《女子丹经汇编》Vol. 9

(Opening section on cultivating the mind and refining the elixir)

What people call “attaining the Way” hinges on whether the heart has truly settled. It is also said: you may refine for years yet feel nothing—not because the oral formulas are missing, but because the heart never truly quiets. Even if you sit morning and evening, you cannot hold still for even an hour or two in the twelve double-hours; when stillness does come, it lasts only a few quarters of an hour at most. In that case, when will qi transform? When will spirit congeal? When will the elixir form? Year after year, in the end you remain a “stubborn person”—the heart unchanged, the Way not entered.

People say so-and-so is cultivating truth, so-and-so keeps the precepts and ignores worldly affairs; when I look closely, they differ little from ordinary folk. They also say so-and-so received the true secret, or so-and-so practiced many years yet achieved nothing—in fact, those who get the wondrous formula often start strong and later slacken; those who practice many years often drift in complacency and ease. To cultivate the Way like this does the Dao great wrong and harm.

I now urge you: in wealth, you cannot surpass us (immortals and buddhas / perfected ones); in rank and honor, you can hardly compare; in food, clothing, and pleasure, even less so. We have already cut away everything cleanly—what of yours cannot you let go? What you cannot let go is true folly: folly piled on delusion; delude yourselves further and you may end as people with no tie to the Way—a grief indeed.

Immortals and buddhas intend compassion to save the world; do not abandon yourselves. They can deliver you; I take universal aid as my heart—do not cut yourselves off from the Way.

Samantabhadra Bodhisattva says:

Morning and evening you practice, hoping to form the Golden Elixir. The elixir’s “Mercury” (the pre-heaven single breath, true yang, and the like) is not the kind of pill forced out by crude effort.

The elixir is within the body—formless, imageless, without head or tail. What has head and tail is not wondrous; what has neither head nor tail is utterly mysterious.

Only in the realm of mystery does the elixir complete; without awakening to that mystery, talk is empty. Refining with deliberate intent only wastes the heart—heart-monkey and will-horse running wild.

When it completes without your forcing refinement, that is called the “great elixir.” The great elixir descends from emptiness itself; it is one primordial qi with heaven and earth.

What has form and can be sensed as “Qi” still falls short of the truly subtle principle; only the formless, imageless “Ancestor” (the primordial root) embraces all phenomena.

To obtain the One and hold it forever is to turn and revolve in empty stillness. When the ten thousand things are to grow, the first hint appears from here; when they are to flourish, it is this point that stirs them; when they are to gather and return to the root, this point is again the most crucial and the most refined.

What has image and can be pointed to is called post-heaven (houtian); what has no image and casts no shadow is the pre-heaven Heaven (xiantian zhi tian).

Everything in post-heaven sprouts from the pre-heaven primal origin; when a person is born into the world, the principle was originally in the One.

Without image and without clinging, within lies a “Mystery” (Xuan). Once obscured by post-heaven, the Mystery no longer seems mysterious.

Now the wondrous method is revealed to awaken those with affinity. Who does not know this in a general way? Yet when one speaks of the finer points of what comes after (post-heaven), it is hard to put into words.

Once you try to know “Shen” (the discriminating spirit, the heart-mind), thoughts often have not yet become clear as still water. People mostly mix in selfish desire and seldom see the Mystery of the Dao.

“Seven days, one return” (as in the rhythm of something like the small heavenly circuit) is in truth difficult to achieve as well. Dust in the heart is heavy, and Shen is often confused and dull.

Neither bright nor pure nor dry and clear—both Qi and Shen are injured; how then can the passes be opened?

If the passes are still hard to open, from where can the orifices begin? If the orifices do not open, how can withdrawal and addition (choutian) turn and operate?

When withdrawal and addition cannot turn, one merely sits empty on the meditation cushion. I will say more in detail: first one must gather inward and make Shen complete.

Gathering is gathering of oneself; within that there is its own Mystery. When a thought moves by chance, turning will begin on its own.

“Emerging” must have its timing and is tested in the middle field (zhongtian, the region of the Dantian). The wondrous method spoken of before moves its Mystery within suchness (ruru).

In suchness there seems to be movement, yet it also seems unrelated to the passes. This movement within suchness can even for a moment let Heaven and Earth be set aside.

Suddenly, within suchness, it stirs—the Crimson Girl (chanü, a neidan image for yin essence, “Li” fire, and the like) meets the pass and orifice. This point is exquisitely subtle; the classics rarely speak of it plainly.

I now explain it in detail—it must not be lightly or wrongly transmitted. Every alchemical scripture sings lofty tunes, yet this one place in particular must be treated with care.

Plain-Language Explanation

(Opening: “Suchness” and Movement)

Everyone talks about “suchness” (ruru)—the true nature as it is, unmoved and undisturbed—and also about “the crimson girl paired with the phoenix,” a Neidan image of yin essence joining yang spirit, like husband and wife in union. These phrases are meant as a whole; they have not yet sorted out sequence or boundaries.

Before sequence is clear, before it is clear which comes first, I will explain it again in detail.

Once “suchness” stirs with intent, both kinds of situation—before and after—get involved. Only by understanding that kind of movement within suchness can you know where fetal breathing and the pass-holes (guanqiao) lie.

That movement is muddy and natural, not something the acquired self forces; only then can it stand the test, and only then can you see where the shen (spirit) begins and emerges.

If you “know you are moving” and then move, acquired consciousness is still mixed in. If movement suddenly happens without your knowing, that is a sudden quickening within suchness—wonder beyond words, joy beyond telling. That alone is true “movement in suchness”; the great elixir can be completed here.

Seeing this subtle state, worldly ties naturally fall away; appearances need no deliberate sweeping, and all thoughts drop of themselves. What is stored need not cling to “emptiness”—emptiness too is natural; without clinging to the mark of emptiness, the ten thousand realms are like one clear pool.

When heaven and earth operate, I am one muddy blend with them; when heaven and earth are still, I am mysteriously one with them; when heaven and earth generate, I am joined with them; when heaven and earth store and gather, I and the one origin return to the storehouse together.

(Later: Great Awakening and Pointing Out)

Only at this step can one speak of “Great Awakening” opening the mouth to teach the Dharma; without this realm, becoming an immortal is still hard.

What does it mean to awaken to Great Awakening? How could that be explained lightly! I will point out one line: suchness turns one layer further, the pivot is fully disclosed, and subtle method has no bound. (Phrases such as “when heaven and earth generate, I am joined with them… immortality is still hard” repeat here with the same meaning: until one reaches return to the one origin in the storehouse and the realm of Great Awakening, the immortal path remains difficult.)

Queen Mother of the Jade Pool says:

The true woman was originally a child’s body; the difference lies only in clear versus turbid. Lead and mercury are both present, but they have already formed a human shape.

Once one enters the womb and takes form, one can no longer be called by the name “true” alone; having already fallen into the acquired, how could one ascend at once?

Even when primordial qi is complete, one must first refine the state before clear and turbid were divided; only from “having” returning again to “not having” can one speak of returning to the root.

If one discusses the principle of return, women on this side do not easily understand. If one merely clings to guarding in one way, both eyes fixed only on the “milk court” (the chest and dantian region), clear and turbid cannot be separated—how can mixed qi condense? The clear rises and the turbid sinks; that is the constant pattern.

Note: This piece belongs to female alchemy (Kundao). It uses Neidan terms such as ruru, “crimson girl paired with phoenix,” lead and mercury, and the milk court to explain movement and stillness, acquired versus innate timing, rising clear and sinking turbid, and return to emptiness and the root. The closing section, in the Queen Mother’s voice, states that the female body has already fallen into the acquired and must follow a path distinct from male alchemy, stressing refining the muddy whole and distinguishing clear from turbid—not empty guarding in one spot alone.

This section explains the principle of return (fanhuan), yet women often still cannot grasp the crucial points. In practice one must constantly and single-mindedly guard unity (shou yi), letting both eyes turn inward to illuminate the Breast Court (ru ting)—in female elixir methods, the region between the breasts, around shanzhong and in front of the heart, where one gathers qi and concentrates spirit.

Clear and turbid are hard to tell apart; if they are confused, Qi will not condense. Clear qi should rise; turbid qi should sink—that is the usual fixed rule.

If one holds on too rigidly and clings too tightly, Qi instead fails to circulate and turbid qi surges upward; clear qi is pressed down and falls—how then can one recognize life (ming) and spirit (ling)—the interplay of nature and life, spirit and qi?

Female elixir practice has no other secret: “vivacity” (huopo) is the key—when the heart is alive, Qi naturally flourishes; when spirit (shen) is alive, Qi becomes nimble; when intent is alive, Qi naturally stabilizes; when nature (xing) is alive, Qi naturally ascends. This vivacity is not outside the body but in the heart, leaving no trace—only when the heart is settled is it right to sit in meditation; once seated, regulate the breath; when breath is even, the body gradually refines within, and true joy arises from this. When joy is so complete that one forgets one is joyful, Qi throughout the body merges into one; it naturally turns toward the Ancestral Opening (zu qiao) (the lower ren channel and dantian region), and at the critical juncture one need not deliberately visualize.

If one can still the mind even for the space of a single moment, in that moment qi returns to the Central Court (zhong ting) (before the heart, shanzhong); if one can still the mind for a full span of time, for that span Qi circles and wraps around. If one can still the mind morning after morning, in about one month one will see results; in a hundred days there may be verifying signs; in one cycle (a year) one may speak of ascension (feisheng)—meaning inner accomplishment where spirit and qi are both subtle, not literal flight of the physical body.

Why can it go so quickly? Because primordial Qi (yuan qi) has not yet collapsed from leakage. The pity is that one is often bound too tight—qi and blood cannot move together at once: sometimes qi turns into blood, sometimes blood turns into essence (the text uses “silver” as a metaphor for essence); in that transformation one barely notices, and in a daze another spill occurs—so month after month, year after year, there is still no spiritual effect, while the body withers and illness arises. If one does not heed what the Great Dao teaches, how can one sort out these principles?

Xiangyi Gumu said:

I now speak profound principle, devoted to the female elixir (nü dan) path. Women by nature belong to the still (jing) pole; within Yin there is also Yang. Merely clinging to stillness never yields true stillness—the pivot (jiguan) lies in the Central Yellow (zhong huang) (the middle palace yellow chamber—the middle dantian and huangting region). Stillness is indeed the root, yet to meet affairs with softness one must still borrow firmness—firm is the master of Yang, soft is the storehouse of Yin; only by knowing the firm within the soft can one achieve strength within weakness.

Yang dominates as “hard”; yin settles as “soft.” Only when you grasp that “softness holds hardness within” can true strength arise where you seem weakest.

Qi and blood belong to the post-heaven realm; the ancestral aperture (the entryway of innate Qi) naturally gives rise to yang Qi. When a single breath reaches the four limbs, the hundred vessels flow as if filled with jade nectar.

There is no need for the male-elixir language of “slaying the red dragon”—when turbid qi is fully refined, it naturally becomes clear light. Men and women differ by nature; the way of female cultivation must be taught on its own terms.

The female body is not practiced in the same “whole-body” manner as in male methods; innate primordial Qi is often already somewhat impaired. To return to Kun-yin Qi, activation usually lies in the region of the two breasts.

Draw it forth with the finest true intent—not coarse force—like adding good fuel to kindle fire, yet without clinging too visibly to method; otherwise blood and qi stagnate and hidden illness takes root.

In practice, be “intentional yet not intentional”: neither forcing growth nor forgetting altogether. In time Qi returns to the source, and purely yin qi naturally exhausts itself.

Only after yin has subsided does yang ascend; then one refines the firmness of Qian-yuan. Virgins need not use this breast practice; for them, true stillness, guarding the One, and remaining upright throughout are enough.

When qi is still, blood transforms of itself; when spirit is clear, Qi naturally rises. There is no need to insist on knowing every change—the subtleties are all contained within.

The microcosmic orbit has its measure; circulation does not stagnate, and yin and yang harmonize. At first blood transforms into qi; in the end softness turns into firmness.

Within the month, Qi meets and exchanges, shedding turbidity and retaining pure yang. When turbidity is gone and clarity ascends, the foul bowels are naturally cleansed.

The light is truly bright and pure; marrow and bone show a translucent glow. If the root source is not cleared, stray thoughts will secretly harm you.

If the fire burns too fiercely and the whole body grows hot, that is false yang appearing when one turns against the Dao. If you know the method of stopping the fire, in silent forgetting without contrivance, deviant fire is instantly extinguished and true primordiality is not injured.

When the translucent glow appears, if the root source is not clear, anxious thoughts will secretly injure you in the dark. When fire flares and the body heats, false yang of reversal appears; knowing how to stop the fire, forgetting in unintentional silence—deviant fire is at once extinguished and true primordiality remains unharmed.

The above is the true oral formula; female cultivation especially demands vigilance.

If you can truly practice in this way, upon completing the Dao you may correspond with the Fawang (Sovereign of the Way).

The White Lotus Immortal says: … (in the same vein: women should guard the One in stillness, move the breasts with subtle intent, neither assist nor forget, know stopping the fire, and preserve true primordial qi—the closing line “upon completing the Dao, one corresponds with the Fawang” may mean attaining the Way and aligning with the Sovereign of the Way; the original wording is retained.)

Section One (General Outline of Cultivation)

If you wish to leave the mundane world and keep your aspiration upright, you must especially gather and restrain both outward bearing and inner mind; stillness without movement is the foundation. Sit quietly for long periods and vexations will naturally fade; if there is the slightest constraint or entanglement, Qi will be hard to bring to completion. Women’s nature tends toward stillness; it is fitting to cultivate within stillness, and true Qi will naturally surge and stir. Forget scattered thoughts, speak little, and hold to utmost goodness; when the heart does not waver and intention does not stray, you can align with the passage gate (the key aperture in inner refinement). When Qi moves, do not block it; when Qi rests, do not force it. Before refinement has matured, leaning too cold or too dry is wrong. If you act accordingly, when the work is complete you will perceive Xiantian (original true yang—the Qi before it is issued). Where is Xiantian seen? Only in a single mind without clinging: neither pulling nor hanging on—then spirit becomes lively on its own; when spirit is alive, Xing (nature) and Ming (life) turn together without cease, yin and yang meet. “Copulation” here means yin and yang Qi harmonizing within the body—not relations between men and women—then true Qi fills and rounds itself. When the rounded Qi penetrates the crown gate and descends again, it is like drops falling on the seven lotuses (a metaphor for seven passes or seven layers of refinement). When the lotus receives sweet dew, the heart of the flower lives; in seven days and seven mornings it blooms in fullness; once the lotus heart flourishes, the true heart appears, like the Self-Abiding Tathagata (a metaphor for innate true mind) filling the great thousand worlds. Wandering through the great thousand and seeing the shore of the sea of red dust’s suffering, you then know the immortals’ wondrous pointers are not empty—they truly do not mislead and can steer the boat of compassion to save others. Women in the world who keep chastity and virtue should hurry to cultivate; they can surely form the elixir and wander to the Western Heaven (a metaphor for perfecting the Way—not a place on the map).

Words of the Ancient Buddha Guanghui (General Account of Huohou)

I now gather into one account a kind of huohou (the timing and method of advancing fire, adding and withdrawing, and warming in cultivation) for women who keep chastity and virtue to study together. You need not sit rigidly at the edge of the couch; move at ease and stay light, not bound by constraints. Let gathering and release be natural; when for a moment the mind is still you may enter Chan contemplation on your own, and when it is not still do not force sitting—forced sitting makes Qi block the ancestral origin (the primordial root where ancestral Qi resides).

This trace of original Qi comes from stillness; as you ease and roam it gradually lengthens, then the two aspects twine together—and twining also has essentials to test: if spirit is dull and you crave sleep, lightly get on the couch and sit again; in one sitting true Qi will naturally circulate. Without this method spirit is hard to unite; over days the work at the crown becomes full.

But first you must melt away the burdens that tie the body; if you are dull and greedy for sleep, lightly sit in meditation again—in one sitting true Qi will come on its own. Without this method spirit is hard to merge; in time the work at the crown is complete.

Note: In this text, “copulation,” “seven lotuses,” and “Western Heaven” are Neidan (internal alchemy) metaphors for yin–yang harmony within the body, opening the passes, and perfecting the Way—not worldly sex or the geographical west.

First, one must transform all encumbering burdens, shifting from post-heaven to pre-heaven. Unless one belongs to the two categories of chaste women, do not use this practice to seek recklessly.

If one greedily pursues this power, sleep demons will arrive, causing Shen (spirit) to become blocked at the pass points. Regarding the essential method for chaste maidens: at the Zi hour (midnight period), when Yang Qi activates, before the lower foundation...

Silently recite the Buddha name thirty to fifty times, then apply your gong to the anterior point. If the body does not move at the Zi hour, the battle between heaven and human occurs at this moment.

The ability to shift the body and transform demonic burdens—one utterance of the Buddha name penetrates heaven and earth. At the Chen period (7–9 AM), one should not move the body carelessly; rash movement damages the original source and ruins the divine mechanism.

This is the supreme secret for true cultivation; chaste women should study it together. Why divide into two types for adjusting fire timing? The chaste maiden's spirit primordially resides between Yin and Yang.

The chaste widow's will is firm, yet often before cultivation she has suffered much depletion; the internal Yuan Qi is already damaged and must be restored by restarting the furnace.

Why divide fire timing into two types? The chaste maiden's spirit primordially resides between the two. The chaste widow's will is firm, yet before cultivation she often suffers depletion; the internal Yuan Qi is damaged and must be restored by restarting the furnace.

At the Chen period, when ascending to sit, Shen-Qi must be sufficient; if insufficient, do not move—forcing movement further injures the elixir. What is the elixir named? It cultivates the form; the elixir originally is Qi condensed, called Xuan (Mystery).

Xuan is another name for the elixir; when Shen is complete, Qi naturally returns. This is the fire timing for chaste and virtuous women; cultivate to one hundred days, then point the elixir.

In female true Yin hides true Yang; therefore point the elixir using gong at the Chen period. When one Yang first moves, it travels actively; circulate the circuit of heaven.

When one Yang moves, true Yin flourishes; ascending to sit, one can naturally embrace and return. Within what is indicated lies heavenly secret wonder—ponder carefully, do not speak recklessly.

Formulas spoken are mostly false; true cultivation lies in letting thoughts go completely. Remove all attachments clear as water; travel actively circulating the circuit of heaven.

When one Yang moves, true Yin flourishes; ascending to sit, one can naturally embrace and return. Within what is indicated lies heavenly secret wonder—ponder carefully, do not speak recklessly.

Formulas spoken are mostly false; true cultivation lies in letting thoughts go completely. Remove all attachments clear as water; the bright pearl on the palm emits circular light.

The Queen Mother of the West says:

I must again remind you all: in women’s cultivation of the Golden Elixir (nüdan, inner refinement for women), progress must be gradual and sustained by steady perseverance, so that what began as effort can become ease in body and mind.

The order of practice is “from below upward, from behind forward”—first work with qi in the lower burner and along the back of the body, then slowly cook and gradually simmer, as in elixir-making: neither too loose nor too tight, so that firing naturally falls into place.

When the time ripens, there is a sign of “surging water”—what is called “the northern sea rolls sky-high” (in nüdan the lower dantian and womb region are often likened to the northern sea). Qi floods like a river in spate; then you must hold the measure as if steering a boat in haste. If you stir blindly in towering waves, you easily “lose the boat”—deviate from the path or harm the body.

Women who usually nourish stillness tend to have relatively solid qi in the lower burner. When menses is about to end or when the period fixed for practice arrives, true fire stirs like a fire across the plain. If you do not stop practice and do not restrain yourself, disaster is close at hand. As a rule you should stop for seven days, or even fourteen—do not take this as slackness; forcing practice at this time hardly adds skill. Wait until the lower body is clean (menses finished) before speaking of entering the mystery.

If you practice before flow has ended, turbid qi mingles with clear qi and you get “tides flooding the sea.” When the timing has run its course and the orifices gather, the small heavenly circuit fills and qi flows down together—hence “sky-high.” It is also like a river at flood: every stream, brook, and ravine merges into one current—that is what “surging flood” means. If you keep nourishing stillness and, when the term comes, enter meditation again, but true fire flares while turbid qi is not yet pure, the foul stuff burned by fire becomes a chronic ailment and the medicinal sprout (the root of practice) is hard to restore.

It is not only dryness in the “northern sea” region: the hundred vessels block, illness enters the marrow, and force cannot break the blood or dry what has sunk into the marrow. Today I pierce this principle and explain it in detail: forcing practice invites strange harm; everyone shrinks from difficulty. This was originally a subtle method, not lightly transmitted; now that it is pointed out, it is to encourage women on the Dao (female practitioners). If you mostly stop according to the term and resume when the term comes, you need not fall into lingering illness.

On the day the term arrives, “liveliness” is essential—do not worry or brood; cast off the seven emotions and sweep away the six desires; be at ease, free and unforced. Do not crave cold drinks, and do not indulge too much in very pungent food; then illness will naturally leave.

(The following passages repeat the same themes: when the term comes, stop practice, wait until clean, do not mix in turbid qi, when the heavenly circuit is full qi flows together, the logic of surging flood, and how if true fire rises before turbidity is pure it becomes chronic illness and blocked vessels—same intent as above.)

On the days when the monthly flow arrives, keeping the spirit lively and unobstructed comes first. Do not brood or feel stifled; the seven emotions—joy, anger, worry, thought, grief, fear, and shock—should all be released as far as possible.

Sweep away the six desires of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; let the heart be at ease, unhurried, and composed. Live with some freedom, but do not indulge in cold drinks. Avoid too much that is fiercely pungent or stimulating. In this way illness naturally lessens and life stays comparatively steady.

On the path of cultivation in a female body, several situations arise. To pursue the Dao in this life is often tied to karmic grievances carried from past lives. When grievances answer grievances, the body can hardly know true peace; sickness comes easily, and the thread of female elixir practice is hard to bind from start to finish. Some abandon the path halfway, yet hidden turns of fate still work beneath the surface. Though life may not have been joyful, at death they may still attain immortal realization. If the work is completed in life, a golden immortal may take them by the hand; rising from immortality, they may go straight toward the Western Pure Land.

Do not always hang the two roads of birth and death on your mind. I now speak this doctrine to you worthy women. Cultivation is bitter enough; do not in that bitterness crave rich, fatty sweetness. Let go a little of worldly ties and sweep away vulgar entanglements. When vulgar ties are cleared, the true spirit (Yuanshen, original spirit) completes itself. Guard this one point and you may wander freely among immortal mountains. If you wish to climb the pagoda, climb as high as you will; if you wish to reach Putuo, step and explore as you please. If you wish to visit famous temples of the eastern lands, wander at leisure; if you wish to reach the western pure land, the Buddha’s power will guide you through. If you wish to enter the Hall of Numinous Heaven (Lingxiao), advance by your own diligence.

What I say is no empty talk. Women’s practice shares the same stream as men’s; only stages and rank differ slightly. The ground is not essentially mysterious; every subtle transformation is no different from men’s. Ponder this deeply—the book records it fully. Follow it without error and cultivate in quiet each on her own. Remember, remember—I am deeply glad at heart.

Commentary by the Ancient Buddha Wentong of Xiangyue:

“Disaster rising before the brows” means the tide of blood comes like steaming fire. If you do not suspend practice then and instead push with intentional fire, you add fire to fire; the blood grows overheated and the harm of drying and scorching the body follows.

“The sea tide” is the time when the monthly message flows outward; you should stop active practice and sit in stillness. If you do not stop for several days, it is like knowing the river waves are fierce yet still launching the boat—you will lose what matters most. Do not neglect this.

Master Xiangyue Wentong, the Ancient Buddha, said:

The Way may be spoken of in stages and levels, but that is only to give practitioners something to hold the mind to so it does not wander. When it comes to steadfast purity, there is no need for a separate “method of refinement.” Zhen (truth/authenticity) and jing (stillness)—these two words are the essential secret from beginning to end. Women belong by nature to the aspect of jing; xi-bi (closing and opening) happens of itself, and ling qi (pre-heaven vital breath) appears on its own. Blood transforms into the Golden Elixir, yin influences are fully dissolved, and true fire steams the marrow—what stagnation or blockage could there be, and what talk of “slaying the dragon” (cutting the red dragon, stopping menstruation)? Without forcing refinement, transformation happens by itself; the Kun position (the yin body, lower dantian, and related loci) turns into Qian (pure yang, return to yang).

Master Xiangyue Wentong, the Ancient Buddha, also said:

Purity, clarity, and sincere truth are the subtle mystery of the Way. When it becomes the Golden Elixir, yin is fully dissolved, true fire steams the marrow—no stagnation, no slaying the dragon; without deliberate transformation, it transforms by itself, and the Kun position turns to Qian.

Master Xiangyue Wentong, the Ancient Buddha, also said:

Purity, clarity, and sincerity are the subtle mystery. Do not use post-heaven (post-heaven intent, wandering thoughts, desire) to disturb pre-heaven (innate spirit, original qi). After the mind is settled, long sitting in stillness is fitting; when the spirit is dull or confused, there is no need to probe inward relentlessly.

True nature is like the bright moon shining clearly; the great xuan pass (life gate, upper dantian, and other key points) is as clear as autumn water. Lively yet unattached, in deep stillness it seems both there and not there, easy and at ease. When the one spirit turns, dregs and sediment dissolve by themselves, and layers of bliss arise like fish leaping and kites soaring. Do not let the false body (the physical form) imprison the true self—only then can you return to the root and restore the original.

Master Xiangyue Wentong, the Ancient Buddha, also said:

The lotus throne and jeweled pagoda await such a person; utterly true and never obscured—that is precisely this cause. First distinguish clearly what is pure from what is turbid; with long sitting, ling qi gradually arises.

As original qi steams and surges, do not startle or panic; let it rise and fall, and it will harmonize by itself. “Do not forget, do not assist”—that is the true fire-tempo; intentional yet not intentional—do not fix it on the heart-mind.

When oppressed, go out for a walk; if you constrain yourself, the spirit feels unsettled. Stirring thoughts are “fire,” not the true medicine; when nature is still and free of dust, that is true gold.

Refinement originally has no fixed levels; when slag is washed away, the water clears by itself. There is no need to seek another true oral formula—tonight’s words must be followed with care.

Master Jinsha, the Ancient Buddha, said: (The original text ends here; no further text is given.)

This passage is meant to awaken women who have the affinity to cultivate the Dao: you must hold firm in chastity and restraint as your foundation, so the roots of the Dao can grow. Know that such wondrous instructions do not appear from nowhere—methods and secret formulas (fa yu jue) have always rested on ancient teaching.

Constantly cleanse the mundane body and return to a place of stillness; diligently nourish the transcendent mind (xianxin), so worldly grime melts away like ice. Cherish the immortal root and touch worldly affairs as little as possible, and only then can you sever mortal bone and exchange it for an immortal body.

Inner luminosity (mingming)—the light of your own nature—shines steadily, as if mirroring a former life; the radiance of the Seven Stars (qixing) arises within. With both eyes, inwardly guard spiritual light (lingguang); with both ears, keep the outer Qi (qi) at bay. Let neither nostril be drawn by ordinary fragrance—when true fragrance (zhenxiang) stirs, it connects through the Seven Stars. With one mouth, refuse coarse worldly breath; whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, constantly hold a Buddha’s name (fohao) (or the sound of mantra and scripture).

Let both hands stay clear of worldly entanglements; turn often to palm-leaf scriptures (beye) and recite the classics. Let both feet stand firm on the celestial terrace (tiantai) (the crown or the seat of practice), and carry on at ease in the elixir chamber and meditation palace (danshi, changong)—the inner places of Neidan (internal alchemy) and settled meditation.

If your steps sway lightly, the mind will float; if eyes and ears move rashly, Shen (spirit) is disturbed. When Shen is disturbed, the heart follows circumstances and scatters with nowhere to rest, and Qi cannot be evenly tuned. If inner inhalation is uneven and outer breath also intrudes, the root is lost; one even breath inside and out, and you naturally return to the root. When the inner master does not waver, Shen settles of itself; if you shake and cannot stay still, Qi cannot fill you.

Even when the true mechanism turns at times, if you are weary and have no place to return, you will still disturb the Yellow Court (huangting)—the middle palace where mind is gathered. Once breath is even, movement of the pre-heaven (xiantian) arises, and the post-heaven (houtian) yields so pre-heaven may run. If you can carry practice until post-heaven is cut off, pre-heaven will naturally rise from left and right (from the two sides of body and mind, or yin and yang)—this turning comes of itself; it is not something you force out with a mantra alone.

I have now explained the supreme meaning to the end; I hope you will practice this while still in a mortal body. Guard the true resolve together and do not greedily collect more formulas. I have shown you the passes and apertures (guanqiao) to steady your heart.

If your resolve can meet mine, your heart is still hard to make as clear as mine; if you can make your heart clearer than water—clearer than my own—after three years I will come in person.

I will appear to guide your pristine youthful body (tongzhen), moving through the air in flight like a cloud. My form always dwells within your heart; your heart is my Guanyin (Guanyin)—using the heart to watch the heart is precisely Guanyin.

If you can align your aspiration with mine, yet your heart cannot be as clear as mine—if you can refine your heart until it is clear as water, then after three years I will come in person to guide you across.

At that time I will appear to help you establish the “child-virgin body” (in Neidan, the foundation of intact original Yin and unified, pure essence): your form may soar through the air and drift like clouds; my image will dwell constantly in your heart, and your heart will be this very Guanyin.

Guanyin (here a figure for the inner true Yang and awakened nature) is ever present; when merit and practice are complete, you and I become one. Seven lotus blossoms can transform into countless blossoms, and those countless lotuses will shelter and protect your body.

If you will not even take a path as direct as this, where else will you go to bow before the World-Honored One?

The Golden Sand Ancient Buddha said: (The foregoing is his instruction.)

I have no other method to teach you. I will explain, one by one, the highest level of gathering the mind (shouxin—keeping the mind from scattering and resting it in one place), and the finest use of sweeping away stray thoughts (saonian—noticing distractions and gently letting them go).

The heart-mind and intention running wild (xinyi zou—the “monkey heart and horse intent,” thoughts racing everywhere) is not some separate problem. You have not yet chewed over and truly penetrated the Great Dao. Consider: the human body in the red dust is like being in a sea of suffering. Born as a human this life, if you fall again in the next, the pain is beyond words. As the saying goes: once you lose this human form, it is hard to regain it even across ten thousand kalpas. Today you are fortunate to hear the Great Dao and sit on the meditation cushion. In truth you need not deliberately “gather the mind,” nor deliberately “observe intention,” nor specially “sweep thoughts,” nor bind the “monkey heart” as if tying up a real monkey.

Have a body as if bodyless; let the heart be as if there were no gates or barriers. Do not constantly stare at your own mind, and do not mechanically memorize my teaching words. It is enough to take a slight measure of intention at the place between the two breasts (the heart pit and Shanzhong region—often the locus of mind-intention in alchemical texts). For one moment the mind will not settle, do not throw it away for that one moment; for two or three moments the mind is not pure, do not leave it idle for those two or three moments. Yet you must not bind it too tight—only between intentional and unintentional. Too tight and Qi will stagnate; slack for an instant and thoughts skew off course.

I teach another method, also for gathering the mind and for the wondrous inner elixir: recite the scriptures regularly. If stray thoughts are many, silently recite a scripture once—about one or two quarters of an hour (roughly fifteen to thirty minutes)—and you may feel a kind of trance; the stray thoughts will clear on their own. Work naturally in this way, and in a hundred days (about one hundred days) you may glimpse Xiantian (pre-heaven Qi, true Yang, and related inner-alchemy terms). If in sitting you meet the sleep demon (drowsiness, nodding off), when you wake continue your inquiry. When the will is clear, there is no need to gather further; when a thought rises, use this method again to gather the wandering mind.

Truly hard! Truly hard! Truly hard to pull you out of entanglements. Endless red and green, flowery robes and skirts; unending fields south and north, daughters-in-law and emotional ties—a long chain. Even if immortals and Buddhas had their full power, they could hardly lead you into the immortal garden or bring you aboard my boat. I urge you: do not retreat again; do not cast the Golden Elixir yourselves into the boundless sea of karmic debt. Without regret while alive, you will understand only after death.

Awake again, you maidens of pure vow: each of you think it through carefully. Your roots in past lives were not shallow; this life you met a rare affinity, and no one forced you—you heard the Great Dao and the subtle mystery was opened.

(Exhortation)

Female disciples, each follow your own true heart: see through the boundless sea of suffering in the red dust of the world. Do not wait until death to wake from what you failed to regret in life. Having again obtained a maiden’s body in this birth, reflect carefully: your roots in past lives were not shallow, and in this life you have met a rare affinity. No one has forced you—you came because, at the first hearing, the Great Dao unfolded its subtle meaning.

Female disciples, each follow your own true heart: see through the red dust and leave behind the seven emotions untainted. Such a thing is rare through the ages; you may be called extraordinary women among women. Yet the eye is chief among the six thieves: you cannot bear the sight of bright colors and lovely flowers—one thought turns, and in everything you care for face and propriety; false feeling and pretense drain your true intent. I now urge you: do not be stained by these.

Do not worry that this matter is hard to complete; do not brood that a great vow is hard to fulfill. Nor need you fear that no one at Putuo will call you—if you can release every attachment of the human realm, golden lads and jade maidens will guard you at every moment, so that Dao-Qi is not disturbed by demons and Dao methods are not entangled by spirits. Awaken all the way to the end: neither cling nor be defiled; the body grows light and strong, the hundred illnesses do not arise, and joy knows no bound. When merit is full, precious canopies and banner flags, the dharma-protector Weituo leading the way, the eighteen arhats escorting the carriage, flower immortals and rainbow maidens in their myriads, surrounding you on all sides until you reach the Western Paradise—worthy maidens, look and judge: is it not good? Truly your prior roots are deep and your karmic tie is excellent. This immortal of the dharma-treasure speaks bitter words of good counsel; I strictly warn you not to give rise to other thoughts—let each of you engrave this in your heart.

Yuanming the Daoist Mother speaks:

The Qi of Yuanming is originally complete in itself; Qi is originally stored in a single aperture. That aperture divides into nine openings; east and west face north and south in mutual alignment.

The stars and constellations each hold their place; with “the One” as pivot they turn. Neither seen nor seen, neither heard nor heard—seeming to be and yet not, it differs from the ordinary.

Being and non-being return to the middle term; radiance shines through the four directions. This aperture is not large, yet it embraces the ten thousand things.

This passage discusses the union of Yin and Yang through Qi and blood in Neidan (internal alchemy) practice—how the clear and turbid rise and fall—with much of the language borrowed from images of lotus flowers and pond water.

Great and Small, Beyond Measure

It (referring to true Qi or the one aperture of the Mysterious Pass) can be said to extend beyond the edge of heaven, yet be as small as to match the body and finer than can be measured; it can rise to the heights above the three heavens and sink to depths as deep as the ocean floor. The acupoints and key points should be distinct, and the principle ought to be clear.

Subtlety Hard to Penetrate

If one does not apply effort at the crucial place and only stays on the surface, the subtle region cannot be fully understood or thoroughly connected.

Yin-Yang, Qi and Blood

What is meant here is not merely outer Yin and Yang, but the pairing within the body of yang essence with yin blood: yin blood is stored in the Sea of Blood, while yang essence is activated and released here. When it is activated, ordinary people do not notice, yet in the heart there is a vague delight, as if floating and drifting; clear and turbid separate at this point, like black and white that can be told apart.

When They Do Not Connect, There Is Stagnation

If yin and yang cannot join, there is no true joy; instead the heart grows anxious and oppressed. Once spirit and Qi unite and the ethereal finds its center, Qi can wrap the whole body without obstruction.

Zi-Wu Hours and the Lotus

At the zi and wu hours (or at the upper and lower passes where they meet), it is like a lotus first opening; the two Qis of yin and yang join like leaves embracing. When yin merges with the ancestral Qi of yang, it is like lotus stamens spread across the pond; when yang pairs with the ancestral Qi of yin, it is like flowers blooming on lush branches. When one flower opens here, often the Qi of seven blossoms is released together—an image of one gate opening and the channels following.

Blood and Ancestral Qi Return to Each Other

The Sea of Blood communicates with ancestral Qi, and ancestral Qi in turn returns to the blood. If blood withers, Qi must be blocked; if Qi is obstructed, blood will also be exhausted. Where does illness begin? Mostly from knotted Qi. Knotting comes from a heart that is not free and at ease, from spirit and Qi held tight so they cannot flow with pleasure; the earlier and later Qis therefore close off—closing means the lower blocks the upper, while blocking is empty talk without basis.

Closing and Blocking

Because of closing, blood does not move; when it does not move, blockage forms. When Qi is obstructed, the passes close by themselves; if one thread does not connect, it is like splitting apart. Blood and Qi inherently have clear and turbid aspects—how are they divided? The heart must be clear and free of selfish desire, and the breath must also be pure. When it is pure, it joins with true yin, and true yang naturally presses to meet it; clear and turbid separate on their own, and the “faithful period” is not missed within the cycle of one month (or the monthly tide of trust).

Rising and Falling

What is light and clear floats upward; what is turbid sinks and leaks downward.

When the Heart Is Muddled, There Is Turbidity

If the heart is chaotic, Qi becomes dry and the breath fierce; clear and turbid are confused. One must still keep the heart clear and the breath pure, so that true yin and true yang can unite naturally, the clear rising and the turbid descending—only then does cultivation have a reliable standard.

Brief Context (Female Alchemy Scriptures)

In female alchemy texts, “Sea of Blood” and “yin blood” often refer to menses and the downward yin substance; “ancestral Qi” usually means primordial Qi or what is stored in the Dantian (energy center). Phrases such as “yang essence mates with yin blood,” “lotus stamens,” and “all seven blossoms released” mostly describe inner visions when the Ren and Du channels or the upper and lower passes meet—not encouragement of outer desire. Read them as inner spirit and Qi, fire and water, and the rise and fall of clear and turbid within the body—the same symbolic system as “Kan and Li mating” in male alchemy, with vocabulary weighted toward images of blood, the faithful period, and the lotus as metaphors for the female body.

This passage explains that if cultivation methods are wrong, they harm the body instead; secular physicians do not grasp the root of such problems and only treat them incorrectly.

When dryness (insufficient yin fluid in the body, a dry bias) intertwines with yang, a fierce, hard “deviant fire” like iron flares up and burns violently.

That fire drains true yang Qi; people easily grow withered and thin, and various “wasting” illnesses then appear.

Physicians in the world are like the blind: pulse-taking and prescribing are often random and misguided.

They habitually tonify Qi and blood first, yet never open the meridians and passes at all.

Once turbid Qi congeals, the meridians block even more tightly.

When tightness rises in the chest, restlessness, dryness, and heat follow,

the mouth dries and the tongue scorches; eating cold things briefly suppresses the fire,

yet medicine stays confused—more questioning, more sorting by symptom type,

and at the first mention of “heat syndrome,” they deploy cold herbs such as zhimu and huangbai,

tonify first then chill—the chronic illness never clears.

Every herb under heaven is tried, yet the person grows thinner and paler.

At wit’s end, they add renshen, deer antler, danggui, biejia, and the like,

both nourishing yin and bolstering yang—the threads of treatment tangle further.

Those who truly cultivate suffer deeply; everyone oddly fears seeing the principle clearly—once seen, they know the path was wrong.

Without cultivation life is tolerable; cultivate and you are broken instead.

Here is explicit warning: blood stagnation and poor flow have rules and limits—you cannot blindly open or blindly tonify.

Blood is like water in a valley—it should seep and flow slowly; if method is wrong, it will not move smoothly along the Governor Vessel (the central channel up the spine).

When Qi in the Governor Vessel scatters and rushes, it can clash with and disturb major acupoints.

Blood and Qi must then detour; in severe cases they burst past proper passes and boundaries.

Within the human “sea of blood,” three channels are often emphasized:

the Sea of Qi, the Sea of Blood, and the Conception and Governor vessels meeting at one pivotal point (schools differ slightly; the sense is where essence, Qi, and blood converge).

Essence passes here; turbidity is discharged here—when the route is open, things stay normal.

Unless cold or stagnation sets in, blockage should not occur.

Once blocked, flow stops—then use medicine that “cuts through” the path: warming and opening without excessive drying.

Warm through; do not over-dry; distinguish turbid from clear, and the illness can be sorted.

Treat this illness thus and you may be called a master hand.

This is pointed out so people need not suffer wrongful torment.

Yin and yang are distributed differently on the body; for men and women, one section must be named separately.

Men have this ancestral Qi (innate root Qi), largely allotted to the essence gate and essence points.

In women, ancestral Qi merges with yin blood—speak from the Sea of Blood (the root of menstrual and reproductive blood).

Men have this Yang Pass (where yang exits its gate); whether practice is “forward” or “reverse,” do not be lost in words alone.

Women have the “Northern Sea” region (lower burner and Sea of Blood area)—like waves stirred, pressed like water; cultivation and blood regulation must differ from men’s methods—you cannot copy men’s “pass opening” wholesale.

In sum: reckless cultivation or wrong tonification and draining can stall blood in the Governor Vessel and let deviant fire burn true yang; secular medicine only treats “heat” and “deficiency” and blocks further. For such problems, warm opening, separating turbidity, and distinguishing male from female are required: men emphasize essence points, ancestral Qi, and the Yang Pass; women emphasize the Sea of Blood and the Northern Sea—not one formula for both.

When the greater heavenly circuit is in motion, the movement is very strong, and even the lesser heavenly circuit feels broad and expansive. One must grasp the firing times according to the twelve double-hours, paying special attention to the moments when the critical nodes of the Zi and Wu hours meet.

This point must be understood separately: some practitioners have already “sat in the house” in cultivation (stabilized the inner landscape and guarded the root); others have not yet achieved this. Those who have cultivated can, at the union of Zi and Wu, truly unite and condense the true Qi; those who have not may still show signs of yin-yang union, but the ancestral Qi is easily dissipated. This concerns true life-essence and must not be treated lightly; neither should it be spoken of casually to others.

(The preceding passages on Zi and Wu, sitting in the house, union of true Qi, and leakage of ancestral Qi in the unpracticed appear again with the same meaning.)

“Beihai” (the North Sea) has both clear and turbid aspects: the turbid side thins and weakens the Qi; when turbidity prevails, form and substance show outwardly, and on that day one must sweep away all impurity with upright mindfulness. When thoughts are pure, clear Qi rises and connects with the ancestral Qi; when thoughts are mixed, Qi sinks into substance, and what was clear turns foul.

If the monthly flow (yuexin) goes wrong repeatedly, it is often because “thought” (nian) is too congested. Congested thought dulls the spirit; when the spirit is dull, one cannot distinguish clear from turbid. Clear and turbid intermingle, and true Qi cannot “beat upward” (cannot ascend along the circuit). If this persists, signs of disease manifesting in the meridians will appear.

One must wait until the appointed day arrives—without vain imagining or forcing—and then wandering thoughts naturally cease. Body and mind are at ease, with scarcely any obstruction: free and bright, clear and luminous. There is no need for excessive worry or grief, no need for fright; neither tension nor slackness to excess—maintain purity and clarity. In walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, nothing hangs or obstructs; the mind is alert and quietly joyful.

(The passage from “disease manifesting in the meridians… alert and quietly joyful” repeats the earlier meaning.)

Without knowing and without deliberate knowing, even between hearing and listening the mind does not stray into idle thoughts. The body seems to drift, while inwardly one sees heaven-light and earth-white; hands and feet feel as if lightly tickled, floating yet not sticking or stagnating.

Above all, guard against thoughts that are too fierce; fear-thoughts mean the work has gaps. This kind of thought is a serious ailment and must be urgently countered.

Within three seven-day periods (twenty-one days), if the “flow” (whether monthly flow or outward leakage of form-substance) is not yet exhausted, one need not be rigid about ordinary bedding rules; let the flow finish completely, then return to bed—only then does it accord with the rule.

This is a fixed principle; the secret instruction must not be transmitted lightly. The elite essence of heaven and earth—if lost at this juncture, the root is injured.

You female disciples: do not fix your minds solely on memorizing oral formulas. Without a clear teacher’s guidance and the true secret transmission, the Great Dao cannot be explained in words; yet if you cling rigidly to formulas alone, the qi channels will instead be blocked and cut off.

In daily life, let heart and mouth agree: you may often silently recite the Buddha’s name. When wandering thoughts arise, use silent recitation to gather the mind; when the heart is already clear and still, there is no need to force recitation.

First handle well whatever human affairs must be done; let your hands not “pluck flowers and stir butterflies”—do not be led by outer circumstances and desire. Do not over-adorn clothing and shoes, yet put your effort into constantly observing the inner alchemy’s firing times and intensity.

The hands still do what the world requires, but the heart must stay cold and clear as ice and iron. The eyes are thieves that shake the nature—do not fix them on floral shadows and bright colors.

These are all burdens that come with a vulgar body. If you truly wish to establish yourself in cultivating De, then let De advance together with truth: cultivate nature, and also cultivate the hidden habits and deviations in the heart.

When habits are cultivated away, the quality of De renews itself. When the day comes that qi steams and penetrates in full, the body may surpass and rise into the clouds, as if resting in the far northern realm.

Then there may be a phoenix carriage to welcome you, golden-flowered immortal maidens to guide you, leading you to the upper realms and into the Buddha-land; ascending the immortal tower level by level, beholding the paths of the great thousand worlds. Sentient beings toiling in the red dust—the pain of the vulgar womb is extremely bitter. Gazing from the southern heaven, one often weeps tears like silk for them. Even the greatest compassion cannot save those without karmic affinity; even the great vow-boat does not ferry those who forge their own karmic bonds. The great Buddha of the Western Heaven—myriad dharmas still cannot fully bind all.

I am originally the ancestor of complete illumination, descended to this courtyard, pointing and showing with utmost clarity, only hoping your hearts are earnest in turning toward the Dao.

Do not forget this admonition: morning and evening take stillness as your secret key. When desire-thoughts come often to disturb, it is mostly because the eyes invite the thief; seeing them, treat it as not seeing, and turn the light inward to the inner aperture. Neither hurried nor slack, neither light nor heavy, neither restless nor reckless—do not force in a thousand ways; neither clinging nor letting go, and a hundred sensations self-extinguish. Do not seek joy and joy comes of itself; do not cut off and yet cutting off happens naturally. When sitting in meditation, do not apply the mind with excessive fixation, silently like guarding a corpse.

When heaven collapses, your mind does not lose its calm; when earth splits, your will does not waver. Others may tell you “don’t get worked up”—that truth you must grasp for yourself in the midst of events.

“Pure fortune” and “red fortune” must be kept distinct: when you encounter red (lust, thoughts of blood and qi), treat it like encountering black—do not be pulled by it. Green-white (clarity and turbidity, truth and falsehood in the inner landscape) differ, and people’s root capacity and type differ too; they cannot be lumped together.

Without a “diamond body” (a firm Dharma-body forged in practice), merely dreaming of wandering in the Pure Land is empty fantasy. Length and shortness, high and low need not be measured against others; hear less of the right and wrong of outer conditions, and much vexation will dissolve on its own.

To stand a few grades above the common world, you need not measure yourself by worldly standards. Aspiration may be great, but speech should not boast; the heart must be sincere, thoughts steady—you must not shrink back in cowardice.

Often hold the realm of immortals and buddhas in mind as a mirror, and speak here of the oral formulas of inner refinement. Women often have fewer chances to study; direct verification of xingli (the principle of nature and life) is harder still, and bitter effort is all the more required.

Simply guard one thought of purity—within, neither blocked nor stuck.

(Later passages repeat the emphasis: guard only one pure thought; do not block or clog within.)

Let the heart be as open as broad daylight under the sun, and as clear as stars and moon; as constant in brightness as the North Pole, and like the seven stars hung at the Gate of Heaven—luminous, with not a speck of darkness.

Your heart should shine like the Big Dipper; within, the “seven stars” (inner alchemy imagery) blaze. Dark clouds cannot long hide them; the original body’s spiritual light is never cut off. When clouds pass, stars still shine—your heart should be like star-flame: not one speck of dust in the mind; one speck of dust and the heart strays from the path.

The heart is not inherently prone to delusion; delusion enters the house because shadows of outer conditions do. The heart is not inherently full of stray thoughts; because the ears hear right and wrong, trouble is invited. The heart is not inherently sticky; because the body does not go as wished, anger rises. When body and mouth do not go as wished, anger and displeasure stir—once that angry bearing appears, fire in the five viscera surges upward. Until this root is thoroughly cut, cultivating the Dao is in vain.

I speak in detail now: what matters most is to sever the single character “greed.” Food and clothing need not be grasped; what should come will come in its time. Good thoughts too must not be clung to—the line between immortal and ordinary is a hair’s breadth. Wonderful methods must not be greedily pursued; the marvel of guarding stillness is unfathomably deep. Practice must not be greedily piled on—a brief sitting to gather the mind at any moment suffices. Marvelous realms must not be greedily sought; visions have no fixed form or color.

At ease while at ease, joyful while joyful, free and easy, broad and spacious—this is the real meaning of guarding stillness and not greedily chasing marvelous states.

(Final passages again: do not greedily chase practice; at any time, sit briefly and gather thought; do not greedily chase marvelous realms—realms have no form or color.)

Steady and secure, happy and joyful, delighted and at ease—open-hearted, free and unrestrained, far-reaching and broad: this is the ineffable realm and vision in cultivation. Yet such visions must not be greedily sought or clung to; let them come and go naturally, let them condense on their own; let them change on their own, let them merge on their own. As long as the mind is clear and quiet and spirit and intent are undisturbed, in roughly two or three years one can attain accomplishment.

I now unfold great compassion and tell you one by one: you women must not rigidly bind yourselves to these secret formulas—once you bind yourself, it turns into illness; do not blame the Daoist path for deceit. Neither inside nor outside should you tie yourself down; only when spirit is lively and Qi flows freely can you transcend the ordinary. Wandering freely, thoughts clear and bright, the heart naturally becomes luminous and pure. Coming and going—why constrain yourself? Just as when the sky is high, the moon still has its waning phase.

Life rarely achieves full perfection; only at the end can merit and fault, black and white, be told apart. In this age manners are thin; idle gossip is not worth hearing. Each person cultivates her own xing (inner nature); immortals and ordinary people were never the same: immortals mostly spring from the immortal root, while ordinary people often carry karmic obstructions from past lives. Even if one enjoys wealth and rank in this life, at death it is still deeply fearful—if one brings no meritorious good deeds, offenses are recorded in the black register. A lifetime without good deeds to offset wrong, silver and cash cannot be taken along; one carries only a body of sin, like dust, like blood shed on bended knees (a metaphor for the weight of sin). Punishment sends one to the great hells; in the next life one may be born deaf or blind. Since immortals and ordinary people part ways here, cultivation has another account: even if one cannot attain the highest grade, immortals and buddhas may still intercede to remove calamity. In the Hall for Cultivating Nature one nurtures the work of xing; when the work is full, one attends court in the upper realm. The elixir of true cultivation is fulfilled; a buddha decree descends with an immortal summons; a golden lad holds the precious banner, jade flutes sound through heaven and earth, welcoming you to Ultimate Bliss, enjoying countless kalpas. One does not enter rebirth, neither born nor extinguished, neither aged nor dead, one’s name is listed on the register of long life. At times one companions with mist and rosy clouds, at times rests in phoenix pavilions; at times wanders to the ends of the earth, at times views famous isles—endless vistas like diamond-hard beauty, endless colors like glazed luster.

This is when merit and practice reach completion and great joy is attained—the supreme secret of cultivation’s “returning to the root” (gui gen: returning to life’s fundamental root).

Female True Elixir Formulas

By Chen Yongqing of Puyang, Master Wuxinzi (Heartless Master)

Secret Formulas for Refining Form through the Great Yin (using “Great Yin” to stand for the female body; “refining form” means refining and transforming bodily substance)

Women’s cultivation has always had its oral formulas—they were not made up from nothing. The human body inherently holds both yin and yang; the logic of yin and yang is worth pondering again and again.

In men, essence is “yin within yang”; in women, essence is “yang within yin.” Find a true master at once to break it open for you, and reversing age and returning to youth lies in your own body—your native ground.

In stillness, cultivate the Way—do not guess blindly. Simply wait within the body for “one yang to arrive” (the moment when utmost stillness gives birth to yang). Still distinguish the stages from the pre-heaven (xian tian: the realm before manifestation); it is like mating the golden crow (the sun’s yang) with the moon.

Whoever framed this method drew noble women to shave their heads and leave home. Morning after morning they keep empty rooms; the heart is dead as ash, yet they must still wield the power to give life and to kill ( cessation and activation).

Hateful is the demon of the “Red Dragon” (often a metaphor for menses and yin blood), which for no reason follows the turning of sun and moon and never stops its disturbance. Place a sharp blade at the Red Dragon’s head; before dawn, cut off that head.

With both hands, tightly guard the “household gate” (a metaphor for the pass that must be closed), lest the “Yellow Tiger” (often a metaphor for leaking, outward-rushing qi) slip away along the wall. Leading it home is not hard—quickly use “fire” (huo hou: alchemical heat and timing) to refine it.

Sit astride in the posture of mounting the crane and count the breaths to regulate them. Like cold sound, jade dew, or fragrant milk, gently send it through the Palace of Purple Tenuity (Ziwei gong: the upper Dantian region). The whole body grows soft and supple until noon.

Measure civil and martial fire-timing (wen wu huo hou: gentle and vigorous, ascending and descending) yourself; do not let stray thoughts clutter the Spirit Platform (ling tai: the heart-mind). Constantly guard against the “true seed” (true yang, true essence) leaking outward; draw it back and at the breasts form the “sacred embryo” (sheng tai: the inner elixir embryo).

Once the sacred embryo gathers at the breasts, longevity on a par with Heaven is beyond reckoning. When cultivation reaches this outcome, within seven days yang will revive in you again.

Within seven days the Heart of Heaven can be restored—that is the supreme marvelous move in female alchemy

If within seven days one can restore the “Heart of Heaven” (that point in the heart where clarity and alignment with the Dao arise), that is the most brilliant stroke in female elixir practice; from then on the stages of cultivation may parallel those of men, yet the various oral formulas must still be transmitted mouth to mouth from a master.

The secret of severing the Red Dragon in three stages

In female alixir work, the “Red Dragon” often denotes the monthly flow (menstrual blood). “Severing in three stages” means progressively stilling the Red Dragon through practice—a core secret of the female path.

A woman who seeks true refinement must be bold in resolve…

A woman on the path of true refinement needs great determination: metaphorically she “raises the blade” to cut off the Red Dragon—here there is a turning against ordinary convention and letting go of worldly ties, all for the sake of this rare human body and the aim of leaving the ordinary and becoming holy.

When severing, use all the strength of a lifetime…

When severing the Red Dragon, exert yourself fully; do not allow essence and qi to leak outward. It should be like reversing the Yellow River so the water flows backward—guiding through breath so yin recedes and yang grows.

Breath is originally a single furnace of fire…

Breath is one furnace of true fire; the yellow sprout (the nascent pre-heaven breath) is refined in the “cauldron”; warm qi rises, then descends into the lower dantian (Chonglou and the earthen cauldron are images for the dantian and the alchemical furnace).

When bamboo breaks, bamboo must mend it…

Like seeks like: female alchemy also teaches “mutual generation among kindred substances”; one should not mechanically copy the male formulas written in terms of cinnabar, mercury, lead, and silver. Quickly gather and unify the qi of the “place of birth” and that associated with the two breasts.

Skill that seizes the creative mechanism of heaven and earth…

To seize heaven and earth’s mechanism of creation—every person already has the “ladder to heaven”; there is no other secret to yang arising and yin retreating than keeping the spirit clear, not being turned by circumstances, and not being lost in illusions.

When you are not lost, you can hold your own view…

Without delusion one can have a firm standpoint, as if in secret wielding the “merciless sword,” cutting the Red Dragon two or three times—only then does the female adept’s method show its edge.

When skill is high, spiritual power is high…

When method is refined, power increases accordingly; figures such as Cailuan, Buer, and Yunqiao (immortal women and celebrated beauties of tradition) are in essence no different from ordinary “women in skirts”; female cultivation can also inscribe one’s surname in the immortal registers—there is no need to yield to male practitioners.

A woman in skirts must set her resolve all the firmer…

A woman’s resolve must be firm, like planting a lotus in fire; only by cultivating a heart of compassion can one hope to ascend to immortality as if on level ground.

There is only the golden elixir, a single grain of sand…

The golden elixir is no more than a grain of sand, yet it shines day after day; in form like a millet grain, in taste like honey, it can lift severe illness and augment the work of extending life—this refers to the “medicine” condensed through inner refinement.

Plain-Language Reading of Collected Female Elixir Scriptures

Section 1 (Golden Elixir and Inner Medicine)

It is a pity that those who practice the Golden Elixir do not awaken on their own, and even spirits and gods may not fathom the key points; the subtle transforming principles within must be passed mouth-to-ear from a master—yet in essence they are nothing but the one “medicine” in one’s own body (in Neidan, the innate primordial essence-qi—not purchased external pills).

Secret Essentials of Female Cultivation

A devoted practitioner sits in meditation daily, speaks little, and keeps the mind single-pointed; the slightest selfish or wandering thought will let the true lead in the “furnace” escape (true lead: an inner-alchemy term for the innate single qi, the root the practice must guard—likened to lead and mercury in the furnace).

True lead was always the innate medicine—why can the world not guess it? Hold the “closed gate” (the pass where essence and qi must not leak outward) strictly, lest it slip secretly out of the “house” (the body).

When it tends to move outward, do not fear—use wind and fire together (regulated breathing, focused intent, and the like) to assist the refinement and drive it straight up through the nine heavens, to hang upon the “breast” of Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth, yin and yang—a metaphor for the place of generation and return).

Without the virtue of integrity and constancy, do not transmit the Way, lest passionate people mock you in secret; to leak heaven’s secrets is not forgiven above—such offense is no small matter.

If you do not know the nature of mind, do not pass the formulas; do not speak them randomly to others; bitter earnest admonition again and again—do not treat the immortal Way as a casual trinket.

Women’s temperaments are often contrary; many fix their hearts only on the jade terrace (the immortal realm). Try telling this to everyone—is it something women in skirts can really learn?

Women who study the Way often bring shame on themselves, bumping for no reason into packs of “dogs” (a figure for the frivolous and those who prey on others)—who lead them in secret to bow to blind masters and pass off tricks like “testing the navel gate” as full achievement.

Better to sit quietly in the kitchen: first filial to parents-in-law, second obedient to husband; after death the soul returns to pure land, and the Buddha of the West will record your name.

I urge women not to study the Way—the Way is full of false paths that confuse the true Way; keep a loyal, kind heart—what need to fuss over which path is real or fake?

Even if the true Way need not be sought outside, desire-fire rises again and again beyond one’s control; still young yet already disgraced—knowing shame or not?

Note: Terms such as true lead, furnace, closed gate, wind, and fire are Neidan language, mostly pointing to inner essence-qi, intent, and “fire phases”—not an endorsement of violating human ethics. The latter half often urges women to prioritize filial piety and household duty, and warns against false teachers, leaking secrets, and “shame from studying the Way,” reflecting period ethics and exhortation. In your source, the passage from “True lead was always the innate medicine…” through “yet it is the one medicine of the home garden” repeats earlier material; here it is rendered once by meaning to avoid redundancy.

Nüdan Yaoyan (Essential Words on Female Alchemy), attributed to transmission from Pure Yang Patriarch Lü, recorded by disciple Fu Jinquan with reverence

The opening four lines mean roughly this: if Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and the “three flowers” (san hua) are properly preserved, they will not easily decay; one receives upward the method of the Purple Qi of Clear Emptiness and cultivates according to its rules; the Golden Elixir, through nine revolutions, is refined as the Primordial Sovereign (here, the female-alchemy lineage founder or transcendent who transmitted the teaching) did; longevity is likened to the ancient Huang An riding his turtle.

The text states that the essentials of Clear Emptiness Purple Qi were transmitted by the Primordial Sovereign. Huang An sat astride a precious turtle; someone asked him, “When will you get down?” He answered, “This turtle fears the light of sun and moon—it only pokes its head out once every thirty years; I have been on its back and have already seen it poke its head three times.” This is a metaphor for extreme stillness and sharing the turtle’s longevity: in female alchemy, fixed meditation and guarding Jing and consolidating Qi require enduring solitude—it is not a matter of days or months.

Patriarch Lü said: You do not understand that “old Yang” is not something that only comes alive through external conditions. He used the phases of the moon: on the third day it is a thin crescent like moth eyebrows; by the fifth or sixth day it is full again—waning and waxing in a natural cycle. Women’s cultivation follows the same principle as men’s; the hardest part is keeping the heart-mind “bright and pure” (qingjing, free of mixed defilements).

He also noted that women’s desires are often stronger than men’s; or that after the menses have cleared, the mind is like a lotus just opening—it needs to borrow “heaven’s rain and dew” to set fruit. Here “rain and dew” usually stands for Yin-Yang harmonizing or the union of husband and wife; it is not license for indulgence, but the point that solitary Yin alone, like a lotus without rain and dew, will not bear fruit even in rich soil. If a woman has no man to pair with, that is “solitary Yin”; solitary Yin cannot produce the lotus; without the grace of rain and dew, fertile earth is of no use. Heaven’s rain and dew exist for the sprouting of the ten thousand things—how could they be in vain? If rain and dew fall but nothing receives them, that is “solitary Yang does not grow”—Yin and Yang must aid each other to accord with the great Dao.

The closing line, “The Dao can be verified in things and understood through affairs”: the Dao can be confirmed in concrete things and grasped as events arise; even casual speech holds ultimate principle—people simply refuse to think it through.

Note: This passage belongs to the inner alchemy style of teaching through borrowed images; moon phases, lotus fruit, rain and dew, and turtle longevity all symbolize refining Jing into Qi and quiet clarity in holding to unity. Readers should interpret it with the full scripture and oral transmission—not as a worldly discourse on lust.

How to Use the Massage (Morning or Evening)

Women may practice according to the following massage method: Each morning, after rising, sit quietly for about a quarter of an hour. Then with the right hand press inward on the chest center (the danzhong / heart region), and with the left hand rub the navel twenty times. Let the hands move naturally down to the lower back, rub once and pat once. Then switch: left hand on the chest, right hand rubbing; then right hand on the chest, left hand rubbing. After another rub-and-pat on the waist with both hands, rub the palms warm and wipe them once over the face; move the hands to both ears, press once and flick once; after flicking, rub up to both shoulders and pinch once. Then swallow the generated saliva (meaning saliva in the mouth, coordinated with swallowing), stretch the waist, stand up, rub the hands together, walk a few steps, and go on with daily tasks. In the evening, do the same sequence once more.

Taking the Pills (Supporting Prescription)

Besides the above regimen, you may take pills in support. The formula has eight ingredients, all ground to fine powder and made into pills:

Grind all eight ingredients fine, form pills, and take them together with the morning and evening massage practice.

Notes (for background)

• This passage belongs to the common body-and-spirit joint tuning of the nüdan (female alchemy) line: external massage—quiet sitting, pressing the chest, rubbing the navel, kneading the waist, wiping the face, pressing and flicking the ears, pinching the shoulders, swallowing saliva, walking—paired with pills that tonify the kidneys, nourish yin, warm the spleen, and secure the kidneys (heshouwu and shudihuang, maidong and tiandong lean toward nourishing yin; duzhong and guzhi toward warming the kidneys; sharen and shengjiang harmonize qi and benefit the stomach).
• “Pressing the chest” and “rubbing the navel” in neidan scriptures often correspond to the heart–kidney meeting, or to Ren, Du, or Kan–Li imagery; here one need not over-mystify them—they can be read as daily health practice to settle the mind, warm the middle, move blood and qi, and aid fluid metabolism.
• Exact doses and whether the formula suits a modern constitution must be decided by a qualified physician through pattern differentiation; do not self-medicate from the text alone. As an excerpt from a classical book, the same prescription appearing twice may be duplicate copying; substantively it is still one complete program of “massage + pills.”

Take eight kinds of superior medicinal ingredients, grind them together into a fine powder, then mix with half a jin of lard (meat-eaters use lard; vegetarians may use human milk, or cow’s or goat’s milk. Here “milk” means something in the category of clarified butter—not counted as meat. The “milk tea” people speak of in the northwest is of this sort. It is said to strengthen the spirit, moisten the complexion, darken the hair, and extend life. The Buddha ate such things during his ascetic practice on the snowy mountains, which is why Buddhist rules do not forbid them in every case. If you use market ghee, it is often adulterated with sheep fat; human milk is said to be more reliable.) Blend the powder and fat evenly and roll into pills. If taken for a full month, the spirit is said to grow stronger, the hair darker, and life longer—effects ordinary drugs can hardly match.

On the days of Yin, Wu, Shen, and Hai each month, at dawn take a bowl of water and measure in one-third liang of the medicine. Face east, inhale three times and swallow the breath, while silently reciting: “The light of the rising sun is rooted in true Yang; I draw the upright Qi of the east and refine it into jade fluid and immortal nectar; the golden essence of Taiyi fills the crown and is refined into pure Yang in the Palace of Fire; the two Qi of life and nature return to the north, and a solid, substantial body is contained therein.” Then press the palms together and stretch the arms seven times, and with a finger write on the water bowl: “The Most High Divine Empyrean, Infinite Life and Boundless Salvation, Life-Preserving Celestial Worthy.” Swallow the pill, then turn to face west, inhale once, and swallow that breath. After that you may go about your usual affairs and social obligations, but you must not lightly transmit the method to those who are not fit to receive it. If the great elixir is already complete, you may take this medicine together with it.

The Female True Elixir

From The Secret Record of Nourishing the True by Perfected Lu of Danting, as recorded by Fu Shan of Taiyuan, known as Qingzhu.

The perfected one said: In women’s cultivation there is also the method of “sealing the menstrual blood.” This method was transmitted in a single line from the ancestress Perfected Mother Yuan: afterward Perfected Wei Yuan passed it to Maiden Yellow Flower, Maiden Flower passed it to Maiden Hemp, and Maiden Hemp passed it to Maiden Qi.

The Perfected One said: In women’s cultivation there is also the method of “closing the menstrual blood.” This teaching was transmitted from the Ancestral Mother Yuanjun: later Wei Yuanjun passed it to Maid Huanghua, Huanghua to Magu, and Magu to Maid Qi—that is one line. Lü Dongbin passed it to He Xiangu, who in turn initiated Wang Chongyang, who passed it to Sun Xiangu, who passed it to Zhang Zhennu—that is another line. The Perfected One Shen in the Straw Cloak passed it to the Golden Lotus Woman; all of these practitioners first closed the menstrual blood. Although in ordinary people semen in men and menstrual blood in women seem like waste, pre-heaven Qi is stored within them; if post-heaven leakage continues, pre-heaven Qi leaks along with it. Therefore one must first block this pathway.

Yangsheng Hao asked: May I ask what the method of closing menstruation is like?

The Perfected One answered: Any woman who wishes to cultivate must first practice counting the breath and seated refinement as described earlier, until the flow of Qi within the body is already unobstructed. Then, on the day before the expected period, she performs the exercise from the hour of Zi through Wu. Around midnight she rises, sits cross-legged, grasps her fists and holds them against her ribs, waits until the body’s ascending and descending cycles have occurred several times, then presses the left heel against the “female portal” (the yin region) and the “grain path” (the anus), clenches the teeth, bulges the eyes, lifts the shoulders, and with force pulls upward. She visualizes two streams of red Qi rising from the uterus, passing through the tailbone (Weilü), crossing the three passes (Weilü, Jiaji, and Yuzhen), ascending to the Mud Ball (Niwan, the crown), descending to the root of the tongue, and pouring into both breasts. She continues until the body grows warm, then stops. Afterward she inserts a clean, white, boiled silk pad into the female portal and observes whether the flow is more or less than the previous month and whether it has changed. She again applies the method as before to disperse blood Qi so as not to fall ill. Within no more than a hundred days, the menstrual water will cease on its own. One must also note which day of the month the period began last time: if it came on the first, wait until the third to “cut” once more; in the second month cut once more, in the third month cut once more—in no more than three months it will stop. The first month cuts the tail, the second cuts the waist, the third cuts the head—this is called “slaying the Red Dragon.” Keep this firmly in mind.

Plain-Language Commentary on Collected Female Elixir Scriptures

Slaying the Red Dragon (the cultivation teaching on stopping menstruation)

The first “slaying” comes in the first month; slay again in the second month, and again in the third—only three months in all, and it can be stopped. In the first month you slay the “tail,” in the second the “waist,” in the third the “head”—this is what is called “slaying the Red Dragon.” Keep this sequence firmly in mind.

Records Heard at the Heart-Mirror Retreat · Sayings of the Wenchang Emperor

Only when Yin and Yang are distinct do male and female arise; one closing and one opening, one receiving and one yielding—that is how the creative work of Qian and Kun is fulfilled. Human beings share one inborn Way and are shaped by the same single breath of Qi; the bonds of human order begin here, first of all in marriage and in nurturing new life. Heaven and Earth were never meant to go their separate ways alone—how then could a person live on in solitary immortality? Thus Fuxi and King Wen unfolded the hexagrams and brought out the deep meaning of the six child lines; when the Zhou house rose to power, it glorified the feminine virtue taught in the Zhou Nan and Shao Nan sections of the Book of Songs. The sage teaching never cast aside the norms of the inner quarters; authentic cultivation truly does need to draw on Kun virtue—the virtue of the feminine. Yet once the source had descended, the branches also split apart: heterodox doctrines were borrowed and the orthodox teaching was dressed up in disguise; hearts set on chastity gradually failed, and integrity like the pine and cypress survived only as a name. The great principle grew harder to see, and subtle gongfu became harder to recognize. Though all three teachings hold words of awakening, for ages there have been few works devoted specifically to this. To lift people up and rouse them is truly the Emperor’s compassion; to proclaim and spread the teaching depends on what you take upon yourself.

According to your memorial, you asked that the essentials of female elixir be expounded—your words were earnest, the same compassionate intent to deliver women; your reasons were thorough, rooted in sincere seeking of the hidden transmission of female alchemy. To open the beam of entry on the path for women, the numbers already align; female instruction may be opened, and the time is ripe to teach. The matter was referred upward at once and soon brought to council. The attendant scribe planted a subtle karmic tie in a former life, so as to warn and transform the vulgar stream; the Left Office planted immortal bones in an earlier existence, so as to unfold the great transformation. Take up this great canon and assist the work of Heaven. The Primordial Sovereign is pardoned to choose an auspicious day to expound the scripture; the perfected ones are commanded to transform beings as the occasion requires. Speech must rest on sincerity, to awaken the delusion of inner chambers throughout the world; the text must be pure and refined, to hand down for later generations the rule of the mother’s example. When the fourteen chapters are complete in their excellence, one may transcend even hundreds of thousands of kalpas beyond; conduct and report are specially authorized—receive the charge and do not neglect it.

Recorded Sayings of Wang Tianjun (Plain-Language Exposition)

Previously, Jin Zi petitioned the Yuanjun in a formal memorial: Was the female disciple Lin Ying fit to receive teaching? The Yuanjun had already granted permission for matters such as expounding the scriptures. By imperial command, the local City God office was ordered to examine the case files of Lin Ying’s past and present lives and report to the Celestial Sovereign. According to the reply: In her three previous lives, Lin Ying had been a xiucai (licentiate) in Yangzhou during the Chenghua reign of the Ming, surnamed Wei and named Wenxi. He lived with integrity and never entered official service; yet because he loved to show off his eloquence and flowery speech, often mocked peers and criticized elders, and fell short in the precept against sexual misconduct, in the second life he was sentenced to rebirth as a woman and placed in the empty gate (monastic life) to suffer hardship. That was in the Tianqi era, born in the Cao family of Kunlun Mountain West Village in Wu—now already the third life. Because she resolved to cultivate purely, in monastic assemblies she kept a clean will, burned incense in devotion, and served the Supreme Venerable (Taishang); she also met the female guide Dinghui of Zhongshan, who had her practice refining the mysterious gong and contemplate the method of Taiyin lianxing (in female Neidan, transforming the bodily form to return to yang and attain immortality)—but before success she lightly abandoned the world. The karmic tie between her and Tishu was in fact planted three lives earlier.

Examining this life: though in a woman’s body and still young, she had no major faults; the reason she still bears the retribution of a woman’s body is solely that the karma of qiyu (flowery, mocking, and gossiping speech) is not yet fully exhausted. After each point was reported back, this altar also checked and memorialized: Lin Ying (Chunxiu) is now performing Big Dipper worship to pray for grace and to dispel disaster and confess sins; the Yuanjun was very pleased and has further petitioned the Celestial Sovereign to grant additional deliverance. When the Big Dipper rites are complete, a formal memorial will be submitted to confess sins and seek favor; the Yuanjun will choose an auspicious day to descend in person and give instruction, pending the expounding of scripture.

Again, by command of the Celestial Sovereign and the Yuanjun, Jin Ben was asked: as Chunxiu’s chuandu (transmission and ordination) master, could he guarantee her steadfastness to the end? A clear reply was required. Though this cause-and-effect is hard to fathom, by the Celestial Sovereign’s order fuji (spirit writing, with the deity descending to brush the sand) was specially used to instruct, so that the superior might see the retribution of qiyu—karma from two lives as a woman not yet released. Now, relying on cultivation in the empty gate from former lives, she has entered the dharma assembly; if she can be sincerely devoted without wavering and transmit and expound the elixir teaching, then old defilements can be cleared and an immortal affinity can be secured. She was also instructed to know this and hold it in awe (lin zhi—keep it firmly in mind and stay vigilant).

By the amnesty decree and command of the Jade Emperor I act. Learning that Jin Ziben, a member of the Daoist community, had memorialized the court: the virtuous woman Lin Chunxiu had turned her heart toward the Dao and transmitted the teaching through her writing; her resolve was firm, her practice unceasing, and her devotion never slackened; moreover her innate clarity was sufficient to undertake the work of transmitting scriptures and expounding the teaching. The petitions he submitted, front and back, with their full circumstances, had all been reported upward, and orders were given for the commanding general to reply with instructions. Now I am specially commanded to go in person to the Lin altar to guide her, so that she may suddenly see clearly; once her brush runs through the meaning of the scriptures, she may speak on my behalf the wondrous truth of the Great Dao.

Heaven and earth divide into Yin and Yang; their forms differ, yet each serves the other and they work in mutual accord. Speaking of the distinction between male and female, the man receives the firm strength of the Qian trigram… (At this point the original text repeats and breaks off; the sense still points to mutual use of Yin and Yang and how men and women each receive different qi, in accord with the principles of elixir cultivation.)

Heaven and earth divide into yin and yang; men and women differ in bodily form, yet yin and yang mutually support and employ one another. Men inherit the firm strength of Qian (Heaven): their constitutions tend to be robust, and the Qi they receive leans toward the clear. Women inherit the steadfast stillness of Kun (Earth): their constitutions tend to be gentle and yielding, and the Qi they receive leans toward the turbid. What is clear is light; what is turbid is heavy—light and clear like heaven, heavy and turbid like earth. Yet though heaven belongs to yang, yin still dwells within it, symbolizing earth Qi rising in response; though earth belongs to yin, yang still dwells within it, symbolizing heaven Qi descending to meet and join. Thus the two polarities (yin-yang) arise from Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), and the virtue of yin and yang is entrusted to the bodies of men and women.

Know that the celestial realm is fundamentally Wuwei (non-action)—clear, empty, and far-reaching. Though it can lift clouds, send down rain, and moisten the great earth, it still cannot, like earth, long nourish the myriad things, hold the embryo in the womb, and suckle all living beings. Therefore for men to seek immortality through Neidan (internal alchemy) is often the harder path. Women may instead take earth as their model: though earth is heavy, bearing mountains and gathering rivers, the hundred plants and the myriad things grow each in its season; earth Qi can also “reverse its course”—for example, raising yang Qi at the spring equinox and storing hidden light at the winter solstice—which aptly mirrors the mechanism by which women conceive and give birth, likewise the marvel of unceasing generation. Hence for women, cultivation is often easier than for men.

In sum, ordinary people have many desires, and so they drift far from the Dao; perfected persons have few desires, and so they can realize the Dao. Whether man or woman, those who know how to reduce desires can enter the Way. For when there is no desire, the heart is clear; when the heart is clear, Shen (spirit) is still; when Shen is still, nature is luminous; when nature is luminous, one is deep and serene in stillness and constantly preserves true constancy. The essence of true suchness illuminates all without exception; wisdom is like the sea, and the luminous pearl within one’s nature naturally shines forth—is this merely clever writing on paper, to be treated as idle wonder?

I pity the women of this world, who so often belittle themselves and sink into confusion. For long I have wished to spread women’s alchemical scriptures widely, to lift suffering and save beings; I discussed this for many years with Master Jin. Now I see that Mistress Lin is sincere and steadfast on the Way, endowed from of old with a keen root for awakening. Human birth is hard to obtain; though there may be past karma, it can still be repented and purified. Hearing these words of guidance, you should diligently reflect: purify the heart and reduce desires, and devote your will with utmost sincerity. You will not only be able to expound my salvific esoteric writings, but also enjoy blessings, bear worthy and virtuous children, and after fully completing this one karmic life in a woman’s body, follow me in free wandering among the star-palaces of the Dipper (the immortal mansions in the domain of the Northern Bushel). Strive onward! Be careful!