《雲笈七籤》Vol. 70

Yunji Qiqian, Fascicle 70, Part 10

(Compiled and submitted by your servant Zhang Junfang, Gentleman for Service of the Song court, Vice Director of the Imperial Treasury in the Department of State Affairs, Collator of the Academy of Scholarly Worthies, recipient of the crimson fish-bag and the privilege of borrowed purple.)

Methods of Neidan

The Golden Key to the Inner Images of the Returning Elixir (with preface; also known as Black Lead Water)

Treatise on the Tiger (also known as Red Lead Fire-Dragon Formula)

(Written by Zhenyizi, Master of True Unity, of Feihe Mountain in Changlihua.)

Among the Golden Liquid Returning Elixir—the Neidan method of refining the Returning Elixir with golden liquid—and all related scriptures and formulas, none surpass the ancient Supreme Scripture of Dragon and Tiger and Wei Boyang’s Zhouyi Cantong qi (Triple Concordance of the Zhouyi). These are the most refined classics among Returning Elixir formulas. Most schools take lead and fire as the root and dragon and tiger as the ancestral method. Some formulas explain lead but not fire; some discuss the tiger but not the dragon. Though each points in its own way, in reality they converge on the same principle, and their source is one.

Among the elixir formulas is a four-line song by Taibai Zhenren. Though brief, it is exceedingly subtle: it directly clarifies the hidden depths of dragon and tiger and fully reveals the fundamental meaning of mercury and lead. The song says:

“The art of reversing the Five Phases: the dragon emerges from fire; when the Five Phases do not proceed in order, the tiger is born from water.”

These twenty characters reveal the key to the mutual interaction of heaven and earth, yin and yang, and explain the principle by which yin and yang reverse and transform: the tiger within water is the root of “true mercury”; the dragon within fire is the gate of “true lead.” The foundation of the Returning Elixir lies entirely here. It is truly a secret teaching that cannot be altered.

I therefore wrote the Treatise on Black Lead Water-Tiger and the Red Lead Fire-Dragon Formula to explain the True Man’s profound intention and to open a step-by-step path of understanding for the secret formulas. The title is set as The Golden Key to the Inner Images of the Returning Elixir: Treatise on Fire-Dragon and Water-Tiger, hoping thereby to guide later practitioners and help remove the doubts of those who have not yet understood.

Treatise on Black Lead Water-Tiger

What is called black lead water-tiger is the root of the mysterious transformations of heaven and earth. It has no concrete form, yet possesses Qi; it is the essence of the mysterious True One, the mother of heaven and earth, the root of yin and yang, the ancestor of sun and moon, the foundation of water and fire, the ancestor of the Five Phases, and the root-origin of the Three Powers—heaven, earth, and humanity. The myriad things rely on it to arise, and numerous numinous beings receive it and manifest prosperity or decline.

Whether high heaven and thick earth, cave dwellings and immortal mountains, celestial asterisms, spirit officials of the numinous realms, immortals and sages, or wind and rain, darkness and the phases of the moon, as well as spring, summer, autumn, and winter—none of these is not produced by lead Qi…

The myriad things are able to undergo change and transformation; hence the Daodejing says: “When Heaven obtains the One, it becomes clear; when Earth obtains the One, it becomes peaceful; when the spirits obtain the One, they become numinous; when valleys obtain the One, they become full; when the myriad things obtain the One, they grow.” It also says: “The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth; the named is the mother of the myriad things.” The “One” here is the Jing (essence) of True Unity (the subtle root by which the Dao (the Way) generates the myriad things).

The sages gave it different names and also called it “true lead.” It is the root of heaven and earth and the mother of the myriad things. How could one take lead produced in Jiazhou, sulfur, sal ammoniac, blue salt, white snow, realgar, orpiment, saltpeter, copper, iron, gold, silver, water scale, crystal, various mineral sands and mercury, mulberry frost, paper-mulberry juice, pine seeds, cypress resin, and other impure and filthy substances—as well as materials denoted by white stone, saltpeter, night frost, morning dew, snow water, ice slurry, various alum earths and sundry substances, and the names of plants and trees—and all regard them as true lead? These are all mistaken usages, too numerous to list one by one.

Someone asked: “What exactly is true lead? Please state it clearly so that those who do not yet understand may also know.” The answer: “Black lead is not an ordinary substance. It is the Mysterious Heaven Divine Water (symbolizing the mysterious Jing-Qi, essence and vital energy, before the formation of heaven and earth); it was born before heaven and earth and is the mother body of the myriad things. This is the Jing (essence) of True Unity, originally the root of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth, the Five Phases, and the myriad things all arise from this Jing-Qi. How then can one call the miscellaneous substances that exist only after heaven and earth have formed ‘true lead’? That would be a very serious error indeed.

“This Jing-Qi above becomes the stars and constellations; below it becomes the essence of true lead. It constantly unites with the sun and nourishes the myriad things; it moves with the sun and never departs from it by more than twenty-six degrees. Therefore, the former true and holy masters of our northern school collected this Yin essence, established symbolic alchemical arrangements (fa xiang), and guided it to join with the Qi of the sun and congeal into a divine elixir. The scriptures speak of the ‘flowing pearl of the sun’; its nature is fierce, its coming is swift, and it is difficult to control. If one does not rely on expedient symbolic arrangements to make it stay and obtain its most refined portion, how would it readily settle on miscellaneous substances? Only by using the pure and correct Jing-Qi of the north to cast a cauldron vessel, and by circulating and warm-nourishing it so that it flows throughout, could one possibly see the dragon and tiger swallow each other and husband and wife unite as one body, ultimately refining a divine and wondrous substance.”

The Red Lead Fire Dragon Formula

What is called “red lead and the fire dragon” is the Qi activated in the transformative operations of heaven and earth that generates the myriad things. It has Qi but no form or substance. Therefore, one compresses the three hundred sixty days of a year into the three hundred sixty double-hours of a single month; then, within the three hundred sixty double-hours of the thirty days of one month, one assigns one trigram to morning and one to evening. Then take these sixty….

The 360 yao are incorporated into the five days and sixty double-hours, and one round of repeated image-taking symbolizes one month. Two and a half days total thirty double-hours, which can also symbolize thirty days, namely one month. Each day takes one hexagram for morning and one for evening; together with the sixty hexagrams, this totals 360 yao and symbolizes the 360 days of a year.

Next, the thirty double-hours of two and a half days are divided into a former and a latter segment, fifteen double-hours each, corresponding respectively to half a month and fifteen days. The former half of the month, from the first to the fifteenth day, is incorporated into the twelve double-hours (the ancient division of a day and night into twelve segments): the six double-hours from after the Zi hour to before the Si hour are matched with thirty hexagrams, totaling 180 yao, symbolizing the half-year from the winter solstice to the summer solstice, that is, 180 days. The latter half of the month, from the sixteenth to the thirtieth day, is incorporated into the other six double-hours: from after the Wu hour to before the Hai hour, matched with thirty hexagrams, totaling 180 yao, symbolizing the half-year from the summer solstice to the winter solstice.

The spring equinox and autumn equinox fall respectively within these periods; taken together, the spring equinox, autumn equinox, winter solstice, and summer solstice correspond, within the twelve double-hours of a day, to 360 image-numbers (xiangshu), representing the Qi movement of a year. From the Fu hexagram (symbolizing the beginning revival of Yang Qi) to the Qian hexagram, and then from the Gou hexagram (symbolizing the first arising of Yin Qi) to the Kun hexagram, one calculates the seasonal phases according to the twelve double-hours, coordinating with hexagrams such as Zhen and Xun, as well as terms such as Jiamen (Jia Gate), Zichou, Wuwei, Yinfu (Yin Talisman), and Yanghuo (Yang Fire), forming a circular operating system of the Tianfu (Heavenly Talisman) and 336 degrees.

This numerical system is used to explain how, at the dark and new moon (the end and beginning of a month), Yin-Yang and xingde (punishment and virtue) converge, as well as the patterns by which Heaven and Earth transform and the ten thousand things are generated. Cultivators rely on the clepsydra (a timekeeping device) to grasp the changes of time and climate, and incorporate the corresponding Qi movement into the divine cauldron (shen ding), causing true lead (zhen qian; an alchemical term), the “mother of Heaven and Earth,” to circulate accordingly and produce Shen-Jing (spirit-essence).

The Yi says, “The stalks of Qian number 360.” Here 360 symbolizes the pattern of Yin-Yang increase and decrease and the complete cycle of movement in a year; it is also the great number of the movement of stars and the transformations of the ten thousand things. Reckoning a year as 360 days, there are 4,320 double-hours; each day is matched with one hexagram in the morning and one in the evening, and each hexagram has six yao, so a year totals 360 hexagrams and 360 yao. (The original text also says that the cultivator should take the number from the 360 days of a year, draw in the upright Qi of 4,320 years, and incorporate it into the divine chamber.)

Usually, five days are taken as one cycle, totaling sixty double-hours and corresponding to one month; the sixty hexagrams operate in sequence, occupying sixty double-hours. The hexagrams and yao together total 360 yao, and therefore also correspond to the 360 days of a year.

Within one year, one can again seize the 4,320 years of proper Qi contained in one month.

Suppose a month has 360 double-hours (shichen); then it symbolizes the 360 days of a year. Within these 360 double-hours, the sixty hexagrams are used to represent the movement of the solar terms; then the climatic changes of the sixty hexagrams are gathered into five days and sixty double-hours, matching the sixty hexagrams with the double-hours as a single cycle, which likewise symbolizes one year.

Next, taking two and a half of these five days, one calculates 360 lines (yao, the constituent units of a hexagram), which are also used to symbolize one year. Then thirty hexagrams and 180 lines are reassigned to half a month, that is, fifteen days: each day is divided into morning and evening, each matched with one hexagram, making thirty hexagrams in all. These fifteen days are then matched into the six double-hours of half a day, also yielding thirty hexagrams and 180 lines, and thus symbolizing the 180 days of half a year.

In each double-hour, two solar terms are allotted from the twenty-four solar terms, and six hou from the seventy-two hou (hou was an ancient unit for dividing seasonal changes). These solar terms and phenological signs correspond in order to the six double-hours after the Zi hour and before the Wu hour. Yang fire enters the Spirit Chamber (Shenshi, an alchemical term for the place where Shen and Qi are settled in internal cultivation), and the cold and warm changes of each double-hour have their corresponding verifications; cooperating with one another, they manifest the function of transformation.

These six double-hours symbolize the half year after the winter solstice and before the summer solstice, that is, 180 days. At this time the fire regimen is operated in accord with the timings of Heaven; the patterns of movement and stillness, waxing and waning, and the generation of the myriad things are all contained therein. The sage compresses the seasonal phases of 180 days into the six double-hours of half a day for calculation, and thereby seizes 2,160 years of proper Qi, gathering it into the Spirit Chamber to nurture the myriad spirits.

If the six double-hours after the Wu hour are also included in the calculation of the fire regimen for one day and one night, then within a single day and night one can seize 4,320 years of proper Qi. The mystery of Huandan (the process of cultivation, refinement, and coagulation in Neidan) lies in taking Zhen and Xun (two trigrams of the Bagua, here used to indicate the activation of Yin-Yang) as the starting point, and within Yin-Yang arranging the advancing and retreating measures of hexagrams such as Fu and Gou; letting the twelve hexagrams circulate through one year, and when the qi-phase is full, using Kan and Li (the water and fire images of the Bagua) to operate dragon and tiger (Neidan terms symbolizing the two Qi of Yin and Yang), so that the numbers of generation are brought to completion. When the circulation of the celestial circuit (Zhou Tian) is finished, Shen, Jing, water and fire, and the incoming Qi manifest together—this is no ordinary medicinal substance.

For the six double-hours after the Wu hour and before the Hai hour, the Yin tally is used to allot the solar terms and phenological signs; its seasonal markers and measures, numbers, and time periods are the same as those of the preceding six double-hours, and it likewise symbolizes the 180 days after the summer solstice and before the winter solstice. The advance and retreat measures of Yin-Yang represented by Zhen and Xun… (the original text ends here).

When De (Virtue/Power) is contravened, changes such as fullness and depletion arise; as these interweave with one another, they manifest as states of entry and exit, withdrawal and addition, rising and falling, and Pi and Tai (obstruction and free passage). What is discussed here also involves different situations: all are movements of advance and retreat in accord with heavenly timing, revolving like the stars and generating the myriad phenomena; they are the underlying patterns of the hidden operation of the ten thousand things. Therefore, when the ancient Zhenren (Perfected) transmitted the teaching up to this point, they all did so through oral formulas and secret instructions.

The scripture warns that one must not casually disclose this, nor let unsuitable people know it, lest they secretly learn and misuse its wondrous mechanism. The various scriptures and oral formulas say that within the month there is a “Fire Record,” whose contents are clearly set out in the Six Hundred Chapters, and that the order of the hexagrams and lines has also been transmitted in the world; these are not copied out one by one here. (The so-called Fire Record of the Six Hundred Chapters is probably Wei Boyang’s section discussing the revolution of the stars; in reality, chapter after chapter is similar. I hope that those who understand will consider it carefully, and then they will find its principle as clear as turning over the palm.)

What is meant here is the circulation of Yin-Yang tally fire within a single day and night and its introduction into the cauldron: the six hexagrams from Zhen and Fu through Qian belong to Yang fire; the six from Xun and Gou through Kun belong to the Yin tally periods (the timings of Yin-Yang change during elixir refining). Within one day and night, one can gather 4,320 years of Zhengqi (correct Qi, vital energy) and generate Shen (spirit) and Jing (essence) in the Spirit Chamber (Shenshi, the place where Neidan (internal alchemy) is cultivated). (The whole process follows the internal sequence of one hundred ke.)

Each double-hour gathers 360 years of correct Qi; one day and night gathers 4,320 years; one month gathers 129,600 years; one year gathers 1,555,200 years. The scripture therefore says that when a person takes a single grain, the size of a rice grain, of the Golden Liquid Reverted Elixir, after the number of the Three Qi (the three Qi that constitute the human body and the movements of heaven and earth) is complete, that person will surely ascend to heaven.

Three years after the elixir is successfully refined, the cultivator has already obtained within the body a lifespan of 4,665,600 years of correct Qi. If it is taken continuously as one takes ordinary food, the span of life has no limit; one may go beyond the Three Realms of Heaven and Earth and become a body of pure Yang and true Jing, possessing life without death. In heaven and earth there are the calamity of Yang Nine, the transformations of Pi and Tai, and the fixed cycles of movement and stillness; but those who take the Golden Elixir (Jindan) transcend Yin-Yang and go beyond the Nine Yang, and therefore their lifespan is infinite. Wise and accomplished people should consider this carefully. This is the supreme, true, and wondrous Dao (the Way). Those who obtain this Dao should treasure and guard it in secrecy, store it in the heart, be cautious in speech, and wait for people of worth and ability.

Ordinarily, one month is calculated as 360 double-hours, and the twelve months of a year total 4,320 double-hours, symbolizing 4,320 years. Among these, the breath tallies corresponding to the two hexagrams Mao and You should altogether deduct sixty days in a year; the two together amount to seven hundred ... (the original text ends here, unfinished).

A complete cultivation cycle, as the text states, is marked by twenty shichen (double-hours), which symbolize seven hundred and twenty years—the numerological count of the talisman-fire of mercury’s inner embryo. Ten months total three thousand six hundred years, which accords with the Heavenly Talisman and also corresponds to three hundred and sixty degrees. This also matches the six hundred sections on fire timing (huohou) recorded in the Cantong qi. The remaining count of breaths is seven hundred and twenty years; this is the term during which metal is in the bathing phase and Jing and Qi are constrained. This principle is exceedingly subtle.

This is the highest method of the Great Elixir (dadan)—the elixir sought in Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation: taking red lead and black lead as materials, causing the Dragon and Tiger to copulate (symbolizing the union of the two Qi of Yin-Yang), and producing Qian essence, Kun purity, and true sand. The secret of applying fire timing is the method of nurturing the soul of the Red Dragon. It is the mind-method that the former perfected sages kept secret and did not reveal; it is also a profound and subtle method of the Dao (the Way), not a shallow and easily understood matter.

Thus the scripture says: “Once true lead has been obtained, one must still obtain the true…” This is to explain the importance of the matter. The scripture also says that fire timing must operate according to the Qi mechanism’s reception, extraction, and addition. Whenever one applies talisman-fire (fuhuo) and calculates fire timing, one must strictly arrange day and night according to the clepsydra (ancient timekeeping device); a day is divided into one hundred ke and coordinated with the four seasons, the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), the twenty-four solar terms, and the seventy-two pentads, without the slightest error. If the four seasons lose their order and the five planets move abnormally, true sand and true mercury cannot be generated, and the Dragon and Tiger cannot copulate. Therefore the scripture says that even if there is only a slight error, regret and disaster will enter through the gap. Wise and accomplished gentlemen should ponder this repeatedly and must not act rashly; if it does not accord with the Dao of Heaven, by what seasonal nodes would the subtle Qi between Heaven and Earth complete its transformations and give birth to the myriad things? The Yinfu jing says: “Heaven has five thieves; one who sees them prospers; one who knows them and cultivates is called a sage.”

There was a man accustomed to viewing Daoist arts by ordinary standards—my eastern neighbor. Hearing me say these things, he immediately knocked and came to visit, laughed aloud, and said to me: “I have heard the ancient sages say that life and death are fated, and that the length of one’s lifespan is determined by Heaven. Books from the Western Regions also say that Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, and the seasons will ultimately perish; even something as great as the kalpa-stone has a day of destruction, and nothing between Heaven and Earth can endure forever. All things have a fixed number; when the number is exhausted, they return to emptiness—and emptiness means nonexistence. I have also heard that human life is like an arrow shot into the sky: when its force is spent, it falls. Yet now you say that those who ingest the Golden Liquid Reverted Elixir (jinye huandan)—the elixir made in Daoist alchemy—can prolong life without limit, and you also say, ‘My fate is up to me, not Heaven.’ Are you not clinging to prejudice and setting up a standard out of thin air?”

I replied: “Alas, this is but a shallow and bigoted view; how could it count as penetrating understanding…”

How could the ancient worthies who understood the sage Dao resemble those shallow, narrow-minded, and bigoted people who think that with their limited understanding they can investigate Hunyuan and trace the beginning of creation and transformation, split open Hongmeng (the state before heaven and earth were divided, before chaos had opened), and clearly see the root of yin-yang generation? Is this not using a single thing before one’s eyes to measure the vast and profound mysteries of heaven and earth?

The Qi of heaven and earth generates the myriad things, and from this the myriad things are differentiated and emerge. The myriad things begin with the differentiation of primordial Qi, then divide into yin and yang; thus there are ten thousand patterns and forms, and there are things such as springs and rocks. Yang numbers are odd, and nine is a yang number. Yin and yang Qi depend on each other and alternately circulate between heaven and earth; therefore the myriad things each have their function, and no category of thing is entirely without use.

Beneath the nine earths there is no yang essence, only pure yin turbid Qi; above the nine heavens there is no yin essence, only pure yang clear Qi. Some people cultivate and accumulate yin Qi, casting the hun-soul and Shen entirely into emptiness, cultivating the subtle “being” within “non-being,” letting it become settled and making the original nature still; after death they become clear and luminous yin ghosts. Others cultivate the essence of pure yang, preserve and nourish Shen and Qi, cultivate the subtle Dao within “being,” make the physical form complete, and then enter the realm of formlessness; while alive they are not bound by death, and they become celestial immortals.

Ghosts and spirits belong to what is obtained through the accumulation of yin Qi; this is the way of yin ghosts. The ghostly way values formlessness, and therefore it abandons yang Qi and cultivates yin Qi. When yin Qi accumulates, the breath stops; when the breath stops, one returns to yin; returning to yin, one returns to death. Thus there are cultivators who reach the state of death, called “Jimie” (stillness and extinction): “ji” is settled clarity and quietude, “mie” is emptiness and nothingness. The ghostly way exalts formlessness, intending to dwell in empty stillness within true non-being and cultivate the subtle “being,” becoming clear, empty, wholesome, and luminous ghosts and spirits within the yin Qi of the lower realm; this is not existence in the ordinary sense. Within yin stillness, ghosts and spirits take this as the wondrous Dao, and there are wondrous gateways and methods of cultivation within yin. (Methods of yin Qi cultivation differ in greater and lesser scope, hence there are greater and lesser gateways.)

Celestial immortals above are formed from the essence of pure yang. The immortal way values form, and therefore it abandons yin Qi and cultivates yang Qi. When yang Qi accumulates, it becomes active; becoming active, it returns to yang; returning to yang, it tends toward life; tending toward life, one attains immortality and does not die. Hence it is called “ascending”: “shang” carries the sense of rising lightly and flying upward; “xian” carries the sense of ascending and being raised. The immortal way values form, intending to circulate Qi within true existence and cultivate the subtle “non-being,” becoming pure, true, wondrously numinous immortals within the nine yang of the heavens above; this too is not emptiness in the ordinary sense. Within yang movement, immortals take this as the wondrous Dao, and there are within yang…

The wondrous gate for eliminating Yin-Qi and the wondrous method for refining Yang-Qi to completion have great and small pathways; there is not only one.

The Jing formed by the accumulation of Yin-Qi attaches to the earth, while the bodily form formed by the accumulation of Yang-Qi rises vigorously to Heaven. This is the principle of the natural operation of Heaven and Earth, not a human arrangement. That is why the Yi Jing (Classic of Changes) says: “Things gather according to kind; beings are divided according to group.” Whatever has its root in Heaven draws close to what is above; whatever has its root in Earth draws close to what is below—each returns to its own kind. Therefore, when the alchemist who cultivates the elixir refines pure Yang to completion, produces Yang-Jing, and then takes and consumes it, he can transform into a body of pure Yang. Because it belongs to Heaven, he can ascend to the heavenly realm; this is called “ascending to the Nine Heavens.” In the heavenly realm there is no Yin-Qi, only pure Yang; it is a realm where Yang-Qi flows vast and boundless, beyond the scope of Qian and Kun and Yin-Yang. Thus its lifespan has no fixed limit. True mercury (a Neidan term, here referring to true and pure Yang) does not exist among those things within Qian and Kun whose lifespans are finite.

Moreover, in Heaven there are no medicines refined by human effort; the body is empty and quiescent, and there is no elixir to consume. Therefore, the pure Yang immortals of the Yin teaching are clearly higher than the ghosts of fixed stillness spoken of by inferior cultivators; the two cannot be mentioned in the same breath. The pure Yang realized person has no fixed destiny of death, while the spirit that accumulates Yin has no fixed destiny of birth; this true Yin and true Yang both transcend the bounds of Heaven and Earth, and therefore have no constant limit of lifespan.

In sum, between Heaven and Earth there are two paths, Yin and Yang, for refining the true form; on this point there is no difference in principle.

Someone also asked: “Are the methods for refining the true form through the two gates of Yin and Yang the teaching of Gautama (Qu Tan) of the Western Regions—an epithet of Shakyamuni, founder of Buddhism—or the teaching of Lord Lao Li (Laozi) of China?”

The answer: “At first I was only explaining that between Heaven and Earth there are two world-transcending paths, Yin and Yang, by which ordinary people may be refined into sages; I did not say that these are the methods of Lord Lao or of Gautama. If one says that these two realized persons established such methods, then why would there be so many realized persons between Heaven and Earth? Both of these realized persons could draw upon Heaven and Earth, transform Yin and Yang, master the patterns of change, and cultivate the way of the pure essence of Yin and Yang; the bodies they attained were both free from the fixed limits of lifespan. Therefore later generations honored them as representatives of the two teachings of refining the true, Yin and Yang.

Moreover, both realized persons said that they were cultivating the Dao. The word Dao is used as a provisional designation for the many wondrous methods of the Yin and Yang gates; “mystery upon mystery” is a laudatory title. Thus these methods are collectively called the Dao. Lord Lao and Gautama each attained only one gate within the Dao. Therefore both transcended the scope of Yin and Yang and both reached a state free from the fixed limits of life and death.”

Someone also asked: “Nowadays those who cultivate the Dao preserve and nurture Jing and Shen, regulate breath and Qi, and also refine and consume the Golden Liquid Yang Elixir, seeking to become a pure Yang body…” The original text breaks off here.

Can those who truly cultivate the Way of Yin Quiescence take elixirs? Answer: Those who cultivate the Yang method preserve the yang soul and retain warm Qi, so they take elixirs to assist their cultivation and ultimately accomplish a body of pure Yang. Those who cultivate the Way of Yin Quiescence, however, abandon the yang soul and return to the yin po-soul; the Yin-quiescent form they achieve is empty and cold and cannot withstand Yang elixirs. If they take Yang elixirs, how could such a Yin form become a body of pure Yin and wondrous transformation? If the Way of Yin Quiescence is not congealed and refined, it cannot produce wondrous emptiness; if wondrous emptiness is not produced, there is no way for wondrous existence to appear.

Again I ask: Beyond Yin-Yang and lead and mercury, is there another elixir? Answer: The method of Yin Quiescence makes the Yin form tend toward empty quiescence: within emptiness there is emptiness, within existence there is no existence, and it takes empty quiescence as its joy. Such a bodily form cannot take elixirs; therefore the Yin teaching has no elixirs. This principle is very clear, and wise and accomplished people can all see it. However, when nature and principle are congealed, settled, still, and silent, cutting off forms and appearances and transcending words, this is truly returning to empty quiescence, which is also wondrous existence. Those who cultivate the Yin method, understanding these words, take them as a mind seal (the essential instruction that verifies the mind); beyond this, there is no other principle.

Again I ask: I have heard that among eminent monks there are those who come and go freely, act at will, and can control life and death as they wish; such accounts in scriptures and treatises are too many to count, with records often running to hundreds of cases. Now I will cite only one or two as a beginning: the monk Fotu Cheng was free in life and death, and his deeds are seen in the History of Ming; records concerning the Golden Liquid Instructions are found in alchemical scriptures. The monk Dharma Master Tanluan wrote the Treatise on Qi Techniques, which has circulated in the world. These people were all thoroughly versed in Daoist arts; sometimes they suddenly died and came back to life, sometimes they could walk on empty air. Could it be that the Yin teaching has no such people? You say the Yang method can cause people to ascend, while the Yin teaching returns to empty quiescence. Both monks Fotu Cheng and Tanluan could preserve their forms and remain in the world, appearing and disappearing freely—is this not precisely the realm of empty quiescence?

I replied: What is so difficult to explain about this? Both of them internally cultivated the Yang method while outwardly manifesting the appearance of monks. Can the methods of cultivation really be distinguished only by outward appearance? Monks and Daoist priests are both people, and both are one thing within heaven and earth. If outwardly one is a monk but inwardly cultivates the Yang method, how is that different from outwardly wearing a yellow cap (the headwear worn by Daoist priests)? The Way of Yin-Yang inherently changes according to circumstances—how could it have sectarian partiality? Only the Qi instructions transmitted by Dharma Master Damo are the method of neither exiting nor entering, internally or externally, and of refining wondrous existence within congealed empty quiescence; that is, the Yin Truth within the method of empty quiescence (the true realm attained through the cultivation of Yin Quiescence).

Again I ask: Now you say that refining Yang enables one to ascend above the Nine Heavens, and refining Yin enables one to enter beyond the Nine Earths. Seen this way, should everyone under heaven practice both teachings together?

Someone asked, “Can these contents be transmitted to everyone?”

The answer was, “No. For the principles of governing the world, nothing is more suitable than written records; but the cultivation methods of the two gates of Yin-Yang belong to methods for transcending the world. They cannot be used to govern the world, nor can they be universally transmitted to everyone.”

The questioner said, “I have always studied only books on governing worldly affairs and winning fame. I know nothing of the way of extending life and transcending the world through cultivation, nor do I understand the intentions of the two patriarchs, and still less the doctrines of the Three Teachings. Now that I have heard your teaching, it is truly as if I have been steeped in the influence of the mysterious and wondrous and intoxicated by the principles of true wonder. I was formerly like a frog at the bottom of a well or an insect in a vinegar jar, shallow in understanding. Thereupon he repeatedly assented and took his leave.”

I have only roughly recorded the essential points of refining the true and cultivating the Dao within the two gates of Yin-Yang. Those of superior wisdom are clear and penetrating and will understand of themselves; they do not need laborious explanation. The foolish and ignorant, even if one forces an explanation upon them, will find it difficult to understand. Those of middling capacity are often hesitant within, uncertain whether to advance or retreat, and often cling to their own opinions, unwilling to turn back. They often say, “Life and death are fated; wealth and honor are from Heaven.” They also say, “Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, will one day reach the end of their course.” Few in the world do not say such things, and so they anxiously await death, go against the true Dao, lose right view, are deluded by suffering, and yet are willing to be so.

How can those who are frivolous and ignorant, shallow in understanding, see the original mind of Heaven and Earth? How can they understand the work by which Heaven and Earth generate and nurture the myriad things? And how could they understand how Yin-Yang act upon and transform into each other, and the principles of Yin-Yang’s coming and going, entering and exiting?

Because I understand the way of Huandan (returning elixir; a Daoist Neidan or alchemical term, here referring to the method of seeking longevity through cultivation), and know that within it there are teachings of endless longevity, I have made a brief discussion for the reference of those of like mind. This is not to promote doctrines of lust and falsehood, nor to invite the ridicule of the worthy and learned. Now again there are people who aspire to this way and come to seek instruction; I hope those of the same aspiration can discern its meaning.

In the song it says:

The Great Dao gives birth to my true nature; Yin-Yang transform my body. I lodge between Heaven and Earth, and birth and death alternate. The destinations of life and death each have their gate; the two paths are utterly different.

One is the Yin gate: within Yin’s stillness there is emptiness and quiescence; one cultivates the Shen (spirit) within Yin. This is the art of the Western Hu (an ancient term for peoples of the Western Regions).

The other is the Yang gate: the way of the Yang gate is recorded in the registers of immortals, and its key lies in grasping the root of Heaven and Earth. This root is called the True One; the True One precedes Heaven and Earth, and Heaven and Earth are opened because of it. If one gathers it properly, refines it into the Gengxin Stone (an alchemical term), then draws forth the dragon within Wood and pairs it with it, causing Yin-Yang to join, then suddenly they are like husband and wife, gradually producing male and female. After ten months, when the male and female are formed, they immediately transform into golden liquid. The golden liquid is refined into a divine elixir; after consuming it, one can transcend the limits of Heaven and Earth.

I write these words to inform those of like mind. Why not take heed and seek this way? The sun and moon race like the wind; thirty-six thousand days (about a hundred years) pass in a flash.

The Art of Returning Gold, Three Essays (with Preface)

Tao Zhi once read the Jinbi Qiantong Jing (Scripture of the Hidden Passage in Gold and Jade). When he came to Master Wei’s line, “The three-five and the one…,” he spent ten years repeatedly studying the most subtle principles between Heaven and Earth, convinced that the whole mystery lay in the character “one.” “One” shares the numerology of Water: Water is the beginning of the Five Phases, its color belongs to the north and to black, yet it embraces all five colors. Water in the end merges with principle and accords with nature, and so can generate Heaven and Earth and transform into the two forces of Yin and Yang. Then the essence of the sun returns to the “moon cave,” and refined essence gathers in harmonizing Qi; its subtle turning secretly responds to nature and aligns with the true Dao. These matters are not what worldly technicians can glimpse.

I have privately observed that people who study the Dao today all suppose that common mercury can be refined into the Golden Elixir and cinnabar can be turned into the River Chariot (the circulation of refined Qi in neidan). They do not know that mercury arises from lead and lead in turn is generated from “gold.” Since they have not even clarified the true principle, they borrow other substances to compound their practice—like stitching petals together and calling it fruit, or cutting the body to install a fetus. Such methods only harm the body and cannot preserve Jing (essence). People therefore stray, their refined Qi dissipates, and they cannot become persons merged with the Dao. Those who seek the Dao in confusion all walk paths of waiting and dependence. Some say the ancients spoke only in fiction and that no such art exists in the world; I find that view deeply foolish and cannot accept it. Accordingly, I follow the meaning of the scriptures and set out the practice in upper, middle, and lower sections for fellow seekers who share this aim.

Upper Section on the Practice

The ancients used the hexagrams of the Yi (Change) to expound the classics because the Great Dao matches Heaven and Earth. The Most High at first differentiated one Qi into the two modes (Yin and Yang); once the two modes stood apart, the three powers (Heaven, Earth, and humanity) appeared. Then Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth) turned, and the myriad things each received their proper place; Kan and Li (Water and Fire) functioned, and metal and water also moved in parallel. This is the pivot of the Great Dao.

When a man caps his head and a woman binds her hair—the rites of adulthood—the two natures of Yin and Yang join in mutual response; breath interchanges and forms unite, and effects follow things as they change. This is the operation of the Great Dao. The sun and moon course, cold and heat alternate, nourishing and moistening Qi spreads and flows, and the myriad beings are thus generated—this is the proof of the Great Dao. Yin extends and Yang gathers; Yang acts visibly while Yin hides; going and coming in cycles of change, they finally return to original nature—this is the Dao’s principle of return.

Understanding this, one sees that from the differentiation of one Qi one models Heaven and Earth and naturally accords with Wuwei (non-action)—why borrow other things to refine?

Now I respectfully follow what the Huangbai Neijing (Inner Classic of Yellow and White) says. Shennong said: “Know the white and hold to the black, and even if you seek death you cannot obtain it.” Here “white” means the essence of metal, not ordinary gold; “black” means alchemical mercury, not ordinary silver. The Longhu Jing (Scripture of the Dragon and Tiger) also says: “If lead is black on the outside, within it holds golden brilliance.” Golden brilliance is the Azure Dragon: it belongs to yellow, to Qian, stands in the Wood position, and its number is three. The scripture further says: “Wearing coarse clothes yet hiding fine jade within, outwardly he seems a madman.”

Jade—here referring to the substance used in alchemy—is called White Tiger, cinnabar, and mercury, and is also called Kun; Kun occupies the earth position, and its number is five. Therefore it says “three and five harmonize”: this means the Eight Minerals (the mineral medicinal stones used in alchemy) each return to their positions, causing the governing order to be harmonized and set upright. The union of “three and five” is also the union of the earth position and the wood position; together their number is eight.

It also says: “Metal is the mother of water; the mother hides the child; the child is conceived in the womb.” This means that water is the child generated by metal, hidden within the mother’s body; metal and water mutually contain and conceive each other, like being hidden in the mother’s womb, waiting for the turning of creation before it can be born.

It also says: “The eldest son inherits the father’s body and establishes his foundation through the mother.” This means that cinnabar is born from metal, and mercury flows out to become the child. Metal nurtures this child, enabling it to inherit metal’s form and grow and flourish. This principle accords with nature, and its root is exceedingly subtle; one cannot but carefully comprehend it.

The Qiantong Jue says: “Mysterious White generates the Metal Lord, toweringly establishing the very beginning.” This explains that cinnabar is born from lead-metal. The Bi Ge says: “Red Water flows and becomes mercury; mercury is what plays with bright earrings.” This explains that mercury is not added from outside, but is generated when Qian and Kun (Yin-Yang) unite and receive qi. It seems about to form yet not yet formed, manifesting luster and pattern.

Therefore the scripture says: “The sage does not create out of nothing.” The sage observes above and makes manifest the Heavenly Tally—the verification of the movement of the heavenly Dao; “tally” means verification. The qi of Heaven descends, the qi of Earth responds, and Yin and Yang join; thus the Flowing Pearl descends. “Flowing Pearl” is also called “flowing mercury.”

The scripture also says: “Cinnabar flows as red mercury; its father is Wu and Ji, its mother yellow gold.” These statements explain the union of lead and mercury, embodying the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity and corresponding to the Five Phases; they are not ordinary things of the world.

The Cantong qi also says: “To plant grain one must use grain seed; to hatch a chicken one must use a chicken egg.” This means that nature and emotion are bound to each other: nature is linked to emotion, and emotion and nature depend on each other; returning to the natural constitutes transformation. Lead and mercury are originally not of the same kind and cannot interact; but once emotion and nature have been separated, true and false, beginning and end also depend on each other, and thus the image of Qian and Kun is formed—namely the correspondences of male and female, metal and water, wood and earth, emotion and nature, dragon and tiger. Although they come from the same source, they have different names and must be combined according to their categories; if there is any error, they cannot blend. Therefore it says: “Those of the same kind can follow one another; those whose natures are contrary cannot be refined into treasure.”

It also says that water is controlled by earth, yet wood flourishes because of earth; mutual restraint and mutual generation cyclically become the relation of parent and child. Mercury does not occupy the proper position of the Five Phases, and cinnabar is not the result of a dragon-tiger pairing; therefore, how can things of different natures and kinds combine into one body?

The ancient song says: “Do not damage my lead, and only then can my nature and life be preserved; do not break my cart, or I cannot return home.” It also says: “Once lead is cut off, the River Cart turns in vain, and everything that is done will surely…” The original text breaks off here.

Lead that lacks efficacy will cause the River Chariot (Heche, an alchemical term referring to the process of circulating the medicinal agents and bringing about the return to the elixir) to be cut off, and all that is done will have nowhere to be applied. The Wupian (Five Chapters) also says: “Lead contains gold; gold contains the return. On seeing treasure, one cannot tell which is the true treasure. Only by cultivating the mind and refining the form can the worthy attain the Dao.” It also says: “Better to cultivate the gold within lead than to cultivate the treasure within gold.”

These statements are all metaphors by which the sages explain the principle and enlighten later students. They worried that later generations would still fail to understand, so they spoke repeatedly and solemnly, also explaining that the two things called Dragon and Tiger (Longhu, an alchemical term) are originally rooted in the same substance. Those who understand the principle within them find it as easy as turning the palm; those who lose the path regard it as difficult as ascending to heaven. The world has not yet awakened, and so later students abandon the method that is as easy as turning the palm and seek the method that is as difficult as climbing to heaven. The more they expend mind and effort, the farther they are from the true Dao; opinions multiply, and it becomes difficult to distinguish the true from the false.

Some say to use lead; some say to use mercury. If one refines only mercury, can Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth, Yin-Yang) still be established? Can the firm and the yielding still be distinguished? If one must mix in lead to refine, then how are gold and water (Jinshui, alchemical names for medicinal substances) produced, and how are return and reversal (the process by which the medicinal substances are refined into the elixir) set in motion? How can transformations occur and become true substance?

Songs and formulas since antiquity praise only the efficacy of lead and do not discuss the subtlety of mercury. Is it because the two must be perfected together, so that they cannot but be praised together? If it is said that mercury is necessary, and that it merely borrows the Qi of lead to promote the River Chariot, then why abandon the root and chase the branches? Since the original intent of the authors is thus, the views of later students are like plowing stones to plant rice or climbing a tree to catch fish; to wish for a harvest is truly difficult.

Moreover, what is recorded in writing is not the most refined content; and as for orally transmitted secret formulas, not everyone has the chance to receive them from a consummate person. The difference between understanding and not understanding is like being a thousand li apart versus having it right before one’s eyes. If one is not a Zhenren (True Person), how can one discern the true principle? I now make a point of discussing this matter with others. Some say: “Those who speak do not understand; those who understand do not speak.” But how do we know that the Dao is hidden between speech and non-speech?

The Middle Chapter on Methods

Anyone who says mercury can be refined into the Golden Elixir speaks falsely; anyone who says cinnabar can make people immortal does not understand the Dao. Not understanding the Dao, yet deluded by the words of the deluded, one will be far from the true Dao.

Mercury is another name for Channü (the Maiden); cinnabar is the most precious treasure within lead. The “cinnabar and mercury” spoken of in the alchemical classics (Danjing) refer precisely to this true formula. Lead contains cinnabar and mercury just as a person has Qing and Xing (emotion and nature); Qing and Xing are not something external to a person. As for cinnabar…

Mercury (gong, a Daoist alchemical term for substances such as quicksilver) arises from lead; it does not come from external things. In cultivating the Way of the Three Ones (Sanyi zhi Dao), which returns Jing, Qi, and Shen to unity, one must first unite nature (xing) and emotion (qing); only then can one return the soul and restore the origin. If external things are brought in to serve as emotion and nature, they cannot unite. If quicksilver is used in place of gong, lead cannot become intimate with it; if nature cannot unite with the Three Palaces (the bodily sites for cultivating Jing, Qi, and Shen), how can it be stabilized? If lead cannot become intimate with it, how can it be paired with the Eight Stones (bashi, the mineral ingredients used in alchemy) and produce a wondrous effect?

Therefore the Cantong qi says: “When it congeals into white, the treasure appears, and it can be made into yellow gold.” What such statements refer to is not the cinnabar and quicksilver of the human world. If those substances are used for refining, in a short while they turn into white smoke; how then could one make them disperse into water and become “horse-tooth railing” (an image for the shape of the refined substance)? The clear-minded, examining carefully, can distinguish true and false alchemical technique in a single sentence. If the alchemist understands this, his true nature will not be deluded; if true nature is undeluded, he will daily draw closer to the Dao, and the root will naturally become upright. Why would one need to rely on leaving the household, divorcing one’s wife, fasting, or secluding oneself in mountains and forests, and only then hope to encounter the great Dao? Therefore I again discuss emotion and nature, trace the principles of cinnabar and gong, and reinterpret the former sages’ use of metaphors to indicate cultivation, thereby instructing later worthies.

Lower Chapter on Techniques

The scripture says: “White is the essence of metal; black is the foundation of water. Water is the pivot of the Dao, and its number is one.” It also says: “Knowing white and guarding black, spiritual illumination naturally arrives.” This shows that the subtlety of Tai Xuan (the profound and mysterious principle) is the root of the Dao. The Dao stands at the pivot of Heaven and Earth, forges Yin-Yang, follows a principle in accord with nature, and its efficacy can be compared with that of creation.

Therefore, fixing the numbers of the two xian (the two phases of Yin-Yang waxing and waning), combining two and eight, above and below the bodies of Qian and Kun are complete. By examining the sixty-four hexagrams, one exhausts the numerical principles of Heaven and Earth; by employing the hexagram images and analyzing them line by line, the wondrous principles contained in the three hundred eighty-four lines are present therein. The stalk number of Qian is two hundred sixteen, and that of Kun is one hundred forty-four; extending and expanding from this, and understanding by analogy, the total is twelve thousand five hundred twenty, used to correspond to the number of the myriad things and to fully embody the bodies of the firm and the soft.

The number of Heaven is twenty-five, and the number of Earth is thirty; together the numbers of Heaven and Earth are fifty-five. The transformations of the myriad things are thus formed and thus return. When Yang Qi accumulates, it becomes Heaven; when Yin Qi congeals, it becomes Earth. When Heaven and Earth close off, the workings of spiritual illumination become manifest. Even as the creative transformations of primal Qi proceed, their wondrous function is inexhaustible.

In the world, the Five Phases of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth are used to correlate with cold and heat, flourishing and decline—for example, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the alternation of day and night. These are all the workings of Yang. In terms of the mutual generation of the Five Phases, Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, and Earth generates Metal; this is the working of Yin. As for Heaven…

The mysteries of Heaven and Earth’s creative transformation are held in one’s hands; the workings of that transformation manifest through oneself. A person can rise from the ordinary realm to the sage realm and have their name recorded in the golden register of the immortal realms (the ledger recording the names of immortals).

Therefore, in cultivation one should take the Yellow Emperor and Laozi as guides; apart from this gate, there is no other path. For those of us who share this aspiration and hope to reach such a realm, the key lies in carefully seeking the true secret formula and ensuring that it is transmitted by a master. One must not treat hearsay and shallow discussions as the method of cultivation. What is truly worth seeking and aspiring to attain is the profound meaning within it.

Alas, people today do not understand the intentions of the divine, nor do they comprehend the principles by which Heaven and Earth move. They merely pursue surface meanings according to the text and speculate on the basis of their own ideas. They do not know that the ancients would rather not transmit at all than casually disclose what must not be lightly transmitted. Later people discuss only branches and details and fail to obtain the root; deluded among themselves and instructing one another, how could they trace back to the true Dao? How would a shallow Confucian scholar like me, born in the woods and fields, dare to call myself a prophet? I have often attended upon elders and heard these teachings, and I understand that alchemy cannot do without cinnabar and mercury, nor without Qian and Kun (symbols of Yin-Yang and Heaven and Earth); if Dragon and Tiger (in alchemy, symbols of Yin-Yang substances or forces) leave Jingong (Metal Lord, an alchemical term for the key substance or force associated with metal), they cannot combine by themselves. I merely set out the general outline for people to consult, so as to avoid mistakes.

The song says:

Immortals clap their hands, and snow congeals into a mass;

The yellow flower wishes to enter the Purple River, yet it is truly difficult.

Mother and child (in alchemy, substances or forces that cooperate with each other) in an instant turn into flowing water;

After transforming, they are again like the nine-times refined elixir (a pill refined through repeated cycles).