Taixi Biyao Gejue — an anonymous manual of breath cultivation

This is an anonymous manual of Daoist breath cultivation, preserved in the Daoist Canon printed in 1445 (the Zhengtong Daozang, where it is catalogued as DZ 131). Its date is not securely known; it belongs to the broad medieval literature of taixi 胎息, "embryonic" or "fetal" breathing — the practice of stilling the breath until it grows as subtle and self-sustaining as the breath of a child unborn.

The text is a working manual, not a scripture: a set of short verse instructions, mostly in five- and seven-character lines, on holding the breath to cure sudden illness, transmitting breath to heal another person, the "Six Breaths" (a system of six exhaled sounds, each keyed to an organ and an ailment), regulating the body's fluids, what to eat and what to avoid, abstaining from grain, guarding the essence, and the bodily transformations said to unfold over nine years of practice. A final prose paragraph gives a specific exercise of tongue and swallowing. The verses are terse and instructional throughout — closer to a teacher's mnemonic aid than to literary composition — and a few words in the transcription used here appear to be scribal or transcription variants for more common characters; these are noted 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. A published English translation of this text exists (see the colophon); this Good Works Translation was made independently from the Chinese and did not consult it.

Translation

Holding the Breath

If suddenly the body is stricken by illness,
harmed unreasonably, injured beyond due cause —
gather in the mind and withdraw to a quiet chamber,
remove your clothes and leave your ordinary bed.
Lie face-up, hands closed in a firm grip (wogu),
clack the teeth together, and burn incense.
Swallow the saliva thirty-six times in full,
and the qi of the cinnabar field exceeds its usual measure.
Follow it with the mind, leading it there continuously,
to the place of harm — this is best of all.
Let sweat appear as the sign that it is enough,
and spare yourself the search for many a remedy.

Diffusing Qi

(For treating another person's illness)

When one cultivates the Way long and single-mindedly,
embryonic breathing is achieved within the body.
When another person has any illness,
examine the organs and know its name precisely.
Turn the patient toward the qi in its ascendant phase,
settle your mind, and do not be careless with intent.
Transmit the true qi and make them swallow it,
causing them to take it in again and again in succession.
Fix your intent on making the illness diminish,
and at once you can dispel the condition of their suffering.
Ghosts and spirits will flee of their own accord,
and the illness will find release from its entanglement.

The Six Breaths

(Once the illness abates, stop. Do not overdo it — overdoing it harms the qi of the heart.)

First, si (呬). The method of si is most efficacious and should be kept secret. Outwardly it belongs to the root of the nose; inwardly it connects to the lungs. Cold, heat, fatigue, oppression, and sores of the skin — by this exhaling and inhaling, there is nothing that cannot be relieved.

Second, he (呵). He belongs to the sovereign of the heart and governs the tongue. When the mouth is dry and rough and the body feverish and vexed, gauge the depth of the illness and apply he to it, and disharmony of the burning viscera will vanish of itself.

Third, hu (呼). Hu belongs to the spirit of the spleen and governs earth. When there is feverish vexation, qi swollen and the belly taut as a drum, when the four limbs are congested and oppressed and the qi cannot pass through, apply hu to regulate it, and all returns as before.

Fourth, xu (噓). Xu belongs to the spirit of the liver and governs the eyes. When there is redness and clouding, dimness, and the eyes stream as if weeping, it is entirely because the liver's heat-qi surges upward. Apply xu to regulate it, and recovery comes swiftly.

Fifth, chui (吹). Chui belongs to the viscus of the kidneys and governs the ears. When the waist and knees turn cold and heavy and the way of yang comes to a halt, gently release the breath and apply chui to it, and there is no need to seek medicine and pills elsewhere.

Sixth, xi (嘻). Xi pertains to illnesses arising in the Triple Burner (sanjiao). Whatever disharmonious qi the Triple Burner holds, that disharmonious qi harms the Triple Burner in turn. Simply let xi, xi be sounded, and it regulates itself.

Regulating the Fluids

Because people eat the five flavors,
congestion and stagnation close off the Triple Burner.
When heat is extreme, bitterness and astringency abound;
when cold is excessive, thin watery fluid overflows.
Simply heal it with the primal qi,
and cease asking after the apothecary's gourd and ladle.
Heat retreats of itself, following he;
cold is best dispelled, beginning with chui.
Rinse and swallow frequently within the mouth,
and the bodily fluids regulate themselves naturally.
If you obtain a sign such as this,
cold together with heat will be gone by morning.

What Is Fitting in Food and Drink

One who cultivates the Way and wishes to see the true mark
should, amid the hunger of the kitchen, eat only what is fitting.
Plain gruel at the morning meal dispels thirst of itself;
sesame oil moistens the throat and supplies the bodily fluids.
Among grains, rice cooked plain is especially suitable;
plain noodles and bound wheat-cakes are likewise beneficial.
When good wine is drunk, unruly qi is dispersed;
raw pepper taken at ease, and the hundred illnesses subside.
Before eating one should swallow six or seven times —
taking food as the guiding principle is the rule.
After the meal one should breathe out he three to five times,
lest poisonous qi trouble the chest and breast.

Miscellaneous Prohibitions in Food and Drink

In a closed room, avoid gaps that let the wind in;
on a high bed, avoid the draft that "ghosts blow" from beneath.
Storing up the essence benefits the body;
preserving the qi leaves the life-span undiminished.
The feelings of joy and anger must be checked;
the mind's pursuit of profit and fame should be stilled.
The true spirits, and what belongs to one's own nature, aside —
the claws, heads, and limbs of birds and beasts,
such foods of flesh and blood,
can all bring danger to life.
Meat and strong-smelling herbs already spoil the qi,
and so do both hunger and overeating alike.
Food raw, hard, or cold calls for caution;
flavors sour, salty, or pungent are not fitting.
When rain, cloud, or wind have not yet settled, do not practice;
when there is thunder and lightning, or when evening falls, rest and do not practice.
Radish soup must be avoided;
plain hot broth and noodles should not be neglected.
Avoid, further, food that is too hot,
and do not indulge freely in melons and fruit.
Stale and foul things cause harm;
things dead or unclean bring no benefit.
Guard against letting such things pass down into the belly,
and use the qi without excessive doubt.

Abstaining from Grain

If the effort of a thousand days is not broken off,
the corpse-worms within are gradually destroyed.
Once more the three cinnabar fields are made full,
and all the hundred bone-joints turn firm and sound.
Wishing only to hold in mind the reasons for breaking off food,
be slow to savor flavor and sip at meals.
When the belly is empty, swallow down to the point below the navel,
and the primal qi will settle, cut off from craving.
When full, calm the mind and diligently guard the center;
when hunger comes, close the throat and speak no word.
Exert such effort long, and success is achieved —
only then will you believe that nourishing life lies in this secret art.
How could this compare with ordinary people who take medicine,
laboring morning to night in their practice without rest?
Their busy striving after a drug's power comes wholly to nothing;
their stern endurance of hunger, however guarded, never breaks through.
How can it compare with constantly partaking of the essence of Great Harmony,
which alone brings purity, clarity, radiance, and joy?
If one covets outward delicacies and disorders the true primal qi,
a hundred illnesses will come upon the body, and it grows feeble of itself.

Careful Guarding

Essence and qi must be firmly and carefully guarded;
only so does one benefit the body and preserve life for long duration.
Most people are lost to their desires and cravings, and their bodily form is destroyed —
who is willing to clear these away and keep the years whole?
Worry over illness before it comes, and illness will hardly form;
once calamity has already arrived, can calamity still be sent away?
Only at the point of death does one learn to cherish the endangered body,
but by then it is too late — like trying to bite one's own navel — the body already decayed.
Even if one exerts all effort in cultivating embryonic breathing,
if desire and passion are not cut off, misfortune still follows.
Only when the yin elixir is embodied is the Way made whole,
and of such people there are, even now, very few.

The Nine Years' Transformation

Qi, together with the blood vessels, and flesh together with marrow;
sinew, bone, hair, and form arise thereafter, each in its turn.
If one wishes to dispel decline and old age and turn back to youthful bloom,
one transformation each year — nine years, and it is done.

First sit upright, settle and still the breath with eyes closed. Then sound the Heavenly Drum thirty-two times. Sweep the tongue across the outside of the upper lip, nine times; then the outside of the lower lip, nine times; then the inside of the upper lip, nine times; then the inside of the lower lip, nine times. The outside of the upper lip corresponds to the South, the outside of the lower lip to the North, the inside of the upper lip to the East, the inside of the lower lip to the West, and the tongue itself, planted like a pillar, to the Center. When the saliva fills the mouth, count while pressing out the cheeks, holding the qi within for twenty-one repetitions, letting a little escape faintly through the nose, and then swallow. When swallowing, there should be a humming in the throat — this is the sound wa-wa — signifying that the fluid and qi enter the lower cinnabar field. Do this three or five times over. And each time you swallow, wait for the breath to be released, and only then swallow.

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 text's short instructional verses (mostly five- and seven-character lines) are kept as verse, line for line; the "Six Breaths" section, which alternates a one-word breath-name with a longer seven-character explanation, is set as a labeled paragraph for each breath; and the closing exercise, which is continuous prose in the source, is kept as prose.

A genuine translation-status check was performed before the claim below was written. Both local bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western-language translation were checked by Chinese title, pinyin, and DZ number. Komjathy's bibliography lists this text (as Taixi biyao gejue 胎息秘要歌訣) without naming a translation; the Purple Cloud 2023 survey records that it has been translated: Jane Huang, The Primordial Breath: An Ancient Chinese Way of Prolonging Life through Breath Control, Volume 1 (Torrance, Calif.: Original Books, 1987), pp. 49–54, alongside several related breath-cultivation texts of the Canon. Because a published English translation is known to exist, no firstness claim is made. This translation was made independently, directly from the Chinese text below; the Huang translation was not consulted or used in any way.

A note on the text itself. The Wikisource transcription used here contains a handful of characters that appear to be transcription or scribal variants of more common ones — most visibly 玲 where 冷 ("cold") is evidently meant, and one instance each of what appear to be 東 ("east") and 頰 or 腮 ("cheek") written with look-alike or miscopied graphs. These have been translated according to their evident sense rather than their literal graph, and are flagged here rather than silently corrected in the Chinese text below, which is left exactly as transcribed. No character in the source was unencodable (▢ does not occur in this text).

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

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Source Text: 胎息秘要歌訣

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

胎息秘要歌訣

閉氣

忽然身染疾，非理有損傷。
斂意歸閑室，脫衣外本床，
仰眠兼握固，扣齒與焚香，
三十六咽足，丹田氣越常，
隨心連引到，損處最為良，
汗出以為度，省求廣利方。

布氣

〔與他人攻疾〕

修道久專精，身中胎息成。
他人凡有疾，藏腑審知名。
患兄向王氣，澄心意勿輕，
傳真氣令咽，使納數連并，
作念令其損，頓能遣患情，
鬼神自逃遁，病得解纏縈。

六氣

〔疾差即止，不可過，過即敗心氣〕

一呬 呬法最靈應須秘，外屬鼻根內關肺，寒熱勞悶及膚瘡，以斯吐納無不濟。

二呵 呵屬心王主其舌，口中乾澀身煩熱，量疾深淺以呵之，焦腑不和自消滅。

三呼 呼屬脾神主其土，煩熱氣脹腹如鼓，四肢壅悶氣難通，呼而理之復如故。

四噓 噓屬肝神主其目，赤翳昏昏汨如哭，都緣肝熱氣上衝，噓而理之差奔速。

五吹 吹屬腎藏主其耳，腰膝玲多陽道止，微微縱氣以吹之，不在外邊求藥餌。

六嘻 嘻屬三焦有疾起，三焦所有不和氣，不和之氣損三焦，但使嘻嘻而自理。

調液

人因食五味，壅滯閉三焦，
熱極苦澀盛，玲多淡水饒，
便將元氣療，休更問壺飄，
熱隨呵自退，玲宜吹始銷。
口中頻漱咽，津液自然調，
若得如斯驗，玲兼熱罷朝。

飲食所宜

修道欲得見真的，庖饑之中堪者吃，
淡粥朝餐渴自銷，油麻潤喉足津液，
就中梗米飯偏宜，淡緬縛託也相益，
好酒飲時勃氣銷。生椒服之百病息，
食前宜咽六七咽，以食為主是準則，
飯了須呵三五呵，免教毒氣煩胸臆。

飲食雜忌

密室避風隙，高床免鬼吹，
藏精身有益，保氣命無虧，
喜怒情須戢，利名心可廳。
真神兼本屬，禽獸爪頭支，
此等血肉食，皆能致命危。
葷茹既敗氣，饑飽也如斯。
生硬玲須慎，酸鹹辛不宜。
雨雲風罷作，雷電晚休為。
蘿蔔羹須忌，白湯緬勿欺。
更兼避熱食，瓜果勿委隨。
陳臭物有損，死生穢無裨。
須防咽入腹，以氣勿多疑。

休糧

千日功夫如不輟，心中漸得尸蟲滅，
重教充實三丹田，轉得堅牢百骨節，
只欲思惟斷食因，懶將品味以餐啜，
腹虛即咽下臍輸，元氣便將為休絕，
飽即寧心勤守中，飢來閉咽無言說，
如斯勵力久成功，方信養生在秘訣，
豈並凡常服藥人，終朝修煉無休歇。
營營藥力盡空成，屹屹忍饑守不徹，
爭似常服太和精，便能清淨生光悅。
如貪外美亂正元，百疾臨身自廷劣。

慎守

精氣切須堅慎守，益身保命得長久，
人多嗜慾喪形軀，誰肯消除全永壽，
未病憂病病難成，已災去災災遣否？
臨終始解惜危身，不及噬臍身已朽。
胎息縱然勵力修，欲情不斷也殃咎。
陰丹體得道方全，如此之人還尠有。

九載功變

氣并血脈共肉髓，筋骨髮形依次起。
欲遣衰老卻童華，一年一變九載矣。

先端坐，澄定閉目息，氣然後嗚天鼓四八通，以舌掠上唇，外九遍，次掠下唇外九遍，又掠上唇裹九遍，又掠下唇裹九遍，即上唇外為南方，下唇外為北方，上唇裹為束方，下唇內為西方，即以舌柱為中方，待津滿口，即數努兩顯，內氣二十一遍，微從鼻演出些子，便咽，咽時須喉中嗚，即嗢嗢也，象津氣入下丹田，如此三遍五遍。又咽時須俟氣出便咽也。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Zhengtong Daozang edition of this text (article 胎息秘要歌訣, revision of 15 March 2017), inspected from a witness copy captured on 8 August 2026. Chinese Wikisource transcriptions are published under CC BY-SA 4.0 and the GFDL; the text itself is ancient and in the public domain. The wiki header and license templates have been removed; the text is otherwise complete and unaltered.

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