Female Golden Elixir

• Preface
• Upper Volume · Rules and Precepts—discipline and norms before entering the Way.

After “Resolving to Enter the Way,” the Nine Precepts are listed (in the contents, “Second Precept” through “Ninth Precept” stand alongside “First Precept” as one precept system):

1. Precept against layered wild thoughts—do not indulge scattered, groundless ideas.

2. Precept against indulgence and lust—moderate desire; do not sink into debauchery.

3. Precept against harshness, violence, and cruelty—avoid obstinacy, brutality, and severity.

4. Precept against vexation and anger—lessen worry and rage.

5. Precept against excessive sorrow, brooding, and fright—do not drown in grief, overthinking, or shock.

6. Precept against the eyes’ many idle looks—let the eyes see less of what is useless or unsettling.

7. Precept against the ears’ much idle listening—let the ears hear less gossip and harmful talk.

8. Precept against much talk and arrogant speech—few words, grounded speech; no reckless boasting.

9. Precept against stinginess and clinging to wealth—do not be extreme in hoarding or refusing to give (linked in practice to generosity and breadth of mind on the path).

At the end of the contents, “Layered wild thoughts” and “Second precept: indulgence and lust” appear again as separate lines—mostly repeated subheadings for easy lookup, not a second, different set of precepts.

In brief: This passage is the table of contents for the Collection of Female Elixir Scriptures—female elixir poetry, Wuji Zhenren’s poetry, the eighteen Xichi poems, and the chapter titles for the upper volume of Female Golden Elixir on resolving to enter the Way and the nine precepts. To read the actual scripture or verses, open the body text under each listed section.

Precepts (continued)

Eighth Precept: Loquacious Arrogance

Do not talk excessively or speak without restraint; do not be self-important or treat others with contempt.

Ninth Precept: Stinginess with Wealth

Do not be petty or miserly; do not be overly tight-fisted with provisions that should be used or with charity that should be practiced.

Tenth Precept: Killing and Harming Life

Do not kill sentient beings or injure life.

Eleventh Precept: Lack of Moderation in Meat and Strong Foods

Diet should be moderate; do not indulge in meat and rich, stimulating foods (in cultivation contexts this precept is often linked to emphasizing a pure, light diet).

Twelfth Precept: Disrespect for the Dao and Teachers

Do not belittle the Great Dao or neglect your teachers; you must honor teachers and revere the Dao.

Oral Formulas in the Lower Volume of Nü Jindan (Chapter Titles)

The lower volume presents the stages of female elixir in formula form: Gathering the Heart (reining in a scattered mind); Nourishing Nature (cultivating original nature); Nourishing Qi (regulating breath and nurturing vital energy); Condensing Spirit (gathering spirit inward); Three Lives (the principles of nature, life, and qi); Qi Acu-point (the acu-point where qi gathers); Knowing the Time (knowing fire phases and seasonal nodes); Slaying the Dragon (cutting the Red Dragon and stopping menstrual flow—a term specific to female elixir); Form Hidden (body and spirit stored within, not swayed by outer conditions); Seeking the Elixir (seeking the foundation of the inner elixir); Refining the Self (refining oneself and shedding habit and defilement); Direct and Reverse (direct and reverse refinement, ascending and descending fire and water); Elixir Sprouts (the first sprouting of the elixir); Gathering the Medicine (gathering pre-heaven unity qi); Raising the Origin (lifting and raising original yang); Uniting the Elixir (yin and yang harmonizing into elixir); Fire Phases (civil and martial fire, advance and retreat talismans); Gentle Nurturing (warm, steady nurturing—neither excess nor deficiency); Embryonic Breathing (breath fine and slow like a fetus in the womb); Degrees and Stages (measure and levels of practice); Shedding the Shell (metaphor for elixir complete and leaving the ordinary shell); Suckling and Nurturing (nurturing the sacred fetus as one would an infant); Facing the Wall (deep stillness and single-pointed focus, as in the metaphor of nine years facing a wall); Surging Ascension (signs of spirit and qi rising and sublimating).

Series on Women’s Daoist Learning and Kunning Jing

Preface to the Reprinted Series on Women’s Daoist Learning and Editorial Principles: explain why the series was reprinted and how works were selected.

Kunning Jing: a female elixir classic named for Kun (the feminine, yin) and ning (tranquility). Preface to the Collated Kunning Miaojing and Notes for Reading the Scripture: clarify textual collation and prerequisites for recitation.

Chapter Titles of Kunning Jing in Plain Language

• Chapter 1, Nurturing Life: sustaining life and establishing the person.
• Chapter 2, Transforming Qi: transforming qi and regulating breath.
• Chapter 3, Purifying Karma: purifying body, speech, and mind.
• Chapter 4, Cultivating Good: accumulating good and correcting faults.
• Chapter 5, Honoring Virtue: upholding moral character.
• Chapter 6, Women’s Teaching: norms for educating women.
• Chapter 7, The Way of the Wife: wifely virtue and conduct.
• Chapter 8, Scripture and Discourse: grounding teaching in the classics.
• Chapter 9, Awakening from Delusion: awakening from confusion.
• Chapter 10, Foundation of the Kun Way: the root of practice on the feminine path.
• Chapter 11, Root and Foundation: essential root principles.
• Chapter 12, Nature and Life: xing and ming.
• Chapter 13, Heart-Substance: the substance of the heart-mind and original mind.
• Chapter 14, Pointing to the Mystery: indicating the subtle gate of practice.
• Chapter 15, Golden Elixir: principles and methods of the golden elixir.
• Chapter 16, Jade Dipper: related to the jade dipper (metaphor for the dantian or ritual implement).
• Chapter 17, Verified Realization: verification in actual practice.
• Chapter 18, Generating the Aspiration: arousing the great resolve and vow.

Correct Methods of Female Practice

Editorial Principles for the Daoist Learning Pocket Series, Chen’s Preface to Correct Methods of Female Practice, and Notes for Readers: editorial notes for the series and this book, preface, and reading prerequisites.

General Discussion: the main outline of correct female elixir methods.

Section 1, Recognizing the Foundation and Purifying the Heart: first recognize the foundation (usually the Ren channel, dantian, and related loci), and purify the mind.

Section 2, Cultivating the Scripture and Activating Practice: practice according to the scripture and bring forth real application.

Section 3, Methods for Slaying the Dragon: specialized methods to cut the “Red Dragon” (menstruation)—a key gate in female elixir.

Section 4, Refining the Breast and Returning to Youth: refining the “breast” (metaphor for the Ren channel, Shanzhong, or refined essence) in the metaphor of returning to youth.

Section 5, Setting the Cauldron and Forming the Fetus: establishing the “cauldron” (the furnace of the dantian) and forming the basis of the sacred fetus.

Section 6, Embryonic Breathing Self-Adjusted: embryonic breathing naturally regulated.

Section 7, Fluids Return and the Fetus Complete: menstrual fluid and body fluids returning inward, embryonic breathing accomplished.

Summary of Collected Female Elixir Scriptures (in Plain Language)

Section 8: Refining and Transforming the Yang Spirit

This section explains how women in cultivation further refine the “Yang Spirit” gathered within the body (an inner achievement that shares the name with men’s practice: the primordial spirit (Yuanshen) going from empty to substantial and from scattered to concentrated) so that it becomes pure and stable.

Section 9: The Yang Spirit’s Light Complete and Round

This treats the state in which the Yang Spirit is refined to fullness—bright, luminous, and clear inside and out—a major gate in internal alchemy (Neidan).

Section 10: Gentle Nurturing and Returning to the Origin

This describes using gentle, sustained work to nurture the primordial spirit and gather it toward the “Origin” (the root principle, the dantian, or the upper aperture, depending on the school)—without forcing progress.

Section 11: Achievement Complete, Transcending the Ordinary

After inner accomplishment, body, mind, and realm are said to go beyond ordinary human limits; this belongs to the language of the completion stage.

Appendix

1. First Treat Menstrual Disorders

Before female practice, menstrual-related illness must be regulated first, lest disturbed blood and qi impair the initial steps of cultivation.

2. After Menopause: Drawing Life Back

After menopause, guiding, intent, and other methods are used to “draw back” vitality so the path of practice can continue (schools differ in detail; the general point is not to stop cultivating simply because menstruation has ended).

Four Maxims on Female Practice

A few lines of verse summarizing the essentials of female elixir work.

Collected Elixir Formulas

A compilation of alchemical rhymes for comparison in practice.

Discerning the Living Zi Hour

Clarifies what “Living Zi Hour” means: an inner moment when qi stirs and one may begin gathering and refining—not necessarily clock midnight.

Female Practice at the Living Zi Hour: When to Begin

Focuses on how women formally enter and start work at the Living Zi Hour.

Debate on Similarities and Differences in Male and Female Alchemy

Explains what is the same and what differs in path, passes, and fire phases (huohou) between men’s and women’s internal alchemy.

Female Daoist Studies Mini-Series: Editorial Intent and Notes for Readers

Explains why the series was compiled, for whom, and how to use it—publisher’s material, not the main scripture text.

Preface

Introductory remarks by the editor or preface writer.

Collected Explanations

Gathered views from various lineages or a general overview.

Ten Rules of Female Elixir

Ten outlines for female elixir practice, often including:

1. Nurturing the True and Transforming Qi — Preserve true essence and true qi; transform the post-heaven into the pre-heaven.

2. Nine Revolutions Refining the Form — Use round after round of fire phases to refine bodily form (“nine revolutions” is a figurative number for repeated deepening).

3. Applying the Fire Talisman — Master “fire” (huohou)—intent, breath, and timing—and do not apply it recklessly.

4. Silently Circulating Embryo Breathing — Breathe as finely and slowly as a fetus in the womb so inner qi moves of itself.

5. Broadly Establishing Merit and Conduct — Cultivate virtue and accumulate merit; inner refinement and outward action support each other.

6. Firm Aspiration and Steady Practice — Hold the aim firmly and persevere without break.

7. Nurturing the Primordial Spirit — Warm and nourish the primordial spirit; do not dissipate it.

8. Moving the Spirit Out of the Shell — The spirit rises beyond the bodily shell (a metaphor for advanced stages; schools vary in detail).

9. Awaiting Completion and Ascending — After achievement, wait until conditions are complete for ascent (religious language of fulfillment).

10. Completing the Dao and Becoming True — Realize the sought Dao and “become true, ancestor of the lineage” (classical phrasing).

Appendix: Kun Formulas

Formulas at the end of the book devoted to the “Kun path” (women’s way).

True transmission has formulas; true transmission has formulas.

A lineage with genuine teaching always has oral formulas—you cannot rely on theory alone.

Geng and Jia must be understood; the Confucian exposition explains in detail.

In elixir texts “Geng” and “Jia” often refer to fire phases, sun and moon, or specific stem-branch usage; their meaning must be clear, and the text cites Confucian sources to explain them.

Teach people to distinguish clearly what is and what is not — Distinguish form from formlessness, image from no-image, so metaphors are not taken as solid things and real practice is not dismissed as empty talk.

Do not betray a heart full of sincere effort — Having entered this gate, cherish body and mind and practice in earnest.

The pivot is in the present moment; qi is drawn up from here.

The critical opportunity is here and now; as one breath rises and connects, the work opens from that point.

Above is the Celestial Valley; below is the Spring Cave—identify these two places and do not treat them as different in importance.

Above means the “Celestial Valley” (often the mud pill at the crown or the Baihui region); below means the “Spring Cave” (often the lower dantian or the meaning of the penetrating vessel at related points). Both must be clearly known; in practice neither should be neglected nor confused with the other.

Attached Q&A — Questions and answers on further difficulties.

Poems on Female Elixir — Female elixir insights or formulas in verse.

(Entries such as “Editorial Intent of the Female Daoist Studies Mini-Series” and “Notes for Readers” repeat in the table of contents because they are shared front matter for each volume in the series, not two different scriptures.)

Below is a modern, plain-language guide to the table of contents of Compilation of Female Daoist Alchemy Scriptures (Nüzi Danjing Huibian). Most entries are chapter or section titles, not the full classical text.

Compilation of Female Daoist Alchemy Scriptures

Anthology of Female Alchemy Poetry — First Part

Anthology of Female Alchemy Poetry — Second Part

1. Purifying the Heart and Reducing Desires (Chapter 1)

2. Transforming Blood into Qi (Chapter 2)

3. Nurturing the Yellow Sprout (Chapter 3)

4. Method of Contemplating Subtle Fragrance (Chapter 4)

5. Chapter on the Celestial Lord’s Hidden Meaning (Chapter 5)

6. Life, Death, and Profound Awakening (Chapter 6)

7. Returning the Light and Reflecting Inward (Chapter 7)

8. Compassion as Foundation (Chapter 8)

9. Using “Medicine” and “Fire” Together (Chapter 9)

10. Taiyin (Supreme Yin) Concealing the Form (Chapter 10)

11. Method of the Six-Character Scripture (Chapter 11)

12. Fulfillment for Everyone (Chapter 12)

13. Never Separating Movement and Stillness (Chapter 13)

14. Cultivation After Leaving Home (Chapter 14)

15. Cultivation for Chaste Widows (Chapter 15)

16. Chapter on Cultivation in Pure Maidenhood (Chapter 16)

17. Chapter on Cultivation While Living at Home (Chapter 17)

18. Root of Mind-Nature (Chapter 18)

Anthology of Female Alchemy Poetry — Supplement

1. Gathering the Mind (1)

2. Nurturing Nature (2)

3. Nurturing Qi (3)

4. Concentrating the Spirit (4)

5. The Three Lives (5)

6. The Qi Acupoint (6)

7. Knowing the Timing (7)

8. Slaying the Dragon (8)

9. Concealing the Form (9)

10. Seeking the Elixir (10)

11. Refining the Self (11)

12. Direct and Reverse (12)

13. Birth of the Elixir (13)

14. Gathering the Medicine (14)

15. Raising the Primordial (15)

16. Uniting the Elixir (16)

17. Fire Phases (Huohou) (17)

18. Gentle Nurturing (18)

19. Embryonic Breathing (19)

20. Degrees and Stages (20)

21. Emerging from the Embryo (21)

22. Nursing Like an Infant (22)

23. Facing the Wall (23)

24. Surging Ascent (24)

Dao Yuan Jingwei Ge (Song of the Subtle Essence of the Dao Source) · Female Perfected Cultivation

• Part One Song of Taiyin Refining the Form
• Part Two Song of Taiyin Refining the Form
• … through Part Nine Song of Taiyin Refining the Form
• Additional Verse

Zhonghua Xianxue Taiyin Lianxing Ge (Song of Taiyin Refining the Form in Chinese Immortal Learning)

• Part Three Song of Taiyin Refining the Form
• Part Four Song of Taiyin Refining the Form
• Part Five Song of Taiyin Refining the Form

Brief Glossary (to help read the table of contents)

• Female neidan (Nüdan): Women’s internal alchemy (neidan) methods, often using images such as “refining the form” and “slaying the dragon” for regulating breath, holding the center, and transforming jing and qi.
• Yellow Sprout (Huangya): A neidan term for the first stirrings of true qi or the seedling of the elixir.
• Returning the Light and Reflecting Inward (Huiguang Fanzhao): Drawing awareness inward and observing oneself.
• Medicine and Fire (Yaohuo): “Gathering the medicine” (taking hold of pre-heaven qi) together with huohou (the rhythm and intensity of practice).
• Taiyin (Supreme Yin): In this literature, often refers to female cultivation or the true within yin.
• Slaying the Dragon (Zhanlong): In female neidan, often a metaphor for restraining menstruation, emotional arousal, and the like—not literal killing.
• Emerging from the Embryo (Tuotai) and Surging Ascent (Chongju): Neidan images for the completion of shen and qi and transcending the physical form; they should not be read casually as the physical body flying into the sky.

The items above are section titles within the compilation. For a plain-language translation and explanation of the full text of a specific chapter (for example “Purifying the Heart and Reducing Desires, Chapter 1,” or a particular “Song of Taiyin Refining the Form”), name the section and a translation can be provided.

Table of Contents and Summaries in Plain Language for the Compilation of Female Alchemical Scriptures

Sixth piece: “Songs on Refining the Form in Greater Yin (Taiyin)”

Seventh piece: “Songs on Refining the Form in Greater Yin”

Eighth piece: “Songs on Refining the Form in Greater Yin”

Ninth piece: “Songs on Refining the Form in Greater Yin”

Another piece (continued verses)

The Female Alchemy Section within Chinese Immortal Studies (the part of the Chinese immortal-studies tradition devoted specifically to female internal alchemy)

A letter from Ms. Chen Wuxuan of Baoying, Jiangsu

Reply to Ms. Chen Wuxuan’s letter

Ms. Chen Wuxuan’s second letter and answers to her questions

Answers to the ten questions raised by Ms. Chen Wuxuan

Further reply: after “slaying the Red Dragon” (the female-alchemical image of ceasing menstruation and stopping the menstrual flow), how one should protect and preserve the practice

Appendix: Ms. Chen Wuxuan’s original letter (respectfully submitted)

Further reply to Ms. Chen Wuxuan of Chazhen Town, Baoying

Further answer: how to conserve and hold steady after slaying the Red Dragon

Appendix: Ms. Chen Wuxuan’s original letter (respectfully submitted)

Reply to Ms. Zhang Huikun of Chicheng, Tiantai

Reply to a lady in Anyang, Henan

Appendix: the Anyang lady’s original letter (to Master Yuan Dun, respectfully)

Reply to a lady in Shanghai concerning thirteen questions she raised

Correspondence and answers regarding a lady in Anyang, Henan

Correspondence and answers regarding a lady in Shanghai

Appendix: five questions

Discussion with Physician Zhu Changya on books of immortal studies

I. The Old Mother lineage of Zhongtiao (female alchemy transmitted from the Old Mother on Zhongtiao Mountain)

II. The Lady Zhen (Chen) lineage of Danyang (the Danyang Lady Zhen/Chen line)

III. The Lady Wei of Nanyue lineage (Lady Wei of Nanyue, a major female immortal of the Shangqing tradition)

(The table of contents here repeats the “thirteen questions,” the Anyang and Shanghai correspondence, the appendix of five questions, the exchange with Physician Zhu, and sections I–III as above.)

IV. The Immortal Aunt Xie Ziran lineage (the line associated with Immortal Aunt Xie Ziran)

V. The Realized Person Cao Wenyi lineage (Realized Person Cao Wenyi, a celebrated female-alchemy author of the Northern Song)

VI. The Primordial Lady Sun Buer lineage (Sun Buer, one of the Seven Realized Ones of Complete Perfection and a representative figure in female alchemy)

I. Practice for virgin girls (girls who have not yet begun to menstruate)

II. Practice for very young girls (young women in early youth)

III. Practice for women of middle age

IV. Practice for older women

V. Practice in advanced yin (elderly women who have already ceased menstruation)

VI. Practice for young married women

VII. Doubled practice for middle-aged wives (middle-aged married women who intensify their effort)

VIII. Practice for widows

Essential Points on Female Alchemy in the Recorded Sayings of the Hall of Joyful Nurturing (key passages on female alchemy in the Le Yutang Yulu)

Compilation of Women's Neidan Scriptures — Guide to Contents and Section Titles

This anthology gathers patriarchs’ admonitions, question-and-answer exchanges, and rhymed formulas related to Quanzhen women’s neidan (internal alchemy) practice, drawn chiefly from Quanzhen Anthology (Quanzhen Wenji) and Records of the Le Yutang (Leyu Tang Yulu), among other sources. Below are the titles of each section with brief notes on their subject matter, for ease of reference.

Quanzhen Anthology — Patriarchs’ Admonitions to Women Practitioners

Patriarch Ma Danyang (second generation of Quanzhen, Ma Yu, styled Danyangzi)

Entries include dedications to Ma the nun, Sun the nun, and a general address to the community of nuns; further pieces to Ma the nun (another text), to Priestess Chen styled “Wandering Cloud” (Dongyun Sanren), on the essentials of women’s practice, to Yang Wuyi of Lingkou, to Li the nun of Xiaohu Village, a letter to Wang the nun in Chang’an, to two nuns in Jingyang County, to Wang the nun in Chang’an styled “Auspicious Wanderer” (Jixiang Sanren), to Wei the nun at Lingkou styled “Clear Penetration Wanderer” (Tongming Sanren)—the phrase “haifeng” in the title may refer to illness or an alternate style name—and again to the assembly of nuns; separate dedications to Lu, to Xue styled “Pine Stream Wanderer” (Songxi Sanren), to Chai, to Yan styled “Frost Stream Wanderer” (Shuangxi Sanren), to Liu the nun in Hu County, a rhyme exchange with Jia “Non-Action Wanderer” (Wuwei Sanren), wife of Cao the jieyuan of Fangzhou, to Zhang the elder nun in Hu County together with the nuns, and to Wang the nun in Hu County and Zhao the nun in Hu County, each with their fellow nuns.

Patriarch Wang Chongyang (founding patriarch of Quanzhen)

Zhang the Nun’s Questions (answers to Zhang); dedications to Sun the Second Nun and to Sun the nun (several pieces); Buanzi · Jiao the Nun’s Request, a lyric to the tune Buanzi, composed at Jiao the nun’s request.

Patriarch Tan Chuduan (styled Changzhenzi)

Dedication to Yang the nun; dedication to the three gumu (aunts/nuns) in the household of Wang the Third Commandant.

Patriarch Wang Chuyi (styled Yuyangzi)

Response to the wife of the surveillance commissioner, who sought recovery from illness; dedication to the lady of rank who was abbess at Weizhou; Letter to My Mother (practice and filial piety); answers when elders asked about cultivation; daily practice for Liu Zhimiao, nun of Huang County; dedication to “Ren Shou Bao Liu Ku” of Fushan (possibly a place name, style name, or combined designation); Fushan’s Jiang the nun asks about practice; Sui the nun asks about the “king of mind” (xin wang, the master of thought and nature); sending Record from the Clouds (Yunzhong Lu) with a quatrain for Lady Jinzi. A separate entry, The Surveillance Commissioner’s Wife Seeks Instruction Because of Illness, belongs to the same line of teaching (possibly under Wang Chuyi or a related text).

Records of the Le Yutang — Essentials of Women’s Neidan

Passages or compilations from the Le Yutang lineage on nüdan (women’s internal alchemy), complementing the patriarchs’ admonitions above.

Note: Most entries are titles and dedicatees only; the body text consists of short verses or instructions from the patriarchs to nuns and lay women on foundation building, breath regulation, guarding the One, and mind-nature. Specific formulas and stages must be read in the full text of each piece. Nüdan denotes the internal alchemy path for women; nüguan denotes ordained Daoist nuns; sanren (“wanderer”) denotes a style name used by lay women practitioners.

Table of Contents Guide to Collected Female Internal Alchemy Scriptures

This book is a nüdan (female internal alchemy, women’s practice) anthology. The entries below are mostly chapter and section titles, explained in plain language in the order of the original table of contents.

Dedications and Requests for Instruction

• Gift to the Female Community of the Hall of Real Cultivation: A dedication to the women disciples of the “Hall of Real Cultivation.”
• Gift to the Nun Gao of Laiyang: A dedication to the Daoist nun surnamed Gao from Laiyang in Shandong.
• Zhang the Nun of Dizhou Seeks Instruction: A record of the nun surnamed Zhang from Dizhou (roughly present-day Shandong) coming to ask about the method and seek teaching.

Heart Words of the Two Lazy Ones and Related Material

• Female Internal Alchemy Section of Heart Words of the Two Lazy Ones: The part of the Daoist work Heart Words of the Two Lazy Ones that deals with women’s practice.
• Preface: Preface to the whole book or to that section.
• Heart Words of the Two Lazy Ones: The main title of Heart Words of the Two Lazy Ones (“Two Lazy” is the author’s name or style).

Other Female Alchemy Texts

• Female Alchemy Methods in Meeting the Heart Collection: Female internal alchemy methods preserved in Meeting the Heart Collection.
• Women’s Practice in Qiaoyang Jing: Material on women’s cultivation in Qiaoyang Jing.
• Female Alchemy Formulas of Wang Dongting, “Man of Embodied Truth”: Oral formulas for female alchemy transmitted by Wang Dongting, styled “Man of Embodied Truth.”
• Illustrated Explanation of Refining the Self and Returning the Elixir in Women’s Practice: Text with diagrams on how women’s practice “refines the self” (cultivates and tempers oneself) and “returns the elixir” (forms the inner elixir).

Ten Articles on the Correct Path of Female Cultivation from the Queen Mother of the West

The Queen Mother of the West (a major female immortal in Daoism and symbolic figure in the female-practice lineage) transmits ten articles on the “correct path of female cultivation.” The listed articles are:

Patriarch Li of Niwan and Patriarch Li of Female Alchemy: Precious Raft of Dual Cultivation for the Female Lineage

• Precious Raft of Dual Cultivation for the Female Lineage by Patriarch Li of Niwan: Transmitted by Patriarch Li associated with the Niwan (mud-pill palace, the crown area where spirit and intent dwell in neidan), a dual cultivation (usually nature-and-life dual cultivation, or male–female joint practice—as defined in the source) method for the female lineage (women’s practice), likened to a “precious raft” for crossing the river.
• Precious Raft of Dual Cultivation for the Female Lineage by Patriarch Li of Female Alchemy: Another version or alternate title of the same work, also divided into Articles One through Nine.

Summaries, Collected Explanations, and Secret Methods

• Essentials of Female Alchemy: Extracted key points of female alchemy.
• Collected Explanations of Female Alchemy: Gathered interpretations of various female-alchemy teachings.
• Formulas of the Female Immortals’ Elixir: Oral formulas for elixir practice from female immortals and female adepts.
• Secret Method of Taiyin Refining the Form: Taiyin in female alchemy often denotes the feminine, yin constitution, or lunar imagery; refining the form means transforming the physical body or “form”-level work—here, a secret method.
• Secret Method of the Three Beheadings of the Red Dragon: The “Red Dragon” in female-alchemy metaphor often stands for menstruation or the downward flow of the red dragon; the “three beheadings” are steps of cutting off and refining related to it (details follow the original formulas).
• Secret Methods of Women’s Real Cultivation: Secret methods for women seeking immortality (real cultivation).
• Important Sayings on Female Alchemy: Essential statements and outlines on female alchemy.
• Elixir of the Female Immortals: Elixir teaching of the female-immortal line, or a text by that name.

Recorded Sayings, Heterodox Paths, and Miscellaneous Accounts

• Miscellaneous Notes from the Heart-Contemplation Studio: Miscellaneous records of what was seen and heard in the “Heart-Contemplation Studio.”
• Recorded Sayings of the Wenchang Emperor: Sayings attributed to the Wenchang Emperor (deity of literature and examinations).
• Recorded Sayings of Lord Wang of Heaven, Recorded Sayings of the Lord Who Turns the Wheel of Fate: Recorded sayings under these honorific titles of deities or patriarchs.
• Record of Heterodox Paths: Heterodox paths (pangmen) are approaches that clearly depart from the Great Dao; this record documents them.
• Account of the Accumulation-of-Good Hall in Central Guizhou: Narrative concerning the “Accumulation-of-Good Hall” in Guizhou.
• Brief Preface to Minor Heterodox Arts of the Ancient Buddha of Resounding Moon and Penetrating Writing: A short introduction to minor heterodox arts linked to the Ancient Buddha of Resounding Moon and Penetrating Writing; what follows often contrasts heterodox paths with the Great Dao.

On “Heterodox Paths” (when the table of contents is followed by main text)

Daoist teaching often says: heterodox paths are routes that plainly violate the Great Dao; minor arts are tricks that look unobtrusive but still stray from the correct way. The Great Dao is most mysterious and subtle, yet also simplest and easiest—it cannot be mixed with private motives or tainted by desire; that is the true root. Whatever does not accord with Heaven and Earth’s qi and timing, with the sages’ correct principle, or with the natural unfolding of one’s nature and feelings belongs among heterodox paths and minor arts. The core of this anthology is orthodox female-alchemy literature; the final fascicle or appendices often include recorded sayings and records of heterodox paths for comparison and discrimination.

Among the side paths and heterodox ways, the petty tricks and variations are endless. I would like to expose them one by one, yet I fear wounding honest hearts; I would rather hold my tongue, yet I fear misleading those who come after to study the Way. So I can only list first several dozen of the practices that most corrupt the mind and most defile the orthodox methods of the profound gate, to block this crooked wind—this too is the earnest intent of pulling those sunk in the abyss back out and rescuing those trapped in the fire pit. Any who cultivate the Way and have already fallen into such paths should turn back at once; it is not too late to mend the fold after the sheep are lost. If one still doubts in the heart, half believing and half not, or clings stubbornly to one's own views and will not heed upright words, that is to harm oneself and others alike; one will not only fail to forge great karmic bonds with the Buddhas but will also find a good end hard to come by. The affinity with the myriad Buddhas is close at hand—practitioners of the Way in this age should jointly take heed; the orthodox path of the Hall of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing) is also there for those who cultivate the Way in generations to come to discern with care.

Here, “the other” (bi) refers to the “young lord”—that is, yuanqi (original vital energy); “I” refers to the “beautiful woman”—that is, yuanshen (original spirit). The orthodox method is to use the yang qi within oneself to awaken the yin spirit within oneself, so that spirit and qi merge into one—that is what is called attaining the Dao.

Heretical side paths invert the meaning: they take “I” as the man and “the other” as the woman. Some then buy women to keep, have an outside Huangpo (the go-between who assists “bedchamber” practices) watch for when the woman’s Rengui (menstrual flow) is due, and perform caizhan (“battle” to seize essence through sexual union) to steal vital energy. Others buy concubines or visit prostitutes and use the same seizure of qi. All of this misreads the two words “the other” and “I”—a crime of the first magnitude. Neither heavenly law, nor human law, nor the punishments of the underworld can be escaped; how then can one speak of becoming an immortal? If immortals could be made this way, would not Penglai be full of libertines and adulterers? Ask yourself honestly: is there any sense in that? Any sense at all? This teaching harms people enormously, which is why ancient buddhas placed it among the foremost precepts.

In cultivation, nothing matters more than keeping the mind pure. One must first forge the Huijian (Wisdom Sword) to cut off the root of lust. Not knowing how to temper the sword and instead “testing” it with lust is like heaping dry fuel on a fierce fire. Even one who can subdue dragon and tiger may still leak and turn essence turbid.

When no thought arises, one is still in xiantian (the pre-heaven state); once a thought stirs, one has already fallen into houtian (the post-heaven state). If the thought is clear, one can still preserve xiantian within houtian; if the thought is unclear, there is no xiantian left in houtian at all.

Among all thoughts, none is stronger than lustful thought; when lust stirs, lingqi (subtle qi) disperses; when lust lingers, lingqi perishes. Cultivators need not fear that thoughts arise—they fear waking up too late. Awakening is hui (wisdom); with awakening, one can still keep xiantian within houtian; awakening late and thoughts unclear mean no xiantian at all within houtian.

On lustful thoughts and the “Wisdom Sword” (Huijian)

In cultivation, what you must guard against most is lust. Once that thought arises, the body’s refined qi (lingqi) scatters; if it lingers, that qi is drained away. Practitioners need not fear that a thought appears—they fear noticing it too late. That noticing is the Wisdom Sword: as soon as the thought rises, notice it at once; once noticed, cut it off at once; keep examining constantly, and the root of lust will naturally sever. This is called great awakening, and also refining the sword.

The error of heterodox “sword testing”

Side paths do not know the correct method of refining the sword. Instead they treat sexual union as “testing the sword”: they assume that with no thought the sword is sharp, and with thought it is dull. Ask this: when the yang organ stirs and rises, does it come from no-thought, or from thought? If it rises without thought, that belongs to innate qi (xiantian zhi qi)—the very thing to gather and refine. If it rises only with thought, that belongs to acquired desire (houtian zhi yu)—the very thing to subdue. They do not subdue it; they act on lust instead—is that not piling dry fuel on a fierce fire? Then the original spirit (yuanshen) cannot be master; the knowing spirit (shishen) runs everything, and original essence (yuanjing) inevitably becomes turbid essence (zhuojing). To expect no leakage and no emission in that state—I do not believe it can be done. This passage is a sharp rebuke of treating union as “sword testing.”

Repetition and corrupt passages in the text

A stretch in the original—“when yang rises, wind draws it to weilu… I do not believe it”—repeats the meaning above and is likely a copyist’s error. Another line, “when yang rises, wind draws to weilu; if it does not disperse after several times, start the microcosmic orbit (zhoutian),” seems originally to belong with later oral formulas; the middle may have been broken apart in transmission.

Formulas and skepticism

The gist of the formula: when yang rises as if wind draws it to weilu (tail gate), and after many times it still does not disperse, run the microcosmic orbit; thirty-six times advance yang fire (yanghuo), then apply the yin tally (yinfu) fully twenty-four times; then ask cultivators in the world—who among the immortals actually transmitted this method? The tone questions practices that fix yang rising, zhoutian, and counts of yang fire and yin tally as a package—it is not presented as orthodox immortal transmission.

Brief glossary of terms

• Lingqi: the fine qi preserved in practice, opposed to what lust scatters and wastes.
• Huijian (Wisdom Sword): the metaphor of using awareness to cut deluded thoughts—“notice and cut at once.”
• Shishen / yuanshen: everyday discriminating mind and desire acting as shishen; authentic aware nature as yuanshen.
• Yuanjing / zhuojing: unreleased subtle essence as “yuanjing”; what is lost or transformed through lust and union, called “zhuojing” in this text.
• Xiantian / houtian: stirring naturally without thought as xiantian; arousal driven by desire as houtian.
• Weilu, zhoutian, yanghuo, yinfu: inner alchemy (neidan) terms for the tail region, circuit of qi, the “advancing fire” phase, and yin-tally timing; here they appear in heterodox “sword testing” formulas—the author’s aim is refutation, not recommendation.

Yang Arousal and the “Orthodox Method”

When a man’s yang organ rises, practices such as “drawing in wind to disperse it” belong to the orthodox path. If yang intent does not stop, there are separate secrets—but that is another matter. Those who follow minor techniques often run the Small Heavenly Circuit thirty-six times: from Weilü through Jiaji and Yuzhen to Niwan, then stop—this is advancing yang fire. From Niwan through the Twelve-storey Tower, letting it fall naturally, twenty-four times—this is retreating the yin tally. Then turn thirty-six revolutions from right to left and twenty-four from left to right, to match the full circuit count. After that, sit in quiet concentration—called Bathing, also called leap-month supplementation.

The author writes: The circuit is inherently alive. If you fixate on counting and spend all mind-intent on outer practice, how can Shen settle? How can the elixir form? Mostly it is wasted effort. Such minor techniques deserve caution.

The Rolling-Wheel Circle Diagram and Its Critics

Some silently turn the “rolling-wheel circle diagram” in front of the chest and falsely claim it was passed down by the “Two-Mouth Immortal.” The same warning applies: the circuit is alive; hard counting and mind wholly on outer work leave spirit unsettled and the elixir unformed—empty toil. Again, a warning against minor arts.

Sexuality and Technical Arts

Forcing “refining nature” through technical arts without seeing that true nature belongs to the pre-heaven from the start; the spirit-settling methods immortals and buddhas transmit are wondrous precisely in wuwei (non-action)—accord with what is natural.

What the Rolling-Wheel Diagram Is, and Why It Is Wrong

The rolling-wheel diagram means silently turning a large circle at the chest, then shrinking it to a small circle, “binding” nature—called refining nature. That is the path of technical arts. Could this really be what Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin) transmitted? The slander against Patriarch Lü is grave indeed.

True nature is utterly empty and utterly responsive; becoming immortal or buddha depends on this nature. If one silent revolution could bind nature, one revolution could bind immortals and buddhas—the logic is plain; one need not be a sage to see it. Why still fall into such arts without noticing?

What immortals and buddhas pass on as spirit-settling method is the method of refining nature: it marries the natural, without forcing; nature becomes round and bright of itself, and only then can the great Way be achieved. The author, accompanying ancient buddhas on inspection, found many side-door minor arts and recorded them in this book so later students would not be misled.

Note

The right-hand column carries respectful annotations by Tan Xian, disciple of Dingyi’s disciple.

Layout and Commentary Notes

① The original book is in vertical format, so the main text appears in the right-hand column. In what follows, whenever “right” is used, it refers to that right column in vertical layout, so later readers do not misplace the lines.

Right column — Commentary by disciple Dingyi, Tan Xianjing

① Same as above: in vertical layout the text sits in the right column; later occurrences of “right” are not marked again line by line.

Wuliang Dushi Gufo (the first two of four poems and related commentary)

First poem

Each day face east, mouth toward heaven;

Bulge the eyes, hunch the shoulders;

Exhale all turbid breath, inhale clear breath—dreaming of shedding the old body and returning to youth—

Who knew that li qi (harmful, perverse qi) enters the zangfu (viscera and bowels), the lower field (dantian, lower abdomen) swells, and life cannot be prolonged.

Commentary:

This “qi intake” method: at dawn face east, bulge the eyes and hunch the shoulders, breathe in deeply, drawing clear qi inward and expelling turbid qi, thinking one can become an immortal or Buddha. They do not know that if li qi (harmful, improper qi) is inhaled, it accumulates in the five viscera and six bowels; in time the lower field (dantian, lower abdomen) distends, the chest feels blocked—and some people die from the swelling. Alas! Seeking the Dao without a true method, dying an untimely death—both laughable and pitiable.

Second poem

Fools fantasize about becoming immortals: enduring thirst without drinking, hunger without eating;

They become egui (hungry ghosts) themselves and fall into santu (the three evil paths),

Yet still hope to ascend Daluo Heaven (one of the highest heavens in Daoism);

Many clever people are ruined by this—when yi mo (the demon of intent) rises, wai mo (outer demons) cling to the body.

Commentary:

When thirsty, drink; when hungry, eat—this is the ordinary rule of nurturing life.

First Section

When a person cultivating the Way has sufficient original qi (yuanqi), they may no longer depend on food cooked with fire; but only when one reaches the state of neither drinking nor thirsting, neither eating nor hungering, does one deserve to be called an immortal. Yet some foolish seekers of transcendence shut themselves indoors in empty sitting, refuse to learn genuine methods of refining the self, and merely force themselves to endure hunger and thirst until they die without changing course. If that were truly the path, would not every ordinary person who starved to death belong on the rolls of immortals? I have seen many intelligent people led astray by side paths (methods outside the orthodox internal alchemy line); this begins as wishful thinking, but once intention-demons (yimo—obsessive or deviant thoughts in the mind) arise, outer demons (waimo—heterodox teachings, false masters, or harm to body and mind) come to claim one's life. Such deluded people should seek a clear-eyed master as early as possible.

Second Section (Verse)

Chaotically “planting fire” and “adding oil,” inhaling clear qi through the nose yet seeking outward;

The mind leads qi to the upper dantian (niwan, the upper energy center), then halts at the double pass (shuangguan, a key region along the spine);

Then turning back against the natural flow, passing through the lower layered tower (the path from the diaphragm down toward the dantian);

Where there was no fire, one forcibly creates fire, then forcibly stops it—wasting spirit until the hair turns white.

Third Section

In the world there are methods called “planting fire and adding oil”: one inhales the clear qi of heaven and earth through the nose, uses intention to lead it to the mud pill (niwan), stops at the double pass, turns from the double pass back to the mud pill, crosses the magpie bridge (queqiao, where the tongue touches the palate and the governing and conception vessels connect), swallows down through the twelve-layer tower (the successive stages from throat and chest to the middle dantian), and stops at the middle field (zhongtian, the middle dantian). Originally, having no heterodox “fire” would already be a good thing; yet one deliberately creates fire and deliberately stops it—what school or what Way is that? Misusing spirit and intent, one may cultivate until the hair is white and still remain an ordinary mortal bound to birth and death, never having dreamed of the great Way of the golden elixir (orthodox neidan); blind practice and reckless refinement bring no benefit.

Fourth Section

Most hateful are blind teachers who pose as immortal talent, guessing wildly at doctrines such as “five dragons presenting the sage”;

They boast of bellows (tuoyue) and “drawing from the furnace” as supreme skills, block orifices with objects, or take feces as medicine—still more absurd;

They cheat people of wealth and ruin lives; after death they suffer punishment in the underworld, and even in life they meet with disaster.

On the Heterodox Methods of Fangshi

Such practices come from fangshi (ritual technicians). When yang arousal occurs, they use “Xun wind” (hastening refinement through breath and visualization) to cook and refine with violent urgency; if it still does not dissipate, they fix the mind on “battle” for one or two hours, then support the kidneys with the five fingers and tightly grasp the “dragon head” (the penis), as in masturbation—a method called “bellows and furnace out of the oven.” They then apply the four-character formula “gather, lick, suck, and seal,” driving impure essence that did not arise by the proper path upward through the Three Passes in reverse to the Niwan (mud pill), swallowing it into the Huangting (Yellow Court), and then performing the celestial circuit, turning left and right, sixty times in all.

Others say: “When the Great Medicine passes the barrier, you must use a wooden implement to press hard against the anus, lest the elixir leak away.” In truth, when the Great Medicine crosses the lower Sparrow Bridge, it has its own path to surge into the Weilu (tail gate) and ascend straight upward—what has that to do with defecation? Yet people rashly torture themselves with such cruel devices. Both methods blind masters treat as secret teachings, swindle others of property, and ruin lives. When the mysterious gate has fallen this low, how can one in life escape great calamity, or after death evade judgment in the underworld? Practitioners should wake up sharply!

—Disciple of Pure Essence Zhang Xian, respectfully annotated

Water Ancestor (one poem)

Within the body lies the immortal elixir—the medicine is most efficacious; why must one seek strange formulas outside?

Recklessly taking mineral drugs often leads to harm; Purple River Cart (placenta and the like) is foul-smelling and hard to obtain;

And there are the most foolish and ignorant, who consume spoiled essence themselves—no better than beasts.

The vital energy (yuanqi) in your body is the immortal elixir—the yuanqi inside a person’s own body is the medicine of immortality. Yet heterodox and wild paths mistakenly seek strange formulas outside the body: some refine and swallow minerals and metals, only to die early; some eat the ziheche (human placenta), killing their own kind. Still worse, some practice licking spent essence after sexual union—how is that different from cattle, horses, dogs, and pigs? If eating spent essence could make one immortal, would not cattle, horses, dogs, and pigs all ascend to heaven? This is a misunderstanding of the word “fu shi” (ingesting/taking) in alchemical texts; in reading one must grasp the principle, and in seeking a teacher one must have discerning eyes.

(Right: Annotated respectfully by the Immortal Dajue Lingguang)

Great Awakening, Compassionate True One, Transforming Heaven and Earth, Buddha of All Beings (two pieces)

To make every bone and joint in the body open up, they boast that “circulation and transport” is divine skill—

Inhale once and move the breath to the lower dantian; from both feet through the knees and insteps into the yongquan points; then from the heels along the backs of the legs and up to yangguan, through the twin passes at the spine, up both arms to the backs of the hands, turning into the palms; then through the elbow crooks to the back of the neck, up to yuyan and nìwán, down the “magpie bridge” to connect the twelve-story tower, and fall into the dantian—one full circuit.

The turtle’s head bound tight—the turtle still will not die—

When sleeping, wrap the yang organ in a long cloth, bind it tightly with cord, then tie cloth and cord behind the back around the neck, sleeping on the side to prevent yang arousal and loss of elixir.

The dragon’s head inverted—the dragon grows fiercer—

There is also what is called Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade), all brute force like madness.

(The title of the latter section and “dragon’s head inverted” repeat and are partly damaged in the original; the sense is the same as above: treating mechanical circulation, binding and wrapping, Baduanjin, and the like as true elixir work—all are misunderstandings.)

When sleeping, some use a long cloth to wrap the male organ, then bind it tightly with cord and tie the cloth and cord from behind up to the neck, sleeping on one’s side so that erection in sleep does not cause “walking the elixir”—the loss of essence and qi in dreams.

“With the dragon’s head inverted, the dragon grows ever more vigorous”—again wrapping the male organ with long cloth and cord, fastening from the “front gate” (the crotch and front yin) to the back of the neck, the upper end facing the lower, both eyes fixed intently (through intent-guarding or visualization).

There are also exercises called Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade):

Shake the head and sway the tail to rub the belly, thirty-six times from top to bottom; knock the teeth thirty-six times and swallow the saliva in the mouth; cross the hands at the waist and deliberately sway the whole body; clench the fists and strike as if hitting someone; turn the head left and right and look back at both heels; stand on the tips of the toes with the ten fingers facing each other, upper aligned with the brows and lower with the ground—this is called “Duke of Zhou’s Salute.” Stand on one leg and forcefully stretch the legs and feet. When tired after practice, lie back and exhale three great breaths toward the sky—called “expelling the five turbid qi.” Do this daily after meals, and likewise when drowsy.

Such crude training is almost like going mad.

All crude training in heterodox side paths, pushed to the extreme, looks like frenzy. Those who practice it want both to dispel illness and extend life and to become immortals or buddhas—alas, how laughable.

The false “yellow and white” arts that claim to turn stone to gold and iron to silver exist mainly to delude the greedy;

Inventing elixir chambers and vessels and insisting that ten thousand taels of silver are required before the elixir can be perfected—

They do not know that cultivation rests fundamentally on heart-nature (xinxing—mind and moral character), without distinction of rich or poor; everyone may practice.

(The preceding passage groups certain binding methods, guarding yang, and Baduanjin-style limb exercises together with “yellow-white” arts and “ten-thousand-tael elixir” side paths to show that true Neidan (internal elixir) work lies in the heart, not in outer form or wealth.)

The Huangbai Art Swindle

Those who deceive people with huangbai shu (external alchemical methods that claim to turn stone to gold and iron to silver) say that once this “elixir” is refined, one can produce gold and silver at will. Swindlers then seek out the greedy, urge them to put up silver—whether a few hundred or a few dozen taels—until several thousand taels of “capital” are gathered before the furnace work begins. They promise that with the elixir one can transmute gold and silver and obtain whatever one wishes, enough to build the most splendid alchemical chamber, the finest vessels, and to supply fine clothes, rich food, and servants—all “pointed” into existence by the elixir. This is entirely a fraud, and many have fallen for it.

Heart-Mind as the Foundation

They fail to see that cultivation rests on heart-mind (inner steadiness, restraint from desire, and sincere intent)—rich or poor, anyone can practice.

Each person has his own heart and nature; rank does not matter. Whoever obtains the true method and cultivates can succeed—why rely on huangbai arts? Why rely on alchemical chambers, vessels, and every outward show? Those who crave wealth should reflect deeply on this.

Right: Respectfully annotated by Ruyi Golden Buddha

Caiyun Liuli Fo (One Poem)

Hands cup the kidney pouch and rub the lower field;

Nine-nine yang counts, left and right complete.

Su Qin’s sword on the back—truly hard to bear;

Embracing the moon in the bosom, smiling at the warm elixir.

Turning inward to expose the belly—feelings grow bitter;

Casting oneself into a net—too pedantic and sour.

Commentary:

“Hands cup the kidney pouch and rub the lower field; nine-nine yang counts, left and right complete”

The left hand supports the kidney region (the lower abdomen near the kidneys and the qihai, Sea of Qi), while the right hand rubs the lower dantian (about three cun below the navel) eighty-one times; then switch—the right hand supports the kidney region and the left rubs the lower dantian eighty-one times. Left and right each complete nine-nine (eighty-one rounds), in the sense of the yang number fully fulfilled. This is a common practice in internal cultivation for regulating breath and fixing attention on the lower field.

“Su Qin’s sword on the back—truly hard to bear”

Here another heterodox method called “Su Qin’s sword on the back” is described: an emei board (a curved board shaped like a moth’s eyebrow) is pressed against the arch of the spine, the hair is tied to the board, the upper body bound to the right foot and the lower to the left so the person cannot move—any movement causes a fall; swindlers use this to steal property and humiliate people. This is a harmful trick, unrelated to orthodox cultivation, and truly unbearable.

“Embracing the moon in the bosom, smiling at the warm elixir”

Orthodox practice is embracing the moon in the bosom (imagining a full moon held at the dantian or chest, gently nourishing spirit and qi), smiling at the warm elixir (warming the inner elixir with intentional fire, neither scorching nor cold)—describing ease of body and mind and spirit and qi kept inward during internal refinement.

“Turning inward to expose the belly—feelings grow bitter; casting oneself into a net—too pedantic and sour”

If one only turns inward to expose the belly (excessive torment of the body, exposing or abusing the abdomen, and other side paths), suffering only increases; like casting oneself into a net, blindly trusting heterodox arts and huangbai swindles—both pedantic and sour, far from the Great Dao.

Heterodox Side Methods (Commentary)

The practices described here are nominally said to be “for use when the weather is cold,” but in reality they are absurd and dangerous: making someone arch their back against a wall and tying their hair to a board, binding the right foot above and the left foot below so that the slightest movement causes a fall—then, while the person cannot move, robbing them of property or violating women. This is fraud and crime under the name of “cultivation,” not legitimate principle.

“Embracing the moon in the bosom and smiling at the warm elixir”: in cold weather, placing hot water in a copper bottle on the navel and holding it with both hands is called “warming the elixir.”

“Turning inward to sun the belly, the feeling is even more bitter”: propping oneself on wood bent into an arch and lying face up on it is called “sunning the elixir.”

“Throwing oneself into the net is too pedantic and sour”: such side paths are inherently at odds with human feeling; fools are often manipulated and leap into the snare themselves—truly pedantic and laughable.

(Annotated by Disciple Inspector Spirit Jing of Youshu Hall)

Clear Source of Taiji Buddha (one verse, with note)

Fixing the gaze on one inch and three fen below the navel—can one really form an elixir in this “foul pouch”?

Gazing at the hairline or the external kidneys is useless; blindly placing the cauldron and furnace at the so-called “mysterious pass.”

The true locus among the body’s aperture-points—a hair’s breadth off and you are separated as by heaven and earth.

Note: One inch and three fen below the navel is extremely empty and extremely impure; to say one forms an elixir there is delusion. Some observe the hairline or the external kidneys, but the true cauldron and true furnace are not in those places—such observation does no good. Without authentic transmission from a clear teacher, the body’s acupoints remain seeming yet not real; one must not trust one’s own cleverness.

(Annotated by Inspection Spirit Zhang You of Youjian)

Ancient Buddha of Pure Wind (one verse, with note)

The three thousand six hundred side paths cannot all be named one by one; whatever is intentionally fabricated or forcibly contrived is mostly illusion; only quiet clarity and naturalness is the true way.

It again stresses: fixing the gaze on one inch and three fen below the navel and forming an elixir in the foul pouch; gazing at hairline and external kidneys to no avail; wrongly pointing to the mysterious pass as cauldron and furnace; the true locus among the body’s apertures—a hair’s difference and heaven and earth stand apart. The meaning matches the previous section: all refute misidentifying the site and misapplying effort in the method.

(The note closely parallels the foregoing, emphasizing that without true transmission things seem right but are not—do not rely on oneself.)

Plain-Language Explanation

General overview

Myriad differences ultimately return to one root; the cultivation methods of the upper, middle, and lower “vehicles” (san cheng) can also be gathered into a single mind. Using “self” to refine “self” is the most subtle approach; upon the fire of long life, “gold” can be generated (here jin [gold] stands for yang qi and true essence, born from the nurturing fire within the body—not something sought outside).

Wrong and right stand out as clearly as lifting a curtain; which path to take also has criteria you can rely on. Only if you can abandon the crooked way and turn toward the upright can you speak of ascending in broad daylight, becoming a true immortal or a buddha.

Side paths and heterodox methods are said to number as many as three thousand six hundred—too many to record one by one. Whatever relies on deliberate contrivance and forced manipulation can be classed as “false methods.” Side paths are too numerous to fit on bamboo slips and silk scrolls, so the phrase “whatever has contrived action” (fan you zuo wei) sums them up. The genuine great Dao is qingjing (pure and still) and ziran (natural/spontaneous); that is the innate, orthodox way—the only basis for speaking of becoming an immortal or a buddha.

Commentary (one character unlocks each line)

“Ten thousand differences return to one root” (wan shu gui yu yi ben)—the single word xing (nature/essence) says it all.

“The three vehicles converge in one mind” (san cheng yue yu yi xin)—the single word xin (mind/heart) says it all.

“Using me to refine me is most subtle” (yi wo lian wo zui miao)—only when form and shen (spirit) are refined together to completion is it called “form and spirit both wondrous” (xing shen ju miao).

“From the fire of long life, gold is born within” (chang sheng huo nei sheng jin)—here jin means yang qi, born in the body’s “long-life” nurturing fire, not an external substance.

“Wrong and right are as plain as if unveiled; where to go has a basis” (xie zheng zhao ran ruo jie, he qu he cong you ping)—in authentic transmissions of immortals and buddhas, wrong and right are often stated plainly; if readers still cannot choose, it is because they have not yet truly applied the mind to discern.

“If you can indeed abandon wrong and return to right, you are assured of ascending in broad daylight” (guo neng qi xie gui zheng, ding xu bai ri fei sheng)—abandoning wrong and returning to right is exactly how immortals and buddhas guide hearts; this section serves as a summary of the whole text.

Title and lineage

The foregoing is commentary by the Jiuje Tianzun (Salvation-from-Calamities Heavenly Lord).

Sun Bu’er Yuanjun transmitted and expounded the secret writings on the elixir path (dandao).

Yuqing Taiyuan Neiyang Zhenjing (Authentic Scripture on Embryonic Origin and Inner Nourishment of Jade Purity)—handed down by Baoshen Yuantai Zhenjun (True Lord of the Precious Spirit Primordial Platform).

Taishang Laojun (Supreme Lord Lao) presented or taught this scripture at a court assembly.

The Primordial Lord of Heaven (Yuanshi Shangdi) said to the Supreme Lord (Taishang): When Jing (essence) is depleted, it flares upward in disorder like fire; when Qi (vital energy) is depleted, it sinks and scatters downward. Yin and Yang each follow water and fire on their own paths, and Metal and Wood cannot achieve the mutual support of “husband and wife.” Thus among ordinary people in the lower world, true Qi grows weaker day by day, yin malign influences grow stronger day by day, their allotted years are cut short, and their Shen (spirit) is incomplete—until they end as lowly ghosts. I once transmitted to you the wondrous Dao of the embryonic origin (taiyuan): join the outer Mysterious Female (xuanpin) with the inner Mysterious Female; use the outer true Shen to replenish inner true Qi; gather the myriad treasures of heaven and nourish the primordial Jing within the womb, so that Shen arises within the embryo and Qi clings to Shen; the sovereign of the heart rules in secret, breath is evenly regulated, the myriad spirits pay homage, and all demons are bound to form. You must teach the people first to stabilize the heart. When the heart is stable, Qi will stay; when Qi stays, Shen is whole; when Shen is whole, the body is firm. Practice it as if faintly present yet unceasing—then achievement will show of itself. The Valley Spirit does not die—thus one conforms to my true lineage (zhenzong).

I pity the people of the world: outwardly they are harmed by wine and lust; inwardly they are entangled in worry and deliberation; they crave only fame and gain, and their spirit is drained daily. They cling to a body that must decay, chase rouge and coquettish smiles, pursue the outer and forget the root, ruin the spiritual foundation, Kan and Li scatter and break apart, and Hun and Po wander and drift apart. Though they raise rows of children, the flesh gradually declines; in the end it is only a coffinful of earth—they lose heaven and earth’s true pivot—how lamentable.

You must urge the people first to keep the minor precepts, then to advance to the great precepts.

You urged people to begin with minor precepts and gradually uphold major ones; first learn to still the heart-mind, then slowly enter the realm of wuwei (non-action). Through concentration comes clarity; through clarity one realizes the Dao. Those of superior capacity exchange the coarse for the subtle, achieve a body of light, dwell in the Heaven of Pure Stillness, and enjoy boundless lifespan. Those of middling capacity extend years on earth, replenish and restore the fetal origin (ta yuan), and avoid premature death and harm. Those of inferior capacity keep far from lust and desire, thin out fame and gain, turn toward the true wind, and follow the sage’s teaching in practice. You should take my subtle words, divide them into myriad forms, circulate everywhere in teaching, and step by step lead and receive people—abandon the crooked and return to the straight, cast off turbidity and keep clarity, and realize the supreme Dao.

At that time, the Supreme Venerable Lord faithfully carried out the holy instruction. He and the Purple Light Heavenly Mother each manifested forms and became as many incarnations as grains of sand, dividing bodies throughout the world to universally save sentient beings. Before long, the twelve thousand heavens of the upper realm gave birth to measureless heavenly beings from lotus flowers. Each rose into the air, went to the Jade Clarity realm, faced the True Venerable One, and spoke this praise:

Supreme Father of the Dao, who opens great skillful means—commanding the Supreme Venerable Lord and the Purple Light Heavenly Mother to manifest forms in the lower realm and broadly save us. Through precepts and concentration we all ascend on high, obtain intentional birth of body, and realize the supreme Dao. We transform into a hundred thousand myriad bodies; each body holds ten thousand ages, praising the mysterious De (virtue/power)—through a hundred thousand myriad kalpas it still cannot be exhausted. Such vast merit cannot be fully described. We receive this in faith—how can we repay it? We vow a great vow: in future kalpas to save sentient beings again; only this one mind is called repaying De.

When the measureless heavenly beings had finished this subtle praise, each scattered heavenly flowers and precious incense in empty space as offering, gazed from afar upon the True Venerable One, bowed a hundred times, and withdrew.

—End of the Jade Clarity Scripture on Fetal Origin and Inner Nourishment—

Jade Clarity Supreme Scripture on the Inner Landscape

Transmitted by the Great Luo True Heaven Primordial Heaven Great Sage Queen, the Purple Light Heavenly Mother

At that time…

(“Great Luo True Heaven Primordial Heaven Great Sage Queen” refers to the queen consort of the Great Sage of Primordial Heaven in the highest celestial realm; “Purple Light Heavenly Mother” is the sacred feminine form who transmits the scripture; “Jade Clarity” is one of the Three Pure Ones’ realms in Daoism and belongs to the highest heaven.)

The Yuqing Taiyuan Neiyang Zhenjing (True Scripture on Fetal Origin and Internal Nurturing of the Jade Clarity) ends here.

The Yuqing Wushang Neijing Zhenjing (True Scripture on the Supreme Inner Landscape of Jade Clarity)

Transmitted by the Great Luo True Heaven Primordial Heaven Great Sage Empress, the Purple Radiance Heavenly Mother.

At that time, the Primordial Most True Great Sage, through transformation and opening of heaven, with utmost divine power and utmost wisdom fashioned the world, harmonized Yin and Yang, and presided over creation. First, within the “Great Brahma True Heaven Mysterious Void,” he manifested various outer appearances to correspond to the inner landscape (neijing).

The nine breaths (qi) were divided into the color of Eastern wood essence, forming the Nine-Qi Elder (avatar of the Eastern wood virtue deity) to rule; in the human body this corresponds to the liver and the hun (soul).

The seven breaths were divided into the color of Western metal essence, forming the Seven-Qi Elder to rule; in the human body this corresponds to the lungs and the po (corporeal soul).

The three breaths were divided into the color of Southern fire essence, forming the Three-Qi Elder to rule; in the human body this corresponds to the heart and the shen (spirit).

The five breaths were divided into the color of Northern Kan essence, forming the Five-Qi Elder to rule; in the human body this corresponds to the kidneys and jing (essence).

The remaining breaths of the four directions, together with water, fire, metal, and wood distributed at the center, became the color of the “Huangting” (Yellow Court—the central palace where the root of intention resides); a One-Qi Elder was formed to rule; in the human body this corresponds to the spleen and thought (si).

The five viscera store consciousness; together they possess the “Ten Truths” (ten kinds of true nature, true spirit). The splendor of the Ten Truths can complete the “nine revolutions” (the nine-turn internal refinement); gathered they become elixir medicine, scattered they become sweet dew, circulating above and below to refine and nourish the hundred bones; washing away the turbid and retaining the clear, dissolving yin and forging yang, returning to the primordial beginning and preserving the great wholeness. Issuing from Kunlun, entering the Great Abyss, drawing its dragon transformations, passing through the Tiger City—the four breaths harmonize and the utmost truth is achieved: decline can turn to flourishing, old age can return to infancy, withered appearance becomes fresh again, white hair turns dark once more, the voice rings like a bell, the body light as a feather, the ordinary bones wholly exchanged, ascending to the Upper Clarity (Shangqing).

Those in the world who study the Dao establish precepts, hold to concentration, and thereby awaken wisdom and clarity; with the three powers (faith, vow, and practice—or precepts, concentration, and wisdom in that vein) they are forever preserved. Across myriad years they tread light, clear qi, wield fixed transformation, and transcend immortality. The Left and Right Two Mysterious Limitless True Lords spread this path broadly among heaven and humanity, so that they abandon impermanent karma and enter the wonder of “True Unity” (Zhenyi—single-minded devotion to the true Dao)—neither aging nor dying, serene in quiescent extinction yet ever abiding.

Closing Section of the Supreme Jade Clarity Internal Landscape True Scripture

The Primordial Worthy of Truth emitted vast radiance from his seven orifices, illuminating measureless realms, twelve thousand heavens, and billions of human worlds. Sentient beings everywhere, each according to their capacity, scattered incense and offered flowers in shared worship; all rejoiced and thereby realized the correspondence of the original mind with the Dao.

At that time, within the void and mystery, the Jade Clarity transformation palace suddenly beheld the treasure moon radiating light, so that the inner and outer ten directions of empty space were all lit. Within the treasure moon was purple qi; within the purple qi was an infant seated upon a jeweled lotus platform, speaking golden light from his mouth and issuing a great jade sound, reciting a verse:

With one mind abiding in right concentration, the myriad phenomena naturally appear; qi divides into the four directions and forms the five qi, the five qi gestate one numinous spirit; that one spirit can penetrate transformation, and refined union inherently contains the true. The original true has no fixed form—it is neither “being” nor “non-being.” If one can penetrate this principle, one then understands the “pearl that gathers dust”—the essential art of gathering wandering thoughts and returning to unity by guarding the One.

Within the mysterious void, within the moonlight, the jade infant expounded the teaching. Heaven above and earth below heard it at once; none failed to clarify the sea of wisdom, shatter the mountain of karma, turn inward in illumination, and forever accord with the true countenance of the Dao. Gazing up at the sacred light, they bowed in reverence and departed, honoring and upholding the teaching.

End of the Supreme Jade Clarity Internal Landscape True Scripture

Treasure Chapter on Guarding the One on the Great Dao

(Transmitted by the True Person of Mount Heng; also titled Xuanzhu Heart Mirror)

The Dao is fundamentally wuwei (non-action), yet nothing is left undone. It can be verified by the heart; it cannot be guessed at by petty cleverness. What is meant by “knowing”? What is meant by “verification”?

When wisdom has done its work, release wisdom

Note: Once you know, you should let go of clinging to “cleverness,” and conceal your traces while nurturing inner light.

Verify through empty response

Note: Uphold emptiness and wuwei; over time, numinous efficacy responds like an echo to a sound.

Response without contrivance

Note: This is entirely natural—not forced fabrication.

Then the heart is penetrated

Note: With the heart empty and wuwei, in time numinous efficacy responds like an echo to a sound. (This continues the thread of “Verify through empty response” above.)

Response without contrivance

Note: Again, entirely natural.

Then the heart is penetrated

Note: When the heart is empty, it merges with the Dao.

Commentary: When the mind is empty and without contrived action, in time one comprehends the Great Dao; comprehending the Great Dao, spiritual powers are free and at ease.

Penetrating the One, all affairs are complete. The One is the root.

Commentary: “The One” is the root of the Great Dao.

Affairs are the gate.

Commentary: Grasping the root of “the One” is what Taishang Xinyin calls “affairs.”

Affairs return to the One; the One abides forever.

Commentary: This describes the practice of guarding the One: when the work is accomplished, one returns to a single Qi; body and emptiness merge into one, naturally formless, and the One Qi endures.

Abiding is not that something truly exists; “guarding” is only a borrowed word.

Commentary: The One Qi abides in the body, yet do not treat it as qi that truly exists as a thing; what is called “guarding” is only using the word “guard” to express it.

Guard emptiness, and longevity comes of itself.

Commentary: As long as one holds to emptiness, form and spirit will long abide with the Great Dao.

The Precious Chapter on Guarding the One of the Great Dao ends here.

Verses on Guarding the One

(The original text transmitted by Fanyang Lu Chui’s True Lady to Cui Shaoxuan)

The primal origin of attaining the One.

Commentary: The Daodejing says: Know the white, keep to the black. One who studies the Dao, having known “white,” must still keep to “black.” “Black” refers to Yin Qi. When one first keeps to “black,” the black qi within the body is thick as lacquer. Guard without slackening, and the black qi day by day diminishes to nothing; when the yin tally (Yin Qi) is exhausted, pure Yang white qi appears, and inner illumination should shine. Then, closing the eyes and looking within, one may see the chambers of the five viscera and the thirty-six thousand blood vessels; numinous spirits gradually arrive, going out and entering the void, dividing the body into billions—this is called “the primal origin of attaining the One.” One who guards the One must empty the body and clear the mind, constantly keeping to emptiness, inwardly concentrating spirit and thought; then primordial wondrous Qi naturally flows into the body of the one who guards, presiding over nature and life.

Laojun said to Master Wen Shi: I reflect that this Dao has its root in what is profoundly hidden and silent. “Hidden silence” (youming) means guarding the dark—that is, guarding the One (shou yi). Sit in stillness for a long time and settle the heart; then the inner light of Heaven shines by itself, one can shed the shell and emerge, withdraw sight and return hearing, and look inward at one’s form—it still appears as ordinary as before. At that time, on the outside a halo of light wraps the body; on the inside it is as if the body divides into thousands of selves—this is the wonder spoken of in Lady Cui’s poem “Guarding the One.”

The Most High (Taishang) says in the Heart Seal (Xinyin): “The perfected person wears the golden kerchief.” These five characters are the heart seal of Lord Yuchen. Laojun transmitted this to Master Wen Shi. To guard this heart seal is to guard the original root of the One—and it is also the gate of entering the Dao. The highest sages and lofty perfected ones all enter by this path. In short, guarding the root of the One means guarding the primordial spirit (yuanshen) in empty stillness. The root of the One that cannot be seen is like “the formless guide” (xiangwang); the root of the One that can be inwardly realized is like the “primordial pearl” (yuanzhu).

(It is also said:) “Not received from Heaven”—some gloss “Lao” as “without.” This refers to the supreme immortal: light enfolds and the shadow is concealed.

(Comment:) To obtain the root of the One, one must with utmost sincerity guard the spirit (shou shen) and accumulate merit while refining the body (lian xing); the mind in oblivion is as if without mind, the body in oblivion as if without body—within, do not cling to one’s own body; without, do not cling to Heaven and Earth. After long practice, flesh and bone also turn into pure yang vital breath (qi); yin breath is extinguished within, and one first feels the light of Heaven shining inward, brilliantly illuminating within the shed body. When the light of Heaven has merged within, form and shadow are hidden without.

(It is also said:) “Form appears from nature (ziran).”

(Comment:) Hengyue Zhenzi says: This speaks of when the Dao is complete—the form is condensed within the body; it cannot be forced by cleverness or artifice, but one must merge in oblivion with nature (ziran). The earlier phrase “arising from nature, not an ordinary body” has the same intent: true peace (zhen an) is not to be sought outward.

(It is also said:) “True peace is not sought.”

(Comment:) This aligns with the above—when the Dao is fulfilled, form dwells within; it is not something wit can demand from outside, only something attained by silent union with the natural.

Plain-Language Commentary on Compilation of Female Alchemy Scriptures

True Peace Is Not Something You Can Chase

Genuine stability is not something you obtain by deliberately “seeking” it.

[Commentary] Hengyue Zhenzi said: This refers to when practice is complete and the true form coalesces within the body—it cannot be won through cleverness or scheming. You need inner stillness so deep that there is “no mind,” and bodily stillness so deep that there is “no body.” If the heart still clings to “having a mind, having a body,” the spirit cannot coalesce.

The Spirit’s Long Stay

You must let the primordial spirit (Yuanshen) remain inside the body for a long time and hold it steadily.

[Commentary] Qizhenzi Wang Sunzhi said: A true embryo can settle only by turning attention inward and concentrating the spirit; the root is keeping the primordial spirit long in place. It is said that Laojun once told Wen Shi: If a person can keep the spirit within the body, know it, and embrace and guard the mystery, then over months and years the spirit stays long without dispersing; only a long stay can condense into an immortal body.

Hengyue Zhenzi also said: When the work of guarding the One is complete, the spirit coalesces; the true form rests in “my” palace of the womb. The womb palace is the sea of qi and the sea of blood. When the true form rests in the womb palace, that is called “the spirit’s long stay.” You must accumulate public-minded effort and apply bitter labor; only after years are deep do you get a formed body. The Xisheng Jing says: Hide the person within the person without exposing it, hide the body within the body without showing it—then the Way of Heaven flourishes. It also says: a heart without heart, a body without body—that is the Daoist.

When Inner Beauty Is Pure, the True Becomes Truer

When the inner landscape is beautiful and clear, the true form grows more truly itself.

[Commentary] This means that after long guarding of the One, yang-harmonious qi illuminates the whole body like a lamp or candle—bright and clear, nothing hidden; yin qi is exhausted, and the true form becomes more truly real.

The Nature of the Body: Both Firm and Yielding

(In body-nature and wondrous method) the nature can be both hard and soft.

[Commentary] This refers to formless wondrous method and the true suchness dharma-body: firm and yielding both serve. In yielding, held in the palm it seems not to fill the hand; in firmness, it can pierce metal and stone.

Cinnabar Heavens, Jade Void—Peers of the Highest Sages

(In realm) of the same kind as cinnabar heavens, jade void, and the highest sages.

The Poem on Guarding the One Above ends here.

Sun Buer Yuanjun’s Kunyuan Jing

At that time the Yuanjun was in the Huayang grotto-heaven, with the celestial hosts, Yanna the immortal lady, and the twelve stream maidens, expounding the Kunyuan Jing.

The scripture says: Heaven belongs to yang, Earth to yin; Heaven is active, Earth is still. The Qian trigram governs firm strength in action, the Kun trigram governs yielding softness in compliance—together they embody yuan, heng, li, and zhen (origination, penetration, benefit, and constancy). The way of Qian gives rise to the male; the way of Kun gives rise to the female. Yin alone cannot nourish on its own, nor can yang generate on its own; firm and yielding must work together and take the middle harmony, so that water and fire can mutually aid each other and bring forth the ten thousand things.

The virtue of Kun carries all beings—compassionate, enduring, without contention, reverent and yielding, assisting until the work is complete. Thus it holds the role of a mother’s benevolence, as the partner of “Houyuan” (the fundamental Kun Earth that pairs with Qian Heaven); in merit and in nurturing life, its way is originally one body with Heaven.

Since Heaven and Earth were opened and Qian unfolded while Kun closed, there have been the Holy Mother, Houtu (Queen Earth), Tianmu, Nüwa, Doumu, the Buddha Mother, Yuanjun, the Queen Mother of the West, immortal maidens, jade maidens, and on through Magu, Tianfei, celestial maidens, Xuanü, the Limitless Female Immortal, female bodhisattvas, bhikṣuṇīs, the Nāyán stream maiden, Zigu, the Xiang Consorts, Luoshen, shamannesses, Dianmu (Mother of Lightning), Qing’e, Sunü, Zhinü, and others—all cultivated the Way through the yielding quality of Kun yuan, attained the Way, and realized supreme fruition, sharing one breath with Tianyuan (the fundamental Qian Heaven) and not two. Today, good women each possess Kun yuan and can all enter the Way; with diligent practice they may realize the wondrous fruit of supreme bliss and endure through myriad kalpas.

If you hold back because you feel your body has outflows and is hard to cultivate, know that the mind-nature was never subject to leakage—why obscure yourself? Before beginningless time, what form or color was there? What bodily appearance? Only the one, only emptiness; originally there was no second mind. Why cultivate only the body? Why abandon the mind? If you can turn inward and contemplate the original source, there is an even shorter path of cultivation. This shortcut is now explained for all women—listen carefully.

In the Way, Qian (yang) tends toward activity and Kun (yin) toward stillness. To cultivate both nature (xing) and life (ming), you must begin from stillness. You are inherently inclined to stillness; yet if you merely hold to stillness without moving, how can you truly cultivate? The Kun path leans toward turbidity, the Qian path toward clarity. To cultivate nature and life, you must also begin from clarity. Only by refining clarity out of turbidity can you enter the Way and attain fruition. What follows is this path of “cultivating clarity.”

Though clarity and turbidity differ in outward form, both ultimately rest in the spirit of heart and mind (shen). If you wish for a pure heart and clear spirit, you must first cultivate xing (nature); to understand how to cultivate xing is already to “establish life” (lixing ming). Whoever grasps this level is grasping your xing—but the xing spoken of here is not everyday “temperament or habits”; the heart (xin) spoken of here is not the beating “flesh heart” either.

Heart is heart, xing is xing: each is its own matter, yet they cannot be confused. Xing is not your ordinary heart; heart is not your true xing. If asked “What is xing?”, answer with xing itself; if asked “What is heart?”, answer with heart itself. Heart need not cling to another “heart”; xing need not cling to another “xing”—not that there is no xing or no heart, but that within xing you do not set up a separate heart, and within heart you do not hide a separate xing. Xing by nature has no heart; heart by nature has no xing. If heart drags along a “xing”, it is not the Dao heart; if xing drags along a “heart”, it is not Dao nature (daoxing).

Dao nature and my nature, Dao heart and my heart, are one in truth; in delusion they become the deluded heart. When xing is real, Dao nature appears; when heart is deluded, it is not the Dao heart. Though we speak of “Dao heart”, the classics also distinguish two kinds: the flesh-cluster heart and the empty, numinous heart (xuling xin). The empty, numinous heart alone is the Dao heart, the true heart; the flesh-cluster heart is the non-Dao heart, the deluded heart.

You must be able to relinquish the flesh-cluster heart and turn toward the empty, numinous heart; awaken non-Dao heart into Dao heart and break deluded heart into true heart; and join with a vigorous heart and a diligent heart while casting off the afflictive heart and the obstructive heart—this is the correct path of refining Qian clarity from Kun stillness and Kun turbidity, the dual cultivation of xing and ming.

Only a heart obstructed by attachment needs to be transcended. To awaken, you must not take the deluded mind that chases external things as the true heart of the Way; you must take the mind that has shattered all illusions as the real heart, and further add a courageous heart and a diligent heart, while casting off the heart of affliction and the heart of obstruction. The obstructing heart is attachment; therefore to remove attachment you must give rise to the vajra heart, the empty heart, the heart that has “died,” the unmoving heart, the heart of wisdom, the firm heart, the complete heart, the accomplished heart, the bodhi heart, the compassionate heart, and the joyful heart—these are collectively called the heart of the Way (daoxin). To understand what the heart of the Way is, is to know that the heart itself is the Way. If you enter this Way, you must guard and hold such a heart. When you meet beauty, remain unmoved as such; when you meet illness, remain unchanged as such; when you hear thunder, remain unstartled as such; when you meet dispute, remain unconfused as such; when you meet blade and axe, remain unafraid as such; when you meet death, remain unbroken as such. To be “unbroken” is to be “undying”; to be “undying” is the heart of the Way. The heart of the Way is cultivating the Way; cultivating the Way is cultivating nature. If nature is still dim and unclear, it is not true nature. Abandon true nature—what then is heart? Abandon the true heart—what then is the Way? Therefore spiritual powers and wisdom all arise from the heart and the Way; purity, stillness, emptiness, and numinosity all flow from the Way of self-nature. The Three Treasures are originally one, not two; the Four Greats (earth, water, fire, wind) are nothing but illusory emptiness. Preserve clarity amid turbidity; guard against movement within stillness. If you can guard against movement, you can clarify nature; if you can clarify nature, you can guard the heart. If the heart is constantly cultivated, the six thieves (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind) cannot enter; if you are alert and aware at every moment, from where do the five aggregates come? Wisdom’s light is bright, vast, pure, and harmonious; nature is clear and life is established; using lead to control mercury succeeds through earth (intention); putting mercury into the furnace, hidden and silent in the depths, refining form into Qi (vital energy), refining Qi to return to spirit, refining spirit to return to emptiness—this is what was always so; why ask which kalpa cannot be preserved, which fruition cannot be realized, which body has outflows, which heart has obstructions, or whether the Way is dual?

After Yuan Jun had finished expounding this scripture, he said to the immortals present: The teaching of “non-duality” (bu’er) that I have proclaimed today is what I once received from Xuan Nü Yuan Jun—it is the zhenyi Kun yuan, the supreme subtle Dao, set up especially as a bridge for good women to cross the sea of the Dao. Even when good men come, they do not depart from this gate. I fear that your minds may still be dim and that doubt may make you shrink back; therefore I speak again in verse:

Men and women are originally one Qi; only purity and turbidity, stillness and movement differ. If a woman wishes to cultivate truth, she must above all gather zhen yuan so it does not scatter. Within yin there is inherently yuan yang; one should only nourish its clarity and not discard it rashly. When you understand the true face of sexual desire, you know it never truly binds you. Put aside greed, anger, and delusion; cut off worry and excessive thought; remove turbidity and nourish clear nature, and you will not fall into evil destinies. In still silence guard wuwei—then I am fully endowed with the de of a man (meaning inner refinement completes yang, shen and qi are whole). “No, no, no” as to form; “being, being, being” as to intent—form may return to nothingness, yet intent always has its “being.” Look inward: color and sound are all empty, not the slightest clinging. Take the body as Kun foundation; one yang rises from within the earth. Lead and mercury are indeed not the same substance, yet qi and shen are not two in meaning. When the heart is vast and empty, xin and shen can govern all. When one qi returns to spring harmony, one can fly beyond the clouds. I roam Taiqing with you—this is the verse of true suchness.

When Yuan Jun had finished the verse, all heavens, the Yan na celestial maidens, the twelve stream immortals, and the rest scattered flowers in a rain of incense; pearl nets and tassels, Dong zhang banners danced; with joyful faith they received it, praised its rarity, bowed in thanks, and withdrew.

Supplementary note: The Primordial Lady (Yuannjun) was born with the surname Sun and took the Daoist name Bu'er (“No Second”); she was a native of Ninghai. She was born on the fifth day of the first month of the first year of the Xuanhe reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song (the jihai year), 1119. In youth she married Ma Yifu of Danyang and bore three sons. The True Person Chongyang (Wang Chongyang) awakened her through the “ten transformations of dividing the pear”; husband and wife cultivated together, attained the Dao together, and ascended to the immortal realm together. On the twenty-ninth day of the second month she achieved chongju (corpse liberation and ascent), and was enfeoffed as “Primordial Lady of Pure Stillness, Profound Truth, Mysterious Emptiness, Expounding Orthodoxy, and Harmonizing Transformation”—one of the Seven Real Persons of the Northern School (Beizong qizhen).

Sun Bu'er Primordial Lady: Sequential Verses on Women’s Internal Alchemy (Neidan)

Sun the Immortal Lady, named Bu'er, styled Purified Stillness Wanderer (Qingjing Sanren), was the wife of Ma Danyang (Ma Yu). The True Person Danyang’s hands reached below his knees and his forehead showed three peaks; he composed poems such as “On the One of the True.”

(The above is the biography and prefatory note preceding Sun Bu'er Primordial Lady’s Sequential Verses on Women’s Internal Alchemy in the Collected Women’s Alchemy Scriptures; if the main sequential verses follow later in the same fascicle, they should be translated in a separate section according to the original scripture’s order.)

Sun Xiangu (the Immortal Maiden Sun), whose personal name was Buer and whose sobriquet was Qingjing Sanren (the Scattered Person of Purity and Stillness), was the wife of Ma Danyang. Ma Danyang had an unusual appearance: his hands hung below his knees, and his forehead rose like three peaks. He once wrote a poem saying: “Embracing the primordial and guarding the One is the work; the lazy fellow today does not even have this ‘One.’ All day I raise the cup and drink freely to refresh my spirit; yet in drunkenness there is someone who comes to support me.” No one understood its meaning. Suddenly a Daoist who called himself Chongyangzi came to convert and guide Ma Danyang and Sun Xiangu into the Dao (the Way). When he offered them a melon, he began eating from the bitter part at the stem. Asked why, he said, “Sweetness must be sought within bitterness.” Asked again where he came from, he replied, “Not far from a thousand li, I have come specially to support a drunken man.” Hearing this, Ma Danyang was astonished. The couple served their teacher with great reverence and built the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Hermitage in the South Garden. Several years later, the teacher took Ma Danyang on a westward journey and lodged at Yanxia Cave on Mount Kunlun, while Sun Xiangu stayed at home and diligently cultivated the Dao methods transmitted by their teacher. Later, at the age of fifty, she followed Feng Xiangu to Luoyang. Six years afterward her Daoist practice was perfected, and she wrote a verse: “With three thousand merits and practices complete, I transcend the Three Realms; I leap beyond the enclosure of Yin-Yang; hidden or manifest, vertical or horizontal, I am entirely free; the drunken soul no longer returns to Ninghai.” After writing this, she sat cross-legged and upright and underwent transformation. Riding the clouds past Mount Kunlun, she looked down and told Ma Danyang, “I will wait for you on the immortal island of Penglai.” Thereupon Ma Danyang also wrote a verse: “I have lived sixty-one years; in this world no one knew me. Like a single peal of fierce thunder, vast and mighty, I go off with the wind.” Then he threw down his brush and ascended.

The first, “Collecting the Mind,” explains the initial work of gathering the mind in Neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation: before my body was formed, the prenatal One Qi (vital energy) already existed; like jade, the more it is polished the more lustrous it becomes—how could cultivation now be muddled? One must sweep away the delusive thoughts, vast as the sea, of birth, death, and transformation, and firmly hold the key method that gathers the mind and maintains it without loss; in that most minute and subtle empty-spiritual locus, let the warm and harmonious fire phase (huohou) slowly brew.

The work indicated by the second, “Nourishing Qi,” is to further warm and nourish true Qi after collecting the mind, so that the prenatal Qi is cultivated and replenished.

Opening (the four lines before the Third Row Practice)

The Dao originally begins in wuwei (non-action), so why does one end up in post-heaven depletion? The moment a single thought leaves the mouth, the “three cun” at the root of the tongue—the oropharyngeal region, often treated in neidan (internal alchemy) as a gate—already holds sway over qi (vital energy). Worldly wear and sickness on top of that make return all the harder. Neidan often puts it as “when the child grows plump, the mother is nourished”: when the point of true yang in the lower field or within Kan (the “child”) is full, it can feed the pre-heaven mother qi; with the firing right, essence and qi are not simply spent without return—they can still circle back to the origin.

Third Row Practice

Where breath is gathered and spirit is fixed, the life-giving qi of eastern Wood virtue responds in turn. Drop the ten thousand entanglements—neither clinging nor stuck—and one breath returns to the “platform” (a figure for the dantian (energy center) or the central palace). In the order of refinement, let the yin-soft image descend first; then let sunlight arise and be cultivated in the later phase. Above like a “mountain peak,” below like the “sea floor”—upper and lower meet in mutual arousal; once cloud and rain have passed, it is as when thunder rolls once—meaning the qi network opens and Kan and Li meet at the critical pass.

Fourth Slaying the Dragon

At the depth of stillness, movement stirs within; yin and yang take each other as mold, supporting and checking one another. In the sign of wind, seize the “Jade Tiger” (western metal qi, lung breath); in the sign of the moon, catch the “Golden Crow” (solar essence, heart fire). With the eyes watch mist and vapor gather; with the heart tell forward refinement from reverse cultivation. When the “Magpie Bridge” (upper and lower bridges—often the Governing and Conception vessels or heart–kidney meeting) is crossed again, elixir qi returns to the furnace for gentle warming.

Fifth Nurturing the Elixir

Bind the “tiger” (rash movement, scattered qi) back to the true cavity; lead the “dragon” (rising yang) step by step to strengthen the elixir. The nature-body should be clear as still water; mind-intent steady as green mountains. Draw breath inward into the Golden Cauldron (refinement at the dantian); settle spirit to guard the Jade Pass (throat or the essence gate). Day by day, add grains like millet—little by little—until form and spirit may shift; even “hoary hair turned rosy again” speaks of inward vitality filling out and the face renewed from within, not mere outward grooming.

Sixth Embryonic Breathing

To advance the elixir work quickly, first clear the realm of illusion and keep the heart from turning with circumstances. With single-minded intent hold the spirit medicine; breath by breath turn toward the primordial state of Qian (Heaven). Qi reaches the “Three Isles” (upper, middle, and lower—or brain, heart, and belly); spirit forgets the body and merges with the Great Void. Coming and going alike, each moment everywhere is true suchness—neither added nor taken away.

Seventh Talismanic Fire

Where embryonic breath runs without break, one must above all distinguish two kinds of mechanism: in still clarity and in movement. Yang fire (solar fire) should be increased at the right time; yin soul (yin essence and yin spirit) must be guarded so it does not drift outward. Like a pearl in a pool holding the moon’s image, like the moon on a peak casting light—above and below reflect each other. Six times through the day (or three by day and three by night) must not be neglected; water on schedule, and the medicine seedling grows full.

Eighth Receiving the Medicine

When half the subtle mechanism is understood, the elixir head appears like dew first forming. One may guard the root of life, yet without the second half of the firing a formed elixir still cannot be refined—receiving the medicine and forming the elixir need the full course; halfway satisfaction will not suffice.

Ninth: Refining Shen (Spirit)

The “śarīra” accumulated in life before entering the Way (a metaphor for the innate speck of true Jing and spiritual nature) must, once gathered into “my embrace” (the embrace of the central palace and Dantian), be handled as carefully as a brim-full vessel and as gently as nursing an infant. The lower gate, the “earth door,” must be firmly closed; the upper aperture, the “heavenly tower,” must be opened first. When the “yellow sprout” (nascent true Qi, golden fluid) is washed and refined until pure, it is like thunder on the mountaintop—the return of the one Yang, and Shen and Qi stir into motion.

Tenth: Taking Nourishment (Fusshi)

The great furnace is like a mountain lake, holding within it the workings of creation. By day one welcomes the breath of the sun crow (solar essence, Yang Qi); by night one draws in the essence of the moon toad (lunar radiance, Yin Qi). When the hour arrives, the elixir can be gathered and refined on its own; though years have passed, the body’s Qi stays clear and strong. Where the primordial Shen comes and goes, the myriad openings of the body all shine with light.

Eleventh: Grain Abstinence (Bigu)

Once one can feed on and inhale spiritual Qi, the lungs and viscera grow cool and clear, unlike ordinary people. Let go of fixation on form; forget both “emptiness” and “being,” and merge with the utmost realm. For morning food one may seek mountain taro; when hungry, gather spirit herbs by the marsh. If one still mixes this with smoke, fire, and meat and fish, this body will hardly tread the Jasper Pool (paradise, the lofty realm).

Twelfth: Facing the Wall (Mianbi)

When all affairs are deemed complete, sit still in a small niche (quiet room, meditation couch). The body feels light as if riding purple Qi; the nature is stilled as if washed in a clear pool. Qi blends Yin and Yang and returns to oneness; Shen is one with heaven and earth in the “three-in-one” (or the three powers—heaven, earth, and human—united). When practice is complete, one attends the jade gate (celestial realm, the Dao’s domain) and departs with a long cry through mist and ravines.

Thirteenth: Spirit Emerging from the Body (Chushen)

Outside the body there is again a body—not something made by illusion. Penetrate this spiritual Qi; vivify this unitary primordial Shen. The bright moon congeals into golden fluid; the blue lotus is refined into jade truth. Cook and refine the jade rabbit’s marrow (a metaphor for Yin essence, the quintessence of lunar radiance); the bright pearl shines clear, and want and hardship need not be feared.

Fourteenth: Surging Ascension (Chongju)

When the auspicious time comes to leave the valley (success in practice, exiting seclusion), in a short span one can ascend to the divine empyrean (high heaven, the immortal realm). A jade maiden drives a green phoenix; a golden youth offers crimson peaches—metaphors for a realm fulfilled and ascension verified.

Note: If the text above connects with the closing line of the eighth section, that line should read: “The nose meets pure Yang; divine lead (the spiritual substance transformed from true Jing) pervades the body and becomes numinous; nurture and hold it with care—when full and complete, one surges upward in flight.” That is, nasal breath joins pure Yang; divine lead penetrates the body and awakens; containing and nourishing require caution; when practice is complete, one may ascend (or Shen and Qi surge upward). Each section belongs to the sequence of female alchemy (Neidan): refining Shen, taking nourishment, grain abstinence, facing the wall, spirit emerging, and surging ascension. The language is largely metaphorical and is best read against the full scripture.

Preface to the Four Opening Lines (before Sun Buer’s seven-character quatrains)

Playing pipa and se among flowers, blowing jade pipes under the moon—once the immortal and mortal worlds are parted, one goes forth transcendent, like cold clear sound carried away on the tide. (This describes turning from worldly music and pleasure into the cultivated state of leaving the dusty world behind.)

Sun Buer’s Seven-Character Quatrains

I

Not riding the white crane but preferring the luan (female immortals in Daoism often ride the luan), twenty banners and pennants wheeling left and right; by chance stepping into the hall of writing and gaining one awakening, descending-truth incense coils around the green railing.

II

In the mild “little spring,” warm wind is moist; sunlight enters the Jiangnan scholar’s home; the wintry plum is urged to open first—pure-hearted person and pure-hearted blossom face each other.

III

What sustains life and what begins all things both come from Yin-Yang; the limitless (Wuji) can open the light of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji); polish the heart-mirror diligently until it is bright as the moon; the great thousand worlds are one grain of millet—let them abide contained within.

IV

Spirit and qi must be as clear as “night qi”; supreme joy lies originally in silence; within illusion is truth, within truth is illusion—work for now the mechanism of “transformation and birth” in the silver basin (an inner alchemy image).

V

The immortal isles of Penglai still call for companions on the journey; alone one can hardly climb the jade cliff-top; if withered silence and dead sitting are taken as practice, the Weak Water runs full—without the one-leaf boat you cannot cross.

VI

Nourish spirit and cherish qi to keep fullness; joy drops Yang, anger harms Yin; with both eyes inwardly bright, tame the tiger’s tail (imagery of breath and quelling heart-fire); with both ears softly dim, listen in stillness to the Huangting (the inner landscape of the scripture).

VII

Amid thorns, teach it to sprout golden buds; within nature itself is the wondrous lotus; when the luminous sign suddenly appears, recognize that moment as “Other” (the true self, original nature).

Notes on Sun Buer’s Sequential Inner Elchemy Poetry for Women’s Practice

Chen Yingning

General Remarks

First, the original fourteen poems are elegant in wording and rich in meaning—superior elixir verses—so the full text is placed at the beginning for students to read and memorize.

Note: The seven quatrains and Sun Buer’s Sequential Inner Elchemy Poetry are already given in that separate piece; they are not repeated here.

II

Although the original poem is titled “Female Practice Internal Alchemy” (Nügong Neidan), if one considers male and female alchemical instructions as a whole, the points that differ amount to roughly one or two parts in ten, while what they share comes to about eight or nine parts in ten. Men who cultivate immortality can therefore still draw useful reference—or a measure of inspiration—from this poem.

III

The poem is interwoven with many terms reserved for the immortal traditions. Even those of wide learning often find it hard to penetrate its subtleties; ordinary women need hardly be mentioned. This humble commentary tries to explain as clearly as possible and to bring hidden points into the open, so that the true oral formulas seem almost written on the page. As for the full sequence of practice from beginning to end, the original’s division into sections makes it impossible to set out one continuous account; one can only proceed in this piecemeal way.

Further note

The commentary often cites old sayings from past masters—phrases taken up on the spot because they fit the subtle principle. That is better than coining new sentences and avoids any suspicion of invention.

IV

The notes are not in vernacular prose, but they try to rely less on metaphor and more on plain statement, so that the meaning stays clear. Readers with a solid command of literary Chinese should not find them difficult. If even this feels burdensome, one’s affinity with the Immortal Way may be rather shallow. Such supreme subtle Dao is meant to be transmitted only after choosing the right root capacity. The poet’s aim was to express his own insight, not to require that everyone understand; the commentator’s aim is to spread profound learning, not to pander to the vulgar. Talk of “universally saving the masses” therefore lies outside what this work discusses.

5. At the highest level, the immortals’ methods of cultivation were originally simple and all-of-a-piece, with no fixed order of stages. When the poem speaks of “the first,” “the second,” and so on, it is only ranking how deep the results go. In real practice, from the first poem through the fourteenth, the work is one continuous thread—it cannot be split into fourteen unrelated chunks. You must read it through from start to finish and hold the whole in view before you can grasp the essentials. Do not argue over each section in isolation.

6. For women who seek transcendence, apart from the “Heaven Origin” (Tianyuan) line that relies on ingesting external elixir (Waidan)—which is hard to carry out in practice—and apart from the “Human Origin” (Renyuan) dual cultivation (which the author has sworn not to put in this book), only this single path has ever counted as the great Dao. All other schools, temple and lodge teachings, and transmitted methods go under countless names and take many forms. Those who learn them poorly fall into every sort of fault; even those who learn them well mostly gain only a strong body, long life, and a death without illness—still far from the true path of transcendence. Anyone with a serious aim should give this text extra attention and turn it over again and again.

VII. Learning the Way Requires Lineage and Hard Work

In antiquity, those who studied the Way often followed a master for ten or twenty years or more. Figures such as Yin Changsheng, Bai Yuchan, and Wu Chongxu lived with their teachers, practiced on the ground, received correction and guidance at every turn, and only after long accumulation did they attain real fruition.

People today are restless in spirit and find it hard to persevere; success is therefore rare. Among them, the cunning sort use streetwise tricks—indirect probing, provocation, and tests—to steal oral formulas, imagining that one formula will make them immortals at once. They do not know that what they get is usually dead instruction or wrong method. Genuine immortal formulas all come from long, arduous verified practice; such people never touch the edge of it.

A word to readers: if you gain something, you must refine it carefully and cultivate with effort; otherwise, having it or not amounts to the same—formulas without real practice are as good as none. (This failing is more common among men; women are somewhat less prone to it.)

Eight

Since the Han dynasty down to the end of the Qing, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism had constantly criticized one another, and no final verdict was ever reached on which was superior. After the reform of the imperial system, Confucianism survived in name only; Daoism could hardly be called a coherent “teaching” either. What remained in substance was mainly Buddhism. Though believers were many, those who truly applied themselves to practice and realization were few. Setting aside monks and nuns, among lay followers the people called “great good friends” mostly taught recitation of Amitabha Buddha’s name (the Pure Land path); other approaches were rarely taught.

Chan methods such as investigating Chan, incense-sitting, encounter dialogues, and contemplating the critical phrase—because the Pure Land school flourished—had gradually declined. Tiantai cessation-and-contemplation had entry methods, but was often used only as material for lecturing on the sutras; few seriously followed the steps in practice. Recently there has also been what is called the Mantra school (esoteric dharani practice), brought into China from Japan; many study it, and some who recite mantras too intensely end up with physical and mental imbalance.

The four strands above—Pure Land, Chan, Mantra, and cessation-contemplation—are among the most emphasized forms in modern Chinese Buddhism. Yet they are mostly “mind-only” disciplines; for birth, aging, sickness, and death in this life, food, clothing, and desire, old age and worry, they often offer little hope of immediate resolution. What is called “complete liberation” is mostly deferred until after death; what one needs and fears while alive is no different from ordinary people. How things truly are after death only the dead know; the living still cannot verify it.

In Buddhist circles there is a habit of saying that “only the Buddha is supreme,” looking down on other schools and other books and rejecting all scriptures outside the tradition. As believers defending their own founder, that attitude is understandable; but once people fence themselves in and close off contact, doctrine and practice find it hard to advance. My purpose in writing this book is to do scholarly research, in the hope that like-minded readers will test things for themselves and use the results to tackle the fundamental problems of human life—quite unlike works whose aim is to spread faith and convert others. For that reason, this book has no obligation to follow any one school’s pantheon of deities such as Yuanshi Tianzun, Taishang Laojun, or the Jade Emperor as venerated in Daoism.

As for the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and the various masters of the hundred schools, wherever something is worth taking, I will quote and use it as needed, without drawing rigid sectarian lines. When the book touches on similarities and differences between immortals and buddhas, I sometimes refer briefly to earlier scholars’ views; though I cannot cover everything, I hope to be neither arrogant nor self-deprecating, and to avoid repeating others’ words in a way that misleads both myself and readers—scholars ought to hold that attitude in the first place.

In short, whatever religion or school one belongs to, the test should be visible results within a definite period, and the goal achievement in this very life; if one wishes to fulfill that aim, apart from the path of Jinye Huandan (Golden Liquor and Returned Elixir—inner alchemy cultivation), there is no other way. I offer this modest view to fellow seekers.

Among the world’s religions, in ritual, institutions, theory, method, and the arrangement of practice, few give men and women equal opportunity; only the immortalist tradition (dandao) is not like that—within the dandao lineage, both men and women may cultivate according to the formulas. If one also seeks the same goal described above, apart from Jinye Huandan, there is likewise no other path. I state this again, in all humility, for those who share this commitment.

Nine

Among the religions of the world, few offer men and women equal standing in ritual, institutions, or paths of study and practice; the tradition of immortality cultivation is an exception. It is commonly said that when women cultivate, they often reach fruition sooner than men—work that might take a man three years can sometimes be matched by a woman in one. This is tied to particular features of female physiology, which is why women may enjoy this kind of “head start.” What level one reaches after success depends on how much effort one puts in, not on whether one is male or female. That is a view distinctive to this school and quite unlike other teachings. One can see that the immortality line is exceptionally free, already beyond the usual religious mold: it is purely a matter of learning and practice. Readers should not judge it with a conventional religious yardstick. Women who harbor a great resolve are well suited to this path.

Ten

I am not in a woman’s body—so why study the female elixir instructions? And I do not intend to become a worldly teacher who transmits the Way to women—so why annotate them? Only because I deeply fear that the arts handed down for thousands of years may be cut off at last; if they are hidden again and not spoken, perhaps no one will understand them afterward, and however bright one’s mind, one will not know where to begin.

There are certainly women in the world who read widely and grasp principle, who vow greatly and persevere, and who do not let the conditions of modern life extinguish this single resolve. If the teaching is kept secret once more, then hereafter no one will know it; though there is wisdom, from what gate can one enter?

In the world there are certainly women who read widely and understand principle, who vow great vows and possess steady perseverance—dissatisfied with the ease of modern life, not treating posthumous superstition as their refuge, intent on escaping the pinch of food, clothing, shelter, and travel, sworn to break the fixed pattern of birth, aging, sickness, and death. Without learning the way of immortals, how could such vows be fulfilled? Hence the author’s painstaking commentary. (For men cultivating immortality there is the art of “refining qi with the sun”; some still know it today. For women, the art of “refining form with the moon” is nearly lost. Because men doing gongfu need only fulfill their proper share, they need not inquire further into women’s practice—so those who transmit the Way in the world, when they speak of female practice, inevitably blur their words; and among women there are few outstanding talents, and it is harder still to meet one who can transmit this art. From now on, the author deeply hopes successors will appear.)

Brief Account of Immortal Lady Sun Bu Er

Plain-Language Commentary

Sun Xiangu, the Immortal Lady, took the dharma name Buer (“No Second”) and styled herself Qingjing Sanren, the Tranquil and Pure Wanderer. She was the youngest daughter of Zhongyi of Ninghai County (Ninghai lay in what is now Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong—not the Ninghai in Zhejiang). She was born in the second year of Emperor Taizu of Jin’s Tianfu reign. By nature she was bright and gentle. Her father married her to Ma Yifu, with whom she had three sons. Ma Yifu is the Ma Danyang Zhenren spoken of among the Northern Seven Real Persons. After Danyang took Wang Chongyang as his master, the Immortal Lady also left her three sons and cut worldly ties, thanks to Patriarch Chongyang’s many skillful means of guidance. She went to Golden Lotus Hall to seek ordination and secretly received the essentials of the Way. Some years later her master took Danyang on a journey west; they stayed at Kunlun’s Smoke and Mist Cave, while she remained at home alone, practicing without slack. In the fifteenth year of Emperor Shizong of Jin’s Dading reign she went to Luoyang, followed Feng Xiangu, and lived in her lower grotto, cultivating another six years until the Way was complete. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month of the twenty-second year of Dading, she suddenly bathed, changed her clothes, asked her disciples whether noon had come, then picked up her brush and wrote a verse: “Three thousand merits full, beyond the three realms; leaping out of yin-yang’s wrapping shell; hiding and showing, east and west, utterly free—this drunken soul will not return to Ninghai.” When she finished, she sat in full lotus and passed on. Fragrant breezes and auspicious qi did not disperse for a whole day. In the jisi year of Emperor Shizu of Yuan’s Zhiyuan era, she was posthumously granted the title “Qingjing Yuanzhen Shunde Zhenren” (Tranquil and Pure, Deeply True, Virtuous and Harmonious Real Person); her lineage is called the Qingjing school.

(The above is drawn from the Xu Wenxian Tongkao, Dengzhou Prefuzhi, and other records. For fuller detail one must consult biographies, specialized works, and chronologies on the Northern Seven Real Persons in the Daozang.)

Note: Among the nüdan (female alchemy) formulas that have come down to us, only a few remain; compared with male neidan (internal alchemy) classics, they amount to less than one percent—a scarcity already. Moreover, most were written by men; though some points are sound, they are ultimately not the realm of lived experience. If one seeks writings by female adepts themselves, apart from Cao Wenyi’s Lingyuan Dadao Ge (Song of the Great Dao of the Spiritual Source), this poem is probably the only one left.

The original poem has circulated for a long time without anyone annotating it. Years ago, in spare moments while discussing the Dao with a woman, I explained it line by line and sent my notes as a gift. That was already twenty years ago. The old drafts were scattered among piles of old paper and were hard to read straight through. I have taken them out and revised them once more; fortunately there are no serious errors, so I record them here. Of course I dare not claim to have fully grasped Immortal Sister Sun’s profound meaning—I only open a path for those who will read this poem later. The notes may still fall short in places; because they are meant to guide beginners, I have deliberately kept them from being abstruse.

Gathering the Heart — First Step

Before my body yet had being, one breath was already there.

Before this body of mine existed, this single breath was already present.

Before we have this physical form, we already have this one breath. Tan Xiao’s Huashu (Book of Transformation) says: “The void transforms into shen (spirit); shen transforms into qi (vital energy); qi transforms into blood; blood transforms into form; form transforms into an infant; the infant into a child; the child into youth; youth into maturity; maturity into old age; old age into death.” That is the forward path of becoming human. If a person of the Dao can reverse it—making blood return to qi, qi to shen, and shen to the void—they can become an immortal.

The “One Qi” refers to the primordial undifferentiated qi (hun yuan zhi qi) in the pre-heaven state, before Yin and Yang have separated. Once Yin and Yang divide and the Two Modes (liang yi) are established, it can no longer be called the “One Qi.” Confucian teaching that “being one in kind, its power to give life is unfathomable” likewise points to this innate One Qi. What Laozi means by “obtaining the One” is also obtaining this single qi; therein lies real practice, not something that can be settled by empty talk alone.

“Like jade, does grinding make it less lustrous? Like gold, does refining make it dull?” (No—it becomes clearer the more it is refined.) Neidan (internal alchemy) scriptures often mention the Jade Pool, the Golden Cauldron, the Jade Rabbit, the Golden Crow, and names such as Jade Fluid and Golden Fluid. In general, whatever is described as yin, as spirit (shen), or as gentle fire (wen huo) is figured as “jade”; whatever is described as yang, as qi, or as vigorous fire (wu huo) is figured as “gold”—drawing on jade’s quality of gentle warmth and gold’s image of firm strength. Of course there are occasional exceptions in usage.

“Sweep empty the sea of birth-and-death; firmly guard the gate of total retention”—the sea of birth-and-death is the various thoughts in the human mind. In an instant, stray ideas rise without cause, now born, now extinguished, hard to still: a thought arising is “birth,” a thought fading is “death”; in one day there are ten thousand deaths and ten thousand births, and samsara is right here in the present moment—you need not wait until after death to speak of verification. But to sweep these thoughts empty is easier said than done! One can only rely on a method to unify the mind. The gate of total retention is the essential gate that gathers and holds this single thought: stay fixed in one place, do not turn with circumstances, use one thought in place of ten thousand, and gradually still the false and return to the true.

The “Gate of Overall Sustaining” is what Laozi called the gate of the mysterious female (xuanpin); later Daoists often call it the single aperture of the pass of mystery (xuanguan yiqiao). Zhang Ziyang said: “This aperture is no ordinary aperture—Heaven and Earth coalesce in it; it is named the cave of spirit and qi, and within it lie the essences of Kan and Li.” Put plainly, it is one yin and one yang, one spirit and one qi; only when yin and yang unite and spirit and qi wrestle does the “substance” of the pass of mystery stand firm. Although beginners must clear wandering thoughts, that is by no means grinding away only on mental effort; if one rejects everything and thinks of nothing, one easily gets no result, grows disappointed and discouraged—this should be distinguished carefully. (Ziyang’s poem admits other readings; this essay does not expand on them.)

“Half a grain of millet in emptiness and spirit; warm, melting fire-temperature.”

“Half a grain of millet”: when spirit is gathered into the qi-cave, spirit is within qi and qi wraps spirit outside, as if retreating and hiding in the secret; the application is extremely fine, hence the image of half a grain of millet. “Empty” means not stuck on forms; “spirit” means not sinking into dullness. Distraction must not arise—if it does, the fire turns dry; true intent must not scatter—if it scatters, the fire turns cold. One must be as Laozi said, “soft and continuous, as if present; use it without forcing,” to hit the middle way. “Melting, melting” is harmonization done right; “warm” is neither cold nor dry.

These two lines describe very aptly how one should actually practice when guarding the Mysterious Pass (xuan guan)—but they do not mean staring fixedly at some spot on the body; that would be a serious misunderstanding. Beginners who guard only one place and do not know how to adapt their practice may later develop strange illnesses.

Nourishing Qi, Section Two

At the beginning it was non-action (wuwei); who would have thought one would later fall into the post-heaven?

What follows nature and proceeds by wuwei belongs to the xiantian (pre-heaven) Way; what relies on deliberate human effort belongs to houtian (post-heaven) work. Before birth, one was originally a single mass of primordial unified qi (hunyuan yi qi), without name or form; unknowingly one fell into the womb, and then there was a body. Once there is a body, great trouble comes with it.

With the first cry at birth, the “three inches” already hold sway.

In the womb the fetus has only taixi (embryonic breathing); the nose does not yet breathe. At the moment of birth, one cry—and outer air enters through the nostrils—so post-heaven breathing takes hold of the thread of life.

At first inhalation is long and exhalation short, and the body grows stronger day by day; then inhalation and exhalation even out, and development reaches its limit. After middle age, exhalation grows longer and inhalation shorter, and the body weakens. Near death one often can only exhale and barely inhale; when nasal breath stops, the root of life is cut. Here “three inches” refers to breathing—the reach of breath through the nose, roughly three inches.

All the more when worn down by worldly toil—how can one endure the grip of illness?

The passage above states the general law of life and death in the human body; what follows is how people ruin themselves.

The Six Dusts and Lifespan

Form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and mental objects together are called the “six dusts”—the outer conditions that eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind cling to, and that easily stir the heart. Both mental strain and physical toil count as “labor.” The lifespan people are born with is not long to begin with; even without deliberate waste, very few in the world live past a hundred. On top of that, the wear of the six dusts and of illness both drain one’s vital energy (yuan qi), so people often fail to live out their allotted years and die halfway through what they might have had.

(Someone asked: “The six dusts are a Buddhist term—why use them to comment on alchemical scripture?” Answer: “The commentator did not arbitrarily borrow Buddhist language; the original verses often use Buddhist words such as ‘birth and extinction,’ ‘suchness,’ ‘sharira,’ and the like—none of which are native Daoist terms. Without the Buddhist canon, the commentary could not be made clear.”)

“When the Child Is Full, It Nourishes the Mother”

“Child” means post-heaven qi; “mother” means pre-heaven qi. In the elixir path, post-heaven qi is likened to Water and pre-heaven qi to Metal. In the Five Phases, Metal generates Water—as if the pre-heaven becomes the post-heaven. Cultivating the elixir stresses reversing creation so that Water in turn generates Metal—that is, returning from the post-heaven back to the pre-heaven.

In what the ancients called “nine revolutions returning the elixir,” the “nine” is the extreme of yang number and also the completion number of metal in the Five Phases, hence “nine returns”—not a rigid rule that one must refine and turn exactly nine times. Innate qi is hard to grasp directly; one must start from post-heaven effort to return to the pre-heaven. When post-heaven qi is fully nourished, pre-heaven qi arises naturally—hence “when the child grows fat, the mother is nourished” (post-heaven, like a child grown strong, can in turn nourish pre-heaven as “mother”). “Revolving return” means giving back and reversing.

Third: Conducting the Work

Where breath is gathered in and spirit is concentrated, the vital qi of the east will come.

“Gathering breath in”: hold and store the breath like hibernation, still and unmoving; “concentrating spirit”: fix the subtle, numinous spirit so it does not scatter. “East” is where the sun rises; “vital qi” is set against the stagnant “dead qi” within the body. Ancient cultivators doing breath regulation often did so in the yin and mao hours, facing east, drawing vital qi from the air into the body and using that force to drive out accumulated dead qi inside.

Supreme elixir methods need not be tied to hour or direction, but it is generally best in quiet mountains and forests, when the sun is warm and the breeze mild, so bodily signs come easily as you work, like a pole casting a shadow at once. If you often concentrate spirit and gather breath, warming and steaming like incubation, before long you can take pre-heaven single qi from the “cavern of creation” (where heaven-and-earth creation and the source of human life reside). Confucius said: “Acting before heaven, heaven does not go against it.” If heaven does not go against it, how much less a person? How much less spirits?

This passage is about actual practice, not empty talk or fantasy—only when you have cultivated will you know.

This teaching concerns true cultivation and real practice—not empty talk or idle imagining. Only through personal verification can one understand. If you ask how Qi is held in, how Shen is gathered, where they settle, and whence they come, it cannot be explained in a few words; ink and paper cannot exhaust it. One must usually go through repeated inquiry and many rounds of actual practice, and the learner must already carry deep genu (innate capacity) and apply the mind single-mindedly, before entry is possible. If everything were written on paper, the living path would be turned into a dead formula. People’s temperaments differ and constitutions differ; copying a fixed method not only fails to help but can invite illness—so why do it?

“Let the ten thousand conditions leave no hold; let one Qi return to the platform.”

The ancients said: “One who cultivates the Dao must decline the ten thousand entanglements, hold to one thought, until this heart is still as death—then one may not die; until this Qi flows on without ceasing—then one may long endure.” What is the “platform”? It is the Lingtai (the seat of heart-and-nature). What is “one Qi”? It is Ming (the breath of life). When Ming returns to Xing (nature), that is Huandan (returning the elixir—the gathering back of Jing and Qi into unity with nature).

Zhang Ziyang (patriarch of the Southern School of Neidan) said in truth: “When practice reaches this point, the Niwan (upper Dantian, at the crown) feels as if wind arises; the Jianggong (the heart region) is like the moon shining clear; the lower Dantian burns like fire; the Guhai (the lower belly sea) is wave-still; the Jiaji (along the spine) turns like a wheel; the four limbs are steady as mountains and stone; the pores feel as after a bath just finished; the bones and channels feel as in deep sleep; spirit feels like husband and wife in joy; Hun and Po (soul and corporeal soul) cling like mother and child.” These are states in real practice, not mere figures of speech. What is said above already pushes description to the limit.

“The yin image should descend in front; yang light may be planted behind.”

Advancing yang fire and retreating the yin talisman must follow the body’s natural responses in practice, yet a cultivator’s daily intent, mental focus, and conduct also nudge the process along without one always noticing—this cannot be overlooked.

From Weilü (near the tailbone, where the Ren and Du channels meet) upward along the spine to Niwan (inside the crown, corresponding to the upper dantian), this stretch is called “advancing yang fire”—as if lifting and gathering warmth and yang upward and inward.

From Niwan downward through the chest to Qihai (the dantian below the navel), this stretch is called “retreating the yin talisman”—as if letting what has risen settle back in an orderly way and return to stillness. The overall rule is simple: going up is advance; going down is retreat.

On the ascending segment along the back, one often clearly feels heat steaming inside; on the descending segment in front, that heat gradually subsides, cools, and quiets. One may also put it this way: when heat is strong and rising, that is advancing yang fire; when heat has leveled and is descending, that is retreating the yin talisman.

The two ways of speaking emphasize slightly different angles, but the logic is one thread. Many finer points still need to be felt out and reflected on in one’s own cultivation.

The closing line, “mountain peak and sea floor; after rain, a clap of thunder,” is mostly metaphor: the summit and the depths, the place where yin and yang meet—when the moment arrives, like thunder after rain, one sound and passage opens, picturing the activation of the passes, the image of water and fire fulfilled (shuihuo jiji).

In the Step to the Moon Palace verse, Master Lü Jueyang writes: “Earth thunder shakes the mountaintop rain.” The Hundred Character Stele says: “Yin and Yang turn and return, and one clap of thunder spreads transformation.” Shao Kangjie has a line: “Suddenly at midnight one peal of thunder—ten thousand doors open in turn.” Immortal Zhongli says: “The adept who gathers primordial qi (xian tian yi qi) hears thunder all night without pause.” Peng Helin says: “Those who know on Jiuhua Heaven—one night wind and thunder shake ten thousand mountains.” Neidan scriptures mention “thunder” in countless places; the root is always the Earth Thunder, Return (Di Lei Fu) hexagram in the Book of Changes (Yijing). In practice it is a metaphor: primordial qi has accumulated long enough and gathered sufficient force, then responds at the right moment and bursts forth.

When qi arrives, the body’s passes and cavities open together: the ears may seem to hear wind, the back of the head trembles, the eyes flash, the nose twitches—many such signs. It is best to know them beforehand so you are not startled when they come.

In female elixir (nü dan) practice, reaching this stage usually requires menstruation to have already ceased. Sun’s poem, however, speaks of it before “slaying the dragon” (stopping menstrual flow)—so the full phenomenon may be hard to verify at that point. The “thunder” spoken of here is mostly qi in the Sea of Blood (xue hai) (the uterine region) rising toward the two breasts during practice. When this qi stirs, alchemists call it the living zi hour (huo zi shi). “Mountaintop” stands for the breasts and Shanzhong (CV17, between the breasts); “ seabed” for the uterine Sea of Blood. “Rain” stands for yin qi; “thunder” for yang qi.

Editor’s note: This commentary is mistaken; when the practitioner reaches this stage, they will understand for themselves.

Slaying the Dragon, Part Four (the fourth lesson on zhan long—stopping menstrual flow and not letting essence leak recklessly)

When stillness reaches its depth, movement can be born; yin and yang call to each other. … (If the main text continues after this heading in the source, it should be translated in sequence from the original book.)

“Dragon” here refers to a woman’s menstrual flow. “Cutting the dragon” means using cultivation methods to sever menstruation so that it no longer comes. If one asks why menstruation is called a “dragon”: from the Tang dynasty down to the present, alchemical scriptures and oral formulas often use this name; there is meaning in it, but it need not be spelled out here.

If one asks why a woman on the Daoist path must first cut off menstruation: this is a uniquely transmitted, supreme secret of the immortals’ tradition—not something worldly religions, philosophies, or hygiene textbooks can compare with. Where woman’s practice differs from man’s, the crux lies here; where women often attain faster than men, the reason also lies here. Without this path, seeking another gate leaves no hope of becoming an immortal. If in this life one cannot refine an immortal body, one can only wait for death—yet insist on how one will “attain fruition” or “be liberated” after death: that is self-deception and not to be trusted.

Some also say: since menstruation hinders cultivation and must be cut off, an elderly woman whose menses have naturally ceased should save much effort and find attainment easier than a young woman. They do not know: if she is a maiden before menses, with true innate wisdom who penetrates the profound work, attainment is indeed easier. Once old age comes, menses are dry and vital spring is insufficient—the gap from a maiden is vast; how can the two be lumped together?

The method requires creating something from nothing: causing one whose heavenly dew (Tian gui) has already ceased in old age to show again the signs of flowing menses; then returning the existent to non-existence, following step by step the established rules by which a young woman cuts the dragon in cultivation—harder than in youth, so how can it be called easier? Hence the ancients urged: “Add oil early; receive life—do not delay.”

According to the rules of completed refinement, one must advance step by step in order to “cut through” (pass gates and remove obstacles)—harder than mere entry, not easier as some claim. Hence the ancients urged: add oil (sustain the dantian “fire,” do not break off practice) early; receive life (connect to the innate true One, guard the root of life) without delay.

When stillness reaches its limit, movement arises within; when movement reaches its limit, stillness returns. When yang reaches its limit, yin is born; when yin reaches its limit, yang returns. This is the natural cycle of qi and principle in the body—nothing to marvel at.

Daodejing chapter 15 asks: Who can, as muddy water slowly settles, let turbid qi in the body gradually become clear? Who can dwell long in stillness and let new life slowly arise from within? The first line: if one truly settles into stillness, impure qi in the body bit by bit turns into clear qi. The second: after stillness is sustained long enough, signs of “movement” appear within (vital stirrings, the return of one yang, and the like).

Daodejing chapter 16 says: Reach the utmost emptiness, hold fast to deep stillness; the ten thousand things stir together, yet I watch their return. The first two lines speak of stillness at the extreme; the last two of life arising from stillness. “Return” (fu) is the fu of the Fu hexagram in the Zhouyi—five yin lines above, one yang returning at the bottom. Yin symbolizes stillness, yang symbolizes movement; one yang returning beneath five yin is exactly what alchemical texts mean by “stillness at the extreme gives birth to movement.”

“Mo” means model or mold—what shapes things into form. “Xiang yu mo” (mutually modeling each other) means yin and yang are like molds for one another: mutually dependent, mutually completing, inseparable.

“Catch the jade tiger in the wind, seize the golden crow in the moon”—a pair of stock inner-alchemy images.

Here “wind” is the person’s breath. Alchemical writings often pair the tiger with Western metal and the dragon with Eastern wood; whenever they speak of lead, of metal, or of the tiger, they usually mean the same kind of thing—a metaphor for the pre-heaven yang qi that stirs when stillness has reached its limit, not literally catching a tiger.

The line about the jade tiger in the wind and the golden crow in the moon is generally read with the golden crow paired with the moon and yang essence, and the jade tiger with wind, breath, and yang qi; lineages differ slightly in detail, but the gist is the same: use outer images to speak of inner work—grasping pre-heaven yin-yang within breath (wind) and within stillness (moon).

“Moon” (yue) has two layers of meaning. In terms of xinggong (cultivation of nature—the work on mind and heart), when not a single thought arises and the mind is free of stray ideas, that state is called “moon”: a image for inner clarity without defilement, like a lone moon shining in the sky. In terms of minggong (cultivation of life—the work on essence and qi), when pre-heaven yang qi stirs, that too is called “moon,” like the moon’s phases from dark moon, new moon, first and last quarter, to full—turning in cycles without the slightest error.

“Golden Crow” (jinwu) is another name for the sun: the sun is the Li trigram; Li is fire; fire is mercury (here standing for Shen (spirit)); mercury is spirit. When gathering pre-heaven qi (xian tian qi), one must use post-heaven qi as the pivot—hence the saying “catch the jade tiger in the wind.” The word “jade” describes its gentle quality. True Person Shi Xinglin said: “From ten thousand silent places the wind first rises; over a thousand mountains the moon suddenly rounds.” That is exactly this scene.

In the elixir path, where there is wind there is fire; when qi moves, spirit must respond—so True Person Lü Chunyang said: “Lead is born, mercury is born; born mercury and born lead are cooked in one place.” Lead and moon stand for yang qi; mercury and Golden Crow stand for yin spirit. When yang qi flares once, yin spirit must respond at the same time—hence “catch the Golden Crow in the moon.”

One must fix attention on the season of yinyun (the dense, harmonious blending of yin and yang qi), and watch the paths of forward and reverse circulation.

The Yijing says: “Heaven and earth yinyun; the myriad things become rich and mature.” “Yinyun” means heaven’s qi descending to meet earth and earth’s qi rising to meet heaven, blending warmly—as if rain were about to fall but had not, thunder about to roll but had not: the state called “ten thousand li of gloom as spring qi merges.” If thunder and rain have already arrived, it is no longer yinyun.

Within the human body, the stage when yinyun (dense, mingling vital breath) arises and living force gradually stirs follows the same principle. What exactly will one experience? Because there are circumstances that cannot be written plainly on paper, it is awkward to spell them out too openly. An intelligent woman with the right karmic affinity, if she receives true transmission, can take up practice in good time; otherwise she may miss the moment even when it is right before her.

Although one can also create conditions for oneself, that is never as subtle as a natural opening. At this time, if one follows this living force along the human path, one may conceive and bear a child; if one goes against this living force along the immortal path, one may gather the medicine and return the elixir. But “advance” and “reverse” mean more than that: when living force turns outward and shows itself, that is advance; when living force turns inward and is gathered, that is reverse. When shengqi (generative qi) moves downward and becomes menstrual flow leaving the body, that is advance; when shengqi moves upward and is kept from turning into menstruation, that is reverse. Hence the Daoist books say: “When a man completes his practice he does not leak essence; when a woman completes her practice she does not leak menstruation.”

(Originally yinyun describes spring snow melting, all things reviving, and living force stirring; applied to the person, it means that at this time a woman often feels spring desire rising for no obvious reason— a sign that xiantian yiqi (pre-heaven primordial qi) is moving. If she cannot steady mind and spirit, the qi sinks downward and fluid secretes from the lower yin, and she falls back into the houtian (post-heaven) again. To recover the pre-heaven, one must work against this mechanism.)