Gu Qi Huan Shen Jiu Zhuan Qiong Dan Lun

This is a two-part treatise from the Daoist Canon on the practice of internal alchemy (neidan). This transcription carries no catalogue headnote naming an author or century, so neither can be given with confidence; the text's concerns — consolidating qi, restoring spirit, and refining a "Gem Elixir" through nine cycles — place it within the broad neidan literature that grew from the Tang dynasty onward and drew heavily on the Scripture of the Yellow Court and the Token for the Agreement of the Three.

The first part, "Treatise on Consolidating Qi and Restoring Spirit," is a short connected essay arguing against a crude reading of "sealing the essence" as mere physical retention, and toward a subtler discipline in which qi and essence are made to circulate rather than be dammed. The second and much longer part, "Treatise on the Nine-Cycle Gem Elixir," is built as a series of short base lines followed by their own prose commentary — a form this translation keeps by setting each base line in bold before its explanation. It speaks throughout in the vocabulary of laboratory alchemy: lead and mercury, cauldron and water-clock, dragon and tiger, sinking and rising vapor — the common symbolic language in which Daoist inner cultivation described the body's own transformations.

One term is worth flagging for the reader. The text's own title word 瓊 (qióng) names a fine, often reddish jade; this translation renders 瓊丹 as "Gem Elixir" throughout, and 還丹 (huán dān), the more common term for the same attainment, as "Reverted Elixir." Several passages toward the end of the second treatise — on furnace-building materials and on the correlation of five-day stages with seasonal omens — are obscure in the source itself and are marked as such in the colophon below.

Translated for the Good Works Library directly from the classical Chinese of the Daoist Canon, which is printed in full below the translation. To our knowledge, this is the treatise's first complete published English translation.

Translation

Treatise on Consolidating Qi and Restoring Spirit

Now the great virtue of Heaven and Earth is called generation, and what can preserve a life is the body. The source of the body is Heaven's surging qi, formed when yin and yang unite their essences. Through Stagnation and Prospering it returns to its own kind: when qi flows through, this is Prospering; when it is blocked, this is Stagnation. Long stagnation surely holds no principle of growth and nurture, no lasting blessing. If a person can pattern himself on this, he can equal Heaven and Earth in substance. Heaven and Earth interpenetrate their qi — this is what essence and spirit delight in. As for the source of all life: when essence and qi are made one, they endure forever — why should one fear not living?

Essence and qi as things are like the four seasons, like the sun and moon: in motion they follow their constant course; in retreat and stasis they bring calamity. If the four seasons did not turn in succession, how would the ten thousand things live? If sun and moon did not shine upon each other, how would the ten thousand things have light? To think, then, that essence and qi need not follow this same pattern is a great delusion! The Scripture says: flowing water does not rot; a door-hinge that turns is not worm-eaten. Motion is what is good — even water and wood are so; how much more so essence and qi! Thus when essence moves, it grows more of its essence, just as when yang qi is long released, grasses and trees flourish, as fire blazes the more for the wind that feeds it.

The parting and joining of Heaven and Earth, the rising and falling of yin and yang, are the constant course of what is so of itself; no thing can set it aside. Male and female give forth their transforming seed — this is the root by which life is obtained. Who has ever abandoned this natural root of life and yet endured forever? People who do not pattern themselves on the root of the Way, yet say that "sealing the essence" alone makes for long life, speak a great error. If shutting up the essence could make one endure forever, then a cloth sack could hold water.

Moreover, essence transforms into blood, blood transforms into qi, qi transforms into essence; essence and qi in their transformations never rest at one fixed state. Even granting that withholding the essence were of some benefit, it would only make toiling essence wander through the numinous hall and deviant qi pass through the Gate of Life, becoming the axe that fells one's own life, the bolt and shackle that harm the numinous. How much more so when ordinary people love only the name "sealing the essence" and do not know the true guarding that nourishes it! What is merely sealed, though it seems to persist, in the end perishes along with the qi; essence that truly grows, though it moves, is generated through the blood. When blood is abundant the countenance flourishes; when the brain withers, the hair changes. Withering and abundance lie within; the change of form shows without. People of this age all see these signs in one another, yet cannot understand them.

Now, one who would seal the essence must first make the qi whole; one who would seal the qi must first restore the essence. Thus when qi is whole, the yang essence is not depleted; when essence is restored, the primal qi does not scatter. Hence the Scripture of the Yellow Court says: "When the three spirits restore the essence, the old grow vigorous again" — for the essence transforms into qi and rises. If qi is not consolidated, essence is exhausted; qi turns back to fluid and sinks; if essence is not restored, the qi is injured.

It is like water simmering in a cauldron: at first there is no vapor — why does it become vapor? Because the water below cannot escape, and, met by fire, is forced upward. Once it becomes vapor, the vapor rises; if above there is nothing to restrain it, the vapor scatters, and once scattered the water dries up. But if below one does not let it leak, and above one does not let it scatter, the water rises as vapor and the vapor turns back to water and descends, circulating above and below without end. Hence the Scripture of the Yellow Court says: "The road is kept open and flowing, never ceasing" — this is the marvel of sealing the essence and nourishing the qi.

People of this age know only the benefit of nourishing qi, without knowing the guarding by which it is nourished; they know only the name "sealing the essence," without knowing the way of sealing it. If qi becomes essence and leaks downward, what benefit is there in "nourishing"? If essence becomes qi and scatters upward, what benefit is there in "sealing"? The Scripture of the Yellow Court also says: "One who can preserve the primal reality has finished all things; the essence and spirit of the whole body must not be lost."

Thus one knows: the Way lies in transformation. One who obtains the Way does so through returning and turning. Transformation therefore can return again and again, turning until it reaches the Nine Heavens — and there virtue is made manifest.

Treatise on the Nine-Cycle Gem Elixir

Now the source of the numinous elixir is endowed by the qi of true oneness.

"True oneness" is the source-water of the Great Way. Water is qi; qi is the Way. The Way in itself is nameless; through qi it takes on substance, and is thereby forced into the name "the Way." When qi congeals into form, and form and substance become distinct, it is given the name "elixir." The Flowery Pool turns and revolves, transforming qi of itself. This is why the Great Elixir attends to the qi of true oneness, and makes use of the Sacred Water and the Flowery Pool.

Its numbering rises from the River Chariot of the North.

The chariot's numbers converge together, filling out thirty spokes, taking the month's stages as model, corresponding to thirty days. Each month has six stages, yin and yang each taking half, mutually receiving and being used by the other. Within, it images the twenty-four qi-periods; when the qi has gone one full circuit, the elixir has completed one cycle, rising from the northern position of Kan, the head of the first yang — the image of the submerged dragon extending its virtue.

This fixes the receiving and use of the Sacred Water.

The Sacred Water and Flowery Pool can only receive and use the true lead. If the lead is not true, the Sacred Water has no way to receive it; if the mercury is not true, the black lead has no way to draw near it. What the immortal adepts guard against is any mixed and impure kind — its qi cannot be used. This is why one first fixes the Sacred Water, and only then joins it to the true lead. The elixir scriptures say: "If the lead is not true, its mercury can hardly settle; if the lead is truly so, its mercury of itself submits." Submitted, it becomes the Flowing Pearl; the Flowing Pearl transforms into the Golden Liquor, also called the Golden Syrup, also called the Jade Nectar. All of the above are forms into which the Great Elixir transforms — the tallies and signs make it so! Hence it is said: first fix the Sacred Water, to be its receiver and user. The Sacred Water is the lair and dwelling of the Great Elixir; what is sought within it, as the essence of the lead, is precisely the Yellow Sprout. Gathering this Sprout, one extends creation and transformation once more, orders its coming-into-being again, and refines it through nine cycles, whereupon it is named Cinnabar Sand, named Purple Wandering Sand, named Immortal Radiance Purple Paste, named Golden Liquor, named Reverted Elixir. All of this proceeds from the receiving and use of the Sacred Water, taking its name from the number one, transforming of itself.

Water's number belongs to one; holding qi it nurtures the true; matched in position it is black; thereby it joins with the true lead.

The true lead's metal receives the black qi of the North — this is water, and not the lead of the ordinary world. What resembles the true lead in kind is mercury, and it too is not the mercury of the ordinary world.

This lead hides its light and conceals its nearness; its creation and transformation are of themselves so.

The true lead accords with the image of the five colors, follows and corresponds to the Five Phases, and moves and penetrates creation and transformation — hence it is called "of itself so."

Now sinking, now floating; now being, now non-being.

The Instructions of the Golden Tiger Lord Prime on the Red Dragon says: "How dim and hazy it floats, distant and faint as clouds; within it there is essence, there is that by which the web of creation is spun. It seems to exist, seems not to exist — hard to distinguish its plain reality." Now "true" means obtaining the one primal qi, becoming transformed into the Sprout; this Sprout is of a different order from ordinary lead. Once the flower of the true lead has formed, it is said, it breaks through and emerges above the lead. Adepts who cultivate the elixir mostly fail to obtain this Flower, mistaking the black lead of the ordinary world — the yellow flower that forms upon lead — for the Sprout: a very grave error! This Flower is named the Flowing Pearl of Sacred Light, also named the Golden Flower Liquor, also named Yellow Lightness, also named the Sacred Talisman White Snow, also named the Yellow Sprout. The immortal adepts hold this meaning most secret. Vice Director Xiao's Song of the Great Elixir says: "A thousand years — all for the sake of the secret Yellow Sprout." This Sprout, within the cauldron, matching tally and sign, corresponding to its season, is like a sage, like a spirit; its several primal images are all one with the great achievement and spirit-workings of Heaven and Earth's creation and transformation — truly it is not easy. Whoever obtains this Sprout has already entered the country of the immortals!

This, then, treats the essential mystery of the Great Elixir, and fixes the hidden, primal source of the Sacred Water. Now I observe that those who refine medicines today, hoping to imitate long life, altogether fail to know the source of the numinous elixir, and vainly seek cinnabar and mercury. Since antiquity the lofty perfected have never lacked the immortal scriptures and cavern-texts of the elixir books, the secret oral instructions kept within by the assembled immortals — none of which fail first to clarify Water and Fire and the Sacred Water, and only afterward to order the images and patterns of coming-into-being, the mutual use of the Five Phases, Qian and Kun, beginning from non-being and entering into being, then returning again to non-being; when the cycle of return has run its course, the sacred elixir is of itself complete. The count returns and turns back, turns back and returns, following the waxing and waning of sun and moon, according with the nature and disposition of the Five Phases. Thus, on the fifteenth and sixteenth, when the moon is at its full round brightness, the elixir too has its qi abundant and its light bright. As the moon is about to wane, at the month's beginning it is born again — "born" meaning that one qi is born. Following the former fullness and brightness, one again gathers in and subdues: nine returns and seven reversions — this is what is meant.

Nine is the beginning of primal yang; seven is the origin of great yin; yin and yang in their paired use are inexhaustible — hence it is named the Way.

The immortal scriptures further say: "When return and reversion are without error, the essence congeals and does not fly off." If one uses cinnabar sand to draw out mercury, or lead-frost to take the Sprout, or the eight minerals and three yellow substances, or the mixed kinds of the five metals — none of these are the source of the Great Elixir. They can only, by method and preparation, be transformed into lesser treasures, to relieve the poor and assist the Way, dispensed to the solitary and imperiled. If one took such stubborn, inert matter for the elixir — what could one possibly gain! The immortal scriptures say: "Take one spoonful in the morning, and by evening one may grow wings." Consider this stubborn substance — how could it ever have such power! How pitiable, how grave an error! The immortal scriptures further say: "One scruple of the Purple Wandering Flower-Canopy Elixir ferries a single person up to Heaven." The Lord of Primal Yang said: "What has no substance yet gives birth to substance — this is the Reverted Elixir; ordinary mercury and ordinary sand need not be troubled with." Now "without substance" means the Sacred Water and Flowery Pool; "having substance" means the Sacred Water's qi congealed. The Great Elixir is stirred by the Sacred Water, receives qi, and is born; through qi it forms substance.

Elder Heshang said: "So hazy, so indistinct — within it there is the One; it manages and establishes transformation, and through qi forms substance." This is what is meant.

The immortal adepts fix water as the ancestral source; it transforms into qi and congeals into the Child; Child and Mother cherish each other — this is named the Great Elixir. The Child receives qi and takes on form; the elixir is endowed by water and establishes its substance. This makes plain that it is born by receiving qi — a secret instruction held in common and forbidden among the immortal adepts, never lightly leaked, the working of Heaven, weighty and hard to attain. Though water has form, in the end it has no fixed substance; the divine immortals govern it by method, so that, rising, it can again give birth to substance.

Rising, the yang qi within the cauldron ascends; descending, the yin qi within the flask congeals below.

This clarifies the qi of empty non-being, congealing to form the elixir. "The Void-Primal" is what the bellows-and-pipe holds and receives, the two qi. The two qi — one yin, one yang, uniting in intercourse — make the Way; hence it is said, "one yin, one yang: this is called the Way."

Once ascent and descent attain their proper measure, the numinous substance of the Void-Primal is born of itself — hence it is said, "what has no substance gives birth to substance: this is the Reverted Elixir." The Perfected Yin said: "When creation and transformation form a shape, this is precisely being within non-being; when the yin numen lodges in substance, only then does one know: within being there is non-being."

This speaks of opening the cauldron month by month, at the time of bathing the elixir, adding and joining the Green Dragon, bathing the White Tiger — merged together, without fixed substance, its form unseen — hence it is called "non-being within being."

Then one must rely on the water-clock's graduations, reckoning back through the Five Phases, the Dipper's guiding stars and the turning pearl of the pole, advancing and withdrawing in accord with measure. Should one meet the time for advancing water or advancing fire — always before noon — divide the water-clock's marks, burn incense without letting it lapse, and look up to report to the High Perfected. When the Qian-fire is at its full brightness, fearing some fault in the cauldron, one must not for a moment abandon the medicine hall, but attend closely to the sound of the dragon's cry at its position of fullness. Examine and discern yin and yang, the season for regulation; or, on hearing the male note grow somewhat forceful, briefly open the Noon Gate.

Above the Noon Gate lies the Si Gate, which cuts off the Qian-fire; when the male force is hard to withstand, briefly opening the Noon Gate admits the yin fire, using yin to govern the yang qi, so that, slowly, the tone grows clear and secluded and the qi is brought into harmony. Let the fire's qi pass through faintly, its sound clear and secluded; close it again slowly yet promptly, still fearing the qi might rest. When too long a delay causes stagnation, the sacred elixir's transformation suffers — or one may meet, instead, the time for advancing water and withdrawing fire.

The season lies in the hexagram Fu, Return — one yin looking up toward five yang; Kun's primal, prevailing, favorable virtue gives birth to the substance of the ten thousand things; receiving and following Heaven, in the end there is blessing. "Treading on frost, the hard ice comes" — yin has begun to congeal; in the height of summer, thunder shakes — grace comes wrapped in awe. The substance of the Sprout gradually forms; cultivation and nourishment suffer no loss; when the water-clock answers the second watch, all is of itself auspicious again.

The Great Changes says: "Matching yin to make yang is the pivotal mechanism governing the Way; concealed and hidden, it is the Tiger; treading on frost, it shines forth." Hard ice, cold and sealed — at this time the elixir transforms and congeals into liquor. When the Sacred Water has already transformed, the achievement of the Great Way is complete; creation and transformation having been accomplished, the Yellow Sprout has substance. Refined through nine transformations, its numinous substance can be beheld; it is called the Old Sprout, and by this it is judged ripe.

When this Sprout is refined through the ninth cycle, it may resemble mottled stalactites, or piled stones jagged and towering, or tadpole-shapes newly formed, or veined agate, or jade pillars intricate and translucent — it holds, besides, images of numinous marvel. One waits until the nine cycles of transformation are close to complete, gathers it as the foundation of the Great Medicine, and only afterward refines the Reverted Elixir.

The Jade Flask Hymn of the Perfected of Great Unity says: "In the tenth month snow flies and frost thickens still; the Yellow Sprout ripens within, its color shining bright. If, cultivating the elixir, one sees the Yellow Sprout ripe, how could one not think of the Golden Tiger and Dragon?" To "think of the Golden Tiger and Dragon" means that once the Yellow Sprout is ripe, one thinks again of refining the Great Medicine into elixir. "Dragon and Tiger" is a name for the Golden Elixir. Although this Sprout is ripe, it is still the Sprout of solitary yang; yin and yang are not yet complete in it, and it cannot yet serve as the Great Medicine. Only when it is matched once more with the Green Dragon and White Tiger does it become the Great Medicine. The Token for the Agreement of the Three says: "The Sprout of solitary yang cannot stand alone; when water joins yin and yang, only then is it the Great Medicine."

This Sprout, from its beginning, is the foundation of the Reverted Elixir, the very root and origin of the Great Medicine; in every case one must open creation and transformation anew, order once more its coming-into-being. The water for compounding the elixir must be settled clear; one waits a month and more before using it. As for this water, one need only let it settle a month and more, wary that dust and turbidity would leave the elixir without radiance. Hold it in vessels of gold and silver, and let no dust enter. Among waters for compounding the elixir, water has its lightness and heaviness, softness and hardness; matching the water-clock, one at once knows which is light and which heavy. The heavy may be used — this refers to the stone spring that penetrates the yang vessels.

The Most High said: "Heaven obtains the One and thereby is clear; Earth obtains the One and thereby is at peace; the ten thousand things obtain the One and thereby live." The revolving transformation of the Golden Elixir is the pattern of what is so of itself; what obtains the One is the Sacred Water — hence it is called the Sacred Water and Flowery Pool. The way by which the divine immortals embrace the One is to be suffused and blended, receiving qi and being born. Now water's nature is pure yang, though its form is pure yin; a hundred measures poured into a cauldron and boiled dry reveal that it has no fixed substance. Yet a single moistening reaches the whole earth, and the ten thousand things are born from it. That it has substance shows plainly that it steals qi and thereby forms substance — this is water. If even ordinary things steal qi in order to live, how much more the Golden Elixir, whose secret lies in the Sacred Water — hence it is said, the Golden Elixir's hundredfold guarding mysteries have their marvel in the Sacred Water and Flowery Pool. This instruction is a grave charge of Heaven, yet people do not know it; thus when the Golden Elixir obtains water, the Sprout's omen thereby flourishes — is this not establishing being out of formlessness, through the Sacred Water? If one uses cinnabar sand to draw out mercury, or lead-flower to take the Sprout, the categories of qi are not the same, and there is no way to join the Way — how much more, then, must one attend to clearly dividing the water-clock's graduations, plainly matching the Five Phases, tracking the turning pearl of the pole day and night, and answering the tallies and signs in their movement.

"Tallies and signs" answer to the twelve double-hours; the count belonging to each hour answers the water-clock and matches the tally and sign directly, changing the Great Elixir's five-colored radiance — this is entirely caused by the tally and sign, and nothing else.

Do not cast this aside for a moment; examine and listen to the chanting sound; if the season is even slightly off, the labor already spent may well be lost. The Perfected have a saying: "As for the Golden Liquor elixir, it must hold moisture and carry fluid, dissolving into syrup — hence it is called the Golden Liquor." If one takes cinnabar sand for mercury, or mercury congealed into frost, how could there be any Golden Liquor in that? This is what happens when learning has no basis in the ancients, when one misunderstands the warp and weft of the teaching and cuts it by private notion — straying from the Way and turning from virtue, so that ten thousand households ruin their fortunes and achieve nothing. Truly this may be called the folly of the age — who can be awakened from it? Now one who cultivates the elixir must above all recognize the true lead, and only then manage its creation and transformation; if one does not know the ancestral source of the numinous elixir, one merely wastes wealth and treasure. Guangchengzi said: "If one cultivates the Sacred Elixir of Highest Clarity, and thereby obtains its root, obtains its source, knows the water, knows the fire, understands the ounces and scruples of the medicinal substances, and answers to the primal achievement of the water-clock's graduations — then, so acting, one patterns oneself on Heaven, and there is nothing that will not succeed!" Hence it is said: Heaven and Earth transform, and the sage takes them as his model; Heaven lets down the ten thousand images, and the sage patterns himself upon them.

Consider how the pulse circuits the whole body, how the water-clock runs its hundred graduations, how the hour follows and answers the clock, and how, by the graduation, the hour is fixed. As the clock never stops, the elixir changes according to the hour; when the elixir's changes match the proper measure, it answers the graduation and follows the hour. When the hour is not in error, it already accords with Heaven's Way; when Heaven's season and one's own timing answer each other, creation and transformation have somewhere to return — this is named the Reverted Elixir. Is this not patterning oneself on Qian and Kun, driving the course of sun and moon, so that the Three Powers are complete and the Four Images made real? It begins from the Void-Primal, holding being under the rule of non-being.

Consider, too, the fixing of the solar nodes and the dividing of the qi-periods: in general every five days makes one stage, and the revolving transformation shifts accordingly. Hence it is said: five days later, sparrows enter the water and become clams; five days after that, wild orioles enter the water and become sea-clams. In governing the elixir's primal substance, imaging creation and transformation, likewise, five days later, the Sacred Water and the ice-bound elixir take on a single form — this is the joint transformation of Heaven and man, the pitch-pipes and the calendar shifting together.

Consider also how today's ruling tally displays the hexagram Fu, Return, carries out the great reckoning of water and fire, joins the two lines of Qian and Kun, and governs, within the count of the twelve double-hours, a movement in which there is yin and there is yang, brightness and darkness, motion and stillness, advance and withdrawal. The Dipper's guiding stars and the turning pearl make their circuit once around Heaven's own marketplace, shifting according to the hexagrams, their five-colored light flowing — Heaven and man love it together. This instruction is engraved without on tablets of gold, but within must be held in the heart; it is not for the ears of vulgar report. The Immortals' Precepts say: "When Heaven's gate opens and Earth's door splits, the sage's inmost workings must not be recklessly leaked." How, then, could one speak of it lightly! The elixir books say: "If one obtains the source of the medicine, in ten thousand chances one will succeed — and success must benefit the many."

When this medicine is achieved, it carries the merit of preserving the whole household and its dwelling — it is not that only a single person ascends. Yet I observe that people today who refine medicines, though they have the words, lack the substance. Morning after morning they speak of the medicine, day after day they talk of the elixir, but when it comes to investigating the true source, they know nothing of its subtle purport. Being so, how could they benefit the many and let the whole household ascend! The immortal scriptures say: "Without obtaining the source of the medicine, even a single person can hardly succeed; but if one understands the Sacred Water, the whole household returns to the real." The elixir books say: "The Sacred Water and the Sacred Stone, one Dragon and one Tiger — these are the ancestral source of the two substances; the divine immortals set them forth as the first principle."

For one who obtains it, each day's learning is each day made new.

This means: once one has obtained the source of the medicine, its management follows a fixed pattern — once each month one compounds it, opens the cauldron and bathes it, observes the elixir's color, and gradually beholds the hidden mystery; ever more it aids one's awakening, and its Way is made new day by day.

The provisional teaching guards the One.

The guiding thread of the provisional teaching has its marvel in guarding the One. The reckoning that begins at the cyclical sign Jia is the season when spring's command sends forth sprouting. A scripture says: "The Way of the Three and the One — Heaven and Earth constantly wax and wane by season, making their circuit through the Sovereign Earth, and returning to the Central Palace; the Central Palace's number is five." The elixir books say: "Three, five, and one — the utmost essence of Heaven and Earth — can be given by oral instruction, but hardly transmitted in writing." The essential of the Great Elixir cannot be achieved without number; the Sacred Water and Flowery Pool cannot be joined to the Way without the true; guarding the One is, from the first, the guiding thread of the Way.

August Heaven shows no partiality.

High Heaven together nurtures the ten thousand things, and loves humankind most deeply; the primal images and the workings of Heaven are all, without exception, brought forth for its scrutiny. When the Way is accomplished and virtue perfected, it moves the Jade Sovereign; only goodness can draw near — August Heaven is the mirror that sees it.

My destiny lies in myself.

It is not Heaven that grants me my life, nor Heaven that hastens my end of years; as the turning pearl of the pole follows the bright sun, so one may nourish the ruddy countenance, may learn long life, may attain it by effort.

Without the elixir, none becomes immortal.

The human body, a hundred-some pounds in weight — by what means could it rise lightly aloft! Without the Golden Elixir, there is no way to cleanse and sweep it clean. Once the sacred medicine has transformed it, old age is turned back into childhood; one's rank is set among the Perfected, one's name inscribed in the Jade Registers. One shares longevity with Heaven, shares rest with Earth — hence it is said, without the elixir none becomes immortal.

Refine it, and it can be long sustained.

The working and forging of the sacred elixir is not the achievement of a single morning or evening: altogether nine cycles make the Sprout, and the Sprout, through nine further cycles, makes the elixir. At every step it depends on creation and transformation, and must be carried out in a famed mountain, a blessed ground; morning and evening one furnishes and prepares it, with several companions of the Way, a medicine chamber, altar and furnace, a well properly dug and walled. Morning and evening one pays homage and gives thanks, never letting a clamorous mind arise; one's will and destiny return to the real, spirit and radiance become one. Is this not far from easy? Only after long years is it accomplished — hence it is said, refine it and it can be long sustained.

Take it as medicine, and one is forever renewed.

After taking the medicine, the Three Corpses and Nine Worms gradually withdraw; restoring the essence and replenishing the marrow are both made whole. In a darkened room one shines by night; the youthful countenance grows more radiant day by day; essence and spirit are refreshed and extraordinary; the qi of the Way glows with good omen. The numinous perfected of the Five Sacred Peaks come of themselves to pay court; the soul and spirit see clear through all things; with jade marrow and a golden body, one wanders and plays in the capitals of the immortals, forever renewed in utmost bliss.

When the count reaches through, transformation follows.

The great numbers of the Five Phases carry through and move the four seasons; when the pitch-pipes have run their course, the numinous elixir transforms of itself.

When the count reaches its limit, spirit results.

Yin and yang of themselves cannot become spirit-like; when yin reaches its limit, yang lies hidden within it; when yang reaches its limit, yin lies concealed within it; the two qi make mutual use of one another — this is the Way's being-so-of-itself. "Limit" means the exhausting of transformation — hence it is said, when transformation is exhausted, spirit is complete; through spirit the Way is made clear; when the count of yin and yang reaches its limit, it is thereupon accomplished.

Obtain this working of Heaven,

and among all the tasks that can be accomplished under Heaven, none surpasses the Way; the marvel of the Way does not go beyond the principle of the elixir; the marvel of the elixir's principle does not go beyond qi; qi's transformation into form does not go beyond number. Number forges the Golden Elixir; three, five, and one — guard this working of Heaven, and the affair of the divine immortals is finished.

Forever be ranked among the Perfected.

In the world there are byways and side-currents, mixed and overflowing without end, more than ten thousand of them; but if one speaks of being forever ranked among the Perfected, it is a single grain of the Reverted Elixir that lifts one up and away.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Meditation and Inner Alchemy shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The first treatise is continuous prose and is kept as continuous prose in English, paragraphed at the source text's own divisions. The second treatise alternates short base lines with their own prose commentary — a lemma-commentary structure the source marks only by paragraph breaks, without special punctuation — and this translation preserves the alternation by setting each base line in bold before the commentary that follows it.

Before the claim below was written, a genuine translation-status check was performed: the two local reference bibliographies of Daoist texts in English translation (Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purple Cloud survey of Daoist texts in Western languages) were searched for the Chinese title, its pinyin, and its components, and returned no match. Two web searches were then run, for the Chinese title and for the romanized title; neither turned up a published English translation of this treatise, though one search surfaced Fabrizio Pregadio's mention of an unrelated text sharing the words "Nine Cycles" and "Reverted Elixir" in its own title (the Jiuzhuan huandan jing, a distinct scripture). To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of the Gu Qi Huan Shen Jiu Zhuan Qiong Dan Lun. We state this as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty.

A note on hard passages. The instructions on furnace-building near the close of the second treatise (the phrase rendered here "a well properly dug and walled") are terse enough that the exact building process described cannot be reconstructed with confidence; the translation gives the plainest sense the characters will bear. Two short technical asides on the five-day correlation of seasonal omens (sparrows and orioles said to enter water and become shellfish) are folk-almanac commonplaces reproduced as the source states them, without further comment. No ▢ (illegible character) occurs in this source text.

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

🌲

Source Text: 固氣還神九轉瓊丹論

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

固氣還神九轉瓊丹論

固氣還神論

夫天地之大德日生，生可保者身。身之源，天之沖氣，陰陽媾精而所成。以否泰返其類，交為泰，塞為否。否久固無成育之理，長久之祚。人能則之，乃可與天地齊體。天地通氣，精神之所樂。凡生之源，精之與氣一者，常存，何慮不生。精氣之為物也，如四時焉，如日月焉，運行則為常，退守則為災。四時不遞運，萬物何以生？日月不交映，萬物何以明？則知精氣非可效之，此大惑矣！．《經》云：流水不腐，戶樞不蠹。搖動為佳，水木尚如斯，而況於精氣乎！．所以精動則長其精，如陽氣長泄，而草木生榮，由火因風而熾也。天地離合，陰陽升降，自然之常道，非物能遣。男女施化，得生之本，孰有棄自然之生本，而能常存。人不則道之根本，乃云固精為長生，此言大為非也。若閉精可以常存，則布囊可以貯水。且精化為血，血化為氣，氣化為精，精氣變化，未始有一常。縱不下施而有益也，返使勞精遊於靈府，邪氣通於命門，為伐命之斧斤，勞精為害靈之栓桔，況世人徒好固精之名，而不知養精之衛。所以固之雖存，終隨氣而滅，長精雖動，則因血而生。血盛顏榮，腦枯髮變，枯盛在中，變形於外。時人皆相睹，不能明之。且固精者，先全其氣，固氣者，先還其精。是以氣全則陽精不虧，精還而元氣不散，故《黃庭經》云：三神還精老方壯。以其精化氣而上騰。氣不固乃精竭，氣返液，而下降，精不還而氣傷。如煎鼎水，初無氣，而為氣者何也？以其下不能泄，遇火所逼然也。既而為氣，氣騰為上，上無所制，則氣散，氣散則涸水。若下不使漏，上不使散，水為氣上，氣復水而下，上下循環，終無有極。是以《黃庭經》云：通利道路無終休。則固精養氣之妙也。時人空知養氣之益，不知養氣之衛，空知固精之名，不知固精之道。氣為精而下泄，養何益也！．精為氣而上散，固何益矣？又《黃庭經》云：能存元真萬事畢，一身精神不可失。故知道也，在於變化。得其道者，在於還轉，變故可還還，轉至九天，德著矣！.

九轉瓊丹論

夫靈丹之源，稟乎真一之氣，

真一者，為大道源水也。水者，氣也；氣者，道也。道本無名，因氣成質，強名日道。以氣結形，形質既分，得名為丹。華池旋運，化氣自然。是故太丹察乎真一之氣，用神水華池是也。

數起北方河車，

車數共輳，滿三十輻，法則月侯，應三十日。每月六候，陰陽各半，互相受用。內象二十四氣，氣行一周，丹行一次，起北方坎位，為一陽之首，潛龍伸德之象。

定神水之受用。

神水華池，但能受用真鉛，若鉛不真，神水無以能受，若汞不真，黑鉛無以能親。仙家所忌雜類，氣不用，是故先定神水，方合真鉛。丹經日：鉛若不真，其汞難住，鉛若有真，其汞自伏。伏為流珠，流珠化為金液，又日金．漿，又日玉醴。已上俱是太丹變化之形，符節使之然哉！故言先定神水，為之受用。神水是大丹之窟宅，其問探其鉛之精者，便是黃芽。收此芽重伸造化，再理生成，鍊至九轉，得名丹砂，得名紫遊砂，得名仙光紫膏，得名金液，得名還丹。斯乃並因神水之受用，得名一之數，變化自然也。

水數屬一，含氣滋真，配位而黑，得合真鉛。

真鉛金受北方黑氣，水也，且非世問之鉛。與真鉛相類者汞，且非世間之汞也。

此鉛藏光隱邇，造化自然。

真鉛合五色之象，應順五行，感通造,化，故日自然也。

或沉或浮，能有能無。

《金虎元君赤龍訣》日：況浮恍惚，渺邈如雲，其問有精，有以經綸。似有似無，難辮素真。且真者，謂得一元氣，為化為芽，此芽與鉛異俗也。謂已結得真鉛之花，透出鉛上，修丹之士，多不得此華，錯認世問黑鉛，結鉛黃花為芽，誤之甚矣！．此華名神光流珠，一名金華液，一名黃輕，一名神符白雪，一名黃芽。仙家最密此意。蕭侍郎《大丹歌》日：千年只為祕黃芽。此芽在鼎，若符節應侯，如聖如神，數般元象，並同天地造化之大功神運也，實非容易。獲玆芽者，已入神仙之鄉矣！.

斯乃論大丹之要妙，定神水之幽元。且見今之鍊藥，擬效長生，殊不知靈丹之源，妄求朱汞。自古高真，不無仙經及丹書洞文，眾仙內禁之訣，莫不先明水火神水，後理生成法象，五行乾坤互用，始自從無入有，返歸於無，還返數終，神丹自備。數還又返，數返又還，隨日月之虧盈，順五行之情性。且如十五十六，月正圓明，丹亦氣盛光明也。．月將虧，月首又生。生者，謂生一氣也。准前圓明，而又攝伏九還七返，此之謂也。

九為元陽之始，七為太陰之初，陰陽對用無窮，故名日道。

又仙經日：還返既不差，精凝不飛。若以砂抽汞，鉛霜取芽，八石三黃，五金雜類，此俱不是大丹之源。只可以法制添變為寶，濟貧助道，散接孤危。若將此頑滯為丹，又何得！．仙經云：朝服一刀圭，暮可生羽翼。料玆頑質，寧有此功！．痛哉1．甚矣！．又仙經云：紫遊華蓋丹，一銖度一人升天。元陽君日：無質生質是還丹，凡汞凡砂不勞弄。且無質者，神水華池也，有質者，神水氣結也。大丹感乎神水，受氣而生，因氣成質。

河上公曰：惟恍惟惚，其中有一，經營立化，因氣成質。此之謂也。

仙家定水為宗，化氣結子，子母相戀，名為大丹。子受氣而成形，丹稟水而立質。玆明受氣而生，斯乃仙家共禁之訣，未嘗輕泄天機，重難也。水雖有形，終而無質，神仙以法制之，升而復能生質也。

昇則鼎中陽氣上騰，降則壺中陰氣下結。

斯乃明論虛無之氣，結而成丹。虛元者，棄籥中盛受二氣是也。二氣者，一陰一陽交媾為道，故日一陰一陽之謂道。

升降既以得度，虛元靈質自生，故日無質生質是還丹。陰真人日：造化成形，便是無中之有：陰靈託質，方知有中日無。

言逐月開鼎，浴丹之時，添合青龍，沐浴白虎，混然無質，不見其形，故日有中之無也。

然則須憑漏刻，反算五行，綱斗遊璣，進退合度。其或遇進水進火之時，俱在午前分漏，焚香勿絕，仰告上真。乾火盛明，恐鼎有失，不可暫拋藥堂，專聽龍昤盛位之聲。審察陰陽，調理之候，或聞雄聲稍武，暫開午門。

午門以上有巳門，是絕乾之火；雄武難當，暫開午門，是納陰之火，以陰制陽之氣，徐而清幽之韻氣和也。

微通火氣，其聲清幽，徐而速掩，又恐歇氣。多時節滯，神丹變化，其或遇進水退火之時。

時在娠卦，一陰而仰五陽，坤元亨利，萬物質生，承順乎天，乃終有慶。

履霜堅冰，陰始凝也；盛暑雷震，恩以威襲，芽體漸成，修養無失，漏應二更，正自復吉。

大易日：配陰為陽，主道之樞機，伏藏為虎，履霜光耀。堅冰寒沍，此時丹化凝液也。

神水已變，大道功全，造化既成，黃芽有質。鍊之九變，靈質可觀，號日老芽，以玆方熟。

此芽鍊至九轉，或如斕鍾乳，疊石嵯峨，科斗方勝，文絲瑪瑙，玉柱玲瓏，別有靈異之象。直候九轉變化將足，收為大藥之基，而後鍊還丹。

《太一真人玉壺頌》日：十月雪飛霜又濃，黃芽內熟色顯顯。修丹若見黃芽熟，安得不思金虎龍。

思金虎龍者，即是黃芽已熟，再思鍊大藥為丹。龍虎者，是金丹之號，此芽雖熟，為是孤陽之芽，陰陽未足，未堪為大藥。重配青龍白虎，方為大藥。《參同契》云：孤陽之芽，未可獨立，水合陰陽，方為大藥。

此芽始自還丹之基，本大藥之根元，莫不重開造化，再理生成。合丹之水須澄，直候月餘方用也。

合丹之水，但澄之月餘，慮其塵濁，丹無光彩。以金銀寶器盛之，勿令塵入。合丹之水，水有輕重軟硬，應漏即知輕重。重可用，謂通陽脈石泉也。

太上曰：天得一以清，地得一以寧，．萬物得一以生。金丹運化，理之自然，得一者神水，故曰神水華池。神仙抱一之道，沖融受氣而生。且水性純陽，形則純陰，百斛入於釜中，煎而乾之，顯玆無質也。一潤及於大地，萬物生焉。其有質也，斯乃明顯盜氣而成質，水也。物尚盜氣而生，金丹祕在神水，故曰金丹之衛百數，妙在神水華池。此訣天誠甚重，而人莫知，所以金丹得水，芽兆玆隆興，豈不從無形而立有，神水也。若以朱砂抽汞，鉛花取芽，氣類不同，無由合道，而況明分刻漏，顯配五行，晝夜艱璣，應運符節。

符節者，應十二時，時下之數，應漏直符節，變大丹五色之光彩也，全由、符節使之然也。

無拋左右，察聽吟聲，時候稍差，前功恐失。真人有言日：且如金液之丹，須是含津負液，消化為漿，故日金液。若以朱砂為汞，水銀結霜，又何金液之有哉？斯乃學無稽古，誤體經綸，以意自裁，遠道背德，萬家傾產，無可成。實謂世愚，孰能開悟。夫修丹切須認得真鉛，然後經營造化，若不知靈丹之宗，徒費財寶。廣成子日：若修上清神丹，其或得根得源，知水知火，明藥物之銖兩，應刻漏之元功，如是則法天而行，盡無不成矣！．故日天地變化，聖人效之，天垂萬象，聖人則之。且如脈周一身，漏行百刻，時隨漏應，以刻定時。漏既不停，丹隨時變，丹變合度，應刻順時。時既不差，已合天道，天時相應，造化有歸，名曰還丹。豈不是法應乾坤，運馳日月，三才得備，四象成真。始自虛元，從無制有。且如定節分氣，大凡五日一候，運化變遷，故日後五日，雀入水化為蛤。後五日，野鸚入水，化為蜃。理丹元，象造化，亦同後五日，神水，冰丹形一，斯乃天人共化，律曆同遷。且如今日直符，發揚復卦，行水火大數，合乾坤二爻，管十二時時數之內，有陰有陽，有明有暗有動有靜，有進有退。綱斗遊璣，周行一市，隨卦變遷，五色流光，天人共愛。此訣外鐫金簡，內可存心，非聞流俗之耳。仙戒云：天門開，地戶裂，聖人機，勿妄泄。又何輕論哉！．丹書云：若得藥源，萬一成矣！．成必利眾。

此藥得成，有全家技宅之功，非獨一人升舉也。

且見今人鍊藥，雖有其言，而無其實。朝朝說藥，日日言丹，究論真源，罔知妙旨。如斯焉能利眾而全家升舉者哉！．仙經云：不得藥源，．一身難成，若明神水，全家歸真。

丹書云：神水聖石，一龍一虎，二物之宗，神仙為倡。

得者日學日新。

言得藥源，經營有信，一月一合，開鼎沐浴，觀丹顏色，漸睹幽元，轉資開悟，其道日新。

權道守一，

權道紀綱，妙在守一。起甲之算，春令發萌。經云：三一之道，天地常以時消息，巡歷后土，歸于中官，中官數五。丹書云：三五與一，天地至精，可以口訣，難以書傳。大丹之要，非數莫之能成，神水華池，非真不能合其道，守一始為道之紀綱。

皇天無親．

上天並養萬物，愛人最深，元象天機，靡不出察。道成德就，感激玉皇，惟善可親，皇天是鑒。

我命在我，

非天致我有其生，非天促我無其壽，漩璣白日，可養紅顏，可學長生，可以力致。

非丹不仙。

人身百餘斤，何以輕舉！．若非金丹，無由滌蕩。神藥一化，反老為童，位列真人，名標玉籍。與天同壽，與地齊休，故日非丹不仙。

鍊之可久，

運造神丹，非一朝一夕之功，几九轉、成芽，芽九轉成丹。並于造化，須出名山福地，晨昏資備，同道數人，藥室壇鑪，穿砌井電。晨昏朝謝，勿起囂心，志命歸真，神明如一。豈非容易？歲久方成，故鍊之可久也。

餌之長新。

服藥之後，三尸九蟲漸退，還精補髓俱全。暗室夜光，童顏日盛，精神爽異，道氣光祥。五嶽靈真，自來朝會，魂神徹視，玉髓金身，遊戲仙都，長新極樂。

數通即化，

五行大數，通運四時，律呂既終，靈丹自化。

數極乃神。

陰陽莫之能神，陰極則陽潛，陽極則陰伏，二氣互用，道之自然。極者窮變也，故日窮變已盡神，因神以明道，陰陽數極，叉然而成矣。

獲玆天機，

天下之能事，莫過於道，道之妙不過於丹理。丹理之妙，不過於氣，氣化有形，不過於數。數造金丹，三五與一，保玆天機，神仙事畢。

永列真人。

世有傍通雜衍，何啻萬端，若言永列真人，一粒還丹升舉。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this treatise (article 固氣還神九轉瓊丹論, revision of 22 September 2019), 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.

🌲