黃帝陰符經 — attributed to the Yellow Emperor
The Classic of the Hidden Accordance (Yinfu Jing, 陰符經) is one of the most important and most cryptic scriptures in the Daoist tradition. Its full title is the Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Hidden Accordance (黃帝陰符經). Traditionally attributed to the legendary sovereign Huangdi, the text was likely composed no later than the sixth or seventh century CE — though the legend claims the Daoist reformer Kou Qianzhi hid it in a cave near Mount Song in 441 CE, where the Tang military official Li Quan discovered it around 743 CE, transcribed it, and published it with his commentary. Contemporary scholarship generally considers Li Quan the probable author or compiler. No pre-Tang source references the text.
At roughly 445 characters in the longer recension (332 in the shorter), the Yinfu Jing is one of the most compressed scriptures in the Daoist Canon. It has been read as a treatise on cosmology, military strategy, internal alchemy, and political philosophy — often simultaneously. The text's central insight is that Heaven operates through hidden pivots and concealed mechanisms, and that the sage who perceives these mechanisms can work in accordance with them. The "five thieves" (五賊) — traditionally interpreted as the five phases or the five senses — are forces that steal from one another in ceaseless transformation; recognizing their operation is the key to flourishing. The three-section structure addresses, respectively, the Way of embracing the One, methods for ordering the state, and techniques for mastering conflict.
Zhang Boduan, the eleventh-century patriarch of Southern School internal alchemy, wrote in his Wuzhen Pian: "The treasured Yinfu Jing consists of more than three hundred words, whereas the inspired Daodejing has five thousand characters. All those who attained immortality in the past and attain it in the present have comprehended the true meaning of these scriptures." Alongside the Daodejing and the Qingjing Jing, it is one of the three scriptures every Quanzhen practitioner is expected to know by heart. This is a Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese, sourced from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org) transcription of the received Daozang text, verified during this session.
Upper Section
Observe the Way of Heaven.
Grasp Heaven's workings.
This is all.
Heaven has five thieves;
one who perceives them will flourish.
The five thieves reside in the heart-mind,
yet their workings extend through Heaven.
The cosmos rests in the hand;
the ten thousand things are born from the body.
Heaven's nature is humanity.
The human heart-mind is the pivot.
Establish Heaven's Way to settle humanity.
When Heaven triggers the killing pivot,
the Dipper turns and the stars shift.
When Earth triggers the killing pivot,
dragons and serpents rise from the ground.
When humanity triggers the killing pivot,
heaven and earth overturn.
When Heaven and humanity trigger it together,
the foundation of all transformation is set.
Nature has its cunning and its clumsiness;
both may be concealed.
The evils of the nine openings
lie in the three essentials.
They can be moved or stilled.
Fire is born from wood;
when disaster strikes, it must be overcome.
When corruption arises in the state,
if the moment stirs, it must collapse.
To know this and cultivate accordingly —
this is called being a sage.
Middle Section
Heaven and Earth are the thieves of the ten thousand things.
The ten thousand things are the thieves of humanity.
Humanity is the thief of the ten thousand things.
When the three thievings are in proper balance,
the Three Powers are at peace.
Therefore it is said:
eat in season and the hundred bones are ordered;
move with the pivot and the ten thousand transformations are settled.
People recognize the spirit and call it spirit,
yet do not know how the unspiritlike becomes spirit.
The sun and moon have their measure;
the great and small have their constancy.
Sacred achievement arises from this;
spiritual illumination emerges from this.
This thieving pivot —
no one in the world fails to see it,
yet no one comprehends it.
The noble one who grasps it steadies the self;
the petty one who grasps it squanders life.
Lower Section
The blind excel at hearing;
the deaf excel at seeing.
Draw advantage from a single source
and the force multiplies tenfold.
Reverse this three times between day and night
and it multiplies ten-thousandfold.
The heart-mind is born from things
and dies from things.
The pivot is in the eyes.
Heaven is without grace,
yet grace arises from it.
Swift thunder, fierce wind —
nothing does not stir.
In supreme joy, nature overflows.
In supreme stillness, it is refined.
Heaven's utmost privacy becomes,
in its use, the utmost impartiality.
The power to seize lies in the breath.
Death is the root of life;
life is the root of death.
Grace is born from harm;
harm is born from grace.
The fool regards the patterns of heaven and earth as sacred.
I regard the patterns of time and things as wisdom.
Others consider foolishness the path to sagehood.
I consider non-foolishness the path to sagehood.
Others expect the extraordinary to mark sagehood.
I expect the unextraordinary to mark sagehood.
The Way of nature is still;
therefore heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things come to be.
The Way of heaven and earth is gradual;
therefore yin and yang prevail in turn.
Yin and yang push against each other,
and transformation follows naturally.
Therefore the sage,
knowing the Way of nature cannot be defied,
works in accord with it.
The Way of supreme stillness —
calendars and pitch-pipes cannot measure it.
From this, marvelous instruments arise
and give birth to the ten thousand images.
The eight trigrams and the sexagenary cycle —
spirit pivots, ghostly concealments.
The art of yin and yang prevailing over each other —
bright and clear, it advances into image.
Notes
Five thieves (五賊) — The five forces that "steal" from one another in the ceaseless cycle of transformation. Interpreters have identified them variously as the five phases (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), the five senses, or the five emotional excesses. The Yinfu Jing does not specify — the ambiguity is deliberate. The sage perceives their operation and works in accordance with it rather than against it.
Killing pivot (殺機) — The moment when destruction is triggered, whether by Heaven (celestial upheaval), Earth (geological and biological disruption), or humanity (war, revolution). The character 機 (pivot, trigger, mechanism) recurs throughout the Yinfu Jing as a central concept: the hidden hinge on which all transformation turns.
Nine openings (九竅) — The nine orifices of the body: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the mouth, and the two lower openings. In Daoist cultivation, these are the portals through which vital essence (jing 精) leaks out into the world. The "three essentials" (三要) that govern them are traditionally identified as the eyes, ears, and mouth.
Three Powers (三才) — Heaven, Earth, and Humanity — the three fundamental forces of the cosmos. When their mutual "thieving" (exchange, transformation, appropriation) is in proper balance, the cosmos is at peace. This concept is central to the Yijing (Book of Changes) and to Chinese cosmology broadly.
Heart-mind (心) — See the entry in the Classic of Purity and Stillness. The character encompasses both heart and mind, referring to the seat of consciousness, emotion, and intention simultaneously.
Breath (炁) — The archaic form of 氣 (qi), used here to denote the primordial vital breath that animates all living things. The line 禽之制在炁 has been read variously — some commentators take 禽 as "birds/creatures" (the mastery of all creatures lies in breath), others as 擒 "to seize" (the power of seizing lies in breath). Both readings converge on the same principle: qi is the root of all control and all vitality.
Eight trigrams and sexagenary cycle (八卦甲子) — The eight trigrams (bagua) of the Yijing and the sixty-unit cycle (jiazi 甲子) used to count days, months, and years. Together they form the mathematical and symbolic apparatus of Chinese cosmological calculation — the "marvelous instruments" through which the hidden workings of yin and yang become visible as pattern and image.
Colophon
The Classic of the Hidden Accordance (陰符經), attributed to the Yellow Emperor (黃帝), is one of the most important and most debated scriptures in the Daoist Canon. The received text likely dates to the sixth or seventh century CE, though the legend of Li Quan's cave discovery in the Tang dynasty has attached itself permanently to the text's identity. Alongside the Daodejing and the Qingjing Jing, it forms the essential triad of Quanzhen Daoism. Its influence extends beyond Daoism into military strategy, Neo-Confucian cosmology, and Chinese internal alchemy (neidan 內丹), where it has generated more commentary per character than perhaps any other Chinese text.
Source text: 黃帝陰符經, from the received Daozang recension (longer version, 445 characters, three sections). Transcription from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org), accessed and verified on March 8, 2026.
Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: 黃帝陰符經
Chinese source text from the received Daozang recension, transcribed from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
上篇
觀天之道，執天之行，盡矣。天有五賊，見之者昌。五賊在心，施行於天，宇宙在乎手，萬物生乎身。天性，人也；人心，機也；立天之道以定人也。天發殺機，斗轉星移；地發殺機，龍蛇起陸；人發殺機，天地反覆；天人合發，萬化定基。性有巧拙，可以伏藏。九竅之邪，在乎三要。可以動靜。火生於木，禍發必克，奸生於國，時動必潰；知之修練，謂之聖人。
中篇
天地萬物之盜；萬物人之盜；人萬物之盜也。三盜既宜，三才既安。故曰：食其時，百骸理；動其機，萬化安。人知其神而神，不知其不神之所以神。日月有數，大小有定，聖功生焉，神明出焉。其盜機也，天下莫不能見，莫不能知。君子得之固躬，小人得之輕命。
下篇
瞽者善聽，聾者善視。絕利一源，用師十倍；三反晝夜，用師萬倍。心生於物，死於物，機在目。天之無恩而恩生，迅雷烈風，莫不蠢然。至樂性餘，至靜則廉。天之至私，用之至公。禽之制在炁。死者生之根，生者死之根。恩生於害，害於恩。愚人以天地文理聖，我以時物文理哲。人以愚虞聖，我以不愚虞聖。人以奇期聖，我以不奇期聖。自然之道靜，故天地萬物生。天地之道浸，故陰陽勝。陰陽相推，而變化順矣。是故聖人知自然之道不可違，因而制之。至靜之道，律曆所不能契。爰有奇器，是生萬象。八卦甲子，神機鬼藏。陰陽相勝之術，昭昭乎進乎象矣。
Source Colophon
Chinese source text from the received Daozang (道藏) recension of the Huangdi Yinfujing (黃帝陰符經), longer version (445 characters, three sections). Transcription from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org), a scholarly digital library of pre-modern Chinese texts. Accessed and verified on March 8, 2026.
The Yinfu Jing exists in two received versions: a shorter text of 332 characters in one section and a longer text of 445 characters in three sections. This translation follows the longer three-section recension as preserved in the Daozang and presented on ctext.org.
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