Jindan Sibaizi — Zhang Boduan's Alchemical Classic, with the Commentary of Huang Ziru

This is a short, extraordinarily dense classic of Daoist internal alchemy (neidan), attributed to Zhang Boduan (張伯端, courtesy name Pingshu, styled Ziyang — "Purple Yang" — d. 1082), the Song-dynasty founding patriarch of the Southern Lineage of internal alchemy and author of the far longer Wuzhen pian (Chapters on Awakening to Reality). Its title comes from its core: twenty quatrains of five-character verse, four hundred characters in all, compressing the whole practice of the golden elixir into aphorism. This edition carries the commentary of Huang Ziru (黃自如), a self-styled "Householder of Yunkong" from Xujiang, who prefaces the poem with a long technical primer on its vocabulary before glossing each quatrain in turn.

The verses are traditionally dated to the eleventh century; Huang Ziru's own preface and commentary carry their own date — the first year of the Chunyou reign, the cyclical year xinchou, corresponding to 1241. The whole is preserved in the Daoist Canon (the Zhengtong Daozang of 1445), where it is commonly catalogued as DZ 1081; modern bibliographers date the poem's earliest known commentary to almost exactly this year, very likely Huang Ziru's own.

The text has three parts: a long prose preface that defines its own vocabulary term by term before the verse begins; the twenty quatrains themselves, each followed by Huang Ziru's prose gloss; and a closing essay in which Huang Ziru weighs the poem's brevity against the terseness of the Yinfu jing and the length of the Daode jing, explains why he wrote his commentary, and answers in his own voice the question of what "the golden elixir" means. Both text and commentary speak throughout in the coded vocabulary of external alchemy — lead, mercury, cinnabar, furnace and cauldron, dragon and tiger — used, as both Zhang and Huang say explicitly, only as an enforced comparison for realities inside the practitioner's own body that have no other name.

Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese printed in full below. Zhang Boduan's bare verses have been rendered into English several times before — by Tenney Davis and Chao Yün-ts'ung (1940), by Thomas Cleary (1986, via the later commentary of Liu Yiming), and by Fabrizio Pregadio (via the still later commentary of Peng Haogu) — but Huang Ziru's own 1241 preface and running commentary do not appear among them. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of Zhang Boduan's verses together with Huang Ziru's preface and commentary.

Translation

Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir, with Preface
Composed by Zhang Pingshu, the Realized Man Ziyang, of Tiantai
Annotated by Huang Ziru, the Householder Yunkong, of Xujiang

Preface

As for the Great Elixir of Golden Liquor through sevenfold return and ninefold reversion: seven is fire's number, and nine is metal's number. By fire one refines metal, returning to the root and reverting to the source — this is called the golden elixir. By body and mind, one divides the moon's waxing and waning quarters; by spirit and qi, one distinguishes the year's two solstices; by form and spirit, one matches the two trigrams Kan [Water] and Li [Fire]. By the wood of the ethereal soul (hun) in the east, the metal of the corporeal soul (po) in the west, the fire of spirit in the south, the water of essence in the north, and the earth of intent at the center — this is called gathering and assembling the Five Phases. By holding in the eyes' light, gathering in the ears' resonance, regulating the nose's breath, and quieting the tongue's qi — this is called uniting the Four Images. With the eyes not looking, so that the ethereal soul rests in the liver; the ears not hearing, so that essence rests in the kidneys; the tongue not sounding, so that spirit rests in the heart; the nose not smelling, so that the corporeal soul rests in the lungs; and the four limbs not moving, so that intent rests in the spleen — hence it is named the Five Qi Court the Origin. By essence transforming into qi, qi transforming into spirit, and spirit transforming into emptiness — hence it is named the Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

With the ethereal soul in the liver and not leaking out through the eyes, the corporeal soul in the lungs and not leaking out through the nose, spirit in the heart and not leaking out through the mouth, essence in the kidneys and not leaking out through the ears, and intent in the spleen and not leaking out through the apertures of the four limbs — hence it is called Without Leakage. Essence, spirit, the ethereal and corporeal souls, and intent merge together and blend into one another, transforming into a single qi that cannot be seen or heard and has neither name nor form — hence it is called empty nonbeing.

To refine essence means to refine primal essence — not the essence stirred by lust and excess. To refine qi means to refine primal qi — not the qi of the mouth and nose's breathing. To refine spirit means to refine primal spirit — not the spirit of the heart-mind's thoughts and deliberations. Hence this spirit, qi, and essence share their root with Heaven and Earth and share their substance with the ten thousand things: obtain them and one lives; lose them and one dies. Refined by yang fire, they transform into yang qi. Nourished by the yin tally, they transform into yin essence. Hence it is said: what can be seen cannot be used, and what can be used cannot be seen.

The body is the house of the mind; the mind is the ruler of the body. The mind's wild unruliness is like a dragon; the body's fierce savagery is like a tiger. Within the body there is a single point of true yang qi; within the mind there is a single point of true yin essence — hence they are called the Two Things. The mind belongs to Qian [Heaven]; the body belongs to Kun [Earth] — hence it is said, Qian and Kun are the cauldron and the vessel. Yang qi belongs to Li; yin essence belongs to Kan — hence they are called the Crow and the Hare, the medicine.

Embracing the One and guarding the center, refining the primal and nurturing plainness — hence it is called gathering the qi of the Prior-to-Heaven, the primordial and undivided. Zhun [hexagram 3] at dawn and Meng [hexagram 4] at dusk, noon by day and midnight by night — hence it is called circulating the fire-phasing of the celestial circuit. Wood's liquor flourishes at the hour of Mao; metal's essence flourishes at the hour of You — hence one must bathe. The Zhen [Thunder] son drinks the western wine; the Dui [Lake] daughter plucks the northern blossom; the Xun [Wind] wind stirs up the number of six yangs stored within Kun's earth — hence one must withdraw and add.

Now, at the start of gathering the medicine, one stirs the bellows of Qian and Kun and takes the dosing-spoon of Li and Kan. At first it is like clouds filling a thousand mountains; then it is like the moon held within ten thousand waters; and naturally it is like the tortoise and the snake in union, like the horse and the ox in their paces. Yet unaware that the dragon contends for the ethereal soul, the tiger contends for the corporeal soul, the crow does battle for essence, the hare does battle for spirit — amid the hazy and indistinct the true lead appears; within the deep and shadowed there is the true mercury. Matched and joined by the Yellow Dame, they are kept within the central palace. Lead, meeting fire, flies off; mercury, meeting fire, runs away — so one blends them with the oil of non-action, and settles them further with the nameless uncarved block. Lead returns to the palace of Kun; mercury returns to the throne of Qian; the true earth mingles and blends, holding its light in silent stillness.

When fire's measure is excessive, there is scorching; when water's measure is too great, there is flooding. The scorching of fire and the flooding of water — these must be regulated and balanced, hence there are the standards of weight and measure. Cultivated and refined to this point: wind arises in the Muddy Pellet, the moon shines bright in the Crimson Palace, fire blazes in the cinnabar field, the waves lie clear and settled in the Valley Sea, the spine's ridge turns like a cart-wheel, the four limbs feel like mountain stone, the pores feel as if just risen from a bath, the bones and vessels feel as if deep in sweetest sleep, essence and spirit unite like husband and wife in joyful union, and the ethereal and corporeal souls cling together like mother and child reluctant to part. This is a true realm — not a mere figure of speech. Refined by the standard and measure, they gather and do not disperse. Refined by weight and measure, they congeal and grow ever more firm. The ethereal soul is stored away, the corporeal soul dissolved; essence congeals, spirit condenses; the single intent grows tranquil and harmonious; the skin and flesh turn clear and radiant. Day by day, hour by hour, gradually congealing, gradually gathering, substance is born out of no substance, and the sacred embryo is formed.

Now, a year has twelve months. A month has thirty days. A day has one hundred ke (marks — the traditional time-unit, of which a full day holds a hundred). A month totals three thousand ke; ten months total thirty thousand ke. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or crying aloud, the work continues unbroken, as if ever present. Once the embryonic qi has congealed, the infant's form appears; the mysterious pearl takes shape, and the Great One holds the real within. Hence within these twenty thousand ke, one can seize Heaven's number of thirty thousand years. Why is this? The labor of a single ke itself holds the turning of a whole year's seasons; hence these twenty thousand ke can seize the number of thirty thousand years. Thus a year of twelve months totals thirty-six thousand ke in all.

Even practiced by a foolish and benighted lesser man, he is at once pressed into the ranks of the sages. Yet how is it that common people use this every day and do not know it? Their primal essence is squandered, their primal qi exhausted, their primal spirit departed. Therefore, of the thirty thousand ke, every single one must be harmonized. If even a single ke goes far astray, the medicine is consumed away and the fire-phasing falls short — hence it is said, the slightest hair's-breadth of deviation, and no elixir is made. One should therefore attend to every single ke, using it without strain, so that true qi congeals and knots together and primal spirit grows vast and great. Within, this refines in a year an elixir of thirty thousand ke; without, this seizes for the body the number of thirty thousand years. At the greatest, in a single day it knots an embryo of thirteen thousand five hundred breaths; at the least, in twelve double-hours it circulates a qi of eighty-four thousand li. Hence it is said: seize the single point of yang from Heaven and Earth, gather the qi of the sun and moon's two orbs, circulate the true water in the lead furnace, and move the true fire in the mercury cauldron. Where lead meets mercury is called the Flowery Pond. Where mercury enters lead is called the Sacred Water.

One must not cling to non-action, nor give shape to willful action; must not be mired in visualization, nor attached to rigid maintenance; must not sit in withered stillness with an ashen heart, nor cultivate blindly and refine gropingly — fearing only not to recognize whence the medicine issues, and also fearing not to know the standard and measure of fire-phasing. One must know that within the body there is a single aperture, called the Mysterious Female. This aperture is not the heart, not the kidneys; not the mouth or nose; not the spleen or stomach; not the tract of grain; not the bladder; not the cinnabar field; not the Muddy Pellet. If one can know this single aperture, then the winter solstice is here; the medicine is here; the fire-phasing, too, is here; the bathing, too, is here. The knotting of the embryo lies here; the release of the body does not lie here. Now this single aperture has no border or edge, and no inward blemish either. It is the root of spirit and qi, the valley of empty nonbeing. Seek it within the body; it cannot be sought elsewhere. This single aperture cannot be gauged by private urgency; it must without fail be transmitted mind to mind and taught mouth to mouth. If one lacks this, all becomes reckless folly.

Now, in composing this Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir, the aim is to encompass the root and foundation of creation and transformation, and to thread through the very marrow of yin and yang, so that the practitioner refining the elixir, tracing the stream, may know its source — setting aside falsehood to follow the real, and not going so far as to forget the root while chasing the branch-tips. Now, the golden elixir is born of being out of non-being, and nurtures the infant to completion — how could one be mired in images, cling to the written word, and drown in fringe membranes and crooked byways? Yet though the golden elixir is born of non-being, it must not be taken for a stubborn emptiness. One must constantly know that this emptiness is true emptiness — the not-nonbeing within non-being is true empty nonbeing. Now, because Ma Ziran is setting out to teach others, I speak these few words — may you savor them.

The Verses, with Commentary

True earth seizes true lead;
true lead governs true mercury.
Lead and mercury return to true earth;
body and mind grow still, unmoving.

True earth is the earth within the body. Lead and mercury are the water and fire within the body. Since earth overcomes water, lead can be seized. Since water overcomes fire, mercury can be governed. Why is it that lead-as-water and mercury-as-fire are both seized and governed by true earth? It is because body and mind are joined as one, silent and unmoving, and only afterward can earth, water, and wood, these three, blend and merge into one — this is the gathering of the medicine and its return into the furnace and cauldron.

From empty nonbeing white snow descends;
from silent stillness the yellow sprout emerges.
In the jade furnace the fire glows gently warm;
above the cauldron purple mist takes flight.

White snow must be born of the empty void, since it is being born from non-being. The yellow sprout must be born through fire's nurture, since fire is able to give birth to earth. Just as, between Heaven and Earth, in the months of mother and child, when yang qi has not yet sprouted — this is when things are dissolved into non-being — white snow falls from Heaven; then in the months of Yin and Mao, when yang qi gradually flourishes — this is movement within stillness — the yellow sprout emerges from the Earth. Once white snow and yellow sprout have shown themselves and been born, the jade furnace's fire need only be warmed and nurtured, and naturally the purple mist above the cauldron will soar into the sky and take flight. If the fire burns too fierce and martial, they will be scattered and dispersed.

In the Flowery Pond the lotus flower opens;
in the Sacred Water golden ripples lie still.
Deep in the night the moon shines at its fullest;
Heaven and Earth become a single round mirror.

Hua, "flowery," means blossom, and blossom is akin to fire. Shen, "sacred," means the heart-mind, and the heart-mind belongs to fire. The essential point of the golden elixir lies in the Sacred Water and the Flowery Pond — this is exactly the principle of Water and Fire Already Completed. Within the water there are ripples, clear and still and pure; then within the fire a lotus is born, and naturally it opens into blossom. When midnight, the hour of Zi, arrives, and the single yang first stirs, the moon shines at its very fullest, and a penetrating golden light illuminates all between Heaven and Earth, like a single round bright mirror.

Cinnabar refines the yang qi;
quicksilver boils the metal essence.
The metal essence and the yang qi
are cinnabar and quicksilver.

Yang qi is the single point of true yang qi within the body. Metal essence is the single point of true yin essence within the mind. Refined by yang fire, it becomes like cinnabar. Nourished by the yin tally, it becomes like quicksilver. Cinnabar and quicksilver are outer things. To use the outer medicine as a comparison for the inner elixir — this is something the immortals spoke of only because they had no other choice.

The sun's soul is the jade hare's fat;
the moon's spirit is the golden crow's marrow.
Gathered together, returned into the cauldron,
they transform into a single pool of water.

The ethereal soul (hun) governs wood, and wood can give birth to fire; hence spirit is what the ethereal soul stores. The corporeal soul (po) governs metal, and metal can give birth to water; hence essence is what the corporeal soul stores. If one can inhale wind to nourish spirit, and inhale qi to nourish essence, essence and spirit will merge and harmonize within the cauldron, becoming a single pool of water.

The medicine is born in the Mysterious Aperture;
the fire-phasing arises in the yang furnace.
At the moment when dragon and tiger meet,
the precious cauldron produces the mysterious pearl.

The medicine is the crow's liver, the hare's marrow, red mercury, and black lead. All are born within the Mysterious Aperture. If one can rouse the fire of samadhi within the yang furnace, then dragon and tiger meet, metal and wood are refined, the yellow sprout is born, and afterward a single grain of the mysterious pearl is produced.

This aperture is no ordinary thing;
Qian and Kun together compose it.
It is named the Cavity of Spirit and Qi;
within it lies the essence of Kan and Li.

The aperture of the Mysterious Female is no worldly thing. Before this body existed, this aperture already existed. It is not above, not below, not in the middle — this is what is called the single Aperture Prior to Heaven. At the moment of the body's own genesis, the essence of Qian the father and the blood of Kun the mother join together and compose it. It is the cavity of spirit and qi, storing within it the essence of water and fire.

Wood's mercury, a single point of red;
metal's lead, three catties of black.
Lead and mercury knot into cinnabar,
gleaming with a purple-gold hue.

Red: mercury's color is red, counted as a single point. Black: this is lead, its color black, weighing three catties. The lead within metal and the mercury within wood — when these two congeal and knot together, they form the seed of the elixir. Add to this the fire-phasing of the ninefold cycling, and their color becomes like purple gold.

In the home garden all things are one;
wind and rain come at the height of spring.
Plow and hoe need spend no labor —
the whole earth turns to yellow gold.

The home garden is the true earth within the body. The scenery is the medicine within the body. Once the single yang has come and returned, there is wind to blow upon it and rain to moisten it. By the time the three yangs meet in the hexagram Tai, though plow and hoe spend no labor upon it, the whole earth bursts forth with yellow sprout from within the soil. Speaking of it as "yellow gold" takes the yellow sprout's color, which is like gold.

True lead is born in Kan;
its use lies in the palace of Li.
By black it turns to red;
the whole cauldron thickens with cloud-qi.
True mercury is produced in Li;
its use, though, lies in Kan.
The Fair Maiden passes through the southern garden,
holding in her hand a jade olive.

True lead is the water of northern essence, rising upward into the palace of Li. True mercury is the fire of southern spirit, descending downward into the gate of Kan. When lead unites with mercury and becomes one, seen up close it shows red and black hues; seen from afar it is like a jade olive. The Fair Maiden passes through the southern enclosure riding a dragon; the Infant goes toward the northern land riding a tiger. The dragon coils about the golden cauldron, the tiger circles the cinnabar field; clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger, and within that single cauldron there rises a rich, billowing mist of cloud-qi.

Zhen and Dui are not east and west;
Kan and Li are not south and north.
The Dipper's handle turns the celestial circuit —
one must know how to gather and assemble.

Zhen, Dui, Kan, and Li are not the ordinary world's east, west, south, and north — they are the trigram-qi of Heaven and Earth. Just as the Dipper's handle points out the month's establishment, completing one celestial circuit in a single day, so the rising fire within the body completes one celestial circuit in a mere instant. If one cannot gather and assemble the Five Phases, then how could this match the turning revolution of the Dipper's handle?

Fire-phasing follows no fixed hour;
the winter solstice is not bound to Zi.
And as for the way of bathing —
Mao and You are but empty comparisons.

In general, fire-phasing does not mean the winter solstice at the hour of Zi, or the summer solstice at the hour of Wu. As for its bathing, this does not mean the spring equinox at the hour of Mao, or the autumn equinox at the hour of You. The instant a person's own body raises fire on its celestial circuit, it has its own withdrawing and adding, its own bathing — this cannot be rigidly bound to the four seasons.

The crow's liver and the hare's marrow,
seized and brought together into one place.
Grain upon grain,
from the subtle they grow to the manifest.

The crow's liver is the sun's soul. The hare's marrow is the moon's spirit. Seized and governed into a single place, and refined by fire, day by day a single grain is born, as large as a millet seed. From the subtle it grows to the manifest, accumulating dram by dram until it forms ounces: in thirty days it weighs thirty-eight drams and four xiang; in three hundred days it weighs three hundred eighty-four drams — a cube one inch square, weighing a full catty.

Chaos encompasses the empty void;
the empty void encloses the Three Realms.
Yet seeking out its root and source,
it is but a single grain, the size of a millet seed.

Now, chaos is the mating of yin and yang. This is the gathering and assembling of the Five Phases, the harmonious union of the Four Images; then its measure equals the empty void, and the empty void can be encompassed. Spirit wanders through the Three Realms, and the Three Realms can be enclosed. Tracing back to where its root and source lie, it arises from the gate of the Mysterious Female, as large as a single grain of millet.

Heaven and Earth exchange the true liquor;
sun and moon unite the true essence.
Grasp the foundation where Kan and Li meet,
and the Three Realms return into a single body.

When the heart's liquor descends and the kidneys' liquor rises, then Heaven and Earth exchange the true liquor. The ethereal soul is the crow's essence, the corporeal soul is the hare's essence — then sun and moon unite the true essence. If a person comes to understand the foundation where Kan and Li mate, then Heaven's Gate opens, Earth's Door closes, the sun shines upon Kunlun, the moon is born over the vast sea, and the Three Realms lie within one's own single body.

The dragon comes from the eastern sea;
the tiger rises from the western mountains.
The two beasts clash in a single battle,
and are transformed into the marrow of Heaven and Earth.

Zhen is the Green Dragon, coming from the eastern sea. Dui is the White Tiger, rising from the western mountains. If the dragon roars, clouds arise, and it descends; if the tiger howls, wind is born, and it ascends; the two beasts meet and battle before the Yellow Chamber, and then wind and cloud gather in celebration, naturally merging into a single mass of marrow.

The golden flower opens mercury's leaves;
the jade calyx lengthens lead's branch.
Kan and Li are never idle —
how much longer now for Qian and Kun?

The golden flower is the metal essence. Above there is the golden flower, able to open mercury's leaves. The jade calyx is the jade liquor. Below there is the jade calyx, able to lengthen lead's branch. If a person can keep the working of Kan and Li from ever growing idle or scattered, then the effort of a single ke can seize Heaven and Earth's number of a whole year — how much more time could be needed?

In bathing, guard against danger;
in withdrawing and adding, hold to it with care.
Altogether it comes to thirty thousand ke —
fear the slightest hair's-breadth of error.

Bathing is the method of transcendence: a seven-storied jeweled pagoda, a three-tiered crimson tower, rising from below upward — one must guard against danger. Withdrawing and adding is the method of courting the source: yang rises at the start of Zi, yin is born after Wu; if one does not hold to this carefully, in the end it will surely be lost. Now, a day has a hundred ke; a month has three thousand ke. Attending to every single ke, using it without strain, then ten months' thirty thousand ke can seize the number of thirty thousand years. If there is the slightest hair's-breadth of deviation, no elixir is made.

At the moment husband and wife unite,
in the bridal chamber cloud and rain arise.
In a single year a child is born,
and each one knows how to ride a crane.

The Infant is in the palace of Kan; the Fair Maiden is in the palace of Li. If, matched and joined by the Yellow Dame, they are bound together as husband and wife, and unite in the bridal chamber — rain scattering, clouds gathering back in — then the sacred embryo is formed. And by the time a full year has passed and the child is born, it mounts a crane and issues forth from the Palace of the Muddy Pellet. Now, ten months of carrying the embryo, and two months of bathing, together make up the full year.

Postscript

The Yinfu Jing in three hundred characters — some find fault with its brevity. The Daode Jing in five thousand words — some find fault with its length. When sages compose their books, how could one lightly presume to judge? What is brief is not merely brief — a mustard seed holds Mount Sumeru. What is lengthy is not merely lengthy — the great sea receives the hundred rivers. Ever since the mind-learning of Huangdi and Laozi ceased to be transmitted, across some desolate thousand years, Boyang arose to guide its stream, and Zhong and Lü arose to raise its waves. Only in our dynasty's Realized Man Zhang Ziyang's Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir does one find the root and foundation of creation and transformation encompassed, and the very marrow of yin and yang threaded through — it is the stairway into the Way, the pathway of cultivating the real. Though its words are not many, its meaning has reached uniquely far. Turning it over three times, thinking on it again, I have made this commentary for myself.

Someone may raise the difficulty and ask: why is this called "the golden elixir"? I answer: the elixir is what every single person already possesses in full, each one already perfectly complete. If one can use the fire of the sevenfold return to refine the metal of the ninefold reversion, then the way of the elixir is accomplished. Those who arrived first obtained the hare and forgot the snare; later students paint the snake and add feet to it. A clear-eyed person is hard to deceive — let none begrudge this small act of guidance.

Written in the first year of the Chunyou reign, the cyclical year xinchou, in the month of Pure Yang, on the day of Pure Yin — preface by Huang Ziru, the Householder Yunkong, west of the city of Xujiang.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Meditation and Inner Alchemy shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The work falls into three registers, handled differently: Huang Ziru's long opening preface and closing postscript are prose and are translated as prose; the twenty core quatrains are five-character verse and are kept as verse, four lines each; and the twenty bracketed glosses that follow each quatrain — marked 解曰, "the explanation says," in most of the original, or simply set off in brackets — are prose commentary, translated as prose and set beneath their verse in the same alternating order as the source.

Before the claim below was written, a genuine translation-status check was performed: the two local bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western-language translation were searched by the Chinese title, its pinyin, and Zhang Boduan's name, confirming a DZ number and three prior translations of the bare verses; three bounded web searches were then run under the Chinese title, the pinyin title, and the translators of the 1940 English version, and one further page — Fabrizio Pregadio's own description of his translation — was fetched to confirm which commentary each prior translation actually carries. All three identified translations — Davis and Chao Yün-ts'ung (1940), Cleary (1986), and Pregadio — translate Zhang Boduan's verses alongside a commentary, but in every case a different and later one than Huang Ziru's: Cleary's is the eighteenth-century gloss of Liu Yiming, Pregadio's the commentary of Peng Haogu from around 1600. No published English translation of Huang Ziru's own 1241 preface and commentary was found. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the verses together with Huang Ziru's preface and commentary. We state this as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty.

A note on the text and on a few terms. The Wikisource transcription contains a handful of small passages that do not fully cohere as written, most likely ordinary slips between visually similar characters — 文 ("text") read as 又 ("also") at one point, 杏 ("apricot") read as 杳 ("obscure") at another, a Five Phase term naming "wood" where the sentence's own argument points to "fire," a numeral in the preface's time-unit arithmetic that contradicts its own surrounding sentence and a later restatement of the same figure. None is marked as a variant in the transcription; each is translated as literally as sense allows and flagged for the reader rather than silently resolved. On terms: 藥物 (yaowu), literally "the medicinal substance," is translated throughout as "the medicine," the convention of English-language neidan scholarship; 火候 (huohou), the timing and intensity of the alchemical "fire," is rendered "fire-phasing." Buddhist loanwords already naturalized in the Chinese — samadhi (三昧), the Three Realms (三界) — are kept visible rather than folded into native Daoist vocabulary, since the text itself does not hide them.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation and editorial work.

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Source Text: 金丹四百字 (黃自如注)

Classical Chinese text of the Zhengtong Daozang, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above. 〔 〕 marks small-type commentary notes as formatted in the transcription.

題張平叔撰，黃自如注。

金丹四百字并序

天台紫陽真人張平叔撰

旴江蘊空居士黃自如註

七返九還金液大丹者，七乃火數，九乃金數，以火煉金，返本還源，謂之金丹也。以身心分上下兩弦，以神氣別冬夏二至，以形神契坎離二卦。以東魂之木，西魄之金，南神之火，北精之水，中意之土，是為攢簇五行。以含眼光，凝耳韻，調鼻息，絨舌氣，是為和合四象。以眼不視而魂在肝，耳不聞而精在腎，舌不聲而神在心，鼻不香而魄在肺，四肢不動而意在脾，故名曰五氣朝元。以精化為氣，以氣化為神，以神化為虛，故名曰三花聚頂。以魂在肝而不從眼漏，魄在肺而不從鼻漏，神在心而不從口漏，精在腎而不從耳漏，意在脾而不從四肢孔竅漏，故曰無漏。精、神、魂、魄、意相與混融，化為一氣，不可見聞，亦無名狀，故曰虛無。煉精者，煉元精，非淫佚所感之精。煉氣者，煉元氣，非口鼻呼吸之氣。煉神者，煉元神，非心意念慮之神。故此神、氣、精者，與天地同其根，與萬物同其體，得之則生，失之則死。以陽火煉之，則化成陽氣。以陰符養之，則化成陰精。故曰見之不可用，用之不可見。身者，心之宅；心者，身之主。心之猖狂如龍，身之獰惡如虎。身中有一點真陽之氣，心中有一點真陰之精，故曰二物。心屬乾，身屬坤，故曰乾坤鼎器。陽氣屬離，陰精屬坎，故曰烏兔、藥物。抱一守中，煉元養素，故曰採先天混元之氣。朝屯暮蒙，畫午夜子，故曰行周天之火候。木液旺在卯，金精旺在酉，故當沐浴。震男飲西酒，兌女攀北花，巽風吹起六陽坤土藏蓄之數，故當抽添。夫採藥之初也，動乾坤之橐籥，取離坎之刀圭。初時如雲滿千山，次則如月涵萬水，自然如龜蛇之交合，馬牛之步驟。殊不知龍爭魂，虎爭魄，烏戰精，兔戰神，恍惚之中見真鉛，杏冥之內有真汞。以黃婆媒合，守在中宮，鉛見火則飛，汞見火則走，遂以無為油和之，復以無名璞鎮之，鉛歸坤宮，汞歸乾位，真土混合，含光默默。火數盛則燥，水錄多則濫，火之燥，水之濫，不可以不調匀，故有斤兩法度。修煉至此，泥丸風生，绛宮月明，丹田火熾，穀海波澄，夾脊如車輪，四肢如山石，毛竅如浴之方起，骨脉如睡之正酣，精神如夫婦歡合，魂魄如子母留戀，此乃真境界也，非譬喻也。以法度煉之，則聚而不散。以斤兩煉之，則結而愈堅。魂藏魄滅，精結神凝，一意沖和，肌膚爽透，隨日隨時，漸凝漸聚，無質生質，結成聖胎。夫一年，十有二月也。一月，三十日也。一日，百刻也。一月總計三千刻，十月總計三萬刻，行住坐吼叫，綿綿若存，胎氣既凝，嬰兒顯相，玄珠成象，太乙含真，故此二萬刻之中，可以奪天上三萬年之數。何也？一刻之工夫，自有一年之節候，所以二萬刻，可以奪三萬年之數也。故一年十二月，總有三萬六千之數。雖愚昧小人行之，立擠聖地。奈何百姓日用而不知也，元精喪也，元氣竭也，元神離也，是以三萬刻，刻刻要調和。如有一刻差遠，則藥材消耗，火候虧缺，故曰毫髮差殊不作丹也。是宜刻刻用事，用之不勞，真氣凝結，元神廣大。內則一年煉三萬刻之丹，外則一身奪三萬年之數。大則一日結一萬三千五百息之胎，小則十二時行八萬四千里之氣。故曰奪天地一點之陽，採日月二輪之氣，行真水於鉛爐，運真火於汞鼎。以鉛見汞，名曰華池。以汞入鉛，名曰神水。不可執於無為，不可形於有作，不可泥於存想，不可著於持守，不可枯坐灰心，不可盲修瞎煉，惟恐不識藥材出處，文恐不知火候法度。要須知夫身，中一竅，名曰玄牝，此竅者非心非腎，非口鼻也，非脾胃也，非穀道也，非膀胱也，非丹田也，非泥丸也。能知此之一竅，則冬至在此矣，藥物在此矣，火候亦在此矣，沐浴亦在此矣。結胎在此矣，脫體不在此矣。夫此一竅，亦無邊傍，更無內咎，乃神氣之根，虛無之谷，在身中而求之，不可求於他也。此之一竅，不可以私急為度，是必心傳口授。苟或不耳，皆妄為矣。今作此《金丹四百字》，包含造化之根基，貫穿陰陽之骨髓，使煉丹之士，尋流而知源，舍妄以從真，不至乎忘本逐末也。夫金丹於無中生有，養就嬰兒，豈可泥象執文而溺於旁膜曲徑。然金丹之生於無也，又不可為頑空，常知此空乃是真空，無中不無乃真虛無。今因馬自然去講此數語，汝其味之。

真土擒真鉛，真鉛制真汞。鉛汞歸真土，身心寂不動。

〔解曰：真土者，身中之土也。鉛汞者，身中之水火也。以土剋水，則鉛可擒矣。以水剋火，則汞可制矣。鉛水汞火皆為真土之擒制者何哉？蓋緣身心俱合，寂然不動，而後土、水、木三者可以混融為一，此乃是採藥物歸爐鼎之內也。〕

虛無發下雪，寂靜發黃芽。玉爐火溫溫，鼎上飛紫霞。

〔解曰：白雪須要虛空而生，以其無中生有。黃芽須待火養而生，以其火能生土。正如天地之間，當子母之月，陽氣未萌，是物泯於無也，則白雪自天而下。乃寅卯之月，陽氣漸盛，是靜中有動也，則黃芽自地而出矣。白雪、黃芽既見發生，則玉爐之火但要溫養，自然鼎上紫霞騰空而飛。若火大武，則衝散矣。〕

華池蓮花開，神水金波靜。夜深月正明，天地一輪鏡。

〔解曰：華者，花也，花猶火也。神者，心也，心屬火也。金丹之要，在乎神水、華池，即是水火既濟之理。水中有波，瑩然潔靜，則火里生蓮，自然開花矣。若到夜半子時，一陽初動，其月正明，透體金光照見天地之間，如一輪之明鏡。〕

朱砂煉陽氣，水銀烹金精。金精與陽氣，朱砂而水銀。

〔解曰：陽氣者，身中一點真陽之氣。金精者，心中一點真陰之精。以陽火煉之，則如朱砂。以陰符養之，則如水銀。朱砂、水銀，乃外物也。以外藥而比，內丹，神仙不得已而語矣。〕

日魂玉兔脂，月魄金烏髓。撿來歸鼎中，化作一泓水。

〔解曰：魂主木，木能生火，故神者，魂藏之。魄主金，金能生水，故精者，魄藏之。苟能吸風以養神，吸氣以養精，精神混合調和於鼎，內，則為一泓水。〕

藥物生玄竅，火候發陽爐。龍虎交會時，寶鼎產玄珠。

〔解曰：藥物者，鳥肝、兔髓、紅汞、黑鉛也。皆生於玄竅之中，若能奮三昧之火發陽爐之內，則龍虎交會，煉金、木，生黃芽，而後產一粒之玄珠。〕

此竅非凡物，乾坤共合成。名為神氣穴，內有坎離精。

〔解曰：玄牝之竅，非凡間物。未有此身，先有此竅。不在上，不在下，不在中間，所謂先天一竅是也。方其生，身之物，乾父之精，坤母之血，相共合成。乃神氣之穴，而藏水火之精。〕

木汞一點紅，金鉛三斤黑。鉛汞結丹砂，耿耿紫金色。

〔解曰：紅者，汞色紅，為一點。黑者，鉛也，色黑，重三斤。金中之鉛，木中之汞，兩者凝結，便成丹頭。更加九轉火候，則其色如紫金。〕

家園景物一，風雨正春時。犁鋤不廢力，大地皆黃金。

〔解曰：家園者，身中之真土也。景物者，身中之藥物也。迨夫一陽來復之後，有風以吹之，有雨以潤之。及至三陽交泰之時，雖犁鋤不廢其力，而大地皆黃芽自土中而迸出也。以黃金言之，取其黃芽之色如金也。〕

真鉛生於坎，其用在離宮。以黑而變紅，一鼎雲氣濃。真汞產於離，其用却在坎。姹女過南園，手持玉橄欖。

〔真鉛者，北精之水，而上升於離宮。真汞者，南神之火，而下降於坎戶。鉛之與汞合而為一，近觀則有紅黑色，遠看則如玉橄欖。姹女過南圍而乘龍，嬰兒往北地而騎虎。龍蟠金鼎，虎遶丹田，雲從龍，風從虎，其一鼎之內藹然雲氣之薰蒸矣。〕

震兌非東西，坎離不南北。斗柄運周天，要人會攢簇。

〔解曰：震、兌、坎、離，非凡間之東、西、南、北，乃天地之卦氣也。正如斗柄之指月建，一日一周天。身中之起火，頃刻一周天。若不能攢簇五行，則何以同斗柄之運轉。〕

火候不用時，冬至不在子。乃其沐浴法，卯酉時虛比。

〔解曰：大凡火候，非子時冬至、午時夏至也。及其沐浴，非卯時春分、酉時秋分也。人之一身纔起火周天，自有抽添沐浴，非可拘泥於四時也。〕

烏肝與兔髓，擒來歸一處。一粒復一粒，從微而至著。

〔解曰：鳥肝者，日魂也。兔髓者，月魄也。擒制為一處，而以火煉之，日生一粒，如黍米大。自微至著，積銖而成兩，三十日重三十八銖四象。三百日重三百八十四銖，方圓一寸而重一斤矣。〕

混沌包虛空，虛空括三界。及尋其根源，一粒如黍大。

〔解曰：夫混沌者，陰陽交媾也。乃是攢簇五行，合和四象，則量同虛空，而虛空可包矣。神遊三界，而三界可括矣。推究其根源之所在，則起於玄牝之門，大如一粒之黍。〕

天地交真液，日月合真精。會得坎離基，三界歸一身。

〔解曰：心液下降，腎液上升，則天地交真液矣。魂是烏之精，魄是兔之精，則日月合真精矣。若人曉得坎離交媾之基，則天門開，地戶閉，日照崑崙，月生滄海，而三界在吾一身矣。〕

龍從東海來，虎向西山起。兩獸戰一場，化作天地髓。

〔解曰：震為青龍，來從東海。兌為白虎，起向西山。若使龍吟雲起而下降，虎嘯風生而上升，二獸相逢戰於黃屋之前，則風雲慶會，自混合為一塊髓矣。〕

金花開汞葉，玉蒂長鉛枝。坎離不曾閑，乾坤今幾時。

〔解曰：金花者，金精也。上有金花，能開汞葉。玉蒂者，玉液也。下有玉蒂，能長鉛枝。人能使坎離之運用不至閑散，則一刻之工夫，可奪天地一年之數，能要幾多時候。〕

沐浴防危險，抽添自謹持。都來三萬刻，差失恐毫釐。

〔解曰：沐浴乃超脫之法，七層寶塔，三級紅樓，自下而升，要防危險。抽添乃朝元之法，陽起子初，陰生午後，若不謹持終須失。夫一日百刻也，一月三千刻，刻刻用事，用之不勞，則十月三萬刻，可奪三萬年之數。若毫髮差殊，不作丹矣。〕

夫婦交會時，洞房雲雨作。一載生箇兒，箇箇會騎鶴。

〔解曰：坎宮嬰兒，離宮姹女。若得黃婆媒合而結為夫婦，洞房交接，雨散雲收，便成聖胎。及至一載生兒便跨鶴，自泥丸宮出矣。夫十箇月懷胎，兩箇月沐浴，共成一載矣。〕

《陰符》三百字，或者病其簡。《道德》五千言，或者病其繁。聖人著書，烏可輕議。簡者非簡也，芥子納須彌。繁者非繁也，大海容百川。自黃老之心學不傳，寥寥數千年間，有伯陽以導其流，有鍾呂以揚其波。惟我國朝張紫陽真人《金丹四百字》，包含造化之根基，貫穿陰陽之骨髓，乃入道之階梯，是修真之徑路。言雖不多，意已獨至。三復再思，自為注解。人或難之曰：何以謂之金丹。余答曰：丹者，人人本具，箇箇圓成。若能以七返之火，煉九還之金，則丹之道成矣。先達者得兔忘蹄，後學者畫蛇添足。明眼人難瞞，毋吝點化云。淳祐改元歲次辛丑，純陽月純陰日，旴江城西蘊空居士黃自如序。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Zhengtong Daozang edition of this text (article 金丹四百字 (黃自如注), revision of 10 October 2017), inspected from a witness copy captured on 8 August 2026. Chinese Wikisource transcriptions are published under CC BY-SA 4.0 and the GFDL; the text itself is ancient and in the public domain. The wiki header and license templates have been removed; the text is otherwise complete and unaltered.

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