《上清靈寶大法(二)》Vol. 8

Shangqing Lingbao Dafa, Scroll Eight, Section Nine of the Beasts: “The Great Stillness of Yuanshi” (Plain-Language Interpretation)

(Compiled by the ritual officer of the Southern Bureau, a Lingbao master of the Dongxuan tradition; provisionally titled the Right Assistant of the Tongchu Prefecture and Jinwu)

The Great Stillness of Yuanshi

When the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning preached the Dao, an extraordinary celestial event occurred. For seven days and seven nights in succession, the sun, moon, and stars seemed to stop moving, as did the Xuanji and Yuheng—the ancient instruments for observing the heavens. The divine wind fell still, clouds withdrew from the mountains, and the sky was clear and free of haze. The Qi of the four seasons was bright and pure. Across the whole country, the earth, mountains, rivers, and forests seemed to lie flat, with all differences in elevation gone. The land appeared entirely the color of green jade, without any other hues.

Breathing and Counting the Breaths (Two Counts on Each Exhalation and Inhalation)

“Two counts on each exhalation and two on each inhalation” means counting to two as you breathe out and to two as you breathe in, making four counts in all and totaling six cun (a metaphorical measure of the inner landscape). Each exhalation and inhalation accounts for three cun. Each count is three cun, and each cun is fifteen fen. Lengthwise and crosswise, the measures extend through Heaven and Earth and together make fifteen. This is why the Supreme Emperor bestowed the Hetu, or River Chart, upon the Yellow Emperor, who, according to legend, received it to understand the numbers connecting Heaven and Earth.

Practice in a quiet room: Sit upright in a quiet room and feel your pulse with your hand. Take four beats of the pulse as one breath. First gauge the usual length of the person’s breathing, then gradually lengthen it; do not strain for a large increase at once.

Releasing the breath: Let the Qi leave through the mouth, but so quietly that the ears cannot hear it. After the breathing has become even, release the breath and begin again as before. With sustained practice, the Qi will settle and the breathing grow calm; only then direct the attention to the nose.

The tip of the nose, eyebrows, and forehead: Align the nose with the center of the brow, the “nose tip.” Count the nose, the three points on the forehead, and the two eyebrows as four breaths; then gently release the breath once. Repeat, building up to eighty-one repetitions. After forty-nine days, add a breath with each repetition: a practice that began by lasting one shichen may gradually extend to a whole day, and from one day to seven.

Then align the ears with the shoulders and the nose with the navel. Gather in the six faculties—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind—and focus attention on the eyes. At first, observe the divine light without placing it either within or outside. After three days, a single point of divine light will appear in a sealed room. Keep the spirit focused with diligent attention; after four days, the light will gradually grow brighter and larger. By the seventh day, it will fill the room. In stillness, all things will appear, though they have not yet come to pass.

After seven times seven days, one will see all the true spirits and ghostly beings in stillness, and will then enter the Way of penetrating vision and far-seeing.

The Editor’s Commentary

In my view, a single scroll of the Scripture for the Salvation of Humanity already contains the myriad methods. The Great Stillness of Yuanshi is the key to the method and a direct path into the Dao: it begins with stilling the Qi and visualizing the spirit, and proceeds to paying homage at the Celestial Origin and making an audience. Beyond this lies the realm of the ultimate Dao, which cannot be conceived or described.

Note: The references above to “six cun” and “fifteen” are connected with traditions of inner-landscape cultivation, breath counting, and the numerical principles of the River Chart. Commentarial traditions differ. This plain-language rendering follows the sense of the passage without imposing a definitive interpretation. For comparison with a particular commentary, please specify the edition.

Qixu’s notes have already briefly explained the meaning. Here it is described again in terms of the human body: as when the sun and moon seem to hold their light and shadow still, the eyes do not blink; Shen (spirit) and the wind are quiet, and breathing seems neither to enter nor leave; as clouds are hidden within a mountain, Qi (vital energy) seems neither to rise nor fall. In this state, focus the mind inward and keep a single thought clear and still. Through seated meditation, Shen emerges and ascends to higher realms, where one surveys the myriad forms and sees through the ten directions. The key instructions have already been explained in detail in the earlier commentary.

The twenty-five chapters of The Great Samadhi of Divine Radiance, compiled by Tiantai, go so far as to say, “The Jade Balance of the Celestial Pivot does not cease its pulse”—an excessively absurd claim. The great method of meditation requires that the eyes not blink recklessly, the breath not move in and out without control, and Qi not rise or fall without control; only then can Shen emerge. But how could the pulse cease moving? If a person is already dead, that is not the emergence of Shen. The text also says that the Celestial Worthy floats in emptiness, with one’s original Shen dwelling in the Jade Pure Palace; that although the Celestial Worthy is distant and wondrous, he is near at hand, residing in the Niwan Palace; and, “You have the Celestial Worthy within yourself—why gaze toward Heaven?” None of these quotations expresses the correct teaching. It further says that numinous power and wondrous transformation gather to form a lion, which the Celestial Worthy rides down into the Dantian (energy center), with blue on the left, white on the right, red in front, black behind, and yellow in the center—these are called the five colors. Yet it also claims that everything seen during seven days and seven nights concerns events yet to come. The author does not understand that emerging in Shen and seeing through all things means casting off the bodily form and ascending to the mysterious. How can the Five Qi within the body be treated as the Celestial Worthy, or the Celestial Worthy be confined to the Niwan Palace? Seeing through the ten directions and penetrating the hidden and wondrous reaches, on a vast scale, the high heavens and thick earth, and, on a broad scale, the myriad sages and immortals can all be clearly seen; one travels together with the creative power of the cosmos. Yet this text says only that everything seen concerns the future. How narrow-minded! Later students who wish to learn the steps of practice should begin by cultivating meditation.

Chapter on Surveying the Hundred Spirits

Begin the method of meditation on the day of one’s birth sign. After seven days, when the power of concentration has become reliable, one may practice seeing through all things. Do not attempt this before the power of concentration is established. Once the breath is settled and Shen can emerge, the eyes can remain fixed on something ten thousand miles away without attending to what is before them. This, too, requires seven days. Gradually the vision becomes clearer and takes on a semblance of form; it can be perfected in a hundred days. Seated in meditation, one can look upon the Three Realms and see through the ten heavens. It is also said that reciting and chanting wondrous scriptures can lead one to become a Perfected One of the Nine Palaces. Each presides over a period of forty-five days, and each also presides over one division.

The Inner Vision of the Central Region in Purple Radiance says: “Always wish to close the eyes, lie down, and keep the body at rest.”

Plain-Language Interpretation

The Subtle Qi Method: Relax your body as if lying down, so that others do not realize you are practicing. Then turn your gaze inward and listen into the distance, allowing the powers of your eyes and ears to reach ten thousand li away. If you practice this method for a long time, you may also come to see things at that distance. With concentrated effort, you may see things a million li away. You will often hear sounds like gold and jade, or the music of strings and bamboo instruments; this is a wondrous method. “The four directions” is a general expression. Begin by focusing your inner sight and hearing in one direction. At first, you may sense only something indistinct, but with sincere and prolonged practice, you will naturally enter the wondrous realm.

Textual Verification: Ancient books say that only after one has practiced stillness and brought forth the spirit may one undertake the Way of penetrating vision. Yet regulating the breath is easy to understand and hard to accomplish: it begins with four cycles per breath, and over time can reach eight; with sustained practice, it may extend to one shichen. Once a full shichen is reached, it can become a day; from a day, seven days may be attained. Then gather the spirit in a form like your own and stand upright in the center of the Mudball Palace. Let the inside and outside be limpid and still, without attaching to the slightest thing. Rise straight up and pass out through the crown of the head. You will feel another body form outside your own, clear in every detail. The spirit leaves the body as a cicada sheds its shell, traveling through the vast open sky and riding Qi through the heights of the mysterious heavens. It visits the constellations on the heavenly steps and pays court to the Primordial Venerable Ones at the Gate of Heaven. The assembled perfected beings come into view; the myriad Qi join the immortals, and at last one reaches the sacred realm of Jade Purity. This is the marvel of spirit departure, by which one may communicate with the Real and reach the numinous. If practitioners happen to meet an enlightened master and, through contemplative practice, reach the realm of penetrating vision, they should continue to advance and not turn back in discouragement.

On Gathering and Refining the Ancestral Qi

Phoenix: Curve the head and touch the crown; let Jing and the breath sink within.

Dragon: Lift the head and draw in the nose; its Qi rises upward.

Tortoise: Draw in the head and contain the breath; Jing and Qi descend.

Snake: Bend the body without straightening; primordial Qi circulates.

Crane: Hold the Qi and breathe faintly; store Jing in the Dantian.

We respectfully contemplate the primordial ancestral Qi: formless and nameless, beyond imagining at the beginning of the cycles of the kalpas. Once the mysterious net came into being, the two forms took shape. Heaven received this Qi to become heaven; Earth received this Qi to become Earth; human beings received this Qi to become human. All things that move or grow, and all beings with their own nature and humble form, are born through the transformation of ancestral Qi. Yet people are born by receiving this single Qi, and inevitably die when they lose it. Is it not because desires muddy them within, while power and profit enslave them from without; because they do not know their source or grasp the true principle, and their spirit grows clouded … (the text continues in the original).

A Plain-Language Interpretation

(Refining Qi and the Sacred Embryo)

If essence and Qi are depleted without one realizing it, and the end of one’s allotted life approaches while one remains bewildered and without support, one will eventually fall into confusion and become a “lower ghost.” The practice described here is to gather the body’s “ancestral Qi”—its original, precelestial energy—and refine it into a “Sacred Embryo” within the body, a spiritual body formed through internal alchemy. Only when the Sacred Embryo is complete can one “give birth to another body outside the body,” bringing forth another level of life through the transformation of spirit and Qi. The general subject here is the gathering and refinement of ancestral Qi within the body. Although ancient books give names for this practice, its oral instructions and methods have not yet been transmitted; one should not speculate or make unfounded claims.

Dongyang Talisman-Fire Section

This section is a sequence chart matching the cyclical signs and names of the Book of Changes trigrams and hexagrams. The original strings together secret characters such as “Dan-hui” with cyclical signs and hexagram images: Dingchou is paired with the Yu hexagram, Wuyin with Sui, and so on, through Guihai paired with Weiji, followed by “on the ninth day, Qian and Kun overturn Kun,” Jiazi paired with Zhun, Yihai with Dayou, Bingzi with Qian, and so forth. It includes all sixty-four hexagrams and their pairings with the first signs of the Jiazi cycle.

(Pulse, Color, the Nine Cauldrons, and Hexagram Pairings)

The pulse is an expression of the heart. Color corresponds to the body’s “Nine Cauldrons”—a metaphor for nine internal refining sites or apertures—and to the “Nine Colors” outside the body. These correspond above to the “Great Brahma,” the universal sound or seal of the Dao. When they resonate, the Qi of the hexagrams harmonizes with the sun. Some therefore take the phrases “Kun, the Mother, covers the East for nine days” and “guides Qian” to reveal how the process works. Yet the hexagram pairings and cyclical signs are concealed in cryptic language. Ancient books regard them as essential to opening the chart of Dongyang talisman-fire. Since the oral instructions have not been transmitted, the underlying principles cannot yet be fully connected; one should not force interpretations.

Nine Qi, Colors, and Cauldrons (Correspondences among the Nine Qi, Colors, Cauldrons, and Organs)

• Small and large intestines: light red, also given as crimson
• Lungs: white
• Bladder: dark blue, also given as green
• Heart: red
• Spleen: yellow
• Kidneys: black
• Stomach: purple
• Liver: blue-green
• Gallbladder: emerald green

(Relationship to the Scripture of Salvation)

A close examination shows that the Scripture of Salvation is one volume of the Middle Cavern. Its “Middle Chapter” forms a further layer of content. The material above on talisman-fire and the Nine Colors should be read as part of this scripture’s transmitted lineage, and not conflated with other transmissions.

The central meaning of this first scroll is hidden and profound, beyond complete understanding; it cannot be inferred through ordinary reasoning alone.

After the Great Tang (618–907), some people wrote explanations and detailed commentaries, but the text remained difficult to clarify fully.

For example, the middle section—here, a passage in the Lingbao teachings associated with the hexagrams—is divided according to the sixty-four hexagrams. Earlier methods claimed that the hexagrams Qian and Kun appeared in statements such as “The Mother Kun turns eastward and covers [the earth]; for nine days she guides Qian.” But on what basis were the other sixty-two hexagrams assigned? The reasoning does not hold. Moreover, the original heading refers only to the “Dongyang Talisman Fire Opening Chart.” Only the highest sages and those who have attained the Dao can fully understand its meaning.

What can be established is this: the middle section arose before Heaven and Earth, and has nothing to do with the written contracts of later times. Only the meaning of the Yi is endlessly adaptable; the Qi and numerical patterns of the hexagrams are deeply intertwined with creation and transformation. Although Fuxi drew the hexagrams after Heaven and Earth had separated, their meaning began before the lines were drawn. Thus Shao Yong, the great Northern Song scholar of the Yi, wrote, “Who would believe that before the lines were drawn, the Yi already existed?” This expresses a profound meaning, but ordinary people have yet to penetrate its deepest truth.

The Yi has sixty-four hexagrams, and the middle section has sixty-four phrases; both arose in antiquity. One may say that the hexagrams derive from the middle section, or that the middle section and the hexagrams depend on one another. But if one insists on matching each hexagram to a single phrase, the reasoning falls apart when examined closely. Once these associations have been assigned, the sexagenary cycle of sixty Jiazi is arranged accordingly. Earlier methods supplied names and categories, but the practical instructions had not yet been transmitted, so they could not be put to use.

As for the Nine Qi, Color, and Cauldron method, its meaning has been outlined, but its instructions remain concealed until the right time and circumstances arrive. The Tiantai school, however, followed the example of matching hexagrams to the middle section and compiled thirty-three sections, renaming them the “Hidden Taboo Names of Mysterious Truth.” It also took the hexagram Tun as the starting point and forced a system of correspondences onto the Jiazi cycle. This neither states plainly that the instructions have not yet been transmitted nor explains the rationale for matching the hexagrams. In its thirty-second section, it even treats “taking in the Qi of the thirty-two heavens” as breathing practice. Yet it fails to recognize that among these thirty-two heavens, four belong to the World of Seed People, four to the Formless World, eighteen to the World of Form, and six to the World of Desire—the names of heavens from the Buddhist Three Realms, borrowed here to discuss the heavens of Qi. To try now to guide this Qi by stepping the Dipper in correspondence with the twenty-eight lunar lodges—isn’t that far removed from the truth? The more one strains the mind, the more distant the response may become. They renamed the middle section the Hidden Taboo Names of Mysterious Truth; among its thirty-two sections, those not fully included… (the following text continues in the original).

Zudaoxuanzhen, Xuanhe, Zhengcheng, Yuyi, Fanzhi, Yinghuo, Caoxing—these were originally concealed names and taboo characters for the Xuanzhen, drawn from the Upper Scripture. Yet they are used in the spell for summoning Qi through jade sounds, with what comes before moved behind and east changed to west. How is this to be understood?

The Chapter on the Blending of the Five Qi

In the Upper Clarity Flowery Chamber, Taiyi holds and turns the movement; its form arises naturally. Taiyi dwells within, like a lotus that has not yet opened. The chamber of the lotus in the human body is the heart. “The eight luminous scenes converge” means that within the body, among the eight luminous scenes, there are places where eight channels meet, and all return to the heart. “Within the subtle” means that all things connect with the primordial Qi of the Great Dao within what is subtle. Just as the veins of a banana leaf branch out, the human body, too, has its pathways of blood vessels and channels. “Within the five Qi, the hundred spirits blend together” refers to the method of blending through the Returning Wind of the Great Cavern. In the Upper Clarity Forbidden Scripture, it says that understanding this method keeps the body from decay and the form from death; practicing it can make one a perfected immortal.

The Perfected One of the Mysterious Center chants:

The jade bridge of Jade Clarity shuts the numinous pass;

In the green chamber, long life brings ease.

The numinous wind blows away smoke, and the five Qi settle;

Jade sounds summon Qi through the three Dantian.

He also chants:

One spirit flies out to the platform above the Dipper;

Wind and fire turn in cycles, then return to the corpse.

If one does not pass through a single moment of vast tribulation,

One must wait until the ape dies and turns to ash.

(Diagram: The ape dwells in the central palace; the five positions correspond to the heart.)

A close examination of the scripture’s meaning shows that from the unfolding of the primordial framework through the thirty-two heavens, down to the Mysterious Center, the Great Yellow Supreme Emperor, and the High Perfected Ones, all refer to the heavenly body and the workings of the Great Brahma. But when it comes to subduing the human body below—in the Muddy Pellet and Crimson Palace—and to regulating the blending of the five Qi, the hundred spirits’ ten turns of returning numinous power, and the myriad Qi’s ascent to immortality, the passage points directly to matters within the human body. Thus it says that Taiyi holds the lotus and its form arises naturally; the eight channels converge in the Crimson Palace, enabling the five Qi to blend. This practice is connected with the method of blending through the Returning Wind of the Great Cavern. However, since its instructions have not been transmitted, it has names for its effects but no gateway for beginning and setting the practice in motion. Therefore, the thirtieth chapter of the Tiantai method is titled “Regulating the Five Qi Within,” and several chapters of the scripture explain it beforehand. The passage “entering and leaving the Flowery Chamber, within the eight luminous scenes, within the subtle, descending to subdue the Muddy Pellet and Crimson Palace in the human body” describes the practice of regulating and blending the five Qi within.

Notes for clarity:

• The five Qi usually refers to the Qi of the Five Phases or the five internal organs. Here it is discussed together with the hundred spirits, the Dantian, and the blending of the Returning Wind as part of cultivation.
• The Muddy Pellet and Crimson Palace are the upper Dantian and the central palace of the heart, often discussed alongside the “Flowery Chamber” and the idea of the heart as a lotus throne.
• Blending through the Returning Wind of the Great Cavern is a method in the Lingbao and Upper Clarity traditions involving visualization and the blending of spirits and Qi.
• The Tiantai method here refers to the sequence of chapters in the great Lingbao ritual method, such as the third chapter, “Regulating the Five Qi Within.” It has no necessary connection to the Tiantai school of Buddhism and should be understood here as the “Lingbao Tiantai method.”
• The ape dwelling in the central palace refers to the imagery used in visualization. The ape represents the restless activity of the mind, and the five positions correspond to the heart. The chant says that without enduring a moment of vast tribulation—the course of time or the heat of the refining process—cultivation is futile, like an ape dying and turning to ash.

Plain-Language Interpretation

On the Chapter “The Hundred Spirits Unite with the Five Qi”

This chapter contains no practical formula or secret method to follow. It says only, in broad terms, that the workings of creation are not outside the body; their root lies here. The Three Heavens’ August Sovereigns and the supreme perfected beings all depend upon the Purple Tenuity Palace above. That is as far as it goes; it does not explain the subtleties of practice or application.

The text then says that anyone who recklessly reveals this Dao will condemn their nine generations of ancestors to the prison of fire and poison, and strictly forbids passing it on. The closing passage adds: “If the sage master of the Highest Mystery had not taught it from above, how could the little immortals of Heaven understand?” Since this is so, it is not a formula for practice, but merely an item in the ritual system. Why, then, would there be a penalty for “recklessly revealing” it?

The ritual system includes two diagrams, which differ only slightly from those of the Tiantai tradition. The Tiantai school refuses to state its formulas openly; those who have not received the true formulas often deliberately hold back such material, using it as a bargaining chip.

The Section on Flowing Essence and Jade Radiance (a method of gathering the sun’s essence and the moon’s brilliance to refine the Elixir)

Build a chamber on high, open ground, with a square footprint eight feet on each side, a rounded roof, and a square base. Make thirty-two circular openings, each nine-tenths of a foot across. Seal thirty-one of them, leaving one open so that sunlight shines directly into the chamber. Below, place a precious vessel containing Eastern Well Blossom water—water formed when the sun’s essence is reflected in a well at dawn—and let the sunlight shine on it, so the water circulates through the chamber. After ten days, cinnabar will form in the five-colored Flowing Essence water, displaying all five colors. Taking it is said to open communication with the spirits, grant penetrating vision, enable one to command the myriad numinous beings, cause the Five Viscera to bloom, and restore youth.

Next, take the accumulated Jade Radiance cinnabar and place it in a precious vessel with moon-brilliance water, dew, river water, mountain spring water, stream water, Well Blossom water, west-flowing spring water, and other waters. Following the same method, expose it to sunlight. Within thirty days, gold-colored sand will form. Add the earlier cinnabar to the water and expose it to sunlight again. Then combine it with cinnabar and the Three Yellows, minerals commonly used in elixir refining, and calcine the mixture in a gold vessel to make a divine elixir. It is said to ward off illness, prolong life, and transform substances into treasures.

Editor’s Note (Commentary on This Method)

On close examination, this method says to build a chamber on high ground, set out a vessel, and gather sunlight; after a long time, an elixir will form. But the formula has not been transmitted, and no practical instructions exist in the world. How could something come from nothing through mere speculation and be put into practice?

The Tiantai method lists thirty-six named sections, divided into Yin and Yang Elixirs. One chapter briefly says that “Flowing Essence and Jade Radiance” can be gathered, refined, and consumed to connect with the True and the Great Void. This makes sense as a metaphorical description of the principles of Flowing Essence and Jade Radiance. Beyond that, the text proceeds to the High Ancestor… (discussed elsewhere).

The point of this passage is that the Section on Flowing Essence and Jade Radiance in the general ritual system consists largely of names and principles, and may not belong to the same level of teaching as the true formulas preserved by the Tiantai tradition. Those who have not received transmission from a master should not treat instructions such as building a chamber and gathering sunlight as a proven method for producing an elixir.

A Plain-Language Interpretation of The Great Method of the Shangqing Lingbao, Part Two

The Method of Gathering the Sun’s Essence and Refining Sand (with Commentary)

On a mountain cliff, in a place rarely visited by people and open on all sides to the light of the sun and moon, build a secluded chamber. Make it round above and square below, eight feet square inside, with each of its four sides ten feet long. At a height of five feet above the ground, cut thirty-two openings, shaped like windows according to the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions—the regions of the ecliptic through which the moon travels—so that sunlight can enter the chamber.

Beginning on the day ruled by the relevant lunar mansion, place westward-flowing water in a vessel made of the Seven Treasures, with a round surface five inches across, and expose it to sunlight for more than forty-five days. Five-colored flowing-essence sand will form in the water. Take it and consume it, and the sign of “flowing essence” will appear on the face.

Another account says to place thirty-two vessels beneath the thirty-two openings. On the day ruled by the relevant mansion, take water from its corresponding direction and add the Four Springs of Heavenly Flowers—four kinds of sacred spring water, or water likened to heavenly flowers. Let the sun and moon shine upon it. After forty-five days, floating sand will appear on the water’s surface, glittering with light. Keep it clean at all times, and do not let dust obscure it.

Next, set up an altar, a furnace, and the Eight Gates, corresponding to the directions of the Eight Trigrams, and kindle the fire. Cast a cauldron from twelve ounces of gold and a pot from twenty-four ounces of iron. Use a yang-sui mirror, a copper mirror that concentrates the sun’s rays to produce fire, and boil the contents day and night. Forty-five days make one “opening.” At each opening, moisten and cleanse the contents with moonlight essence, or nighttime dew. White efflorescence will congeal at the bottom. Take one pound of it, add it to the medicine, and refine it over Yin-Yang fire until it rises and condenses on the lid. After nine years it will rise and congeal of its own accord; consuming it will bring transformation into an immortal. This is an entry from the “Secret Methods Not Yet Revealed” in an ancient book. Though the Tiantai method describes it in detail, it differs slightly from the ancient method. In either case, it is not a formula that can truly be carried out in practice. The ancient book itself identifies it as belonging to the category of secret methods not yet revealed.

Another account says that swallowing the essence of the sun and moon on one’s birth-year day is called “Bai Kong Crossing to Immortality.” This is incorrect. It is also incorrect to combine a hundred flowers with various medicines to make the Lingbao Flowing Radiance Elixir and claim that taking it brings immediate immortality. Daoist texts contain many examples of medicines taken by ingestion, but they do not belong to this method and should not be included or adopted here.

The Circulation of Brahma Qi

People receive Qi, the primordial vital energy, and come into being according to a fixed measure. The rhythm of breathing is reflected in the “three divisions and four arrivals” of the pulse, a description of the body’s pulse channels and their movement in four directions. One exhalation extends three inches and one inhalation extends three inches. Together, these can be measured in feet and yards, corresponding to the Xuanheng, an ancient instrument for measuring the movements of the sun and moon, and by extension the movements of the celestial bodies. This also corresponds to the system that divides one day and night into one hundred ke.

The total is six thousand divisions. Each ke contains sixty divisions, and each double-hour contains eight ke and twenty divisions, making five hundred divisions. In a day and night there are thirteen thousand five hundred breaths, with one inhalation and one exhalation counting as a single breath; each ke contains three hundred breaths.

The first part describes procedures for gathering the sun’s essence, refining five-colored sand, and using a golden cauldron and iron pot—methods of external alchemy and solar essence. At the end, the author states plainly that most of these are ancient formulas not yet revealed and cannot be practiced in reality, and rejects such unorthodox methods as swallowing the essence of the sun and moon or taking the Flowing Radiance Elixir. The latter part, “The Circulation of Brahma Qi,” turns to the correspondence between breathing, the pulse, the hours of day and night, and the total of thirteen thousand five hundred breaths. It is a foundational passage in Lingbao teachings on Qi and the body and life.

A Plain-Language Interpretation

Breathing, the Pulse, and the Heavens’ Measures

A person takes about sixty breaths in one cycle. Between an inhalation and an exhalation, the pulse Qi travels about six cun. From this we can calculate that, during one breath, the sun travels about sixty li. Over one day and night, the sun travels about 961,500 li, turning with the heavens and illuminating about 365 degrees, 25 minutes, and 30 seconds. In one day it covers about one and a half degrees, and the circuit of the heavens measures about 182 degrees, 62 minutes, and 75 seconds. One degree is equivalent to about 1,464 li, 6 cun, and 4 fen.

The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions and Primordial Qi

The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions move in sequence, their measured arcs joined together. The Great Dao’s Brahma Qi—primordial Qi, corresponding to “Great Brahma”—flows and unfolds without end. The Dipper’s handle circles back and turns through the Winnowing Basket constellation, corresponding to the Five Constant Principles, the enduring order of the Five Phases. In each quarter-hour, the sun’s true Qi travels about 18,000 li. A quarter-hour is divided into sixty minutes, or about 360 breaths, which determine the sun’s flowing light. In each minute there are about six breaths, and the sun’s flowing light travels about 360 li. In each double-hour, the sun’s flowing light travels about 86,004 li, while Qi travels about 6,750 cun. Over the twelve double-hours, Qi and blood together travel about 700,890 cun.

The Sun and Moon’s Union, the Circulation of Nutritive and Defensive Qi, and the Great Medicine

When the sun and moon unite, Yin and Yang unite. As the sun and moon move, nutritive and defensive Qi—the Qi that circulates through and protects the human body—also moves. In this way, the Great Medicine, the elixir formed through internal cultivation, can be completed. This is the highest and most excellent Dao of the Primordial Beginning, the supreme source deity of Daoism. Many true immortals of the Three Realms have attained ascension through this method, rising together with their flesh and bones. Those who obtain this method come to understand it for themselves, day and night, in a state of great stillness. One must keep one’s mouth shut and practice faithfully. If even a single word escapes while practicing, the seven generations of ancestors and the nine generations of descendants will all undergo judgment in Fengdu, the underworld tribunal. Xuandu, the Daoist celestial residence, has issued its command—who would dare disobey?

Great Brahma Within the Human Body and the Cultivation of the True

It is said that what gathers takes form; within the true there is spirit, which flows and unfolds without end and moves throughout the ten directions. This is the Great Brahma of the celestial beings. The human body, too, contains Great Brahma, corresponding above to the measures of the heavens. Thus the number of breaths and the movement of Qi within the body correspond to the sun. Through accumulated cultivation, the Great Medicine is formed. This is truly a path for cultivating the true and a step toward entering the Dao, though its oral instructions have not yet been freely transmitted.

Examining the Tiantai Teaching on “Greatly Circulating Brahma Qi”

In the Tiantai method, the thirty-seventh section is called Greatly Circulating Brahma Qi. Its account says that people are born from the Great Brahma of the primordial chaos, yet die through the Great Dharma of the primordial chaos. This is not quite right. People are indeed born from Brahma Qi. But if they do not cultivate the scripture of Great Brahma, they continually lose the Qi of Great Brahma and die. How, then, can one say that they “die through the Great Dharma of the primordial chaos”?

After its Nine Cauldrons Diagram, the text goes on to describe the Metal Mother, a symbol of Metal’s virtue in the West and of alchemical refinement, dwelling on the mountain of the Western Tortoise. Interpreted in terms of the human body, this represents the Origin…

This scripture elucidates the "Millet-Sized Pearl Divine Transformation" method within Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) practice. The so-called "millet-sized pearl" refers to the golden elixir formed within the body during advanced stages of cultivation, its size comparable to a grain of millet.

During practice, particular attention must be paid to respiratory rhythms: each Yang line (representing active energy) corresponds to thirty-six breaths, while each Yin line (passive energy) corresponds to twenty-four breaths. With each breath, Qi (vital energy) circulates three cun (approximately 3 inches) within the body. Calculated accordingly, the total Qi circulation within one shichen (two-hour period) reaches 6,750 cun, extending to 81,000 cun over twelve shichen (a full day), equivalent to 810 zhang (approximately 8,100 feet) of genuine Qi circulation.

Regarding fire modulation: each shichen contains eight ke and twenty fen (ancient time units), totaling ninety-six ke across twelve shichen. Among these, the "Qian-Kun-Gen-Xun" (representing Heaven-Earth-Mountain-Wind trigrams) occupy four ke. An ordinary person completes 1,125 breaths per shichen, totaling 13,500 breaths in twelve shichen. Each breath accumulates fire energy equivalent to one zhu (ancient weight unit), thus forming a "Primordial Qi Elixir" the size of a millet grain, weighing one zhu. Twenty-four zhu make one liang, and 380 zhu constitute one jin. Through 13,500 breaths, one accumulates 25 jin, 2 liang, and a half of genuine fire energy.

By practicing this alternating Yin-Yang cultivation (eight Yin and eight Yang corresponding to Bagua [Eight Trigrams] transformations), the practitioner forms a "Sacred Embryo" (advanced stage of internal elixir), ultimately achieving the realm of daylight ascension and residence in Yuqing (the highest Daoist celestial realm).

The latter section notes that while complete oral instructions remain undisclosed, this principle maintains continuity with preceding teachings. Through refining the body's innate "Brahma Qi" (primordial energy) in conjunction with solar energy, while regulating fire phases according to Yin-Yang waxing-waning principles, one ultimately forges the divine elixir the size of a millet grain. The text emphasizes that although similar descriptions appear in many alchemical classics, one should not indiscriminately cite other scriptures for corroboration.

Finally, it critiques the Tiantai School's (a Daoist lineage) twenty-ninth chapter regarding "Millet Pearl Mystical Entry," arguing they overemphasize scriptural recitation while neglecting practical cultivation techniques. The commentary observes that across Tiantai's forty-nine chapters, concrete practice instructions remain consistently absent, whereas genuine cultivation essentials lie in "Seven Classics and Human Meridians" (possibly referring to the integration of seven canonical texts with bodily channels).

The titles of the “Seven Scriptures” were concealed and those of the “Eight Wefts” altered. Even when no oral instructions from the old methods had been handed down, some people strained to force connections and embellished their accounts with literary flourish. According to the Daoist canons, from the calamities of Longhan and Yankang to the beginning of the Red Bright Era, the transmission of scriptures was not fixed: at times they descended in response to the age, at times in response to particular people. After a scripture had descended and been transmitted among humanity, it might become hidden and cease to be passed on once its recipient ascended to perfection. Even the orthodox canons of the Three Caverns could not all be preserved. Titles such as “Methods for the Transformation of Seven Hundred and Forty Thousand,” “Texts for Concealing Heaven and Hiding the Moon,” “Eight Endowments and Ten Instructions,” “Three Diagrams of the Heavenly Gate,” “Nine Red-Bordered Talismans,” and “Records Kept Within the Embryonic Essence” are beyond counting. Their names remain in the catalogues of scriptures, but their methods never descended into practice in the world. How could anyone dare compose the texts themselves on the basis of their titles? In general, the Dao has its seasons and opportunities; numinous texts are kept secret and not disclosed. They cannot be obtained by human effort alone.

The Great Lingbao Method traditionally had seven scriptures and eight wefts. Except for the Tiantai lineage, the compilations of the various schools all fall within these fifteen items. Six methods of oral instruction had not yet been transmitted: Refining and Gathering the Ancestral Qi, the Dongyang Talisman Method, the Blending of the Five Qi, the Flowing Essence and Jade Radiance, the Circulation of Brahma Qi, and the Divine Transformation of the Millet Pearl. Who can say that later generations will not produce people of immortal potential and numinous qualities, who receive detailed instruction through a spirit transmission from a sage master? That is why the old books preserve only their names and examples. The Tiantai lineage, however, devised elaborate explanations for each item and forced them into written booklets, perhaps even putting them into use. Would this not mislead people? For this reason, we must once again examine their origins and transmission in detail.

Supplementary note: This passage, written by a compiler in the Lingbao lineage, examines the phenomenon of “scripture names surviving while the methods are not transmitted.” It criticizes the Tiantai lineage for forcibly composing and circulating instructions that had not descended. The six untransmitted methods listed here are mostly advanced methods concerning the refinement of Qi and talismans and registers.