《性命圭旨》Vol. 2

Even when one has lost one’s true nature, simply understanding this mind can bring immediate release from birth and death and the complete realization of nirvana, the state beyond the cycle of birth and death. From beginning to end, cultivation never departs from this mind; apart from it, there is nothing else mysterious. Although the methods of gradual cultivation are discussed later, they serve only to bring this mind to fulfillment.

Alas, do not take this matter lightly. People of genuine attainment are hard to meet, and the instructions for cultivation are hard to hear. Zhang Pingshu said, “If the Elixir texts contained no instructions, where would you go to form the spirit embryo, the inner spiritual fruit of cultivation?” In truth, the classics already contain these instructions. But they often conceal the crucial points in the “mother” lines and place related material in the “child” lines, without explaining them separately and plainly, making them difficult to piece together and understand. Moreover, the classics often use metaphors and coded language, leaving students bewildered and confused until they turn back halfway through. I deeply regret this, so I now point out the instructions found in the Elixir texts and Buddhist scriptures one by one, leaving them for later generations as lamps to dispel the darkness and touchstones for distinguishing the true from the false.

Perfected One Taixuan said:

Before my parents had given birth to me, a spark of numinous awareness was already present.

It failed to reveal its wondrous power only because, once my form had taken shape, it was obscured.

The body veils the source of brightness;

Let go of attachment to the body, and the original clarity will return.

Meditation Master Kongzhao said:

This mind is perfectly clear and is the same in everyone.

It can encompass Heaven and Earth and move through the void.

Now I point directly to the true ground of mind:

Empty and still, yet aware and luminous—this is the fundamental teaching.

Layman Ziran said:

The mind is like a bright mirror, so clear it joins with Heaven;

Our nature is like the still water of a cold pool, calm and without ripples.

Throughout all twelve double-hours of the day, remain alert and watchful;

Do not let yourself grow dull and forget the master of the mind.

Meditation Master Zhijue said:

Bodhisattvas have never departed from their true nature;

Only their own dullness makes it seem distant from them.

If they can sit quietly and turn the mind’s light inward,

They will see the ancient master they have possessed from birth: their original true mind.

Perfected Lord Sanmao said:

The numinous platform, where the heart spirit resides, is as clear as an ice vessel, allowing only the original spirit—the human being’s true, authentic spirit—to dwell within it. If even the slightest attachment remains in the heart, how can one realize the Great Dao and unite with the realm of clear emptiness?

Master Tianran Chan said:

The heart is unstained by dust from the beginning; why wash it again? The body is not ill; why seek a physician? To understand that Buddha-nature is not something outside the body, look at a bright mirror: when it hangs high yet has not reflected anything, that is the state being described.

Daoist Zhujing said:

Before a thought arises, the heart is nature. After a thought arises, nature appears as the heart’s activity. If you cannot penetrate the source of heart and nature, but only search through past experiences, words, and deeds, your efforts will ultimately be in vain.

The Unminded One said:

As soon as deluded thoughts arise, the spirit begins to stir. Once the heart spirit is drawn along, the six thieves—the six faculties of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and consciousness—disturb the field of the heart. When the heart spirit and the eyes are in disarray, the body loses its master, and the six paths of transmigration, where beings pass through different states of life, seem to lie before you.

The eminent monk Miaoxu said:

Clearly recognize the master within, and let it dwell quietly in the numinous palace, where nothing can obstruct or entangle it. Then the natural original substance reveals itself in a state of empty clarity, free of obstruction.

The Perfected One of Great Unity said:

The six paths of transmigration seem to lie before you.

The eminent monk Miaoxu said:

Clearly recognize the master within, and let it dwell quietly in the numinous palace, where nothing can obstruct or entangle it. Then the natural original substance reveals itself in a state of empty clarity, free of obstruction.

The Perfected One of Great Unity said:

The perfectly luminous nature is like the Great Void, boundless and vast. It is only when thoughts arise that it congeals into this bodily form. If you can let go of attachments and turn the light inward, gathering the spirit and reflecting within, you will return to your original state of clear emptiness.

A verse from the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

Whether countless or countable, kalpas—vast stretches of time—are understood by the bodhisattva to exist within a single thought. In this way, the bodhisattva skillfully enters the practices of awakening and perseveres without turning back.

Master Haiyue Chan said:

Among the six gates of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, there is just one essential point; the other five need not be deliberately shut. Let worldly affairs churn as they may: the master within remains undisturbed.

Master Shui’an Chan said:

When not a single thought arises, Mount Sumeru seems to appear before you. When it stands directly in front of you, focus your spirit and see it clearly. Even a thread as fine as a strand of silk can trip an ox. Only by clearing away these subtle obstructions can every household reach Chang’an, here a figure for a place of peace and ease.

Dahui Zhisong said:

The true Buddha is within oneself, present through Wuwei (non-action). Called three times, it responds three times; its clear and numinous awareness remains unmistakable. If someone still does not understand the reason…

Master Shui’an Chan said:

When not a single thought arises, Mount Sumeru seems to be right before you. When it stands directly in front, focus your spirit and see it clearly. An ox can be tripped by a thread as fine as silk, yet every household can find a path to Chang’an.

Great Venerable Wei Chan Master said:

The true Buddha-nature is Wuwei (non-action), without doing; it is within oneself. Call three times, and three responses arise—clear, alert, and never clouded. If someone cannot grasp the root of this, through endless ages of birth and death they will mistake the discriminating, calculating consciousness for their true self.

When Wugouzi paid a visit, he said:

On the mountain of the Five Aggregates—the forms, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness that make up body and mind—there is a clear and empty expanse. We enter and leave it every day, yet never meet one another there. For immeasurable ages we have lived here like tenants, but in the end we do not recognize the master of the house.

Chan Master Weikuan said:

I urge you to study the Dao without grasping after anything. If you can meet all things without clinging, the Dao will accord with you. Only when the mind clings to nothing can you experience the Dao of no-mind. Once you have truly experienced it, there is no need to cling even to “no-mind.”

Monk Zhigong said:

Suddenly awaken to the mind’s source, and it is like opening a treasury of precious jewels. The wondrous signs that appear and disappear at will reveal the true face. Walking alone or sitting alone, body and mind remain firmly settled. Manifesting a hundred million forms, they are beyond counting.

Chan Master Daitang said:

The Diamond Sutra says, “One should give rise to a mind that abides nowhere.” This means the mind does not cling to any circumstance, yet clear awareness can still arise. With the mind broad, open, and luminous, the truth appears everywhere. Open the eye of wisdom at the crown of the head—the symbol of insight into one’s nature—and all the lands throughout the vast universe appear as the whole of oneself.

The Pian of Pointing to the Mysterious says:

If you can reach a state in which the mind is empty and clings to nothing, you will no longer be bound by birth and death or held back by anything. Once you cast off this fleshly body born from the womb, you can become a free and unrestrained great man.

Perfected Man Duan said:

Turn inward to observe your thoughts and seek the original mind. When each thought has ceased, you can see the true mind. Once the true mind is clear, it can reach through the Three Realms, beyond the disturbance of heterodox paths and heavenly demons.

Zhang Yuanxiao said:

The nature that neither arises nor perishes is true from the beginning, yet, like a priceless luminous pearl, it often goes unrecognized. Ordinary people pass through thousands of lives in vain; their true nature remains hidden in the ore and never comes forth.

Xue Daoguang said:

The Dao De Jing, in five thousand words, sets out the subtle key to the Dao; the Yinfu Jing, in about three hundred characters, sings of its true meaning. So long as not a single word is held in the mind and no teaching is clung to, one is cultivating the Way even without practicing Chan meditation.

Wugouzi said:

To study the Dao, one must first recognize one’s own mind, yet its depths are the hardest to explore. If one keeps searching until there is nowhere left to search, one will realize that the ordinary person’s mind and the Buddha-mind are originally one.

The Wanderer of Ease said:

Clearing away the “six thieves”—the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, the senses and thoughts that disturb the spirit—is the foundation of purifying the mind. Do not chase after circumstances such as honor and disgrace, sorrow and joy. Focus on regulating the breath; when it grows gentle, you can observe the inner landscape. In this way, “Muni”—here a name for pure, perfect awareness—will naturally arise within the “spirit chamber,” the place where the spirit rests in cultivation.

The Collection on Playing with the Elixir Ball says:

The workings of Heaven are profound and cannot be revealed lightly. Yan Hui seemed dull, and Zeng Shen seemed slow, yet they grasped the principle. Where did they apply themselves? They did not let what they heard or saw lead them astray, and they kept the spirit settled and clear.

Zhang Sanfeng said:

The true mind is vast and boundless, without end; countless immortals emerge from it. People of the world are absorbed in their bodily forms, yet do not recognize the “mysterious pearl” within their own minds—the innate, luminous true nature.

The Song for Dispelling Delusion says:

If you wish to keep true Jing from being dissipated outward, let the “numinous terrace,” the dwelling place of the spirit, remain clear and bright like the full moon. If the numinous terrace is not clear, spiritual awareness will not appear. Therefore, cultivation must continue without interruption, day and night.

Beita Zuo said:

Do not follow others into the arising of thoughts, and do not cling to a state of “knowing nothing and understanding nothing.” Dazu once spread these words throughout the world. In the truly pure nature, the instant even a single thought arises, all kinds of distinctions and differences have already appeared.

Hengchuan Gong said:

Without affinity, the cave waters would run dry.

Beita Zuo again said:

Do not follow others into the arising of thoughts, and do not cling to a state of “knowing nothing and understanding nothing.” Dazu once spread these words throughout the world. In the truly pure nature, the instant even a single thought arises, all kinds of distinctions and differences have already appeared.

Hengchuan Gong said:

Without affinity for the cave waters, one cannot understand the principle of swimming upstream. Seeing your earnestness, I have reached out to save you. The original meaning transmitted by the Patriarch who came from the West—usually identified as Bodhidharma—has no fixed meaning. When deluded thoughts and the agitated mind come to rest, you can be at peace.

The Chan Master of the Thatched Hall said:

He cut off his arm in search of the mind, yet still could not find it. Precisely because he could not find it, he truly found peace of mind. Once the mind was at peace, snow fell into the courtyard at night: the ground was filled with jade-like flakes, yet there was nowhere to find them.

The Chan Master of the Buddha Land said:

Mind is Buddha, and Buddha is mind; Buddha and mind are identical and mutually present, and the Buddha-mind is the original mind. Once you realize that mind and Buddha are one, there is nothing left to grasp. It is like a general who, to quench his thirst, sees a grove of trees and for a moment lets go of his craving for water.

A verse from the Avatamsaka Sutra says:

If you wish to know the realm of the Buddha, make your mind pure, like empty space. Leave behind deluded thoughts and all manner of clinging; then wherever the mind turns, it will meet no obstruction.

A verse from the Baoji Sutra says:

All Buddhas awaken and find liberation through their own minds. The “mind” here means the original mind: pure, unstained, and free of defilement. If the Five Destinies—the five realms into which beings are reborn—are clear and pure, untouched by worldly dust, then understanding this, one can see the Great Dao.

Chan Master Yuanwu said:

The Dao realized by all Buddhas is originally one and the same, connected throughout. The minds of all beings accord with truth, and truth in turn responds to the original mind. When one awakens completely, one transcends the realm of time and space that existed before King Wei Yin Buddha—the Buddha said in Buddhist legend to have appeared in an unimaginably distant age. As the years stretch on, the realm one realizes grows deeper still, like the depths of the sea.

If the Five Destinies are clear and unstained, understanding this is to see the Great Dao.

Chan Master Yuanwu said:

The Dao realized by all Buddhas is originally one and the same, connected throughout. The minds of all beings accord with truth, and truth in turn responds to the original mind. When one awakens completely, one transcends the realm of time and space that existed before King Wei Yin Buddha—the Buddha said in Buddhist legend to have appeared in an unimaginably distant age. As the years stretch on, the realm one realizes grows deeper still, like the depths of the sea.

Senior Seat Shiqi said:

Because all things are empty by nature, my mind, too, is empty. When my mind is empty, I can see that the myriad things are originally without distinction. The myriad things and my mind have no different underlying substance; this truth lies in the single thought of this very moment.

Scholar Zhang Zhuo said:

Luminous, still, and gentle, it extends across worlds as countless as the sands of the Ganges. Ordinary people and sages are originally one. When no thought arises, one’s original nature appears complete. When the six faculties—the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—stir, it is as though clouds veil the clear original mind.

Chan Master Zhongfeng said:

Since ancient times, the highest Dao has been closest to the mind. When cultivation reaches a state free of mind and attachment, the Dao becomes real. When mind and Dao, being and nonbeing, all dissolve completely, one can dwell freely in the vast world.

Zhang Wumeng said:

When the mind rests in the numinous opening, the body has a master. When Qi returns to the Dantian energy sea, life can be prolonged.

Master Bai Sha said:

Wherever you cultivate, you can make progress. As long as you keep watch over the thought of this present moment at all times, your practice can continue without interruption.

Peng Helin said:

The Spirit Chamber is where numinous awareness gathers. Within it is held the “embryo” of long life and immortality—the inner vitality nurtured through Neidan cultivation.

Yongming Yanshou said:

With thoughts and attachment, one remains caught in the cycle of birth and death. Without thoughts or attachment, one is in Nirvana, the state beyond the afflictions of life and death.

Hu Jingzhai said:

When nothing is happening, do not let the mind sink into empty stillness. When something is happening, do not let the mind fall into confusion.

The Daoist Xuandao said:

When a thought arises, gather it back in. Once gathered into unity, you must still let go of holding on.

Luo Nian’an said:

Do not let deluded thoughts drain the spirit, and do not let agitation from outside damage the original Qi.

The Daoist in the hemp robe said:

If the mind remains confined to the chest, thoughts cannot enter the “Gate of Total Integration,” the state of practice that gathers and encompasses all teachings.

Bai Juyi said:

Since I devoted myself to the arduous practice of Buddhism, the many distracting thoughts I had carried through life have gradually faded away.

Chan Master Haiye said:

Whether moving or sitting still, do not forget to observe the mind. When you settle into stillness, remember to quiet distracting thoughts.

The Collection of Taoguang says:

Where the mind is, thoughts follow—whether in action or in stillness.

Chongmiao said:

When the body does not move recklessly, the mind naturally settles. When the mind does not move recklessly, the spirit can remain anchored within itself.

Xu Wuji said:

Begin by overcoming the places where your nature inclines away from the right path. When the mind runs free, gather it back at once.

Foyin said:

When a deluded thought stirs, it is as if a fire has ignited in the mind. When all thoughts fall silent, the heart is full of life, like spring.

Tao Hongjing said:

In cultivating the mind, hold fast as one who seeks immortality would. In refining your nature, be like a living corpse, untouched by external things.

Chan Master Wuzhuo said:

Understand that the mind is empty and still by nature. See that its nature is originally without arising or passing away.

The Avatamsaka Sutra says:

If you observe carefully and understand that the mind is not divided in two, you will see the pure Dharma Body of Vairocana Buddha, the pure Dharma Body revered by the Huayan school.

The Avatamsaka Hymn says:

From the first thought to the passage of countless eons, all realms arise from the thoughts and imaginings of sentient beings.

Ma Danyang said:

If you can keep your attention fixed for a long time on the curved, hidden aperture—the point where awareness is gathered and intention maintained in Neidan practice—your spirit will naturally become clear and your Qi naturally abundant.

Qiu Changchun said:

That saying I received from my teacher long ago: let go of distracting thoughts, lower the eyelids, sit quietly, and observe with care.

Chan Master Huirì said:

To illuminate and discern within a single thought is Bodhi, awakening, here and now. To grow quiet and still within a single thought is a moment of Nirvana, the cessation of affliction.

All these sayings are essential instructions for becoming an immortal and attaining sagehood. They also teach one to lower the eyelids, sit quietly, and observe with care.

Chan Master Huirì said:

To illuminate and discern within a single thought is Bodhi, awakening, here and now. To grow quiet and still within a single thought is a moment of Nirvana.

The preceding statements are all important methods for becoming an immortal or a sage, and paths for cultivating the Eight Ways and Eight Virtues. Although Ananda was learned and had a remarkable memory, and had practiced for many years, he still did not attain the fruit of sagehood. Later, he ceased engaging with external affairs and turned the light inward; in only a short time, he realized the unborn. Ordinary people’s minds spend the whole day chasing after things outside themselves, moving ever farther from their original nature. Only by turning the light inward, examining and gathering in one’s thoughts, can the mind become settled. When the mind is settled, Shen and Qi are nourished; when Shen and Qi are full, they ultimately return to one’s original nature. This is precisely what Wei Boyang meant by “the metal returns to its original nature.” Only upon reaching this stage can one speak of “returning the Elixir.” Alas! Only by refining away the impurities in ore can precious gold be obtained; only by refining away passion and desire and returning the mind and nature to their true state can one accord with the Dao of innate purity. Among thousands upon thousands of people, even if one meets someone who understands this principle, there may not be a single person with whom one can discuss it.

The Practice of Withdrawal and Concealment, or “Bathing” (a method for gathering in the mind and withdrawing it)

The Classic of Changes speaks of “washing the heart and withdrawing into secrecy.” Daoist adepts of the Tang and Song periods called this “bathing,” while some practitioners in more recent times call it “Genshu” (“resting the mind and gathering its thoughts behind the back”). Though the names differ, they refer to the same principle and subtle secret. The heart belongs to Fire; concealing it in the Water symbolized by the back is what “washing the heart” means. The heart is normally active at the front of the body; gathering it behind the back is what “withdrawing into concealment” means.

For this reason, beginners who try too forcefully to suppress their thoughts can easily become restless and agitated, with inner Fire rising. At such times, they can temporarily move and conceal the thoughts that symbolize the heart’s Fire from the south to the north, which symbolizes Water—that is, behind the back. Then Water and Fire naturally nourish one another, and the thoughts naturally subside. This is precisely what Bai Yuchan meant by “washing the heart and cleansing the thoughts as bathing.”

Yet although bathing is a method of washing the heart, and Genshu can quiet thoughts, these two explanations, though sound, have not yet reached the true state of cultivation. The deeper, essential secret was kept hidden and unspoken by sages of every generation. As a result, later students have rarely heard of it or had the chance to encounter it. Whoever truly understands this subtle secret can command the marvelous workings of creation and transform their own destiny.

The ancient immortals said, “The two passes at the spinal gate connect all the way to the portal at the crown of the head. This is the most important path in cultivation.” The “two passes at the spinal gate” are two openings along the back; the “Heavenly Valley” refers to the crown of the head, and the “Tail Gate” to the base of the spine. In Daoist cultivation, this path reaches upward to the crown and downward to the Tail Gate, linking the heart and kidneys in between. It can also summon and gather numinous Yang Qi and preserve the root of life. Is this not an important path in cultivation? Before a person has this body, breath comes first; before the body has perished, breath stops first. Does this not show that breath, too, is a fundamental path in cultivation?

When a person is first conceived, they follow their mother’s breathing in the womb, receiving her breath as a channel of Qi gradually takes shape and connects them to her. As the child grows, this channel expands, becoming hollow and open like a passageway. It extends forward to the navel and backward to the kidneys. Upward, it passes through the spinal gate and Niwan—the region at the crown of the head—and reaches the Mountain Root, the base of the nose between the eyebrows, where two openings form. From these openings it descends to the tip of the nose, forming the two nostrils. For this reason, it is called the “Ancestor of the Nose.”

At this stage, the Qi within my body is connected to my mother’s Qi; my mother’s Qi is connected to the Qi of Heaven and Earth; and the Qi of Heaven and Earth is connected to the Qi of the Great Void. All the openings are linked, with nothing obstructing them. When gestation is complete, the womb breaks open and the child is born. The umbilical cord is cut, and the infant gives its first cry. The original primordial Yang Qi then settles into the place where the person will dwell and establish life. From then on, acquired Qi begins to govern the body. Although breath still flows in and out, it is no longer connected to the original ancestral Qi. From childhood to old age, not one breath remains for long in that original state of connection. Ordinary people pass through birth and death in the dusty world, turning through countless lives and deaths, simply because they cannot find the old path by which they came.

The Most High—a Daoist honorific for the supreme divinity—teaches people to cultivate themselves and thereby prolong life because cultivation enables them to absorb the vital energy of Heaven and Earth. People can absorb this vital energy because they have channels of breath: what they exhale is their own original Qi, while what they inhale is the vital energy of Heaven and Earth. Those with a firm foundation can absorb this energy with every breath and so live long. When the foundation is unstable and Jing and Qi have declined, the vital energy inhaled from Heaven and Earth escapes with the exhalation, while one’s own original Qi cannot be put to use and instead seems to be taken away by Heaven and Earth. This happens because the breath has not passed through the proper gateway.

Ordinary people’s breath always descends through the throat, then turns back at the Middle Cavity in the upper abdomen, unable to connect with ancestral Qi, understood as the original Qi that is the basis of life. This is like a fish drawing water in through its mouth and expelling it through its gills. This is the kind of breathing Zhuangzi meant when he said, “The breath of the multitude is in the throat.”

The breathing of a perfected person—someone accomplished in cultivation—can pass straight through the Bright Hall, here referring to a breath channel associated with the head, descend through the Spinal Passage in the middle of the back, and flow into the Gate of Life, a site in Daoist Neidan practice connected with the root of life. In this way it connects with ancestral Qi, as iron is drawn to a magnet, things of the same kind responding to one another. When Zhuangzi said, “The breath of the realized person is in the heels,” he meant that the cultivator’s breath is deep and continuous. Once the breath has become deep and continuous, one can take charge of one’s own nature and life, no longer subject to the transformations of Heaven and Earth.

Some people today regulate the breath, count breaths, suppress breathing, or hold their breath. But these methods are like scratching an itch through a boot: they do not reach the Mysterious Aperture, the crucial opening spoken of in Neidan cultivation. When this aperture first gathers and takes shape, the two kidneys arise. Only when the breath then penetrates more deeply can it reach the state described above.

When this aperture first takes shape, the two kidneys form first, followed by the heart. The kidneys are shaped like lotus roots, and the heart like a lotus flower. The lotus stem is hollow inside and straight on the outside, as if supporting the earth and holding up the sky. The heart and kidneys are eight cun and four fen apart, with one cun and two fen remaining between them. This space is called “within the cavity.” It is the passage through which the Qi of the heart and kidneys circulates, and the place where Water and Fire are harmonized. “Water and Fire in mutual completion” means that Water and Fire harmonize with one another, each serving its proper purpose.

To open this aperture, first visualize the root of the nose, between the eyebrows. The breath then gradually reaches the Jiaji passage near the spine, passes through Hundun, the place where the body’s primordial Qi gathers and flows, and continues all the way to the Mingfu, where the Qi that sustains life is stored and nurtured. Only then can the Qi of parent and child meet and the broken mirror be made whole again. Next, gradually fill out and expand the body so that its foundation becomes firm and the root of life is preserved. Only after this can cultivation begin.

Liao Zhenliao said, “If you want a lamp to keep shining, you must keep adding oil.” Master Yin said, “First, nourish the source of life; most important of all is to protect its root.” He also said, “As long as there is still one breath left, the Qi that sustains life can be restored.” Those who understand how to add oil can make a lamp that is about to go out shine again. It is like obtaining soul-reviving incense, which makes withered roots sprout anew. Thus it is said: when the oil runs out, the lamp goes dark; when the Qi is cut off, the body dies. But without this aperture, one cannot add oil; without adding oil, life cannot be renewed; and without the renewal of life, the Shen has nowhere to dwell. When impermanence—death—suddenly arrives, a person departs in a daze, unaware. Lü Gong therefore said, “Treasure your Jing and Qi while there is still time; do not delay in renewing life. If life can truly be renewed, you may attain longevity; if it cannot, you will die young.”

The allotment of Qi that people receive from Heaven and Earth is limited. If they do not know how to preserve it and only deplete themselves, then, as Liu Haichan said, “They suffer losses morning and night without realizing it. Once their spirit and vitality have scattered, they have nothing left to rely on. As they are worn down day by day, they grow weaker; when their primordial harmony is exhausted, their Shen and Qi depart.” Once the mechanism that opens, closes, and moves the body stops, the breath is cut off at once. Alas, the decisive moment between life and death comes so quickly. Why, then, do people still refuse to turn their hearts toward the Dao?

What is more, this method of beginning cultivation is the simplest. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, one should frequently gather the spirit and withdraw one’s thoughts into the Jiaji aperture, a cultivation site between the vertebrae. In this way, the righteous Qi of Heaven and Earth can be drawn into the body, where it joins one’s original Qi and true Jing, gathering in the Dantian as the foundation from which life is renewed. Is it not easy to use the boundless original Qi of Heaven and Earth to sustain one’s finite body?

A practitioner need only identify this aperture and keep attention there without straying. Over time, the practice will naturally become refined. The mind will grow clear and bright, like the moon reflected in water. In this way, deviant fire will naturally disperse, scattered thoughts will fade, agitation will settle, and deluded thoughts will cease. Once deluded thoughts recede, the true breath—the inner breathing spoken of in cultivation—will appear. When true awareness reaches thoughtlessness, the true breath likewise reaches breathlessness. When the breath ceases in breathlessness, the foundation of life can remain firmly established for a long time; when thought ceases in thoughtlessness, one’s nature can endure. With nature enduring and life firmly established, all concerns are dispelled as well. This is the first step in the dual cultivation of nature and life (xingming shuangxiu).

Alas, human life is like a tree without roots, relying entirely on breathing as its foundation. If even one breath fails to follow another, life is no longer in one’s own hands. Therefore, those who wish to cultivate longevity must hold fast to their Qi. When the breath is stable, the body’s original Qi will not disperse with the exhalation, while the true Qi of Heaven and Earth will continually enter with the inhalation. With time, fetal breathing—the inner-breathing state described in cultivation—will become stable, and the Yin’e, the foundation or bodily form gradually formed through cultivation, will take shape. Then a path to longevity will have opened.

This passage should be read together with the third section, “Hibernating and Storing Qi in the Cavity.”

Principles of the Jade Liquids Method for Refining the Body (Diagram of the Jade Liquids Method for Refining the Body)

Beginners in cultivation are usually busy with daily work. When they first enter the yuan, a quiet room or place for cultivation, they suddenly become still. In stillness, the limbs get too little movement; when the body is at rest, its joints may also feel insufficiently relaxed. This can obstruct the channels and cause Qi and blood to stagnate. For this reason, one should use methods that open the apertures and clear away accumulated stagnation.

This method first uses focused intention to guide the breath, attending to Xuanying (the Qi opening near the throat). This opening connects with the windpipe, as the Huangting Jing says: “Xuanying, the windpipe, receives the essence talisman.” After a while, saliva gradually gathers in the mouth, as if water were welling up from a well. Gently rinse the mouth a few times, then slowly guide the saliva with the mind down through Chonglou (the throat), past Shanzhong (the center of the chest), Jiaowei (near the tailbone), Zhongwan (the upper abdomen), and Shenque (the navel), stopping at Qihai (the Dantian in the lower abdomen).

Next, from Qihai, divide the flow into two paths and guide it down along the inner sides of the thighs, past the knees and Zusanli (the Zusanli acupoint), to the tops of the feet and the big toes, then turn into Yongquan (the acupoint on the sole). Then guide it from the heels and the bends of the legs up the thighs to Tailu (at the tailbone). The paths join, pass through Shentang, Jiaji, and Shuangguan, then divide again and extend to both shoulders and arms, as far as the thumbs. Turn back into Yongquan, travel along the heels, bends of the legs, and thighs to Tailu, join again, pass through Shentang, Jiaji, and Shuangguan, and divide toward both shoulders and arms, reaching the backs of the hands. Next, guide it from the middle fingers into the palms; let the paths turn back together, pass through the wrists and the sides of the chest, and rise behind the cheeks. From there, let it flow through the brain to the crown, then descend to Mingtang (near the point between the eyebrows), pass across the upper palate, and meet the saliva with the tongue, returning to Xuanying. This completes one circuit. Pause briefly, then practice the method again. Blockages will gradually clear; this not only opens all the channels but also reaches every opening in the body. This is what the Xinyin Jing means by: “The seven openings connect; every opening shines bright.”

The human spirit’s innate clarity is originally present everywhere. It can extend inward throughout the Six Directions (above, below, and the four quarters), and outward to illuminate all things. It cannot do so because it is constrained by the body. Only through cultivation until body and spirit are both refined and complete can one unite with the Dao and realize the truth.

Why use the intention of the eyes to guide Qi during this practice? Shi Jianwu said: “Qi is the medicine that lengthens life; the heart is the spirit that directs Qi.” Understanding how to use the heart and mind to guide Qi makes the reason clear.

Why should moving Qi be coordinated with the eyes? Shi Jianwu said, “Qi is the medicine that prolongs life; the mind is the spirit that sets Qi in motion. Understand how to guide Qi through the movement of the mind, and you will have grasped the essentials of the path to immortality.” People often say that wherever the gaze goes, the mind follows, and wherever the mind goes, Qi follows. There is real truth in this.

Why should refining the body make use of bodily fluids? Daoists call these fluids “medicine” and the mouth the “Jade Pool.” The Scripture of the Yellow Court’s Inner View says, “The mouth is the Jade Pool, the abode of Great Harmony. Rinse the mouth and swallow the fluids, and the numinous liquid will keep calamities at bay. The body will shine with radiance, and the breath will be fragrant as orchids; all harmful influences will recede, and the face will be like jade. Practice diligently, and you may ascend to a vast and lofty realm.” This means that bodily fluids contain Qi, and Qi also contains bodily fluids. They nourish one another, growing fuller day by day. They form the basis for refining and cultivating the “Golden Liquid,” and are a treasure that moistens the body. Bodily fluids can also pass through the gates and openings, reaching the sinews and joints; they can go everywhere. An old song says, “Swallow often the spirit water of the Flowery Pool, and the Origin Lord of the Purple Mansion will ascend straight upward. Let Qi flow freely through the joints, and naturally Jing and Qi will grow abundant, while the Grain Spirit endures.”

“Dark Breast” refers to an opening beneath the tongue. It is regarded as the place where bodily fluids gather and the source from which they are produced. The nourishment of the whole body depends on it. Thus, the Supreme One says, “The Dark Breast beneath the tongue is the gateway between life and death. If you encounter and master it, you may ascend to the heavenly realm.” A verse in the Lotus Sutra says, “Between teeth white as jade, śarīra flow forth; above a breath fragrant as red lotuses, fine rays shine. Sweet dew trickles down the throat, while drops of clarified essence cool the heart.” This is the “Small Jade Liquid Method of Refining the Body”: a method of caring for the body by rinsing the mouth and swallowing the bodily fluids.

The body’s openings allow breath to enter and leave and circulate throughout the body. If they become blocked, stagnant phlegm and congested blood may form, obstructing the channels and causing illness. Practice this method three to five times each day to promote the flow of Qi and blood and harmonize the hundred vessels; once the illness has receded, stop practicing. This method complements “Withdrawal into Hiding for Protection and Preservation.” The two are mutually supportive parts of a whole and do not conflict.

Cultivating and nourishing the source requires removing emotions and discriminating thoughts. In practice, this means ending the arising and passing away of thoughts. When thoughts no longer arise and pass away, the body too can reach a state beyond arising and passing away. To end the mind’s arising and passing away, one must begin with no-thought. As the practice of no-thought grows fully established, one can attain dreamlessness; when the stillness and concentration of no-thought become fully mature, one can attain non-arising. Dreamlessness is an important concern in cultivation here and now, while no-thought is the state to be reached in the end. When thoughts no longer arise and pass away, the body too can reach a state beyond arising and passing away. To end the mind’s arising and passing away, one must begin with no-thought. As the practice of no-thought grows fully established, one can attain dreamlessness; when the stillness and concentration of no-thought become fully mature, one can attain non-arising. Dreamlessness is an important concern in present practice, while no-thought is the ultimate aim. Once non-arising is attained, there is no more contrivance; once dreamlessness is attained, there is no more change. To be without contrivance and change is to be beyond arising and passing away.

Those who study the Dao need not worry that they will fail to achieve anything; they need only fear that they are unwilling to apply themselves diligently. If they devote themselves wholeheartedly, press forward, and persist in their efforts, there is no reason they should study and gain nothing. But if their resolve is weak, and their understanding and trust in the Dao are shallow—if they act one way in the morning and change course by evening, begin diligently but give up halfway, take pleasure in practice when seized by a passing enthusiasm, then grow weary as time goes on—how could they hope to live as long as Heaven and Earth?

The Scripture on Inner Observation says: “Knowing the Dao is easy; understanding its principles is difficult. Understanding its principles is easy; acting in accordance with the Dao is difficult. Acting in accordance with the Dao is easy; truly attaining the Dao is difficult. Attaining the Dao is easy; keeping to it for the long term is more difficult still.” If cultivating the Dao involved no difficulty, everyone on every street would already have become an immortal. What would be remarkable about that?

Cultivating the Dao is like a farmer weeding a field: one must strive to pull out the weeds by their roots. Then the seeds of natural innocence and simplicity within the heart will grow of their own accord. Moreover, this “One-Character Method” is easy to put into practice from beginning to end, and it truly works. Practiced at a basic level, it can dispel illness and prolong life; applied deeply, it can transcend the ordinary and attain sagehood. The key lies in how deeply the practitioner applies themselves.

The second set of instructions in the Ten Thousand Spirits Guide to the Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life: “Settle the spirit and intention at the Ancestral Aperture (the fundamental aperture referred to in cultivation), and gather the precelestial Qi (the original Qi referred to in cultivation).”

(Diagram: Settling the Spirit at the Ancestral Aperture)

Few people in the world know where the Ancestral Aperture truly lies. Without a master’s instruction, finding it is like shooting at a target in the dark: it is hard to hit.

The “Ancestral Aperture” is what Laozi called the “Gate of the Mysterious Female.” The Treatise on Awakening to the Dao says, “For the Valley Spirit—the inner, numinous spirit—to endure without dying, it must be rooted in the Mysterious Female, which few people in the world know.” Thus the Perfected Ziyang said that the cultivation of the Golden Elixir rests entirely on the Mysterious Female. The Preface to the Four Hundred Words says that this aperture of the Mysterious Female is where one gathers the medicines, joins them, cooks and refines them, bathes them, warms and nourishes them, and forms the embryo. Even the transformation into spirit upon leaving the embryo depends on it. When practitioners truly understand this aperture, they have grasped the Way of the Golden Elixir. This is what is meant by “Obtain the root, and all things can be accomplished.”

Yet most Elixir scriptures explain it through metaphors, making it difficult for students to determine exactly what they mean. Earlier masters gave it many names: “the master of the precelestial,” “the ruler of the myriad forms,” “the root of Taiji,” “the root of chaos,” “the place of utmost goodness,” “the place of condensation,” “the valley of emptiness,” “the source of creation and transformation,” “the gateway of nonduality,” “the profound Dharma realm,” “the aperture of returning to the root,” “the pass of returning to life,” “the Central Yellow Palace,” “the Abode of the Rarefied and the Subtle,” “the gate that gathers all,” “the Land of Ultimate Bliss,” “the treasury of emptiness,” “the region of the southwest,” “the Gate of Wu and Ji,” “the place of the True One,” “the Yellow Matron’s dwelling,” “the altar for guarding the One,” “the Pure Land,” “the West,” “the Yellow Center,” “the proper position,” “this,” “the Spirit Chamber,” “the True Earth,” and “the Yellow Court.” The names are too numerous to list one by one.

To seek this aperture within the body: it is neither in the mouth nor the nose, and it is not located in the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, spleen, or other organs.

This orifice, referred to in cultivation as the Mysterious Pass or Ancestral Orifice, must be sought within oneself. Yet it is not the mouth, nose, heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, or spleen and stomach; nor is it the navel center, coccyx, bladder, or anus. It is not the point between the kidneys, the place three inches below the navel, or the Hall of Light, Mudball Palace, Gate of Origin, or Sea of Qi. So where, exactly, is it?

The Patriarch Chunyang says, “The Mysterious Female—the true Mysterious Female—is neither in the heart nor in the kidneys. Trace it back to the moment a person first receives life and is endowed with primordial Qi. Do not be surprised that I have revealed the whole secret of Heaven.” Here, the account of receiving life serves as an explanation. Just before the parents unite, a perfectly rounded and radiant flash of innate spiritual light enters the mother’s body, like the circle “O.” Confucians call it “benevolence” or “Limitless.” Buddhists call it a “jewel” or “perfect radiance.” Daoists call it the “Elixir” or “spiritual light.” These names all refer to innate Qi and primordial, undifferentiated essence: the source of life, the beginning of one’s endowment of Qi, the foundation of nature and life, and the root of the transformations of all things.

After the parents’ union, essence and blood envelop it from the outside, like “a circle within a circle.” This is what Confucians call the Supreme Ultimate. From it take shape the five organs, six viscera, and all the limbs and bones. Through it, people can see, hear, grasp, and walk; practice benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom; and become sages and worthies, endowed with spiritual insight, literary talent, and military skill. At its root, every human life arises from this point of innate Qi within the Supreme Ultimate.

The Cantong qi, a Daoist Neidan classic, says: “The body received by a person originally returns to emptiness. Primordial essence spreads like clouds and takes shape by relying on primordial Qi. When the original Qi first settles, the Mysterious Female is established. Above, the Numinous Pass takes form; below, the Sea of Qi takes form. The Numinous Pass stores awareness and spiritual nature, while the Sea of Qi stores the primordial Qi that sustains life.” Nature and life are spoken of separately as the two cords of the Dragon and Tiger, symbols in Neidan for the forces of nature and life; yet both are fundamentally governed by the Ancestral Orifice.

Therefore Laozi says, “The gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of Heaven and Earth.” Why is it called “the gate of the Mysterious Female,” and why is it said to be the root of Heaven and Earth? The Heaven and Earth spoken of here are those within our bodies; we ourselves are the Mysterious Female. The root of the Heaven and Earth within us is also the root of the Mysterious Female within us; the gate of the Mysterious Female within us is also the gate of the Heaven and Earth within us.

Where does the gate of Heaven and Earth come from? Is there not something that came into being before Heaven and Earth and serves as their root? The root of the Qi of Heaven and Earth is precisely where Heaven and Earth divide into Heaven and Earth. Where does the gate of the Mysterious Female come from? Is there not something that came into being before the Mysterious Female and serves as its root? The root of the Mysterious Female is precisely where it divides into “Mysterious” and “Female.”

Why is it called “Mysterious”? Does it not emerge from “the named, mother of the myriad things”? And why say “mysterious upon mysterious”? Does it not emerge from “the nameless, the beginning”?

Buddhism calls “the nameless, the beginning” the “Dharma gate of nonduality,” a realm beyond oppositions and distinctions. Zisi says, “It is not divided in itself, yet it can give rise to the myriad things; its workings are unfathomable.” Zhuangzi says, “What is bright and evident arises from darkness; what has pattern and form arises from the formless.” So should those who seek to perceive their nature through awakening look for it in what is bright, formed, and ordered, or seek it in darkness and formlessness?

Darkness and formlessness make it impossible to glimpse the signs of its manifestation. The Confucian phrase “without sound or scent” and the Buddhist phrase “before the King of Majestic Sound” both refer to this realm. If so, why call it a “king”? Because it governs Taiji, the fundamental order through which all things in the cosmos come into being and change, it is called a “king.”

From this I understand that those who study the Way of the immortals or the Buddha need only find the “King”—the sovereign, the root of all things—and honor it. This is to honor the King. If, further, they cling neither to this “King” nor regard it as possessing a fixed substance, they are wandering in the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) and returning to the Wuji (Non-Ultimate). Wuji is the true Center. The teaching passed down among sages lies in this Center: it is the center that Yao and Shun said to hold fast to, Confucius’s center appropriate to the time, and the center before feelings have arisen that Zisi described. It is also the Yellow Center, the center that penetrates principle, spoken of in the Book of Changes; the center of Wuji that orders the Five Qi in the Scripture for the Salvation of Humanity; the center within emptiness spoken of by Shakyamuni; and the center that Laozi said to guard.

Yet “center” has two meanings. If it is said to have a fixed location, that location is the Center. If it is said to have no fixed location, then the place where Heaven and Earth (Qian and Kun) meet is the Center. Because this Center can be attained and held fast over time, it is said to have a fixed location. But how could it be only within the human body? Beyond the body, throughout Heaven and Earth, all things are also within my mind. And how could it be only within Heaven and Earth? Beyond Heaven and Earth, throughout the vast expanse of empty space, all things are also within my mind.

The Yijing says, “Breath circulates through the six empty directions.” It moves throughout Heaven and Earth, vast and boundless; when it gathers back into a single aperture in the human body, it does not seem cramped. Thus, one aperture can contain the entire Great Void, the boundless expanse of emptiness.

The Daoist Scripture of the Midair says that the distance between the highest point of Heaven and the lowest point of Earth is eighty-four thousand li, and that the center of Heaven and Earth lies exactly forty-two thousand li from either end. The human body, too, is a small Heaven and Earth: the distance between the heart and the navel is eight cun and four fen, and the midpoint between them lies exactly four cun and two fen from each.

This aperture lies below Qian (Heaven) and above Kun (Earth), west of Zhen (the East) and east of Dui (the West). The eight vessels, nine orifices, and meridians converge here. Between two hollow spaces, one point hangs suspended, like a tiny pearl the size of a millet grain. It is the exact center of the body’s Heaven and Earth, and the aperture that stores the primordial ancestral Qi, the breath at the source of all things.

If we know only the technique but do not understand its subtle principle, it is like knowing “the Center” but not “the One.” The ancients said, “The heart is the earth; nature is the sovereign. The aperture is ‘the Center’; the subtle principle is ‘the One.’”

“The One” has many interpretations: the One of the Dao, the One of spirit, the One of Qi, the One of water, the One of number, as well as unity, accord, purity, uniqueness, preserving the One, and returning to the One. “Returning to the One” means bringing the mind and spirit back to the One; “preserving the One” means keeping the mind and spirit centered on it. Where there is “the Center,” there is “the One.” If there is “the One” that does not accord with “the Center,” it is not the One spoken of by the sages. Where there is “the One,” there is “the Center.” If there is “the Center” that does not accord with “the One,” it is not the Center spoken of by the sages. Thus, the One spoken of by Confucius is the One within the Center, which runs through the principles of things. The Center spoken of by Yao and Shun is the Center contained in the One, which they grasped.

In the River Chart of Fuxi, the legendary sage king of antiquity, the middle is left empty. This represents the precelestial state, and is precisely “the Center” within the Ancestral Aperture—the fundamental aperture in the body described in Neidan practice. Confucius said, “Acting before the proper time arrives does not go against the Way of Heaven.” Laozi said, “The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth.” This is also what Buddhism calls the vast, boundless, undifferentiated Great Void.

In Yu the Great’s Luo Writing, the middle is filled in. This represents the postcelestial state, and is precisely “the One” within the body’s Ancestral Aperture. Confucius said, “Follow the sequence of the postcelestial seasons and honor the timing of Heaven.” Laozi said, “The named is the mother of the myriad things.” This is also what Daoism describes as the first signs emerging, a glimmer of numinous light appearing.

Yet although the River Chart takes “the Center” as its image, it always contains “the One” within it; and although the Luo Writing takes “the One” as its image, it always contains “the Center” within it. “The Center” embraces “the One,” while “the One” governs “the Center.” This is the subtle and profound principle: the wondrous workings of Wuwei are just beginning to emerge, revealing a glimmer of numinous light.

However, the Hetu (River Diagram), said to explain how Heaven and Earth came into being, takes the “Center” as its focus, yet always contains the “One.” The Luoshu (Luo Writing), another diagram used to explain the order of Heaven and Earth, takes the “One” as its focus, yet the “One” always contains the “Center.” The “Center” embraces the “One,” while the “One” is governed by the “Center.” Is this not the subtle, mysterious principle—the wondrous key to Wuwei (non-action) and naturalness?

The Dao De Jing says: “Too many words often bring things to an end. Better to hold fast to the balance and rectitude within.”

The Dongxuan Jing says: “Ten thousand volumes of alchemical writings are no match for holding fast to the ‘One.’ The ‘One’ is the heart of benevolence that gives life without end.”

The Doctrine of the Mean says: “To cultivate the Great Dao, one must take benevolence as one’s foundation.”

The Analects says: “All under Heaven will turn toward benevolence and virtue.”

The Book of Rites says: “Settle the heart in benevolence and virtue.”

The Book of Changes says: “Rest where you are, and cultivate benevolence and virtue with sincere devotion.”

I often use a fruit stone as a metaphor: the point within the stone is Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate); the two halves enclosing it are Yin and Yang.

The Changes says: “The Changes contain Taiji, from which the Two Modes arise.” Thus, the Dao of change unfolds through the two poles of Yin and Yang, while Taiji is a unified whole, wondrous and numinous. To nurture this trace of numinous meaning within the ancestral aperture—the place where body and mind converge in Neidan practice—without haste or delay is called “settling the spirit.” Is the ancestral aperture not where one returns to Qianyuan, the original Qi symbolized by the Qian trigram? To nurture this point of benevolence within Kun Earth—the inner foundation that symbolizes support and cultivation—with sincere devotion, neither forgetting it nor deliberately forcing its growth, is called “settling the soil.” Is cultivating benevolence and virtue with sincere devotion not a way to establish one’s own Taiji?

Consider, too, seeds such as lotus seeds: inside is a sprout enclosed by two cotyledons. Is this not what is meant by “holding fast to the One”? From the “One” comes the division into “Two”; from the “Two” comes the “Three”; then all things come forth through transformation. Zhang Ziyang, a Daoist Neidan master, said: “The Great Dao gives birth to one Qi from emptiness; one Qi then gives rise to Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang unite to form Three; Three continually transforms and gives birth, and so all things flourish.”

Long ago, Master Wenshi asked Laozi: “In which chapter are the most subtle and essential principles of cultivating oneself recorded?” Laozi replied: “They lie in deeply rooting and firmly establishing the foundation, holding to balance and rectitude, and embracing the ‘One.’”

What does “guarding the Center” mean? It means diligently preserving this Center without giving in to slackness. When external things are kept from intruding and the inner heart and spirit from scattering outward, one returns to the root, and all things can thereby settle into stability. Laozi’s “guarding the Center” means preserving the central correctness of one’s original nature. The Confucians’ “holding to the Mean” likewise means maintaining that central correctness. The Buddhists’ “emptiness within” describes the original nature as empty, clear, and still.

Laozi’s “embracing the One” means holding fast to the “One” of one’s original nature. The Buddhists’ “returning to the One” means returning to that “One.” The Confucians’ “all-pervading unity” means using that “One” to connect all things.

“Only the essential and the One” is what the Book of Changes calls “refining the principles until one enters the spirit”—studying the principles deeply until reaching a wondrous state of spiritual insight. “Holding firmly to the Center for a long time” is what the Book of Rites describes as: “The ruler, centered within and acting without action, preserves the utmost correctness.” Here, “the ruler, centered within” means that a single point of benevolence governs the inner place of central correctness. It is therefore called the “ruler,” also known as the “Heavenly Sovereign,” the master of the heart and spirit. It does nothing else; it simply preserves the utmost correctness. A person’s life is established from this, and their nature is preserved through it. These two share the same source but have different names; originally, both were already present within the aperture. To return to the aperture now is like the meeting of Shu, the emperor of the South Sea, and Hu, the emperor of the North Sea, in the land of Hundun, as described in the Zhuangzi.

For those cultivating the Golden Elixir, if they do not understand the Ancestral Aperture, regarded in Neidan as the key point where body and mind meet and Shen is gathered with Qi, the true breath cannot settle, and the transformations of spirit lose their foundation. If the “medicinal ingredients”—a Neidan term for the elements refined within, such as Jing, Qi, and Shen—are incomplete, the Golden Elixir cannot form. The Ancestral Aperture is the gateway that governs all things and the meeting place of every method. It has no fixed boundaries and no distinction between inside and outside. One cannot deliberately focus the mind on guarding it, nor search for it without direction. To seek it with intention or deliberately hold on to it is to become attached to appearances; to insist on seeking it with no mind at all is to fall into emptiness. What, then, should one do?

The master’s oral instructions say: “The open, boundless place is the Mysterious Aperture. To understand it without deliberately guarding it—this is the practice.” Let the true self dwell there continually, remaining naturally still, quiet yet lucid, forgetting the distinction between inside and outside, wholly at ease. Then Shen will settle by abiding with Qi, and the root of life will rest by abiding with one’s nature. Without deliberately making things one, they naturally become one; without deliberately guarding the center, the center is naturally held. When the inner central mind is full, the mind stirred and scattered by the Qi of the Five Phases naturally becomes empty and still. This is the essential meaning of Laozi’s teaching to “embrace the One and guard the center, empty the heart and fill the belly.”

Zhang Ziyang said:

“The meaning of ‘empty the heart and fill the belly’ is profound. But to empty the heart, one must first recognize one’s own mind.”

Liu Haichan said:

“The central spirit chamber, the place within the body and mind where Shen is gathered and Qi refined, is by nature empty, still, and at ease. The primordial true Qi will come of itself.”

Lü Chunyang said:

“Guarding the center is a peerless art; only after understanding it does one know its subtlety. Embrace the One without speaking, and you can experience its wonder.”

Xu Zuoqing said:

“Suddenly one roams freely, then returns to primordial chaos; the Dragon and Tiger coil and settle, entering the Central Yellow, the middle region within the body where cultivation takes place.”

Master Zhengyang said:

“To recognize the true place of the Golden Elixir, work at the place where the body had not yet been born”—that is, trace back to the primordial source before the body took shape.

Lay Buddhist Ruru said:

“Kun above and Qian below: between them lies a treasure of immeasurable worth.”

Li Qing’an’s Anthology of Central Harmony says:

“Within the embrace of the two forms, Yin and Yang, the Yellow begins to divide…”

Master Zhengyang again said:

“To recognize the true place of the Golden Elixir, work at the place where the body had not yet been born.”

Lay Buddhist Ruru again said:

“Kun above and Qian below: between them lies a treasure of immeasurable worth.”

Li Qing’an’s Anthology of Central Harmony says:

The two kinds of Yin-Yang breath converge and begin to differentiate into the Three Powers: Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Qian (symbolizing Heaven and Yang) moves outward with pure, firm energy, while Kun (symbolizing Earth and Yin) gathers inward with yielding, receptive energy. Between Heaven and Earth is a place called the “Gate of the Mysterious Female” (symbolizing the source of Yin-Yang transformation and the arising of life). Its movement spreads outward, ever more widely; when it becomes still and gathers inward, it lies hidden within.

Wang Yuyang says in the Guangji:

The Valley Spirit (the fundamental source of emptiness, stillness, and subtle awareness) establishes the foundation of Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things. The sages of old could only give it the name “Gate of the Mysterious Female.” If one can see through this pivotal matter of life and death, a perfected immortal can thereby grasp the transformations of Yin and Yang.

Tan Chuduan says in the Shuiyunji:

Yin energy is above, and Yang energy below. Yang energy rises first, and Yin energy follows its movement. This is where the Dragon and Tiger (symbolizing the two forces of Yin and Yang) join and blend. The moment is like crossing a small bridge.

Heshang Gong says in the Guomingji:

In the deep, unfathomable darkness and stillness, many mysteries unfold; amid obscurity and uncertainty, the essential opening of truth is guarded. Gather it in, and it lies hidden within a single particle; release it, and it spreads beyond the four directions of Heaven and Earth.

Zhang Ziyang says in the Wuzhen pian:

The Green Dragon of the Zhen position (symbolizing Wood and Yang energy) and mercury (an alchemical term symbolizing Yang essence) emerge from the Li position; the White Tiger of the Dui position (symbolizing Metal and Yin energy) and gold (an alchemical term symbolizing Yin essence) are generated in the Kan position. Both forces arise from their mother through the son; the Five Phases must gather at the center through their cycles of generation and transformation.

Zhang Jinghe says in the Zhenzhongji:

Zhang Ziyang says in the Wuzhen pian:

The Green Dragon of the Zhen position and mercury emerge from the Li position; the White Tiger of the Dui position and gold are generated in the Kan position. Both forces arise from their mother through the son; the Five Phases must gather at the center through their cycles of generation and transformation.

Zhang Jinghe says in the Zhenzhongji:

The One Aperture of Primordial Unity (the fundamental opening before Heaven and Earth were divided) belongs to the precelestial realm. Within it is emptiness, without form, yet it naturally contains its own principles. If one can perceive it before the myriad things come into being, one will understand: such a person must be a Great Luo Immortal (the highest kind of immortal in Daoism).

Ge Xianweng says in the Xuanxuan ge:

The place where Qian and Kun join is the true Center. This Center lies within emptiness, vast and open. Gather the Dragon and Tiger and conceal them in the aperture, and one can grasp the pivot of the workings of transformation.

Luo Gongyuan says in the Longjiuji:

Between Heaven and Earth is an aperture of emptiness, extending deep and hidden, silent and still. It is indistinct and obscure, without any fixed form; the perfected person appears within the precious pearl.

Tianlaizi says in the Baihu ge:

The Gate of the Mysterious Female stands open all day. Within it is an aperture: the blended and integrated spirit platform (the seat of the mind and spirit). It has no bolt or lock and no one guards it; still, the sun and moon rise in the east, set in the west, and continue their course.

Zhang Hongmeng says in the Huanyuan pian:

The source of Heaven and Earth begins with the Mysterious Female. It breathes in the energy of the sun and moon and takes in the breath of the spirit platform. It has no bolt or lock and no one guards it; still, the sun and moon rise in the east, set in the west, and continue their course.

The source of Heaven, Earth, and all things was first called the “Mysterious Female,” a Daoist metaphor for the deep, hidden source that gives birth to all things. It echoes the sun and moon, as though holding the pivot of Heaven and Earth’s transformations. At times it appears, at times it vanishes: it is empty and still, yet not wholly absent. Try to see it and it remains unseen; call to it, and it answers.

Gao Xiangxian says in Song of the Golden Elixir:

What, exactly, is meant by “the Dao of the One”? Better first to knock upon the “Wu-Ji Gate”—Wu and Ji belong to Earth and, in Neidan terminology, often refer to the spleen-mind or the key to harmonizing Water and Fire. Within this gate is true Water, the very foundation of the “Yellow Sprout,” the subtle thing that symbolizes the first stirring of life in Neidan.

Ding Yehe says in Free and Easy Wandering:

The Three Teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—all arise from a single source. This source is perfectly integrated and complete, born within Wuwei (non-action) and preceding all things that have form. Only by grasping its true, wondrous principle can one know the source of the Great Dao.

Xiao Zuxu says in Secrets of the Great Elixir:

Those who cultivate the Dao and wish to find the Yellow Sprout must understand that the two sources spoken of in cultivation belong, in truth, to one family. In the practice known as “seven returns and nine reversals”—a Neidan expression for the transformation of Jing and Qi and their return to the origin—one must recognize what governs the process. In applying oneself, even the smallest detail must be free of error.

Patriarch Li Lingyang says in Song of the Ancestral Aperture:

Everyone possesses a treasure that is unborn and inexhaustible; one’s original body and mind return to emptiness. Do not imagine that only the Buddhist Pure Land is worth aspiring to: the joy experienced by Confucius and Yan Hui is included as well.

Chen Zhixu says in Verses on Turning Words:

The “One” is also called the “Gate of Nonduality,” the entrance to the Dao that transcends opposition and returns to unity. Enter through this gate, and body and mind find their place. After Zengzi heard Confucius speak of the Dao, he answered, “Yes,” to show that he understood. Yet that one reply has led so many people in the world to mistakenly believe the principle lies in the word alone.

Xue Zixian says in Poem on Emptiness Within:

Heaven and Earth are like a bellows. The key is to know who sets the bellows in motion. From this, one can grasp the source of the movement and stillness of all things. Look: once you let go, is the wind still there?

The collected works of Lü Chunyang say:

Yin and Yang lie hidden in a place too subtle to discern, but foolish cultivators fail to understand this for themselves. They truly mistake Yin and Yang for man and woman, and misunderstand Kan and Li—Neidan terms that symbolize Water and Fire, and Yin and Yang—as literal relations between men and women.

Li Daochun says in Song of the One Without One:

The Dao is originally void; from it arises Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate). Taiji transforms, and first there is the “One.” The “One” divides into “Two,” and “Two” gives rise to “Three”; only after this come the Four Images and the Five Phases.

Chan Master Shouya says in his recorded sayings:

Once the “Dharma Gate”—the entrance to wondrous principle—opens, its mysteries are inexhaustible. It contains the teaching that the Buddhas have passed down through generations. Those who do not understand the true meaning of the West’s coming—the Chan account of Bodhidharma’s journey from the West to China to transmit the teaching—will only wear out iron-soled shoes wandering in vain.

The Golden Elixir (Jindan) spoken of by Laozi, revered by Daoists, is like the luminous pearl spoken of in Buddhism: perfectly round and radiant, lacking nothing and containing nothing in excess. Birth and death, coming and going, all take this one aperture as their root. This aperture can even contain the entire Great Void, boundless and vast.

Cao Wenyi’s Song of the Great Dao says:

Someone asks where the True Person, one who has perfected the Dao, comes from. He comes and goes east and west, moving freely wherever he pleases.

Ma Danyang’s Song Sung While Drunk says:

The Golden Elixir spoken of by Laozi is like the luminous pearl spoken of in Buddhism: perfectly round and radiant, lacking nothing and containing nothing in excess. Birth and death, coming and going, all take this one aperture as their root. This aperture can even contain the entire Great Void.

Cao Wenyi’s Song of the Great Dao also says:

Someone asks where the True Person really comes from. In truth, he has always been within the numinous terrace of the mind. In the past, cloudlike veils of delusion obscured it deeply; now, at their meeting, the eye of cultivation has opened.

Liu Changsheng’s Collection of Immortal Medicines says:

There is an aperture of emptiness called the Gate of the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin men), the Daoist gate of generation and transformation. To harmonize and regulate the timing and measure of cultivation, one must nurture it gently and continually. In the Immortal’s alchemical cauldron there are no other ingredients. It is as though impure ore were smelted away until, at last, refined gold emerged. Here, alchemical smelting is used as a metaphor to explain that cultivation centers on refining and nurturing body and mind.

Li Daochun’s Anthology of Central Harmony says:

Heaven and Earth open, close, and move in ceaseless operation. Li and Kan—the Fire and Water trigrams of the Bagua, also used to refer to Yin and Yang in cultivation—rise and descend, joining and responding to one another. I explain this to you all: establishing the foundation of the Elixir (Danji), the basis of Neidan cultivation, on thought is a way of approaching cultivation through external thoughts and concerns.

Liu Haichan’s Song of Seeing the Dao says:

Hangu Pass stands at the center of Heaven and Earth. The sun and moon travel back and forth, moving from west to east. Try peering through a tube an inch long at the mysterious aperture, and you will glimpse a mighty presence like a crouching tiger and coiling dragon.

Liu Haichan’s Song of Seeing the Dao also says:

Hangu Pass stands at the center of Heaven and Earth. The sun and moon travel back and forth, moving from west to east. Try peering through a tube an inch long at the mysterious aperture, and you will glimpse a mighty presence like a crouching tiger and coiling dragon.

Elder Wuxin Chang’s Secret Instructions says:

If you understand that the Valley Spirit, the Daoist name for the empty, still, and wondrously responsive nature, is linked to this Dao, who could not cultivate their nature and seek the true Way? The path leading to Central Yellow, the central area of the body or inner landscape used in cultivation, has already been clearly pointed out. Amid a sound like a thunderclap, the cultivator will naturally attain a wondrous realization.

The Perfected Bai Yuchan says:

Nature is the root, and life is the foundation. They share one source but have different names and belong to two aspects. Bring them together in one place, and the Elixir will form; in the end, return once more to the primordial Qi that existed before the beginning.

The Perfected Zhao Yuandu says:

The aperture of emptiness and nonbeing lies at the very center. It has neither birth nor death and continues without end. It is bright and clear, responsive and aware, yet has no fixed form. It is deep and still, seeming empty, but not wholly empty.

The Perfected Zhang Ziyang’s Preface to the Golden Elixir says:

This aperture is no ordinary acupuncture point; it is formed through the union of Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang. It is also called the “Cavity of Shen and Qi,” containing the Jing and Qi symbolized by the Kan and Li trigrams.

The Perfected Master Li Yingchan’s Hymn to the Dao and De says:

“Opening and closing correspond to Qian and Kun; this is the Gate of the Mysterious Female, the portal through which the myriad things come into being. Once one reaches the state of neither entering nor departing, one alone is revered among the Three Realms.”

Sima Ziwei says:

“Within emptiness there is an aperture called the Mysterious Pass, the point in cultivation where one observes the transformations of body and mind. It lies where the human body connects with Heaven and Earth. The eighty-four thousand points are distributed above and below; the nine-three-six-five cycle in their proper order.”

When vast, this place embraces the entire Dharma Realm, whole and without trace. When minute, it penetrates into dust and is hard to perceive. This place is called the Cavity of Ancestral Qi, the aperture where primordial Qi resides. It is like a bright pearl the size of a grain of millet, suspended right at the center.

These oral teachings all illuminate the mystery of the Ancestral Aperture. Laozi says, “Isn’t the space between Heaven and Earth like a bellows?” Zhuangzi says, “Grasp the center of the pivot, and you can respond to unending change.” The Book of Changes says, “Take the proper position and dwell in the body.” It also says, “Establish the proper position and consolidate the root of life.” The Analects says, “The noble person’s thoughts do not go beyond their proper bounds.” Mencius likewise says, “Stand in the most rightful position under Heaven.” The “proper position” spoken of here refers to this aperture. It is called vast because it can embrace Heaven and Earth without limit; hence it is called the “Vast Abode.” The Great Dao also arises from here.

The Book of Songs says, “Hold fast to the heart’s purpose, as cautiously as if approaching a deep abyss.” The Supreme Mystery Scripture says, “Hide the heart within the deep abyss, nourishing the root of spiritual nature.” The Token for Joining the Three says, “The Realized Person sinks into the deep abyss and roams freely at the center of the compass.” “Blocking” and “hiding” refer to gathering the mind and spirit, concealing them, and keeping them steadily within. Yet one must also understand the words “floating and roaming”: this means dwelling there calmly and freely, just as Mencius said, “Do not forget, and do not force.” That is, do not forget to maintain it, but do not strain deliberately. The Buddhist teaching, “Abide in this way and subdue the mind in this way,” means the same thing.

The cultivation paths of the Three Teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—head in different directions and follow different routes. On the surface they form three separate traditions, yet their principles are connected. Viewed as cultivation practices, what Buddhists call the “Dharma Wheel” (a method in which practice cycles through repeated movements) is called “circulating the heavens” in Daoism (taking the body as Heaven and Earth and visualizing Qi (vital energy) as it circulates), and “moving through the courtyard” in Confucianism.

The Book of Changes says, “Keep still the back, and one does not apprehend the body; move through the courtyard, and one does not see the person.” It also says that this “moving through the courtyard” is without fault. Here, “moving” refers to the ceaseless, vigorous operation of the Way of Heaven. The celestial bodies complete one circuit each day—how vigorous they are! If the human body is also a small cosmos, then the circulation of the heavens embodies this ceaseless movement.

The Book of Changes also says, “Heaven moves with vigor; thus the noble person strives constantly for self-improvement.” Within the human body, the Yellow Court (the part within the body symbolizing the center of life activity) likewise has this way of moving. The Taiji (the fundamental centered state before Yin and Yang divide) is established within the Yellow Court, while the celestial bodies revolve and move beyond it, giving rise to life without end. The Hexagram of Keeping Still says: when it is time to stop, one stops, and the Taiji is established; when it is time to move, one moves, and the heavens begin to circulate.

Consider also what the “Appended Remarks” says: “The sun and moon push against each other, and brightness arises”; “cold and heat push against each other, and the year takes shape”; and “bending and extending respond to each other, and benefit arises.” These are all essentials of the cultivation practice called “moving through the courtyard.”

What does “establishing the Pole” mean? It is what was described above: to settle the heart’s benevolence at the center, make it the fundamental point of balance, and nurture it. Then the true turning point in the waxing and waning of Qi will naturally appear, and body, heart, nature, and life will come into harmony.

Bending and extending, going and coming, truly resemble the alternating light of the sun and moon and the turning of cold and heat. This is perhaps the natural movement of the Way of Heaven, and may also be understood as a small cosmos within our bodies.

At first, cultivation still involves the guidance of intention. In the end, it returns to the natural waxing and waning of Qi, as body, heart, nature, and life come into harmony.

Bending and extending, going and coming, truly resemble the alternating light of the sun and moon and the turning of cold and heat. This is perhaps the natural movement of the Way of Heaven, and may also be understood as a small cosmos within our bodies.

At first, use the mind to guide the Qi (vital energy) as it circulates, expanding outward from the center of the body, from small to large. Silently recite the twelve-character formula: “The White Tiger hides in the East; the Green Dragon lies concealed at the Rooster position.” With each line, let the Qi make one circuit. After thirty-six circuits, stop.

Next, draw the Qi back from the outside toward the center, contracting from large to small, while silently reciting: “The Green Dragon lies concealed at the Rooster position; the White Tiger hides in the East.” Again, let it make thirty-six circuits, finally returning to Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate), which in Neidan cultivation symbolizes the state in which primordial Qi remains undivided and returns to its source. This process is called one circuit of the body’s energy. With long practice, there is no need to guide the Qi with the mind; it continues to circulate on its own, as if the pivot never stopped and the Dharma Wheel—the turning wheel that symbolizes the cyclical movement of Qi—spun by itself. One may even feel that it is difficult to stop.

Quanyangzi said: “It circulates like the sun and moon, turning together with the River of Heaven. Its rotation has no end, and so life has no end.”

The Collection for the Clarification of the Dao says: “To live at ease and contentment is the way to longevity; day and night, the Dharma Wheel turns silently.”

Han Xiaoyao said: “The Dharma Wheel must turn often, circulating only within the body, where others cannot see it. When it is set in motion, it is like the solar wheel, turning within me.”

He also said: “Once the Dharma Wheel begins to turn, do not stop it. Keep your thoughts with the wheel, and it will turn on its own.”

As the Qi moves, the sensation is like clouds and mist spreading all around, or like wind and rain suddenly breaking upon you. In a daze, it is like waking from a waking dream, or like suddenly recovering after a long illness. The spirit feels subtle and harmonious, as though husband and wife were joined; the bones and flesh feel relaxed and at ease, as if just after bathing.

The Book of Changes says: “Yellow occupies the center and understands how things work; properly placed, it rests within the body. When inner virtue is stored within, it can flow freely to the limbs.” These words are indeed well founded.

The Principles of the Union of Dragon and Tiger

When Kan (symbolizing Yin forces such as Kidney Water) and Li (symbolizing Yang forces such as Heart Fire) within the human body join, life is sustained; if they separate, life comes to an end. This is an inevitable principle from which no one is exempt.

Within the human body, life arises when the two forces of Kan and Li meet. When they separate, a person dies. This is an inevitable principle, with no exceptions.

The Li trigram consists of three lines and symbolizes Yang, yet it is associated with the south. It appears to belong to Yang, but contains Yin within, so it is called “True Mercury,” a Neidan term for Yang within Yin corresponding to Li. The Kan trigram also consists of three lines and symbolizes Yin, yet it is associated with the north. It appears to belong to Yin, but contains Yang within, so it is called “True Lead,” a Neidan term for Yin within Yang corresponding to Kan. Thus the Perfected One Ziyang, the Northern Song Daoist Zhang Boduan, says: “The sun occupies Li’s position, yet is female; Kan is paired with the moon palace, yet is male.”

Here, Kan as male and Li as female are like the father’s Jing and Qi and the mother’s blood; like the bird in the sun and the rabbit in the moon; like mercury in cinnabar and silver in lead ore; and like the dark blackness of Heaven and the yellow of Earth. These expressions use different things to point to the two Qi known as the Dragon and Tiger in Neidan, names for the two Yin-Yang energies.

The Cantong qi says, “Within Li is the radiance of the sun; within Kan is the essence of the moon.” Here, Li and Kan are the trigrams of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams). The “dragon” is a metaphor for the Yang Qi within Li, while the “tiger” represents the Yin Qi within Kan. The “Ji” within Li and the “Wu” within Kan together symbolize the true Earth of the Yellow Court—the central region of the body in Neidan cultivation. After the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) differentiates, Wu and Ji each reside within the Qi dynamics of the dragon and tiger.

Those who cultivate Neidan and wish to return to the source and restore the beginning—bringing the Qi of dragon and tiger back into the cauldron, the symbolic place of alchemical refinement, and gathering emotion and nature into the bodily apertures used in cultivation—must employ the two formulas “the dragon emerges from fire” and “the tiger is born in water.” Practitioners visualize Yang Qi rising like a flying dragon from blazing fire, and Yin Qi leaping like a fierce tiger from clear water. When dragon and tiger unite, they sink back into primordial chaos from the state in which chaos first began to open. Then Yin and Yang join as husband and wife, entering the void from a state of indistinctness and mutual obscurity. Together they reach the Yellow Chamber, a Neidan term for the central place of inner cultivation, and mingle with one another. Their two streams of Qi meet like the Yin and Yang of Heaven and Earth joining, or the radiance of the sun and moon blending, and circulate between the Ancestral Aperture, an important opening in Neidan cultivation. In this way, one can recover the primordial Qi that existed before differentiation and condense it into the essence of the true One, unified in primordial wholeness. This is the source of the “great medicine”—the refined essence and Qi sought in Neidan cultivation—and the basis of the Reverted Elixir, the process of returning to the source and refining it into a concentrated form.

The dragon’s nature of feeling is often associated with Wu, while the tiger’s nature of essence is often associated with Ji. Since each of them contains Earth Qi, Wu Earth and Ji Earth unite as one; this is called “the knife and the unit of weight,” a metaphor for Yin and Yang’s essences and Qi harmonizing and congealing. When Kan and Li unite, it is like “Earth and Heaven in harmony” in the Book of Changes. When dragon and tiger unite, Wu and Ji join. Once Wu and Ji become one, the Four Symbols—the mutually coordinated dynamics of Yin and Yang in Neidan—gather, and the great medicine can be produced.

The Book of Changes says, “When the Qi of Heaven and Earth mingle, all things are enriched and brought forth; when man and woman unite, all things multiply and grow.” Heaven and Earth give birth to all things through the union of Yin and Yang; the alchemical method refines the medicine through their union. Whether in the creation of things by Heaven and Earth or in Neidan cultivation, everything depends on union.

The Book of Jade Fungus says: “If the dark and the yellow do not join, how can Yang Qi rise from the Kan position?” This is the essential principle of alchemy and the first rule of cultivating immortality. Alchemical methods hold that the medicine is born through the union of Yin and Yang. Nothing in the transformations of Heaven and Earth comes into being without such a union.

If the Qi of Heaven and Earth does not gather and circulate, sweet dew will not descend. If the Yin and Yang Qi represented by the Kan and Li trigrams do not meet, the Yellow Sprout—the nascent medicine in Neidan cultivation—will not appear. If the two breaths of the Dragon and Tiger do not meet, the true seed cannot form. Without this seed, what could serve as the foundation for refining and condensing the great Golden Elixir of liquid gold?

There are, however, two kinds of union. One is “inner union”: Kan and Li, or Dragon and Tiger, join to produce the medicine. The other is “outer union”: Qian and Kun, or zi and wu, join to form the Elixir. The two methods differ greatly, and practitioners should distinguish them carefully.

Zhang Ziyang said: “Once these two things have been made to enter the Yellow Path, how could the Golden Elixir fail to form?” This refers to the same principle.

Lü Chunzhi said: “The meeting of the two things is the foundation of the Dao; where the Five Phases are complete, there is the Elixir.” He too was speaking of this principle.

Chen Baoyi said: “When wu and ji suddenly join, feeling and nature come together.” This points to the same meaning. He also said: “As soon as Kan and Li join, the Dragon and Tiger are subdued.” This is the same idea.

Zhang Yongcheng said: “The Tiger leaps and the Dragon soars; the waters surge. From this, the Mysterious Pearl is born in the central position.” This too refers to the same principle.

In his Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir, Zhang Pingshu said: “The Dragon comes from the Eastern Sea; the Tiger rises toward the Western Mountain. The two beasts fight a battle, then transform into a pool of water.” This likewise explains how the union of Yin and Yang produces the medicine.

“Joining the Dragon and Tiger” is a method for bringing the Three Primordials together as one. It causes Heaven and Earth to meet, Kan and Li to unite, Yin and Yang to converge, and nature and life to join, so that two things that were originally separate become one again. The Nine Palaces, Eight Trigrams, Seven Luminaries, Six Positions, Five Phases, Four Images, and Three Powers that arise from this can all be traced back to “two.”

“One” is the primordial source, arising as a whole and existing before Heaven and Earth. It is vast and boundless: when it circulates and spreads, it is called Qi (the primordial Qi spoken of in Daoism); when it condenses into form, it is called Jing; and when it manifests its wondrous functions, it is called Shen.

When the Taiji first divided and became two forms, people gradually drifted away from the source and eventually fell into peril. The sages therefore took the essential principles of Heaven and Earth as their model and understood the roots of change. They drew Jing from the “Water Palace” (an inner place associated with Jing and Qi) and summoned Shen from the “Numinous Pass” (a crucial place through which intention and spirit move), bringing them into the “Mysterious Female Cavity” (the cavity where Yin and Yang meet and generate vitality in internal cultivation) to unite with the “Ancestral Qi” (the Qi of the primordial source). In this way, the three—Jing, Qi, and Shen—meet and reunite as one. In practice, first gather the spirit in the state before chaos has divided; then remain still and observe, letting the mind and spirit contain emptiness. Hold fast to “one” at all times without dividing from it. This is the wondrous Dao of returning to the source and restoring the original.

The Book of Documents says: “The human mind is precarious; the Dao mind is subtle. Be discerning, be unified, and sincerely hold to the Mean.” This means bringing the human mind and Jing and Qi into accord, gathering them at the “center of the Yellow Center” (an inner position of centrality and balance), and sincerely holding to this central way. Yao and Shun began the transmission of the Dao lineage through this principle, which also became the foundation of the sages’ learning in later generations.

Formula from Section Three of The Treatise on the Essential Principles of Dual Cultivation of Nature and Life:

Conceal yourself in the Qi Cavity; let the myriad wonders return to the root

(Diagram of concealing oneself in the Qi Cavity)

(Accompanied by four methods of cultivation: walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.)

The previous section discussed “gathering inward”: collecting body and mind, and holding to the center while embracing the One. The formula in this section says, “Conceal yourself in the Qi Cavity; let the myriad wonders return to the root.”

The previous section discussed “gathering and drawing inward”: collecting and consolidating, the practice of holding to the center and embracing the One. This section discusses “hiding in latency”: remaining deeply concealed and unseen, the formula for making one’s foundation firm. Gathering and hiding in latency are two sides of the same process. Without gathering, nothing can spread outward; without hiding in latency, nothing can come forth and grow. The two sections therefore follow on from and connect with each other.

The method described here is simply to draw inward the point of Yang Shen (the yang spirit in internal cultivation) gathered at the ancestral aperture—the place where intention is concentrated and Shen and Qi are said to meet—and conceal it in the Qi cavity, the place where Shen and Qi are nurtured. This is called “sending it back to the earthen cauldron” and sealing it firmly. It is also called “concentrating Shen and entering the Qi cavity.”

The Qi cavity has an outer and an inner aperture. The outer aperture is like the shell of a peach or apricot stone; the inner aperture is like the kernel within it. The ancient immortals said: “Before chaos came into being, chaos was a seamless whole. Its mysteries cannot be casually transmitted. One must open the aperture within the aperture, break through the heaven within heaven, and the heaven beyond heaven.”

This “aperture within the aperture” is called “emptiness that is not empty” and the “Tathāgatagarbha” by the Buddha Śākyamuni; Lao Jun calls it “the mysterious within the mysterious, the gate of all wonders.” Hai Chan, the Daoist Liu Haichan, calls it “the bottomless,” as well as “the bellows with an opening” and “the aperture at the center of the key.” All these expressions point to the aperture within the aperture, which is difficult to find and impossible to convey in words. It is the source of Yin-Yang, the dwelling place of Shen and Qi, the foundation of embryonic breathing—the deeply concealed breath of internal cultivation, as though a fetus were breathing in the womb—and the origin of breathing.

The “embryo” is where Shen is concealed; “breath” is the source from which the inner embryo is nurtured. The embryo arises from breath, and breath settles through the embryo. The aperture within the aperture is the true place where immortals cultivate the inner embryo and settle into embryonic breathing. Vast as they are, Heaven and Earth are no more than a kind of embryo; the movement of the sun and moon and the turning of the Dipper’s handle are the true breath within Heaven and Earth.

Consider the scriptures of the Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions. The Book of Changes says, “To bring nature to fulfillment and preserve it continually is the gate of the Way and its virtue.” The Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue says, “The mysterious within the mysterious is the gate of all wonders.” The Sutra of the Buddha’s Final Teaching says, “If you concentrate it in one place, nothing cannot be accomplished.” These words all point directly to the place within us where the breathing of the True Person resides.

Where, exactly, is the place where the True Person breathes? In the classics, I once read that it lies in the “Palace of Obscurity,” a deep and hidden place that stores original Jing, and is also the “Palace of the Cinnabar Origin,” where fetal breathing—the inner breathing described in Neidan practice—takes shape. Here is a vision of red above and black below, black on the left and white on the right, with yellow suffusing the center. This is the place where the True Person breathes. It lies behind the navel wheel and before the hall of the kidneys, below the Yellow Court and above Guanyuan. In the words of the Yellow Court Scripture (Huangting Jing), “Above is the Yellow Court; below, Guanyuan. Behind is the Hidden Gate; in front, the Gate of Life.”

Liao Chanhui said, “In front corresponds to the navel wheel, behind to the kidneys; between them is a true Golden Cauldron.” Once you have identified this place, settle the mind and spirit you gathered earlier in its deepest aperture. Guard it continuously, like a turtle withdrawing into its shell, a snake lying dormant, a mussel holding the light of a pearl, or a toad drawing in its breath. Do not forget it, but do not deliberately try to strengthen it either. Let it seem both present and absent, and draw it inward with a presence that is barely perceptible. Allow it to move through the formless realm and gather at the point of opening and closing. Before long, the breaths will contain one another, spirit and Qi will embrace, and they will congeal into the Mother of the Elixir—the foundation of Neidan—settled in the lower Dantian. Outwardly, it attunes to the pure, numinous Yang Qi between Heaven and Earth; inwardly, it gathers and governs the essence of the whole body. It rests at the center like the North Star, with the other stars circling around it. In time, spirit and Qi return to their root, nature and life unite, and the Great Medicine is nurtured within.

There are formulas for gathering the spirit and regulating the breath. Without understanding the essentials, one may let the mind and spirit stirred up by thought mingle recklessly with the breath, forming a phantom Elixir and damaging the substances needed for cultivation. Thus the Immortal Master said, “In regulating the breath, regulate the true breath; in refining spirit, refine the spirit that is not spirit.”

The Yinfu Jing (Classic of the Hidden Talisman), attributed to the Yellow Emperor, says: “People know only the wondrous effects, but not the root that seems devoid of spirit and is precisely what gives rise to those wondrous effects. This ‘non-spirit’ is nature. Nature is the source of spirit: spirit comes from nature, but nature itself is not spirit. The part of spirit that is clear and bright, untouched by darkness, is true nature.”

The Song of the Great Dao by the Immortal Maiden says: “I will tell you the key: the root of life lies always in the true breath.” Here, “true breath” refers to the foundation of life. Life is the root of Qi: Qi comes from life, but life itself is not Qi. The state within Qi that is gentle, full, and ceaselessly alive is true life.

This “spirit within non-spirit” and “breath within true breath” are the pair that truly correspond: the true Yin-Yang, true Dragon and Tiger, and true nature and life spoken of in the texts. In Neidan (internal alchemy), bringing them closely together and fusing them in the same “furnace” means gathering the spirit and harmonizing the breath. The texts also describe this union with phrases such as “the Oxherd and Weaver Maid meet,” “male and female follow one another,” “the Crow and Rabbit share a nest,” “the sun and moon dwell in one palace,” “the hun and po souls join,” and “metal and fire blend.” Ultimately, all these expressions refer to the method of “gathering the spirit and joining it with Qi.”

Therefore, Shen (spirit)—the mind’s spirit—does not part from Qi (vital energy), nor does Qi part from Shen. When one’s own Shen and Qi unite, nature and life become manifest. Nature does not part from life, nor does life part from nature. When one’s own nature and life unite, what becomes manifest is the nature that has never been separated off as “nature,” and the life that has never been separated off as “life”—that is, the original state before nature and life were divided.

The Ruyao Jing says that what is being discussed is nature and life, not Shen and Qi. For convenience, they may be spoken of as two; in substance, they are one. Shen and Qi were never two separate things, while nature and life must be cultivated together. The guiding principle of dual cultivation of nature and life has long been lost, and so the Daoist path of cultivation and the Buddhist path of Chan meditation later disputed which was superior.

Liu Haichan said, “The true Dharma is the Dao; a child must be held by two people together.” The image of “two people holding one child” is a metaphor for dual cultivation of nature and life.

Master Qinghe said, “The method of dual cultivation of nature and life was handed down outside the teachings; its mysteries are profound beyond measure. Gather the origin and return it to the beginningless source, reversing the precelestial so that it becomes postcelestial.”

This method is profound and subtle, and difficult to understand without a master’s guidance. Its oral instructions are also exceedingly obscure, and will be recorded in detail later. Here, we first explain it through the realizations of the perfected immortals, to help beginners grasp the entryway.

As Bai Yuchan said, “Long ago, I met my master and personally received the oral instruction: simply concentrate the Shen and enter the Qi cavity.” The Qi cavity is an opening within the body. Let the mind’s spirit rest there, and store Qi within it. Bring the empty, unattached mind of the Tathagata (a title of the Buddha) together with the deep, fine breathing of the realized person. Let mind and breath follow one another: when the breath is harmonized, the mind’s spirit becomes tranquil. Nurturing a single point of the true mind within Qi (the primal energy spoken of in Daoism) is the method of “concentrating the Shen and entering the Qi cavity.”

After the mind’s spirit has settled in the Qi cavity, one should often turn the light inward—that is, gather in one’s thoughts and observe within, continuing to watch without straying. Then transformations will arise naturally: the true breath will rise and descend, and the symbolic forces used in internal cultivation—Water, Fire, Wood, and Metal—will take turns in their operation.

A saying among the immortals goes: “If you wish for long life, first learn to gaze for a long time.” By gathering the spirit and contemplating the upper Dantian (the site of internal alchemical cultivation in the head), the spirit can endure; by contemplating the middle Dantian (the site of internal alchemical cultivation between the chest and abdomen), Qi can endure; by contemplating the lower Dantian (the site of internal alchemical cultivation in the lower abdomen), the body can endure. “Gazing for a long time” here means drawing the mind and spirit inward and focusing on the Dantian within the body.

The sun and moon shine between Heaven and Earth. A clam that absorbs their essence can produce a pearl; a hard stone that accumulates essence can yield jade. How much more, then, should a person—whose body already contains its own “sun and moon”—be able to turn the light back and gaze inward, forming a pearl of their own and nurturing jade within?

The spirit is like fire, and Qi is like water. If there is too much water, the fire goes out; if the fire burns too fiercely, the water dries up. People in middle age often find that water can no longer overcome fire. They should therefore restore the source of life early and replenish their essence and Qi in good time. The method of adding oil was explained earlier in the section “The Treasure That Protects Life.” The further explanation here reveals that Heaven and humanity are one in Qi.

Between Heaven and humanity, there is only Qi, opening and closing in mutual exchange and flowing through both; they are not two different kinds of Qi. When a person exhales, the Qi of Heaven and Earth disperses accordingly; when a person inhales, it gathers accordingly. This is the subtle connection between Heaven and humanity, in which their shared movement of Qi responds in kind. Heaven and Earth endure because Qi breathes and moves within them. If people can take Heaven and Earth as their model and let Qi move within the body, they too can endure as long as Heaven and Earth.

Cao Xiangu said: “When primordial, harmonious Qi moves within the body, one can become a perfected being. Relying only on the outward breath through the mouth and nose will never bring cultivation to completion.” The movement of Qi in and out through the mouth and nose is called external breathing; the opening and closing of the Qi of Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang) is called internal breathing.

Xiao Liaozhen said: “Laozi opened the Gate of the Myriad Mysteries. Its opening and closing correspond to Qian and Kun. If one can truly experience, in a hazy and formless state, the signs of long life and deathlessness…” This refers to internal breathing.

Zhang Pingxu said: “The Mysterious Female, the Gate of the Myriad Mysteries, opens and closes in correspondence with Qian and Kun. If one can truly experience, in a hazy and formless state, the signs of long life and deathlessness…” This too refers to internal breathing.

Zhang Ping-shu said: “Few people in the world know the Gate of the Mysterious Female, the portal within the human body where Yin and Yang meet and life is conceived. Do not mistake breathing through the mouth and nose for the key to cultivation, or use it casually to practice. Even if you practiced inhalation and exhalation for a thousand years, how could you refine the Golden Crow embracing the Jade Hare—the inner elixir formed through the union of Yin and Yang, symbolized by the sun and moon?” This is a criticism of methods that cultivate only mouth-and-nose breathing.

External breathing concerns the physical body. It replenishes what is acquired after birth and nourishes the form. Internal breathing concerns the Dharma body, the inner body and mind spoken of in cultivation. It nurtures what is primordial and nourishes the Grain Spirit, the inner original spirit.

The breath of internal breathing comes from the Mandate of Heaven; only breaths of the same kind can resonate with one another. Thus the sages practice “concealing Qi” (Fuqì), allowing the inner true Qi to lie hidden and circulate. They draw upon the primordial, harmonizing Qi and guide it in a reverse course through the upper apertures of the body. The breath turns from the front to the back and returns to the root, where the mother Qi and child Qi lie hidden together and remain joined. In this way, the breath continually returns to the root, becoming the foundation for conceiving the Golden Elixir.

The ancients said: “Concealing Qi is not the practice of ingesting Qi, but anyone who practices ingesting Qi must understand concealing Qi. Ingesting Qi alone cannot bring longevity; to attain longevity, one must cultivate concealing Qi.” Qi gathers in the lower region with nowhere to pass, and naturally rises, becoming the foundation of the Golden Elixir.

The ancients also said: “Concealing Qi is not the practice of ingesting Qi, but anyone who practices ingesting Qi must understand concealing Qi. Ingesting Qi alone cannot bring longevity; to attain longevity, one must cultivate concealing Qi.” Qi gathers in the lower region with nowhere to pass, so it naturally rises to the Sea of Marrow. When it gathers in the upper region with nowhere to go, it naturally descends to the Sea of Qi. The two currents of Qi continue into one another above and below, circulating without end. The ancient adepts were able to prolong life by means of this reverse-circulation method.

This method must not be abandoned at any stage, from beginning to end. In the first stage, it rescues and replenishes; in the second, it “brings Wu Earth to join Ji Earth,” a union of Yin and Yang; in the third, it replenishes Jing and Qi and renews life; in the fourth, it helps the fire refine the metal; in the fifth, when the fire is at its height, it sustains the process; in the sixth, after the Elixir embryo has formed, it provides bathing and care; and in the seventh, it provides gentle warmth and nourishment, like feeding an infant. Once the infant has been rescued from the sea of suffering and the cultivator has reached the farther shore, no boat or raft is needed. This method of practice is then no longer needed either.

At birth, when the umbilical cord is cut, the subtle root of life and nature rests in one’s own true breathing. After that, it first disperses into the space between Heaven and Earth, then settles in the fleshy heart—that is, the physical heart—and spreads from there to the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, and all the limbs and bones. Day by day, the mind and spirit race outward, and the breath gradually dissipates. This is the path toward death.

For this reason, the immortals taught methods of returning and settling—gathering the mind and spirit and bringing body and mind to rest—and taught that one must first return to the root. “Returning to the source” means gathering the mind and spirit, scattered through the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, limbs, and bones, back into the fleshy heart. This is called nurturing the original source. Next, the spirit nurtured in the heart is gathered back into the space between Heaven and Earth; this is called settling the Ancestral Aperture, the place where the mind and spirit are stilled and return to their origin. Then the gathered spirit and Qi between Heaven and Earth are drawn back to the place of the True Person’s breathing; this is called storing the breath in the Qi Cavity, gathering and nourishing it within the body. Day by day, as the mind and spirit grow still and the breath gathers, vitality increases.

The ancient immortals said, “A damaged house is easy to repair; depleted medicinal power is not difficult to restore. If you understand the method of returning and settling, gold and silver treasures can pile up like mountains.” In this way, one can replenish what has been depleted within the body, continue one’s allotment of Qi, restore the wholeness received from one’s parents, and preserve one’s innate endowment. True Mercury, which in cultivation symbolizes Yin essence and Qi, is precisely eight liang; True Lead, symbolizing Yang essence and Qi, reaches half a jin. The mind is then as simple and unspoiled as an infant’s, with Yin and Yang united in an undivided whole. The exhalation grows fine, the inhalation long, and the breath gradually becomes deep, gentle, and calm. In time, the movement of breath in the Qi Cavity naturally comes to a stop: internal Qi no longer goes out, while external Qi enters. This is the beginning of fetal breathing, as if returning to the source within the womb, and the beginning of bringing all wondrous workings back to their root.

Lü Zhichang said, “Only when breathing has paused for a time can one seize the transformations of Heaven and Earth.”

When the breath gradually settles and naturally comes to a stop, the inner Qi no longer goes out, while external Qi enters the body. This is the beginning of embryonic breathing returning to its original source, like the breathing of a fetus in the womb, and the beginning of myriad wondrous principles returning to their root.

Lü Zhichang said, “Only after the breath pauses can one seize the hidden workings of Heaven and Earth’s creation.” Cheng Yichuan said, “If one has not glimpsed the essential workings of creation, how can one attain longevity?” Weng Baoguang said, “The work of cultivation in a single moment can encompass the Qi cycles of Heaven and Earth over the course of a year.”

Could these three predecessors have been speaking empty words? When the wondrous state of embryonic breathing becomes settled, breath enters the body without accumulating, and leaves the body without dissipating. The body is like empty space, quietly entering a state of meditative stillness. After remaining in stillness for a long time, inner and outer become one, and movement and stillness both disappear. It is as though the pivot of the celestial motions has stopped turning, and the sun and moon have joined together—a celestial phenomenon the ancients described as the sun and moon converging. All between Heaven and Earth is quiet; the spring Qi blends, the nine heavens are clear and limpid, and the dew Qi condenses.

How wondrous this state is! The true scene of Yin-Yang interaction appears at this moment. Original Jing, the vital essence at the root of life, reveals its radiance, like gold emerging from ore. It is like opening chaos anew and entering the womb once more, bringing forth the flower of freedom from leakage and forming the fruit of Bodhi, the fruit of awakening. Unless one has the roots of an affinity with the immortals from a past life, it is difficult to grasp the mysteries of this path.

“Behind is the hidden portal, before it the gate of life; the sun goes out and the moon comes in, while breath is sustained.” This is the oral formula transmitted in the Laozi’s Huangting Waijing Jing.

“Simply attend to the breathing of the True Person, and let the Maiden fly freely to and fro.” This is the oral formula transmitted in Li Changyuan’s Hunyuan Baozhang.

“Within, unite with true Qi and sustain the breath; naturally, creation restores the youthful countenance.” This is the oral formula transmitted in Xu Jingyang’s Zuisi Xian Ge.

“The Metal Mother of the West is most firm and strong; she enters the Ren family and hides within the waters.” This is the oral formula transmitted in Shi Xinglin’s Huanyuan Pian.

“To know the Dao’s subtle and silent principle, the sun must be moved into the bright moon.” This is the oral formula transmitted in Xue Zixian’s Fuming Pian.

“The sages of old made plain the intent of the Cinnabar Terrace; many times the numinous bird has roosted on the cassia branch.” This is the oral formula transmitted in Liu Haichan’s Huanjin Pian.

The two wondrous things naturally join together; their subtle workings must be sought here. This is a formula from Chen Moran’s Chongzheng Pian.

The voice of the ancient Buddha transcends movement and stillness; the breathing of the perfected person is as delicate as a silken thread. This is a formula from Shi Jianyuan’s Qinglian Jing.

Breathing gradually settles into thoughtlessness and deep stillness. In the state between waking and sleep, one faintly senses the body as if it were floating. This is a formula from Luo Nian’an’s Taixi Pian. Here, “fetal breathing” refers to a state cultivated in practice in which the breath becomes subtle and continuous, and the mind and spirit grow calm.

On exhaling, do not stir with the myriad external conditions; on inhaling, do not cling to the realms formed by body and mind. This is the formula given by the Venerable Prajna in reply to the king of East India. “Aggregates and realms” refers to Buddhist classifications of body and mind, such as the five aggregates and eighteen realms.

Mercury is poured fully into a gourd, its mouth sealed tight, and the gourd then placed in deep water. This is a formula from E Lühua’s Qixue Tu. The mercury and gourd serve as metaphors for gathering and storing Jing and Qi within the body.

All things come into being and eventually die; after falling into stillness, the Original Spirit can be brought back to life. Gather the intent of Shen into the Qi Cavity—the part of the body where primordial Qi is cultivated and stored—and the Way of the Elixir will come to completion naturally. This is a formula from Shi Xinglin.

Returning to the root has its own method, and restoring one’s mandate has its own key. Once these two essentials are understood, transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood becomes as simple as an everyday matter. This is a formula from Li Qing’an.

The mind’s workings are subtle and its intent profound; the primordial Qi between the navel and the lower abdomen condenses into an elixir. The Valley Spirit—the inexhaustible inner mystery—endures because of fetal breathing; the gateway to longevity lies in breathing that continues without interruption. This is a formula from Qunxian Zhuyu.

Keep Jing focused so that Shen grows full and remains for a long time; the true breath moving back and forth naturally becomes slow and continuous. As it flows on without interruption, it gradually returns to the primordial mandate. There is no need to draw in the numinous spring deliberately; it will flow of its own accord. This is a formula from Master Haichan.

There is a direct path, yet few seek it; the wind-tiger and cloud-dragon naturally answer each other with roars and cries. Once settled in meditation, one can better understand what governs the movement of Qi, and the perfected person’s breathing grows deeper still. This is a formula from Chen Zhixu.

The circle is not a circle, and the square is not a square; all the myriad forms between Heaven and Earth are concealed within it. As it appears now, there are two layers of white, one inside and one outside, with a single yellow point at the center. This is the oral formula from the Collection of Great Achievement.

Regulate the breath until it is even, quiet the heart and spirit, and guard the Yellow Court—the place within the body where Daoists cultivate and refine—as though you had fully grasped the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. Understand that, after passing through the kalpas, this body remains illusory. When seated on a meditation mat in cultivation, the heart and spirit must remain alert. This is the oral formula of Baopuzi.

Create the Yin’e, a metaphor for the region within the body used in cultivation, and make it empty and unobstructed; then let the original spirit, a person’s primordial spirit, dwell there in peace. Let the breath come and go without interruption, and the sacred embryo, a metaphor for the inner achievement of Neidan (internal alchemy), can be nurtured to completion, returning to the primordial beginning. This is the oral formula of Chen Xubai.

Carefully contemplate the writings of the sages of the three teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—and you will find that the key lies in the word “breath.” In practice, remain alert at all times. This is the oral formula of Baopuzi.

Create the Yin’e and make it empty and unobstructed; then let the original spirit dwell there in peace. Let the breath come and go without interruption, and the sacred embryo can be nurtured to completion, returning to the primordial beginning. This is the oral formula of Chen Xubai.

Carefully contemplate the writings of the sages of the three teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—and the word “breath” is the clearest and most direct guide. If you work diligently with the breath, attaining Buddhahood or becoming an immortal need not be difficult. To reach the root through the arising of thoughts is the essential method of Chan Buddhism; to still deluded thoughts and understand principle is the highest attainment of Confucianism; to regulate the breath and gather the spirit is the mystery of Daoism. When these three practices complement one another, there is no difficulty that cannot be overcome. This is an oral formula from Li Daochun’s Collection of Harmony and Balance.

The Formula for Embryonic Breathing

Yuan Tiangang’s Formula for Embryonic Breathing

Original Qi (vital energy) is the root of the Great Dao and the mother of Heaven and Earth. Yin and Yang unite to bring forth and nourish the myriad things. In human beings, it appears as the breath; in Heaven, it appears as the forces of cold and heat. Wu and Ji—the Heavenly Stems that symbolize the center and the Earth phase—are what can mobilize and transform the Qi of the four seasons.

The Qi of spring resides in the Xun position, one of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) directions, and brings forth the growth of all things. The Qi of summer resides in the Kun position and enables all things to grow and be nourished. The Qi of autumn resides in the Qian position and brings all things to maturity. The Qi of winter resides in the Gen position and allows all things to be stored and nourished within.

Therefore, those who cultivate the Dao should gather the proper Qi of the four seasons and take it into the embryo as the true seed. Accumulated over a long time, it will naturally bring the heart and spirit to rest and cause the myriad things to arise. The Qi of summer resides in the Kun position and enables all things to grow and be nourished; the Qi of autumn resides in the Qian position and brings all things to maturity; the Qi of winter resides in the Gen position and allows all things to be stored and nourished within.

Therefore, those who cultivate the Dao should draw in the pure Qi of the four seasons and take it into fetal breathing as the true seed. Accumulated over time, it will naturally bring results: the mind grows settled, the spirit grows settled, and the breath grows settled; Dragon and Tiger draw close and unite, forming the sacred embryo. This is called the “fetal breathing of the True Person.”

The Fetal-Breathing Instructions of the People of the Great Beginning

The Dao is the Great Void. Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, all arise from the Great Void. Thus, Heaven and Earth are the true embryo formed from the Great Void, while the sun and moon are its true breath in motion.

If a person can unite with the Great Void, then Heaven and Earth are their embryo, the sun and moon are their breathing, and everything contained within the Great Void is contained within them. Does this not mean transcending Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, and entering a state of undifferentiated emptiness and stillness?

The Fetal-Breathing Scripture of Patriarch Bodhidharma

The embryo forms from breath concealed within; once the embryo has formed, Qi begins to circulate. When Qi enters the body, a person lives; when Shen leaves the body, a person dies. Understand the relationship between Shen and Qi, and you can prolong life and attain longevity. Hold to a state of emptiness, stillness, and Wuwei (non-action) to nourish Shen and Qi. When Shen moves, Qi moves with it; when Shen rests, Qi rests with it. To seek longevity, let Shen and Qi flow through one another: allow no distracting thoughts to arise in the mind, and let nothing come or go, enter or leave. In this way, stillness is naturally maintained. Practice diligently; this is the true path.

The Fetal-Breathing Instructions of Zhang Jinghe

The true Xuan and true Pin (the Daoist principles of Yin-Yang and the feminine and masculine) manifest naturally, and Shen and Qi flow through one another. Allow no distracting thoughts to arise in the mind, and let nothing come or go, enter or leave. In this way, stillness is naturally maintained. Practice diligently; this is the true path.

The Fetal-Breathing Instructions of Zhang Jinghe

The true Xuan and true Pin breathe spontaneously, like fish in a spring pond or insects dormant through winter. The vast, vital Qi is harmonious and abundant; the subtle, numinous breath flows gently. It is neither turbid nor clear, does not pass through the mouth or nose, and neither comes nor goes, enters nor leaves. Returning to the root and going back to the source: this is true fetal breathing.

The Fetal-Breathing Instructions of Wang Ziqiao

Those who follow the Dao in their cultivation must understand the Yin-Yang changes represented by the four positions Zi, Wu, Mao, and You. These are the gateways through which Yin and Yang enter and depart. A settled, undisturbed mind is called “meditation”; Shen that is clear and unobstructed in its transformations is called “numinous”; wisdom able to respond fully to all things is called “wisdom”; the Dao’s source joining with Qi is called “cultivation”; true Qi returning to its source is called “refinement”; Dragon and Tiger uniting (the union of Yin and Yang Qi) is called the “Elixir”; and the three Elixirs joining as one is called “completion”—that is, the fulfillment of cultivation.

Those who aspire to the Dao need only understand the foundations of cultivation and practice according to the methods to enter the great Way of longevity. “The dragon and tiger joining” describes the union of Yin-Yang energies and is called the “Elixir.” When the three Elixirs fit together, this is called “completion,” meaning that cultivation has reached fruition.

Xu Qiyan’s Embryonic Breathing Formula

Those who cultivate the Dao should regularly turn inward in contemplation, removing the Three Corpses—three spirits said to dwell within the body and hinder cultivation—and the Six Thieves, a metaphor for sensory desires that disturb the mind. They should draw Qi into the Dantian, the cultivation center below the abdomen, and settle the mind in the Sea of Awareness, a metaphor for the realm of awakening. When the mind settles, Shen becomes calm; when Shen is calm, Qi comes to rest; when Qi comes to rest, the embryo of the internal Elixir can grow.

The embryo of the internal Elixir grows through the stilling of the breath. Ordinary breathing and embryonic breathing depend on one another: without the stilling of the breath, embryonic breathing cannot arise; where embryonic breathing is present, the breath must also have come to rest. By letting the breath settle and allowing the embryo of the internal Elixir to grow, one can attain the “Divine Child of the Holy Mother,” a cultivation state symbolized by gestation within the internal Elixir. Thus, when embryonic breathing is settled, Metal and Wood—the Five Phases of Metal and Wood, used here to indicate the Yin-Yang energies within the body—join together; when the mind is tranquil, the dragon and tiger, symbols of Yin-Yang energies, meet.

Wang Fangping’s Embryonic Breathing Formula

In cultivation, first settle the mind and Qi. When mind and Qi are settled, Shen gathers; when Shen gathers, the mind becomes calm; when the mind is calm, Qi rises; when Qi rises, the external world is forgotten; when the external world is forgotten, the mind becomes clear and still. In stillness, the mind is empty; when the mind is empty, the root of life is preserved; when the root of life is preserved, the Dao comes forth; when the Dao comes forth, one transcends outward forms; when outward forms are transcended, awakening becomes clear; when awakening is clear, one attains spiritual powers.

A Jing says, “When the mind is open, all things are understood; when the mind is still, all methods dissolve.” This is the Buddha’s teaching on clarity and stillness: in stillness, the mind is empty; when the mind is empty, the root of life is preserved; when the root of life is preserved, the Dao comes forth. The Dao then transcends outward forms; transcending outward forms makes awakening clear, and clear awakening brings spiritual powers.

A Jing also says, “When the mind is open, all things are understood; when the mind is still, all methods dissolve.” This is the Tathagata’s true method of meditation. For those who study and practice, if they can truly settle the mind and Qi and gather embryonic breathing, the refinement of the Reverted Elixir will not be far off, nor will the Golden Liquor, a state in Daoist internal alchemy.

The qi cavity, regarded in Neidan cultivation as the place where Shen is stored and Qi nurtured, was called by the ancients the “gate of life and portal of death,” and also the “root of Heaven and Earth.” When the mind and spirit are gathered here, over time the original Qi grows stronger day by day, and the original Shen becomes more vigorous. When the original Shen is vigorous, the breath flows freely; when the breath flows freely, Qi and blood are harmonized; when Qi and blood are harmonized, the bones grow strong; when the bones grow strong, the marrow becomes abundant; when the marrow is abundant, the abdomen becomes full; and when the abdomen is full, the lower burner—the lower part of the body—becomes stable. Then one’s steps become light and strong, one tires less easily, the limbs are healthy, and the complexion glows like a peach. One is then not far from becoming an immortal.

The Embryonic Breathing Method of Master Xingkongzi

My original nature is complete and bright. This complete brightness is the true embryo conceived by Heaven and Earth within me. My original nature is empty and still. This emptiness and stillness is the true breath of the sun and moon within me—the inner breathing that accords with their cycles. Only when Heaven and Earth within me have a true embryo can the embryo of Heaven and Earth merge with my own embryo and nourish it. Only when the sun and moon within me have a true breath can their breath merge with my own and set it in motion. Only when my original nature has become empty can the embryo of Heaven and Earth within that emptiness merge with my own embryo and nourish it. Only when the sun and moon have a true breath can their breath merge with mine and set it in motion. Only when my original nature has become empty can the emptiness within emptiness merge with my own emptiness, so that my emptiness returns to emptiness.

The Inscription on Embryonic Breathing by Master Huanzhen

There are thirty-six points, with swallowing the breath as the first. Exhale slowly and finely; inhale at length, gently and softly. Do this whether sitting or lying down; when walking or standing, remain calm and steady. Avoid noisy, disorderly places, and abstain from pungent or gamey foods. Though this method is called “embryonic breathing,” in essence it belongs to Neidan cultivation. It is not only used to treat illness but can also prolong life. Persist in cultivating it over a long period, and you may take your place among the ranks of immortals.

These formulas offer only a general outline; the remaining details are recorded in the alchemical scriptures and cannot all be described here. This practice of withdrawal and concealment—gathering the spirit and quietly nurturing original Qi—has great power. It is said that a person’s original Shen is stored in the qi cavity, just as all things are stored in Kun Earth, the trigram that symbolizes the earth. When the original Shen enters the qi cavity, the central Heaven Qi descends and joins with the earth Qi. This is like the Way of Earth receiving the Way of Heaven.

The Cantong qi says, “This practice of concealment and nurturing has great efficacy.” This means that the Original Spirit is hidden in the Qi cavity, the place within the body where Qi gathers in cultivation, just as all things are stored within the soil of Kun. When the Original Spirit returns to the Qi cavity, it is like the Qi of Heaven descending to Earth and joining with Earth’s Qi. It is also like the way the Earth’s path receives and bears the path of Heaven.

The Cantong qi says, “Ever follow the patterns of the Earth, receiving Heaven’s intent and putting it into effect.”

The Book of Changes says, “How supremely vast it is! All things depend on it for their growth.”

The Hai month, the tenth month of the lunar calendar, is when the pure Qi of Kun is in command. At this time, plants and trees return to their roots, hibernating insects enter their burrows, Heaven and Earth close and store themselves away, and winter arrives. Though winter governs storage, the foundation for all things to grow in the coming year is already taking shape at this time.

Yang Qi does not begin to sprout only when the Returning hexagram appears; it begins to emerge within the Kun hexagram. Though Kun belongs to utmost Yin, Yang is contained within Yin. The very basis for the formation of the “Great Medicine,” the term in Neidan cultivation for the refined Jing and Qi being cultivated, lies here. As the Medicine is about to form, it is like a fetus in the womb: its true seed must be protected and preserved, and must not be indulged without restraint. Therefore, be careful in daily habits and moderate in eating and drinking; abstain from alcohol and sexual activity, and refrain from anger. Do not overstrain the body outwardly, or overburden the mind and spirit inwardly.

Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down each have their own guidelines. When walking, place your feet on level ground; when standing, gather your spirit in the Great Void, the vast and empty realm; when sitting, regulate the breath in the Dantian; when lying down, keep your attention on the pearl below the navel, a metaphor for what is being refined and nurtured in the lower Dantian. Thus, the essential point of cultivation is never absent from walking, standing, sitting, or lying down.

The text includes illustrations of lying meditation, walking meditation, standing meditation, and seated meditation. When sitting, it is not necessary to cross the legs in the full lotus posture; one may sit as usual. Although the outward posture may be the same as that of an ordinary person, if one maintains the Confucian method of mind, the inner state differs from that of ordinary people. This method of mind means allowing the mind to rest in what is true and fitting.

The eyes and ears are gateways connecting the body with the outside world. “The space of a square inch” refers to where the heart-mind resides, while the “aperture for establishing life” refers to the inner place where life is settled and the mind-spirit gathered. An ordinary person’s heart-mind stays within that square inch, like someone sitting in a hall: sounds, shapes, and colors enter through the gateways of the ears and eyes and disturb the inner mind. A person of deep cultivation gathers the mind-spirit within the aperture for establishing life, like someone staying inside a house, where the sounds, shapes, and colors of the outside world can scarcely enter or peer in. Thus, those skilled at tending the inner mind let the mind-spirit remain hidden within, keeping the eyes and ears temporarily empty and still. When they need to deal with affairs, they use their eyes and ears as if conducting official business in a hall.

If, during seated meditation, one does not maintain the Confucian method of settling the mind taught in the school of Confucius, the mind-spirit will still race outward while the body sits. This is called “sitting in flight”: thoughts scatter and cannot be gathered back in. This is also called “letting the mind go.”

The Platform Sutra says, “When thoughts do not arise, this is sitting; when one’s own nature does not move, this is meditation.” The subtle meaning of meditation lies precisely here.

The ancients said that cultivating the Dao is easy, but subduing delusive thoughts and desires in the heart-mind is difficult. This is indeed so. Sexual desire and appetite are easier to restrain; only drowsiness is difficult to tame. That is why Chan practitioners have a discipline of sitting for long periods without lying down. The scriptures hold that a person’s true primordial vitality is often depleted at night. If one does not carefully gather it in during sleep, Jing and Qi leak downward, Qi disperses upward, and the original spirit loses its support and leaves the body. When Jing, Qi, and Shen—the “Three Treasures”—each disperse, how can a person’s life endure?

When a person of deep cultivation sleeps, they draw the Shen inward and store it in the Elixir Cavern, the place where Jing, Qi, and Shen are kept during Neidan practice. There the Shen joins with Qi, while Water and Fire restrain and harmonize one another. In this way, the Shen does not race outward, and the Qi naturally settles.

For ordinary people, the Shen is lodged in the eyes. After they fall deeply asleep at night, the Shen is hidden in the kidneys; when they wake in the morning, their gaze is still clear. Through nighttime rest and the return of Shen and Qi to their hidden state, the Shen in the kidneys can become settled and clear.

From the perspective of celestial phenomena, the sun travels across the sky by day and sinks beneath the earth at night, as though hidden in the sea. When the morning star appears, does the breath of Heaven not become fresh and clear? If the sun did not sink into the sea at night, how could the sea’s vapor grow clear?

This is what Cui Gong’s Ruyao Jing means by “when Water and Fire join, one never grows old.” The joining of Water and Fire is a way of describing the harmonizing of Yin and Yang in cultivation.

When a person grows drowsy and falls asleep, then suddenly wakes, what governs this change and brings the person to awareness? When the hun soul and the spirit come together, a person is awake; when the po soul joins with the body, a person grows dull and drowsy. Dullness is the root of death; waking is a sign of life. The hun belongs to Yang and delights in stillness, emptiness, and clarity; the po belongs to Yin and delights in restless activity. The po is a ghost; the hun is a spirit.

By day, the spirit encounters external things; at night, it appears in dreams. Before the millet has finished cooking, before the dream of Nanke has ended, a person can pass through a lifetime of honor, disgrace, wealth, and rank, and a hundred years of sorrow and joy, all within a single dream. If the spirit in the dream were to depart and never return, wandering away without coming back to the body, the boundary between life and death would be severed, and the road to the netherworld would be cut off.

From this we can see that a person does not live by their own power; what enables a person to live is the self that moves about in dreams. Nor does a person die by their own power; what leads a person toward death is likewise the person in the dream. Yet if we do not understand what a dream is, we cannot understand what death is; if we do not understand what waking is, we cannot understand what life is. We can awaken from a dream because true awareness is already present within it; life persists within death because there is within death a life that endures and never perishes. Thus, through waking we can understand life, and through dreams we can understand death. Once we understand these two truths, we can enter the gateway to the Dao.

When people are awake, their ears can hear, their eyes can see, their hands can grasp objects, their feet can walk, and their hearts can feel joy and anger. Yet when they are asleep, their ears, eyes, hands, feet, and hearts are all still there. Why, then, can they not hear, see, grasp, or walk as they do when awake, or freely feel joy or anger? From this, it seems that after death people enter a state without awareness.

Yet when people dream in their sleep, they can hear sounds and see scenes, grasp objects and walk, and feel joy and anger. Why, then, do these sensations and actions seem not to come from the ears, eyes, hands, feet, and heart of the waking body? From this, it seems that after death people may still have awareness.

Are death and life, then, like day and night, or dreaming and waking: ordinary phases in the natural course of things? The perfected people of antiquity—those who had succeeded in cultivating the Dao—had no worries when awake and did not dream when asleep. Thus, reaching a dreamless state is not beyond the reach of those who have succeeded in cultivation. But beginners have not yet refined their mind and spirit. They are often drowsy and rarely clear-headed. As soon as they close their eyes, their original spirit leaves the body, and the Sleep Demon—a state that brings drowsiness and scatters awareness—takes advantage of the opening. The hun and po souls then wander chaotically through dreams, going everywhere. This not only disperses the spirit and throws the circulation of Qi out of balance; it may also bring the danger of “the furnace leaking and the cauldron bursting,” a metaphor for the loss of Jing and Qi and the disruption of Qi’s movement during cultivation.

To overcome drowsiness and sleepiness, you can practice the “Five Dragons Coiling the Body” method. Lie on your side with your head facing east, your body curled like a coiling dragon or a sleeping dog. Bend one arm and place it beneath your head as a pillow; gently rub the area around your navel with the other hand. Keep one leg straight and draw the other up. Before falling asleep, first let the eyes grow quiet, then allow the mind and spirit to settle into a deep, empty stillness. In this way, spirit and Qi naturally return to their roots, and the breath becomes calm and nourishing. Without deliberately regulating the breath, it will find its own rhythm; without deliberately holding it in, it will settle by itself. Practicing this way can bring blessings to one’s descendants as well. Chen Xiyi preserved his bodily form on Mount Hua, while Jiang Qingxia shed his bodily form on Mount Wangwu. This is the essential method of “lying meditation”—cultivating stillness while lying down—and differs from daoyin, which regulates the body through physical movements. When the practice is mature, spirit and Qi naturally embrace one another during sleep. On waking, one can also perceive the changes of life and remain free of confused, delusive dreams. This is just as Zhuangzi said: “The perfected people of ancient times had no worries when awake and no dreams when asleep.”

Even in deep sleep, keep the mind and spirit alert. After waking, slowly turn the body. At such a time, the mind is clear and calm, and innate knowing naturally comes forth, like the state described in Buddhist teaching. As Bai Juyi said, where the boundaries between past and future fall away, before even a single thought has arisen, extending this stillness brings the benefits of seated meditation. Its taste is truly difficult to put into words. In a quiet room, Master Yin once wrote this couplet: “When awakening, do not indulge in idle thoughts; then the mind becomes empty and bright. Even amid turmoil, remain at ease as usual, and matters will naturally go smoothly.”

In his lyric “Man Jiang Hong,” Immortal Li wrote: “A fine family tradition of sleep holds within it a distinctive samadhi of sleep—a state of cultivation that uses sleep to enter stillness. Keep sincerity present as you sleep, and clarify the mind within sleep. Understand the essentials of sleeping, and you can nourish spirit and Qi while asleep. This art of sleep means following sleep and settling the mind; it is a meditation gateway that few understand.”

Another poem on overcoming the drowsiness of sleep says: “When sitting in stillness, drowsiness weighs unbearably upon you. The key is to gather the mind with sincere intent. Understand how to regulate the breath during sleep, and you can nurture spirit and breath as you rest. Few people know the essentials of this sleep practice.”

Another poem says: “Drowsiness is hard to resist when sitting in stillness; in a daze, you seem to see the faces of ghosts and the forms of spirits. Torpor and distraction both arise from turbid breath. Unceasing wandering thoughts are due to an excess of Yin energy. As practice deepens, it is like water no longer spilling over its banks; once the wind is calm and the waves settle, no more ripples rise in the middle of the river. When the mind is still, feelings have faded, and the heart no longer wavers, you will neither grow torpid nor become distracted while sitting in stillness, and sleep will no longer trouble you.”

People in ancient times needed almost no sleep. That is why the saying “At dusk, one enters into rest” means that when the sky grows dim, one settles down to rest, with breathing as though sinking into sleep. If sleep is too deep, Yang energy is pressed down by turbid Yin energy, and a person seems to lose all vitality. If you understand how to rest, then when night falls, let your ears hear nothing, your eyes see nothing, and your mouth say nothing; keep the heart free of concerns. Let the breath remain even and unhurried, and keep the limbs still. Allow that small measure of Original Spirit and true Qi, the body’s fundamental breath, to depend on and nourish one another, like a fire kept alive in a furnace.

With prolonged practice, this gradually becomes second nature. Spirit will be abundant, and you will not crave sleep; breath will be ample, and you will not crave food; Jing and Qi will be full, and you will not crave desire. Original Qi will gather of itself, true Jing will naturally coalesce, the embryo child—the inner life crystallization in Neidan practice—will come to rest, the Three Corpses, spirits said in Daoism to inhabit the body and obstruct cultivation, will gradually perish, and the Nine Worms, harmful creatures said in Daoist and ancient health traditions to dwell within the body, will be expelled of themselves. Then the demon of sleep will depart without your even noticing. The body will feel settled and light, the heart empty, clear, and alert, the breath calm and fresh, and the spirit complete and radiant. To reach this state is to set out on the path to long life; there is no need to worry whether your cultivation of the Dao will succeed.

Questions and Answers with the Daoist Zi Zhong

A visitor asked: “How should one practice seated meditation?”

I replied, “Swallowing saliva and taking in breath are practices for cultivators who have already obtained the medicine. Only then can they transform it while seated and form the cauldron and furnace within the body. Without a true seed, it is like trying to cook an empty pot over a roaring fire. Some Buddhists say this is merely a technique in which demons guarding a corpse mistake a brick for a mirror. Their words have some truth, but that does not mean the whole practice should be rejected. Since Boyang in the Jin dynasty and Ziyang in the Song, outstanding figures have continually expounded this principle. Later, perfected masters such as Haiqiong, Ziqiong, Huangfang, Yuandu, and Shangyang carried it on in turn. In this way, the learning of the Golden Elixir has endured like a slender shoot of life among the plants, with generations of successors keeping alive the Daoist lineage that shares a common source with Confucianism and Buddhism. As for simply sitting motionless, that is the lowest sort of lesser-vehicle method, and merely an aberrant path that leads people astray.”

The guest asked again, “Then how, exactly, should one practice?”

I said, “If you are willing to give generously in support of the Dao and make a sincere vow before Heaven, I will tell you.”

The guest knelt and pleaded, “After passing through many kalpas, I have at last had this rare encounter. To meet you in this life is my great fortune. Master, I beg you to teach me with compassion; no kindness could be greater.”

I said, “If you are willing to give generously in support of the Dao and make a sincere vow before Heaven, I will tell you.”

The guest knelt and pleaded, “After passing through many kalpas, I have at last had this rare encounter. To meet you in this life is my great fortune. Master, I beg you to teach me with compassion; no kindness could be greater.”

The Master said, “Come here, and I will tell you. You must now solemnly vow to trust me. If I speak carelessly, do not believe me too readily; if I tell you the truth, do not accept it blindly either. Now I will tell you.

Jing, Qi, and Shen—the Three Treasures—sustain the universe and encompass Yin-Yang. With them, Heaven and Earth can contain all things; when the human mind attains them, one can cultivate to become an immortal or a Buddha. Cultivation has inner and outer aspects. Those who understand can cultivate both; those who do not often cultivate only one. Those who cultivate only one remain dull and unawakened, while those who cultivate both inwardly and outwardly may attain the fruition of immortals and Buddhas. The pathways involved are intricate, and when people hear this, many feel overwhelmed and lose heart. If you truly have no doubts, I will tell you: the key to cultivating both inwardly and outwardly is to discern Jing, Qi, and Shen amid the hazy and subtle.

This Jing has the surname Jin, the childhood name Jiusanlang, the given name Yuanjing, and the title Lord Merchant of Golden Splendor. He dwells west of the Jade Pool and rides a tiger when he comes and goes. In childhood he is called the Infant; when grown, Lord Jin. When he enters another’s home, he calls himself the master and likes to eat pear from the Immortal Orchard. This is the Jing that existed before Heaven and Earth took shape, and it is the most precious treasure in the human body.

This Qi comes from the midst of nothingness. Its surname is Bai, its childhood name Taiyilang, its given name Yuanqi, and its title Lord Su Lian, Master of the Universe. It sojourns in Xichuan and rides a white tiger when it comes and goes. In childhood it is called the True Seed; when grown, the White-Headed Old Master. When it enters another’s home, it calls itself the parents, likes to eat tortoise, and is also amorous. This is the true Qi that existed before Heaven and Earth took shape—the original Qi of the pre-heaven state—and it is the most precious treasure in the human body.

Shangyangzi said: “Although it comes from nothingness, it was not sent down from Heaven or produced by Earth. It was not already present within my body, nor is it Jing, blood, plants, or metal and stone. Since it is none of these, who can recognize it?”

As for the Shen that existed before Heaven and Earth took shape, its title is ‘the Real Person Without a Fixed Station,’ a true spirit bound by no fixed position. Buddhists call it hridaya, the heart. If one can recognize this Shen, one can put its wondrous powers to use. It governs human life and death; the cultivation of immortality and Buddhahood must also be directed by it to succeed. Thus the Inner Classic says that the human body contains roughly two kinds of Jing: Hun and Po. The Shen that accompanies Jing as it moves back and forth is…” The White Patriarch said…