Ziqing Zhixuan Pian — Alchemical Treatises of Bai Yuchan

This is a small anthology of inner-alchemical (neidan) writings gathered in the Daoist Canon under the title 紫清指玄篇, "Chapters Pointing to the Mystery, by Ziqing." Ziqing ("Purple Clarity") was the sobriquet of Bai Yuchan 白玉蟾 (c. 1194 – after 1229), a native of Hainan and the effective founding patriarch of the Southern Lineage (Nanzong) of Daoist internal alchemy, a poet, calligrapher, and master of thunder ritual as well as of the "Golden Elixir." The pieces collected here are traditionally attributed to him and to his circle; one, a song, is dated within the text itself to the mid-autumn of the first year of the Kaixi reign (1205). The Canon's own catalogue record for this exact title could not be confirmed in the course of preparing this translation, so no Daozang number is given here; readers should treat the attribution and dating as traditional rather than independently verified.

The anthology mixes forms: five prose discourses (論) on the "Mysterious Pass," on doubts about immortality, on Nature and Life-Destiny, on the "Valley Spirit," and on the rise and fall of yin and yang; a long teaching dialogue in six exchanges, set at Crane Grove, between Bai Yuchan and the disciple Peng Si; an address in ornate parallel prose to a disciple named Hu Taixian; a rhapsody (賦) on the "Reverted Elixir"; and a run of songs, regulated verse, and song-lyrics (詞) to the tune "Prelude in Water Melody." Two threads run through all of it: an insistence, borrowed as much from Chan Buddhism as from the Daodejing, that the alchemical "furnace and cauldron" are ultimately the body and mind and nothing else; and a technical vocabulary — lead and mercury, dragon and tiger, the trigrams Kan and Li, the "fire phasing" (huohou 火候) by which the inner work is timed — that this translation keeps as the text's own working language rather than smoothing into plain English throughout.

One term is worth flagging before the reader meets it: xuanguan 玄關, the "Mysterious Pass" or "Mysterious Barrier," the first essay's subject and the collection's recurring center of gravity. The text itself insists it names no anatomical point but a state — the mind emptied of mind — and the translation keeps "Pass" capitalized throughout to mark that it is being used as this text's own term of art, not a plain English noun.

Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese of the Daoist Canon, which is printed in full below the translation. A published translation of one component essay in isolation could not be ruled out (see the Colophon), so no claim of outright firstness is made; to our knowledge, however, no complete published English translation of this collection as a whole exists.

Translation

Discourse Revealing the Secret of the Mysterious Pass

A single word, half a phrase, and one penetrates the mystery — what use are ten thousand volumes of elixir scriptures? If a person is not burdened by the body, then right before his eyes is the Great Canopy Heaven. If you wish to refine the body and refine the spirit, you must know how to return to the root and restore the mandate.

Hence it is said: returning to the root has its own aperture of returning to the root; restoring the mandate must seek its own pass of restoring the mandate. As for this pass and aperture — if a person truly knows where it is, then what difficulty is there in returning to the root and restoring the mandate?

Therefore it is said: Emptiness-and-non-being gives birth to spontaneity; spontaneity gives birth to the Great Way; the Great Way gives birth to the One Breath; the One Breath divides into yin and yang; yin and yang become Heaven and Earth; Heaven and Earth give birth to the ten thousand things — this is the root of creation and transformation. This is the breath of true oneness, prior to the ten thousand forms.

Great Void, Great Non-being; Great Emptiness, Great Mystery — dim and dark beyond it, not to be measured in feet and inches; vast and boundless, not to be fathomed by any shore. Its greatness has no outside; its smallness has no inside. Great, it encloses Heaven and Earth; small, it enters the tip of an autumn hair. Above it there is no further color; below it there is no further abyss. One thing, perfectly whole, has stood revealed through a thousand ages, yet it cannot be named. The sages made contact with it through the mind, and, having no other choice, named it "the Way."

From this one knows that the mind itself is the Way. Hence: no mind, and one is joined to the Way; mind present, and one turns from the Way. Only this single word "non-being" embraces all being without remainder, and gives birth to the ten thousand things without ever being exhausted.

Heaven and Earth, great as they are, can command what has form, but cannot command what is formless. Yin and yang, subtle as they are, can command what has breath, but cannot command what is breathless.

The Five Phases, however refined, can command what has number, but cannot command what is beyond number. The hundred thoughts, however they rise in confusion, can command what has awareness, but cannot command what is beyond awareness.

Now, those who cultivate this principle had best first refine the body. The subtlety of refining the body lies in congealing the spirit: when the spirit is congealed, the breath gathers; when the breath gathers, the elixir is formed; when the elixir is formed, the body is made solid; when the body is solid, the spirit is made whole.

Hence the Realized Man Tan said: "Forget the body, to nourish the breath; forget the breath, to nourish the spirit; forget the spirit, to nourish the Void."

This single word "forget" is itself no-thing. "Originally there is not one thing — where could dust ever settle!" Is this not what is meant? If one can savor this principle, and put one's effort into this single word "forget," one may enter the deep subtlety of the Great Way, seize the wondrous working of spontaneity, establish the foundation of the elixir in the space of a moment, and turn the wheel of creation and transformation within one's own body.

Yet as for this Way: looked at, it is silent and empty, and nothing is seen; listened for, it is dim and dark, and nothing is heard. Only when one looks with the mind does it have image; only when one listens with the mind does it have sound.

If the student of the Way darkens the mind and congeals the spirit, carries emptiness to its limit and holds fast to stillness, then "the empty chamber gives birth to brightness" — truly, this is spontaneity.

It is only the Most High who saves people, teaching them to cultivate and refine, taking Qian and Kun as the cauldron and tripod, the crow and the hare as the medicine, taking the rising and sinking of the sun's soul to answer to the rising and falling of the breath and blood, taking the waxing and waning of the moon's soul to answer to the waning and waxing of essence and spirit, taking the season-nodes of the four seasons to answer to the hours of a single day, taking the star-numbers of the revolving heavens to answer to the creation and transformation within a single furnace.

Therefore, one gathers essence and spirit to make the medicine, and takes stillness and settledness to make the fire; with the fire of stillness and settledness one refines the medicine of essence and spirit, and so the Golden Liquor Great Reverted Elixir is formed.

For in the meeting of true yin and true yang, the pairing of the one water and the one fire, the essential thing is first to distinguish the floating from the sinking, next to make clear the host from the guest, to examine closely the working of withdrawing and adding, and to observe the safety and danger of reversal and return.

As Gao Xiangxian said: "Gathering has its season; taking has its day."

Liu Haichan said: "Opening and closing, Qian and Kun hold the power of creation; smelting and refining, one furnace makes the true sun and moon."

He who is able to awaken to this takes the working of sun and moon as his model, and shares his achievement with Heaven and Earth. For who would know that Heaven nourishes what is without image, and Earth nourishes what is without body? Hence Heaven is long-lasting and Earth enduring, the sun shines and the moon is bright, and that One abides forever — the Void does not decay.

I now take this as pattern and image: no affairs trouble my mind, no mind clings to affairs. Looking within at the mind, the mind has no mind; looking without at the body, the body has no body; looking far off at things, things have no thing. Knowing the mind is no-mind, knowing the body is no-body, knowing things are no-thing, one rises above the ten thousand illusions, and stands firm as the single numinous.

An ancient scripture says: "It gave me birth in emptiness, and set me down in non-being." One should therefore return to the Great Beginning of the root of one's nature, turn back to before one was ever born, hide the mind within the mind so that it is not seen, hide the spirit within the spirit so that it does not go out.

Then one is able to pass freely through the three times, the ten thousand conditions grow clear and still, the six roots are purified, the inch-square heart becomes empty and bright. One does not linger in emptiness, does not linger in non-being; one empties whatever is emptied, negates whatever is negated, until one reaches the emptying of emptiness itself and the negation of negation itself — clean and bare, naked and stripped — and then the numinous alone remains.

The Way does not desire emptiness, yet emptiness returns to it of itself; if a person can empty the mind, the Way returns to him of itself.

The Way is fundamentally without name. Near, it cannot be grasped; far, it cannot be abandoned. It is neither square nor round, neither inner nor outer. Only the sage knows it.

The three poisons have no root; the six desires have no seed. Awaken suddenly to this principle, and return to emptiness and non-being.

Lord Lao said: "Between Heaven and Earth, is it not like a bellows? Empty, yet it never collapses; the more it moves, the more comes forth."

If, in stillness and settledness, one can embrace the breath of harmony and hold fast to the essence of the One, this is sealing the furnace and making it fast, in order to carry out the fire phasing.

Fire is properly the trigram Li of the southern quarter, and belongs to the heart. The heart is the spirit; the spirit is the fire. The breath is the medicine. To refine the medicine with the fire and complete the elixir is precisely to govern the breath with the spirit and complete the Way.

If a person can knead the sun and moon in the hand and grasp the primal chaos in the mind, then naturally he will see the opening and closing of the bellows, the rising and falling of the River Chariot: water assisting the Palace of the Mandate, fire irrigating the Elixir Terrace, metal and wood joined together, water and earth blended in harmony; the crone rides the dragon, the metal elder mounts the tiger; in reverse they pass through the Three Passes, rising to the Inner Court, transformed into jade mercury; descending into the Twelve-Storied Tower, at whose center there is a single point called the Elixir Terrace, where lead and mercury cast themselves upon each other and water and fire are joined. The instant intention arrives, it is like the matching of a seal to its counterpart, a contract to its tally — spontaneously so, meeting without prior arrangement. There is a motion within motion that comes out of no motion; there is a doing within doing that comes out of no doing. At that moment, white snow fills the sky and yellow sprouts cover the ground; the dragon sings and the tiger roars; the husband sings and the wife follows; the jade cauldron simmers its broth, the metal furnace blazes with fire; thunder crashes and lightning flashes, shaking Heaven and Earth; the hundred vessels stand on end, the Three Passes are pierced through, the Mysterious Pearl takes shape, the Great Unity returns to the real. In the Mud Pellet a wind rises; in the Crimson Palace the moon is bright; in the Elixir Field mist grows warm; on the Valley Sea the waves grow still. To refine and complete the Reverted Elixir is then as easy as turning over one's hand. Sevenfold returned and ninefold reverted, the Great Medicine at last is formed; refined by day and decocted by the hour, until the ninth cycle — and then the pivot of Heaven and the axis of Earth lie within one's own hand.

A scripture says: "If a person can be forever clear and still, Heaven and Earth in their entirety return to him."

This is the Three Flowers gathering at the crown, the Five Breaths paying court to the origin; one may thereby enter the gate of all mysteries, mystery upon mystery. Furthermore, one can by day set the numinous banner in motion and by night quicken the fiery mushroom, warming and nourishing the sacred embryo until it brings forth the crimson child; and when it comes to shedding the embryo and transforming into spirit, turning back to yang and exchanging the bones, this is the jade talisman preserving the spirit, the golden liquor refining the body — body and spirit both made wondrous, joined with the Way in the real.

Zhang Pingshu said: "In but the time it takes to eat a meal, one may forever preserve boundless joy." Truly these words ring true!

For this is the foundation of the Way, the root of Virtue, the ancestor of dragon and tiger, the forebear of lead and mercury, the place where the three fires gather and the eight waters return, the gate where the ten thousand spirits hold court, the source of the wondrous working of the Golden Elixir — it is the pass and aperture of returning to the root and restoring the mandate.

Once one is able to know this, then desire need not be driven off, yet the mind grows still of itself; the mind need not be clarified, yet the spirit grows pure of itself. Not one thought arises, and the ten thousand illusions all lie down to rest. The body rides the whirlwind aloft, the spirit wanders the vast wastes — and only then does one know that the clear wind and the bright moon everywhere display the working of lead and mercury, and the green water and the blue mountain everywhere reveal the meaning of dragon and tiger.

I, Bai Yuchan of Hainan, from youth served my late master Chen Niwan and studied the art of the elixir with him. Every time the winter solstice fell at midday, I would open Qian and close Xun, hold fast Kun and stop up Gen, take my stand upon the Heavenly Ladle and grasp the Dipper's handle; I would pay court to the Yellow Emperor, pass by Fusang, enter the Palace of Vast Cold, face the Quail's Tail, raise the Yellow Bell, drift the sea-raft, ascend Mount Kunlun, wear the talisman of Tang, shake the thunder of Heaven, roam Mount Wu, call the Yellow Lad, summon the Vermilion Child, take the liver of the Green Dragon, the marrow of the White Tiger, the blood of the Crimson Phoenix, and the essence of the Black Tortoise; enter the tally of the earth, rouse Mars, command Ebo, and transform all this into cinnabar sand. I would open the Flowery Pool, drink the numinous water, sip the sword-hilt measure, pass from non-being into being, and bring forth substance from what has no substance — withdrawing lead and adding mercury, until the sacred embryo was formed. When ten months were complete, the breath was full and the form round: a body outside the body — this is called the Embryo Immortal.

The formula for this says: "Undivided in purpose, then one may congeal the spirit; the mind reduced to ash, dim and dark, the Golden Elixir is formed within." This is what I myself attained, and it is exactly so.

Shi Jianwu's poem says: "Breath is the medicine that adds to one's years; the mind is the spirit that directs the breath. If one knows the master that moves the breath, then one has attained to being an immortal." This poem alone is simple and clear, penetrating the mystery and fashioning its wonder; therefore I wear it and recite it. Naturally one arrives at the place where autumn gazes on the bright sky, where the Void dissolves and perishes — none but a man like dead wood or a cold spring can know this. Having attained it myself, I dare not keep silent about it.

The Most High Mysterious Statutes says: "Meet the right person and fail to transmit it — one loses the Way of Heaven; transmit it to the wrong person — one loses Heaven's treasure." To the ends of the earth and the corners of the sea I have searched, and found no one; I dare not transmit it lightly, for fear of incurring Heaven's punishment. Yet deeply concerned that the Great Way might go untransmitted and the art of the elixir be lost, I have therefore written this "Discourse Revealing the Secret of the Mysterious Pass" — meaning to instruct this generation and proclaim it to later students, so as to prolong the single thread of the Golden Elixir's lineage.

Fearing further that people of the world might still be in the dark about this principle, I have said it once more: look at the eye with the eye, listen to the ear with the ear, regulate the nose with the nose, seal the mouth with the mouth — hidden and submerged, or soaring and leaping, all is rooted in the one mind.

First one should practice settledness and congeal the spirit, checking anger and stopping desire. Checking anger and stopping desire, water and fire come to their proper meeting; water and fire meeting properly, metal and wood are joined together; metal and wood joined together, the true earth returns to its place; the true earth returning to its place, the Golden Elixir naturally grows as large as a grain of millet. Day by day, grain by grain, the spirit returns and the breath is restored, until it fills Heaven and Earth.

This is what Mencius meant when he said, "I am skilled at nourishing my flood-like breath."

When the breath of the liver is whole, there is benevolence; when the breath of the lungs is whole, there is righteousness; when the breath of the heart is whole, there is propriety; when the breath of the kidneys is whole, there is wisdom; when the breath of the spleen is whole, there is trustworthiness. If the breath one receives is deficient, then one lacks benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness — how could such a one be called human!

If a person can congeal in emptiness and nourish the flood-like breath, the mind grows broad and the body at ease, and the mother of breath is thereby formed. Then to bind the elixir together is very easy indeed. How could one not make generous provision for this nourishment, in order to preserve one's own primal source? Let students of the Way ponder this!

Respectfully written down, and given to Liu Ziyuan.

Discourse Resolving Doubts about Cultivating Immortality

I, Bai Yuchan of Hainan, had served Chen Niwan since my youth — nine years had now passed — when one day, beneath the shade of pines on a mountain slope, with clear wind and bright moon, the night still and the mist cold, I fell to thinking how great a matter life and death are, and how swiftly impermanence comes. So I bowed my head to the ground and made obeisance twice, and asked: "I, Yuchan, have served my master not long, and reckon myself of scant blessing and shallow karmic bond. May I dare ask whether in this present life I have any portion that allows me to become an immortal?" Chen Niwan said: "Every single person may — how much more so you?"

Yuchan said: "Without flinching from the responsibility your dignity lays on me, I venture to put forward a presumptuous question: how many gates are there to cultivating immortality? How many methods to refining the elixir? My foolish understanding is like jade and stone not yet told apart — I beg a single word to enlighten me."

Chen Niwan said: "Come here, and I will tell you. Cultivating immortality has three grades; refining the elixir has three levels of attainment. As for the Way of the Heavenly Immortal, which can transform and ascend flying — the superior student may learn it: taking the body as lead and the mind as mercury, stillness as water and wisdom as fire, in the space of a single meal it may congeal, and in ten months the embryo is formed. This is the highest grade of the art of refining the elixir. It has fundamentally no hexagram lines, no weights of pounds and ounces; its method is simple and easy, and so it is transmitted by mind alone, and very readily accomplished. As for the Way of the Water Immortal, which can go out and come in, hide and appear — the middling student may learn it: taking the breath as lead and the spirit as mercury, the noon hour as fire and the midnight hour as water, in the space of a hundred days it may be blended, and in three years its image is formed. This is the middle grade of the art of refining the elixir. Though it has hexagram lines, it has no weights of pounds and ounces; its method is essential and subtle, and so it is transmitted by mouth, and can certainly be accomplished. As for the Way of the Earthbound Immortal, which can retain its form and remain in the world — the ordinary student may learn it: taking essence as lead and blood as mercury, the kidneys as water and the heart as fire, in the space of a year it may be fused together, and in nine years its work is complete. This is the lowest grade of the art of refining the elixir. It has both hexagram lines and weights of pounds and ounces; its method is elaborate and difficult, and so it is transmitted in writing, and may be feared hard to accomplish."

"In the highest grade of elixir method, essence, spirit, hun-soul, po-soul, and intent are the medicinal materials, walking-standing-sitting-lying are the fire phasing, and clarity, stillness, and spontaneity are the working. In the middle grade of elixir method, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys are the medicinal materials, the years, months, days, and hours are the fire phasing, and embracing the origin and holding fast to the One are the working. In the lowest grade of elixir method, essence, blood, marrow, breath, and fluid are the medicinal materials, closing off, swallowing, contracting, and massaging are the fire phasing, and visualization and circulation are the working. On the whole, the wondrous point does not lie in searching for a fine horse by matching it to a picture. If a student sticks fast to images and clings to the written word, he only puffs himself up in vain, and will reach old age with nothing accomplished."

Yuchan said: "I have read the elixir scriptures for many years, as though walking through brambles and thorns. Today the dust is washed away and the mirror is bright, the clouds have parted and the moon shines clear; all the ten thousand methods are gathered into the One, all the ten thousand illusions are folded back into the real. But I still do not know exactly where I am to set my hand and apply my effort."

Chen Niwan said: "What an excellent question! As for the essentials of refining the elixir: take the body as the altar, the furnace, the cauldron, and the stove; take the mind as the chamber of the spirit; take sitting upright in settled meditation as gathering and taking; take holding on and watching over as carrying out the fire; take arising and ceasing as advancing and retreating; take broken continuity and want of single-mindedness as the dike and the guard; take the working itself as withdrawing and adding; take steaming by the true breath as bathing; take the stilling of thought as nourishing the fire; take the subduing of body and mind as the wild campaign; take the congealing of spirit and gathering of breath as guarding the city; take the forgetting of scheming and the cutting off of concern as birth and killing; take the place where a thought first stirs as the Mysterious Female; take the fusing of all this into a single lump as the joining and knotting; take the returning to the root and restoring of the mandate as the completion of the elixir; take the shifting of the spirit as the exchange of the cauldron; take the body outside the body as the shedding of the embryo; take the return to the root and the going back to the source as the true emptiness; take the breaking open of the Void as the final resolution. So then: gathered, it forms a body; scattered, it forms breath; going and coming without hindrance — free and at ease, spontaneously so."

Yuchan said: "One who is diligent yet has not met a teacher will surely meet a Perfected one; one who has met a teacher yet is not diligent will end as a lowly ghost. As for this method of cultivating the elixir, what proofs and verifications does it have?"

Chen Niwan said: "When one first begins to refine the elixir, the spirit is clear and the breath is fresh, the body and mind are at harmony and ease, old ailments are entirely dissolved, and dreams no longer cloud the sleep; for a hundred days one need not eat, and wine no longer intoxicates. Having reached this stage, the red blood is exchanged for white blood, the yin breath is refined into yang breath; the body is as if burning with fire, and one walks as though flying; the mouth can dry out mercury, the breath one blows can scorch meat; facing any object, one has no mind toward it, thus-like and unmoved; one commands ghosts and spirits, and calls forth thunder and rain at will; the ear hears the nine heavens, the eye sees ten thousand miles; the whole body becomes pure yang, sinews of gold and bones of jade; the yang spirit beholds its own form, going out and coming in of itself. This is the completion of the Way of long life and no death.

"But I fear that people of the world cling fast to talk of medicines and fire-phasing, taking them to be matters of form and deliberate action, and so cannot awaken to this all at once. For who would know that before chaos was ever divided, how could there be years, months, days, or hours? Before father and mother had given life, how could there be essence, blood, breath, and fluid? The Way is fundamentally without form, and is likened to dragon and tiger; the Way is fundamentally without name, and is compared to lead and mercury. If one is to study the Way of the Heavenly Immortal, one must make body and spirit both wondrous, and be joined with the Way in the real — how could one still be bound by yin and yang within the Five Phases? One must leap clear beyond Heaven and Earth before one may be called a person who has attained the Way.

"Some doubt and say: this method is somewhat the same as Chan learning. Little do they know that talking and expounding, questioning and answering all day long is only dry wisdom, and sitting withered and dull, sunk in a stupor year after year, is only an illusory emptiness. But the learning of the Heavenly Immortal is like a pearl on a crystal plate: rolling, glistening, alive and lively, naturally round and complete, radiant and bright. What is called the Heavenly Immortal is precisely the Golden Immortal. This is a wonder that cannot be transmitted in words — who among men knows it? Who among men practices it? Under Heaven there are not two Ways; the sage has not two minds — how much more so, since every single person is fully endowed with it, and each one is perfectly complete in it. This is exactly what is meant by: every green willow will do to tether a horse to, every household's gate opens onto the road to the capital — one need only take the shortcut, and that is all."

Yuchan said: "Throughout the world those who study immortality are countless, and yet truly it is because they study without meeting a teacher, or meet a teacher without practicing, or practice without perseverance, until at last, grown old, they willingly go down to death beneath the Nine Springs — is this not a bitter grief indeed! Now I intend to carve on wood the oral instructions transmitted by my master, and pass them on to the world. But this reveals Heaven's secret very deeply — will it not bring down punishment?"

Niwan said: "I mean to enlighten and transform the immortals of the whole world. If, in doing so, blame is incurred, would Heaven then no longer be Heaven? A scripture says: My fate lies with me and not with Heaven — what punishment could there be?"

Yuchan said: "Our patriarch Zhang Pingshu transmitted this three times to the wrong person, and three times met with disaster — how was that?"

Niwan said: "At that time he himself lacked discernment, and moreover his intent was not impartial! Ah — the teacher at the edge of Heaven, the disciple at the corner of the sea: how much harder still, amid the dust and toil of the world, to recognize the right person! Now I will simply have this printed and circulated throughout the world, so that students of immortality may seek out the text and ponder its meaning, and its wondrous principle will become manifest of itself — this is a transmission from Heaven itself. What need is there of brush and tongue to hand it on!

"One need only be congealed and settled, having no thought within thought, one's effort pure and unmixed, fused into a single mass, silent all day long as a hen brooding her eggs — then the spirit will return and the breath be restored, and one will naturally see the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass. Its greatness has no outside, its smallness has no inside; this is the gathering and taking of the pre-celestial One Breath, to serve as the mother of the Golden Elixir. Practice it diligently, and the day may soon come when you ride abreast with Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin!"

This is a verification I have tested myself. Since students of immortality had no compass to guide them, I have respectfully gathered the essentials of this dialogue, and named it "Discourse Resolving Doubts about Cultivating Immortality."

Discourse on Nature and Life-Destiny as Sun and Moon

Nature and Life-Destiny in a person are like the sun and moon in the sky. When sun and moon are joined, there is constant brightness; when Nature and Life-Destiny are joined, there is long life. Life-Destiny comes into being because of form; Nature dwells within, after form already exists. The spirits of the five viscera constitute Life-Destiny, bound up with the seven emotions — none of which fails to do harm to the impartial Way within me. What is endowed from Heaven constitutes Nature, and it is to this that the impartial Way is bound. Hence Nature shares the same Way as Heaven, and Life-Destiny shares the same desires as man. When Life-Destiny is joined to Nature, the two intermingle and the elixir is formed; when the elixir transforms into spirit, there is no death.

The sun holds the light-virtue of Qian, and shows it forth outwardly; the moon has the body of Kun but the use of Qian, receiving the yang. At the dark of the moon and the new moon they join together: the sun approaches the moon's po-soul, the moon receives the sun's hun-soul, and yin and yang breed together so that spirit-brightness is born. Hence Laozi said, "Coming forth is birth, going in is death; the companions of life are three in ten, the companions of death are three in ten." This means: on the third day of every month the sun comes forth and brightness is born, and this birth continues until the fifteenth day; on the sixteenth day of every month the sun withdraws and brightness dies, and this death continues until the twenty-eighth day.

In the trigrams, the sun and moon are Kan and Li. The trigram Kan is yin without and yang within — the Nine of Qian's use has returned to the center; the trigram Li is yang without and yin within — the Six of Kun's use has returned to the center. Since the two uses of Qian and Kun have returned into Kan and Li, the two trigrams Kan and Li are able to act in place of Qian and Kun in carrying out the Way. Within a single month, six trigrams appear in succession and hang their images in the sky. On the third day, one yang line is born below and the trigram Zhen comes forth; on the eighth day, two yang lines are born below and the trigram Dui comes forth; on the fifteenth day, three yang lines are complete and the trigram Qian begins to appear — this is because Qian seeks entry into Kun, and the way of yang advances. On the sixteenth day, one yin line is born below and the trigram Xun comes forth; on the twenty-third day, two yin lines are born below and the trigram Gen comes forth; on the thirtieth day, three yin lines are complete and the trigram Kun begins to appear — this is because Kun seeks entry into Qian, and the way of yin advances.

Heaven and Earth use Kan and Li to move the way of yin and yang round and about, changing in turn — hence Wei Boyang said that "sun and moon make Change (yi 易)," and Lu Deming likewise took this meaning in glossing the character "Zhouyi." I would humbly say: in Heaven this makes brightness — brightness is the horizontal joining of sun and moon; in the world this makes Change — Change is the vertical joining of sun and moon; in a person this makes the elixir — the elixir is the doubled joining of sun and moon. A person's own sun and moon are bound up with the heart and kidneys; when the breath of heart and kidneys intermingle, water and fire rise and fall, turning without end, and only then does one see that one's own body is equal to Heaven and Earth, sharing their charge over creation and transformation, yet not falling back into creation and transformation.

Discourse on the Valley Spirit that Does Not Die

The "valley" is the Heavenly Valley. The "spirit" is the primordial spirit of one's own person. The valley of Heaven holds creation and transformation within it, and contains the Void; the valley of Earth holds the ten thousand things and carries mountains and rivers. Since man is endowed from the same source as Heaven and Earth, he too has a valley. This valley of his stores the true One and houses the primordial spirit. Thus the head has nine palaces, corresponding above to the nine heavens; the middle palace is called the Mud Pellet (Niwan), also called the Yellow Court, also named Kunlun, also named the Heavenly Valley — its names are many — and it is the palace where the primordial spirit dwells. Its emptiness is like a valley, and the spirit lives within it; hence it is called the Valley Spirit. When the spirit is present, there is life; when the spirit departs, there is death.

By day it is engaged with things; by night it is engaged with dreams; the spirit cannot settle at rest in its dwelling. Before the yellow millet is fully cooked, before one wakes from the dream of Nanke, the glory and disgrace, wealth and rank of an entire life, the sorrow, care, joy, and delight of a hundred years, are all fully tasted within the space of a single dream. If it should go and not return, wander and not come back near, then the roads of life and death are cut off from each other, and the paths between the shadowed and the bright worlds are severed. Seen in this light, a man does not give birth to himself — the spirit gives him birth; a man does not bring about his own death — the spirit brings about his death. If the spirit could dwell in its valley and not die, how could a person come to die at all?

But the reason the Valley Spirit does not die lies in the Mysterious Female. "Mysterious" is yang, is Heaven; "Female" is yin, is Earth. The two breaths of the Mysterious Female each carry a profound meaning, and unless one meets a Perfected person and is given the oral instructions, one cannot come to know it. The Huangdi Neijing says: "Guard the primordial spirit of the Heavenly Valley, and it becomes true of itself." This means: within a person's body, above there is the Heavenly Valley, the Mud Pellet, the storehouse of spirit; in the middle there is the Responding Valley, the Crimson Palace, the storehouse of breath; below there is the Numinous Valley, the Barrier Gate, the storehouse of essence. The Heavenly Valley is the Mysterious Palace, the chamber of the primordial spirit, the place where the numinous nature abides — it is the essential thing about spirit.

The sage takes the essential point of Heaven and Earth as his own, and knows the source of transformation. The spirit guards within the Mysterious Palace, the breath rises within the Female Storehouse; spirit and breath intermingle, naturally accomplishing this work, joining with the Way as one, and so a person enters into neither dying nor being born. Hence it is said, "the Valley Spirit does not die" — this is what is meant by the Mysterious Female. The sage exercises this within the Mysterious Female, works his creation and transformation within the dim and hazy — and when the breath of the Mysterious Female enters into its root, if closed off too tightly it errs on the side of urgency; if simply let go, it errs on the side of dissipation. One wants it continuous, thread upon thread, never letting it break off. As for "preserving," one follows its own spontaneity and preserves it; the spirit, long preserved, grows peaceful of itself; the breath, long preserved, grows settled of itself; the nature enters into spontaneity, the wondrous working of non-action, and one never comes to strain or force it. Hence it is said, "used, yet never strained."

From this it becomes clear: the Mysterious Female is the upper and lower of two sources, and the proper way by which the mother of breath rises and falls is made plain. People of the world, without exhausting its root or investigating its source, simply take the nose as the "mysterious" and the mouth as the "female." But if nose and mouth were the Mysterious Female, then what would one call the Gate of the Mysterious Female? All such people are unable to fashion this wonder for themselves — how, apart from the great sage, could anyone plumb this principle!

Discourse on the Rising and Falling of Yin and Yang

Heaven, by the way of Qian, is light and clear and stays above; Earth, by the way of Kun, is heavy and turbid and stays below; and the primal breath moves through the middle without ceasing. What is above takes yang for its function: hence after the winter solstice, the breath of the single yang line rises from the earth, and after a hundred and eighty days reaches to Heaven — yang reaches its extreme and yin is born. What is below takes yin for its function: after a hundred and eighty days it reaches to Earth — yin reaches its extreme and yang is born. One rise, one fall — coming and going without end.

A person receives the harmonious breath, and is thereby born within Heaven and Earth; from the very first there is no second body apart from Heaven and Earth. The breath of Heaven and Earth makes one round in a year; the breath of a person's own body makes one round in a day. From the hour of Zi to the hour of Si is the time of yang's rising, and so the hour of Zi is taken as the winter solstice within the day, corresponding in the Changes to the hexagram Fu (Return); from the hour of Wu to the hour of Hai is the time of yin's descending, and so the hour of Wu is taken as the summer solstice within the day, corresponding in the Changes to the hexagram Gou (Encounter). Yin at its extreme gives birth to yang, yang at its extreme gives birth to yin, day and night coming and going — this too is just like the rising and falling of Heaven and Earth.

If a person can take the bellows-working of Heaven and Earth as his model, empty and deep, still and silent, one breath circulating through the hundred bones — opening, and the breath goes out; closing, and the breath comes in; the breath going out is like the breath of Earth rising up, the breath coming in is like the breath of Heaven descending — then he may naturally match Heaven and Earth in enduring long. But if instead he rushes headlong through the fields of glitter and finery, gallops through the arena of right and wrong, then his true breath will be worn away and dissipated, and will no longer be his to keep. Better, then, to be empty and still and guard the Center, in order to nourish it. The Center is the place where the breath of the Mysterious Female of Heaven and Earth comes together and gathers.

If a person holds to this with single intent and does not let it scatter, then the true essence naturally comes to court, the primal breath naturally gathers, the Valley Spirit naturally roosts within, the Three Corpses naturally depart, the nine worms naturally are destroyed — this is the Way of long life and lasting vision. From this one knows that the true breath and primal qi are the very root of a person's own Nature and Life-Destiny. To deepen the root and make firm the stem is the Way of long life and lasting vision. When a person comes to have life, he is endowed with the single primal breath of the Great Way; while in his mother's womb he breathes as one with his mother, and once he is born and the umbilical stem is cut, a single point of primal yang comes to roost within the Elixir Field. His breath, going out and coming in, passes through the Gate of Heaven and joins with Heaven itself: rising, it enters the Mud Pellet and is nourished into the primordial spirit; descending, it enters the Elixir Field and joins with the primal breath.

Zhuangzi said: "The breath of ordinary men comes from the throat; the breath of the sage comes from the heel." The heel is the way of deepening the root and making firm the stem. If a person can put aside all his thoughts, the true breath will settle of itself, the body will enter into formlessness, and he will be joined with the Way as one, remaining in the world for long years. Seen in this light, is not the Way, present in the body, to be honored indeed? Is it not to be prized indeed?

Questions on the Way at Crane Grove

Bai Yuchan of Hainan passed through Sanshan, and lodged next at the residence of the Purple Void Perfected Official. Peng Si of Crane Grove came to call on him, and asked him about the essentials of the Way and its methods.

He said: "I have long studied the meaning of the Golden Elixir and the Great Medicine — such terms as sun and moon, dragon and tiger, lead and mercury, Kan and Li, fire-phasing, the revolving heavens, and the images of the trigrams, together with such phrases as the crescent-moon furnace and the cinnabar-sand cauldron. Their names are not one, and the matters they describe are many-branched. I do not know whether these are a single thing given many names, or many things each given its own name. Sought within, it is formless; sought without, it has image. Some say the wonder lies in deliberate action; some say the wonder lies in stillness and settledness. The ancients have said, 'To have deliberate action is precisely not the Way,' and yet also said, 'To drown oneself in stillness is only dead sitting.' I am confused and do not know the path by which to enter, or the inner hall to which it leads. I beg to hear your account of it."

He answered: "The former sages looked up to observe the patterns of Heaven, and looked down to examine the principles of Earth; near at hand they took from their own bodies, and far off they took from other things, and so created the oral formulas of the elixir, with the intent of long life without death, so as to purify the hearts of men — and in truth it is a single principle. At its entry point it lies in yin and yang and the Five Phases; at its final arrival it returns to primal chaos and the Ultimateless. As the various methods of the elixir describe it, each has its own basis, but each sets up its own account and holds to its own view, and so the many voices of Chu cannot be brought into unison all at once. What matters is only what one has oneself encountered, been transmitted, and attained.

"In Heaven it is the sun, moon, and stars; on Earth it is birds, beasts, plants, and trees; in man it is husband and wife, male and female. Spoken of in terms of the Way of Change, it is Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li; spoken of in terms of the five circulations, it is metal, wood, water, and fire; spoken of in terms of medicinal substances, it is lead, silver, cinnabar, and mercury; spoken of in terms of the way of the elixir, it is dragon, tiger, crow, and hare. Used, it takes the names of altar, furnace, cauldron, and stove; carried out, it takes the images of rising, falling, and joining; embodied, it takes the transformations of floating, sinking, clear, and turbid; patterned, it takes the phases of yin, yang, cold, and heat. Hence the sages said: gather it as medicine, refine it by fire-phasing, bind it together and complete the elixir, and so transcend the ordinary and enter the ranks of the sages. Therefore one takes it from within, yet is not mired in inner images; one takes it from without, yet does not seek after outer things. This is what is called being without thing and without image.

"Call it the pre-celestial One Breath, the utmost essence of primal chaos — this is what is meant by 'great, and beyond knowing, is called spirit.' Its substance now gathers, now scatters, like a thin mist or a light fog; its image now exists, now does not, like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow. Heaven and Earth share the same root with me; the ten thousand things share the same body with me. Past ages and ages to come have never known completion or ruin; only by the flow and turning of life and death, and the arising and vanishing of feeling and awareness, are they marked, as a floating cloud dots the great clarity of the sky, as a black wind veils the bright moon. The sages, grieving over the shallowness of the age, proclaimed to men the way of cultivation and refinement: to pass from non-being into being is called 'completion'; to return from being to non-being is called 'finishing.'

"The essential point of its working is: a motion within motion that comes out of no motion; a doing within doing that comes out of no doing — nothing more than refining essence into breath, refining breath into spirit, refining spirit to join with the Way. If it seems to have deliberate working, in truth it has no deliberate working; if it seems like stillness and settledness, it is in fact not stillness and settledness — like a dragon nurturing its pearl, like a hen brooding her eggs: it can be met with no-mind, but cannot be forced by mind; it can be guarded with mind, but cannot be labored at by mind. This is the essential point of cultivating the elixir, the mystery of entering the Way."

He asked again: "The ancients, in entering the Way, took regulating the mind as essential and refined contemplation as the wonder. Refined contemplation is the retention of thought; regulating the mind is the gripping and holding. But if the retention of thought goes on too long, the thought may go astray; if the gripping and holding is too tight, the mind becomes all the harder to regulate. Some say the retention of thought should not go on long, and the gripping and holding should not be too tight. Yet I would humbly say: if the retention of thought is not long, then the thought is surely not true; if the gripping and holding is not tight, then how can this mind be regulated at all?"

He answered: "To retain is to have; to let go is to have not. Retaining means retaining one's own spirit; contemplating means contemplating one's own body. Close the eyes and see one's own eye; gather in the mind and see one's own mind. Where there is a thing, one may retain it — this is called true contemplation; where there is no thing, yet one forces oneself to retain it — this is called deluded contemplation. This is the wonder of refined contemplation and the retention of thought. To hold fast is to retain; to release is to let go. Holding fast means holding fast to the breath of the true One; retaining means retaining the essence of the Great Mystery. Congeal the one spirit, and the ten thousand spirits are all congealed with it; gather the one breath, and the ten thousand breaths are all gathered with it. What accords with me, one may store away with no-mind; what opposes me, one may accord with, with no-mind. As for the true and the deluded being originally empty, and opposing and according both coming to rest — then one passes freely through the three times, and the single numinous shines forth. This is the essential point of gripping and holding, of regulating the mind.

"For it is because when one thought stirs, ten thousand thoughts arise with it; when one aperture opens, the nine apertures open with it — this is nothing other than the meaning of governing the breath with the spirit. Since I came into being from the beginningless beginning, nameless vexation and the vast confusion of karmic awareness cannot be dissolved in a single instant, nor made to lie down and rest before my very eyes. Hence the ancients had a saying: 'mind and breath depend on each other; when breath is regulated, the mind is still' — is this not regulating the mind? And again, 'undivided in purpose, one congeals in spirit' — is this not refined contemplation? The former sages have said: 'Fix the mind on a single place, and there is nothing that cannot be accomplished.' Hence the Realized Man Tan said: 'Forget the body, to nourish the breath; forget the breath, to nourish the spirit; forget the spirit, to nourish the Void.' These two words alone, 'forget the body,' are the meaning of governing the mind. And yet — to forget the body while the mind still wanders among the ten thousand things is not as good as never having forgotten at all. Why is this? Because what I mean by 'forgetting' is not merely forgetting the body, but also forgetting the mind — mind and its objects both forgotten, deep and still, forever silent."

He asked again: "Now there are those who, deluded, do not study; who study, yet do not meet a teacher; who meet a teacher, yet do not practice; who practice, yet do not succeed. Is this because the season has not yet come and the causes and conditions are not yet ripe? Or is it because their allotted portion is too meager, and their very bones cannot become immortal?"

He answered: "The ancients, at a single glance, saw the Way already present, and understood before a word was spoken — because in themselves they were already pure gold and uncut jade, needing only the skilled craftsman Chui to set the true price on them. But if one drifts aimlessly with no thread to follow, hazy with nothing to rely on — visiting Master Huang in the morning and Master Li in the evening, studying the Way today and studying some other method next year, exerting oneself today and slacking off tomorrow — then to seek the straight path in this fashion is what is called failing to remove one's own falseness while seeking after another's truth. It is only the single word 'trust' that forms the step into the Way of man; only the single word 'diligence' that forms the root of practicing the Way; the single word 'non-being' with which to meet things; the single word 'being' with which to congeal the spirit. Practice this for a long, long time, and Heaven will surely make a sage teacher trace out the tracks and point the way for you. Let students of the Way ponder this."

He asked again: "The ancient composers of the Appended Remarks to the Changes spoke only of exhausting principle and fulfilling nature, so as to arrive at Life-Destiny — this I have indeed studied. But are Nature and Life-Destiny one principle, or two?"

He answered: "Did not the former sages say, 'What Heaven decrees is called Nature; to follow Nature is called the Way; to cultivate the Way is called instruction'? In truth it is a single principle."

He asked again: "As for what is called the Golden Liquor Reverted Elixir: first one sets the furnace in place and establishes the cauldron; next one comes to know mercury and recognize lead; then one gathers them according to the year, month, day, and hour, and refines them according to the tallies and phases of water and fire; one matches them by weight in pounds and ounces, and patterns them on husband and wife; one binds the head of the elixir, drinks the sword-hilt measure, carries the sacred embryo, and brings forth the infant, so that one may have a body outside the body — this is the learning of those who cultivate immortality. I too have entered into its inner chambers, and yet in the end I remain doubtful about the dragon and the tiger, confused about the crow and the hare. I wonder whether you, sir, can point out the moon behind the pointing finger for me?"

He answered: "Altar, furnace, cauldron, and stove are fundamentally rooted in the Void; lead, silver, cinnabar, and mercury are fundamentally rooted in the dim and hazy; the tallies and phases of water and fire are fundamentally rooted in the deep and dark; the years, months, days, and hours are fundamentally rooted in illusion — and yet, looked at, they seem not to exist, while in truth they do exist. It lies in balancing their weights and letting creation and transformation meet, so that water and fire come to their proper meeting and metal and earth are fused together. Should this fail to happen, then the Yellow Dame will let the Squire of Ding run off in the morning, and the fair maiden will hold her infant and weep in the night. This is why the elders entirely cut away such things as guiding and leading, expelling and drawing in breath, circulating and swallowing, breathing and visualizing, and other bodily practices — fearing that people would cling to the small matters of spittle, saliva, essence, fluid, breath, and blood, and fail to know the meaning of 'concentrating the breath to attain suppleness, and becoming like an infant.' Ah, how wondrous! Bind it together in the space of a single meal, nourish it for ten months — this is what is called nourishing an infant to completion out of non-being. The great essential point is this: use within use is no-use; achievement within no achievement is the applying of achievement. And again: meeting occurs within the dim and hazy; transformation occurs within the deep and dark. And yet, being so, one must eat the very cake of Cloud Gate oneself — do not merely drool and talk about pastry."

He asked again: "As for what Master Lao called the Golden Elixir — how far is it removed from the Great Way? The Way is without form — how then could there be such things as dragon and tiger? The Way is without name — how then could there be such things as lead and mercury? Is the Golden Elixir, then, a technique, or is it the Way itself?"

He answered: "Wei Boyang's Cantong Qi says: 'When metal comes, the yang nature has its beginning; only then may it be called the Reverted Elixir.' As for the Golden Elixir: 'gold' (metal) carries the meaning of Nature, 'elixir' carries the meaning of the heart-mind. Its substance is called the Great Way; its function is called the Great Elixir. The elixir is precisely the Way; the Way is precisely the elixir. Moreover, one can concentrate the breath and attain suppleness, hold the light within in silence, nourish the upright and maintain fullness, guard the feminine and embrace the One — one mind unmoved, the ten thousand conditions all stilled. Ten thousand scrolls of elixir scriptures are not as good as holding to the One; hold fast to the One, and the ten thousand methods return to it. Hence Heaven, obtaining the One, is clear; Earth, obtaining the One, is at peace; man, obtaining the One, is possessed of spirit; the valley, obtaining the One, is full; sun and moon, obtaining the One, are bright; the ten thousand forms, obtaining the One, are given life; the sage, obtaining the One, brings peace to all under Heaven. The Way gives birth to the One; the One gives birth to the Two; the Two give birth to the Three; the Three give birth to the ten thousand things. The Way is the substance of the One; the One is the function of the Way. A person embraces the Way and thereby lives, sharing the same root with Heaven and Earth, sharing the same body with the ten thousand things. The Way is nothing but the One — obtain the One, and one outlasts Heaven itself before dying; lose the One, and one decays along with all other things. Guard it with the One, to make it the foundation; gather it with the One, to make it the medicine; refine it with the One, to make it the fire; bind it with the One, to make it the elixir; nourish it with the One, to make it the sacred embryo; move it with the One, to make it the withdrawing and adding; hold it with the One, to make it the sealing fast; clarify it with the One, to make it the bathing. Going from the One to the One, the One reaching its utmost, is called shedding the embryo; carrying the Ultimateless to its utmost, the One having no more One-ness, joined with the Way in the real, abiding forever with Heaven — this is called the True One.

"The sage forgets the body to nourish the breath, forgets the breath to nourish the spirit, forgets the spirit to nourish the Void. The Way does not desire emptiness, yet emptiness returns to it of itself; if a person can empty the mind, the Way returns to him of itself. If you wish for clothing, the One gives you a robe; if you wish for food, the One gives you grain; if you wish for drink, the One gives you broth; if you wish for a dwelling, the One gives you a hall; if you wish for cold, the One gives you frost; if you wish for warmth, the One gives you hot soup. Empty your mind, forget your body, hold fast to the One, embrace its numinous power — and so you can make your essence firm, treasure your breath, and keep your spirit whole. The three Fields are filled with essence, the five viscera are full of breath, and only then is it called the completion of the elixir. One after one returning to the One, and one may live long. The former sages have said: 'putting himself behind, he comes out ahead; forgetting his own person, his own person survives.' This is truly borne out here."

He asked once more: "I, in my past unworthiness, have had the good fortune that Heaven granted me this meeting, and have received your great compassion in laying bare the mysterious meaning. When I asked about the Way, you showed it to me as mind; when I asked about the Golden Elixir and the Great Medicine, you again showed it to me as mind. I now know deeply that all is mind alone, and feel, as if in a trance, that I have gained something — though I wish to compare it to something, there is no thing to compare it to; though I wish to speak of it, there is no word to speak. Yet Heaven's workings run deep and the essentials of the Way are mysterious and subtle: though I now understand the medicinal substances thus clearly, I still have doubts about the fire-phasing."

He answered: "The twenty-four solar terms, the seventy-two pentads, the twenty-eight lunar lodges, the sixty-four hexagrams, the twelve field-allocations — these are how Heaven and Earth shift and move, how yin and yang measure out their revolutions. In a year there are twelve months; in a month there are thirty days; in a day there are twelve double-hours, a hundred quarter-hours in all, and within them six yang and six yin — none of it anything but the one breath rising and falling. In a person's own body, how could it differ from Heaven and Earth? This is why the method of refining the elixir gathers together the Five Phases and joins together the Eight Trigrams, patterning itself on Heaven and taking Earth as its image, measuring by the sun and gauging by the moon, arranging the numbers of the trigrams in order and setting the stars in their places, exchanging the hour for the day, cultivating within and corresponding without, water above and fire below, one civil phase and one martial phase — hence there are tallies of advance and retreat, phases of withdrawing and adding, gates of sealing fast, times of bathing, transformations in the images of the trigrams, wonders of creation and transformation — all of this is called fire-phasing, exactly like the waxing and waning of the moon's po-soul, the rising and falling of the tides. This, however, is simple and easy, yet it must not be lightly transmitted, for it seizes the creation and transformation of Heaven and Earth, and steals the very soul of sun and moon. In the third watch of the night, I will swear before Heaven and tell it to you. The former sages have said: 'though one knows the medicinal substances, if one does not know the chamber of the spirit, one cannot bind the embryo; though one knows the chamber of the spirit, if one does not know the fire-phasing, one cannot complete the elixir.' Who but you could receive this teaching?"

Peng Si of Crane Grove bowed his head to the ground and made obeisance twice, and said: "Though I, Si, am not clever, I wish to receive this teaching."

Sayings from the Elixir Chamber, Given to Hu Taixian

Master Lü, with the neck of a crane and the cheeks of a tortoise, chanced upon his meeting with Zhongli; the Recluse Shi, with the nose of a deer and the ears of a mouse, happened upon the coming of Pingshu. How rare and hard it is to meet the right season and occasion — how could fame and profit, right and wrong, ever compare to it! The Golden Elixir, the Great Medicine — the ancients transmitted it but once in ten thousand kalpas; the numinous chapters of the Jade Case leave nine students out of ten confused and in the dark.

The crow in the moon and the hare in the sun overturn Kan and Li; the tiger in water and the dragon in fire work their reversals and returns. Gather the pre-celestial One Breath, to make the marrow within the lead; seize the ten thousand transformations of the star-images, to make the essence within the mercury. It is precisely at the times before and after the crescent, at the moments of the moon's waning and its fullness. He who understands it: when gui-water is born, he must gather it swiftly; he who is in the dark about it: once the full moon has passed, it is no longer to be tasted.

Half a catty of essence, half a catty of breath — together they lie in the position of the southwest; one ounce of fire, one ounce of medicine — in truth they dwell in the quarter of the northeast. Gather the essence of metal and the sap of wood, and return them to the Yellow Court; refine the white snow and the yellow sprout, and bind them into the purple hue. What the Wuzhen Pian calls the numinous water of the Flowery Pool, the Discourse on Knowing the Mandate again calls the earthly po-soul and the heavenly hun-soul. Gather it, refine it, and it is bound together, it is completed — like husband and wife's very first point of union, in ten months forming the embryo; like ruler and ministers meeting together over the ten thousand affairs of state, the hundred officials arrayed each in his office.

Meeting the winter solstice at midday, one wages the wild campaign; withdrawing at the summer solstice at midday, one guards the city. All told, it takes but the space of a single meal's effort — the essential thing is to verify it within a single day. Nine-three, two-eight — reckoned, it comes down to nothing but the fair maiden and the metal elder; seven-six, one-three — traced to its limit, it comes to nothing more than the Yellow Dame and old Squire Ding. There is no need even to read ten thousand scrolls of elixir scriptures — a single oral formula suffices.

Your coming here shows how earnest your intent is; I know you have sought and longed for this over many years. Were it not that you carried these ample bones from a former life, how could you apply body and mind to this in a single morning! From the first gathering of the medicine to the binding of the embryo, from the carrying out of the fire to the final shedding of the body — this embraces the wonder of withdrawing and adding, and gives shape to the working of bathing. There is no cause to fear the separation of metal and wood; there is cause to rejoice that water and earth share the same home. One need only warm and nourish it, and there will be no hardship at all.

Of the twelve double-hours, only a single hour matters; of three hundred days, it lies within half a day. Once there is a thing within the Elixir Field, one need have no worry whether walking, sitting, or lying down; once one's name is written in the Purple Court, one is no longer bound by the wheel of birth and death. Clear and bright, joyful — from this one finds ease and leisure. This work can be carried on even in the midst of noise and bustle; as for its mystery and wonder, it is all bound together within a single instant. Gathered, it does not scatter; refined, it grows all the firmer.

The cinnabar-sand cauldron, the crescent-moon furnace — how hard could these be to find? The altar of the guarded One, the cauldron at the center — these are to be sought in oneself alone. One should know yin and yang; one must understand the Mysterious Female. When the dragon's essence fills the cauldron, send the golden lad down through the twelve-storied tower; when the phoenix's marrow fills the vessel, let the jade maiden report to the three thousand worlds. When at that time the elixir has ripened, one must further borrow the infant from the compassionate mother; before many days, one rides the clouds away, and then beholds the Perfected paying court to the Sovereign on High.

Rhapsody on the Golden Liquor Reverted Elixir

The body is like wood about to wither; the heart-mind is ash already gone cold. I wish to fly up to the Jade Towers, but this must be accomplished through the refining of the Golden Elixir. The horse of Qian and the ox of Kun guard the Squire of Ding within the chamber of spirit; the crow and hare of Li serve as go-between for the fair maiden at the altar of the real. The scattered gentleman of the Crimson Pavilion, the idle knight of the clear season — he makes the dragon bred at Fusang rise up and leap clear of the fire; while the white tiger of Mount Hua, its flying fangs, enters the water. The furnace of Heaven and the cauldron of Earth are the pivot and hinge of creation at the Three Passes; the po-soul of the sun and the hun-soul of the moon are a single handful of the essence and marrow of yin and yang.

Within the lead, earth is hidden; within the mercury, gold is produced. The tortoise is the line of Zi; the snake is the image of Wu; the hare is the beast of Mao; the cock is the bird of You. The Four Images and Five Phases never depart from Wu; the Three Origins and Eight Trigrams take their dwelling from Ren. At dawn it is Zhun, at dusk it is Meng — the six lines each have their image; by night it is surely Fu, by day it is surely Gou — the ten thousand things are without mind of their own.

From this, the three natures meet and join, gathered together in the Palace of Origin; the two breaths rise and fall, circling the yellow ecliptic road. Only when the single substance of mercury has changed into black jade — hence, sevenfold returned, the vermilion silica becomes a crimson jewel. Vermilion oranges and carnelian pomegranates, exchanged pears and fire-dates; the white snow that fills all Heaven is the clear whirlwind fluttering above the Purple Court; the yellow blossoms that fill the courtyard hide within them the auspicious herb of the Elixir Field.

I know now from what thing the withdrawing and adding is done, and in what place the gathering and taking occurs; that birth and destruction each have their gate, that waning and fullness each have their season. Take floating and sinking as the root of clear and turbid; take separation and interval as making plain the working of motion and stillness. Together, rightly, embrace the One; hold fullness and guard the feminine. In the whole world there is no one able to reach this — sitting withered all day long, not knowing where they are bound.

Kindness gives rise to harm, harm gives rise to kindness — as the lodge Room looks toward the Pleiades; the host within the guest, the guest within the host — as the Dipper's arc turns back to Winnowing-Basket. I have always said that the Great Way is beyond words, that the inner elixir is not a mere technique. The Mysterious Pearl hangs its image forth, and within yin it embraces the power of yang; the infant binds the embryo, and within the male it holds the substance of the female.

Between ruler and minister there is first regret and then good fortune; beyond husband and wife there is existence and ruin, ill and good fortune. The heart at the position of Ding, Net at the position of Gui, the Woman at the palace of Jia, Hairy Head at the palace of Geng. Punishment and virtue, birth and flourishing — though there is Adversity and Prosperity; bathing and hidden concealment — from the very first there is no fixed necessity. The weights of the medicinal materials — east, west, south, and north all return to the center; the walls of the fire-phasing — two-eight and nine-three become one.

So it is that the Magpie Bridge and the River Chariot make their hundred-quarter-hour ascent; the numinous water of the Flowery Pool flows backward through the four seasons. The flourishing and guarding, the cold and warm — correspond to Quail Fire, Ghost, and Well; the waning and waxing of essence and spirit — correspond to Dark Turtle, Dipper, and Ox. Child and mother, case and lid — the body transforms, the mind transforms; elder and younger brother, ocarina and flute together — blessing is cultivated, and wisdom is cultivated.

The six lines move and change, showing the transformations of dark moon, new moon, first quarter, and full; the two solstices shift their degrees, bringing the worry of locusts and floods and droughts. The Realized Man ranges freely and wondrously across the whole of space and time; ten thousand miles of stream and mountain return into the palm of his hand. The left army and the right army have, since ancient times, stood for benevolence and righteousness; the great recluse and the lesser recluse, from now on, take their places at court and in office. The wind sighs softly, the moon shines fair; a single cloud, a lone crane — and with one long cry, I set this down in writing, to leave to later students.

Song: So It Must Be

I never believed in the immortals of old,
nor knew that a Great Canopy Heaven stood.
How could I bear to hear men speak of Penglai —
I hid my face and laughed at their wild talk.
The sevenfold-returned reverted elixir, so often untrue,
again and again I took it for empty rumor.
The world says immortals can rise up flying,
says too they never die, but live ten thousand years.
Flesh with no wings must fall back to the ground —
how, without a hundred years of solid bone, could life extend?
Wherever I looked, I saw the fear of birth and death,
death and birth, birth and death, turning in their circle.

The Realized Man Cuixu spoke with me,
and what he saw and knew was not at all the same.
He feared men's affinity was thin, their portion slight,
and so, of themselves, without long life, they go down to the Yellow Springs.
The human body has but three things:
spirit, and essence, and breath, kept always whole.
That essence is not the essence of sexual union —
it is the very saliva in the Jade Sovereign's mouth;
that breath is not the breath of inhaling and exhaling —
know rather that it is the mist of the Great Simplicity;
that spirit is not the spirit of thought and deliberation —
it may stand shoulder to shoulder with the Primordial Beginning.

Hearing him say this, I too grew afraid,
both afraid and doubting, and clasped my hands in reverence.
I only knew that within a single day's motion and rest,
one thing dwells there, forever whole and round.
This thing's root and stem are essence and breath —
essence and breath, I feared, filled only the body.
Little did I know that this essence, this spirit and breath
are rooted in the time before father and mother gave birth.
The three have never turned apart from one another,
bound into a single mass, vast beyond measure.
A person's birth and death is empty of itself;
this thing, deep and still, is untouched by any harm.

I startled awake, and turned to reflect on myself:
an old man surely would not falsify his office.
Since I was now to receive this teaching,
he was bound to show it to me in these very words.
On the mid-autumn night of the first year of Kaixi,
I burned incense, knelt on the ground, and received it mouth to mouth.
After practicing this by chance for two or three days,
Heaven and Earth, the old moon, grew soft as silk.
Suddenly I chewed through and broke open the Void,
and knew at last that Zhongli and Lü had both fathomed the mystery.
In my youth I had already set my heart on this,
and surely would not have come this far still bound by worldly ties.
And now I think of the eight hundred and the three thousand,
cloud and crane together coming, fluttering down to me.

Written on Failing to Complete the Elixir

Eight ounces of the essence of sun and moon,
half a catty of powdered cloud and mist —
light as a single goose-down feather,
heavy as a thousand-weight of iron;
white as the snow of high Heaven,
red as the blood of the scarlet ape.
I gathered it into a jade gourd,
kept it secret, dared not let it out.
At midnight, suddenly, wind and thunder —
mist and vapor filled the empty vastness.
Such a taste, such a feeling as this —
a mute man biting through his own tongue.
I hold my sides and laugh it off,
and will not let my heart grow hot and vexed.
Better to set my fishing rod in order,
and cut again a joint of autumn bamboo.

Recounting the Realized Man Cuixu's Method of Ease

Gather in the spirit's light, and rest a while in silence;
at the crown of the head, one path collects cloud and mist.
Raise now the yang fire to simmer the golden cauldron,
then send the numinous spring down to water the jade field.
The joining and binding lies just beyond the Ox Islet,
plainly it happens right at the Magpie Bridge.
The work is nine-times-nine, reckoned six-times-six —
this is the immortal of ease, here in the human world.

Presented to Wan'an

Returning to the Mountain

Through how many turns of birth-and-death's wheel have I come,
dust upon dust, kalpa upon kalpa, never once at rest?
A single pool, deep and green, is the sea of right and wrong;
a thousand feet of rose and jade is the mountain of self and other.
The numinous sprout in the field of my nature longs for the Water Country;
the bright moon in the heaven of my mind is veiled by the Cloud Pass.
The pearl sewn in my robe — I cannot find the place to seek it;
so now, following causes as they come, I refine the Great Reverted Elixir.

Gathering the Medicine

On the peak of the Five Aggregates, white clouds are many;
deep within the white clouds, the medicine-sprouts are fragrant.
The Buddha King of Awe-Inspiring Sound plants it in season;
the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning sets his own hand to the weeding.
The stone maiden rides the dragon and grasps the art of rain;
the wooden man mounts the tiger and plucks the frosted rue.
No matter rich or poor, every household has it —
gather it, bring it home, and each takes away a single pound.

Furnace and Cauldron

Believe that in the pre-celestial, every single thing is nothing;
yin and yang have molded and cast this bodily form.
True emptiness, all things equal — this is the cinnabar-sand cauldron;
empty, penetrating, numinously connected — this is the crescent-moon furnace.
If the nine apertures let in wind, the altar cannot be warmed;
if the fire is lost for even a season, the medicine withers.
Only this single point of nameless flame
refines out, from the human world, a great man indeed.

Fire-Phasing

The True Man without rank refines the Great Elixir;
his long sword leaning on Heaven drives a chill into men.
In the jade furnace, fire burns the very gallbladder of the Celestial Worthy;
in the golden cauldron, its broth simmers the very liver of the Buddha.
Through a hundred quarter-hours of cold and warmth, precision is kept amid the bustle;
the six lines, civil and martial, are watched for within stillness.
If someone should ask where the true furnace and cauldron are —
how could they ever be apart from this very lump of red flesh?

Bathing

The medicine-furnace and elixir-cauldron blaze with fire;
the six thieves and three corpses are held under strict command.
No going, no coming, no advancing, no retreating;
no increase, no decrease, no withdrawing, no adding.
On the river of love, the waves grow still, and the vermilion bird floats;
in the sea of awareness, the waves run deep, and the white toad is submerged.
Once the bathed elixir is returned to the secret chamber,
beneath the gate of the great yang hangs the night-bright curtain.

Warming and Nourishing

The metal elder and the fair maiden are bound in marriage;
at the cave's mouth, the peach blossoms hold spring day after day.
I have picked up a single wheel — the moon in Heaven —
and refined it into a treasure kept in my house for ten thousand kalpas.
The Yellow Dame is the mother of the mother herself;
the crimson child is the body outside this very body.
Since the first year of Longhan, all word and trace has broken off —
before the age of Awe-Inspiring Sound, who else was there?

Shedding the Embryo

Under blue sky and bright sun, a single crash of thunder —
letting go of the cliff's edge, the sacred embryo is complete.
Having eyes, yet as if blind, though light flashes bright;
bound by no rope, yet as if tied, and I laugh out loud.
Before the golden hall, a thousand willow trees;
before the jade-green mansion, ten thousand plum trees in bloom.
I have failed the one lonely behind the mandarin-duck curtain —
now that the feast in the tower of Qin is done, why not come home?

Golden Elixir

The Buddha and all sentient beings share a single house;
on the tip of a single hair, the sands of the Ganges appear.
Ninefold reverted, sevenfold returned — a fish swims into the net;
the Four Truths, the three emptinesses — a hare walks into the snare.
In what year did primal chaos ever bear its fruit?
Last night, in the empty dwelling, flowers bloomed once more.
Whose cauldron, then, should one search for the elixir in?
Before the cliff of dead wood, the moon's shadow slants.

Soaring Aloft

Ever since I set foot on the gate of Nirvana,
a single pillow of clear wind has lasted ten thousand years.
Though there is a road across the Weak Water to Penglai,
Shakyamuni and Maitreya are still sitting deep in meditation.
Who was it that took the ground before the cliff of dead wood
and let loose the sky of falling blossoms and crying birds?
Two clay oxen fought and plunged into the sea —
to this very day, no word of them has come back.

Kinship of the Three

This man of the Way makes his home south of the sea;
he has come to visit old Wan'an of Mount Lu.
The bare pillar and the lantern are lifted up together in offering;
the monks' hall and the Buddha hall alike bow their heads.
Mountains, rivers, the whole great earth move of themselves;
every crawling, sentient thing shares a single shrine.
The fish pickled in brine has not yet drowned and died —
this stick of incense I burn toward the living Gautama.

Four Poems to the Tune "Prelude in Water Melody"

I

The formula of the Golden Liquor Reverted Elixir:
out of non-being, nourish the child to completion.
There is no other technique —
only let the numinous water enter the Flowery Pool.
Gather the pre-celestial lead and mercury,
and in the space of a single meal they naturally join in union,
a single point of purple-golden fat.
Ten months of the fire circling Heaven,
and the jade cauldron brings forth the jasper mushroom.

Do not be foolish, you there —
now that I have spoken it plain, harbor no more doubt.
The working of Qian and Kun
in the end comes down to nothing but Kan and Li.
Why does the stone hold jade within it?
For what reason does the pearl hide in the clam's belly?
I borrow these to show Heaven's secret working —
how much more so, the wonder within the wonder,
not easily made known to you.

II

No need to seek the numinous water,
nor ask after the Flowery Pool.
Yellow sprout, white snow —
reckoned rightly, these are all but borrowed names.
It is only this ox of Kun and horse of Qian,
which are none other than the dragon of Li and the tiger of Kan —
no need for further doubt.
The medicinal substances have no weight in pounds and ounces,
the fire-phasing needs no fixed hour.

The crescent-moon furnace, the cinnabar-sand cauldron —
all of them, too, are not it.
True lead, true mercury —
if you meet them and do not refine them, what use are they?
Your own metal elder and fair maiden,
little by little fuse into a single mass,
embryo-breath taking the form of an infant.
If you do not believe Zhang Pingshu,
whom else, then, would you go and ask?

III

To set out and become an immortal —
the work of it is, in truth, a leisurely thing.
When the single yang first stirs,
the jade furnace kindles its fire and refines the Reverted Elixir.
Seize hold of the heavenly hun-soul and the earthly po-soul,
and do not let the dragon soar or the tiger leap —
till the mercury-flowers in the cauldron are dried through.
Simply let the River Chariot run its course,
along the straight path into the Mud Pellet.

Fly the essence of metal,
gather the jade liquor,
and pass the two passes.
If metal and wood stand apart,
how could one ever climb Mount Jade Capital?
Find the path and vein of Caoxi,
and take then the numinous water of the Flowery Pool,
and bind it into a round purple-gold.
Free at last from hunger and cold —
Heaven above is none other than the human world.

IV

In the earthen cauldron the fire is warm and gentle;
the bellows stir like spring thunder.
The Three Fields rise and fall,
one single path belonging to the Numinous Terrace.
Of themselves there are the true dragon and the true tiger,
harmonizing and joining the natural lead and mercury,
and the crimson child binds the true embryo.
In the water, one catches hold of the bright moon;
in the ground of the mind, one feels the flower open.

One cycle of the work: thirty days;
nine cycles more: ninety days.
Withdrawing and adding through the breath's seasons,
refining until the white blood replaces the withered bones.
The Four Images and Five Phases gather together,
and congeal in but a single place —
the inch-square heart cut off from the least speck of dust.
The person stands upon the Mud Pellet,
and the road home leads into Penglai.

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, working section by section through the anthology's own thirteen divisions. The five opening discourses (論), the address to Hu Taixian, and the rhapsody are rendered as prose; the teaching dialogue at Crane Grove keeps its question-and-answer structure with each speaker's turn set off as its own paragraph; the songs, the regulated verse, and the four song-lyrics to "Prelude in Water Melody" keep the line breaks of the original, with the song-lyrics' two stanzas (片) kept as two verse paragraphs.

Before the claim below was written, a genuine translation-status check was performed: the two local bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western-language translation supplied for this project (Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the Purple Cloud Press 2023 survey) were searched under this title, its pinyin, and the author's name, and turned up no entry for 紫清指玄篇 as a whole, though both list other, separate works associated with Bai Yuchan and his lineage (his commentary on the Daode jing; the Xiuzhen Shishu anthology that also carries a "Zhixuan Pian" among its component texts; a study of a different work called the Mengshuo). Two further web searches were run, for the Chinese title and for English renderings of its name. These turned up no complete published translation of this specific anthology, but did surface evidence that individual essays drawn from Bai Yuchan's wider corpus circulate elsewhere in English translation — most concretely, a discourse called "The Valley Spirit Not Dying" attributed to Bai Yuchan, and a reference to an anthology of Daoist internal-alchemy texts that includes material titled "Pointers to the Mystery." Neither of these was fetched or consulted in preparing this translation; the classical Chinese below is the only source used. Because at least one component essay of this collection may already exist in English translation elsewhere, no claim of outright firstness is made for the whole. To our knowledge, however, no complete published English translation of this anthology, gathered as it stands in the Daoist Canon under this title, exists elsewhere.

A note on hard passages. The autobiographical section within the first discourse (the "I, Bai Yuchan of Hainan, from youth served my late master Chen Niwan" passage, with its sequence of trigrams, stars, and mythic geography) is written in a compressed, allusive register whose exact ritual referents this translator could not fully verify; it has been rendered as literally as English allows rather than smoothed into sense. The rhapsody "On the Golden Liquor Reverted Elixir" names several lunar lodges (房, 昴, 箕, 張, 畢, and others) by their traditional roles in correlative cosmology; these are given in their conventional English lodge-names or transliterated where no settled English name was known to this translator, and the passage as a whole remains one of the densest in the collection. The source also preserves what appears to be a scribal variant, 四李 for what context suggests should be 四時 ("the four seasons"), silently normalized in translation; and two spellings, 潭真人 and 譚真人, of what is almost certainly the same "Realized Man Tan," both rendered identically here. No untranslatable or illegible (▢) characters occur in this text. The recurring technical vocabulary — lead and mercury, dragon and tiger, dantian rendered "Elixir Field" per the house glossary, niwan rendered "Mud Pellet" with the pinyin given once — is kept consistent throughout rather than varied for elegance, in keeping with the text's own practice of using a fixed working vocabulary for its art.

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

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Source Text: 紫清指玄篇

Classical Chinese text of the Daoist Canon, in the Chinese Wikisource transcription. Presented complete for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

玄關顯秘論

一言半句便通玄，何用丹書千萬篇，人若不為形所累，眼前便是大羅天。若要煉形煉神，須識歸根複命。

所以道：歸根自有歸根竅，複命還尋複命關。且如這個關竅，若人知得真實處，則歸根複命何難也。

故曰：虛無生自然，自然生大道，大道生一氣，一氣分陰陽，陰陽為天地，天地生萬物，則是造化之根也。此乃真一之氣，萬象之先。

太虛太無，太空太玄，杳杳冥冥，非尺寸之可量，浩浩蕩蕩，非涯岸之可測，其大無外，其小無內，大包天地，小入毫芒，上無複色，下無複淵，一物圓成，千古顯露，不可得而名者，聖人以心契之，不獲已而名之曰"道"。

以是知心即是道也，故無心則與道合，有心則與道違。惟此"無"之一字，包諸有而無餘，生萬物而不竭。

天地雖大，能役有形，不能役無形；陰陽雖妙，能役有氣，不能役無氣；

五行至精，能役有數，不能役無數；百念紛起，能役有識，不能役無識。

今修此理者，不若先煉形。煉形之妙，在乎凝神，神凝則氣聚，氣聚則丹成，丹成則形固，形固則神全。

故潭真人云：忘形以養氣，忘氣以養神，忘神以養虛。

只此"忘"之一宇，則是無物也。本來無一物，何處有塵埃！其斯之謂乎？如能味此理，就於"忘"之一字上做工夫，可以入大道之淵微，奪自然之妙用，立丹基於頃刻，運造化於一身也。

然此道視之寂寥而無所睹，聽之杳冥而無所聞，惟以心視之則有象，以心聽之則有聲。

若學道之士，冥心凝神，致虛守靜，則虛室生白，信乎自然也。

惟太上度人，教人修煉，以乾坤為鼎器，以烏兔為藥物，以日魂之升沉應氣血之升降，以月魄之盈虧應精神之衰旺，以四李之節候應一日之時刻，以周天之星數應一爐之造化。

是故采精神以為藥，取靜定以為火，以靜定之火，而煉精神之藥，則成金液大還丹。

蓋真陰真陽之交會，一水一火之配合，要在先辨浮沉，次明主客，審抽添之運用，察反覆之安危。

如高象先云：采有時，取有日。

劉海蟾云：開闔乾坤造化權，煆煉一爐真日月。

能悟之者，效日月之運用，與天地以同功。夫豈知天養無象，地養無體，故天長地久，日光月明，其一長存，虛空不朽也。

吾今則而象之，無事子心，無心於事，內觀其心，心無其心，外觀其形，形無其形，遠觀其物，物無其物，知心無心，知形無形，知物無物，超出萬幻，確然一靈。

古經云：生我於虛，置我於無。是宜歸性根之太始，反未生之已前，藏心於心而不見，藏神於神而不出。

故能三際圓通，萬緣澄寂，六根清淨，方寸虛明，不滯於空，不滯於無，空諸所空，無諸所無，至於空無所空，無無所無，淨裸裸，赤灑灑，則靈然而獨存者也。

道非欲虛，虛自歸之，人能虛心，道自歸之。

道本無名，近不可取，遠不可舍，非方非圓，非內非外，惟聖人知之。

三毒無根，六欲無種，頓悟此理，歸於虛無。

老君曰：天地之間，其猶橐龠乎！虛而不屈，動而愈出。

若能於靜定之中，抱沖和之氣，守其一之精，則是封爐固濟以行火候也。

火本南方離卦，屬心，心者神也，神則火也，氣則藥也，以火煉藥而成丹者，即是以神禦氣而成道也。

人能手摶日月，心握鴻蒙，自然見橐龠之開闔，河車之升降，水濟命宮，火溉丹台，金木交並，水土融和，姥女乘龍，金翁跨虎，逆透三關，上升內院，化為玉汞，下入重樓，中有一穴，名曰丹台，鉛汞相投，水火相合，才若意到，即如印圈契約也。自然而然，不約而合，有動之動，出於不動，有為之為，出於無為。當是時也，白雪漫天，黃芽滿地，龍吟虎嘯，夫唱婦隨，玉鼎湯煎，金爐火熾，雷轟電掣，撼動乾坤，百脈聳然，三關透徹，玄珠成象，太乙歸真，泥丸風生，絳宮月明，丹田煙暖，谷海波澄，煉成還丹，易如反掌，七返九還，方成大藥，日煉時烹，以至九轉，天關地軸，在吾手中。

經云：人能常清淨，天地悉皆歸。

則是三花聚頂，五氣朝元，可以入眾妙門，玄之又玄也。更能晝運靈旗，夜孕火芝，溫養聖胎，產成赤子，至於脫胎神化，回陽換骨，則是玉符保神，金液煉形，形神俱妙，與道合真者也。

張平叔云：郡來片餉工夫，永保無窮快樂。誠就是言！

蓋道之基，德之本，龍虎之宗，鉛汞之祖，三火所聚，八水所歸，萬神朝會之門，金丹妙用之源，乃歸根複命之關竅也。

既能知此，則欲不必遣而心自靜，心不必澄而神自清，一念不生，萬幻俱寢，身馭扶搖，神遊恢漠，方知道風清月白，皆顯揚鉛汞之機，水綠山青，盡髮露龍虎之旨。

海南白玉贍，幼從事先師陳泥丸學丹法。每到日中冬至之時，則開乾閉巽，留坤塞艮，據天罡，持鬥杓，謁軒轅，過扶桑，入廣寒，面鶉尾，舉黃鐘，泛海搓，登昆侖，佩唐符，撼天雷，游巫山，呼黃童，召朱兒，取青龍肝、白虎髓、赤風血、黑龜精，入士簽，啟熒惑，命閼伯，化成丹砂，開華池，吸神水，飲刀圭，從無入有，無質生質，抽鉛添汞，結成聖胎。十月既滿，氣足形圓，身外有身，謂之胎仙。

其訣曰：用志不分，乃可凝神，灰心冥冥，金丹內成。此餘之所得也如此。

施肩吾之詩曰：氣是添年藥，心為使氣神，若知行氣主，便是得仙人。惟此詩簡明，通玄造妙，故佩而誦之，自然到秋瞻麗天，虛空消殞之地，非枯木寒泉之士，不能知此。餘既得之，不敢自默。

《太上玄科》曰：遇人不傳失天道，傳非其人失天寶。天涯海角，尋遍無人，不容輕傳，恐受天譴。深慮夫大道無傳，丹法湮泯，故作《玄關顯秘論》。蓋將曉斯世而詔後學，以壽金丹一線之脈也。

複恐世人猶昧此理，乃複為之言曰：以眼視眼，以耳聽耳，以鼻調鼻，以口緘口，潛藏飛躍，本乎一心。

先當習定凝神，懲忿窒欲；懲忿窒欲，則水火既濟；水火既濟，則金木交並；金木交並，則真土歸位；真土歸位，則金丹自然大如黍米。日複一粒，神歸氣複，充塞天地。

孟子曰，我善養吾浩然之氣者，此也。

肝氣全則仁，肺氣全則義，心氣全則禮，腎氣全則智，脾氣全則信。若受氣不足，則不仁、不義、不禮、不智、不信，豈人也哉！

人能凝虛養浩，心寬體胖，氣母既成。結丹甚易，可不厚其所養，以保我之元歟？學者思之！

敬書以投留紫元云。

修仙辯惑論

海南白玉蟾，自幼事陳泥丸，忽已九年，偶一日，在乎岩阿松陰之下，風清月明，夜靜烟寒，因思生死事大，無常迅速，遂稽首再拜而問曰：玉蟾事師未久，自揣福薄緣淺，敢問今生有分可仙乎？陳泥丸云：人人皆可，況於汝乎？玉蟾曰：不避尊嚴之責，輒伸僭易之問，修仙有幾門？煉丹有幾法？愚見如玉石之未分，願與一言點化。陳泥丸云：爾來，吾語汝。修仙有三等，煉丹有三成。夫天仙之道，能變化飛升也，上士可以學之，以身為鉛，以心為汞，以定為水，以慧為火，在片餉之間，可以凝結，十月成胎，此乃上品煉丹之法，本無卦爻，亦無斤兩，其法簡易，故以心傳之，甚易成也；夫水仙之道，能出入隱顯者也，中士可以學之，以氣為鉛，以神為汞，以午為火，以子為水，在百日之間，可以混合，三年成象，此乃中品煉丹之法，雖有卦爻，卻無斤兩，其法要妙，故以口傳之，必可成也；夫地仙之道，能留形住世也，庶士可以學之，以精為鉛，以血為汞，以腎為水，以心為火，在一年之間，可以融結，九年成功，此乃下品煉丹之法，既有卦爻，又有斤兩，其法繁難，故以文字傳之，恐難成也。上品丹法，以精神魂魄意為藥材，以行住處臥為火候，以清靜自然為運用；中品丹法，以心肝脾肺腎為藥材，以年月日時為火侯，以抱元守一為運用；下品丹法，以精血髓氣液為藥材，以閉咽搐摩為火候，以存思升降為運用。大抵妙處不在乎按圖索駿也，若泥象執文之士，空自傲慢，至老無成矣。玉瞻曰：讀丹經許多年，如在荊棘中行，今日塵淨鑒明，雲開月皎，總萬法而歸一，包萬幻以歸真，但未知正在于何處下手用功也。陳泥丸云：善哉問也！夫煉丹之要，以身為壇爐鼎灶，以心為神室，以端坐習定為採取，以操持照顧為行火，以作止為進退，以斷續不專為堤防，以運用為抽添，以真氣薰蒸為沐浴，以息念為養火，以制伏身心為野戰，以凝神聚氣為守城，以忘機絕慮為生殺，以念頭動處為玄牝，以打成一塊為交結，以歸根複命為丹成，以移神為換鼎，以身外有身為脫胎，以返本還源為真空，以打破虛空為了當，故能聚則成形，散則成氣，去來無礙，逍遙自然矣。玉蟾曰：勤而不遇，必遇至人；遇而不勤，終為下鬼。若此修丹之法，有何證驗？陳泥九云：初修丹時，神清氣爽，身心和暢，宿疾普消，更無夢昧，百日不食，飲酒不醉，到此地位，赤血換為白血，陰氣煉成陽氣，身如火熱，行步如飛，口中可以幹汞，吹氣可以炙內，對境無心，如如不動，役使鬼神，呼召雷雨，耳聞九天，目視萬里，遍體純陽，金筋玉骨，陽神觀形，出入自然，此乃長生不死之道畢矣。但恐世人執著藥物、火候之說，以為有形有為，而不能頓悟也。夫豈知混沌未分以前，焉有年月日時？父母未生以前，烏有精血氣掖？道本無形，喻之為龍虎；道本無名，比之為鉛汞。若是學天仙之人，須是形神俱妙，與道合真可也，豈可被陰陽束縛在五行之中，要當跳出天地之外，方可名為得道之士矣。或者疑曰：此法與禪學稍同。殊不知終日談演問答，乃是幹慧，長年枯兀昏沉，乃是幻空，然天仙之學，如水晶盤中之珠，轉漉漉地，活潑潑地，自然圓陀陀、光爍爍。所謂天仙者，此乃金仙也。夫此不可言傳之妙也，人誰知之？人誰行之？天下無二道，聖人無兩心，何況人人具足，個個圓成。正所謂處處綠楊堪系馬，家家門閫透長安，但取其捷徑雲爾。玉蟾曰：天下學仙者紛紛，然良由學而不遇，遇而不行，行而不勒，乃至老來甘心赴死於九泉之下，豈石悲哉！今將師傳口訣，鋟木以傳於世。惟此洩露天機甚矣，得無譴乎？泥九云：吾將點化天下神仙，苟獲罪者，天其不天乎！經雲我命在我不在天，何譴之有？玉蟾曰：師祖張平叔，三傳非人，三遭禍患，何也？泥九云：彼一時自無眼力，又況運心不普乎！噫！師在天涯，弟子在海角，何況塵勞中識人甚難，今但刊此散行天下，使修仙之士，可以尋文揣義，妙理昭然，是乃天授矣，何必乎筆舌以傳之哉！但能凝然靜定，念中無念，工夫純粹，打成—片，終日默默，如雞抱卵，則神歸氣複，自然見玄關一竅。其大無外，其小無內，則是採取先天一氣，以為金丹之母。勤而行之，指日可以與鐘、呂並駕矣！此乃己試之效驗，學仙者無所指南，謹集問答之要，名之曰《修仙辯惑論》云。

性命日月論

性命之在人，如日月之在天也。日與月合則常明，性與命合則長生。命者因形而有，性則寓乎有形之後。五臟之神為命，七情之所系也，莫不有害吾之公道。稟受於天為性，公道之所系焉。故性與天同道，命與人同欲。命合於性，則交感而成丹，丹化為神則不死。日者，擅乾德之光以著乎外；月體坤而用乾，承乎陽爾。晦朔相合，日就月魄，月承日魂，陰陽交育而神明生。故老子謂出生入死，生之徒十有三，死之徒十有三。言每月月三，日出而明生，生至於十五日也；每月月十六，日入而明死，死至於二十八日也。日月於卦為坎離。坎卦外陰而內陽，乾之用九歸乎中；離卦外陽而內陰，坤之用六歸乎中。乾坤之二用，既歸於坎離，故坎離二卦，得以代行乾坤之道。一月之內，變見六卦，垂象於天。三日一陽生於下而震卦出，八日二陽生於下而兌卦出，十五日三陽全而乾始出，此蓋乾索于坤而陽道進也；十六日一陰生於下而巽卦出，二十三日二陰生於下而艮卦出，三十日三陰全而坤始出，此蓋坤索於乾而陰道進也。天地以坎離運行陰陽之道，周而複易，故魏伯陽謂日月為易，陸德明亦取此義，訓詁"周易"之字。餘竊謂在天為明，明者日月之橫合；在世為易，易者日月之縱合；在人為丹，丹者日月之重合。人之日月系乎心腎，心腎氣交，水火升降，運轉無窮，始見吾身與天地等，同司造化，而不入於造化矣。

谷神不死論

谷者，天谷也。神者，一身之元神也。天之谷，含造化，容虛空；地之谷，容萬物，載山川。人與天地同所稟也，亦有谷焉。其谷藏真一，宅元神，是以頭有九宮，上應九天，中間一宫，謂之泥丸，亦曰黃庭，又名昆侖，又名天谷，其名頗多，乃元神所住之宮，其空如谷，而神居之，故謂之谷神。神存則生，神去則死。日則接於物，夜則接於夢，神不能安其居也。黃梁未熟，南柯未寤，一生之榮辱富貴，百歲之悲憂悅樂，備嘗於一夢之間，使其去而不還，遊而不遠，則生死路隔，幽明之途絕矣。由是觀之，人不能自生而神生之，人不能自死而神死之。若神居其谷而不死，人安得而死乎？然谷神所以不死者，由玄牝也。玄者，陽也，天也；牝者，陰也，地也。然則玄牝二氣，各有深旨，非遇至人，授以口訣，不可得而知也。《黃帝內經》云：天谷元神，守之自真。言人身中上有天谷泥丸，藏神之府也；中有應谷絳宫，藏氣之府也；下有靈谷關元，藏精之府也。天谷，玄宮也，乃元神之室，靈性之所存，是神之要也。聖人則天地之要，知變化之源，神守于玄宮，氣騰於牝府，神氣交感，自然成其，與道為一，而人於不死不生，故曰谷神不死，是謂玄牝也。聖人運用于玄牝之內，造化於恍惚之中，當其玄牝之氣，入乎其根，閉極則失于急，任之則失於蕩，欲其綿綿續續，勿令間斷耳。若存者，順其自然而存之，神久自寧，息久自定，性入自然，無為妙用，未嘗至於勤勞迫切，故曰用之不勤。即此而現，則玄牝為上下二源，氣母升降之正道明矣。世人不窮其根，不究其源，便以鼻為玄，以口為牝。若以鼻口為玄牝，則玄牝之門又將何以名之？此皆不能造其妙，非大聖人安能究是理哉！

陰陽升降論

夫以乾道輕清而在上，地以坤道重濁而在下，元氣則運行乎中而不息。在上者以陽為用，故冬至後一陽之氣自地而升，積一百八十日而至天，陽極而陰生；在下者以陰為用，積一百八十日而至地，陰極而陽生。一升一降，往來無窮。人受沖和之氣，以生於天地之間，與天地初無二體，天地之氣，一年一周，人身之氣，一日一周。自子至巳，陽升之時，故以子時為日中之冬至，在易為複；自午至亥，陰降之時，故以午時為日中之夏至，在易為姤。陰極陽生，陽極陰生，晝夜往來，亦猶天地之升降。人能效天地橐龠之用，沖虛湛寂，一氣周流於百骸，開則氣出，闔則氣入，氣出則如地氣之上升，氣入則如天氣之下降，自可與天地齊其長久。若也奔驟乎紛華之域，馳騁乎是非之場，則真氣耗散，而不為吾之有矣，不若虛靜守中以養也。中者，天地玄牝之氣會聚之處也。人能一意守之而不散，則真精自朝，元氣自聚，穀神自棲，三屍自去，九蟲自滅，此乃長生久視之道也。以是知真息元氣，乃人身性命之根。深根固蒂，乃長生久視之道。人之有生，稟大道一元之氣，在母胞胎，與母同呼吸，及乎降誕之後，剪去臍蒂，一點元陽，棲于丹田之中，其息出入，通於天門，與天相接，上入泥九，長於元神，下入丹田，通於元氣。莊子云：眾人之氣為喉，聖人之息為踵。踵也者，深根固蒂之道。人能屏去諸念，真息自定，身入無形，與道為一，在世長年。由是觀之，道之在身，豈不尊乎？豈不貴乎？

鶴林問道篇

海南白玉蟾過三山，次紫虛真官之居，鶴林彭耜過之，問以道法之要。曰：愚嘗究金丹大藥之旨，所謂日月、龍虎、鉛汞、坎離、火候、周天、卦象之類，與夫偃月爐、朱砂鼎等語，名既不一，事亦多端，末審一物而分眾名耶？其或眾名而各一物耶？在內求之則無形，在外求之則有象，或妙在作為，或妙在靜定，古者嘗言有所作為，即非道也，又曰溺於靜，是枯坐也。懵然不知其所以入之蹊徑、到之堂奧，願聞其說。答曰：先聖仰觀天文，俯察地理，近取諸身，遠取諸物，創為丹訣，以長生不死之意，以淑人心，其實—理也。其始入也，在乎陰陽五行，其終到也，歸乎混沌無極，如丹法所言，盡有所據，第互立一說，各執一見，所以眾楚不可以一齊，耍在吾所遇所傳所得如何耳。在天則為日月星辰，在地則為禽獸草木，在人則為夫婦男女。以易道言之，則乾坤坎離也；以五運言之，則金木水火也；以藥物言之，則鉛銀砂汞也；以丹道言之，則龍虎烏免也。用之則有壇爐鼎灶之名，行之則有升降交合之象，體之則有浮沉清濁之變，則之則有陰陽寒暑之候。聖人故曰：采以藥物，煉以火候，結而成丹，超凡人聖。所以取之於內，而不泥於內象，取之於外，而不求其外物，是所謂無物無象者也。謂之先天一氣，混元至精，則是大而不可知之之謂神之意也。其體或聚或散，如輕煙薄霧然也；其象或有或無，如夢幻泡影然也。天地與我同根，萬物與我同體，往古來今，本無成壞，第以生死流轉，情識起滅，如浮雲之點太清，如黑風之翳明月。聖人憫世澆漓，詔人修煉，使從無入有謂之成，以有歸無為之了。其運用之耍，有動之動，出於不動，有為之為，出於無為，不過煉精成氣，煉氣成神，煉神合道而已。若有作用，實無作用，似乎靜定，即非靜定，如龍養珠，如雞抱卵，可以無心會，不可以用心作，可以用心守，不可以勞心為。此乃修丹之要，入道之玄。

又問曰：古者入道，以調心為要，以精思為妙，精思則是存念也，調心則是把捉也，存念既久，則其念或差，把捉稍緊，則心轉難調，或者調存念不宜久，把捉不宜緊，愚竊謂曰，存念不久，則其念必不真，把捉不緊，則此心何可調 ? 答曰：存者有也，亡者無也，存音存我之神，想者想我之身，閉目見自己之目，收心見自己之心，有物則可以存，謂之真想，無物而強存之，謂之妄想，此乃精思存念之妙。操者存也，舍者亡也，操者操真一之氣，存者存太玄之精，凝一神則萬神俱凝，聚一氣則萬氣俱聚，順我之物，可以無心藏之，逆我之物，可以無心順之，至如真妄本空，逆順懼寂，則三際圓通，一靈晃耀，此乃把捉調心之要也。蓋緣一念起動則萬念起，一竅開則九竅開，此無他，乃是以神馭氣之意。我自無始以來，無名煩惱，業識茫茫，不可消釋於頃刻，而寢息於目前也。故古人有心息相依，息調心靜之語，此非調心乎？又如用志不分，乃凝於神等語，此非精思乎？先聖有曰：制心一處，無事不辦。所以譚真人云：忘形以養氣，忘氣以養神，忘神以養虛。只此"忘形"二宇，則是制心之旨。雖然，與其忘形而心游萬物，曾未忘之不如，何耶？吾所以忘者，非惟忘形，亦乃忘心，心境俱忘，湛然常寂。

又問曰：今而有人，迷而不學，學而不遇，遇而不行，行而不成，抑時節末至，而因緣末熟耶？抑賦分良薄，而骨不可仙耶？答曰：古人目擊道存，未語先會，蓋在我已純金璞玉，惟求巧倕之定價，若泛泛無統，茫無所據，朝參師黃，暮參師李，今乍學道，明年學法，今日勒，明日懈，若如是以求尋直，是所謂自假不除，更求他真也。但以"信"之一字，為人道之階；以"勤"之—字，為行道之本；以"無"之一字應物；以"有"之一字凝神。久久行之，天其使聖師為子發蹤指示矣。學道之士思之。

又問曰：古之系易者，惟窮理盡性，以至於命，固嘗究之矣，夫性與命，其一理耶？二理耶？答曰：先聖不云乎天命之謂性，率性之謂道，修道之謂教，實一理也。

又問曰：所謂金液還丹者，先則安爐立鼎，次則知汞識鉛，然後以年月日時采之，以水火符候煉之，故匹配以斤兩，法象以夫婦，結丹頭，飲刀圭，懷聖胎，產嬰兒，則可以身外有身，此修仙者之學也，愚亦嘗入其閫奧，而終有龍虎之疑、烏兔之惑，不知先生能出標月之指乎？答曰：壇爐鼎灶，本自虛無，鉛銀砂汞，本自恍惚，水火符候，本自杳冥，年月日時，本自妄幻，然而視之若無，而實有也。在乎斤兩調勾，造化交合，使水火既濟，金土相融，苟或不爾，則黃婆縱丁公以朝奔，姹女抱嬰兒而夜哭，故先輩盡削去導引吐納、搬運吞咽、呼吸存想、動作等事，恐人執著於涕唾精津氣血之小，而不知專氣致柔，能如嬰兒之旨也。嗚呼！妙哉！結之以片餉，養之以十月，是所謂無中養就嬰兒者也。大要則曰：有用用中無用，無功功裏施功。又曰：憂惚裏相逢，杳冥中有變。然雖如是，要須親吃雲門餅，莫只垂涎說饆饠。

又問曰：老氏所謂金丹，與大道相去幾何？道無形，安得有所謂龍虎？道無名，安得有所謂鉛汞？如金丹者，術耶？道耶？答曰：魏伯陽《參同契》云，金來陽性初，乃得稱還丹。夫金丹者，金則性之義，丹者心之義，其體調之大道，其用謂之大丹，丹即道也，道即丹也。又能專氣致柔，含光默默，養正持盈，守雌抱一，一心不動，萬緣俱寂，丹經萬卷，不如守一，守得其—，萬法歸—。是故天得一以清，地得一以寧，人得一以靈，穀得一以盈，日月得一以明，萬象得一以生，聖人得一而天下平。道生一，一生二，二生三，三生萬物。道者一之體，—者道之用，人抱道以生，與天地同其根，與萬物同其體。夫道一而己矣，得其一，則後天而死，失其一，與物俱腐。子守之以一以為基，采之以一以為藥，煉之以一以為火，結之以一以為丹，養之以一以為聖胎，運之以一以為抽添，持之以—以為固濟，澄之以一以為沐浴。由一而一，一至於極，謂之脫胎；極其無極，一無所—，與道合真，與天長存，謂之真一。聖人忘形以養氣，忘氣以養神，忘神以養虛，道非欲虛，虛自歸之，人能虛心，道自歸之。子欲得衣，—與之裳；子欲得食，一與之糧；子欲得飲，一與之漿；子欺得居，一與之堂；子欲得寒，一與之霜；子欲得熱，一與之湯。虛其心，忘其形，守其一，抱其靈，故能固其精，寶其氣，全其神，三田精滿，五臟氣盈，然後謂之丹成，一一於一，可以長生。先聖有云：後共身而身先，忘其身而身存。此誠有以也。

又問曰：愚夙昔夤幸，天假其逢，極荷大慈，剖示玄旨，如所問道，則示之以心，如所問金丹大藥，則又示之以心，愚深知一切惟心矣，恍然若有所得，雖欲喻之而無物可喻，雖欲言之而無語可言，但天機深遠，道要玄微，雖知藥物如此分明，而於火候則猶有疑焉。答曰：二十四氣，七十二候，二十八宿，六十四卦，十二分野，此乃天地推移，陰陽度運如是也，夫一年有十二月，一月有三十日，一日有十二時，總計百刻，其間六陽六陰，無非一氣升降，在乎人身，則何以異於天地哉！此煉丹之法，所以攢簇五行，會合八卦，法天象地，准日測月，分徘卦數，布位星辰，以時易日，內修外應，上水下火，—文一武，故有進退之符，抽添之候，固濟之門，沐浴之時，卦象之變，造化之妙，謂之火候，一如月魄之盈專，潮候之消長，此卻簡易，不容輕傳，以其奪天地之造化，盜日月之魂魄故也。夜三更，吾將盟天以告子矣。先聖有云：雖知藥物，而不知神室，則不可結胎；雖知神室，而不知火候，則不可成丹。非子其孰能與於此？鶴林彭耜稽首再拜而言曰：耜雖不敏，願受教焉。

丹房法語與胡胎仙

呂先生鶴頸龜腮，適有鐘離之會；石居士鹿鼻鼠耳，偶逢平叔之來。歎夤緣時節之難，豈名利是非之比。金丹大藥，古人以萬劫一傳；玉笥靈篇，學者之十迷九昧。月裏烏，日裏兔，顛倒坎離；水中虎，火中龍，運用複垢。采先天一氣，作鉛中之髓；奪星象萬化，為汞裏之精。惟弦前弦後之時，乃望缺望圓之際。知之者，癸生須急采；昧之音，望遠不堪嘗。精半斤，氣半斤，總在西南之位；火一兩，藥一兩，實居東北之鄉。收金精木液，歸於黃庭；煉白雪黃芽，結成紫扮。《悟真篇》所謂華池神水，《知命論》又言地魄天魂。采之煉之，結矣成矣。如夫婦最初一點，十月成胎；似君臣共會萬機，百官列職。遇日中冬至，則野戰；退時中夏至，則守城。都來片餉工夫，要在一日證驗。九三二八，算來隻在姹女金翁；七六十三，窮得無過黃婆丁老。更不用看丹經萬卷，也只消得口訣一言。子之來意甚勤，知汝積年求慕。非夙生有此豐骨，豈一旦用是身心！自來藥以至結胎，從行火而及脫體。包括抽添之妙，形容沐浴之機。無金木間隔之憂，有水土同鄉之慶。但須溫養，都沒艱辛。十二時中只一時，三百日內在半日。丹田有物，行性坐臥以無憂；紫府書名，生死輪回而不累。了然快樂，自此消閒。這工夫，向鬧裏也堪行；論玄妙，只頃中都交結。聚而不散，煉之尤堅。朱砂鼎、偃月爐，何難尋之有？守一壇、中央釜，惟自己而求，宜識陰陽，要知玄牝。龍精滿鼎，遣金童下十二重樓；鳳髓盈壺，令玉女報三千世界。此時丹熟，更須慈母借嬰兒；不日雲飛，方見真人朝上帝。

金液還丹賦

身木欲槁，心灰已寒。願飛升于玉闕，必修煉于金丹。乾馬坤牛，衛丁公於神室，離烏兔，媒姹女於真壇。絳閣散郎，清期閑士。使扶桑育龍，奮超出火；而華岳白虎、飛牙入水，天爐地鼎，三關造化之樞機；日魄月魂，一掬陰陽之精髓。鉛裏藏土，汞中產金。龜乃子爻，蛇乃午象，免為卯畜，雞為酉禽。四象五行，不離乎戊；三元八卦，宅資厥壬，朝既屯，暮既蒙，六爻有象；夜必複，晝必姤，萬物無心。由是三性會合，攢簇元宮，二氣升降，盤旋黃道；惟水銀一味，才變黑玉；故七返朱矽，乃成紅寶。朱橘瓊榴，交梨火棗。普天白雪，翩翻紫府之清飆；滿院黃花，隱映丹田之瑞草。吾知夫抽添何物、採取何地；生殺有戶、缺圓有時。以浮沉為清濁之本，以間隔明動靜之機。並正以抱—，持盈而守雌。舉世無人，能達此者；終日枯坐，不知所之。恩生害，害生恩，房躔見昂；主中賓，賓中主，鬥度回箕。嘗謂大道無言，內丹非術。玄珠垂象，而陰裏抱陽德；嬰兒結胎，而雄中含雌質。君臣之間，先後悔吝；夫婦之外，存亡凶吉。丁位之心，癸位之張，甲宮之女，庚宮之畢。刑德生旺，雖有否泰；沐浴潛藏，初無固必。藥材斤兩，東西南北以歸中；火候城池，二八九三而為一。如是則鵲橋河車，百刻上運；華池神水，四時逆流。榮衛寒溫，而鶉火鬼井；精神衰旺，而玄枵鬥牛。子母函蓋，身化心化；兄第塤簇，福修慧修。六畫動爻，見晦朔弦望之變；二至改度，有蝗蟲水旱之憂。真人甯宙妙縱橫，萬里溪山歸掌握。左軍右軍，自古仁義；大隱小隱，從今官角。風悄悄，月娟娟，片雲孤鶴，而長嘯一聲，編書遺後學。

必竟恁地歌

我生不信有神仙，亦不知有大羅天。那堪見人說蓬萊，掩面卻笑渠風顛。七返還丹多不實，往往將謂人虛傳。世傳神仙能飛升，又道不死延萬年。肉既無翅必墜地，入無百歲安可延？滿眼且見生死懼，死生生死相循旋。翠虛真人與我言，他所見識大不然。恐人緣淺賦分薄，自無壽命歸黃泉。人身只有三般物．精神與氣常保全。其精不是交感精，乃是玉皇口中涎；其氣即非呼吸氣，乃知卻是太素煙；其神即非思慮神，可與元始相比肩。我聞共言我亦怖，且怖且疑且擎拳。但知即日動止間，一物相處常團圓。此物根蒂乃精氣，精氣恐是身中填。豈知此精此神氣，根于父母末生前。三者未嘗相反離，結為一塊大無邊。人之生死空自爾，此物湛寂何傷焉。吾將矍然以自思，老者必不虛其官。是我將有可受業，渠必以此示言詮。開禧元年中秋夜，焚香跪地口相傳。偶爾行持三兩日，天地舊月軟如綿。忽然嚼得虛空破，始知鐘呂皆參玄。吾之少年早留心，必不至此猶塵緣。且念八百與三千，雲鶴相將來翩翩。

煉丹不成作

八兩日月精，半斤雲霧屑。輕似一鴻毛，重如千秤鐵。白如天上雪，紅如猩猩血。收入玉葫蘆，秘之不敢泄。夜半忽風雷，煙氣滿寥泬。這般情與味，啞子咬破舌。捧腹付一笑，無使心煩熱。要整釣魚竿，再所秋筠節。

述翠虛真人安樂法

收斂神光少默然，頂門一路聚雲煙。且升陽火烹金鼎，卻降靈泉灌玉田。交結只于牛渚外，分明正在鵲橋邊。工夫九九數六六，此是人間安樂仙。

呈萬庵

歸山

生死輪回第幾番，塵塵劫劫不曾閑。
—潭湛綠是非海，千尺粉青人我山。
性地靈苗思水國，心天明月掩雲關。
衣中珠子無尋處，今且隨緣煉大還。

采藥

五蘊山頭多白雲，白雲深處藥苗芬。
威音王佛隨時種，元始天尊下手耘。
石女騎龍攀雨術，木人駕虎摘霜芸。
不論貧富家家有，采得歸來各一斤。

爐鼎

須信先天事事無，陰陽陶鑄此形模。
真空平等朱砂鼎，虛徹靈通偃月爐。
九竅可風壇撣暖，二時失火藥材枯。
只此一點無名焰，煉出人間大丈夫。

火候

無位真人煉大丹，倚天長劍逼人寒。
玉爐火燃天尊膽，金鼎湯煎佛祖肝。
百刻寒溫忙裏准，六爻文武靜中看。
有人要問真爐鼎，豈離而今赤肉團。

沐浴

藥爐丹鼎火炎炎，六賊三屍伯令嚴。
無去無來無進退，不增不減不抽添。
愛河浪靜浮朱雀，覺海波深浸白蟾。
一自浴丹歸密室，太陽門下夜明簾。

溫養

金翁姹女結親姻，洞口桃花日日春。
拾得一輪天上月，煉成萬劫屋中珍。
黃婆即是母之母，赤子乃其身外身。
龍漢元年消息斷，威音前面更何人？

脫胎

青天白日一聲雷，撒手懸崖了聖胎。
有眼如盲光爍爍，無繩似縛笑哈哈。
黃金殿下千株柳，碧玉堂前萬樹梅。
辜負鴛幃人寂寞，秦樓宴罷盍歸來？

金丹

佛與眾生共—家，一毫頭上現河沙。
九還七返魚遊網，四諦三空兔入罾。
混沌何年曾結子，虛宅昨夜複生花。
阿誰鼎內尋丹藥，枯木岩前月影斜。

沖舉

自從踏著涅槃門，一枕清風幾萬年。
弱水蓬萊雖有路，釋迦彌勒正參禪，
誰將枯木岩前地，放出落花啼鳥天。
兩個泥牛鬥入海，至今消息尚茫然。

參同

道人家在海之南，來訪廬山老萬庵。
露柱燈籠同請舉，憎堂佛殿總和南。
山河大地自群動，蠢動含靈共一龕。
齏裏魚淹未死，此香炷向活瞿曇。

水調歌頭四首

一

金液還丹訣，無中養就兒。別無他術，只要神水人華池。採取天真鉛汞，片餉自然交媾，一點紫金脂。十月周天火，玉鼎產瓊芝。
你休癡，今說破，莫生疑。乾坤運用，大都不過坎和離。石裏緣何懷玉，因甚珠藏蚌腹，借此顯天機。何況妙中妙，未易與君知。

二

不用尋神水，也莫問華池。黃芽白雪，算來總是假名之。只這坤牛乾馬，便是離龍坎虎，不必更猜疑。藥物無斤兩，火候不用時。
偃月爐，朱砂鼎，總皆非。真鉛真汞，遇之不煉要何為？自己金公姹女，漸漸打成一塊，胎息象嬰兒。不信張平叔，你更問他誰？

三

要做神仙去，工夫譬似閑。一陽初動，玉爐起火煉還丹。捉住天魂地魄，不與龍騰虎躍，滿鼎汞花幹。一任河車運，徑路入泥丸。
飛金精，采玉液，過二關。金木間隔，如何上得玉京山？尋得曹溪路脈，便把華池神水，結就紫金圓。免得饑寒了，天上即人間。

四

土釜溫溫火，橐龠動春雷。三田升降，—條徑路屬靈台。自有真龍真虎，和合天然鉛汞，赤子結真胎。水裏捉明月，心地覺花開。
—轉功，三十日，九旬來。抽添氣候，煉成白血換枯骸。四象五行聚會，只在一方凝結，方寸絕纖埃。人在泥丸上，歸路入蓬萊。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this text (article 紫清指玄篇, revision of 3 August 2025), 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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