青天歌 — by Qiu Chuji (丘處機)

The Song of the Clear Sky (Qingtian Ge, 青天歌) is a meditation poem by Qiu Chuji (丘處機, 1148–1227), the Quanzhen Daoist master known by the title Changchun Zhenren — the Perfected of Eternal Spring. Qiu Chuji was the founder of the Dragon Gate (Longmen) sect and one of the Seven Perfected Disciples of Wang Chongyang, who established the Quanzhen ("Complete Reality") school of Daoism during the Jin dynasty. In 1220, at the age of seventy-two, Qiu Chuji was summoned by Genghis Khan and traveled three years across Central Asia to the Hindu Kush to meet him — a journey of some ten thousand li. He is said to have persuaded the Khan to spare countless lives.

The poem uses the clear sky as a metaphor for the original nature of the mind, and drifting clouds as the desires and afflictions that obscure it. When the "wisdom-wind" disperses the clouds, the moon of original nature appears in every house — that is, in every being. The second half introduces celestial music played on instruments without holes or strings, representing the wordless, formless transmission of the Dao. The final stanzas shift to direct instruction: this body, this life, is the only vehicle for liberation. The six thieves (the sense faculties) and six dusts (the sense objects) must be overcome, and the bonds of attachment released, before one can ascend to Spirit Mountain.

This is a Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese. The source text is from the Wikisource transcription of the Qingtian Ge, which derives from the Panxi Ji (磻溪集), Qiu Chuji's collected works preserved in the Daoist Canon (Zhengtong Daozang, 正統道藏). This is the first complete English translation of the poem.

Let no drifting clouds obstruct the clear sky —
clouds rise, and the clear sky veils ten thousand forms.
Ten thousand forms arrayed hold back the demons;
when light cannot shine, the demons grow strong.

When I first opened wide, heaven and earth were clear,
ten thousand gates and a thousand doors sang of peace.
But sometimes a single black cloud rises
and the nine openings and hundred bones find no rest.

Therefore I always let the wisdom-wind blow fierce
through the three realms and ten directions, sweeping them clean.
Clouds scattered, the empty sky's body is itself the truth —
naturally the moon appears in every house.

Only beneath the moon is it fit to play the flute.
One bright note shakes the lands from east to west,
startling awake the Jade Boy of the East
who rides backward on a white deer, swift as a star.

Lingering, he turns to a different kind of music —
neither the sheng-pipe nor the horn,
but a three-foot cloud-zither with twelve stops
from the primordial age where kalpas merge and strive.

Its jade tone, resonant, silences all vulgar song.
Light and clear, it pervades the hearts of the wise.
Since I attained the One, spirits and gods attend me —
I enter the earth, ascend to heaven, and surpass all ages.

Moving freely in every direction, unbound,
heart not craving glory, body not dishonored,
at leisure I sing the White Snow Song inside the gourd,
in stillness I tune the Spring Sun Melody beyond the world.

In my house these melodies are all natural:
the pipe has no holes and the lute has no strings.
When attained, they startle you awake from the floating life's dream —
day and night, clear sound fills the grotto-heaven.

Understanding is like receiving a lamp in the night:
a windowless dark room suddenly filled with light.
If this body does not cross over in this life,
then when will you ever deliver this body?

Do not let the six thieves wage war on you each day —
every color, every form, all of it is emptiness.
Realize that originally there is not a single thing:
the spirit platform exists only within this heart.

The landscape of the mind must always be swept clear.
Do not let afflictions encroach on you day by day.
On Spirit Mountain there are boundless places of wandering;
by the merit pool, wash away the six dusts.

Bonds of love and kindness — entangled, impossible to undo —
one morning the body departs and they do not follow.
Now release your grip: there is nothing to cling to.
Go straight up to Spirit Mountain's white jade terrace.

The Dao saves all beings — cultivate your nature.
The bright path of awakening: this is the way to practice truth.

Notes

Nine openings (九竅) — The nine orifices of the body: eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and the two lower openings. In Daoist medicine, these are the gates through which qi enters and exits.

Three realms (三界) — The realms of desire, form, and formlessness, a cosmological framework shared between Buddhism and Daoism.

Ten directions (十方) — The eight compass directions plus above and below; the totality of space.

Jade Boy of the East (東方玉童子) — A celestial attendant associated with the Eastern direction. In internal alchemy, this figure may refer to the spirit of the liver and the wood element, which governs the hun-soul.

Cloud-zither (雲璈) — A celestial instrument of the immortals. The twelve stops (十二徽) correspond to the twelve positions on a guqin, here describing a cosmic instrument tuned to the rhythms of primordial creation.

Kalpas (劫) — Vast cycles of cosmic time, borrowed from Buddhist terminology into Quanzhen discourse.

White Snow Song and Spring Sun Melody (白雪歌, 陽春曲) — Two ancient Chinese melodies of such refinement that few could follow them. The phrase "yangchun baixue" (陽春白雪) became a proverb for art too elevated for common appreciation. Here they represent the wordless music of the Dao.

The gourd (壺中) — The gourd-bottle of the immortals, a magical space containing an entire world. The Daoist adept Fei Changfang entered a gourd hung from a market-stall and found within it a paradise of jade towers. Here it represents the inner world of the cultivated mind.

Grotto-heaven (洞天) — Sacred caves in Daoist geography, believed to be entrances to paradises hidden within the earth. There are traditionally ten great and thirty-six lesser grotto-heavens.

Six thieves (六賊) — The six sense faculties: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought. They are called "thieves" because attachment to them drains spiritual energy.

Six dusts (六塵) — The six sense objects: form, sound, smell, taste, tactile sensation, and mental objects (dharmas). Together with the six thieves, they form the twelve links of perception that bind beings to the cycle of attachment.

Spirit platform (靈台) — The heart-mind (心) conceived as a clear platform or terrace for spiritual perception. When cleared of the six dusts, it reflects reality as it is.

Spirit Mountain (靈山) — Vulture Peak (Gṛdhrakūṭa) in Buddhist tradition, where the Buddha delivered key sutras; in Quanzhen usage, it refers to the summit of spiritual attainment — the mind returned to its original clarity.

Colophon

Qiu Chuji (丘處機), courtesy name Tongmi (通密), Daoist name Changchun Zi (長春子, "Master of Eternal Spring"), 1148–1227. Born in Qixia, Shandong. One of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen Daoism, and founder of the Dragon Gate (Longmen 龍門) lineage, the largest Daoist monastic order in China to this day.

Source text: Qingtian Ge (青天歌), from the Panxi Ji (磻溪集, "Collected Works from Panxi"), preserved in the Zhengtong Daozang (正統道藏, Ming Daoist Canon, 1445). Transcription from Chinese Wikisource, cross-referenced against the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org) annotated edition.

This is the first complete English translation of this poem.

Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated by the Sub-Miko of Tianmu (Tulku Izumi, 泉), the fifty-seventh incarnation.

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