《悟玄篇》

Those who cultivate the Dao (the Way) need not be bound to any fixed hour. Whenever body and mind are at leisure, one may find a quiet place, close the eyes and shut the mouth, sit upright, and pay no heed to the sounds beside the ears. One may sit cross-legged, or not.

While sitting, outwardly one does not cling to one’s own body, nor is one burdened by external things; inwardly one does not cling to thoughts, nor become entangled in affairs. In the mind it is as if something were being kept, and yet as if nothing were there; as if something were being held, yet without deliberate holding. Gradually one enters a state of emptiness and stillness.

When this has been practiced long enough to become familiar, stray thoughts naturally settle. Once the mind is settled, yang Qi (vital energy) arises; and once yang Qi has arisen, the breath rises and falls. The rising Qi starts from the Weilu at the waist (the area near the lower end of the spine), ascends straight along the Jiaji (the region of the spine in the back), and reaches the crown of the head. Aided by the Xun wind (here meaning the inner function that drives the movement of Qi), the breath continues upward to the crown. After the two breaths have joined, they descend to the tip of the tongue, and the mouth becomes as sweet as honey; one then slowly swallows this and sends it into the middle palace (the middle of the body as spoken of in internal cultivation).

The elixir texts say, “In blowing and exhaling, one must rely on the Xun wind.” They also say, “At the beginning effort is required; afterward it should be as if no effort were used.” In short, if one does not understand the order in which Qi rises and falls and the firing times (the grasp of pace and measure in cultivation), how to apply oneself each day, the subtle working of the three passes (the several crucial apertures through which Qi travels), and the mystery of bathing (a method in internal cultivation for regulating the breath and nurturing Qi), one will waste the years in vain and find it hard to attain anything even in old age.

An ancient song says, “The immortals will not speak plainly, and have misled the cultivation of so many people in the world!” Why is this so? These principles are still understood by some today, and immortals upon the land are as numerous as hemp. What are called the secret teachings of Heaven’s design dare not be written down and disclosed, and so must be passed on by word of mouth and from heart to heart between master and disciple.

Fire is dry and fierce by nature and tends to keep rising; when water runs to flood, it keeps descending without pause. If the two can be harmonized according to a definite method, and if the firing and the measures are properly controlled, the fire will not grow too fierce and the water will not overflow, and they will naturally settle into stability. Only when put to use does it appear; when not in use, it returns to formlessness. The subtlety of this turns on the oral formula. Without knowing this marvelous application, how could one speak of proceeding in due order to refine Jing (essence) into Qi (vital energy), refine Qi into Shen (spirit), and refine Shen so as to return to emptiness? Many nowadays study the Dao (the Way), yet those who truly receive the authentic transmission are exceedingly few. How could a principle such as this be lightly imparted to others?

Bathing

In cultivation it is often said that ten months of gestation, followed by two months of “bathing,” together make one year of three hundred and sixty days. Setting aside for the moment the ten months of gestation, where exactly are these two months of bathing to be placed? During this period the firing is not advanced—so is it in the earlier part, the later part, or in the middle? In fact, this stage does involve real practice; it is not a matter of doing nothing at all. Those who study the Dao should inquire and learn from many sides, and should not cling rigidly to the claim that bathing is fixed in the mao and you months (which, according to the traditional reckoning by stems and branches, correspond respectively to the months around the spring equinox and the autumn equinox). The essential points of “casting off the embryo” (in cultivation, the stage when the work is complete and one sheds ordinary substance) must in the end be grasped through oral transmission and heart-to-heart instruction.

The Mysterious Pass, the One Opening

“The Mysterious Pass, the One Opening” (Xuanguan yiqiao) is the key to cultivation of the whole body. The “opening” spoken of here is not some site in the physical body, but the luminous mind in the heart that truly presides; it is not the heart of flesh, but the Shen (spirit) that governs the entire person and masters all affairs. It has no form: one can neither say that it solidly exists nor that it is wholly absent. When a person is free of selfish thoughts and stray notions, this accords with the Mysterious Pass, the One Opening; the moment even a thread of selfish desire arises, one departs from it. Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi said, “Neither partial nor leaning is called the Mean; as soon as there is any partiality or leaning, one no longer accords with the Mean.” The Perfected Shi of Xinglin said, “The mysterious mechanism lies within the body, and the mind is free of dust.” These words already exhaust the essential point.

The Mysterious Pass, the One Opening is the root of all affairs: in responding to external things there is action, and in quiet one gathers the mind inward. It is neither empty nothingness nor concrete existence, and it falls to neither side of visible form or emptiness. The practitioner must concentrate Shen and bring it to rest, while at the same time letting the breath circulate. The scripture then uses such terms as the “White Tiger” (Baihu), the “Green Dragon” (Qinglong), the “Wind of Xun” (Xunfeng), the “furnace and bellows” (lubei), and “Kun Peak” (Kunfeng) to describe the rising and falling movement of Qi (vital energy) in the body and the process of refining and nurturing. It further likens the “coupling of Qian and Kun” to the union of Yin-Yang, which becomes a single stream of essence like water; this is brought down to the tip of the tongue and swallowed into the “Yellow Court” (Huangting), which in Neidan (internal alchemy) means the place within the body where refining and nurturing are carried on.

The sequence of cultivation given in the scripture is to practice three or four times each day: the initial pass is cultivated for one hundred days, followed by one month of “bathing”; the middle pass lasts one hundred days, and one then bathes again by the former method; the upper pass lasts one hundred days. What is called “bathing” (muyu) is, in the art of Neidan, the phase in which one regulates the breath and nourishes Shen so that the firing process (huohou) remains mild and even. When the firing process is complete, it is said that one can shed the embryo and be spiritually transformed, embracing the One and nourishing Shen; after nine years of practice reach fulfillment, one attains ascension in broad daylight. These are formulations within the Daoist tradition of Neidan cultivation.

The verses that follow stress that the great Dao (the Way) cannot be sought by words alone. The practitioner must forget outward bodily form and surface appearance, attend wholly to guarding the center, and let no stray thoughts remain. Once the breath is harmonized, Shen naturally becomes clear and bright, and the channels of Qi throughout the body likewise return to proper order; Shen and the hun and po souls each rest in their places, and body and mind grow still and unmoving. The poem further uses changes of Yin-Yang such as “the first Yang is born” and “the second Yang advances” to describe the gentle application of the firing process, as the movement of Qi rises to the “Jade Pillow” (Yuzhen) and the “Mud Pill” (Niwan)—terms for cultivation in the head—and then descends to the “Bright Hall” (Mingtang), which here means the region in inner refinement that receives the movement of Qi. The scripture also describes scenes of practice such as light at the crown, sweet fluid forming on the tongue, swallowing it into the Yellow Court, and golden radiance throughout the body, and it says that the three families meet and form an “infant,” symbolizing the Neidan cohering and taking form.

The scripture says that one cultivates day and night, turning in accord with Tiangang (a symbol of the movement of the stars); after one year the gate at the crown is burst open, and one can transcend the ordinary and enter sagehood. When nine years of embracing the One bring the work to completion, one may ride a luan, a mythical bird, and return to the Great Cavern (Dadong). The author claims to have disclosed the secret instructions of the sages and worthies, and urges people to cleanse their thoughts and cultivate with single-minded devotion, rather than wait to regret it until Jing (essence) and Qi have scattered. Repeated verses and wording in the text are plainly duplications that arose in copying or in editorial arrangement.

The scripture further says that although the opening of the Mysterious Pass is the key to cultivation, it is without form or image and cannot be exhausted. If someone identifies it with a fixed location in the body, it is as though a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers lay between, and one is in fact farther from it. To say that it does not lie in the concrete places of the viscera—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys—but that one provisionally imagines an opening in an empty place, is still relatively near the mark; once one clings to any fixed location, one no longer accords with the Mean.

The Medicine

The “medicine” here means the inner foundations spoken of in Neidan cultivation, such as Jing and Qi, and not medicinal materials in the ordinary sense. The scripture says that gathering the medicine is taking true Qi from the blood, and then taking true Jing from Qi; blood and Qi rise to the crown, unite, and turn into fluid. When true Jing and true Qi rise to the summit and unite, they turn into “gold” (jin). The fluid courses through the vessels and is called “white blood”; gold enters the “Central Palace” (Zhonggong), a Neidan term for the center of refining and nurturing within the body, and coagulates into the elixir.

When the work of cultivation has reached a certain point, the scripture says that the blood and Qi of the whole body turn into white blood, and that true Jing and true Qi likewise all coagulate into the elixir. Once the body of the elixir is formed, Shen can go forth and return, no longer bound by the form of the flesh; a step further, and one passes beyond the transformations of Yin-Yang. Even so, one must still keep to the oral formula (koujue). What is called “a body outside the body” is not yet the highest or most extraordinary attainment.

The close of the text says further that Jing, Qi, and blood contain one another and originally all issue from Taiji (Supreme Ultimate). One should not take breathing itself for the mutual interaction of Yin-Yang; the true “this thing” is not formed by breathing alone, nor is it bound by the changes of birth and death.

Fire Timing (Huohou)

In alchemical cultivation, when one advances the fire—that is, when one moves the work of refining and nourishing forward according to the proper moment—a single celestial circuit can be run in the space of an instant. A celestial circuit (Zhoutian) is the process in which the movement of Qi (vital energy) completes one full round within the body. What is called ten months comes to three hundred days in all, three thousand six hundred double-hours, and thirty thousand ke. Some apply the fire timing at every ke, some once in each double-hour, and some once each day; others, within a single double-hour, do not fix on any particular ke, or within a single day do not fix on any particular double-hour. So long as the method is fitting, it may be carried out. But if one does not understand the proper measure, the rising and falling of Qi will fall out of order, and it will be unable to move upward. The related oral formulas are transmitted separately.

The Central Palace (Zhonggong)

Earth can generate and nourish the myriad things; the heart can preside over the myriad affairs. The heart is Earth, and Earth is the heart, and so it is called the “Central Wu-Ji Earth” (a technical term of Daoist Neidan, or internal alchemy, pairing the stems wu and ji with Earth and referring to the middle region in cultivation). The center is the Mysterious Pass, the One Opening (Xuanguan yiqiao—the crucial aperture spoken of in Neidan cultivation). Once the principle of Earth is understood, the myriad things no longer fasten upon the heart; once the principle of the heart is understood, the myriad affairs can be stilled. People who study the Dao (the Way) today often search outward in confusion, yet do not seek the great Dao in the center of their own person.

Embracing the One (Baoyi)

After the embryo is shed, it is taken into the abdomen. Cultivating in the human world for nine years, until accumulated merit and practice reach eight hundred, one may attain the rank of an immortal. Thereafter one comes and goes through Qian and Kun (between Heaven and Earth) and travels among the famous mountains and grotto residences. On the day when merit and practice are fulfilled at eight hundred, one reverently receives the “Golden Script and Jade Pool” (the documents or edicts of the immortal realm spoken of in the text) and is entered into the ranks of the immortals.

Emergence of the Spirit (Chushen)

This is called “releasing the embryo” (Jietai—departing from the body formed through embryonic transformation). Those who study the Dao often do not know that fire timing, bathing (Muyu—the stage in cultivation of regulating the breath and nourishing Qi so that the movement of Qi becomes calm and even), creative transformation, and the other stages must all be fully prepared. When one first begins to shed the embryo, the relevant methods depend entirely on oral transmission and instruction from mind to mind.

First Setting to Work

The Gate of the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin zhi men; in the cultivation of Neidan (internal alchemy), the crucial portal that points toward inward contemplation and the concentration of Shen (spirit)): Every kind of change may be forgotten, but original nature must not be lost. When even “forgetting” itself can no longer be clung to, one enters a wondrous state that is difficult to put into words. What these words refer to is the aperture of the Mysterious Pass (Xuanguan qiao). As for what the Mysterious Pass actually is, do not cling to bodily form, and do not guess at random.

Penetrating the Pass: Once the pass-aperture has been opened, the two Qi (vital energy) of Yin-Yang circulate and flow, moving in accord with change. Let them come and go as they will; they meet with no obstruction. Although one does not oneself move rashly, one can still turn the pivot within the body.

Breaking the Pass-Aperture: Do not cling to bodily form, and do not guess at random.

Penetrating the Pass: Once the pass-aperture has been opened, the two Qi of Yin-Yang circulate and flow, moving in accord with change. Let them come and go as they will; they meet with no obstruction. Although one does not oneself move rashly, one can still turn the pivot within the body.

Breaking through Realms

When mind and Shen are bright and clear and original nature is transparent, the inner light is full and complete, like a bright mirror. The moment a single thought arises, all manner of scenes appear along with it. Those who study the Dao (the Way) must not take these scenes for real realms, or they will be deluded by them. As an old saying puts it, “The eye cannot admit a single speck of dust, precisely because there is no dust in original nature.” As soon as a thought stirs, original nature is like water raising waves, and before the eyes there seem to appear all sorts of ghostly faces and human forms. This means that even in stillness a person may resonate with outer things. If the cultivator does not cling to these scenes, they will not be thrown into disorder by them.

Opposing Demons

If thoughts follow one after another and cannot be brought to rest, all kinds of frightening illusions may appear. One should then immediately employ the two Qi of water and fire within the body, rush through the Three Passes (Sanguan; the barriers spoken of in the movement of the Qi-mechanism in the Neidan arts), and go straight to the Inner Court (Neiyuan; the core region indicated within the body), so that the Three Corpses (Sanshi; spirits which, as Daoism teaches, lodge in the human body and hinder cultivation) depart and the Six Thieves (Liuzei; the sensory desires that disturb mind and Shen) withdraw. Every sort of demonic obstruction then disappears of itself.

When wave after wave of drowsy darkness comes on, one should at once rouse one’s spirits and, as if holding a sword and setting a battle array, disperse the yin gloom. Raise the fire of the Three Yang (Sanyang) in the furnace, and swiftly sweep away the deviant, turbid Qi.

Laying the Foundation

When Buddhist cultivation reaches this stage, it is called “becoming one piece”: one applies effort continuously day and night, ever increasing the power of concentration, accumulating it day by day until the work is fully ripe. The Daoist tradition calls this stage laying the foundation and tending the fire phases (huohou), congealing the Neidan through smelting and refining.

Once the elixir foundation is firm, thoughts can become pure and single. Day and night one guards oneself with the light of Shen. The eyes of themselves no longer crave to look at outer things; the whole mind grows quiet and keeps to the Mysterious Truth (Xuanzhen; the inherent authenticity within).

Fire Phases

The eight apertures in the body are divided into eight stages, and the changes of warmth, coolness, cold, and heat correspond to the pattern by which Heaven and Earth revolve. Regulate the fire phases according to the four seasons, and smelt and refine the Neidan.

After the elixir foundation is firm and thoughts are pure and single, one guards the body day and night with the light of Shen. The eyes of themselves no longer crave to look at outer things, and the whole mind rests quietly, keeping to the Mysterious Truth.

The eight apertures correspond to eight seasonal divisions, and warmth, coolness, cold, and heat answer to Heaven and Earth. If, in the movement of the four seasons, one does not lose the Yin-Yang fire phases, the cinnabar in the cauldron will congeal, and a vision like purple clouds will appear.

The Perfected further says that one who tends the fire phases may reckon the twelve double-hours (shichen) as a single double-hour, that is, five ke, and reckon three hundred days as half a month, altogether one thousand five hundred ke. Eight ke within the body complete one circuit of heaven, and the work of a single ke is equivalent to one year. If those who study the Dao understand how to apply this, they can eat when hungry and rest when weary.

The Ice Bath

“Bathing” (muyu) within the body means bathing in the course of the seasonal cycle; “bathing” within the month means the bathing of the elixir embryo. The Perfected Ziyang (Ziyang Zhenren) said, “In the months of the rabbit and the rooster, and at their hours.” These words refer precisely to the two kinds of bathing.

When Jing (essence) and Qi are full, Qi is vigorous, and the furnace is warm, the medicine has matured, and one should then secure the foundation. Do not increase or decrease the fire phases at will. Rather, wash the thoughts clean and rinse away stray concerns, so that the Dao may constantly abide.

When the phase-moment arrives, one should draw in the senses, lower the eyelids, and remain quiet and without desire until the phase-moment has passed. One must not let mind and Shen run loose and scatter. If one cannot hold the guard firmly, the elixir will topple and fail. Cultivation at this point calls for especially careful protection; it cannot be handled casually, as ordinary matters are. When the phase-moment arrives, one must nurture it well, draw in the senses, and keep to Wuwei (non-action).

Gathering the Medicine

When gathering the medicine, one must distinguish whether the medicinal Qi is tender or aged. When it is tender, it is like a spring welling up; when it is aged, it is like ants crawling, or as fine as a hair.

Smelting and Refining

Close the eyes and gaze inward, as if keeping hold of something, yet without clinging to any concrete image. It seems empty, and yet within there is still a living impulse. When the Qi of the Palace of Kun (Kungong; in the Neidan arts, a specific site within the body) stirs, the back feels warm. The Wind of Xun (Xunfeng; an image borrowed from the Book of Changes for the force of windlike movement and stirring) gently impels it, and the Qi-mechanism then runs through to the crown of the head. Gather this Qi and do not let it scatter. When it has filled the head, slowly let it descend, as if sweet rain were sprinkling over the whole earth.

General Formula

The human head is the place where all Yang Qi gathers. Within it there is Yin, and this is called true mercury. The five viscera are the place where all Yin Qi gathers. Within them there is Yang, and this is called true lead.

The heart belongs neither wholly to the Yang of the upper region nor wholly to the Yin of the lower region. It stands between them and governs the whole body. No form of it can be seen, and no sound of it can be heard. If one inquires of it, it responds and thereby communicates; abiding in the center, it is still and unmoving. If a person applies effort in this place of stillness and non-movement until the work is fully ripe, one will understand that the principles of the creative transformations of Heaven and Earth are all complete within oneself.

Note

This book gives particular weight to the “Mysterious Female” (Xuanpin). The author holds that if a person understands this pass-aperture, the principles of the Three Powers (Sancai) of Heaven, Earth, and humanity, and of the myriad things, can all be grasped within one’s own body. This pass-aperture is not any concrete part of the body, nor is there any other special method. What matters is to forget outer form, still miscellaneous thoughts, and rest securely in what is within. When the work has ripened over a long time and body and mind have become quiet to the utmost, the Yang Qi within the body arises of itself. Yang Qi gradually increases and Yin Qi gradually diminishes: this is the meaning of “Yang grows and Yin declines.”

What the book discusses belongs to important material of the Neidan arts, but the writing is rather rough, and in places the expression is not clear enough. The author, Yu Dongzhen, is otherwise unknown.