by the Young-Truth Master
Guard the three, return to the one: spirit, qi, and essence — these are it. This saying truly reveals the deep purport of fetal breathing.
Preface
Now, the root of human birth is nothing but primal qi. If one knows where primal qi resides, one is not far from the Great Way. The Old Lord said: all ten thousand things are born by embracing the one — there is not a single thing that does not carry yin and embrace yang. If one does not know how to embrace the one, the Way is difficult to befriend. Therefore: the Way is born from the one; the one is the mother of qi; qi condenses to form the embryo; the embryo forms the breath. The two mysteries each hold their purport.
Thus the scripture says: in the mother's womb, there is embryo but no breath; borrowing the mother's breathing, the body grows. After the spirit divides at birth, embryo and breath are both present. Those who study the Way must understand the two principles of embryo and breath, penetrating their subtlety. If one reaches the original source, one transcends the ordinary and attains the sage.
Ordinary people fix their breath but do not secure the embryo; sages preserve the embryo but do not fix their breath. Those who fix the breath — the chest fills and qi grows chaotic. Smoke-Vine Master said: "Swallowing and closing again is mere confusion." Master Yin said: "Only let the spirit always ride the qi — let the nose not lose the breath." The Yellow Court Scripture says: "The lute-heart three-layered, the fetal transcendent dances."
Since ancient times, the sages secured both embryo and breath to attain the Way. When spirit and qi form the embryo, the breath settles of itself. It is rarely heard that one attains truth by merely fixing the breath. The sage says: "Embrace the one, guard the center — the child naturally surges forth. Guard the three, return to the one: spirit, qi, and essence — these are it." This saying truly reveals the deep purport of fetal breathing. Therefore I have composed these twenty Embracing-the-One Songs to convey the essentials.
I.
Embracing the one — know the source of the true one;
spirit and brightness hold the cinnabar field to the last.
Going out and coming in, the heart-ground opens;
qi and spirit, responding to each other, ripen into the transcendent embryo.
II.
Embracing the one — at first instructed, yet the true is unrecognized.
Through diligent effort, after long days, the spirit opens of itself.
In the deep and hidden, there is no [outward] response —
the clam holds the autumn moon; the halo condenses into pearl.
III.
Embracing the one in cultivating truth — the gates are many.
Subtle and still, it sends one directly to Kunlun.
The wondrous breath does not trouble the dark female's account;
in the center of time, the one qi abides, perpetually present.
IV.
Embracing the one — know that ease and openness are it.
Do not let the qi stagnate and block in the throat.
If one can truly understand the meaning of the true teaching,
the five viscera and three palaces settle of themselves.
V.
Embracing the one — return to the origin, reach the root of life.
Why toil by abandoning it, seeking inside or outside?
Only secure the stem, deepen the root — done.
Right here, only here, is the long life.
VI.
Embracing the one — the true primal is extraordinary by nature.
Do not let spirit and qi pull apart and strain.
In sitting and walking, guard them always together;
when the circuit reaches the heavenly gate, life grows of itself.
VII.
Embracing the one — let it return into the five motions.
Qi and form respond to each other — how could this become void?
The empty gate has nothing; why seek to go there?
To abandon floating life to emptiness — wasted effort.
VIII.
Embracing the one is like the person inside the mirror:
within form, only the formed body is revealed.
From this, one gradually transcends the three realms;
phantom dust upon dust — how could dust dust any further?
IX.
Embracing the one — the spirit terrace opens at the moonlit night.
Breath within breath; embryo within embryo.
When spirit and qi condense, they return and become treasure;
the primal spirit, about to scatter, turns back and comes home.
X.
Embracing the one — its art speaks the true origin.
Do not treat panting breath as what it concerns.
The true embryo rises no higher than the Li-Palace;
directly, let it settle in the lower cinnabar field.
XI.
Embracing the one — the primal harmony's treasure is easily tended.
Do not let spirit and qi diverge and strain.
To treat exhalation and inhalation as the true root —
this makes it hard to bring the body to the land of deathlessness.
XII.
Embracing the one — within time, it does not pause for an instant.
When the six-character practice is complete, the five organs are clear.
If one leaves the formed body to dwell perpetually in the world —
life place upon life place, life entangles with life endlessly.
XIII.
Embracing the one — only preserve spirit, qi, and essence.
Guard the three, return to the one; the work completes of itself.
What does this body rely on? Where does it settle?
The golden chamber and the mushroom field, refined to pure crystal.
XIV.
Embracing the one has nothing to do with keeping still in mountains.
Dwelling in a hermitage without the Way is equally futile.
Long fasting, abstaining from grain, sitting idly in the world —
only when the spirit embryo is formed: only then is one transcendent.
XV.
Embracing the one — one naturally drinks the nectar of sweet dew.
Wind, thunder, cloud, and rain fill the vast field of being.
When the five aggregates are stilled, bright, and quiet,
the whole of common substance moves forward, drifting toward the transcendent realm.
XVI.
Embracing the one — the true primal cultivates the true Way.
No need to roam as cloud and water, seeking the transcendent lord.
Coming and going, primal and returning, grasped without gap —
puffing the cheeks and panting, in the end, only harms the body.
XVII.
Embracing the one — always keep the dwelling in supreme harmony.
Does the bird's nest dare to stir up demonic distortion?
The seven earthly souls and three corpse-worms — can they truly harm?
Beneath Mount Kunlun, the moonlight is abundant.
XVIII.
Embracing the one — the body dwells in the land of deathlessness.
The golden lotus blooms; seated in pure coolness.
Fill the belly, empty the heart-mind; no sediment, no defilement.
The jade pool fills and pours forth the eight jade nectars.
XIX.
Embracing the one — the true teaching has a secret pass.
Can brilliant scholars truly discourse and proclaim it?
Return the spirit, restore the warmth — this is the master of the primal embryo.
The wondrous purport: only then known as deep and mysterious.
XX.
Embracing the one — seeking life is not difficult.
Qi and form respond to each other, entering the three cinnabar fields.
The matter is clear in the teaching — why remain frozen in confusion?
Bathe personally in the transmission given by a clear teacher, mouth-to-ear.
Colophon
Title: 胎息抱一歌 (Tāixī Bàoyī Gē) — Fetal Breathing Songs: Embracing the One
Attribution: Attributed to the Young-Truth Master (㓜真先生 Yòuzhēn Xiānshēng); identity uncertain. The text belongs to the neidan (inner alchemy) lineage associated with the Quanzhen tradition or its precursors, likely composed Tang–Song dynasty.
Collection: Zhengtong Daozang (正統道藏, Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong era), compiled 1445 CE. DZ 0827. Dongshen section, Methods division (洞神部方法類); fascicle 18, page 438. Kanripo catalog ID: KR5c0224.
Content: Prose preface establishing the philosophical basis of fetal breathing (胎息) and embracing the one (抱一), followed by twenty heptasyllabic songs (七言歌行), each beginning with the phrase 抱一. The text shares thematic ground with the companion Fetal Breathing Scripture (胎息經, DZ 0014) translated in this archive. A second text bound in the same fascicle — 㓜真先生服內元氣訣 (Young-Truth Master's Method for Taking the Inner Original Qi) — was not present in the staged source file and is not translated here.
Key terms:
- 胎息 (tāixī): fetal breathing; the practice of drawing breath inward to the lower cinnabar field, returning to the state of the womb
- 抱一 (bàoyī): embracing the one; from Dao De Jing chapters 10 and 22
- 元氣 (yuánqì): primal qi; the undifferentiated original breath preceding the division of yin and yang
- 丹田 (dāntián): cinnabar field; three locations in the body (lower: below navel; middle: heart; upper: head)
- 三尸 (sān shī): three corpse-worms; demonic entities residing in the three cinnabar fields, traditionally believed to report one's sins to heaven each fifty-seventh day
- 七魄 (qī pò): seven earthly souls; the yin spirit-components (as opposed to the three hun, yang souls)
- 玉池 (yùchí): jade pool; the mouth and saliva-production point in neidan practice
- 六字功 (liù zì gōng): the six-character healing-sounds practice (六字訣), one breath for each of the five organs plus the triple warmer
- 離宮 (lí gōng): the Li-palace; the heart region, corresponding to the Li (fire) trigram in inner alchemy
- 崑崙 (Kūnlún): Kunlun; both the mythic cosmic mountain and, in neidan, a name for the head
Variant characters in source: 㓜 = 幼; 㫖 = 旨; 袐 = 祕; 飬 = 養; 顋 = 腮; 眀 = 明; 傅 = 傳; 㝠 = 冥; 寳 = 寶; 郷 = 鄉; 𨞬 = 廬 (probable). In Song V, 還兀 is read as 還元 (return to the origin), 兀 being a scribal variant.
Translation note: No prior English translation of this text exists. This translation is independently derived from the Classical Chinese source (Kanripo KR5c0224, Kanseki Repository open-access digital edition of the Zhengtong Daozang). No reference English translation was consulted, as none is known to exist.
Translator: New Tianmu Anglican Church, April 2026, with AI assistance (Claude, Anthropic)
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Source Text — 胎息抱一歌
胎息抱一歌（并序）
夫人受生之本莫非元氣。若知元氣所居，方不遠於大道。老君云：萬物皆抱一而生，未有一物不負陰而抱陽者也。若不知於抱一，與道難親。故道生於一也，一者氣母，氣結成胎，胎結成息，二玄各有其旨。
故經云：在母腹之時，有胎而無息，假母呼吸成長其身。分靈之後，胎息具焉。學道之士切須知胎息二理，窮其微妙；若達本原，超凡證聖。常人閉息不固其胎，聖人存胎不固其息。閉者，胸滿氣亂也。煙蘿子云：「咽復閉，徒自亂。」尹先生云：「但使神常御氣，鼻不失息。」黃庭經云：「琴心三疊，舞胎仙。」
自古聖人則閉固胎息而成道，神氣胎結，其息乃定，罕聞閉息而成真也。聖人云：「抱一守中，子自沖；守三歸一，神氣精是也。」斯言實露胎息之深旨，故作抱一歌二十首以訣其要。
抱一須知真一源，神明終自有丹田。出入往來心地啓，氣神相應化胎仙。
抱一初傅未識真，功勤日久自通神。杳冥之內無相應，蚌含秋月暈結珍。
抱一修真有異門，希夷直遣到崑崙。妙息不干玄牝記，時中一氣鎮長存。
抱一須知自在寬，勿令氣壅在喉間。若能曉達真詮義，五內三宮自得安。
抱一還元達本生，何勞棄內外邊行。但能固蒂深根了，只於此處是長生。
抱一真元本異常，勿令神氣兩分張。坐行之處長相守，運到天門生自長。
抱一令歸五運中，炁形相應豈成空。空門無物何須去，虛棄浮生枉用功。
抱一由如鏡裏人，色中唯現色中身。從茲漸得超三界，妄塵塵更豈能塵。
抱一靈臺月夜開，息息之中胎在胎。神炁若凝歸作寶，元靈欲散卻還來。
抱一之術述正元，勿將喘息擬相干。真胎不過離宮上，直須令住下丹田。
抱一元和寶易昌，莫教神炁兩乖張。擬將吐納為真蒂，難致身於不死鄉。
抱一時中不暫停，六字功成五臟清。若留形身常住世，來來生處更交生。
抱一惟存神氣精，守三歸一自功成。此身所為憑何住，金室芝田鍊至晶。
抱一非干守靜山，居廬無道亦徒然。長齊絕粒閒居世，結得神胎始是仙。
抱一自餐甘露漿，風雷雲雨遍疆場。五蘊肅然明靜後，齊驅凡質泛仙鄉。
抱一真元養道真，不勞雲水訪仙君。返往元來無間得，鼓腮終久損其身。
抱一常令舍太和，鳥巢爭敢起妖訛。七魄三尸寧有害，崑崙山下月明多。
抱一身居不死鄉，金蓮花發坐清涼。實腹虛心無滓穢，玉池滿注八瓊漿。
抱一真詮有秘關，高才儒士豈談宣。返神復熱胎元主，妙旨方知深又玄。
抱一求生不是難，炁形相應入三田。言中顯事何凝惑，親沐明師口授傳。
胎息抱一歌（終）
Source Colophon
Source text: 胎息抱一歌, Zhengtong Daozang (DZ 0827), Dongshen section, Methods division (洞神部方法類). Kanripo digital edition (KR5c0224), Kanseki Repository project (kanripo.org), open access. Zhengtong Daozang, 三家本, 1988 edition, fascicle 18, page 438. The source text above restores standard character forms from the Mandoku display format (¶ line-break markers stripped; pb: page-break tags removed; variant/archaic characters normalized for readability, with variants noted in the Colophon).
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