天隱子 — with a Preface by Sima Chengzhen (司馬承禎, 647–735 CE)
The Master of Heavenly Seclusion (Tianyinzi, 天隱子) is a short Daoist manual on the path to divine transcendence, preserved in the Orthodox Daoist Canon (正統道藏, Zhengtong Daozang, DZ 1026). Its author is unknown — the title serves as both the name of the text and the pseudonym of its writer, "the one concealed in Heaven." The preface is by Sima Chengzhen (司馬承禎, 647–735 CE), the twelfth patriarch of the Shangqing (Supreme Clarity) school of Daoism and spiritual advisor to three Tang dynasty emperors, who praised the work as unequaled since Wei Boyang's Cantong Qi.
The text presents a graduated five-stage system of Daoist cultivation: fasting and precepts (齋戒), peaceful dwelling (安處), visualization (存想), sitting in oblivion (坐忘), and spirit liberation (神解). Each stage builds upon the last — from the regulation of the body through diet and environment, through the inward turn of the senses toward their own source, to the final dissolution of the boundary between self and Way. The chapter on sitting in oblivion is a companion to Sima Chengzhen's own Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion (坐忘論), which expands the practice into a full seven-stage system. Together, the two texts form the foundational library of Shangqing meditation.
The Tianyinzi integrates Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist vocabulary with remarkable ease — quoting the Book of Changes, the Daodejing, and the Zhuangzi while concluding with the Buddhist term "True Suchness" (真如) — reflecting the creative religious synthesis of the Tang dynasty. This is the first freely available English translation, sourced from the Chinese Text Project transcription of the Zhengtong Daozang text.
Preface by Sima Chengzhen — 序
The Way of divine transcendence takes long life as its root.
The essential of long life places the nourishing of qi first.
Qi is received from Heaven and Earth
and harmonized through yin and yang.
When yin and yang become spirit and void, this is called the heart-mind.
The heart-mind governs waking and sleeping, day and night —
these are called the hun-soul and the po-soul.
Thus the human body is, for the most part, not far from the Way of divine transcendence.
The Master of Heavenly Seclusion — I do not know what sort of person he was. He wrote a book of eight chapters encompassing secrets and wonders that are perhaps beyond what human effort alone can study. Observing its methods of refining form and qi, nourishing harmony and emptying the heart-mind — its return to the root accords with Wei Boyang; its casting off of reflection equals Elder Zhuang.
For long life and enduring vision,
no text surpasses this one.
Chengzhen has clothed himself in the ways of the Dao. It pains him that the people of the world cut short their true lifespan. He wishes to transmit this to those of like mind, so that it may be practiced with ease.
Truly so! Since Wei Boyang, there has been only the Master of Heavenly Seclusion.
Respectfully prefaced.
I. Divine Transcendence — 神仙
When born, a person receives the qi of the void. If they are refined and bright, open and awakened, with learning free of obstruction — this is called the dwelling of spirit.
When spirit within sheds its radiance and one's outward nature moves of itself, surpassing the common — this is called being a spirit immortal.
Therefore, spirit immortals are also human.
It lies in cultivating one's qi of the void — do not let the world's discourse break you. Follow your own nature — do not let wrong views congeal and obstruct you. Then the work is accomplished.
Joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hatred, desire — these seven are the deviations of the emotions.
Wind, cold, heat, damp, hunger, fullness, toil, ease — these eight are the deviations of qi.
Remove these deviations, and the work of transcendence is accomplished.
II. Ease and Simplicity — 易簡
The Changes say: "The Way of Heaven and Earth is ease and simplicity." What does this mean?
The Master of Heavenly Seclusion says: Heaven and Earth are above my head and beneath my feet. Open your eyes and you see them entire, with no need for elaborate contrivance. This is why it is called ease and simplicity.
Simplicity is the virtue of the spirit immortals.
The classic says: "The utmost Way is not complex; the utmost person does nothing."
But then — by what way does one seek it? Without seeking, one cannot know. Without the Way, one cannot achieve.
In all study of divine transcendence, first know ease and simplicity. If a teaching ventures into the strange and abstruse, it only causes people to cling to confusion with no way back to the root — this is not my teaching.
Among those who study to become immortals, there are those led astray by the quest itself. Among those who study the dark, there are those sickened by the darkness.
III. The Gradual Gate — 漸門
The Changes has the hexagram of Gradual Progress. Laozi speaks of the Gate of All Wonders.
When people cultivate truth and reach their nature, they cannot awaken all at once. They must advance gradually and proceed steadily — therefore the Gradual Gate is established.
First: fasting and precepts.
Second: peaceful dwelling.
Third: visualization.
Fourth: sitting in oblivion.
Fifth: spirit liberation.
What is fasting and precepts? Cleansing the body, emptying the heart-mind.
What is peaceful dwelling? Dwelling deep in a quiet room.
What is visualization? Gathering the heart-mind, returning to one's nature.
What is sitting in oblivion? Shedding form, forgetting self.
What is spirit liberation? The ten thousand methods penetrate to spirit.
Therefore, one who practices these five gradual gates: completing the first, one gradually advances to the second; completing the second, gradually to the third; the third to the fourth; the fourth to the fifth — and divine transcendence is achieved.
IV. Fasting and Precepts — 齋戒
Fasting and precepts do not mean merely eating vegetables. Cleansing the body does not mean merely bathing in hot water to remove dirt. Rather, the method lies in regulating food to harmonize the interior, and in rubbing and warming to smooth the exterior.
A person receives the qi of the Five Phases and eats the substances of the Five Phases. From the womb onward, the body already has form — breathing, essence, and blood circulating. How can one abandon food and seek long life?
But people do not understand that "ceasing grain and ingesting qi" is a Daoist expedient, not a call to permanently eliminate food.
That eating has its fasting and precepts means this: fasting is the work of purification; precepts are the name for moderation and care.
When hungry, eat at once.
When eating, do not eat until full.
This is called harmonizing the interior.
Do not eat food that is not fully cooked. Do not eat when the five flavors are excessive. Do not eat things that are spoiled or that block the qi. All these should be guarded against.
Rub the body often with the hands until the skin is warm, pressing away cold qi. This is called smoothing the exterior.
Sitting too long, standing too long, toiling too long — all should be guarded against.
This is the method of regulating the body. When the body is firm, qi is complete — therefore fasting and precepts are the first of the gradual gates.
V. Peaceful Dwelling — 安處
What is peaceful dwelling? It does not mean ornate halls with deep chambers, heavy curtains and wide couches.
It means: sit facing south. Sleep with head to the east. Let yin and yang balance, light and dark be equal.
The room should not be too high — if high, yang prevails and light is excessive. The room should not be too low — if low, yin prevails and dark is excessive.
Too much light injures the po-soul. Too much dark injures the hun-soul. The hun is yang and the po is yin — if either light or dark is excessive, illness arises.
This applies even to one's dwelling room. How much more so the qi of Heaven and Earth — blazing yang that attacks the flesh, excessive yin that invades the body. How can one not guard against these?
In the gradual path of cultivation, if one does not follow this, it is not the Way of peaceful dwelling.
The method says: my dwelling room has windows on all four sides. When wind comes, close them. When wind ceases, open them.
My sitting place has a curtain before and a screen behind. When too bright, lower the curtain to soften the inner light. When too dark, roll up the curtain to admit the outer brightness.
Inwardly, settle the heart-mind.
Outwardly, settle the eyes.
When both heart-mind and eyes are settled, you are at peace.
Even light and dark must be balanced thus. How much more so excessive worry and excessive desire! How could these bring peace to the inner and the outer?
Therefore, in studying the Way, peaceful dwelling comes second.
VI. Visualization — 存想
"Preserving" means preserving one's own spirit.
"Contemplating" means contemplating one's own body.
Close your eyes and you see your own eyes. Gather your heart-mind and you see your own heart-mind.
When heart-mind and eyes do not depart from you, your body is not harmed, your spirit is preserved — this is the gradual path of contemplation.
Ordinary people spend all day looking at others, so the heart-mind follows and runs outward. All day they engage with others' affairs, so the eyes follow and gaze outward.
Flickering and restless, the floating light never turns back to illuminate within — how can they not fall ill and die young?
Therefore: returning to the root is called stillness.
Stillness is called returning to one's destiny.
The authentic nature, preserved upon itself —
this is the gate of all wonders.
This is the gradual path of visualization. With it, the work of studying the Way is half done.
VII. Sitting in Oblivion — 坐忘
Sitting in oblivion is attained through visualization, and forgotten through visualization.
To walk the Way without seeing oneself walk — is this not the meaning of "sitting"?
To have perception without acting on what one perceives — is this not the meaning of "oblivion"?
What is meant by "not acting"? The heart-mind does not stir.
What is meant by "not seeing"? Form is entirely dissolved.
Therefore the Master of Heavenly Seclusion closes his eyes and does not look. And the one who awakens to the Way withdraws and says:
The Way was in me all along.
Who am I, after all? Who is the Master of Heavenly Seclusion, after all?
At this, both self and other are forgotten, and there is nothing left to illuminate.
VIII. Spirit Liberation — 神解
The first gate, fasting and precepts, is called liberation through faith. Without a faithful heart-mind, one cannot be liberated.
The second gate, peaceful dwelling, is called liberation through leisure. Without a leisured heart-mind, one cannot be liberated.
The third gate, visualization, is called liberation through wisdom. Without a wise heart-mind, one cannot be liberated.
The fourth gate, sitting in oblivion, is called liberation through stillness. Without a still heart-mind, one cannot be liberated.
Faith, leisure, wisdom, stillness — these four gates penetrate to spirit. This is called spirit liberation.
The meaning of "spirit" is this: arriving without traveling, swift without haste, yin and yang transforming freely, Heaven and Earth enduring forever. Embracing all three powers, it is called the Changes.
The Commentary on the Appended Phrases says: "When the Changes reach their limit, they transform. When they transform, they penetrate. When they penetrate, they endure."
Equalizing the ten thousand things, it is called the Way and Virtue — Laozi's Classic of the Way and Classic of Virtue.
Rooted in the one nature, it is called True Suchness.
The Master of Heavenly Seclusion lives within the Changes and dies within the Changes. Movement arises from the ten thousand things; stillness arises from the ten thousand things. Deviation comes from the one nature. Truth comes from the one nature.
Therefore — birth and death, movement and stillness, deviation and truth — I liberate them all through spirit. Among people, this is called being an immortal.
In Heaven, a heavenly immortal.
On Earth, an earthly immortal.
Therefore the Way of divine transcendence — the five gates return to one. The five gradual gates all converge upon transcendence.
Colophon
The Master of Heavenly Seclusion (天隱子, Tianyinzi) is preserved in the Orthodox Daoist Canon (正統道藏, Zhengtong Daozang) as DZ 1026, in the Taixuan (Supreme Mystery) section, volume 672. Its author is unknown; the preface by Sima Chengzhen (司馬承禎, 647–735 CE), twelfth patriarch of the Shangqing school, endorses the text as the greatest work on long life since Wei Boyang's Cantong Qi. Some scholars attribute the main text to Sima Chengzhen himself or to the poet-Daoist Wu Yun (吳筠, d. 778); the attribution remains uncertain. The text's five-stage cultivation path — fasting, dwelling, visualization, oblivion, liberation — influenced all subsequent Shangqing meditation literature.
This is a Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese. The source text was accessed from the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org) transcription of the Zhengtong Daozang edition. No reference English translation was consulted. Livia Kohn's translation and study (in Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques, 1989) was not used.
Translated and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translator: Mukti (Liberation Translator, Tulku Fleet). Gospel register.
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Source Text: 天隱子
Classical Chinese source text from the Zhengtong Daozang (正統道藏, DZ 1026), accessed via the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
天隱子序
神仙之道，以長生為本。長生之要，以養氣為先。夫氣受之於天地，和之於陰陽。陰陽神虛謂之心，心主晝夜寤寐，謂之魂魄。如此，人之身大率不遠乎神仙之道。天隱子，吾不知其何許人，著書八篇，包括祕妙，殆非人問所能力學。觀夫修鍊形氣，養和心虛，歸根契於伯陽，遺照齊於莊叟。長生久視，無出是書。承禎服習道風，惜乎世人夭促真壽，思欲傳之同志，使簡易而行。信哉。自伯陽而來，唯天隱子而已矣。謹序。
神仙
人生時稟得虛氣，精明通悟，學無滯塞，則謂之神宅。神於內遺照，於外自然，異於俗人，則謂之神仙。故神仙亦人也。在於修我虛氣，勿為世俗所論折，遂我自然，勿為邪見所凝滯，則成功矣。喜怒哀樂愛惡欲七者，情之邪也。風寒暑濕飢飽勞逸八者，氣之邪也。去此邪，成仙功也。
易簡
易曰：天地之道易簡者，何也？天隱子曰：天地在我首之上，足之下，開目盡見，無假繁巧而言，故日易簡。簡者，神仙之德也。經日：至道不繁，至人無為。然則以何道求之？曰：無求不能知，無道不能成。凡學神仙，先知易簡。苟言涉奇詭，適足使人執迷，無所歸本，此非吾學也。世人學仙，及為仙所迷者有矣，學黑反為黑所病者有矣。
漸門
易有漸卦，老氏有妙門。人之修真達性，不能頓悟，必須漸而進之，安而行之，故設漸門。一曰齋戒，二日安處，三曰存想，四曰坐忘，五日神解。何謂齋戒？曰澡身虛心。何謂安處？日深居靜室。何謂存想？日收心復性。何謂坐忘？日遺形忘我。何謂神解？曰萬法通神。是故習此五漸之門者，了一則漸次至二，了二則漸次至三，了三則漸次至四，了四則漸次至五，神仙成矣。
齋戒
齋戒者，非蔬茹飲食而已，澡身非湯浴去垢而已。蓋其法在節食調中、磨擦暢外者也。夫人稟五行之氣，而食五行之物，而實自胞胎有形也，呼吸精血，豈可去食而求長生。但世人不知休糧服氣，道家權宜，非永絕食粒之謂也。食之有齋戒者，齋乃潔淨之務，戒乃節慎之稱。有飢即食，食勿令飽，此所謂調中也。百味未成熟勿食，五味大多勿食，腐敗閉氣之物勿食，此皆宜戒也。手常磨擦，皮膚溫熱，熨去冷氣，此所謂暢外也。久坐久立久勞役，皆宜戒也。此是調理形骸之法。形堅則氣全，是以齋戒為漸門之首矣。
安處
何謂安處？曰：非華堂邃宇、重梱廣榻之謂也。在乎南向而坐，東首而寢，陰陽適中，明暗相半。屋無高，高則陽盛而明多。屋無卑，卑則陰盛而暗多。故明多則傷魄，暗多則傷魂，人之魂陽而魄陰，苟傷明暗，則疾病生焉。此所謂居處之室，尚使之然。況天地之氣，有亢陽之攻肌，淫陰之侵體，豈不防慎哉。修養之漸，倘不法此，非安處之道。術曰：吾所居室，四邊皆窗戶，遇風即闔，風息即開。吾所居座，前簾後屏，太明則下簾以和其內嘆，太暗則捲簾以通其外曜。內以安心，外以安目，心目皆安矣。明暗尚然，況大多事慮、大多情欲，豈能安其內外哉。故學道以安處為次。
存想
存謂存我之神，想謂想我之身。閉目即見自己之目，收心即見自己之心。心與目皆不離，我身不傷，我神則存，想之漸也。凡人目終日視他人，故心亦逐外走，終日接他事，故目亦逐外瞻。營營浮光，未嘗復照，奈何不病且夭邪？是以歸根曰靜，靜曰復命，誠性存存，眾妙之門。此存想之漸，學道之功半矣。
坐忘
坐忘者，因存想而得也，因存想而忘也。行道而不見其行，非坐之義乎？有見而不行其見，非忘之義乎？何謂不行？曰心不動故。何謂不見？曰形都泯。故天隱子暝而不視。或者悟道，乃退曰：道果在我矣。我果何人哉？天隱子果何人哉？於是彼我兩忘，了無所照。
神解
一齋戒，謂之信解。士無信心，即不能解。二安處，謂之閑解。言無閑心，即不能解。三存想，謂之慧解。言無慧心，即不能解。四坐忘，謂之定解。言無定心，即不能解。信定閑慧四門通神，謂之神解。故神之為義，不行而至，不疾而速，陰陽變通，天地長久，兼三才而言謂之易。《繫辭》曰：易窮則變，變則通，通則久。齊萬物而言，謂之道德。老子《道經》、《德經》是也。本一性而言，謂之真如。天隱子生乎易中，死乎易中，動因萬物，靜因萬物，邪由一性。真由一性，是以生死、動靜、邪真，吾皆以神而解之，在人謂之仙矣。在天日天仙，在地日地仙。故神仙之道五歸一門。謂五漸終同歸於仙矣。
Source Colophon
Classical Chinese source text from the Zhengtong Daozang (正統道藏, "Orthodox Daoist Canon," compiled 1444–1445 CE), text DZ 1026, Taixuan (Supreme Mystery, 太玄部) section, volume 672. Accessed via the Chinese Text Project transcription (ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&chapter=272598). The Zhengtong Daozang is the standard edition of the Daoist Canon, compiled under the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming dynasty (r. 1435–1449). The text and its transcription are in the public domain.
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