《張三丰先生全集》Vol. 14

Commentary on the Lyrics of the Rootless Tree (Plain-Language Interpretation)

Annotated by Liu Wuyuan of Yunqi Mountain; expanded commentary by Li Hanxu of Changyi Mountain

What Is Meant by “Rootless Tree”?

Liu Wuyuan says: “Rootless Tree” is the general title of this set of lyrics. An ordinary tree must have roots in order to grow and bloom; without roots, it cannot live long. People live in the world, undergoing birth, aging, sickness, and death, now present and now gone; a hundred years pass as briefly as sparks struck from stone or lightning, and a person is likewise like a tree without roots. The immortal elder (Zhang Sanfeng) used twenty-four lyrics, all beginning with “Rootless Tree,” to make people see clearly that floating life is like a dream and to urge them to cultivate nature and life early.

Li Hanxu adds: If we speak in terms of the Qi of the human body, all the hundred vessels of the body arise from Qi, and Qi in turn comes from emptiness and nonbeing (xuwu); therefore it is called “rootless.” The Dao of alchemy (Neidan cultivation) nurtures a “root and base” (genben, fundamental root) within emptiness and nonbeing; the Qi of the prenatal and postnatal both proceed from nonbeing to being. In refining the postnatal, one must first “enter nonbeing and seek being,” then cast being into nonbeing; in refining the prenatal, one must again “use being to enter nonbeing,” and then return from nonbeing to being—what is cultivated is precisely this root-cause. It is only that the Qi of the human body has the stages of youth, maturity, and old age, and the Qi of cultivation also has different stages: early, middle, and later. The twenty-four chapters correspond to the solar terms of a year, all urging people, “beneath the Rootless Tree,” to watch the flowers at any time—this is a way of explaining this Dao both clearly and completely.

First Lyric (Liu’s commentary: lamenting the ways of the world; Li’s commentary: urging people to nurture the hidden flower)

Text of the lyric:

Rootless Tree, the flower is just secluded;

Who is willing to stop coveting glory and splendor?

The affairs of floating life are a boat on a sea of suffering,

Drifting and tossing, without freedom.

With no shore and no bounds, hard to moor or tie;

It constantly travels where fish and dragons are dangerous.

If you are willing to turn back your head, that is the shore;

Do not wait for wind and waves to wreck the boat.

(Wuyuan says: I do not know what tune this is. Hanxu says: Among those who sing Daoqing, it is called “Pulling Back the Dark Clouds.”)

Liu Wuyuan’s commentary:

“Flower” is the tree’s spirit and the radiance of its blooming; a person’s body is like the tree, and a person’s true spirit (primordial Shen, yuanshen) is like the flower on the tree. A tree must have roots before it can bloom; the human body, however, is like something rootless. Birth and death are impermanent, and everything depends on whether that single point of the Qi of true spirit is in motion—when the true spirit is flourishing, the body remains and life continues; when the true spirit declines, the body perishes and death comes. Survival and death, life and death, depend on whether the true spirit flourishes or not. Although this true spirit is a person’s...

(The original text breaks off here; the subsequent portion is not included.)

Explanation:

“Pulling Back the Dark Clouds” is the name of a Daoqing tune; by means of song it pulls listeners back from dusty thoughts. The first lyric uses “the flower is just secluded” as a metaphor for the true spirit in its quiet, not-yet-manifest state, while people in the world covet glory and splendor; it uses the boat on the sea of suffering and the dangerous places of fish and dragons as metaphors for the perils of worldly affairs, urging people to “turn back” early and cultivate the shore (leave the world and turn toward the Dao), and not to wait until wind and waves break the boat.

The blossoming and fruiting of trees is a metaphor for the human root. In the various alchemical classics, the same true spirit (zhenling) is given different names: Real Person Yuyang calls it Yellow Sprout (Huangya); Real Person Boyang calls it Golden Flower (Jinhua); Real Person Chunyang calls it Spirit Root (Linggen); Real Person Ziyang calls it True Gold (Zhenjin); Shao Yaofu calls it Heavenly Root (Tiangen); the Immortal Elder calls it Golden Essence (Jinjing); and in the various alchemical classics it is also called Pre-Heaven One Qi (xiantian yiqi). Though the names are many, all refer to this one thing.

This one thing is born in the pre-heaven and hidden in the post-heaven; it governs Heaven and Earth and Yin-Yang, turns the Five Phases, and nurtures the myriad things. In its greatness it has nothing outside it; in its smallness it has nothing inside it. Released, it can fill the six directions; drawn back, it hides in the “secret” place. In terms of its essence: Confucianism calls it Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate); Daoism calls it the Golden Elixir; Buddhism calls it Perfect Enlightenment. In terms of its function: Confucianism calls it Illustrious Virtue and the Heart of Heaven and Earth; Daoism calls it Lingbao (Numinous Treasure), millet (in alchemical Daoism, a metaphor for the essence of Neidan [internal alchemy]), and the Mysterious Pearl; Buddhism calls it the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye and the Wondrous Mind of Nirvana.

The human true spirit is originally perfect and luminous, pure and naked, unborn and undying, neither form nor emptiness. It is not increased by becoming a sage, nor diminished by remaining ordinary. Once it enters the post-heaven, common people lose it and the noble person preserves it, and thus the distinction between sage and ordinary arises. “Common people lose it” means they lose the true spirit and go chasing the false spirit; “the noble person preserves it” means they guard the true spirit and do not run after the false spirit.

When common people chase the false spirit, the true spirit becomes obscure and unillumined. Following their own desires, they crave glory and splendor, fight for fame and profit without stopping, and take the false as true. A hundred worries disturb the mind and ten thousand affairs exhaust the body; they are like a boat in the sea of suffering, drifting and tossing, always wandering wildly in the dangerous haunts of fish and dragons. If one can suddenly awaken and turn back, one immediately crosses to the other shore. Do not wait for wind and waves to wreck the boat and lose one’s life—once the human body is lost, it is hard to obtain again through ten thousand kalpas.

Li Jieshanren lived in seclusion beneath the rootless tree for many years, always wishing to expound the profound and mysterious principle in order to attract fellow seekers. One time, while strolling in a garden, he saw flowers and trees clear and secluded, naturally full of grace, and so he awakened to the word “you” (seclusion/profundity). He composed the twenty-four chapters of Rootless Tree—the source of generation lies in the deep and secluded, and also in the realm of emptiness and non-being. Every realm of emptiness and non-being under Heaven is an altar ground where Daoists plant flowers and trees. Thus my teacher Wushan wrote in a poem inscribed for Zhubao Studio: “On the three paths, secluded flowers are fragrant.”

Freely at ease in the four gardens, where tall bamboo shadows interweave—how wondrous is this saying; it is exactly so here. If the flower is not deep and secluded, its fragrance is not at ease; the affairs of the red dust are hard to settle day and night.

Bamboo shadows interweaving is a metaphor for an empty heart and quiet Qi (vital energy) relying on each other: it enables one’s Qi to nourish the heart, and the heart to nourish one’s Qi. When Qi is abundant and principle is full, when the heart is at peace and Shen (spirit) is complete, one can preserve one’s Zhen (the True) and contain one’s Ling (the Numinous).

Wuyuan takes the two words zhen and ling as the human being’s tree, flower, and root. His words are also fitting: Zhenling (true spirit) is true knowing and numinous knowing. Numinous knowing belongs to nature (xing) and is Yin; the true belongs to emotion (qing) and is Yang. If nature and emotion are not damaged, then the true spirit is whole. But helplessly it is worn away and consumed by the seven emotions and six desires; then inwardly one damages one’s nature and outwardly one damages one’s emotion, and the true spirit perishes. When the true spirit perishes, there is a tree without flowers, a tree without roots—such is Wuyuan’s general meaning.

I have something further to say: the flower is born from the tree, the tree is born from the root, and the root is born from nonbeing—the substance of the true spirit is in fact gestated within the void. Therefore it is said that the flower is precisely secluded; “gestated within nonbeing” is precisely a person’s prenatal wisdom, and also a person’s empty numinous awareness: without shadow or form, it embodies all principles and responds to the ten thousand affairs. Sages and worthies use it and have more than enough; immortals and buddhas nourish it and each is fully supplied. But it must not be entangled with emotions and desires. If it is entangled with emotions and desires, then daily one takes what is within nonbeing as something for use; daily taking its being, one necessarily daily loses its nonbeing; daily losing its nonbeing, one necessarily daily loses its root; losing its root, one loses its tree; losing its tree, one loses its flower. A common saying goes: when people grow old they become muddled, and when trees grow old their hearts become hollow—wisdom is exhausted and the empty numinous awareness is scattered. What true spirit is left?

All this comes from greedily clinging to glory and splendor and refusing to rest: daily doing the business of this floating life, never thinking that a hundred years pass in an instant and that when a person dies his affairs are thrown off; sitting in the boat of the sea of suffering, again not thinking that once impermanence arrives, one’s nature sinks and the boat overturns—boundless and shoreless, hard to moor and secure; tossing and drifting, rushing into the dangerous places of fish and dragons, rushing about and toiling, vainly injuring my wisdom and obscuring my empty numinous awareness—what benefit is there in it?

The immortal master felt especially deep compassion for this, and so turned the boat of compassion to ferry them across, saying: The reason people in the world go deep into the sea of suffering and sink into it unable to emerge is entirely that they are unwilling to turn back and do not recognize the shore. If they are willing to turn back, that itself is the shore—the shore is the path of awakening. If one can ascend the path of awakening...

On the path, wisdom returns again, and the numinous void endures forever. Past wrongs cannot be undone by remonstrance, but future rightness can still be pursued. Though spirit and Qi may decline, there is still the art of return; do not wait until wind and waves surge and smash the boat—so that, with boat and person preserved, one may have what is needed for the farther shore and help for escaping the pit.

Again (Liu says: encourage the earnest student; Li says: urge people to graft and join)

The rootless tree—its blossoms are fading; when the tree is old, graft it anew with tender branches. Plum lodged in willow, mulberry grafted onto pear—this is handed down as a pattern for cultivating the Real. Since ancient times, immortals have had the method of grafting; when people grow old, there is indeed a medicine to heal them. Seek an enlightened teacher and ask for the prescription; once you set to work and cultivate swiftly, it is still too late.

(Wuyuan’s note: The original reads “danger” where this text has “fading”; the sense is likewise close to decline and weakness.)

Liu’s commentary: People often suspect that in old age strength declines and spirit is limited, like a tree whose blossoms have failed and are in danger, with no chance of growth; they think they cannot return to the origin or restore the root, and so they abandon themselves and simply wait for death. But look at old trees in the world: graft them with tender branches and they flourish anew—the plum tree lodged in the willow, the mulberry grafted onto the pear. These are all insentient things, yet they can still revive. How much more so for humans, the most spiritual of the ten thousand beings, who receive the upright Qi of Heaven and Earth—how could old age have no medicine to heal it? The way of healing by medicine is precisely the way of grafting in old age. If you wish to know this way, urgently seek an enlightened teacher and ask for the true method; if you truly obtain the true method, then set to work and cultivate swiftly—even then it is still too late.

Li’s explanation: “Fading” means decline and weakness. When a person grows old, the original Qi declines, so one cannot but urgently graft and replenish. Observing the plum lodged in the willow and the mulberry grafted onto the pear, one has a model. “Lodging” compares to the alchemical method’s meaning of lodging in the Dui gate and lodging the body with the western neighbor; “grafting” compares to the alchemical method’s meaning of using nature to join life and using the self to join the other. Thus plum lodged in willow and mulberry grafted onto pear are exactly the pattern for people today cultivating the Real. The ancient immortals’ method of grafting and joining—grafting and joining is the prescription for healing old age. There is a good method for grafting trees, and the mention of plum, willow, mulberry, and pear is because they are of the same kind: split the old branch, insert the tender branch, clamp and bind it, join it with good soil, and let female and male interlock—this is the method of grafting trees. The prescription for healing old age must also use like to enter like and use wondrous earth to join them; only then can one return from old age to the origin. This is the method. An enlightened teacher knows this.

Vernacular Interpretation

I. On the Timeliness of Cultivation

In the human world, the key lies in seeking and striving. Some say, "Even if you cultivate quickly, it is still too late," fearing that time waits for no one—impermanence can strike at any moment. If one's nature (xing, original nature, clear awareness) has not yet been fully illuminated, and one's life (ming, the fundamental basis, the foundation of one's existence) has not yet been established, one may fall into the vast ghost realm (the yin realm, a place of lostness).

He Xiangu (a Daoist female immortal) once said: In Langyuan, on the peaches of immortality grow weeping willow branches; on the Fusang tree, pears are grafted—this is the immortal method indicated by Dongwanggong and Xiwangmu (revered Daoist deities). Mr. Zhang Sanfeng's words are not groundless speculation.

II. Song of the Rootless Tree (Liu's commentary on refining the self, Li's commentary on the subtlety of flowers and willows)

Rootless tree, the flower is just green,
Flower and wine immortals from ancient times to now.
In the brothel district, in the forest of wine and meat,
Not cutting off meat and fish, not committing lust.
Committing lust loses the treasure of longevity;
Wine and meat pass through the intestines, the Dao is in the heart.
Open the door, tell you:
Without flowers and without wine, the Dao cannot be accomplished.

(Wuyuan's note: The original text has "clear" (qing); "green" (qing) refers to the time of new tender growth, similar to "clear and unstained.")

III. Liu's Commentary: The Golden Elixir Requires Extracting Clarity from Turbidity

The Golden Elixir (the way of internal alchemy to become an immortal) has as its ultimate goal the utmost clarity, without a trace of impurity. But to achieve this utmost clarity, one must refine it out of the utmost turbidity: to remain completely unstained in the most turbid environment—that is true clarity. Hence it is said: "The rootless tree's flower is just green; flower and wine immortals from ancient times to now."

How do we know that flowers and wine can make one an immortal? The brothel district and the forest of wine and meat are places extremely easy to bewilder people. To be able to see beauty in the brothel district without being moved by beauty, not being deluded by the brothels; to live freely in the forest of wine and meat without being burdened by wine and meat—this is not committing lust, not cutting off meat and fish, transforming the nature of food and sex, so that the Dao-mind constantly abides and the human-mind constantly ceases, and the true spirit is unharmed and undamaged, and the great Dao can be hoped for.

"Not cutting off meat and fish" does not mean craving meat and fish, but rather wine and meat pass through the intestines while the mind is unmoved; "not committing lust" means the mind has no brothels. When the mind has no brothels, naturally there is the immortal flower of longevity; when the mind has no wine and meat, naturally there is the immortal wine of prolonging life. Wine is itself immortal, flowers are themselves immortal; when both wine and flowers are present, that is the pure and true immortal realm.

Worldly people avoid brothels and abstain from wine and meat—how do they know that amidst ordinary flowers and ordinary wine, immortals can also emerge? And how do they know that without flowers and without wine, the Dao is instead difficult to accomplish? The Qiaoyao Ge says: Wine is a good friend, flowers are companions; seek the true person in the flower streets and willow lanes—the true person is only therein.

Note: In the text, "flowers," "wine," "brothels," and "lust" are often metaphors in alchemical scriptures for sexual desire and worldly temptations. Cultivation means refining the mind in the red dust; it does not encourage indulgence. Readers should understand it in the context of Neidan (internal alchemy) and not misinterpret it outside of conventional morality.

A Vernacular Reading of Relevant Passages from The Complete Works of Mr. Zhang Sanfeng

Li’s Explanation (Explanation by Mr. Li)

Roaming the flower streets may be said to be the wondrous application of “the flower is just pure.”

Ordinary people have the strongest nature for food and sex. Immortal Master Sanfeng therefore borrowed flowers and wine to awaken the people of the world: many are attached to flowers and wine, but do they know that there is also the path of the “flower-and-wine immortal”? The primordial Qi in the body (prenatal Qi) is green and tender; if a person can eat it, ride it, drink it, and wear it as a hairpin, then naturally the spirit becomes clear and the Qi refreshed. This is what is called the flower-and-wine immortal. It has existed from ancient times to the present, but it is absolutely not the sort of thing found in the world’s brothels and banqueting dens. Smoke, flowers, wine, and meat cloud people’s minds; the Qi of wine and meat is rank, while flowered pleasures stir lust—both are harmful, and lust is worse than the rankness of meat and fish.

One who is good at refining the self eats whatever food he encounters and makes no other demands; thus, though he does not cut off meat and fish, meat and fish are already forgotten. Seeing forms as not forms, he does not cling to beautiful women; thus he does not commit lust, and lust comes to an end. Otherwise, Jing perishes and fluids leak away, causing no small harm. Therefore the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture) says: “Leaves fall and the tree withers, losing its green; single-mindedly close off and govern the external scenes, and there will be lasting peace.” From this one knows that those who commit lust will surely lose the treasure of long life. “When wine and meat pass through the intestines, the Dao remains”—how have flowers and wine ever deluded people? People delude themselves with flowers and wine.

If one does not seek ordinary flowers and ordinary wine, one will surely see immortal flowers and immortal wine. Immortal flowers and immortal wine are aids to completing the Dao; they are the green and tender flowers on the rootless tree, rich in flavor and fine in color, and most able to nourish. The immortal master opens the primordial gate and speaks to you: without such flowers and wine, the Dao is hard to complete.

Another Section (Liu says: cutting through heterodox side gates; Li says: lamenting solitary cultivation)

Song of the Rootless Tree (Excerpt)

Rootless tree, the flower is just solitary; I ask whether Yin-Yang has found its kind. A hen’s egg is hard to hatch into a chick; it has turned its back on the Yin-Yang furnace of creation. A woman without a husband is a resentful woman; a man without a wife is a lone man. Sigh at the deluded followers, so muddled: sitting quietly in solitary cultivation, their Qi only becomes more withered.

Liu’s Commentary

The way of cultivating truth requires that Yin-Yang find its kind; only then can one complete the treasure of true spirit. If there is Yin without Yang, or Yang without Yin, this is called a solitary flower without kind; the true spirit is not completed, just like a hen’s egg—how can it hatch a chick? It has turned its back on the furnace of Yin-Yang interaction and creation. Again, like a woman without a husband or a man without a wife, how can they give birth? Those blind fellows of the world do not exhaust the principles of Yin-Yang or infer the mechanism of creation; they only know quiet sitting and solitary cultivation, and do not know how to gather the medicine and pair the matching Yin and Yang. Therefore their Qi becomes ever more withered, and the Dao is hard to accomplish.

The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng: Selected Vernacular Translations

Main Text

The source of creation is often treated by muddled people as a muddled affair: some contemplate emptiness, some regulate the breath, some visualize the spirit, some guard the aperture, some circulate Qi and blood—most of these are merely quiet sitting and solitary cultivation, inclined toward Yin and lacking Yang. Not only do they bring no real benefit to nature and life, they actually harm nature and life; the more such people cultivate, the more their Qi withers and dries up.

Li’s Explanation (Summary)

“Solitary” means taking only the path of inner cultivation: nurturing nature alone, without being able to establish life, because being solitary without a counterpart, one cannot generate the treasure of nature and life. It is like a hen without a rooster: though she can lay eggs, she cannot hatch chicks. Cultivators today use nature to nourish Qi, but they do not realize that this Qi is still solitary Yin. To avoid withering, one must match true Yang with true Yin; only then is there the resonance of the “same kind.” Ask the cultivator: have you obtained this same kind? True Yang may be called “righteousness,” and true Yin may be called “Dao”; when righteousness and Dao are paired, there is no solitude. Within this there are also three levels: first, use true Yin to generate true Yang; then, use true Yang to match true Yin; and again, from the interaction of Yin and Yang, generate true spirit and vast Qi—how could this be like an egg laid by a hen alone, difficult to hatch into life? It cannot hatch because it goes against the principle of Yin and Yang. Creation is like a furnace; Yin and Yang are like husband and wife. The Dao of the sage begins with husband and wife and transforms to generate the myriad things; human couples are likewise. A woman without a husband—solitary Yin does not generate—becomes a resentful woman; a man without a wife—solitary Yang does not nourish—becomes a man without a spouse. This principle is quite clear. Yet deluded followers in the world are muddled and think that solitary quiet sitting can illuminate the mind and see nature, directly transcend in one leap, and they say nothing at all about matching Yin and Yang. I fear that as they sit day after day and cultivate day after day, they only walk about in “stubborn emptiness” and play in “annihilation”; over time their Qi becomes more withered and exhausted.

Further Note (Liu speaks of “matching Yin-Yang,” while Li speaks of “reversing Yin-Yang”)

The gist of the song “Rootless Tree” is: on the rootless tree the flowers lean to one side; once separated from Yin-Yang, the Dao is incomplete. Metal and Wood are separated; mercury and lead are separated; Yang is scarce and Yin is solitary, each on one side. In the Yin-Yang of the world, man pairs with woman, begetting children and grandchildren passed down generation after generation; following it makes one ordinary, reversing it makes one immortal—the key lies in “reversal upon reversal in the middle.”

The Yi says: “One Yin and one Yang—this is called the Dao.” The Wuzhen Pian says: “When Yin and Yang obtain their kind, they return to interaction; only when the ‘two eights’ (the two sides of Yin and Yang) are balanced can they be combined and refined.” (This is Neidan (internal alchemy) terminology, referring to the paired harmonization of water and fire, nature and feeling, and so on, not merely sitting in empty stillness.)

Vernacular Interpretation

When Yin and Yang Each Lean to One Side, They Join but Do Not Become Intimate

If Yin and Yang each go their own way and cannot assist each other; or Yang responds but Yin does not answer, Yin seeks but Yang does not summon; or Yang is excessive while Yin falls short, Yang is flourishing while Yin is insufficient—all of these mean that the flower of true spirit leans to one side, is neither centered nor upright, and the Dao is therefore difficult to complete.

True Feeling, True Knowing, and Spiritual Nature, Spiritual Knowing

In people, true feeling is like gold and true knowing is like lead; both belong to the firm. Spiritual nature is like wood and spiritual knowing is like mercury; both belong to the yielding. True feeling and true knowing are firm and easily sink; spiritual nature and spiritual knowing are yielding and easily float. If nature leads feeling and feeling comes to return to nature, if the true governs the spiritual and the spiritual returns to the true, then firm and yielding correspond, Yin-Yang harmonize, and they transform into one Qi, so that vitality endures without cease. If feeling does not return to nature and the spiritual does not return to the true, then it is gold separated from wood and mercury separated from lead; Yang is sparse and Yin is solitary, each on one side—how can one return to the root and restore the origin, and congeal the elixir of true spirit?

The Pairing of Man and Woman and the Cultivation of Truth

Consider how men and women in the world pair, bear sons and grandsons, and pass down generation after generation without interruption; from this one can know the way of cultivating truth. When Yin and Yang unite, they can also give rise to immortals and sages, transmitted generation after generation without cease. There is only the distinction of forward and reverse, of immortal and mortal: forward is mortal, reverse is immortal. What is at stake is that one layer of inversion in the middle.

The “Middle” Is Not the Ordinary Middle

This “middle” has the deepest principle and the most secret matter: it is not the “middle” of inside and outside, nor the “middle” of the whole body from top to bottom, but the “middle” of Yin-Yang interaction, formless and imageless, called the root of Heaven and Earth, the aperture of Yin-Yang, the abode of life and death, and the gate of the primordial female. People live here, people die here; becoming a sage or a worthy is here, becoming a human or a beast is also here. If a cultivator can plant his feet firmly at this place, reverse and operate it, invert it, then calamity and adversity are turned into punishment and blessing, and transformed into virtue—this is what is meant by “within one shichen the elixir is brought to completion.”

Worldly Misunderstandings of “Middle” and “Inversion”

Alas, people do not easily know the “middle,” nor is “inversion” easy for them to understand. The sexual absorption school takes the place where man and woman unite as the “middle,” and takes the man’s absorbing woman’s blood as “inversion”; the circulation school takes the Huangting acupoint as the “middle,” and takes Qi and blood rising from behind and descending from the front as “inversion.” All these are merely inventions that set a bad precedent—how could they know the true meaning of the immortals’ “middle” and “inversion”? Those who love learning should carefully distinguish this early.

Li’s Explanation: “Leaning to one side” means Yin and Yang are separated from each other and cannot complete the formation of the elixir. When Yin and Yang unite in the middle, then the daogui (elixir medicine) can be obtained.

Vernacular Interpretation

Once condensed, the Daoist arts are fully prepared. Only after Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) have condensed are the arts of cultivating the Dao complete. Metal, Wood, Lead, and Mercury are simply Yin-Yang. The essence of Wood and the nature of Mercury belong to Yin; the temperament of Metal and the disposition of Lead belong to Yang. Jing and Qi depend on each other, and nature and feeling resonate: Metal’s longing for Wood is benevolence; Wood’s love for Metal is righteousness. Mercury goes to welcome Lead, Lead comes to join Mercury; only then is there no separation or obstruction, and only then can the “Great Medicine” be refined and the true body accomplished. If Yin is orphaned and Yang widowed, each on its own side, with Yin-Yang unmatched, partial and incomplete, how could they transform and generate the supremely real and transmit it for ten thousand generations?

The method of matching is similar for immortals and ordinary people; the only difference is that ordinary people use the forward course, while immortals use the reverse. Wuyuan says, “The inversion in the middle is something people cannot know”; I say people likewise do not understand this word “reverse.” To invert in the middle, one must first understand the wonder of the word “reverse.” If a person can know the reverse, then Metal, Wood, Mercury, and Lead are all contained within it; Yin-Yang and Qian-Kun are entirely inverted; and all kinds of phenomena revolve within the word “reverse.” Obtaining the medicine and returning the elixir can then be expected in a moment.

Again (Liu speaks of the time when the medicine is born; Li speaks of the principle of Kun and Shen)

The rootless tree, its flower is just new, produced in the Kun direction. Kun is the person; pluck the flower and wear it, gather the flower heart; the flower heart and flower medicine are radiant layer upon layer in the lovely springtime. If people do not understand the principle within the flower, one formula of heavenly mechanism is worth ten thousand gold. Borrowing the flower’s name to make the flower’s body, each line striking the yao speaks the truth.

Liu’s commentary: “New” refers to the original thing, which has been buried for a long time and suddenly appears again; this is called the flower being new. As for “new,” radiance is reborn, like the moon in the southwest Kun direction beneath pure Yin, where a single point of subtle Yang emerges—just as when a person’s “empty room gives birth to light,” the true spirit appears and the original face is seen again. This original face is my original deathless true person; with this person one is a human being, without this person one is not a human being. It is what I received from Heaven and by which I became human. But this true person does not reveal itself lightly and cannot be seen constantly; when emptiness is extreme and stillness is deep, when all conditions are utterly silent, in a trance there is an image. “Emptiness extreme and stillness deep” is the image of Kun’s pure Yin, and so it says, “produced in the Kun direction.” Kun is the person—this person has long been buried by dust and grime, leaving no trace at all; once it appears, it is a new flower. The moment must not be missed; one must quickly act to pluck it and gather it.

Vernacular Interpretation

“Plucking a flower and wearing it on the head” can be understood as plucking this Perfected Person’s “flower”; “picking the flower’s heart” can be understood as gathering this Perfected Person’s “heart.” Plucking bit by bit, gathering bit by bit, from little to much, as the accumulation becomes rich its radiance flows forth; when the true spirit is not obscured, the flower and its stamens unfold layer by layer, and the ten thousand principles become manifest. Wherever the mind reaches, everywhere is the Dao. Its radiance is like spring; yang Qi fills the earth, and flowers bloom everywhere. Yet this flower is originally possessed by everyone and seen by everyone, but many do not comprehend its principle and often miss it right before their eyes. If someone awakens to it thoroughly, transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood happens in an instant. Therefore it is said: one secret of heaven’s mechanism is worth ten thousand in gold. The Immortal Elder, in his compassion, borrows the name of the flower and takes the body of the flower, employing both the formed and the formless. Every line strikes the yao, explaining separately the meaning of the prenatal. His original wish was for everyone to attain the Dao and each person to become an immortal. Yet people of the time do not comprehend the principle within this flower; some still wildly speculate and act on things such as sexual cultivation and boudoir alchemy. Even the Immortal Elder can do nothing about it—how can one not sigh?

Li Jiewuyuan says: The single character “person” is precisely the original face; it is because he has seen this “person” that his words seem long and his heart so earnest. One who has already arrived wishes others to arrive—such compassion is deep and profound. However, “Kun is the person”—the word “is” has not yet been clearly disclosed.

Originally, the flower is used to symbolize the person, and the person also borrows the flower as a symbol: when the flower is just new, it is like a person reaching the place of returning to the root, attaining emptiness and guarding stillness, observing the return of the first yang, and unconsciously spring colors become new again. This flower appears in the Kun direction; that is, Kun sees the flower and the flower sees the person. Where the flower is born is where the person is born; therefore it is said that Kun is the person.

In alchemical method, lead is planted in the metal region and mercury is sown in the fire ground. Metal and fire are situated in the southwest; in the southwest one gains a companion, and the place where metal and fire unite is exactly above the Kun direction. This person is a metal body and fire substance, a single mass of pure Yang—this is our true Qi.

First, it is called true feeling: elusive and indistinct, within it there is an image. It is hot as fire and lovely as a flower; its floral fragrance suffuses one, rich as wine, so that having obtained it one is as if drunk. At this moment I pluck it and wear it—the timing must not be missed. I further gather its heart and must swallow it entirely. From flower to stamen, penetrating through layer upon layer, it is truly a radiant spring palace. People of the time know its outside but not its inside, and so they surely fail to reach the wondrous principle within the flower.

The wondrous principle within the flower lies in the unity of inner and outer: outwardly one sees spring colors in full bloom; inwardly one sees the first stirring of one yang. Flower and person, Kun and elixir, differ in name and form but point to one place. What the Immortal Elder symbolizes is essential to awaken to this, not to cling to the literal words. If one clings to things such as sexual cultivation and boudoir alchemy, then one is far from the Immortal Elder’s original intent.

Vernacular Interpretation

When Principle is pure and clean, it is precisely the Heavenly Mechanism—the creative mechanism of Heaven, Earth, and the natural world. Once the Heavenly Mechanism is revealed, a single line of oral instruction within it is worth ten thousand pieces of gold. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh lines in the text all come from Patriarch Lü (Lü Dongbin)'s Qiaoyao Ge (Song of Knocking the Yao Lines). Elder Feng (Fengweng) said: Patriarch Lü borrows the name of “flower” for the “human body,” and then uses the “flower body” to speak of the “human body.” I explain line by line following the Qiaoyao Ge; what I say is vivid and true, and it has savor.

There is also this (Liu speaks of “seizing the time to gather,” while Li speaks of “approaching the furnace and settling into stillness”):

The rootless tree, its flowers are lush; beautiful faces and delicate looks surpass powder puffs;

Guard against the monkey and horse, unruly and more stubborn; put on the iron face your mother bore;

Draw forth the true sword of the Azure Dragon; pluck every fresh blossom on the wall;

Ride the wind and sail home fully laden; who would willingly pass the treasure mountain empty-handed?

(Note: Some write “wall top” as “qionghua” [jade flower], and “qionghua” as “wall top”; I have seen both. In this annotation, “wall top” reads with more flavor, so I follow it.)

Liu's commentary:

When the prenatal true spirit (xiantian zhenling) radiates forth, one root diversifies into ten thousand particulars; observing the images according to the time, there is no thing in which it is not present—at this moment the flowers are at their most luxuriant.

Just when the abundant blossoms are fully exposed and the spirit is turned outward, people easily contend in marvels and strive to excel, showing off their flair; hence it says, “beautiful faces and delicate looks surpass powder puffs.” At such a time one must guard against danger and consider risk, firmly tethering the monkey and horse—the restless “mind monkey” and galloping “intent horse” in one's nature, metaphors for distracting thoughts and desires.

Put on the “iron face born of your mother,” raise the “Azure Dragon sword,” forget emotion in the face of circumstances, and pluck every blossom that has just appeared on the wall, not allowing the slightest trace of craving for appearances to dissipate your true Qi.

The “face born of mother” refers to the “iron face” that is without knowing or cognition—the original face, the unmoved mind. The “Azure Dragon sword” refers to the true nature (zhenxing) that is unstained and unattached—pure inherent awareness. The iron face born of mother and the Azure Dragon sword come from the same source but have different names: in terms of substance, it is the iron face born of mother; in terms of function, it is the Azure Dragon sword. The iron face is stillness in its substance; the sword is wisdom in its function. Stillness gives rise to wisdom, and wisdom completes stillness. Stillness and wisdom require each other; substance and function are not separate. The prenatal true spirit is form and emptiness at once; it constantly responds and is constantly still, without leakage or loss. This is what is meant by “plucking every fresh blossom on the wall.”

“Every fresh blossom on the wall” means the moment when the flower has just come out over the wall but has not yet left the wall, when the true Qi has not yet scattered. Pluck at precisely this moment; there is absolutely no impurity, only pure heavenly innocence. As they gradually grow, gradually gather them; gradually pluck, gradually harvest, and continue until there is “nothing left to pluck” before stopping.

Alas, the Great Medicine is hard to encounter and the Great Method hard to meet; if by good fortune one does meet them, the opportunity must not be missed. Ride this “wind and sail,” quickly pluck the fresh flowers and return fully laden—how could one walk past the treasure mountain empty-handed?

How, then, could one be willing to pass through the mountain of treasures in vain and bring regret upon oneself?

The plum blossoms opening in profusion mark the time of fullness; their beautiful, delicate countenance is compared to the primordial Qi (xiantian yiqi)—that is, the state described by the Immortal Elder in Wugeng Daoqing: “When the host of Yin is exhausted and the bright Yang period arrives, a branch of spring color, a golden flower, is radiant.” Saifentuan, “Rivaling the Powder Ball,” is the time when the medicine is born, that is, the time when the flower-demon vies in beauty. The ancient immortals said: When the prenatal appears, the medicine-demon easily arises; if one has not refined the self (lianji) to purity and does not move upon seeing beauty, who could obtain the golden flower in half a moment? Therefore “guard against the ape and horse, unruly and more stubborn” is exactly what the Yizhihua Daoqing means by “with tender, graceful form and slender fingers, she cannot stir my thought-horse and mind-monkey”—put on the iron countenance one was born with, draw forth concentration, and even if she tries, there is not the slightest movement; draw out the Azure Dragon’s true precious sword and pluck all the fresh blossoms on the wall. This has the same meaning as “repel the host of demons, angrily raise the sharp-edged sword of wisdom, and dare to pick those fresh flowers leaning over the wall.” Wuyuan takes the iron face as concentration (ding) and the precious sword as wisdom (hui); truly he is a kindred spirit. But if concentration and wisdom are not obtained through refining the self, then concentration is not true concentration and wisdom is not true wisdom; when facing events, they cannot be employed. Yizhihua says: At all times guard against the thought-horse; at every moment lock up the mind-monkey; day and night without sleep, the work of refining the self is uninterrupted—one should refine until “I am a sea of purity, unstained by a single dust” before it is true concentration, and until “I am a night-luminous pearl hanging forever in the void” before it is true wisdom. “Wall top” means the flower has already come out beyond the wall yet is still at the wall; this is called the flower leaning over the wall. The fire timing (huohou) is then at its clearest and the phase most true. Without transmission from a teacher, one cannot understand it; unless one is someone who has passed through it, one does not know it. If one knows the moment when the flower branch extends beyond the wall and immediately goes to gather it, that is the skill of the immortals. “Plucking all” means drawing it all in with one breath and swallowing it into one’s own house; it does not mean plucking and gathering gradually. Gradual plucking and gathering is the matter of warm nurturing, withdrawing and adding, and is still a later move. Taking advantage of the wind, the full sail returns; when the four phases combine to form the elixir, one urgently sets the river chariot (heche) in motion to carry it back—how could one be willing to travel empty past the mountain of treasure? The mountain of treasure is the place where the prenatal is born.

○ In elixir practice: when refining it is medicine, when gathering it is medicine, and when nurturing it becomes fire; yet wherever there is medicine there is fire—only it is not the fire of warm nurturing. The annotation to this chapter that explains it as gathering medicine is correct.

Vernacular Interpretation of The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng

Scriptural Text

Again (Liu speaks of advancing and retreating Yin-Yang; Li speaks of warming and nurturing the return elixir [huandan])

Rootless tree, the flowers are just flying;

When they have withered, there is a fixed time for them to bloom again.

When the lead flower appears and gui water is exhausted,

As before, the western garden will be full of flowers on every branch.

Having just gathered them up under the moon,

One turns again toward the morning sun to patch the robe.

This profound mechanism is rarely known in the world;

One must carefully investigate it together with the immortals.

Wuyuan’s Annotation

In Wuyuan’s annotated edition, “you xiang” (“again toward”) is originally “xuan chen” (“promptly taking advantage”); the characters differ but the meanings are close. Only “cai jing” (“just then”) is given as “can jing” (“remaining scripture”)—if “gathering up” is interpreted in terms of the human mind and selfish desires, and thus as retreating Yin, then the “thief” cannot avoid falling into error upon error.

Liu’s Annotation

People’s spirit declines and their true spirit dissipates, just like flowers flying down and withering. But when flowers wither, there is still a time for them to bloom again; when people decline, there is also a way of return. What is the way of return? It is the path of restoring Yang within Yin, of blooming again after withering.

The lead flower is the radiance of the Dao-mind and true knowledge; gui water is the selfish desire of the human mind and guest Qi. When the lead flower appears, the Dao-mind is not obscured; when gui water is fully exhausted, the human mind is constantly still. When the Dao-mind is not obscured and the human mind is constantly still, the original true spirit is without loss or injury, and what was perfectly complete reappears—this is the flower that has already withered once again filling the branches and blooming anew.

Because gui water is about to be exhausted, one gathers up the remaining scripture under the moon and departs; because the lead flower is about to appear, one promptly takes advantage of the morning sun to patch the robe.

The human mind and selfish desires are like guest Qi coming from outside, like the remaining scripture under the moon; the Dao-mind and true knowledge are the original upright Qi, like the sunlight of the sun. Gathering up the remaining scripture under the moon means sweeping away the human mind and selfish desires—this is retreating Yin; patching the robe toward the morning sun means gradually adding the Dao-mind and true knowledge—this is advancing Yang.

Retreating Yin must go on until Yin Qi is completely absent before the remaining scripture can be considered fully gathered up; advancing Yang must go on until Yang Qi is pure and complete before the patched robe can be considered fully mended. When Yin is exhausted and Yang is pure, one returns to the source and reverts to the root, and the original face is fully manifest—how could “blooming again after withering” be an empty phrase? This profound mechanism of blooming again after withering is rarely known in the world; if one wishes to know it, one must investigate origins and endings together with the immortals before one can understand.

Li’s Explanation

Wuyuan’s annotations are excellent in their principles, but they are not the original intent of this chapter. According to this chapter, it is spoken with reference to the warming and nurturing of the return elixir.

Note: This chapter uses the “rootless tree” as a metaphor for the human body; flying and withering flowers as a metaphor for the decline of spirit; and flowers withering and blooming again as a metaphor for the return elixir restoring Yang. “Lead” and “gui” are terms of the Way of the Elixir: lead mostly refers to Yang Qi and the Dao-mind, while gui mostly refers to Yin Jing (yin essence) and selfish desires. The Liu and Li commentaries each have their own emphasis: Liu discusses advancing and retreating Yin-Yang from the perspective of cultivating mind and nature, while Li emphasizes the original meaning of warming and nurturing the return elixir.

What is meant by “ascending and descending in flight” is actually “advancing Yang fire in the morning and withdrawing the Yin tally in the evening.” “Unloading” refers to the completion of the return elixir (huandan); “leaves falling and returning to the root” precisely refers to “restoring destiny” (fuming). After restoring destiny, one must again take the golden water of the outer furnace, extract lead and add mercury, and warm-nourish the spirit embryo.

Wuzhenzi says: In the outer furnace, the additions and subtractions require real effort. The Cantong qi says: Observing the fire times must be done with extra caution; examine and harmonize cold and warm; circulate through the twelve nodes; after each node is completed, one must still carry it out personally. Fengweng says: When Zi and Wu are encountered, devote yourself solely to the firing time; when Mao and You are met, bathe the Golden Elixir—this is why it is called “reopening has its fixed time.” The thing that “reopens” is what the following text calls “the flower branches of the West Garden”: the time when the lead flower appears and Gui is exhausted. In the great medicine of the return elixir, lead is born after Gui; when lead is born, gather it. When gold meets the full moon (the moon at fullness), it is not fit to be tasted; only after five thousand and forty-eight days, after the first tide of Gui water, should one adjust and apply effort and seize the supreme treasure of the first menstruum—this is the highest method. Gui is born on the fourteenth; Gui is exhausted on the fifteenth; a slice of sunlight is exactly at this time. In terms of the human body, it is nothing other than the great movement within the great stillness.

Gather it and swallow it, and the return elixir is then completed. But once the great elixir is in hand, outer lead is born again; alchemists must take it for use in warm-nourishing, hence the saying “as before, the West Garden flowers fill the branches,” and so on. “Just now, facing the moon, it has been gathered away” is extracting lead; “again facing the morning sun, patch the robe” is adding mercury. The method of gathering must understand the moon’s dark and new-moon phases, hence it speaks of facing the moon; the method of patching the robe must use the sun’s morning and evening, hence it uses facing the morning sun as a metaphor—this is the subtle intent of the mystery school. Such mysterious subtleties are rarely known in the world; if one wishes to know them, one must carefully investigate them with immortals who have attained the Dao, and only then will one likely not be mistaken.

Another passage (Liu speaks of the crescent-moon furnace; Li speaks of the heavenly treasure):

The flower of the rootless tree is just opening; pluck it down from the crescent-moon furnace. It extends years and lifespan, reduces illness and calamity; it is good to form worthy friends and prepare Dharma wealth. From this one can complete the heavenly treasure; let the deluded multitude laugh at my foolishness. I urge the worthy not to show off cleverness; without meeting a clear teacher, do not force guesses.

Liu’s commentary: The treasure of the innate true spirit is without form or image, without direction or place. From where can it be gathered to form the return elixir? Yet although it is without form or image, without direction or place, it also has a time when the flower opens. After it has opened, in a state of indistinctness…

The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng: A Vernacular Interpretation

The scripture says: Within, there seems to be an image, yet it is obscure and hard to discern; within, there is naturally a subtle Qi, and that Qi is extremely pure and true; within it there is naturally a trustworthy principle. “The symbolic image is like a crescent moon (yanyue)”—establishing the method through an image is like that newly born crescent moon in the sky. Worldly craftsmen and followers of heterodox side paths do not understand the original intent of the ancients in selecting this image. Some identify the crescent moon as the space between the two kidneys; some as the Mingtang between the eyebrows; some as a lump of obstinate heart-mind in the chest; and some evil teachers absurdly identify it as the woman’s birth gate—a gross error.

The so-called “crescent moon” is a moon that lies face-up or hangs aslant; it is not some particular place in the human body. The moon in the sky, on the third day of each lunar month, in the southwest Kun direction beneath the black body (obscurity), reveals a fine light like a moth’s eyebrow. That light appears slanting and recumbent, and so it is called the crescent moon. In terms of hexagrams, this is Yang faintly arising at the bottom of pure Yin (䷁), namely the Fu hexagram (䷗, Return). In the human body, it is the return of movement after stillness reaches its extreme, “the empty chamber generates white light,” and the Heart of Heaven and Earth (Tiandi zhi xin) begins to stir. Within this heart is hidden a point of prenatal ancestral Qi (xiantian zuqi), which faintly shows its tip from the dark obscurity, with an image like the light of the crescent moon.

Precisely because this point of ancestral Qi is the root of Heaven and Earth and the foundation of the Five Phases, it can bring immortals and Buddhas to fulfillment, produce sages and worthies, and stabilize nature and life; it is also called the “Crescent Moon Furnace” (Yanyue lu). This “Heart of Heaven and Earth” shares its De (Virtue/Power) with Heaven and Earth, its brightness with the sun and moon, its order with the four seasons, and its fortune and misfortune with ghosts and spirits; it is hard to meet and rare to encounter. If by good fortune one happens to encounter it, the timing must not be missed; one must immediately set to work to pluck it, carefully seal and store it, and not allow it to leak away. Only then can one prolong life and reduce illness and calamity. But prolonging life and reducing calamity is not something that can be done without great merit, great conduct, great resolve, and great strength; one must also outwardly form good affinities to cultivate De, and inwardly prepare “Dharma-wealth” (facai) to employ sincerity. Only then can one move the “August Ultimate” (Huangji) and obtain the Heavenly Treasure (Tianbao).

“Dharma-wealth” is not the gold and silver of this world, but the provisions for cultivating the Dharma—namely, single-minded dedication, genuine practice, and the good sincerity of a mind that does not turn back. The Perfected One Shangyang (Shangyang Zhenren) once said: If the heavenly timing is not in accord, one should seek it with Dharma-wealth and sincere devotion. To seek the Heavenly Treasure, one must exhaust human effort; if human effort is not exhausted, that is to be without Dharma-wealth. To be without Dharma-wealth and yet vainly hope for the Heavenly Treasure is difficult beyond difficult. Can one who wishes to obtain the Heavenly Treasure fail to first prepare Dharma-wealth?

The “Heavenly Treasure” is nothing other than the Golden Elixir (Jindan) refined from the true spirit (zhenling); it is also the Returned Elixir (huandan) after the “Heart of Heaven and Earth” has been restored to fullness. Speaking of the “true spirit” and the “Heart of Heaven and Earth” refers to the time before cultivation; speaking of the “Heavenly Treasure” and the “Golden Elixir” refers to the time after it has been refined.

Only when cultivation has reached maturity would one speak such words: once the Heavenly Treasure (Tianbao, the innate supreme treasure obtained through internal alchemy) is obtained, all external things become empty illusions; the six sense faculties and their dust defilements dissolve together, and one enters a realm of no recognition, no knowing, no person, and no self. Let the deluded people of the world laugh at me as foolish and dull as they will; this “dullness” skill must be transmitted orally and instructed mind to mind by an enlightened master—it cannot be reached by forced guessing or forced realization. The Immortal Elder (Zhang Sanfeng) said: “I advise the worthy talent not to show off cleverness; if you do not meet an enlightened master, do not force guesses.” His reminders to later generations have already been many.

Li’s explanation (the commentator) says: The opening phrase “the Jade Stamen first appears” speaks of the Crescent Moon Furnace (Yanyue lu) within the human body, which has no fixed location and no fixed time. Because Yang Qi (yang vital energy) first stirs and reveals light in stillness, it is compared to the new moon at the point when “extreme darkness gives birth to light.” In heaven, this moon has the Geng direction and the third day of the lunar month, both of which can be pointed to by time; in the human body, however, “where it appears is the Geng direction; when it appears is the third day,” and it cannot be determined beforehand. What shape is the crescent moon? Liu’s diagram (a certain school’s illustration) is precisely this: “reclining and also upward-facing” means nine parts black and one part white; white is seen within black, and since Yang Qi has just been born, a white light appears at the upper edge—this is the crescent moon. What some people today describe is actually this shape (an upward-facing moon); that is an upward-facing moon, not the crescent moon. Why say “pick it down”? “Pick it down” is said because the Qi is in the void. When the Neidan adept sees this thread of white light, he must not lightly raise the River Chariot (Heche, to urge Qi upward); he should only use a detached Shen (spirit) and a harmonious intent to gather it from the place where Qi arises. Hence it is said, “pick it down from the Crescent Moon Furnace.” At the moment Shen and Qi unite, before long the sunlight appears greatly, like the form of the full moon on the fifteenth day; this is the mid-autumn moon, this is when Qi is full and the tide is born. Only then can one drive it along the Yellow Path (Huangdao) and send it to the Yellow Court (Huangting); from this, lifespan can be extended and illness and calamity reduced.

Good companions and Dharma-wealth (fa-cai): like-minded people who love the Dao, who are willing to generously give wealth to protect the Dharma for others and help others complete the Dao. Wuyuan’s commentary on this chapter in the Xiuzhen Bian (Discriminations on Cultivating Reality) still treats “making a fortune” as something within the body; this is probably a statement accommodating greedy thoughts. To speak fairly, Dharma-wealth is of two kinds: inner Dharma-wealth—true gold; and outer Dharma-wealth—false treasure. Borrowing the false to cultivate the true is indeed indispensable, but one should not greedily seize beyond measure. As for after the Heavenly Treasure has been refined: pretending to be simple and feigning foolishness, embracing the uncarved block and cherishing jade, letting the deluded crowd laugh at me as an idiot—all this can simply be left to them. Yet those who refine the Heavenly Treasure…

Plain-Language Interpretation

How could it be put easily into words? Without encountering an enlightened teacher, one simply cannot fathom it.

Again (Liu’s commentary discusses the maturing of the Returning Elixir; Li’s commentary discusses the Returning Elixir entering the mountains)

The rootless tree, its flower is perfectly round; it bears fruit and is harvested, its flavor complete, like a vermilion tangerine, like a pellet. Guard and defend the dike, do not let it become idle; learn the method by which plants and trees withdraw their heads; restore destiny, return to the root, and go back to the original source. Choose a numinous place, establish a Daoist hut, join with the prenatal, and complete the Great Return.

Liu’s commentary: The treasure of true numinousness goes and comes again, is old and then new again, without injury or loss; it is still the original thing as it originally was—this is “the flower is perfectly round.” “Round” means that after the elixir is completed, “the fruit is borne and harvested, and the flavor is full and complete.” When the Golden Elixir is accomplished, the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) all gather, the Four Images harmonize, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust merge into one body, and Jing, Shen, Hun, Po, and Yi return to a single Qi; then, through the cooking and refining of talisman fire, it matures and transforms into a pure Yang substance, lively and vital, red in color like a vermilion tangerine, round in form like a pellet. At this point, one must “guard and defend the dike”; throughout the twelve double-hours one dares not slacken, concealing one’s light and nurturing obscurity, learning the method by which plants and trees “withdraw their heads” (returning to the root and shedding leaves), restoring destiny and returning to the root, reverting to the original source, waiting until stillness reaches its extreme and movement arises again, joining with the prenatal, and completing the Great Returning Elixir. This means that after the Returning Elixir is accomplished, one further pursues the work of the Great Elixir.

The Returning Elixir only brings to fullness what one originally possessed; it is a matter of transcending the ordinary—this is what Patriarch Lü means by “Of the three leads, when only one lead is settled, the golden fruit and immortal sprout have not yet taken form.” The Great Elixir is done further upward from the Returning Elixir; it is a matter of entering sagehood—this is what Patriarch Lü means by “Set up the furnace again and reestablish the cauldron; ride the tiger and mount the dragon, departing the ordinary realm.” If one only cultivates the Returning Elixir and does not again build the Great Elixir, one has only attained the way of the initial vehicle and is no more than a “complete person”; how could one enter the realm of the sage?

What is called “choosing a numinous place and building a Daoist hut” is not an outward search for mountains, waters, huts, or dwellings; it is the inner numinous place and Daoist hut. When cultivating the Dao reaches returning to the root and restoring destiny, and the matter of the Returning Elixir is finished, one warms and nourishes it so that Shen and Qi become sufficient; then the elixir becomes numinous—this is called the numinous elixir. From this numinous place one again sets up the furnace and reestablishes the cauldron; this is called building the Daoist hut. “Choosing a numinous place” means waiting for the arising of one Yang; the arising of one Yang is the Yang that moves when stillness reaches its extreme within the prenatal, joining with the prenatal in order to complete the Great Return.

Note: Terms such as “Returning Elixir,” “Great Returning Elixir,” “arising of one Yang,” “talisman fire,” and “three lead, one lead” are Neidan (internal alchemy) terminology; the Liu and Li commentaries are by later commentators, not Zhang Sanfeng’s own words; where they are placed side by side, they have been translated according to the text provided.

This is not the Great Return Elixir (Da Huandan); it is the pre-heaven yang qi (xiantian yangqi) gestated within the post-heaven (houtian). Although both belong to the pre-heaven, there is still a distinction of prior and posterior. To accomplish the Great Return Elixir, one must gather the yang qi within the pre-heaven; otherwise success is impossible. Thus it is said that gathering pre-heaven yang makes the Great Return Elixir achievable.

If the great elixir is not completed, the work has merely stopped halfway and is not the full practice of cultivating the Dao. A Buddhist scripture says: one who stays motionless at the top of a hundred-foot pole may have entered, but does not yet truly attain the Dao. Taking one more step from the top of the hundred-foot pole, the ten directions of the world become the whole body—this is the state of accomplishing the Great Return Elixir.

Li Jieyuan states that Return Elixir also carries the meaning of the round completeness of nature and temperament. Its method lies in attaining emptiness and guarding stillness. Observing the moon newly born in the direction of geng (west) symbolizes the first stirring of yang qi; then one moves one’s own mercury to meet it. When external contact arouses inner stimulation, an image appears; when inner contact evokes external response, a numen appears. Like a magnet drawing iron, it is drawn into the Dantian and returned as Waidan. This method is utterly simple and easy, which is why the ancient immortals said it could be accomplished in less than half a double-hour.

The elixir has two grades, divided into three vehicles. All three vehicles of elixir method gather lead blossom and are called Return Elixir, but they differ in greatness and in priority.

The first is the initial vehicle, called forming the elixir, also named Jade Liquid Return Elixir. Returning from the post-heaven to the pre-heaven, discarding gui (yin water) and taking ren (yang water), one nurtures it with jade liquid and completes the internal elixir. This is the study of exhausting nature, accomplishing the human immortal.

The next is the superior vehicle, called Return Elixir, also called the Seven Returns. Using the pre-heaven that has been returned from the post-heaven, one plants the pre-heaven and establishes it as the mother of the elixir. This is the study of establishing life, accomplishing the earth immortal.

The next is the great vehicle, called the Nine-Times Great Return Elixir. Its medicine is illustrated by the full moon on the fifteenth night: when the fire of the pre-heaven within the pre-heaven arrives, it transforms into white liquid; swallowed back into the belly, it congeals to utmost hardness. This is the Golden Liquid Return Elixir. Utterly numinous and wondrous, it completes sagehood and truehood; this is the study of returning and completing nature and life, accomplishing the heaven immortal.

“The flower is perfectly round” refers to the foundation of the superior vehicle’s elixir: one fruit has been formed, one stage harvested. As for its method of refining lead, the two substances swallow each other and the Five Phases are all complete; this is called complete flavor. Although this elixir is not the elixir of the great vehicle, it is still bright and clean like a vermilion orange, round and compact like a pellet. When the work reaches this point, one must silently tend it, continuously as if it were present.

Plain-Language Interpretation

First Passage (Preserving and Guarding, and Building a Hut)

The so-called “preserving” and “not preserving” means that if what one guards in the mind is not intimate and one’s embrace is not firm, Jing and Qi easily scatter and are lost. Therefore one must constantly protect and guard them, set up defenses, and not let them drift in idleness. Learning methods such as “plants and trees gathering their heads” is easy to understand—this is exactly what the Yi (Book of Changes) means by “wash the heart with this and withdraw to hide in secrecy”: wash the heart clean and store true Jing and true Qi in the deepest place. This also accords with “restoring one’s mandate and returning to the root, returning to the origin and recovering the source.” What is called “the true dwelling within white, a square or round space an inch across” means abiding in one’s original truth within a single point of clear brightness.

“Selecting a numinous site and establishing a Daoist hut”: Wuyuanzi says that the numinous site and the Daoist hut are both within the human body, yet they also divide into two uses, inner and outer.

Inwardly: for the numinous site and Daoist hut, one must seek purity and calm in the spirit terrace and harmony and balance in Shen and Qi; with the heart of a Daoist, one builds a “Hut of Great Peace” within them.

Outwardly: for the numinous site and Daoist hut, one must seek numinous mountains and blessed lands where the noisy dust does not disturb; with a Daoist’s white-cloud thatched hut, one establishes it therein.

In this way both mind and traces become clear, and true power is full. Yang is produced within lead and meets in the way of union; when the work of the Ninefold Great Return is accomplished, the sage work can be brought to completion.

Second Passage (Rootless Tree: The “Heng” [Prosperity] Hexagram and Liu’s Commentary)

Again (Liu speaks of the Qi of True Oneness; Li speaks of the place of union).

The Rootless Tree (Wugen Shu) song says: “The flower is just prospering”—when we speak of being rootless, there is still a root; that is where the “essence of two and five” lies within the “aperture of the Three Powers.” Heaven and Earth unite and the ten thousand things are born; sun and moon unite and cold and heat follow their order; man and woman unite and conception first occurs. The principle is perfectly clear; I tell it to you, only fearing that when you meet it you may not recognize it truly.

Liu’s Commentary: The treasure of prenatal true spirit possesses all principles and responds to all affairs; silent and unmoving, it penetrates through response. In the world there is no obstruction, and nowhere does it not go well—this is the “prosperity of the flower.” Since the flower is prosperous, although the tree is rootless, the flower has a root. Where is its root? The root lies in the “aperture of the Three Powers” that gives birth to Heaven, Earth, and humanity, and in the “essence of two and five” in which Yin-Yang and the Five Phases wondrously combine. It is prenatal and gives rise to Yin-Yang; it is postnatal and hidden within Yin-Yang. One Qi divides and becomes Yin-Yang; Yin-Yang combine and become one Qi. Thus when the Yin-Yang of Heaven and Earth unite above and below as one Qi, the ten thousand things are born; when the Yin-Yang of sun and moon unite in coming and going as one Qi, cold and heat follow their order; when the Yin-Yang of man and woman unite with each other, conception first occurs. Observing Heaven and Earth, sun and moon, man and woman, all require the union of one Yin and one Yang before there can be transformation; thus we know that the Dao of nature and life cannot be completed without Yin and Yang uniting as one—this one Qi is the root of nature and life.

Brief Glossary of Terms (terms already explained in parentheses or by context above are omitted)

The “essence of two and five” usually refers to the wondrously combined essence of Water and Fire among the Five Phases (or of Qian and Kun as the two and five); in alchemical practice it symbolizes the union of original Yin and original Yang. “Yang produced within lead” is a Neidan term: Yang concealed within Yin, movement arising when stillness reaches its extreme, like refining lead to obtain mercury. The “Ninefold Great Return” is the state in Neidan cultivation when practice is complete and Shen and Qi return to the origin. The “aperture of the Three Powers” is the gate where Heaven, Earth, and humanity meet and on which nature and life depend; it symbolizes the place in the human body where Shen and Qi unite.

Vernacular Interpretation

The Aperture of Life and Death: There is in the human body such an “aperture” where Yin-Yang meet and converge; only then can life arise. If this single Qi is absent, Yin and Yang separate, and that is death. Human life and death, in the final analysis, lie entirely within the presence or loss of this single Qi.

But people of the world do not know what this single Qi actually is or where it is hidden. Some take it to be the Qi of respiration and either move it up and down within the Huangting (Yellow Court)—the middle Dantian (energy center), about three inches above the navel—or gather Qi in the Dantian, between the eyebrows, in the Tiangu (Celestial Valley), or behind the head. There are countless variations, but in the end they often come to nothing. In fact, the pre-heaven true unitary Qi (xiantian zhenyi zhi qi)—that single point of original Qi from before Heaven and Earth divided—cannot be seen, heard, or touched. The sage uses the “substantial” to reveal the “void” and the “existent” to reveal the “nonexistent”: what is substantial and existent is true Yin and true Yang; what is void and nonexistent is the “Qi of the two eights and the two bowstrings” (the Qi, half Yin and half Yang, that has not yet formed the elixir). The two stand facing each other, and the single Qi in their midst congeals to form the elixir. This is a matter within the void—how could one guess at it with things that have form and image? How could one fabricate it according to fixed acupoints?

Because people could not recognize this single Qi, the Immortal Elder (Zhang Sanfeng) used the aperture of the Three Powers (sancai qiao) and the essence of two and five (erwu jing)—the meeting place of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, the Three Powers, and the essence of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases (wuxing)—as metaphors; he also indicated it through Heaven and Earth, sun and moon, and the union of man and woman. He wanted to point out this single Qi directly to people’s faces, yet feared that even face to face they would still not recognize it accurately. Wuyuan ventures boldly, not shrinking from presumption, to transmit the spirit and convey the meaning on behalf of the Immortal Elder once more, and to tell everyone plainly:

The pre-heaven true unitary Qi is nothing else: it is simply a single point of true numinous Qi. Because it is firm, vigorous, central, and upright, it is called “True One”; because it is easy to know and simple in capacity, it is called “True Numinous.” “One,” “True Numinous,” and “True” are different names for the same substance; they are not two things. I wonder whether all of you recognize this “True.”

Li’s Explanation: “Heng” means unimpeded passage. The unimpeded passage of the single Qi comes precisely from the word “union” (jiao) below. Flowers are born from trees, trees from roots, and roots from nothing—seemingly rootless, yet they have a root. This rootless root is the root that gives birth to Heaven, Earth, and humanity; this root lies in the one aperture of the void, and so it is called the aperture of the Three Powers. This aperture is the place where essences unite, and so it is said: “the aperture of the Three Powers, the essence of two and five.” “Two and five” means the five of Heaven as one and the ten of Earth as another; together they make fifteen, symbolizing the essence of the union of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases.

Classic: The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng

Scripture:

Five, two, five are the “two earths.” When the two earths combine, the daogui (the dosage of elixir, the image of the spiritual medicine congealing) is formed. No one recognizes the single aperture of the mysterious pass (xuanguan yiqiao) spoken of in Niwan (the upper Dantian, the Niwan Palace in the brain)—this very place is the daogui, and it is extremely wondrous. Originally it is the place where “two and five” exchange essence (where Yin-Yang Qi meet and congeal essence), that is, the source from which the medicine is produced (the “medicine” refined into Neidan, internal alchemy).

The great cultivator, in this one aperture of emptiness, knows that it is the place of copulation (the meeting of Yin and Yang, the union of Shen, spirit, and Qi), and can surely cause prenatal Qi (the original Qi of the prenatal state) to arrive from emptiness; the function of this union is immense! Thus when Heaven and Earth unite, the myriad things are born; when sun and moon unite, cold and heat follow their order; when man and woman unite, conception first occurs—all these are clear proofs of copulation. This principle is very clear, easy for everyone to understand, yet everyone fails to understand it. The immortal master, in great compassion, tells you: simply at the place where the “two eights” meet, combine the two Qi into one mass, and the great medicine can be born. The only fear is that when dragon and tiger meet and emit the Qi of the two bowstrings, the alchemist may not recognize it truly.

Again (Liu speaks of the golden essence opening and flourishing; Li speaks of recognizing and taking the golden essence)

The rootless tree, its flowers are just right; facing the scene, forget emotion and enjoy the moonlight. The golden essence flourishes and dazzles the eyes; do not pick the wrong melon in the garden. The five metals and eight minerals are all false; ten thousand herbs and a thousand prescriptions are always wrong. The golden toad and the jade old duck—when you recognize them truly, you are an adept.

(In Wuyuan’s annotated edition, “facing the scene, forgetting emotion” reads “month after month, when it opens.”)

Liu’s commentary: The prenatal spiritual treasure is firm, strong, central, and correct; it is pure essence, and its flower is most excellent. When it is at its very best, like moonlight blooming and golden essence flourishing, one should contemplate and enjoy it, and must not miss it face to face. What opens month after month opens according to the season; it does not open out of season, but is fixed by the monthly cycle; movement and stillness have constancy, without the slightest deviation. The golden essence is the luminous essence of metal; in the moon it is called moonlight, in humans it is called true essence. True essence is the essence of true spirit, never at any time obscured, hence moonlight and golden essence are used as metaphors for it. True spirit is not easy for people to know, but by observing the truth of the moon and metal it can be known; true spirit is not easy for people to see, but by observing the moon’s radiance and metal’s essence it can immediately be seen. The essence of all things decays after a long time, but moonlight opens month after month, and golden essence does not diminish for ten thousand years. Moonlight and golden essence are like this; human true essence is also like this. But when true essence is sometimes not essence, it is because... (If the original volume continues below, it should be completed according to the complete edition.)

Vernacular interpretation: The first half discusses a Neidan oral formula: the numbers “five, two, five” symbolize the union of the “two earths,” from which the spiritual medicine (daogui) is formed; the key lies in the “single aperture of the mysterious pass” in the Niwan Palace—the source of union in emptiness and the production of “medicine.” If the cultivator can here cause prenatal Qi to come from emptiness, this follows the same principle as the “union” of Heaven and Earth, sun and moon, man and woman: when Yin and Yang meet, the myriad things, cold and heat, and conception are all proofs of it. Zhang Sanfeng compassionately points it out: one must, at the “meeting of the two eights” (the moment when fire timing and Yin-Yang are fully in place), merge the two Qi into one mass, and only then is the great medicine born; the difficulty is that when “dragon and tiger meet and the Qi of the two bowstrings is emitted,” people often fail to recognize it accurately.

The second half consists of the Rootless Tree lyric and Liu’s commentary: through “the flowers are just right and one enjoys the moonlight,” it says that when the prenatal golden essence (true essence, the essence of true spirit) is flourishing, it must not be missed; opening and closing each month in accord with its time, like moonlight and golden essence that endure without decay, symbolizes that human true essence should likewise be preserved in truth. The five metals and eight minerals, the myriad herbs and thousand prescriptions, are all false things sought outside; one must recognize the true mechanism within images such as the “golden toad” and “jade old duck”—that is true practice (being an adept). The variant reading in the annotated edition, “month after month when it opens,” emphasizes monthly cyclic practice and gathering-refining in accord with the time, and warns against mistakenly picking external things in the garden.

“Jia” means fine and beautiful; “beautiful golden flower” is an honorific name for true lead in the alchemical path. The Cantong qi says: lead is black on the outside and holds a golden flower within—that is, from black lead one extracts white gold and combines it with vermilion mercury to generate pre-heaven Qi; only this is the true “beautiful golden flower.” If one turns the gaze back upon oneself, one can accomplish the returned elixir (huandan).

But most people cannot recognize what “true knowing” (zhenzhi) and “numinous knowing” (lingzhi) actually are. If they could truly recognize them, they would be veterans of cultivation, and none would fail to succeed. Alas, in the way of the Golden Elixir, an error of a hair’s breadth leads astray by a thousand li; how many really recognize the true?

Post-heaven Yin Qi obscures it, yet the original substance is never extinguished. When golden Jing is abundant, true Jing is abundant. When true Jing is at its height, it illuminates the world, its Qi fills the cosmos, white snow flies through the sky, yellow sprouts cover the earth, golden light dazzles the eyes, and on every side there is nothing but golden flower. Yet this true Jing is without form or image, neither form nor emptiness; it cannot be sought by a deliberate mind, nor guarded by a mind that is absent; it can only be known in spirit, not transmitted by mouth. Though it is bright and clear, present and complete, seen by everyone, no one recognizes it—it is the hardest thing to take as true.

Cultivators must probe deeply and examine the subtle, with true knowing and clear insight, before they may begin; they must not mistake the false for the true or take the plausible for the real, and so pick the wrong melon in the garden.

Those in the world who practice blindly and refine foolishly may suspect that golden Jing is something with form and appearance; they therefore refine the five metals and eight minerals and ingest countless herbs and a thousand prescriptions—things not of the same kind as myself. How could they form the elixir and continue life? Is this not a great mistake?

The toad belongs to the Yin creatures of water; “gold” as Yang within Yin and white within black symbolizes my true knowing. The crow belongs to the flying Yang creatures above; “jade” as Yin within Yang and female within male symbolizes my numinous knowing. Only true knowing and numinous knowing are of the same kind; only they are the treasure of nature and life. Take these two and combine them to form the elixir: from the true it reaches the numinous, from the numinous it reaches the true; true and numinous do not disperse, and it is wholly the heavenly principle, neither form nor emptiness, neither arising nor ceasing.

The so-called moon radiance and golden Jing are just this. When moon radiance unfolds and golden Jing flourishes, how could one not attain long life? But most people cannot recognize what true knowing and numinous knowing are; if there is one who truly recognizes them, that person is a seasoned adept of cultivation, and there is none who would fail to accomplish the Dao.

Returning Elixir (huandan) must first involve refining the self; once refining the self is pure, the Returning Elixir becomes easy.

Forgetting emotion in the presence of scenes is a matter for after refining the self has become proficient: no beautiful scene can move the heart, and one simply concentrates on contemplating that bit of true Qi—this true Qi is called Moon Radiance (Yuehua). Why is it also called Moon Radiance? Because the full moon can be used to gauge the waxing and waning of Qi.

The Wuzhen Pian says: “On the fifteenth of the eighth month, contemplating the toad’s radiance—just when the Golden Essence is at its vigorous height.” This is the same Dharma-eye as contemplating Moon Radiance.

The moon gradually grows from the third day; Immortal Lu compares this to Qi still being tender. By the fifteenth it is full, compared to Qi already being sufficient. When Qi is sufficient, the Golden Essence (Jinjing) is vigorous and full—Golden Essence is what appears within Moon Radiance; they emerge together under different names. At its flourishing, Yellow Sprout (Huangya) fills the cauldron and White Snow (Baixue) fills the sky; seen with the wisdom eye, it shines like flowers. The elixir adept takes it with the Heaven-Piercing Sword (Tongtian jian) and, advancing fire at the proper time, makes the Returning Elixir—nothing but this “flower.” By no means lose the true flower and instead pick false melons in the garden, only to lament one’s mistake.

Not only is picking melons a mistake; the five metals and eight minerals are all false and not true, and the myriad herbs and thousand prescriptions all end in deviation. If one seeks what is neither false nor deviant, it is only this Golden Essence.

Where is this Golden Essence born? Look at the golden toad and the jade crow: these are the places from which it is born. The toad is a yin creature in water; it is named gold, which is the true Yang within Kan. The crow is a yang creature in the sky; it is named jade, which is the true Yin within Li. True Yin and true Yang interact and give birth to the Qi of the Two Crescents (liangxian zhi qi); then from the Qi of the Two Crescents comes the Qi of True Unity (zhenyi zhi qi)—Moon Radiance and Golden Essence are both this. But one must recognize the true. When one recognizes the true, one is a veteran adept who clearly comprehends fire timing (huohou) and discerns lead (qian).

Again (Liu speaks of gathering the medicinal substance; Li speaks of plucking the yellow flower)

The Rootless Tree (Wugen shu) bears many flowers; when they bloom everywhere, they are separated by the River of Love—hard to climb and pluck, what then? Step by step, walk into the dragon-and-tiger lair; gather the yellow flower and return to the cave; one’s name is inscribed in the Purple Mansion (Zifu) and never worn away. Laughing heartily, O white clouds, prepare the heavenly ladder to ascend to Daluo. (In the Wuyuan edition, “love” is written as “obstruction,” which is a discrepancy.)

Liu’s commentary: Between heaven and earth, all is filled with Dao Qi; wherever true spiritual light shines, there is flower.

Vernacular Explanation

Where the flowers bloom, the flowers are exceedingly many, spread over the whole ground. Yet, sadly, although flowers bloom everywhere on the ground, people fail to recognize them right before their eyes.

It is like a river lying across the middle: even if one wants to reach out and pluck them, it is hardest of all to pluck them, and there is nothing to be done. The reason they are hard to pluck is that most people in the world are pulled along by fame and profit, entangled by affection and love; they abandon the real and accept the false, take suffering as joy, and step by step walk through the dangerous terrain of dragon and tiger, contrary to the Dao of nature and life. That is why they are hard to pluck.

If one is a brave man, a man of fierce resolve, who at once casts off worldly ties, seeks the master’s oral formula, and borrows the false to cultivate the real, then among all the flowers he selects the most central and upright Yellow Flower, returns it to the cave and warms and nourishes it, forms the elixir, prolongs his years and increases his lifespan. Then his name is inscribed in the Purple Mansion and will never be erased.

The Yellow Flower is the yellow flower of the true central color, in the land of Wu and Ji (the central Earth): the flower is central and upright, pure vitality, with no mixed Qi. When vitality returns to the cave, the four seasons are ever spring, as if dwelling in a nest of white clouds, carefree and at ease, in another heaven and earth, not the human realm. Would one not laugh heartily, knowing for oneself that one is happy? When one reaches this stage, the returning elixir has already been obtained; then one again sets up the furnace and re-establishes the cauldron, undertakes the higher work, prepares the heavenly ladder, and becomes a Great Luo Heaven immortal.

Li’s Explanation: That which is originally inherent in the pre-heaven (xiantian) is not increased by the worthy nor diminished by the foolish; everyone possesses it, everyone is born with it—so the flowers are indeed many. It is only because it is blocked by the river of desire that the original nature is submerged. Even if flowers bloom all over the ground, what can be done when the river of desire stands between? The river of desire refers to the human mind of the post-heaven (houtian) realm of desire, which can obstruct the pre-heaven mind of the Dao. Once the mind of the Dao is obstructed, it becomes difficult to reach out and pluck the immortal flower.

What then is the plan for now? The immortal teacher tells the student: unless you seek step by step and search as you go, walking one mountain after another and crossing one stretch of water after another, until you enter straight into the lair of dragon and tiger, you may perhaps see that which is original.

This dragon comes forth from fire; this tiger is born from water; they can emit the pre-heaven Qi from within the post-heaven. The dragon is hidden in Yin, the tiger is hidden in Yang; when Yin-Yang unite, dragon and tiger are generated; when dragon and tiger unite, the Golden Flower is generated. This golden flower lies in the southwest, the Kun direction—Kun Earth is yellow in color, and its flower is also the yellow flower. If a person can pluck the yellow flower and bring it back to the cave... (the following text continues with warming and nourishing it to form the elixir.)

This scripture elucidates the states and essentials of cultivating the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir (Jindan). Zhang Sanfeng reveals that when the Golden Elixir is fully formed, the practitioner's name becomes eternally recorded in the Purple Mansion (the upper Dantian where the primordial spirit resides), attaining liberation from the cycle of life and death. This achievement brings profound joy, being the natural fruition of prolonged dedicated cultivation.

To ascend from the terrestrial immortal realm to the celestial immortal fruition, one must rebuild the foundation (metaphorically described as "re-establishing the furnace and cauldron") and construct the ladder to higher realms (the "heavenly ladder" symbolizing cultivation methods). The text specifically cites insights from two predecessors: Liu Chuxuan emphasized generating yang qi from within yin, while Li Qing'an focused on refining the medicinal substances (Jing, Qi, and Shen) within the elixir cauldron (Dantian).

The scripture then employs symbolic imagery to depict the cultivation process: when the rootless tree (representing the human body) blooms in full splendor, the lead cauldron (Dantian) naturally radiates a warm, lustrous glow. At this stage, practitioners can perceive the Crooked River (the Conception Vessel) from the Golden Bridge (the Governing Vessel), akin to seeing the sun within moonlight (symbolizing perceiving yang within yin). By ingesting the Crow's Liver (solar essence representing the primordial spirit) and Hare's Marrow (lunar essence representing primordial qi), one thoroughly purifies body and mind, transcending worldly attachments to fame, profit, and emotional entanglements.

Liu Chuxuan's commentary further explains that the primordial true numen (original qi) embodies all virtuous qualities. When this true numen manifests, it marks the moment when the lead cauldron emits light. The so-called lead cauldron signifies true wisdom that facilitates spiritual rebirth. The true numen can only manifest through true wisdom because such wisdom contains the Dao-mind (original innate mind), which in turn harbors the primordial unified qi. When the lead cauldron maintains gentle warmth—indicating yin-yang equilibrium—the Dao-mind manifests, and the light of true numen gradually emerges.

The Golden Bridge represents metal (yang), while the Crooked River symbolizes water (yin). Observing their interaction means seeking yang within yin, like discerning the sun within moonlight. When the lead cauldron radiates light and yin-yang harmonize, spirit and qi embrace, allowing entry into the mechanism of creation where Jing, Qi, and Shen become firmly anchored. This constitutes the mystery of ingesting Crow's Liver and Hare's Marrow—the fusion of spiritual awareness (Crow's Liver) with genuine emotion (Hare's Marrow) to achieve unity of innate nature and vitality, where true numen remains unobscured. At this stage, body and mind undergo complete renewal: acquired mundane thoughts vanish completely, the Dao-mind endures permanently, ordinary consciousness extinguishes forever, accomplishing the profound transformation of spiritual rebirth.

Source Note: The following is Li Jiexiang’s commentary on a passage from Zhang Sanfeng’s alchemical classic. It explains the meanings of “outer cauldron,” “lead cauldron,” “Golden Bridge,” and “Qujiang” in internal cultivation, and criticizes interpretations that identify “Qujiang” with the small intestine, the mouth and nose, or similar things.

Plain-Language Interpretation

Fame and profit, affection and love—why be greedy and attached to them? (Li Jiexiang says:) If “fragrance” is interpreted as the fragrance that is neither smelled nor foul, utterly pure and clean, then it is the moment when the prenatal first appears and has not yet been stained by the postnatal.

The lead cauldron (qianding) is the outer cauldron (waiding). In the method of producing lead, one must establish the outer cauldron in the southwest, called the Kun realm (Kunxiang), also named the Kun Mother (Kunmu). The mother’s body is fundamentally empty; only by borrowing the Qian Father’s (Qianfu) solar essence can lead be produced. The solar essence is dragon mercury (longgong)—that is, the “crow liver” below. The dragon is the eldest son, and when the son takes the father’s place and enters the mother’s womb, Qi and Jing interact, and the cauldron of prenatal true lead is established here. Zhongli Quan says, “The sun moves within the brightness of the moon”—this is the method of establishing the cauldron; the later line “Within the moon the sun is clearly seen” refers to the image of gentle warmth at this time.

When the lead cauldron is gently warm, the precious light (baoguang) appears. This precious light is the light of precious life; its appearance is precisely the Qi of the prenatal. The white image shines forth from between the eyebrows and eyes. Patriarch Lü says, “Gently warm is the lead cauldron; light penetrates the curtains,” and also says, “Examine the brow’s edge for a sign”—this is the same scene.

The Golden Bridge (Jinqiao) is the bridge beneath the magpie, located on the southwestern road where metal Qi shines. Qujiang is where Qi winds around the Magpie Bridge (Queqiao) and light reflects in the southwest. When the ancients annotated Patriarch Lü’s line “Above Qujiang the moonlight is pure and bright,” they identified Qujiang as the twelve bends of the small intestine—this is to mistakenly enter the demonic path. There are also those who identify it as the space between the mouth and nose, which is an even deeper entry into demonic deviation. Only Mr. Chen Niwan says: “On the southwestern road the moonlight is bright; the great medicine is born right from this place.” He also records the ancient poem “Above Qujiang the Magpie Bridge lies across,” which deeply captures the essential purport. Why? The southwest belongs to Kun, and Kun is the abdomen. Where the precious light appears, the moonlight is just bright; where the moonlight is bright, metal Qi is just emerging. Therefore, from above the Golden Bridge one gazes at Qujiang, and over the river the moon is directly illuminating the Golden Bridge. The moonlight shines brilliantly, and Yang is born within Yin; hence it is said, “Within the moon the sun is clearly seen.” Taiyang means the sun; the yang crow within the sun is the Jing of the sun.

Swallowing the crow liver (wugan) means ingesting the solar essence of the east; and taking the hare marrow (tusui) means eating the moonlight of the west. When essence and radiance are taken together, the great medicine is then accomplished. Therefore it says: swallow the crow liver and take the hare marrow, and all the dusty old belly and intestines are completely replaced.

Brief Glossary of Proper Terms (already described where first appearing; listed here as an index): Outer cauldron/lead cauldron, Kun realm, dragon mercury, crow liver (solar essence), hare marrow (moonlight), Golden Bridge, Magpie Bridge, and Qujiang—all are Neidan terms referring to inner scenes such as the union of Shen and Qi, warm nourishment, and the manifestation of light; they are not anatomical organs or literal geographical references.

Vernacular Interpretation

Short Lines

Affection and love, fame and profit—by what right do they disturb my pure, quiet mind? On second thought, looking back, all day busying to and fro is in fact empty. Alas.

Again (Liu speaks of “applying effort at the furnace”; Li speaks of “the work of warming and nourishing”)

Rootless Tree, its flower is fresh; symbolic fire cooks mercury and lead together. On the Rootless Tree—a metaphor for the human body, which has no fixed root or capacity yet can still bloom—the flower is vivid; one must use symbolic fire (the symbolic “fire phase” and yang Qi in internal cultivation) to cook mercury and lead (Neidan terms often denoting the two functions of mind-nature, numinous knowing and true knowing) together.

When approaching the furnace, scenes appear before one; whether one can gather the medicine depends entirely on the Dharma boat that carries one across. At the moment of “approaching the furnace”—beginning transformation and applying effort—when the scene appears, whether you can gather and refine it depends entirely on whether you can steady the “Dharma boat” (the metaphor for body-mind and the boat of nature and life) and practice according to the method.

A craftsman of high skill holds the rudder firm; let the flood waves churn at the sea bottom. Be like a skilled boatman: with firm craft, grip the rudder tightly; let the waves at the bottom of the sea surge, and do not be thrown into confusion.

Pass the Three Passes, penetrate Niwan; soon the nine orifices of the whole body are opened through. Working thus, one passes the Three Passes (in Neidan, the three barriers of Jing transforming into Qi, Qi into Shen, and Shen returning to emptiness—not the outer route of Weilü and Jiaji), penetrates Niwan (the upper Dantian, the inner scene at the crown), and the blockages and Yin turbidity of the body’s nine orifices gradually dissolve.

Liu’s Commentary

The treasure of true love: when dust and defilement have fully receded, it is utterly clear and pure—how could the flower not be fresh? Yet the flower’s freshness depends entirely on the work of symbolic fire cooking lead and mercury together.

True Spirit is the substance of true knowing and numinous knowing; true knowing and numinous knowing are two functions of True Spirit. When True Spirit divides, it becomes true knowing and numinous knowing; when they unite, it is True Spirit. To cook the lead of true knowing and the mercury of numinous knowing is to cook True Spirit. Cooking means using true knowing to regulate numinous knowing and using numinous knowing to comply with true knowing, causing true knowing and numinous knowing to congeal and re-form into the treasure of True Spirit. At that point the flower’s freshness is beyond words.

Yet although True Spirit is easy to congeal, the fire phase is most difficult. Master Ziyang (Zhang Boduan) said: Even if you recognize cinnabar and black lead, if you do not know the fire phase, it is still idle. For the most part it all depends on the power of cultivation; the slightest hair’s-breadth error and the elixir will not form. In the Way of the Golden Elixir, gathering the medicine has its time, refining the medicine has its method; if you do not know the time or the method, even if the great medicine is right before your eyes, it does not belong to you.

Therefore, when applying effort at the furnace, within the indistinct there is an image; within the obscure there is Jing (essence). A point of True Spirit’s light emerges from emptiness—seemingly present, seemingly absent, neither form nor emptiness—and the scene appears before one. This is the moment the great medicine arises. At this time the Three Corpses (the “corpse spirits” residing in the body, symbolizing miscellaneous thoughts, greed, desire, and so on), the Six Thieves (disturbances induced by the six consciousnesses of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the five aggregates, the seven emotions, and all kinds of illusory scenes will also appear. One must steadily pilot the Dharma boat and firmly grasp the rudder and oars; forgetting emotion in the face of scenes, let the sea bottom churn waves—remain unmoved and unshaken. Practicing thus, gradually gathering and gradually refining, supporting Yang and restraining Yin, the longer one persists the stronger it becomes. When the work is complete, naturally Jing transforms into Qi, Qi into Shen (spirit), and Shen into emptiness. Having passed these Three Passes, wind arises in Niwan, the Dharma-form manifests, and the Yin Qi of the body’s nine orifices will also be entirely dissolved.

The Three Passes here are not the Weilü, Jiaji, and the like spoken of by practitioners, but the three barriers of refining Jing, refining Qi, and refining Shen.

The Three Passes of Refining Shen

Refining Shen (lian shen) must pass through three passes (sanguan): the initial pass is to refine Jing (essence) into Qi (vital energy); the middle pass is to refine Qi into Shen (spirit); the upper pass is to refine Shen into Emptiness (xu).

After passing these three passes, Shen merges with the Great Void (Taixu), and one may emerge and enter freely without obstruction. This is called penetrating Niwan—because the Niwan Palace is the place where Shen is stored.

Only then are the nine apertures (jiuqiao) of the whole body manifested in the illusory body (huanshen), the ordinary mortal flesh body. After passing the three passes and ascending to Niwan, the Dharma body (fashen) is accomplished. Within the illusory body, the Yin Qi of the hundred vessels (baimai) and nine apertures all transforms into Yang Qi, and every aperture becomes luminous. Even the one million four thousand fine hairs on the body will transform into Dharma-protecting deities (hufa shen).

Students must not damage the true meaning by clinging to the literal words.

Li’s Explanation (An Evaluation of Wuyuan’s Statement)

This chapter is explained from the standpoint of warm nurturing (wenyang). Wuyuan holds that passing the three passes, penetrating Niwan, and threading through the nine apertures are not the passes and apertures such as the Weilu and Jiaji spoken of by practitioners of the work, but rather that after the three refinements, Shen unites with Emptiness and may enter and exit without obstruction, so that the nine apertures of the illusory body become luminous one by one. This formulation can stand.

However, if the preceding lines are not explained from the stage of warm nurturing, then entering the chamber, returning the elixir, warm nurturing, and delivery of the embryo are conflated, and this seems not to be the immortal master’s original intention in giving stage-by-stage instructions. Now, explaining it only from warm nurturing makes the meaning relatively clear.

When the work of warm nurturing is deep, there are signs of daily renewal and monthly flourishing. Talisman fire (fuhuo): when Zhun and Meng take charge of the work, in the morning one advances Yang fire, and in the evening one withdraws the Yin tally.

The Master said that when Yang is born, advancing fire should be at the Zi hour; but when he speaks of morning, it is already the Yin hour—not at Zi but at Yin, because fire is born at Yin and Yang Qi is flourishing, so at this time one advances fire.

At the Wu hour Yin is born, and withdrawing the tally should be at the Wu hour; but when he speaks of evening, it is already the Xu hour—not at Wu but at Xu, because the fire storehouse is at Xu and Yin Qi governs storage, so at this time one withdraws the tally. Withdrawing the tally is to add mercury; advancing fire is to extract lead. Using lead to control mercury and mercury to contain lead, lead decreases daily and mercury increases daily. Therefore it is said that tally and fire mutually refine, and mercury and lead are together in the furnace.

Here “approaching the furnace” is said from the perspective of the outer furnace, not the time of entering the chamber and approaching the furnace. To enter the chamber and refine lead, one must use a ding vessel; for warm nurturing, one uses the furnace and not the ding.

The furnace has an outer furnace and an inner furnace. Ziyang said: “Within there is natural true fire; in the furnace it blazes constantly red”—this is the inner furnace. He also said: “In the outer furnace, increasing and decreasing require diligent effort; nothing is more wondrous than the true seed”—this is the outer furnace.

At the moment of approaching the furnace, a beautiful scene appears before one; this is not the appearance of precious light, nor is it the scene of entering the chamber.

This passage elucidates the essential principles of Neidan (internal alchemy) practice. It begins by describing the various visionary phenomena that may arise during cultivation, emphasizing the need to master the "civil and martial fire times" (wenwu huohou) — employing gentle, sustained mental focus (wenhuo) for the internal furnace (inner practice), while applying vigorous cultivation states (wuhuo) for the external furnace (physical coordination). Like slowly simmering medicinal herbs, one must gradually gather primordial Qi without interruption during the nurturing phase. The entire process resembles steering a dharma boat (metaphor for cultivation methods) through stormy waves, requiring the artisan (practitioner) to stabilize their Shen (spirit) undisturbed by distractions.

The text later cites Zhang Sanfeng's alchemical verses "The Rootless Tree" to explain the core concept of "true lead" (zhenqian). This true lead, symbolizing innate primordial Jing (essence), represents the foundation of cultivation — akin to the most refined essence within a flower. It bears multiple names: gold within water, lead from the water realm, or moonlight's splendor, all fundamentally referring to the body's innate True One Qi (zhenyi zhi qi), the most primordial energy. This energy constitutes the root of Yin-Yang, and practitioners must recognize and retrieve it within themselves. Through the "talismanic fire" (fuhuo, the harmonization of intention and breath), this essence undergoes refinement to achieve the unity of Jing, Qi, and Shen.

The mention of "woman transforming into man" does not denote physiological change, but rather describes how female practitioners can transmute pure Yin constitution into pure Yang states through cultivation. Similarly, "elder reverting to child" signifies not literal rejuvenation, but the replenishment of depleted primordial Qi through practice. To subdue the White Tiger (metal Qi of the lungs), practitioners must first tame the Azure Dragon (wood Qi of the liver) — these complementary energies must harmonize for effective application. When the external medicine (acquired vital essence) flows unimpeded, the internal medicine (innate primordial Qi) will naturally circulate freely.

Vernacular Interpretation of The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng

This passage discusses the principles of “refining the self” (lianji) and “the union of feeling and nature” in Neidan (internal alchemy) cultivation. Its general meaning is as follows.

The boy and girl turn into men; the old turn into children refers to the path of recognizing and taking up true lead (zhen qian) and true knowing (zhen zhi)—in Neidan, the prenatal Jing (essence) and prenatal consciousness—and causing them to return. But first one must be able to refine the self (lianji), refining and thoroughly transforming the postnatal temperament and habitual tendencies. If refining the self is not mature, true knowing will not come; even if it comes, it cannot be retained. Therefore it is said: If you wish to lead the White Tiger in the western garden, you must first subdue the Azure Dragon at the eastern house.

The White Tiger belongs to the west and to metal, and symbolizes true feeling; the Azure Dragon belongs to the east and to wood, and symbolizes true nature. True feeling and true nature are originally one family, and there is no need to forcibly “lead” or “subdue” them. It is only because they have entered the postnatal that the true is mixed with the false: true feeling becomes false feeling, and within kindness there is killing, like a tiger leaving its den and rushing west, harming people and not returning to itself, but instead lodging in another household.

Once true feeling has become false feeling, true nature also becomes dim and obscured, and then transforms into false nature; when false nature takes charge, true nature abdicates, and feeling and nature are not in harmony, just as the dragon is in the east and the tiger in the west, the two not seeing each other. If one wishes to restore the true, one must first remove the false; if one wishes to lead feeling, one must first regulate nature.

Regulating nature is refining the self: what is refined is the temperamental nature—the postnatal acquired disposition and temper. When the temperamental nature is completely transformed, true nature naturally appears; when true nature appears, it is unmoving and unshaken, and true feeling also reveals itself; when true feeling is revealed, false feeling does not arise, and one can lead the White Tiger back to pair with the Azure Dragon, so that feeling and nature love each other.

The White Tiger is true lead; with the Azure Dragon it comes from the same source and is merely differently named: because its true knowing is firm, strong, and unyielding, it is called the White Tiger; because its true knowing is soft within yet harbors firmness, it is called true lead. Leading the White Tiger is taking true lead; “leading” is not forceful suppression but leading without leading—when nature is settled, feeling naturally returns; like follows like, and Yin-Yang, inner and outer, have sympathetic resonance.

Nature governs the inner and belongs to Yin; it is the inner medicine. Feeling governs the outer and belongs to Yang; it is the outer medicine. Yin-Yang are originally one Qi (vital energy), and nature and feeling are originally of the same root. When the inner medicine is unobstructed, the outer medicine is unobstructed; inner and outer communicate, nature seeks feeling, feeling loves nature, feeling and nature harmonize, the true spirit congeals, and Huandan (returning elixir)—the accomplishment of Neidan—then has its signs.

Elder Chunyang said, “When nature abides, Qi returns of itself; when Qi returns, the elixir forms of itself”; Elder Ziyang said, “If one wishes to complete the nine turns of cultivation, one must first refine the self and hold the mind steady”—both are saying that the returning elixir first requires refining the self.

True lead is easy to obtain; refining the self is most difficult—the work of refining the self is indeed great.

Note: White Tiger, Azure Dragon, true lead, refining the self, returning elixir, and so on in the text are all Daoist Neidan terms. Through the metaphors of feeling (lead, tiger) and nature (wood, dragon), they explain: first refine the temperament, restore true nature, then bring feeling and nature into union; only then can the elixir form. The translation seeks to stay close to the original logic, without adding or subtracting doctrinal meaning.

Li Jienong, in speaking of “qing yao nong” (emotion must be intense), says: the lead here refers to the true lead (zhenqian) within the human body—in Neidan (internal alchemy) terminology, the symbol of prenatal true yang and the fundamental Jing (essence). Only when true lead appears does emotional desire—in cultivation, the “qing” and the driving force set in motion by Jing and Qi—become truly intense.

As long as one recognizes this “true” and takes it in hand, the Golden Elixir (the fundamental fruit achieved through internal cultivation) can be accomplished immediately. For true lead is the body of “the correct position within the yellow center”—that fundamental principle which dwells in the center and upholds correctness—and it is also the ancestor of the Great Elixir (the root of all elixir methods). Taking it to control mercury (symbolizing yin Jing, consciousness-Shen, and the like), and bringing about the meeting of the Three Families (the convergence of Jing, Qi, and Shen, or of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity / Jing, Qi, and Shen), one can then “form the infant” (an image of congealing the elixir and the spirit emerging into samadhi). Extending this, thousands of sons and ten thousand grandchildren, transmitted in an unbroken vein, all issue from this true lead; that is why true lead is called the ancestor.

Jing, Qi, and Shen are cooked and refined together in a single cauldron; this is the path after lead returns, mercury submits, and the Three Families meet. But “creating true lead” has another wondrous secret: first there must be the transformation of “woman turning into man, the old becoming young.”

The fire of the Li palace (the south, the position of heart-fire) is true Jing; the water of the Kan palace (the north, the position of kidney-water) is true Qi; between Kan and Li there is also wondrous earth functioning as true Shen, also called true intention (zhenyi). When Qi and Jing interact, Shen is the master; when gold is born at the bottom of water and mercury descends within fire, Shen again holds the balance and adjusts victory and defeat. With fierce cooking and extreme refining, fire steams and water boils, and gold also rises upward with the water—this is the power of cooking Jing, Qi, and Shen in one cauldron.

When it enters the Li palace, the Li fire is extinguished by Kan water and does not fly away or depart: Qi obtains Shen and abides, Jing obtains Shen and congeals, lead and mercury both “die” and return together to thick earth. The three surnames unite in the central palace and are refined into a single purple Golden Elixir—this again is the wonder of cooking Jing, Qi, and Shen in one cauldron.

At the beginning, the “son of the eastern house” has his body lodged in the west: the western Dui position is originally the youngest daughter, and the youngest daughter acts on behalf of the Kun mother; when the Zhen male appears within the woman’s cauldron, this is the woman turning into a man. This male is called “Lord Jiusan”; though very young in years, he is in fact the Dao-father, the Wood Lord (a Neidan metaphor of the Donghua Emperor and the like), who has cast himself into a child’s womb and been born—hence the Wood Lord changes his title to Young Lord, which is the old becoming young.

This Young Lord rides a white tiger and travels in the west, exceedingly brave and fierce. At that time a Daoist saw him and asked, “You tiger-riding boy—are you not transformed from the Wood Lord?” The boy knew that the human mind has a true awakening and did not dare conceal it; he answered, “Yes.” The Daoist then turned his head and laughed, saying: “Lead from the water region—just one flavor. Cui Gong’s words are true.”

Now, if one wishes to call the boy back, one must first capture his white tiger. The white tiger is the mount transformed from the boy’s accompanying primordial Qi; if you want to go to the west to capture the white tiger, you must… (the following text continues with the method of capturing the tiger).

This scripture elucidates the principles of Yin-Yang harmonization and the application of medicinal substances (referring to the essential Jing, Qi, and Shen required for cultivation) in Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) practice. It begins by interpreting the symbolism of the Azure Dragon and White Tiger: the Azure Dragon represents the Wood phase (associated with Yang), while the White Tiger embodies Metal essence (associated with Yin). When Wood and Metal interact, the fiery nature within Wood becomes activated, thereby propelling the movement of Metal essence; conversely, when Metal combines with Wood, the watery quality within Metal rises to temper the fiery nature. Though these four elements appear distinct, they share an underlying unity. Through specific cultivation methods (mysterious work, Xuangong), they can be fused into harmonious integration.

The scripture mentions the dynamic interplay between "external medicines" (such as lead, Qi, masculine symbols, the youth archetype, and the White Tiger) and "internal medicines" (such as essence, feminine symbols, the elder archetype, and the Azure Dragon). When external medicines flow unimpeded, internal medicines naturally follow suit, with Shen (spirit) residing between these inner and outer substances to regulate their interaction.

Subsequent verses from The Rootless Tree and their commentaries employ poetic metaphors to illustrate the precise timing and control of the refining process. The line "the rootless tree's blossoms at their tender peak" symbolizes the initial emergence of the body's true spirit (primordial nature), as delicate as the first appearance of stars or the initial swelling of tides. At this critical juncture, one must employ the "Dragon-Slaying Sword" (to discipline Qi's temperament) and "Tiger-Taming Cord" (to restrain distracting thoughts) to safeguard this nascent spiritual light. Through symbolic movements representing the celestial Northern Dipper (Tiangang and Doubiao), the energy of destruction is transformed into vitalizing force, ultimately refining the "true sun and moon" (the alchemical elixir of harmonized Yin-Yang). The commentary particularly emphasizes that when the true spirit first manifests, it remains highly vulnerable to contamination by acquired habits. Immediate application of "martial fire" (intense cultivation methods) becomes essential to protect this precious opportunity for spiritual refinement.

(Note: Terms like "Tiangang" and "Doubiao" refer to stars within the Big Dipper constellation, while "Kuigang" denotes specific stellar deities in Daoist cosmology, symbolizing pivotal mechanisms for energy transformation during alchemical practice.)

Vernacular Interpretation of The Complete Works of Mr. Zhang Sanfeng

Main Text

The “knowing” of spiritual nature is the female (Yin) hidden within the male (Yang), and is called True Yin (zhenyin). The moon is a symbol of one point of Yang within Yin, figuratively expressing this “true knowing” wrapped in emotional consciousness; “true knowing” is also one point of white (Yang) within black (Yin), called True Yang (zhenyang). Repeatedly refining the two “great medicines,” True Yin and True Yang, combining them into one Qi, condensing them into an elixir pill, and swallowing it can extend life and postpone death—this is the highest level of wondrous Dao, not the sort of thing among the three thousand six hundred side doors that involves “fixating on emptiness and clinging to signs.”

After the Great Dao is accomplished, one can walk on clouds and roam carefree; all sinful defilement and mundane dust can be wiped away in one stroke. Those three thousand six hundred side doors all fuss over the stinking skin bag—the physical body—and only attract sinful defilement and mundane dust. How could they dissolve sinful defilement and mundane dust?

Li’s Explanation (commentary and subcommentary)

“Delicate and tenderly fresh” refers to the time of the first sprouting of one Yang—when Yin qi is about to be exhausted and Yang qi has just arisen. Heaven is above and Earth below; when Yang qi first arises, between the eyebrows there seem to be specks of starlight—the ancients called this “Heaven responds with stars”; in the abdomen there is vast qi like a tide—the ancients called this “Earth responds with tide.” The signs of the medicine’s arising are inherently like this and are not false.

Wuyuan uses the sky’s starlight and the earth’s moisture to analogize the first arising of Yang qi as “not large, not moist”; this is also one way of putting it. Others cite the Ruyao jing (Mirror for Entering Medicine) and say: “Heaven responds with stars” refers to the upper Magpie Bridge (Queqiao), the passage between the upper Dantian and the brain; “Earth responds with tide” refers to the lower Magpie Bridge. Both have profound principles. But I have heard it said: responding to stars and responding to tide mean responding to the moon and responding to time—the stars are understood through the moon, the tide through time. This is precisely the crucial fire phases (huohou) of the Great Return Elixir (Da Huandan). I excerpt a few lines from the Cantong qi as verification:

The Cantong qi says: “Gold is reckoned as fifteen; the number of water is likewise so. Approaching the furnace, one fixes the zhu and liang; five parts of water are in excess. The two are taken as true; the weight of gold is as at the very beginning. The third therefore does not enter; fire two accompanies it.” This is the true meaning of responding to stars and responding to tide. Gold must be fifteen liang, taking the sense that gold essence corresponds to the number of the moon and is at full vigor; only after 5,408 days is the qi of heavenly truth complete—fifteen liang of gold can generate fifteen parts of water, which is exactly the fifteen days of the first half of the month. The number of water corresponding to the number of gold is the number of tides corresponding to the number of stars. If gold and water are insufficient, true water is not generated; this is called Heaven not responding to the stars and Earth not responding to the tide. How then can one fix the zhu and liang?

Explanation (for comparison with concepts in the original)

This passage elucidates the principles of timing and Yin-Yang harmonization in Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) practice concerning "stellar and tidal resonance."

The fifteenth day of the waxing moon (full moon) represents the optimal timing. From the new moon to full moon, practitioners measure time in units of one-and-a-half days. Three days later (two such units), when the moon appears in the western Geng position, true "dual division" occurs—when celestial phenomena resonate with terrestrial Qi (vital energy), and starlight aligns with tidal flows. By the fifth day it becomes "triple division," and by the eighth day "quintuple division"—these phases no longer meet cultivation requirements.

Authentic "stellar and tidal resonance" requires harmonizing the dual-divided kidney water (Kan water) with dual-divided heart fire (Li fire). When metal Qi first emerges and water reaches utmost clarity (the "White Tiger's initial passage," referring to kidney Jing [essence]), the water contains Qi without substance. Simultaneously, the heart fire (dragon) must also be in dual-division state—their meeting forges the elixir foundation. Only at full moon when metal Jing flourishes and water tides arise does the profound mystery of "true lead descending at the double-seven period" manifest.

Regarding fire regulation: divide each two-hour period into three fu and six hou, using only one fu and two hou of fire intensity to balance dragon (heart fire) and tiger (kidney water) energies. Here, the wisdom sword tames the heart-mind ("dragon-slaying sword" symbolizes great wisdom), while the reins control passions, circulating the celestial cycle back to the Dantian (energy center). Through sun-moon conjunction and water-fire alchemical refinement, the true path is accomplished.

Master Zhang Sanfeng further explains: Qian heaven belongs to Yang, with stars as celestial fire essence (Yin within Yang); Kun earth belongs to Yin, with tides as terrestrial water Qi (Yang within Yin). Fire essence acts as father, water Qi as mother—their cosmic intercourse produces Li fire and Kan water. "Stellar and tidal resonance" reveals the mystery of heaven-human correspondence, as the Cantongqi states: "Without moonlight's illumination, how could the dew-collecting vessel produce water?"

Practitioners must understand: celestial stars correspond to the heart's true fire (dragon, symbolizing original Shen [spirit])—unsubdued, it scatters consciousness; earthly tides correspond to kidney's true lead (tiger, symbolizing original Jing)—untamed, it floods with desires. One must employ wisdom to subdue the dragon and steadfastness to tame the tiger, practicing dual cultivation of nature and life (Xingming Shuangxiu)—this constitutes the golden elixir's essential formula.

Part One: Essentials of Cultivation

When the tide submerges and the waters overflow, one must use the “cord that binds the tiger” to subdue it. The cord is like great wisdom; great wisdom appears foolish, and only when wisdom is dark and hidden can the wondrous mind be born. Nothing but the wondrous mind can turn Tiangang or move the Dipper handle. Tiangang and the Northern Dipper: Tiangang governs generation and arising, and the key lies in the Dipper handle; wherever the handle points, there is generative Qi. If in the human body one can use the wondrous mind to turn the handle of Tiangang, then the mechanism of killing can be converted into the mechanism of life. When the Dipper handle revolves, the Golden Elixir enters within; the wondrous mind returns me to the wondrous mind—the true body that is neither born nor extinguished, united in De with Heaven and Earth, united in brightness with the sun and moon; these are the true sun and moon within the human body. To seek the wondrous mind, one must return from the post-heaven to the pre-heaven: first let the outer sun and moon interchange light externally, understand the fire timing and know the time tallies, and only then can it be obtained. When return has been achieved, one must again use the inner sun and moon to interchange light internally, so that day and night are ever bright, harmonized and nurtured; then one refines it into a single furnace of true sun and moon. This is the wondrous truth of the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir and the profound mystery of seven returns and nine reversions. Sweep away all three thousand six hundred side paths, and one may tread the clouds, roam at ease, and with one stroke dissolve karmic defilement and worldly dust. If one does not understand this Great Dao, there will never be a day of liberation; karmic defilement and worldly dust will increase daily—how can one not awaken?

Part Two: Lyric of the Rootless Tree

(Liu speaks of reversely using the Qi mechanism; Li speaks of skillfully using the stealing mechanism.)

Rootless tree, its flower is at its height; sea waves surge to the sky, the moon plays with the tide. The Milky Way road penetrates the nine heavens; the raft’s shadow crosses the void and moors at the Dipper’s tip. Touching the Weaving Maiden’s loom-support stone, treading all over the Cowherd’s magpie bridge. Entering the immortal ranks, bold in spirit, I steal the Queen Mother of the West’s peach from the Jade Pool.

(Wuyuan’s note: in the original, “moored” is “encroach,” and “steal” is “pilfer.”)

Part Three: Liu’s Commentary

The pre-heaven Great Dao encompasses Heaven and Earth, moves the sun and moon, and surpasses the ten thousand things. The flower opens very high; its height is like the moon in the sky, whose light shoots to the bottom of the sea. The sea waves surge to the sky, yet water cannot drown the moon’s light; instead, the moon can play with the water’s tide. It is also like a person in the sea of suffering and in the midst of circumstances: circumstances cannot injure one’s true nature, but instead one borrows circumstances to refine the true. Again, the Milky Way road is far and penetrates straight through the nine heavens; people cannot easily cross it. Yet when there is an immortal raft across the void, turning at the Dipper’s tip, then one can cross. In former times, Zhang Qian rode an immortal raft across the Milky Way and…

This passage elucidates the foundational principles of the Daoist Golden Elixir (Jindan) cultivation practice. The celestial phenomenon of the Cowherd (Yang) and Weaver Girl (Yin) meeting is employed as a metaphor for the union of Yin-Yang forces—their meeting place at the Magpie Bridge symbolizes the convergence point of these complementary energies. Practicing the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir resembles crossing the Milky Way on an immortal raft, where the crucial technique lies in mastering the movement patterns of the seventh star of the Big Dipper, Yaoguang (also called Tiangang Star). The direction pointed by Tiangang brims with vital energy, while its resting position manifests ominous influences.

The true secret of cultivation reveals itself thus: amidst seemingly turbulent circumstances (symbolized by raging storms), maintain unwavering inner stillness while reversing the flow of Qi (vital energy). Like the moon (symbolizing the Golden Elixir) shining clearly through tumultuous waves, this practice isn't about rigid stillness, but rather seizing the dynamic moment when Yin and Yang intersect. The reference to "stealing the Queen Mother's immortality peaches" allegorizes extracting the primordial Yang (represented by the Zhen trigram) from the Western Kun position (symbolizing mature Yin) and returning it to the Eastern position (representing the practitioner), thereby completing the coagulation of the Golden Elixir.

Master Ziyang (Zhang Boduan, the renowned Northern Song dynasty Daoist) described this state as "the stormy waves produce the Mysterious Pearl"—precisely capturing this cultivation realm where true meaning emerges amidst turbulence. When practitioners maintain steadfast awareness within these metaphorical "stormy seas," they can reverse the current to penetrate the highest heavens, achieving transcendent transformation. This fundamentally differs from meditation methods that merely seek quiescence through static sitting.

It is as if Zhang Qian rides a wooden raft, its shadow stretching across the horizon of heaven; the Qi mechanism here becomes unobstructed all the way through. Yet for the river raft to go forward, there must first be a guide, so that the watercourses do not overflow and stray from the riverbed; therefore the tip of the Dipper’s handle is the place to moor and fasten.

The word bo (“to moor”) is used most ingeniously: in the human world, to moor a boat is to stop for the night and rest; the immortal traveler’s river raft, however, takes the Dipper’s handle-tip as its support, proceeding upright and pointing straight ahead, its momentum allowing no mooring. What is called “mooring at the Dipper’s handle-tip” is precisely not being able to moor and having no place to moor, and yet mooring right there on the handle-tip—revolving with the Dipper, there is stopping within movement, life encountered within killing, like a hero who is straightforward and direct, whose actions are crisp and sharp. Not mooring is the great culmination, the time of the great assembly; not mooring is better than mooring, and mooring is again like not mooring—this is the meaning of “mooring at the Dipper’s handle-tip.”

The Weaving Girl and the Ox Boy are the two stars of Yin and Yang in heaven, meeting each year on the seventh night of the seventh month. The Weaving Girl belongs to Yin, and the loom stone can be compared to mercury; the Ox Boy belongs to Yang, and the magpie bridge is where the Ox Boy and the Girl meet, which is also the place where gold and mercury join. The preceding passage spoke of the Dipper’s handle-tip; here it speaks of the Girl and the Ox, using the Dipper as the medium between the Girl and the Ox Boy. If the Ox Boy is to meet the Weaving Girl, without the Dipper it cannot be brought to fulfillment; when the Dipper turns, the Ox Boy crosses the river, and gold and mercury unite. Patriarch Lü says, “In the work of advancing the fire, pay attention to Niu, Dou, and Wei”; the Niwan school also says the wonder lies in Wei, Ji, and Dou—the Girl and the Ox share this meaning. Touching the loom stone is using mercury to welcome lead; treading all over the magpie bridge, lead and mercury travel together along the same road. From this, heavenly affinity has its share, aspiration and spirit can be extended, and one may meet the immortal officials with boldness of courage. Why is this? Because one has stolen the peach of the Queen Mother of the Jade Pool.

Wuyuan takes the Jade Pool to be in the west, the Queen Mother to be the Kun Mother, and the peach to be the image of Zhen gestating within Kun; the elixir is in the west, and one secretly takes it back east to complete the returning elixir—his commentary has already made this clear. But the word qie (“to steal secretly”) is not as ready-made as dao (“to rob”): the eastern robbery of the peach is one; the Kan trigram being a robber is two. The eastern robbery of the peach is exactly going west to take gold; the Kan trigram being a robber is exactly seeking lead at the bottom of the water—the meaning of dao is marvelous.

Nineteen, Again (Liu says that Yin and Yang wrestle and bind; Li says that transformation produces the Mysterious Pearl)

“The flower of the Rootless Tree is just opening; dragon and tiger ascend the altar and fight a battle; lead is cast in, mercury is matched, Yin and Yang are paired; the ritual image, the Mysterious Pearl, is without…” (This line appears to be a section title or a quoted verse; together with the preceding discussion of the Dipper’s handle-tip, the Girl and the Ox, and the theft of the peach, it belongs to the same system of Neidan metaphors.)

The General Meaning of the Scripture (Verse Summary)

The manifested image of the Xuanzhu (Mysterious Pearl) is beyond price. It is the true seed of one’s home garden: it restores youth, prolongs life, and enables one to ascend to the heaven of supreme bliss, escaping the suffering of reincarnation and the summons before Yama (lord of the underworld).

Liu’s Commentary (Plain Exposition)

The Golden Elixir (Jindan) is the “image” that appears when Yin-Yang Qi mutually excite each other—just as flower stamens must be paired to be useful. Yin-Yang is one dragon and one tiger, one lead and one mercury. The dragon is true nature, spiritual awareness, and Yuanshen (original spirit), belonging to the Yin side. The tiger is true feeling, true knowledge, and Yuanjing (original essence), belonging to the Yang side. The dragon-tiger battle means that nature and emotion gather and fuse into one; lead cast into mercury means that essence and spirit congeal and merge into each other. When nature and emotion gather and essence and spirit congeal, Yin and Yang match and the one Qi blends. The true spirit becomes perfectly luminous, the Dharma-body takes form—round and radiant, glowing brightly—like a grain of Xuanzhu, a priceless treasure. This treasure is not something external; it is the true seed of one’s home garden. It was originally present, but was lost when handed over to the postnatal. Now, with Yin-Yang harmonized, what was lost becomes present again and what had departed returns. Planted in the home garden, the root is established and the Dao grows, ceaselessly generating. Then one can restore youth, extend life without limit, ascend to the heaven of supreme bliss, and escape the suffering of reincarnation.

Li’s Explanation (Plain Exposition)

“Pair” refers to the Qi of the two strings, one Yin and one Yang. When the Qi of the two strings joins, dragon and tiger ascend the altar and swallow each other; “battle” here means swallowing and devouring. After one great battle, dragon and tiger are equalized: when the tiger battles the dragon, lead is cast into mercury; when the dragon battles the tiger, Yin is matched with Yang. When Yang lead and Yin mercury unite, the priceless treasure is born.

The Wuzhen (Awakening to Reality) says: “The tiger leaps and the dragon soars; wind and waves are rough; in the central true position the Xuanzhu is produced.” The Xuanzhu is the one Qi of the prenatal, the fundamental source of immortals and buddhas, the true seed of our house—not an external thing. It has long been obscured by the postnatal and does not manifest. Now, in the dragon-tiger altar, Yin mercury and Yang lead join as true husband and wife; from within the postnatal Kan and Li (Water and Fire), they return out to the prenatal. Hence it is said, “The manifested image of the Xuanzhu is beyond price.” Obtaining it, one restores youth, increases longevity, ascends to heaven and supreme bliss, and avoids reincarnation and meeting Yama. This speaks of the method by which dragon and tiger, Yin and Yang, battle and match each other; the details of fire timing (huohou) should be studied in the commentary to the chapter “When the Flower Is Just Tender.”

Summary

The whole passage uses dragon-tiger, lead-mercury, and Xuanzhu to discuss internal cultivation: true nature and emotion (dragon) conjoin with essence and feeling (tiger); essence and spirit congeal; the “seed” originally present in the home garden appears. Ultimately this is about prolonging life and transcending reincarnation. Liu’s and Li’s commentaries—one leaning toward the doctrinal thread, the other toward altar battle-pairing and the warming-nourishing of the returning elixir (huandan)—can be read in comparison.

Vernacular Interpretation

The flower of the Rootless Tree is truly wondrous; cultivate it within the moon for but a brief moment. With cloud-grasping hands and a cloud-stepping ladder, gather the first branch of the prenatal (xiantian). Drinking wine and wearing flowers, Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy) are refreshed; the immortal elder laughs heartily, drunk like mud. Entrust it to the heart’s knowing; carefully guard and maintain it, fearing only that the fire timing (huohou) in the furnace may fly away.

Liu’s Commentary: The prenatal true spirit, though nonexistent, can become existent; though deficient, can become complete—the flower is exceedingly wondrous. Yet the very reason for its wonder is that the prenatal is concealed by the postnatal (houtian), leaving it utterly without trace. If one wishes to cultivate it, within a mere moment one can return to spring. The marvel of returning to spring lies in gathering the flower of the first branch of the prenatal. The first branch is the ancestral Qi that generates beings; it is the spiritual root that gives birth to heaven, earth, and humanity. It does not fall into form or image, nor into empty annihilation; contained, it is true emptiness; issued, it is wondrous existence. Utterly centered and upright, utterly refined and pure, indistinct and obscure, like dew, like lightning, it cannot be sought with a deliberate mind, nor guarded with no-mind. Seeking it with a deliberate mind clings to appearance; guarding it with no-mind clings to emptiness. It lies in nature settled and emotion forgotten, turning the light around and reflecting inward, in utmost emptiness and profound stillness: not gathering yet gathering, not taking yet taking. Naturally the true one Qi of the prenatal comes forth from the void; it congeals into a millet-grain pearl. Inside and outside are luminous, as if wearing an immortal flower; Shen and Qi are refreshed and unobstructed, as if drinking immortal wine. Wearing flowers and drinking wine, joy is within; without knowing, without recognizing, following the norm of the Emperor, one seems to enter the land of intoxication. At this moment, the Returned Elixir (Huandan) is already formed, and one again sees the face born of one’s mother. There is no need for adding or subtracting at the external furnace; urgently one must warm and nurture at the internal furnace. The divine brightness silently operates; carefully guard and maintain, with a single intention undistracted, ever guarding against error in the fire timing. “The heart’s knowing” does not mean a knowing person outside the heart; it is the heart that knows within itself. Whether the fire timing should be slow or urgent, the heart knows it of itself; when the heart knows without being obscured, the heart’s fire timing naturally will not err, and the Golden Elixir (Jindan) will mature.

Li’s Explanation: The wondrous is what makes people unable to fathom it. Not only can people not fathom it; even Yin-Yang cannot fathom it. If it could be fathomed, then Yin-Yang would not converge but would be mixed into the dark obscurity—how then could one cultivate the prenatal? “Cultivating within the moon”: on the third day it emerges at Geng; the medicinal materials are new and tender, and one cultivates right within this moon of the Geng direction. The golden flower must be matched with two parts fire and two parts water; after a brief period of undifferentiated chaos, there is then the first branch of the prenatal. Within the cauldron is born this...

In a moment, in an instant, the first branch of the prenatal (xiantian) indeed appears; when the wondrous mind takes charge, it immediately reverses Tiangang and wheels back through the Cloudy River—this is “the hand that seizes the clouds and the ladder that treads the clouds,” gathering the first branch of the prenatal. What is called drinking wine is drinking this first immortal wine, the white fluid transformed from the prenatal; what is called wearing a flower is wearing this first immortal flower, the yang spring turned back by the prenatal. The flower is wine, and wine is the flower; drinking it and wearing it, spirit and Qi are harmonious and suffused, utterly as if drunk. Hence it is said: “Drinking wine and wearing flowers, spirit and Qi are refreshed; it makes the immortal elder laugh to death, drunk like mud.” “One who knows in the heart” refers to the same mind, that is, one’s own wondrous mind; “carefully guard and maintain” means using the wondrous mind to observe the fire timing. Guarding and maintaining has several essentials: the furnace fire has two stages—when the fire timing is not yet sufficient, one guards it by the drawing and adding of Zhun and Meng, and must use addition and subtraction at the outer furnace; when the fire timing is already sufficient, one guards it by harboring the light day and night, and does not use addition and subtraction at the outer furnace. When the count of ten months is complete and nine years have passed, the Zhenren emerges through the crown gate. Otherwise: if the outer furnace should not be removed but is hastily removed, the fire timing will be insufficient and the elixir will not be great; if the outer furnace should be removed but is not, the fire timing will be excessive and the elixir will surely be harmed; if the inner furnace should not be removed but is hastily removed, the fire timing will not be pure and the elixir will not be numinous; if the inner furnace should be removed but is not, the fire timing will become dull-witted and the elixir will not emerge—all these are discrepancies in furnace fire and fire timing. What is hoped for is that the one who knows in the heart will guard and maintain it with precision and care, so that no discrepancy occurs. “Fei” here means discrepancy. This can be read together with the previous chapter, “The Flower Is Just Flying.”

Another verse (Liu speaks of harmonizing Yin-Yang; Li speaks of obtaining the medicine and returning the elixir):

The rootless tree, its flower just yellow, is produced in the central land of Wu and Ji; the girl of the eastern house and the youth of the western cottage are matched as husband and wife and enter the bridal chamber; the Yellow Dame urges them to drink tihu wine, and every day they are steamed and intoxicated in a bout—this immortal formula is named Return-Soul Syrup; raising the dead and bringing them back to life, it is the King of Medicines.

(The Wuyuan annotated edition reads “the color is correct.”)

Liu’s commentary: Yellow is the proper color of the central Wu and Ji. Wu is yang earth and governs movement; Ji is yin earth and governs stillness. Wu and Ji, dwelling in the center and joining together, constitute true sincerity (zhenxin), also called true intention (zhenyi). When the flower’s color is just yellow, the true spirit enters the central palace.

This passage explains the core principle of "harmony between nature and emotion" in Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) practice. The "Eastern maiden" (representing the original spirit [Shen] through Wood phase) and "Western lad" (representing the original essence [Jing] through Metal phase) are like a married couple requiring the mediation of the "Yellow Matron" (true intention). The "cream of wine" mentioned here isn't ordinary liquor, but rather the primordial Qi (vital energy) generated through Yin-Yang interaction, traditionally described with poetic terms like "jade nectar" or "divine ambrosia" to signify this vital life force.

The key to cultivation lies in "true faith" (a state of sincere, undistracted concentration). This "true faith" carries different names according to context: called the "central axis" from the perspective of Yin-Yang harmony, "Wu-Ji" when referring to its cyclical movement, "Yellow Matron" when emphasizing mediation, "true faith" in dynamic states, and "true intention" in stillness. Fundamentally, these all describe the same thing—the practitioner's pure, undivided focus.

The cultivation process unfolds in stages: first mobilizing original essence [Jing] through original spirit [Shen], then nourishing the spirit with essence, followed by their complete fusion, ultimately forming the "true spiritual treasure." Throughout this process, "true faith" plays the pivotal role. When nature and emotion achieve genuine harmony, true faith naturally arises; when true faith manifests, nature and emotion remain inseparable, allowing the true spirit to return to central equilibrium. These three elements exist in mutual dependence as both cause and effect.

As Li's commentary notes, this "proper hue" is called "right enlightenment" in Buddhism and "proper Qi" in Confucianism. All point to the same cultivation essence—through maintaining central equilibrium and harmonizing Yin-Yang, one achieves the dual cultivation of nature and life (Xingming Shuangxiu). Like daily drinking of this ambrosial wine, practitioners in this ecstatic state of Dao-realization naturally attain miraculous effects—rejuvenation and even revival from death.

A Vernacular Interpretation of The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng

The “yellow flower” spoken of in the immortal scriptures is in fact the “Yellow Sprout” (huangya). The Yellow Sprout is of two kinds: one is the new medicine of the “third day” of the lunar month, and the other is the great medicine of the “fifteenth day.”

The Wuzhen pian says, “Where the Yellow Sprout is born, Kan and Li unite.” This is the first kind—the new medicine of the third day. At the place where the Yellow Sprout first arises, one must cause Kan and Li to unite, and only then can the second kind of Yellow Sprout be planted. The Wuzhen pian also says, “Plant the Yellow Sprout, and it gradually grows to maturity.” That is the second kind of Yellow Sprout, the great medicine of the fifteenth day.

The ability of the Yellow Sprout to grow to maturity is rooted in the union of Kan and Li. Kan and Li unite in the “central region of Wu and Ji” (the central Earth position, symbolizing the central palace). The center is where Jing and Qi gather and congeal; the region of Wu and Ji is where movement and stillness are harmonized. When they are harmonized and congealed, in an instant the Yellow Sprout is born from within; hence it is said to be “produced in the central region of Wu and Ji.”

This Yellow Sprout has many names. According to this chapter, it is the “Youth of the Western House” (Xishelang). The Youth of the Western House represents metal Qi, while the “Maiden of the Eastern House” (Dongjia nü) represents mercury essence (water essence). Gathering back the metal Qi and subduing the mercury essence is the path of the return of metal and mercury; it is also the husband and wife joining in harmony and entering the bridal chamber.

After entering the bridal chamber, there must also be the “Yellow Dame” (Huangpo) to keep watch. The Yellow Dame is the “knowing of the heart” mentioned in the previous chapter (self-awareness, right mindfulness). The husband and wife fear disharmony; if spirit and mind, intention and Qi, cannot enter central harmony, the elixir cannot be formed. Therefore the Yellow Dame attends them and urges them to drink the “tihu” (amrita). Tihu: externally, one relies on the Jing of warming and nourishing; internally, one ingests the Qi of central harmony. The Yellow Dame is the intimate confidante, so the firing times in the furnace naturally do not deviate. Morning and evening she constantly urges them to drink; every day at the You hour (5–7 p.m.) they are steamed, and getting drunk once is truly delightful.

This wine is not the wine of the human world; it is brewed by an immortal recipe and is called “Returning-Soul Syrup” (fanhunjiang). It can revive the dead and bring them back to life; small medicine and outer medicine cannot compare with it. It is the king among medicines.

This chapter discusses “returning the elixir in the fourth period” (sihou huandan) after “seeking lead in the second period” (erhou qiuqian). Seeking lead is an external matter: at the third-day moon, the names include exerting effort as it emerges at Geng, pairing water with fire, bringing the dragon to the tiger, yin meeting yang, Li intersecting Kan, nature joining emotion, casting mercury into lead, the woman marrying the man, and using the Post-Heaven to generate the Pre-Heaven. In short, it is uniting Jing with Qi and belongs to outer medicine; the work is external, and one uses “one tally and two periods” to establish the elixir foundation. Returning the elixir is an internal matter: at the full moon on the fifteenth, the names again include using fire to move mercury, casting lead into mercury, the man joining the woman, yang controlling yin, the hun (ethereal soul) controlling the po (corporeal soul), emotion joining nature, the sun joining the moon, Shen joining Jing, and the former generating the latter. In short, it is uniting Qi with Shen and belongs to inner medicine; the work is internal, and one uses “three tallies and four periods” to congeal the Golden Elixir.

This passage explains the principle of Yin-Yang harmonization in Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) practice, focusing on cultivation methods such as "the mutual nourishment of water and fire" and "the coupling of dragon and tiger."

The terms "celestial gui water" and "western tiger" are specialized Neidan terminology. "Celestial gui water" refers to the primordial Qi within kidney water, while "western tiger" represents the metal Qi of the lungs. Practitioners must harmonize kidney water (Yin) with heart fire (Yang), using Yin energy to temper Yang energy, much like water extinguishes fire.

"Lead and mercury" are also key Neidan terms—lead symbolizes true Yang Qi, while mercury represents true Yin essence. Through the method of "using lead to control mercury," practitioners guide postnatal essence (mercury) with primordial Qi (lead), allowing their fusion to form the "internal medicine"—the foundation for refining the Golden Elixir. This entire process follows the rhythm of "two talismans and four periods," performing specific cultivation steps at designated times.

The quoted verse from The Rootless Tree describes advanced stages of practice. The "lunar soul" (Yin) unites with the "solar spirit" (Yang), mirroring how the moon reflects sunlight. Practitioners must blend the body's Yin and Yang energies (represented by the "golden crow's marrow" for Yang and "jade rabbit's essence" for Yin) in the "yellow court" (middle Dantian), achieving the wondrous state of "a man bearing a fetus"—a metaphor for gestating the Golden Elixir within.

Liu Yiming's commentary clarifies that the human body is originally pure Yin; true Yang emerges only through Yin-Yang harmonization. Like the moon borrowing sunlight to shine, practitioners must unite "true knowing" (rational cognition) and "numinous knowing" (intuitive wisdom), just as solar and lunar spirits merge. The distinction between "crow's golden marrow" (Yin within Yang) and "rabbit's jade essence" (Yang within Yin) is crucial: the former marks initial Yin-Yang interaction, while the latter signifies complete fusion, representing different stages of cultivation.

A Vernacular Interpretation of The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng

When the two kinds of true medicine are refined together, they produce “yang within yang”; only then, by applying the firing process (huohou) of zi, wu, mao, and you, is the Golden Liquid Great Elixir brought to completion.

The zi, wu, mao, and you spoken of here are not the zi, wu, mao, and you that correspond to the clock in the heavens, but the zi, wu, mao, and you within the body. The appearance of Zhenzhi (true knowing) is zi: one must use a firm and vigorous advancing fire to urge true knowing out of the Xuan (the mysterious). The arrival of Lingzhi (numinous knowing) is wu: one must use a soft and gentle retreating talisman-fire to gather numinous knowing into the Pin (the yin, receptive, containing side). When true knowing advances to the central and correct position, this is mao: one should bathe in that central correctness—only bathe, without pushing forward excessively. When numinous knowing retreats to the central and correct position, this is you: likewise bathe in central correctness, without retreating excessively.

The timing for advancing and retreating talisman-fire and for bathing is an unchanging essential from antiquity. If one applies effort according to the clock times of zi, wu, mao, and you in the sky, one deviates far indeed. When talisman-fire is not off and bathing is timely, Yin-Yang respond to each other, neither biased nor leaning; once Yuanpin (the Primordial Receptive) is established, the Valley Spirit (Gushen) arises within it.

The Yellow Court (Huangting) is the central correct position, the aperture in which Yin-Yang unite; it is also called the Gate of Yuanpin. Only when primordial yang and the yin of the receptive unite as Yin-Yang does this aperture exist; if Yin-Yang are biased, it does not. With this aperture there is a “valley”; with a valley there is Shen (spirit); without the aperture there is no valley, and without the valley there is no Shen. The valley is the Yellow Court. “Yellow” refers to the color of the center; “court” refers to empty space—because it is empty within, it is called the Yellow Court. Being empty, it is numinous; being numinous, it is Shen; this is the Valley Spirit.

It is like two mountains flanking each other with a valley between them: when a person shouts toward the valley, the valley echoes back—that echo is a metaphor for the Valley Spirit. In the folk expression “cliff baby,” there is also a Shen at the place where Yin and Yang meet in the human body, and it is similar to this. But if one has not reached the state in which Yin-Yang unite, there is no “center,” no “valley,” and Shen cannot dwell there. Only when Yin-Yang truly unite is there this “center,” this “valley,” and Shen spontaneously arises. The saying that prenatal Qi comes from emptiness refers to this; the saying that true emptiness contains wondrous existence also refers to this. The saying “If you want the Valley Spirit to live long without dying, you must rely on Xuanpin to establish the foundation” also means: when Yin and Yang unite as one Qi, the Valley Spirit guards the Yellow Court.

To speak of guarding the Yellow Court is to guard the center; to speak of nourishing the Valley Spirit is to embrace the One. Guarding the center and embracing the One, when the ten months of practice are complete and there is a body beyond the body, one shares the longevity of heaven and earth.

And Enduring Long—Such true Dharma-forms have their work accomplished in the “void”; they are not forcibly fabricated from color-appearance or form-appearance. Those who place all their efforts in fiddling with the stinking skin bag (the physical body) and vainly imagine refining a sage embryo—how could they understand why the Valley Spirit (Gushen) is called the Valley Spirit?

Li’s Explanation: What is called “brightness” is the time when the Great Medicine is activated, the empty chamber generates white light, great radiance shines forth, and there is great awakening and great enlightenment. This Great Medicine is the yang within lead, the gold within the elixir, the pre-heaven within the pre-heaven. It is like the moon’s essence in the heart of heaven pressing close to the sun’s soul to form a mass of radiant light—not that thin crescent of the third day, now far at the horizon and now near the tips of the brows, but a light of complete fullness.

The word “press” should be read closely: it means drawing close and near, being cooked together in one place. When sun and moon join like paired jades, the sun’s soul pours entirely into the moon’s essence; ten thousand li are brightly illuminated, and the heart of heaven is snow-bright. The two things are captured and cooked together in one place. It is not that, having captured the golden crow, one then goes to capture the jade rabbit; rather, one uses the golden crow to control the jade rabbit—on the surface only one thing is captured, but when it returns, two things have been captured.

At the moment of capture, there are the four periods of Zi, Wu, Mao, and You, and the fire of penetrating the pass. From this the golden crow flies into the Guanghan Palace; then the marrow of the golden crow is used to blend the essence of the jade rabbit, causing the jade rabbit’s essence to be entirely transformed into the golden crow’s marrow. Only this is called the moon’s essence pressing the sun’s soul and being expertly cooked in one place. At this time the yang soul is full and complete, the yin essence is without form; the two things become one thing, and within that one thing the two are contained again. Yin is exhausted and yang is whole; great light radiates. Therefore it is called the yang within lead, the gold within the elixir, the pre-heaven within the pre-heaven. Only on reaching this stage is it the Great Medicine of Golden Liquid; one also follows the four periods of Zi, Wu, Mao, and You in consuming it, and only then is it the transmutation into the Great Return Elixir.

When is it Zi? The arising of yang is Zi; one should advance the yang fire. Where is it Wu? The descent of yin is Wu; one should withdraw the yin tally. Bathing means harmonizing naturally, neither hurried nor slow. This kind of practice should be applied when the yang fire approaches Mao and the yin tally approaches You; then yang will not be excessively hard, yin will not be excessively soft; hardness and softness attain the mean, and exiting and entering accord with proper measure.

Formerly, Master Tao Cuncun expounded the secret method of circulating fire in the Cantong qi and recorded his teacher’s “Song on Fire Phases.” Among its lines, “The Valley Spirit does not die; this is called the Mysterious Female (Xuanpin)” and others precisely elucidate this passage—the essential point is to see the real where there is no form or color, not to vainly seek the sage embryo on the skin bag.

In the annotations I had already greatly admired this verse, and now I append it here as corroboration. The verse says:

I recall the Immortal Elder saying that the methods of the Dao (the Way) are ultimately a transmission within one’s own house. In them there is originally no deliberate scheduling of the Zi hour and Wu hour, nor any doctrine of the Mao-rabbit and You-rooster, or of Xing (punishment) and De (Virtue/Power). Someone asked, “When is the Zi hour?” The answer: “When the medicine arises.” Again he asked, “When is the Wu hour?” The answer: “When the medicine faces the Golden Tower.” When is the Mao hour? It is when Red Boy (Honghai’er) creates havoc in the Fire Cloud Cave. If Guanyin, the Savior from Suffering, does not come to the rescue, the great medicine will surely burst apart. This is the time of bathing (muyu). Having passed this stage, it is like crossing the Yellow River. Again one asks, “What is the You Gate?” It is when the Ren and Du meridians meet. At this time, if there is no Yellow Robe to protect and sustain it, the medicine will pour away. After reaching the stage of Yuanji (Primordial Auspiciousness), one enters the Xu storehouse; please discern its subtle signs from within the storehouse. This is the supreme Dao transmitted in a single lineage; there is no need to seek it elsewhere.

When the medicine arrives at the Mao Gate, one must employ “Guanyin’s stillness.” This stillness is close and strict; it can restrain and gather in body and mind, preventing Red Boy’s fire from becoming fierce, and so sweet dew is generated. When it reaches the You Gate, one uses the Yellow Robe to wrap and protect it, so that the primal pearl does not pour away and the white fluid can congeal. This is the wondrous function of bathing. The Yellow Court (Huangting) refers to the center; the Valley Spirit (Gushen) refers to the empty and numinous. Guard the center and nurture the empty and numinous, and the Dharma body (fashen) will appear: a man takes on the appearance of a woman pregnant, which is both laughable and delightful.

There is also a poem:

On the rootless tree the flowers are just red; when all the red flowers are picked, the whole tree becomes empty. Emptiness is form, and form is emptiness; one must recognize true emptiness within form. When true emptiness is understood, form is extinguished and the Dharma-aspect (faxiang) remains forever. Not falling into stubborn emptiness, this is called perfect penetration and freedom (yuantong zizai), called the Great Hero (Mahavira); the nine generations of ancestors also ascend beyond to the ninth heaven.

Wuyuan’s note: It is better to read “Golden Flower” as “red flower,” and so I follow this reading; the character “extinguish” should be “Dharma,” an error in the original text.

Liu’s note: The Great Dao of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) takes the soundless, odorless, and transcendent beyond all phenomena as its final destination; how could there really be the red color of a flower? As long as even a trace of form remains, the acquired temperament has not been completely transformed, and the Great Dao cannot be accomplished. The ancient immortals said, “If a single hair’s breadth of Yin Qi is not exhausted, one cannot become an immortal.” As long as there is a hair’s breadth of Yin Qi, Yang Qi is incomplete by a hair’s breadth; the true spirit may still be harmed, and this cannot be counted as the cultivation path of the ninefold return and sevenfold reversal, the Great Elixir of Golden Liquid. Those who cultivate the Dao must pick all the red flowers, eliminate the guest Qi and dust roots accumulated since beginningless time, and cause all things that have form and appearance to return to emptiness and nothingness.

This scripture elucidates the dialectical relationship between "true emptiness" (zhenkong, the ultimate reality beyond form) and "phenomenal appearances" (sexiang) in Daoist cultivation. The so-called "true emptiness" does not refer to an insentient state of annihilation like inert wood or earth, but rather a method of cultivating true nature through temporary forms while simultaneously transforming physical form with true nature.

The text clarifies that complete absence of mind leads to attachment to emptiness, while the slightest attachment plunges one back into phenomenal appearances (material forms). Genuine practice lies in neither clinging to emptiness nor to form, recognizing that true emptiness inherently resides within phenomenal appearances. Authentic "true emptiness" transcends form yet manifests Dharma appearances (truth's manifestations). Precisely because it is true emptiness, it can reveal Dharma appearances; precisely because Dharma appearances exist, it avoids falling into nihilistic void.

When cultivation reaches this state, one achieves an indestructible vajra body impervious to water, fire, weapons, or harm from tigers, leopards or rhinoceroses. Not only does the practitioner attain immortality, but nine generations of ancestors may ascend to heavenly realms. The majestic golden body (Buddha's solemn Dharma appearance) cultivated by Shakyamuni Buddha and the dignified aura of the Great Hero Hall (Mahavira Hall) operate on this same principle.

The latter section quotes Zhang Sanfeng's "Song of Daoist Sentiments" and "Rootless Tree," using "red flowers" as metaphors for the true medicine (Golden Elixir) obtained through cultivation. Once these red flowers are gathered, other flowering trees become insignificant. When all red flowers are collected, the practitioner attains the Dao. At this stage, "emptiness" no longer signifies nihilistic void but rather true emptiness containing Dharma appearances. These forms are not ordinary material phenomena but manifestations of truth's reality. Those who truly comprehend true emptiness transcend the constraints of phenomenal appearances.

Plain-Language Interpretation

First Section:

When all sense appearances are completely eliminated, the dharma-form—the true face of the Dao—can instead endure without perishing. The endurance of the dharma-form means that true emptiness is not empty: within true emptiness there is naturally wondrous function. When cultivation and practice are complete and all dharmas are empty, the essence and function of true emptiness become whole. Since it is called perfect penetration, it must be called the Great Hero; since it is called the Great Hero, one must become a patriarch of immortals and transcendents. How then could nine generations of ancestors fail to transcend and ascend, entering the ninefold heavens together?

Second Section: Liu Speaks of Returning to Vacuity and Nothingness; Li Speaks of Realizing a Position among the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing)

The Rootless Tree—its flower is precisely nothingness; without marks or form, it is hard to depict. Nameless and surnameless, yet it responds when called; seize it into the central furnace of creation, set in motion the samadhi fire of the microcosmic orbit, refine true emptiness, and return to the Great Void. Visit the immortal capital and receive the heavenly tally—only then is one a true man and great husband.

Liu’s Commentary (annotated by Liu Zeshen):

The treasure of the pre-heaven true spirit has an original substance that is fundamentally void; it is formed by the mixing of one Qi. What flower could it have? Since it has no flower, it has no form or image and is difficult to portray. Though nameless and surnameless, it is supremely empty and supremely numinous; still and unmoving, yet it can respond and communicate, like an echo answering a call in a valley. Within true emptiness is stored wondrous existence. It is precisely at this point of response that one should begin: seize it into the furnace of creation of the Three Fields, and use the samadhi true fire to refine it into reality. From true emptiness one can return to the Great Void; when the Dao returns to the Great Void, emptiness has nothing further to empty—there is only the one truth, and nothing else.

The Three Fields are not the qihai (qi sea), jianggong (crimson palace), and niwan (mud-pill) locations spoken of by certain cultivation schools. Rather, they are the Dantian (energy center) where the three elixirs of Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and Shen (spirit) gather. It is called the Gate of Primordial Female, also the Primordial Pass Aperture, also the Central Yellow Court, also the Furnace of Creation, also the Taiyi Altar, also the Gate of Wu and Ji. In sum, it is called the Aperture of Emptiness. The treasure of the pre-heaven true spirit governs the three things—Jing, Qi, and Shen. Once the true spirit is restored, all three are restored; they create and transform themselves, and dense, harmonious Qi coalesces into one mass. At first, from nothing it creates being; then, from being it transforms into nothing. Refining true emptiness is the wonder of transforming being into nothing. From being to nothing, form and spirit are both wondrous and share one body with the Great Void. When merit and practice are complete, one visits the immortal capital and receives the heavenly tally, becoming a Great Luo Zhenren of the Ten Extremes; the great husband’s work is then finished.

Vernacular Interpretation

Eulogy (Praise)

To bring out the hidden teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi, to continue the mind-to-mind transmission of the lineage of Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin; to expose the wondrous principle of the “innate” (xiantian), to cleave open the crooked and winding paths—the cauldron and furnace hang empty in the void.

Deviant and orthodox are clearly distinguished; the true and false among the medicinal ingredients are seen at a glance; emptiness and form merge into one Qi; hard and soft are paired as the “two strings” (liangxian).

(Ah!) Alchemical practice is explained thoroughly from beginning to end, and advancing fire and withdrawing the tally are also fully written out; within the twenty-four ci poems is hidden the secret of long life; one who fully awakens to it can become an immortal who does not die.

Li’s Explanation (Commentary)

The character “non-being” (wu) continues the meaning of “emptiness” (kong) from the previous chapter, advancing one further level: in alchemical cultivation, reaching “emptiness” is already very good; but if the mind still retains the thought of “true emptiness,” that is equivalent to still having the thought of “dharma-forms” (images, attachments), and “emptiness” is still not as good as “non-being.”

Laojun (Laozi) says: In contemplating emptiness, one must also contemplate emptiness as empty; when what is emptied is already nothing, even nothingness is nothing; clear and constantly still—only then is it great transcendence, great awakening, great purity, and great perfect enlightenment. Why? The wonder of that clarity is as if present and yet as if absent; being empty and also non-being, it cannot be sought through forms and images, nor can it be written in diagrams. Precisely because it is without form or image, it is hard to paint or depict; it is simply clear and still as it is.

Previously, in gathering the innate, there were still such designations as the Jin surname (jing, essence), the Huang surname (ya, sprout), and the Bai surname (yuan, origin); now this clear and still true reality is nameless and surnameless. Though it has no name or surname, it responds as soon as called—like sound transmitted in an empty valley, each sound echoing; and as the Yijing (Classic of Changes) says, “receiving the command like an echo,” the utmost essence under heaven; “still and unmoving, yet when stimulated it penetrates through,” the utmost spirit under heaven. Why is this so? Because the clear and still true reality is hidden within non-being.

The principles of sages, worthies, immortals, and Buddhas deeply penetrate creation and transformation: “within non-being, being is hidden.” When one reaches this realm, there is the strange, uncanny, and wondrously divine—people such as Leng Qijing, Zhang Jinghua, and Zhou Dianxian are examples. Our Master Sanfeng takes the Dao as substance, and must further use “non-being” to capture “non-being,” entering the central realm of emptiness and non-being; in the great creation and great transformation, he circulates the samadhi true fire of the heavenly circuit in the furnace, tempering and refining it, determined to make the empty dharma-body return to the “Great Non-being” (Taiwu).

The Great Non-being is the realm of sages and true beings—namely, the Yuqing Hundong Taiwu Heaven and the Shangqing Chihun Taiwu Heaven. When one has successfully cultivated the immortal way, one first receives rank in the Taiqing Palace; if one can return to the Great Non-being, then one first pays homage to Daode, next to Yuchen, and next to Yuanshi, realizing the fruit of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing).

Vernacular Interpretation of Relevant Passages from The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng

On “Return”:

The so-called “return” means that the ordinary men and women of the world are in essence all people within the realms of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). Only because karmic thoughts from former lives have gone astray do they sink lower with each kalpa, remain ordinary men and women, and find it difficult to return to the realm of sages and realized beings. If they can turn their minds toward goodness, seek the Dao and seek a teacher, begin with building the foundation and refining the self, pass through the seven reversals and nine returns, refine until “emptiness,” then refine until “nothingness,” and from “nothingness” return to “Great Nothingness,” they are still guests among the Three Pure Ones. But to temper true emptiness, one must use the fire of the samadhi of the Heavenly Circuit (Zhoutian sanmei).

The Heavenly Circuit (Zhoutian) does not refer to the “River Chariot” (Heche)—the technique in Neidan (internal alchemy) of using intention to guide Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) up and down along the Ren and Du meridians—but rather to moving within Heaven, circling and spiraling in the space of emptiness, deeply entering secret transformation, and according with the Dao’s principle of naturalness.

Samadhi (sanmei) likewise does not mean simply yang fire. Heaven is one, Earth is two, and together they make three: I establish the cauldron and set up the furnace in the midst of Heaven and Earth; Shen (spirit) is profoundly still and Qi is vast and silent. This is the fire that uses the immortal to refine the immortal, namely the Heavenly Primordial Spirit Elixir. When merit is perfected and practice fulfilled, one ascends to court the Three Heavens, pays homage at the immortal capital, receives heavenly talismans, and is enfeoffed as a Perfected Lord (Zhenjun), Imperial Lord (Dijun), or Celestial Worthy (Tianzun), or appointed to posts such as master-minister of the Five Peaks and famous mountains, of the grotto-heavens and blessed lands, or as a selected immortal—only this is a true man, a great hero, supremely wondrous.

In praise:

Scatter flower rain that fills the heavens, spread yellow gold across the earth; hands beat the fish drum and clappers, mouth sings the immortal sounds of the Upper Cavern; ferry the four continents together, the Daoist sentiment of ten thousand ages. (Ha ha.) Wuyuan speaks of the true numen everywhere; first preserve our house’s essential intent; the mountain man proclaims the true instructions according to the original text, and to save the world grandly opens the gate of non-duality.

The annotated Daoqing on Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng’s Lyrics on the Rootless Tree (Wugen Shu Ci) totals twenty-four pieces. Here the entire scroll ends.