Shijing Jinyang Sujing — Spoken by the Celestial Emperor Lord of the Yellow Book of Grand Subtlety

This is a Shangqing (上清, "Supreme Clarity") revelation text preserved in the Cavern of Perfection (洞真) division of the Daoist Canon, under the full title 洞真太微黃書天帝君石景金陽素經 — "The Scripture of the Simplicity of Stone Radiance and Golden Yang, [Spoken by] the Celestial Emperor Lord of the Yellow Book of Grand Subtlety." Its date is not stated in the text itself; Shangqing scriptures of this kind circulated from the late fourth century onward among the same circle that produced the Maoshan revelations, and this text names Xu Yuanyou (許遠遊, i.e. Xu Mai 許邁, elder brother of Xu Mi 許謐, one of the original recipients of the Shangqing revelations) as an early holder of a related text. We could not confirm a Daozang catalogue number for this particular scripture and give none here rather than guess.

In form it is a set of practical instructions — on fetal breathing, solar ingestion, and visualization — followed by a long sequence of named talismans and the conditions for using each one, an invocation to be recited over a buried copy of the text, a soul-summoning talisman with its own invocation in verse, and a closing exhortation spoken by the Perfected Consort of Nine Flowers (九華真妃) to the scripture's original recipient. Two second-person address terms recur throughout — 子 and 兆 — both conventional ways a revealing deity addresses the human adept in Shangqing scripture; this translation renders both simply as "you."

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

Translation

The Grand Emperor's Text for Summoning the Hun-Souls

The Scripture of Golden Yang Simplicity says: One who wishes for long life and to become a spirit-immortal should know the way of fetal breathing (taixi); it is the treasure by which life is sought — it restores the years, turns white hair back, and prolongs life without old age. Always after midnight, at the hour when the living breath is born, sit upright and level, facing east, close the eyes, and hold the breath; when the breath is exhausted, stop. Practiced constantly this way, the hundred sicknesses and ten thousand harms will not touch you, and the host of goblins and sprites will not dare test or trespass against you.

When dawn comes and the sun first rises, face it directly; gently draw its essence in through the nose and swallow it; continue until some time has passed, then stop. This gives one the countenance of a young child, the face takes on a flowering color, and wrinkles and blemishes never appear.

Ingesting breath keeps one from hunger; the method of ingesting the sun's essence keeps one from aging; holding the breath in fetal breathing lengthens the years without limit. Constantly visualize your own twenty-four spirits, so that you remain free of sickness; should sickness come, silently call the spirits' names and invoke them, and in a moment you will be healed.

The Scripture of Golden Yang says: Constantly visualize a red qi rising from the heart, passing up through the throat, and with the mind's intent hold it fast in the Muddy Pellet (泥丸, the crown of the head). Practiced without ceasing, the Three Corpses will of themselves depart; you will gain long life and lasting sight, the Director of Fates will inscribe your name, and you will be entered on the purple register of the undying.

If you wish to mount the dragon and ascend into the Dipper, constantly ingest the Talisman of the Nine Terraces; then you will meet with the Great One (太一). Without knowing how to ingest the Talisman of the Nine Terraces, the Gate of Heaven will stay shut and will not open. Ingest it, and the ten thousand spirits and celestial immortals will all descend to your chamber; in broad daylight you will fly up and ascend to the Palace of Grand Subtlety, and you will be able to govern all the immortal officials.

The Celestial Emperor of Grand Subtlety said: The eighteen talismans of Stone Radiance of Supreme Clarity, together with the single chapter, the Text for Summoning the Hun-Souls of the Grand Emperor, are secret writings of Supreme Clarity. They came originally from the jade pavilions of Supreme Clarity, and were afterward sealed within Mount Kunlun, behind gates of gold and doors of jade, opened but once in ten thousand years. Long ago the Celestial Emperor Lord of Grand Subtlety received them from the Immortal Elder of the Mysterious Garden, and thereby attained flight through Supreme Clarity; this is how he was granted the rank of Celestial Emperor, free to go wherever he wished, to pay court at the Golden Watchtower, and to drive clouds and dragons. Whoever seeks to study the Way without obtaining these talismans will surely not succeed; he will labor in vain among the mountains and marshes, and cannot escape final defeat at the trials of demons. Whoever would ingest them should write the talismans in orpiment ink; do not write them in cinnabar. Write them on paper, burn them, and swallow the ash — or one may make a board of paulownia wood a foot and two inches long, with characters written on both its outer and inner faces — and you will surely ascend swiftly to Heaven. Do not disclose these things carelessly; they are not to be transmitted except to the worthy. Uphold and recite them, and you will govern the host of spirits, summon yin and call forth yang, and whatever you desire will come at once. Disclose them and fail to keep these statutes and covenants, and calamity will reach seven generations — how can one fail to be careful, how can one fail to be careful!

Ingest the talisman of the Eastern Peak, and the divine writs will open forth from Supreme Clarity, a cloud carriage will come to meet you, and you will know the ten thousand things before they happen. The method is the same for all Five Peaks: begin with the Eastern Peak, and ingest the rest in order. As for the eighteen talismans of audience and their seal-writs, copy them all out on purple silk, and first store them in a tube; in the first month present them at a famous mountain. Once the presentation is complete, place the tube among great stones, and let no one know of it. Take seven pints of yellow earth, work it into mud, and seal the tube with the mud. When this is done, invoke it, saying:

    Wearing at my belt the Yellow Text of Stone Radiance of Grand Subtlety,
    today I reverently copy out one copy,
    to return it to the Immortal Lord,
    that he may cause me to ascend into the Void,
    to journey without end, riding the clouds;
    immortal spirits attend and guard me,
    that I may join the company of the Perfected.

When finished — the method is the same for all Five Peaks — the divine writs of the immortals, hidden in the stone chambers of the famous mountains, will be revealed to you, and marvelous fungi and wondrous herbs will of themselves appear.

If you wish to make the seal of Golden Yang together with its accompanying writ, burn them and swallow both together in ash; then suddenly you will of yourself gain communion with the spirits. The method for ingesting the seal is this: write it in ink, swallow one seal, and let this be your ongoing practice; use the seal to close the talisman, so that seal and talisman complete each other, and then ingest the talisman. Always ingest it before eating. Once the talisman has entered you, you should feel alternating cold and heat, and your sight will grow clearer. In a little while there will appear before you a jade lad in white robes, or perhaps something like a scholar, standing correctly before you — do not be alarmed; in a moment he will of himself dissolve and depart. Hold this in mind for thirty days, and your body will of itself grow light and rise: the superior practitioner will be able to soar into the Clarified Void and roam and feast in Supreme Clarity; the middling practitioner will be able to lift his body a hundred zhang; the lesser practitioner, ten zhang.

When you ingest the eighteen talismans, each time you will see the sealed, robed being — this is because your sincerity runs deep, and the jade lads and jade maidens who guard the talismans perceive your true form. To ingest the talismans, first cut off the five pungent herbs, meat, and sexual intercourse; do not tread in filth or defilement; for a hundred days dwell secluded in an empty chamber where no one is, and do not mix noisily with worldly people — then the Way will be accomplished in you.

For one who ingests the talismans of Stone Radiance and Golden Yang, filth and careless, evil conduct are especially forbidden; cultivate the body and be mindful of the Way, taking fasting, stillness, and single-minded concentration as first principles. If you can cultivate this Way, you may ascend as an immortal, befriend the Celestial Perfected, and hold communion with the host of immortals; you will then be able to command and summon the spirits, and bring down the golden elixir and marvelous fungi. Sitting still, a traveling banquet will arrive of itself, dragon carriages and feathered canopies, numinous lads and jade maidens, and all the host of spirits under Heaven will come to serve and run your errands — there is nothing you ask that you will not know, nothing you seek that you will not obtain.

There is a separate talisman of Heaven and Earth that can ward off soldiers for ten thousand li. Should any brigand under Heaven plot against its bearer, he will himself receive the calamity instead; should any raise the five weapons against its bearer, they will turn back and wound themselves. It may be worn sealed, or burned and ingested, or placed inside a bamboo staff. Using a tube one foot two inches long, write the talisman on silk nine inches long and four inches wide, place it in the tube, and bind the tube to the arm — men on the left, women on the right. Keep it secret, keep it secret! None may encounter it save those whose names are recorded on the Jade Tablets of the Supreme Ultimate. Whoever obtains and wears it may roam freely through the four quarters, suppressing the ten thousand calamities; ordinary people who wear it enjoy good fortune and lengthened years, and their sons and grandsons flourish; Daoist priests who obtain it fly up through Supreme Clarity. Whoever possesses it, blessings descend upon him; whoever cultivates it ascends into the Void.

If you wish to ascend into Grand Subtlety, ingest the Supreme Numinous Talisman, and you will enter into the presence of the Great One and the Primal Sovereign.

If you wish to pay court to the Celestial Emperor and ascend to the Purple Palace, ingest the Most High Numinous Talisman.

If you wish to see the Most High Lord of the Way, ingest the Talisman of the Bright Hall.

If you wish to enter the Five Peaks and have the great spirits of those mountains and all the immortals come to attend and guard you, ingest each mountain's own talisman.

If you wish to enter the Barrier of the Origin, ingest the Talisman of the Prior Origin, and you will see the Lord of the Prior Origin.

If you wish to follow the immortal officials and see the hundred and twenty spirits, ingest the Talisman of the Ten Thousand Spirits, and you will see all the immortal lords.

If you wish to descend and see the nine spirit-men of Great Clarity, ingest the Talisman of the Gate of Heaven, and you will see the Lord of Great Clarity.

If you wish to ascend to Heaven and enter the deep waters, to fly through the Eight Simplicities, moving freely in every direction and hiding at will, wherever your intent takes you — ingest the separate Stone Radiance Talisman of the Celestial Emperor of Grand Subtlety, and the spirits and ghosts of Heaven and Earth will not detain you.

The Talisman of the Nine Terraces

Seal for Raising the Immortal — Seal for Serving the Spirits and Numina — Seal for Commanding Flight

The above is the Grand Emperor's Talisman for Summoning the Hun-Souls. At the cock's crow, face north, burn incense, and swallow it; by this the hun-souls are gathered and held. Once the talisman is ingested, softly invoke, saying:

    The Grand Emperor shines bright,
    gathering and harmonizing the courtyard of souls.
    The three hun and seven po
    guard and keep my former form.
    Spirit at peace, body whole,
    thereby I attain long life.
    The hundred sicknesses melt and scatter,
    the five viscera are healthy and calm.
    Let me fly as an immortal,
    drive and ride the cloud-carriage.
    The Crimson Child sustains and supports me,
    gaining the essence of the breath.
    Cover me with my purple canopy,
    and guide and lead the numinous herb.

When finished, clack the teeth three times, and swallow the saliva three times. After ingesting the talisman, hold this method in mind and invoke it constantly; it fully musters the hundred spirits — an essential instruction never to be lost. Keep it secret, and practice it.

According to the Perfected Consort of Nine Flowers: The Yellow Book of Grand Subtlety originally comprised eight scrolls. Long ago, at Mount Chicheng, a Perfected being transmitted the True Text of the Eight Registers Bound Together to Xu Yuanyou — this is the very text that you now hold. The reason you have not yet soared up into Supreme Clarity, harnessing and driving cloud-dragons, is precisely that you had not seen the chapters of Stone Radiance and the Eight Simplicities in their proper order. Now they are transmitted to you — eighteen talismans in all, together with the scripture's preface. Practice them in order, and you will drive the dragon and tread the mysterious heights, your body ascending by stages.

Keep them secret and treasure them. This Yellow Text of Stone Radiance of Grand Subtlety is no minor technique of the Yellow and the Red; this has been impressed upon you again and again as a warning. Before doubt had ever stirred in your breast, your habitual conduct was already manifest, and your jade-like body already marked for a lofty fate. Savoring the mysterious and tasting the real, calling forth and drawing near the radiant with reverence, stilling and concentrating the six spirits, searching out and distinguishing the eight lights, submitting to and following the numinous root, guarding and refining the three measures, nourishing the fluids and harmonizing the hun-souls — even should a driving wind blow fierce and repeated against you, it could not fell your true nature. Cut off from all clamor and confusion — how then could you be turned back from your own clear purity?

Then, chanting to yourself in the emptiness, with a mind made empty you await the spirits; mustering and gathering the hundred sundered things, you dwell purified in the utmost real. Let no care or burden intrude upon the mysterious dwelling; let no sorrowful thought disturb the Crimson Ford. In tranquil detachment you gaze into the subtle; looking upon your own radiance, you rejoice together with it. Then utmost joy of itself rings and resounds in both ears, and clouds soar and tigers spring forth in the empty hall. The mouth draws in fragrant wind; the eyes receive the Three Clouds. Wearing Golden Yang at the belt, you govern and command the host of evils; looking up and down through the four turnings of the seasons, you attain the Real of yourself. Whatever the subtle gaze pours forth has already joined with spirit.

Truly, when a Perfected being attains the Real, it is always gained by this path. But one who is not yet real, and forces himself to seem real, will likewise stumble and fall on this same path. If instead transgressions and afflictions fill your register, grief and sorrow choke your breast, worldly striving forever burdens you, you cling in secret to petty paths, indulge the ears of the crowd, and seek only an easeful old age — how could you not suddenly break into a cry of grief? Mourning the dead through endless nights, grieving with a heart set on what has passed — the essence sorrows, the spirit departs, the three hun lose their breath, and ill fortune moves through the emptiness; the po-souls report to the goblins and sprites, abandon you to hollow decay, and bring on the hundred calamities. How could one hold the path of life and yet run headlong toward the chamber of death — already shaped by the numinous wind, yet about to tread the room of death, casting away the auspicious sign already given, and throwing oneself instead into calamity and filth?

Though your name is known for lofty excellence, still you hesitate; though you have seen the bright statutes again and again, you have not yet released your doubts. So you entangle yourself in filth and submit petitions above, causing the foul dawn to conceal the writ; the four poles sound their drums, the Three Officials seek out their spears — having sworn your vow, how could you forget the Great Beginning? Thereupon the spirit-tiger bares its claws, the poison-dragon lets loose its fangs; the eight directions are truly vast — where then could you flee to hide your body?

Only after confessing and repenting will you finally understand how enviable is the pure and far-reaching realm, and that these words were no falsehood. And yet a grieving voice disturbs what is true, and offends against the true qi. My lord, why not dwell always in the land of blessing, and here shake out your robes and return home? Now the Text of Stone Radiance and Golden Yang is handed on to you, that in practicing it you may come to see through to the very head of all eight scrolls.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Shangqing shelf of the Good Works Library. The English was translated independently from the classical Chinese text printed below. The two embedded headings of the source (太帝招䰟衆文 and 九臺符) are kept as headings in the translation; the modern Wikisource catalogue headnote at the head of the source article is bibliographic rather than scripture and has not been rendered into the translation body, though it is kept in the Source Text section below. The two closing invocations (the burial-verse and the soul-summoning verse) are set as verse; the rest of the text is prose, following the paragraphing of the source.

A genuine translation-status check was performed before the claim below was written: both local bibliographies of Daoist texts in Western-language translation (Komjathy's Daoist Texts in Translation and the 2023 Purple Cloud survey) were searched by the Chinese title, its component terms (石景, 金陽, 太微黃書), and the pinyin, and neither lists this scripture. Two live web searches — for the Chinese title and for a romanized title, each paired with "English translation" — returned no matching results. To our knowledge, this is the first complete published English translation of this scripture. This is stated as the limit of our knowledge, not as a certainty.

A note on terms and difficulty. 兆 and 子 are both conventional forms by which a revealing deity addresses the human adept in Shangqing scripture (roughly "you, the recipient"); both are rendered simply "you." 明君 in the closing exhortation, an honorific for the addressee, is rendered "my lord." 泥丸 (the psychic center at the crown of the head) is kept as "Muddy Pellet" with the pinyin niwan given once. The scripture's final section — the exhortation spoken by the Perfected Consort of Nine Flowers — is written in dense, allusive Shangqing visualization language (terms such as 三度 "the three measures," 絳津 "the Crimson Ford," 三雲 "the Three Clouds," 八明 "the eight lights") whose precise technical referents we could not fully verify against a secondary source in the time available; that passage has been translated as closely to the literal Chinese as English allows, and readers relying on it for ritual practice should treat it as provisional. No ▢ (illegible character) marks occur in this source file.

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

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Source Text: 洞真太微黃書天帝君石景金陽素經

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

太帝招䰟衆文

　　《金陽素經》曰：夫欲長生神仙，宜知胎息之道，是求生之寶也，還年返白，延壽不老。常以夜半之後生氣之時，正平坐東向，冥目閉氣，氣極則止，常能為之，百病萬害不干，羣精魍魎莫敢犯試矣。

　　至平旦日初出時，輒正向之，微以鼻取日精服之，須移時則止，令人有少童之容，面有華色，永無皺斑也。

　　服氣令人不飢，服日精之法令人不老，閉氣胎息長年無極，常存兆二十四神令兆無病，病竊呼神名祝之，須臾之頓愈也。

　　《金陽經》曰：常念心中出赤氣，上行通喉嚨，以意閉之於泥丸，為之不止，三尸自去，長生久視，司命刻名，著不死之紫籙也。

　　子欲升龍入斗，常服九臺符，則與太一相見，不知服九臺符，則天門閉不開也，服之萬神天仙皆來降子之室，白日飛登太微之宮，可總制仙官也。

　　太微天帝曰：上清石景之符十八首，及太帝招䰟一篇，上清之祕文，本出乎上清之瓊閣，後封乎崐崘之山，金堂玉戶之內，萬年一開。昔太微天帝君受之於玄圃仙伯，遂得飛行上清，是錫天帝之位也，適意所欲，朝禮金闕，策御雲龍矣。諸欲學道者不得此符，必不成也，徒勞於山藪，不免卒敗於魔試。欲服之者，以雌黃墨書符，勿以丹書之也，以紙書燒服之，亦可作尺二梧桐，外內皆有字，必疾升天。勿妄泄，非賢不傳。奉而述之，制總羣精，呼陰召陽，所欲立至。泄漏不遵科約，殃及七世，可不慎哉，可不慎哉。

　　服東嶽之符，則神文開出上清，雲輿迎子，逆知萬事。五嶽同法，先東嶽，以次服之。及十八謁符印文，具寫之紫素，先存置筒中，以正月奏之名山，常以奏畢，置大石間，莫令人知也。子以黃土七升作泥泥上。竟，因祝之曰：

　　戴佩太微石景黃文，今謹寫一通，以還仙君，使我登虛，運無駕雲，仙靈侍衛，與真為羣。

　　畢。五嶽悉如此法，則名山石室神仙之文，為子露出，神芝奇草自然而見也。

　　子欲作金陽其印具燒文，子服印俱燒而吞之，忽然自與神通。服印之法，以墨書之，吞一印，隨為程，以印封符，其相成，子服符。常先食服之，符入當寒熱視益明，須臾之間，當有白衣玉童，或是書生，服正立子前，勿警也，須臾自消去矣。當存之三十日，子身自然輕舉，上士能騰入清虛，游宴上清，中士能舉形百丈，下士十丈。

　　子服十八符，皆見印衣人也，是子誠篤，衛符玉童玉女見兆真形也。欲服符，先絕五葷血食房室，勿履污穢，百日乃幽居無人之室，勿與俗人誼譁共處，則其道成也。

　　子服石景金陽符者，尤禁污慢惡行，當修身念道，齋靜精專為先，兆能修此道，可以升仙，與天真相友，得與衆仙交通，則訶召神靈，降致金丹芝草也，坐致行廚，龍車羽蓋，靈童玉女，天下衆精，皆來走使，無問不知，無求不得。

　　天地別符可以辟兵萬里，天下賊人有謀之者反受其殃，有舉五兵向之者皆還自傷。亦可封，亦可燒服，亦可著竹杖中，以尺二筒，書符素長九寸，廣四寸，置符筒中，以繫臂，男左女右。祕之祕之，自非錄名太極玉簡之子，不得與相遇。得帶之者，浮遊四方，厭伏萬灾，世人佩之，享福延年，子孫繁昌，道士得之，飛行上清，有之者降福，修之者升虛也。

　　子欲升入太微，當服無上靈符，則入太一元皇中矣。子欲朝禮天帝，上紫宮，當服太上靈符。

　　子欲見太上道君，當服明堂符。

　　子欲入五嶽，令其山大神及諸仙人皆來侍衛者，當各服其嶽符也。

　　子欲入元關中，當服元先符，即見元先君矣。

　　子欲服從仙官見百二十神者，當服萬神符，即見諸仙君矣。

　　子欲降見太清九神人，當服天門符，即見太清君矣。

　　子欲上天入淵，飛行八素，縱橫隱匿，唯意所之，當服太微天帝石景別符，則天地鬼神不拘留子也。

九臺符

舉仙人之印　奉神靈之印　可以御蜚之印

　　右太帝招䰟符，以雞嗚時北向燒香吞之，以攝䰟神者也。服符畢，微祝曰：

　　太帝耀明，和攝䰟庭，三䰟七魄，鎮守故形，神安體全，得以長生，百疾消散，五藏康寧，使我飛仙，策駕雲軿，赤子扶胥，得氣之精，覆我紫蓋，導從草靈。

　　畢，叩齒三通，咽液三過。服符之後心中常當存祝此法，具百神，不相失之訣，祕而行之。

　　按九華真妃曰：太微黃書本有八卷，真人昔於赤城山中，以《八籙交帶真文》授許遠遊，明君所有者是也。君所以未飛騰上清，驂駕雲龍，正由不覩石景八素之篇第，今以相授，都有十八符并經序，按而修之，策龍步玄，舉形階漸矣。可祕而寶之，太微石景之黃文，故非黃赤之小術，累相鑒誡矣。未蕩於胸心，君素行既彰，且玉體已標高運，味玄咀真，呼引景懼，凝靜六神，搜別八明，委順靈根，保鍊三度，養液和䰟，假使衝風繁激，將不能伐我之正性也。絕諷勃藹，焉能迴己清淳邪。爾乃空中自吟，虛心待神，營攝百絕，棲澄至真，當使憂累靡干於玄宅，哀念莫擾於絳津也。淡泊眇觀，顧景共歡，於是至樂自鏗鉉聞於兩耳，雲傲虎彈乎空軒也。口挹香風，眼接三雲，帶佩金陽，制御羣凶，俯仰四運，自得成真，視眇所灌，皆已合神矣。夫真人之得真，每從是而獲耳，不真而強真，亦於此而顛蹷也。復使愆痾填籍，憂哀塞抱，經營常累，隱惜小道，和適羣聽，求心裕老，忽發哀音乎。永夕長悼死歿，以悲逝心，精慼神離，三䰟隕氣，邪運空間，魄告魍魎，棄我虛陳，造遘百祟，何可握生道以奔於死房，已陶靈風，方踐死室，擲已吉象，投之凶穢乎？名聞高勝而故猶豫，屢覩明科而未釋疑。遂羅污上章，使臭晨隱書，四極擊鼓，三官尋矛，誓云何而忘太初焉。於是神虎奮爪，毒龍放牙，八方誠廣，曷處而逃身。告謝之後，方悟清遼之可羨，言者之不虛，且哀聲亂真，干作正炁，明君胡不常處福鄉，於此振衣而歸室乎？今以石景金陽文相付，行令盡覩八卷之首也。

Source Colophon

The Chinese text follows the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daoist Canon edition of this text (article 洞真太微黃書天帝君石景金陽素經, revision of 10 January 2018), 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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