《道樞》Vol. 3

The Pivot of the Dao, Volume Three, “Diligence II” (A Plain-Language Reading)

This section is a collection of essentials. The editor explains: Since ancient times, the writings of realized people have been as numerous as a forest. Only by taking the Dao as one’s eye and surveying them widely can one draw out their deepest insights.

Chao Wenyuan said: When I look at this fleeting world, is it not a realm of birth, aging, illness, and death, a pit of sorrow, grief, hardship, and distress? Only those who are settled and clear perceive inwardly that body and mind are empty, and outwardly that all things are empty as well. Once all appearances have been dispelled, there is nothing to cling to or contend over. All existence is like a dream or illusion. People fight in a dream and say, “A struggle in a dream cannot cause injury”—is this not knowing that one is dreaming while still in the dream? Once, as I sat in the Jade Hall, I saw a kitchen servant drawing water. When contemplation of emptiness has become fully practiced, one no longer sees a whole person; one sees only a patch of “emptiness” moving from west to east. Is this not recognizing illusion within illusion? Hence the saying, “Originally, there is not a single thing”: through contemplation, all kinds of divergent views arise.

Those who study the Dao must first still their thoughts. As soon as a thought arises, recognize it. It is like stopping a river in flood with a basketful of earth, cutting off the force that would overwhelm the banks; or quenching a spreading fire with a cup of water, putting out the blaze before it consumes the plain. So do not fear that thoughts arise; fear only that awareness comes late. To become aware quickly and still them quickly—this is the subtle efficacy. I once said: when mind and breath depend on one another, regulating the breath quiets the mind. The moment a thought arises, become aware of it; once aware, it vanishes. This is the essential starting point of the Dao.

Pei Xiu said: Earth, water, fire, and wind combine and disperse provisionally; they are not my body. The deluded workings of thought, like foreign dust, arise and vanish in an instant; they are not my mind. I have a true body, complete and empty in its stillness; I have a true mind, vast, numinous, and harmonious. Countless bubbles rise and burst, yet the nature of water has never ceased to be. A thousand lamps shine and go out, yet the nature of fire has never ceased to be.

Do people of the world also know the Three Images? Qi moves and becomes clear: this is the image of Heaven. The mind grows still and tranquil: this is the image of Earth. Wisdom becomes complete and bright: this is the image of the sun and moon. When these three come together in harmony, the wondrous workings of the spirit naturally become visible.

Once the Three Images are clear, one must also know the Six Examinations. Examine yourself: Have deluded thoughts ceased? Have external entanglements lessened? Do you remain unmoved when encountering circumstances? Do you make no distinction between black and white? Are your dreams free of confusion? Is your heart at ease and joyful? Through these, one may enter the Dao.

Note: This passage brings together the Song Confucian practice of seated stillness, Chan contemplation, and the Neidan teaching that mind and breath depend on one another. The recorded sayings of Chao Shuo and Pei Xiu serve as principles for self-cultivation; the final “Six Examinations” are points for daily self-review.

Assessing the Depth of the Dao and the Stages of Practice

This can be used to assess how deeply one has entered the Dao. I once reminded myself: only when one truly understands arising and ceasing does one see that the mind is the source of life and death. When the mind no longer turns in confusion with external conditions, this is called the “Immovable Venerable One”—the honored state of a mind that does not waver.

If you cannot yet remain free of thought, practice “contemplating emptiness.” If you cannot yet make a single thought suddenly empty, use “counteraction”—skillful methods such as using one thought to restrain another, or goodness to overcome evil. These three paths should be followed in sequence, one step at a time.

Zhuangzi’s “sitting in forgetfulness” and Bodhidharma’s “wall-gazing” are advanced practices. If beginners have not yet understood them fully, how could it be right to imitate only their carefree ease? I once sat upright and contemplated “true reality”—the true aspect of things—and saw an image of a demon king seated cross-legged. I was frightened. How much more should those who truly enter the Dao sit upright and still, at peace in body and mind?

Fragments of Gold: One Principle in the Three Teachings

(The title suggests melting the essential insights of the different schools together, like fragments of gold.)

Lord Chao Wenyuan said: How could the teachings differ in their fundamentals? I once brought together the teachings of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism and regarded them as one.

For Confucianism, the essential thing is “rectifying oneself”—cultivating oneself and making one’s conduct upright. Do not first crave fame and status; these often come of their own accord.

For Buddhism—“Zhugan,” meaning India, is used here as a reference to Buddhism—the essential thing is “restoring one’s nature,” recovering the nature one originally possesses. Do not first seek awakening; it often becomes clear of its own accord.

I first read the Nanhua Jing (the Zhuangzi, since Zhuangzi once lived in the lacquer garden) and, from its principle of “making all things equal,” grasped a method I called the “Contemplation of Free and Equal Oneness”: there is nothing in the world worth fighting over. Later, I read Buddhist scriptures and, from the principle of “no-self,” grasped another method I called the “Contemplation of Equal and Great Emptiness”: there is nothing in the world to equalize or cling to. From this, I came to understand the differences and similarities, and the relative depths, of the three teachings.

After attaining the Dao, the Tang Daoist Shi Jianwu wrote the “Inscription on the Three Abidings,” saying that the mind constantly governs Qi, and Qi joins with Shen. Buddhism’s teaching of Perfect Enlightenment likewise says that mind and breath depend on each other: when the breath is regulated, the mind is clear. I see these teachings as different paths leading to the same end.

There are three kinds of supreme joy in the world. Confucianism speaks of Yan Hui, who remained joyful in a humble alley with only a bamboo bowl and a gourd for food. Daoism speaks of Zhuangzi living at ease among the hills, whose joy no kingdom could change. Buddhism says that when arising and ceasing have both come to an end, extinguished stillness is joy. These three move from the outer to the inner, from the shallow to the deep.

I counter the many ills of deluded thought with sound principles. I do not pursue what has passed, or anticipate what has not yet come.

Someone asked, “How can one assess one’s practice?” The reply was: Set out black and white Go stones. For each good thought, place a white stone; for each evil thought, place a black one. Count them at night, and you will see whether they have increased or decreased. Lord Chao Wenyuan said this was too cumbersome. I examine myself throughout the day and night in the “Four Dignified Modes”—walking, standing, sitting, and lying down—and need no stones for counting.

The Pivot of the Dao, “The Guest Is Fulfilled” (excerpt): A Modern Interpretation

1. Patience, Precepts, Stillness, and Wisdom

When things arise, do only what is within your capacity. Regularly practice quiet sitting and maintain right mindfulness; that is enough.

Enduring humiliation merely because you fear another person’s power is not true patience. True patience is to remain calm and endure even when there is no power to fear.

The Book of Changes, in its “Decrease” hexagram, says, “Curb anger and block desire.” I take this as a precept. The “Appended Statements” says, “In stillness, there is no movement.” I take this as the practice of stillness. I take wisdom to mean refining the principles until they enter the heart and can also be put into practice.

Someone asked what pleasure there is in living in seclusion. I replied: harmonize and open yourself to the Qi of Great Harmony, and savor the joy of natural spontaneity; investigate subtle and profound meanings, and let your mind roam in the highest and most wondrous Dao. Make Zhuangzi’s lofty spirit your companion and take Nature as your teacher; refine your spirit with the wondrous teachings of the land of Zhugan (Buddhism).

2. Guarding the Precepts Within and Without

If an external circumstance is improper, treat it like a tiger and avoid it at once; do not rely on the courage to “fight off a beast.” If an inner thought is improper, treat it like scalding water and stop it at once; do not indulge the desire to “dip a finger in.”

Guard your body as you would cherish a towering, flourishing tree: do not let an axe blade wound it. Guard your conduct as you would cherish a life buoy for crossing the sea: do not allow even a needle’s point to puncture it.

When the mind is still, it becomes clear; once clear, it becomes bright. Bright, it can illuminate things, leaving nothing concealed. The Perfected One who observes this can attain the “mind seal.”

3. The Parrot and Entering the Dao

A man of the Tang dynasty kept a parrot that could recite scriptures and often remained silent and motionless. Asked why, he replied: “Its body and mind are both still, in pursuit of the supreme Dao.” After it died, it was cremated, and a śarīra was found. Thus we know that those who attain the Dao often enter it through quietude and stillness.

Lord Wen Yuan said: “Now that I am old, my hearing seems sharper than ever. There are natural sounds: like the faint rumble of musical reeds, like thunder just beginning to stir, like a vast tide about to arrive. I call them the ‘Three Wondrous Sounds’: first, jade washed in a secluded spring; second, a golden chime stirring the empty sky; third, an autumn cicada trailing out its song.”

4. “The Guest Is Fulfilled”: Refuting the Claims About Yin Elixir and Sexual Techniques

Master Zhiyou said: “I often came across Lord Cui’s Mirror of Medicines, which discusses the ‘battle of mastering women,’ a metaphor for sexual union in bedroom arts. When host and guest are in a state of indistinction, they become one; their awareness differs, yet their intention is one. Their deviations differ; their accumulated forces are one, though their unions differ. Their bodies are one, though they do not engage in intercourse. This is called ‘facing the mirror without moving.’

“If the spirits within and without can unite while the body remains free of reckless movement, one attains the Dao of one’s nature. Once there is movement, the spirit departs and one’s nature declines. By remaining unstained and unattached, one preserves the original substance and settles the Qi.”

The meaning of the title in parentheses is: “Who is the Yin Elixir?”—a rejection of fabricated claims. “Clear away the wild path within and open it wide”—clear away a deviant path and make the way open and unobstructed.

The Shen (spirit) settles within the body and harmonizes with the balanced Qi (vital energy). The physical substance enters the central palace, the hub around the Dantian (energy center), where it is refined by burning away the Yin substance and retaining the Yang. The so-called “red snow” is the true Jing (essence) in the sea of blood. It is the foundation of the adult body and is stored in the womb. It is Yang Qi, appearing outwardly as menstrual blood. During intercourse, when it begins to move and emerge, at the moment of arousal, one should combine breath-holding and swallowing with the method of drawing it inward. Once the Qi is settled and the Shen united, the Qi enters the gates and apertures. Using the “windlass” and “river cart”—images in internal cultivation for guiding Qi up the spine—it is drawn upward to Kunlun, the crown of the head, then brought to the Golden Gate in the brain and back into the Dantian. There it can be gathered again into an elixir.

Hearing this, Ziyouzi cried out: “Did Cui Gong really say this? I have never encountered such teachings in the Way of the ancient perfected ones. The ‘Yellow and Red Way’ and ‘method of mixing Qi’ transmitted by Zhang Daoling, the founder of Daoism, were merely techniques for working transformations through the human body and perpetuating one’s seed; they were not practices of the true immortals. After Daoling ascended, he no longer practiced them. The Perfected One Qingling once said: ‘I have seen those who practice this way die out without descendants, but never anyone who gained life through it.’ To pursue the higher Way with a fixed mind and all-encompassing vision is to embrace jade and leap into fire, or to be buried whole in one’s coffin—that is, to bring about one’s own destruction. This is precisely what is meant. Lady Ziwei said: ‘Those who practice the Yellow Book and Red Realm, a kind of secret manual of sexual techniques, can do no more than beat the drum of the Three Officials—the Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water, who oversee merit and punishment—and invite their scrutiny and retribution.’

“The perfected ones’ ‘paired images,’ the forms that accord with the Dao, exist only as the ‘two images,’ the inner and outer visions; they are not traces of intercourse between husband and wife. How can the Yellow and Red methods, kept in the mind, be compared with the practices of perfected and numinous beings? Wei Boyang, author of the Zhouyi Cantong Qi, said: ‘Cutting off flesh and stuffing it into the belly cannot produce a fetus; likewise, external things’—that is, intercourse between man and woman—‘cannot produce an elixir.’ The principle is clear. Thus, the study of the Dao takes purity and stillness as its guiding aim, and inner observation as its foundation. One must therefore deepen the roots and secure the foundation, keep the pure Qi firmly within, and prevent the Shen from wandering outward. Only when Kan and Li—the Water and Fire, Yin and Yang—meet can the Great Medicine be completed.

“Zhuangzi put it well when he spoke of the Dao: one must be pure and clear, avoid exhausting the body, and avoid disturbing the vital energy; only then can one attain long life. I have never heard of anyone becoming immortal by mastering women. Leng Shouguang of the Eastern Han claimed to practice this method and lived for several hundred and forty years. His hair and beard turned completely white, though his skin remained vigorous, yet in the end he still died. Among those in the world said to have mastered women with success, perhaps none surpassed Leng Shouguang. If even he died, how can this way be compared with the principle of long life and enduring vision?”

A Plain-Language Interpretation of The Pivot of the Dao

Those fangshi (Daoist practitioners and occult specialists) use bedroom arts—techniques for taking Yin from women to replenish Yang—to mislead scholars. Afraid their claims would not be believed, they falsely attributed their books to ancient sages.

For example, they claimed that the twenty-four chapters of Western Florescence were written by Zhongli Yunfang (Zhongli Quan), and that the eighteen chapters of Moon over the Western River were written by Zhang Pingshu (Zhang Boduan, author of Understanding Reality). They treated women as “crescent-moon furnaces,” boys and girls as “true lead and mercury,” and filthy substances as “knife and measure.” They indulged their desires to the utmost, then, if they suddenly died, gave it the fine-sounding name “the bottom of the barrel has fallen out”—meaning that their Jing and Qi had been completely drained.

As for Youzi’s account of Cui Gong’s Dao: Lü Dongbin once attained this Dao and thereby made his mind even clearer. Cui Gong (Cui Xifan) should not have left behind such an impure teaching. Might those books, then, have been circulated by fangshi falsely using Cui Gong’s name?

Someone asked: “Those who attain the fruit of freedom from leakage—who cultivate to completion without losing their vital energy—should increase their sources of nourishment and restrain their outflow. The lotus does not grow on high, level ground, but in muddy water. Why is that?”

Youzi replied: “Daoists speak of eight kinds of leakage, and Buddhist methods from Tianzhu also discuss various kinds. Is that what you mean by ‘leakage’? Sima Ziwei said, ‘When the will leaks away, the body tends toward the Yellow Earth; when thoughts leak away, the spirit tends toward the land of ghosts.’ By freedom from leakage, I mean freedom from these losses. Increasing what comes in and restraining what goes out—that is how one nourishes Qi. Bodhidharma’s fetal breathing, a method of regulating the breath in meditation, means the same thing. A lotus in muddy water is easily ruined; it is not like a pine or cypress growing on a high mountain ridge, where it does not wither. I, too, have a lotus: it once bloomed amid blazing fire.”

A listener remained doubtful and asked Youzi: “Rong Chengzi, Wu Chengzi, Tian Lao, Taiyi, as well as Yao, Shun, Tang the Successful, and Pan Geng each had a ‘book of Yin guidance’—a text on bedroom arts. The Yellow Emperor and the Three Kings also had methods for ‘nourishing Yang.’ These were kept in the imperial library during the Han dynasty and recorded in biographies of immortals; they have a long history. How can you say they do not exist?”

Youzi replied: “I am not saying they do not exist. I am saying they are not what those who cultivate to become immortals should pursue. I have heard Liu Xiang, Ban Gu, and others say that bedroom arts concern the furthest reach of human desire and the outermost boundary of the supreme Dao. Therefore, sage kings established external music and ritual to regulate inner feelings, setting standards to restrain them. Pleasure kept within bounds brings harmony and long life. Those who lose themselves in excess and disregard these limits fall ill and die young. From this, it is clear that bedroom arts are indeed not what those who seek to become immortals should pursue.

Li Quan obtained the Yellow Emperor’s Scripture of the Hidden Talisman (Yinfu Jing) on Mount Shensong, but still did not understand what it truly taught. Later, he met the Old Mother of Mount Li and asked her for guidance.

The Old Mother said: “The Dao has what is called the Great Change, the Great Beginning, the Great Origin, and the Great Unformed. The Great Change is the hidden, obscure realm of the Mysterious Origin, whose wonder lies beyond names. The Great Beginning is the womb-like chaos in which the myriad things have not yet become distinct. The Great Origin is the boundless, empty expanse that becomes manifest only when stirred. The Great Unformed contains the essence of the True One within it and is the foundation of the myriad things: clear Yang becomes Heaven, and turbid Yin becomes Earth. Yang is the hun soul; Yin is the po soul. The hun makes a person desire life, while the po draws a person toward death. Thus the sage observes the Way of Heaven and grasps its movements, holds fast to the True One, returns to the Great Yang, and nourishes the Yang hun to dispel the Yin po. The Way of the immortals is, in essence, contained in this.

“Heaven, through the number one, generates Water, which flows downward. It occupies the north, corresponds to winter, resides in the human body as the kidneys, and is symbolized by the Black Tortoise: this is the Kan trigram. Earth, through the number two, generates Fire, which blazes upward. It occupies the south, corresponds to summer, resides in the human body as the heart, and is symbolized by the Vermilion Bird: this is the Li trigram. Heaven, through the number three, generates Wood, which bends and straightens. It occupies the east, corresponds to spring, resides in the human body as the liver, and is symbolized by the Azure Dragon: this is the Zhen trigram. Earth, through the number four, generates Metal, which yields and takes shape. It occupies the west, corresponds to autumn, resides in the human body as the lungs, and is symbolized by the White Tiger: this is the Dui trigram. Heaven, through the number five, generates Earth, which brings forth crops. It occupies the center and is the mother of the myriad things; in the human body, it is the spleen. Thus the Dao gives birth to one, and one is Heaven. The Five Phases arise from one; the Qi of the True One transforms and generates them. The five grains and five flavors nourish people. People are born through the Five Phases and also die through them, so the Five Phases may also be called the ‘five thieves.’ The sage takes the essential Qi of the Five Phases, returns to the source and foundation, and goes back to the True One. This is what Laozi meant when he said: ‘The myriad things flourish, and each returns to its root. Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called returning to one’s destiny.’

“Nature is the luminous essence of Yang. When the Qi of this luminous essence condenses, it forms a human being; turbid Qi becomes a ghost, and numinous Qi becomes a spirit.”

Unruly Qi transforms into insects and beasts; disordered Qi transforms into birds and wild animals; deviant Qi transforms into spirits and demons. If a person receives clear and perceptive Qi—the innate spirit that is pure and alert—they can perceive the pivotal mechanisms of Heaven and Earth. Once they perceive these mechanisms, they can establish the principles of the Dao of Heaven.

Beginning at the Summer Solstice in the fifth month, the hexagram Qi enters its seasonal phase. By the tenth month, it becomes the pure Kun hexagram, when Yin flourishes and diminishes Yang. Beginning at the Winter Solstice in the eleventh month, the hexagram Qi again enters its seasonal phase. By the fourth month, it becomes the pure Qian hexagram, when Yang flourishes and diminishes Yin. In autumn and winter, dragons and snakes lie hidden and dormant; only in spring and summer do they emerge from the earth and become active. If a person uses true Yang to drive out Yin demons—obstacles formed by Yin influences—then the hundred spirits become harmonious, the blood vessels flow freely, and the five organs generate fluids, allowing one to extend one’s years and preserve one’s eyesight.

For this reason, Guangchengzi used accumulated fire to burn the Five Poisons, meaning the Five Thieves: forces among the Five Phases that overcome and harm vital Qi. Heaven arises from Kan (the north and water); Earth arises from Li (the south and fire). Kan is water, the moon, and mercury; Li is fire, the sun, and lead. The sages made Kan and Li work together, the sun and moon intersect, lead and mercury balance one another, and Dragon and Tiger oppose each other. Only then could they sever the corpse-like Yin substance, destroy ghosts, subdue spirits and malign forces, and contain demons, thereby preserving vital Qi.

Taibai Chaoren said: “When the Five Phases do not follow their usual sequence, the Dragon emerges from fire and the Tiger is born from water”—this is the principle by which Heaven and Earth work through one another and Yin and Yang reverse their course. Earth is the root of the Four Images—Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire—and the basis of all transformations. The Dao gives birth to One; One gives birth to Two; Two gives birth to Three; Three gives birth to the myriad things. One is Heaven; Three is humanity. The essential method of the immortals is to embrace the One and guard the center. Thus the highest Dao begins with One and Three, and culminates in Five. Five is a number; as the scripture says, “Three, Five, and One—everything is accomplished.” What is this Dao? When lead and mercury obtain Earth, they form the Reverting Elixir.

Yanluozi said: “‘The whole One contains Three, while outwardly it remains complete in the initial Nine’—this is the highest Dao.”

When Yang is too abundant, it overflows; overflow produces heat, and heat makes the pulse full. When Yin is too abundant, it declines; decline produces cold, and cold makes the pulse weak. The pulses of fullness and weakness, and the afflictions of heat and cold, can all lead to death. Yang is like mercury, whose nature is to fly; Yin is like lead, whose nature is to settle. The sages caused Yang-mercury to settle in order to refine the Corporeal Soul, and made Yin-lead rise in order to restrain the Ethereal Soul. Yang could then no longer overflow, nor Yin grow excessive; external evils disappeared, and the corpse-like soul was extinguished. Even the slightest trace of Yang must be treasured and protected. (The original ends here, implying that true Yang is subtle and must not be lost.)

Plain-Language Interpretation of the Dao Pivot

One who has not reached completion cannot truly die; one who has not dispelled even the slightest trace of Yin cannot become an immortal.

Until cultivation reaches its end, one cannot truly “die completely.” If even a trace of turbid Yin remains in the body, one cannot become an immortal.

If the ears delight in licentious sounds, the eyes favor beauty, and the mouth craves rich flavors, the Five Viscera become unsettled, the flow of blood and Qi grows restless, and the spirit wanders outward instead of abiding within. The body’s upright Qi then disperses, and Dampness and pathogenic influences enter through the weakness, bringing illness.

Thus people speak of the Three Essentials: the ears, eyes, and mouth. The ears and eyes are windows of the spirit; the mouth is the gate of Qi and fluids.

When the six consciousnesses are all empty, clear, still, and tranquil, with form and things forgotten and wisdom shining through to the spirit—this is ultimate stillness.

To refine the Five Viscera through breath regulation, open the hundred passes through guiding and stretching exercises, nourish the spirit by reciting and upholding precious scriptures, draw in the Two Luminaries (the sun and moon) to gather their radiance, refine Golden Essence to strengthen the body, and partake of Jade Essence to preserve it—this is ultimate activity.

The Most High says: stillness is nature, and activity is Qi. To make activity and stillness one, and bring inner and outer into harmony—who but a perfected person could attain this?

Fame, rank, and wealth are the dust of learning the Dao. Rivalry, resentment, and agitation are thorns on the path of cultivating the true. Fine wine and rare delicacies are spears and halberds that attack one’s nature. Licentious sounds and beautiful faces are axes and saws that break the bones.

Thus, those who cultivate the true, refine Qi, embrace the Origin, and guard the One are called sages. Those who refine the body into Qi are called true persons. Those who refine Qi into spirit are called spirit persons. Those who refine spirit into the true are called supreme persons.

Heaven and Earth rob the myriad things, causing them to decay. The myriad things rob human beings, causing them to grow old and die. Human beings rob the myriad things so that they themselves may endure and make use of them. Those who do not know how to rob take only form, not essence, and are in turn robbed by the myriad things. Those who know how to rob take their essence; thus they can draw upon the myriad things and live long.

I eat at the proper times. This is not because I crave wine and meat; it is to draw the essence and Qi of the myriad things. Why do I say this? The body takes in flavors as food, while the spirit takes in Qi. If one eats at the proper times, the body sets its mechanism in motion to draw out their essence, and all the hundred parts of the body follow their proper course.

Within my body are the spirits of essence and radiance, the spirits of form and shadow, and the spirits of the hair pores, numbering twelve thousand each. The Five Viscera, six bowels, Three Primordial Forces, and Nine Palaces also each have their spirits. But if I do not perceive these spirits, I cannot know what they can do.

Therefore, those who bring misfortune upon themselves do not maintain reverence or caution. They become fierce and agitated, cruel and violent, greedy and lustful.

To act with hidden malice is to “rob one’s Shen” (spirit); to speak falsely and use ornate, deceptive words, thinking that no one knows or sees, is to “obscure one’s Shen.” Our Shen communicates upward with Heaven. Those who rob their Shen offend Heaven; those who obscure their Shen deceive Heaven. Is offending and deceiving Heaven not what brings premature death? In such people, dark and corrupt forces grow stronger by the day, their spirit and Qi (vital energy) weaken by the day, and their Corpse and Po (corporeal soul) grow more unruly by the day.

If one can guard the center and embrace the One, refining Yin with Yang, then the Corpse vanishes and the Po is extinguished, while the luminous Shen reigns. Once the luminous Shen reigns, one can rein in the steeds of the Eight Mornings, ride a flying carriage across the Five Peaks, ascend through the Nine Heavens, and cleave the Jade Gate, living as long as Heaven and Earth.

Laojun said: “Within Qi there is Qi; this is my Shen. Within Shen there is Shen; this is the Way of nature.” Heaven sends one Yang downward to the Nine Springs, giving rise to the Return hexagram. This is the eleventh month, when Yang begins. Two Yang lines descend and give rise to Approach; three Yang lines give rise to Peace; four give rise to Great Strength; five give rise to Breakthrough; and six give rise to the Creative. In the fifth month, at the summer solstice, Yang reaches its extreme and Yin begins to arise. Thus one Yin line rises and gives rise to Coupling; two Yin lines give rise to Retreat; three give rise to Stagnation; four give rise to Viewing; five give rise to Splitting Apart; and six give rise to the Receptive. The waxing and waning, rising and descending of Yin and Yang are the pivot of the Way.

Therefore, the sages gather the Qi of Heaven and Earth and refine it into two substances, called Lead and Mercury. Lead and Mercury each weigh eight liang, together making three hundred and eighty-four zhu, corresponding to the hexagram lines and establishing the method of the greater and lesser cycles. Above, they measure the Qi of the hexagrams; below, they calculate the water clock, thereby regulating the timing of the firing process. In this way, they wrest the work of one thousand and eighty years from time, and cast off the mortal body. After three thousand two hundred and forty years, the sacred embryo is formed. It then accords with the transformations of creation; Yin and Yang move together, sacred accomplishment arises, and the luminous Shen emerges.

The blind cannot see with their eyes, so their Shen is concentrated in their ears. The deaf cannot hear with their ears, so their Shen is concentrated in their eyes. When the Shen is concentrated, nothing is beyond refinement. Gain can move people; cut off the source of gain, and the Shen can become focused. Then one can master Jing (essence), banish evil, and eliminate the Corpse and the Po.

Those who fail to cherish their good fortune and instead bring misfortune upon themselves often lack reverence and caution. They gradually become fierce and irritable, cruel and violent, greedy for wealth and lustful, hidden in malice and deceit. This is called “robbing one’s Shen”—damaging and depleting one’s own spirit. To speak falsely and use ornate, deceptive words, believing that others do not know or see, is called “obscuring one’s Shen”—clouding one’s own spirit. The human Shen communicates upward with Heaven: to rob one’s Shen is to offend Heaven, and to obscure one’s Shen is to deceive Heaven. Is offending and deceiving Heaven not what brings premature death? In such people, dark and corrupt influences grow stronger day by day, their spirit and Qi weaken day by day, and their Corpse and Po become ever more unruly.

If one can guard the center and embrace the One—maintaining the proper center of body and mind and uniting with the One—and use Yang Qi to refine Yin Qi, the Corpse will disappear and the Po will be extinguished, allowing the luminous Shen, the clear spiritual ruler, to reign. Once it reigns, one can rein in the steeds of the Eight Mornings, ride a flying carriage across the Five Peaks, ascend through the Nine Heavens, and cleave the Jade Gate, living as long as Heaven and Earth.

Laojun said: “Within Qi there is Qi; this is my Shen. Within Shen there is Shen; this is the Way of nature, the great Way as it is in itself.” Heaven sends one Yang downward to the Nine Springs, giving rise to the Return hexagram. This is the eleventh month, the beginning of Yang. Two Yang lines descend and give rise to Approach; three to Peace; four to Great Strength; five to Breakthrough; and six to the Creative. In the fifth month, at the summer solstice, Yang reaches its extreme and Yin begins to arise. Thus one Yin line rises and gives rise to Coupling (the text has “Coupling,” though variants read other hexagrams, such as the Gentle); two Yin lines give rise to Retreat; three to Stagnation; four to Viewing; five to Splitting Apart; and six to the Receptive. The waxing and waning, rising and descending of Yin and Yang are the pivot around which the Way turns.

Therefore, the sages gather the Qi of Heaven and Earth and refine it into two substances, called Lead and Mercury. Each weighs eight liang, together making three hundred and eighty-four zhu, corresponding to the hexagram lines and establishing the rules for the greater and lesser cycles. They measure the Qi of the hexagrams above and calculate the water clock below, regulating the timing of the firing process—the rhythm of Yin-Yang change in alchemy and cultivation. In this way, they wrest the work of one thousand and eighty years from time and cast off the mortal body. After three thousand two hundred and forty years, the sacred embryo—the holy body formed through internal refinement—is complete. It then accords with the transformations of creation; Yin and Yang move together, sacred accomplishment arises, and the luminous Shen appears.

The blind cannot see, so their Shen is concentrated in their ears; the deaf cannot hear, so their Shen is concentrated in their eyes. When the Shen is concentrated, nothing is beyond refinement. Gain can move people. Cut off the source of gain, and the Shen can become focused; then one can master Jing, banish evil, and eliminate the Corpse and the Po.

A Plain-Language Interpretation of The Pivot of the Dao

Laozi says, “Do not look upon objects of desire, and the heart will not be disturbed.” This is what he means.

What is meant by “nine cycles of return and seven reversals”? From the Zi hour to the Shen hour, and from the Yin hour to the Xu hour, there is always one Yin and one Yang, one rising and one descending, one sinking and one settling. When day and night turn according to this pattern without deviation, this is Water and Fire. When the trigrams’ Qi of Water and Fire has run its course, the returned Elixir is complete. Then one can refine essence, contain what is aberrant, dispel the Corpse and extinguish the Po soul, achieving a power multiplied ten thousandfold.

Wei Boyang says: The Zhun hexagram corresponds to Shen and Zi, and the Meng hexagram to Yin and Xu. Each of the sixty-four hexagrams has its corresponding times and days. This is the principle of “three reversals through day and night.”

The heart is the ruler of the myriad spirits; the eyes are their windows. A person’s spirits enter and are stored in the heart, and leave and appear in the eyes. Thus, when the heart is at rest, the spirits are at rest; when the eyes move, the heart moves; when the heart moves, the spirits move. The pivot of life and death lies in these two.

To let the spirits enter and leave through the windows and doors so they may observe themselves, and to let them dwell peacefully in their home so they may settle themselves—this is the mechanism of life. To block the windows and doors so they admit no light, and leave the home deserted and uninhabited—this is the mechanism of death.

Wei Boyang says: The Five Phases receive from one another and transform into life. Thus Fire melts Metal, Metal cuts Wood, and Wood nourishes Fire. This is also what is meant by “three and five” and the utmost essence of Heaven and Earth. Yin and Yang overcome one another, and the Five Phases restrain one another; hence there is subduing, cutting, decline, and decay. Yet by returning to the origin and going back to the root, the myriad things are born anew. When Yin and Yang surge against one another, they become wind and thunder; when wind and thunder arise, the myriad things stir and flourish.

Refine the Qi of Yin and Yang so that it moves like wind and sounds like thunder, flowing through all the vessels and washing away the Five Poisons that have built up and stagnated. Then the five organs produce fluids, the whole body becomes balanced and free flowing, and the True One remains within.

Do not be ashamed of poverty or low status; do not covet wealth and rank; do not indulge in sound and beauty; do not yearn for fame and profit; do not fear hardship; do not feel humiliated by demotion or disgrace. Seek nothing outside, and harbor no confusion within. See only emptiness: emptiness upon emptiness, with nothing left to empty, serene and constantly still. Then by day there are no delusive thoughts, and by night there are no dreams. The spirit dwells in supreme joy; the innate nature of Heaven is abundant, and turbulent emotions do not arise. One follows the path toward utmost stillness: no craving is born, and the heart has nowhere to go.

The ability to move freely through the void depends on Qi. The same principle applies to refining the body to the utmost purity of Yang: it can pass unhindered through metal and stone, move between the sun and moon, and remain without a shadow.

People believe that the body must be nourished with food and drink, not knowing that abstaining from food can instead make it firm. They believe that Shen must be nourished by the corpse-soul—the Yin spirit attached to the body, a dull and clouded awareness—not knowing that only by casting off the corpse-soul can Shen become complete. They believe that Yin and Yang must support one another to sustain life, not knowing that when Yin is exhausted and Yang is pure, this is the Way to long life.