白玉蟾祖師修道真言 — Xiūdào Zhēnyán
Cultivation aphorisms by Bai Yuchan (白玉蟾, 1194–1229), patriarch of the Southern School of Daoist internal alchemy, compiled during the Song dynasty. Bai Yuchan endured hardship in youth, practiced austere cultivation through middle age, and attained realization only in his later years. This collection of his True Words circulates within the Yiguandao tradition as a morality book (善書), valued for its directness, brevity, and fusion of Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist insight. Each passage is a seed — compact classical Chinese that opens into a world of practice. The text closes with a warning: "The principle is written in books, but the method is still transmitted by mouth." The book points the way; the teacher opens the gate.
Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese. First English translation. Gospel register.
To enter the school of the mysterious is not the hard part. The hard part is entering through the gate of your original nature. If you enter through that gate, you reach the source. If you take the wrong path, it is like writing in the air and looking for the trace, or parting the water and looking for a road.
The principle of cultivating the mysterious can be grasped by the mind but cannot be transmitted in words. It hides within the writings of the ancients. Heaven does not speak, yet the four seasons proceed. The rise and fall of yin and yang in your body is not something you can force.
The wonder of the great Dao lies entirely in concentrating the spirit. Anyone who has heard the Dao should take this to heart and seek it there. If you concentrate your spirit and find the aperture, everything falls like split bamboo — section after section yields to your hand. Otherwise you stand facing a wall and cannot take a single step.
Those who study the Dao must be as broad as the ocean and as open as the sky — only then can they advance in virtue. The heart should be empty. The spirit should be settled. If you can keep your heart still, you can lay the foundation of the elixir.
For those who study the Dao, nourishing the heart is the main work. When the heart moves, the spirit tires. When the heart is still, the spirit is at ease. When tired, the Dao hides. When at ease, the Dao arises. Only a vast and open chest can carry the Dao.
False teachings have troubled the Dao for a long time. Sexual alchemy, mercury-burning, and forced circulation of breath are all false paths. The young, the faithless, and those chasing profit — none of these can easily speak of this Dao. To cultivate it, begin with one word: simplicity.
The border between immortal and mortal, the gate between human and ghost — it all lies in doing the work. But doing the work is like catching a cunning rabbit: relax a little and the rabbit escapes; grip too tight and the rabbit dies. You must find it in emptiness, or what you are doing cannot be called the work.
When the heart does not keep watch inward, the breath scatters on its own. If you can practice inward observation at all times, the breath gathers of its own accord, nourishing your organs, and in time your spirit and breath become full. As the ancients said: "Keep the breath flowing freely through the joints, and naturally the essence fills and the spirit of the valley abides."
In stillness, refine the breath. In movement, refine the heart. This is the complete work of the lower learning.
You must restrain desire. The primordial can only be stabilized through the everyday.
In movement, the mind is scattered and vague — it is better to keep the heart in its chamber. Those who study the Dao must first know the method of gathering the heart before they speak of sitting in stillness.
If you want to learn the mysterious work, start by closing your eyes often. Sit quietly for a few periods each day. Then come and ask about the Dao.
Cleverness and wisdom are no match for simplicity. Students go wrong precisely through being clever — it breeds opinions and leads to all kinds of harm. If you want to gather your body and mind, begin with the word "simple."
Heaven gives life to people. What keeps a person alive and not dead is the ceaseless subtle movement within. If that movement stops, the breath ceases. Heaven and earth exist through the mechanism of breath; people too are born through the mechanism of breath. If you can refine and hold this mechanism, you will live as long as heaven and earth — unceasing. "What does not cease endures" — the Doctrine of the Mean says this.
Settle your heart and spirit — then you can speak of the Dao. To enter the Mysterious Gate, you need the power of stillness. Stillness leads to quiet, quiet leads to life. It is not enough to be still in stillness — you must be still in movement. Then the power of the work shows itself. The spirit settled: that is the inner move. When things come, the heart responds; when things go, the heart stops. The breath settled: that is the outer move.
Guard your speech, correct your posture. Speak with dignity, and your breath will be strong. The essential point of the lower learning lies entirely in keeping your breath upright, calming your spirit, forgetting your heart, and guarding your mouth.
Cultivating the Dao begins in hardship. But whenever you find a moment of ease, be at ease — this itself is the Dao. Better still: steal leisure from the midst of busyness. If you can steal a moment, you have a moment. Otherwise you will never have a quiet hour in your whole life.
The heart is the master of the body, so the master must always be at home. If the master is absent for a single moment, the hundred bones fall into disorder. The value of studying the Dao lies in constancy. Begin with diligence but end with neglect, start and then stop — and you destroy yourself.
"The four dignities are all illusion; only the point of spiritual light is real. Hide and store that bright spirit — do not let it shine too freely — and the true body beyond duality will appear." This point of light is like the edge of a sword, like fire in a stone: it appears for an instant, then vanishes. The cultivator who wishes to nurture the holy embryo and gestate the spiritual infant — this is the work. If you do not begin early, by the time your essence is dried up and your blood is spent, sitting cross-legged on a cushion will do you no good.
Many admire the Dao, but the net of the world holds them back and their Dao-heart makes no progress. The sages are not without compassion for the world — what can they do when the world tangles itself? To free students from this suffering, I offer a few words. When the heart moves, what moves is not the heart but the will. When the spirit races, what races is not the spirit but the discriminating mind. The will is full of desires; the discriminating mind is full of attachments. Remove these two thieves and your true nature shines complete. Without desire, what greed? Without attachment, what seeking? Without greed or seeking, your nature is like empty space, and worries and delusions cannot weigh you down. Add the work of refining the breath, and the golden elixir can be achieved — and the path of the immortals opens before you.
Nourishing the breath lies only in gathering the heart. When the heart stays in its chamber, the breath is preserved.
To dwell in dust and not be stained by it — this is the highest grade. Failing that, avoid it.
The two words "clarity" and "stillness" are the method that transforms your bones.
Anyone who can govern their own heart is already a person of the Dao. If you remove every worldly obstacle, how could you fail to succeed?
Empty, and then empty again — you merge with Heaven. Empty, empty, empty — within emptiness there is real work. But if you cling to mere extinction, you end in dead emptiness.
The point of sitting in stillness is not to be still when sitting. It is to be still at all times.
The spirit-platform is never extinguished. Wisdom-awareness is always present. This is the supreme treasure of the Dao. Yet it has no form and casts no shadow — it cannot be spoken of plainly. Receive it silently through the heart. Do not seek it outside yourself.
The spirit is the sprout of the heart. A healthy complexion is the sign that blood and breath are in harmony. The main thing is to nourish the water sufficiently in the Flowered Pool, and the tree of the will naturally blooms.
The ancients taught people to seek the happiness of Confucius and Yan Hui. This happiness cannot be found in books — it lies in the heavenly mandate. When the heart is still, the spirit is clear. When the spirit is clear, the breath is harmonious. Only then can you attain it.
Do not neglect the hands-on work. Procrastination does no good. If you have one moment, use that moment. Your attention must constantly return to this place. Where the spirit goes, the breath follows. Where the breath goes, life becomes firm.
The two words "reverence" and "care" reach from heaven to earth. There is no one who lets go of the heart who can become an immortal or a buddha.
The deeds of a life, the legacy of a thousand years — these are nothing more than this single point of spiritual light. Yet the spirit cannot arise without essence, and the essence cannot be nourished without stillness. To reach the state of utmost emptiness and utmost luminosity, you must practice this work of generating and nourishing.
When the Dao-heart is always present, ordinary thoughts withdraw on their own. Forget the Dao for a moment, and a moment of ordinary thought arises. Forget the Dao for a single thought, and a single thought of worldly feeling arises. You must remind yourself constantly.
Human life is like an illusion — you must find your true body. Nothing in the world is real. Even this body is not your own. Only this one point of spiritual light. If you have nowhere to place it, when the time of dissolution comes, what will you follow? Is that not a cause for grief?
Burning incense and brewing tea — this is the Dao. Looking at mountains and waters and clouds — this too is the Dao. As long as your heart is vast and free, you need not seek the Dao only on a meditation cushion.
Studying the Dao is a joyful thing. Joy is the Dao; suffering is not the Dao. But this joy is not the joy that ordinary people know.
Social obligations in the dusty world are the greatest hindrance to the Dao. For every worldly affair you can reduce, your power in the Dao advances by one degree. If you do not break through illusory attachments, you will never find a place to stand.
You should regard yourself as a sage in the making. Do not look down on yourself — this is the way to ascend. In all the world there has never been an immortal who was not first a sage.
People should know the way of restraint. Restraint in seeing nourishes the spirit. Restraint in speech nourishes the breath. Restraint in affairs nourishes the heart. Restraint in desire nourishes the essence. Restraint in the heart transcends life and death. Restraint is the handle of all transformation. But if you mistake restraint for miserliness and stinginess, you have missed the way of restraint entirely.
The supreme and wondrous Dao is found in the depths of silence. If even one thought is in turmoil, ten thousand attachments arise at once — when will you ever master your body, heart, nature, and life? If you cannot even attend to yourself, how will you have time for anything else? Turn back quickly. Reach the other shore before it is too late.
The mysterious work requires not only nourishing the breath and filling the essence, but also circulating the marrow to replenish the brain. Gather your household provisions to the full — only then are you truly wealthy. If there is the slightest deficiency in your body, you are nothing but a pauper wearing a fine mask. The road is clearly marked — why not walk it? Here stands a palace fit for an immortal — surely you are not too busy even at night?
Worry is the axe that fells your nature. You must do the work precisely where it is hardest to maintain control. If you do not transform your temperament completely, how can you become a person of goodness?
Anyone who studies the Dao must be more free in speech and conduct than ordinary people. If you still walk the same path as everyone else, what is the value of studying the Dao?
In studying the Dao, first transform your temperament. Then become more generous and sincere in your dealings with others. Only then are you a vessel for the Dao.
Today's scholars cannot enter the Dao because of intellectual obstacles. They do not realize that the Dao is the very Dao of Confucius and Mencius. Were not Zhou Dunyi and Shao Yong examples of this? Do not think of the Dao as belonging exclusively to Daoists. Confucianism and the Dao are one. Did Zhou and Shao ever leave home to cultivate? People today fear the Dao as something otherworldly — what a mistake.
Spring peaches blaze with color because of the true yang stored through three months of winter. Autumn chrysanthemums glow yellow because of the true yin gathered through three months of summer heat. The hidden principle in this — those who grasp it with the mind will understand.
People are burdened by their bodies. When age arrives, wind grows in every joint and pain fills every limb. Why look for hell? This is hell enough. If in your daily life you had even a little practice of stillness and movement, could you not avoid this suffering? The body is what I love, yet the body is what burdens me. If you can take hold of this piece of spiritual nature, life and death are yours to command.
For those who study the Dao, purifying the heart and reducing desire come first. Resting your head high under a thatched eave, letting your will roam free by a bamboo window — this is the Daoist at ease. If you chase after things in a hurry, how are you different from the crowd? "Cultivate your temperament; transform your disposition" — these two phrases are where the entrance begins.
No one who cultivates the Dao is without quietness and silence. Coarseness and restlessness are of no use whatsoever.
Someone asked about foreknowledge. The answer: "Insight arises from the heart. Events are judged by principle. If you judge events by principle, you are already divine. If you abandon principle and ask the spirits, even the spirits will not answer."
Entering the gate of the mysterious, take stillness of nature as your only guide. Imagine: a spring courtyard after fresh rain. The four walls silent. Grass and trees holding spring within them, growing secretly. Understand this scene and you understand the ultimate. You need not discuss the mysterious to practice the Dao.
The heart is like the eye. The tiniest speck of dust enters the eye and the eye is disturbed. The smallest matter enters the heart and the heart is troubled. Therefore studying the Dao lies entirely in settling the heart. If the heart is not settled, then when someone tears your paper window — a trivial thing — you are filled with anger. When someone takes your needle — the smallest object — you are filled with resentment. It is not only wealth and status that trouble the heart. Gain and loss, worry and confusion, crooked and scattered thoughts — the moment you notice them, remove them. Slander and praise, good and evil — the moment you hear them, brush them away. Do not let the heart receive them. When the heart receives, it becomes full. When the heart is full, the Dao has nowhere to dwell. Make it so that everything you see and hear — right and wrong alike — does not enter the heart. A heart that does not receive from outside is called an empty heart. A heart that does not chase after things outside is called a settled heart. When the heart is settled and empty, the Dao comes to dwell on its own.
The immortal scriptures say: Focus the essence and nourish the spirit; let nothing contaminate it — this is called clarity. Return the spirit and restore the breath; be at peace and do not move — this is called stillness. Control your thoughts to settle your will. Still your body to calm your spirit. Preserve your breath to retain your essence. When thinking and deliberation are both forgotten, and you close your eyes and look inward, then body and spirit become one. When body and spirit become one, you are close to the truth.
As dirt is gradually removed, the mirror brightens. As the heart gradually rests, the nature becomes clear. Cultivate a pool of autumn water, and you need not seek to mirror things — things will enter your mirror of their own accord.
What is within will always show without — not the slightest bit can be faked. The ancient sages said: "When a mountain contains fine jade, its grass and trees will not wither. When a body contains the wondrous Dao, its frame will not decay." Therefore whoever has true work in the heart will surely have a good countenance.
The human heart is like fire. If you do not contain it, it will burn itself. Preventing small problems from becoming large ones — this depends entirely on the heart.
It is not hard to set your will. What is truly dangerous is the moment your mind turns toward wealth and status — these are the sweet bait that hooks you. This is why those who attain the Dao are almost always poor, or have survived a great calamity. Why? Because they have cut every worldly tie. When they look back, everything is empty. Thus Sun Simiao wrote in his treatise on illness: "Dozens of immortals attained the Dao through terrible sickness." All worldly connections exhausted, self and other forgotten, not a single thought of turning back — misfortune became blessing.
Those who cultivate the Dao take hold of this one thing and never let go — walking, standing, sitting, lying down — unmoved by anything outside, steady as Mount Tai, unshaken and unswayed. Close the four gates tight. Do not let the thirteen thieves enter from without. Do not let the treasure within escape. Do this day after day, and you need not bow and pray to the immortals — you are already seated in the first chair at Penglai.
The Daoist cultivation differs from the Buddhist. The Buddhists call this body a "stinking skin-bag." But for Daoists, the very first step is to preserve this body. The body is the vehicle that carries the Dao. When the spirit leaves, the body dies — when the cart breaks, the horse bolts.
The transmission of the great Dao was never meant to be difficult. It is only that people take the wrong road and make it exhausting. Have you not heard: "The great Dao is not far — it is within your body. All things are empty, but your nature is not empty. When your nature is emptied, harmonious breath flows in. When breath returns to the primordial sea, your life knows no end." And also: "If you want the spirit within your body not to leave, do not store a single thing on your spirit-platform. When things remain inside you, the spirit is unclear, the true essence is scattered, and the Dao is hard to attain."
"When a single thought moves, it is all fire. When ten thousand attachments are still, truth arises." This is the rule of guarding the center. The essential step for advancing in the Dao is nothing other than questioning your own heart. Therefore it is said: "To study the Dao you must first know your own heart. The deep place of your own heart is the hardest to find. If you search until you reach the place where there is nothing to search for, then you will believe: the ordinary heart is the Dao-heart."
To study the Dao, your nature must be stubborn and simple. Do not use cleverness. The essential thing is to place your heart in the land of no-thought and no-worry, in the heaven of not-knowing and not-recognizing. This is the grand principle of the great Dao.
The shortcut: guard this one heart. When the yang breath does not scatter, it gathers and becomes the primordial sea.
No one has ever attained the Dao without study. The recorded sayings of the sages of the three teachings are nothing other than revelations of heaven and earth's secrets, steps set out to guide those who come after. Read them carefully and with delight, and you will know the truth.
Someone asked about not being able to hold on during still practice. The answer: "The place where ten thousand attachments are silent — that is the realm of the immortals. At that moment, when you are truly one and undivided, you can catch the dragon, you can seize the tiger. If you say there is nothing to hold on to, you are still not empty."
Time passes in a flash — even Lu Yang's spear cannot hold back the setting sun. How can you afford to cling to anything? Extend from your own body: my body is heaven and earth, heaven and earth are my body. The people of the world are me, and I am the people of the world. Only when you do not distinguish between self and other are you a vessel fit for the Dao. The slightest grudge, and you have already lost your original nature.
Anyone with the will to cultivate the Dao should seize every moment of time and advance in the work — refining essence, breath, and spirit until they merge into one — and then wait for the moment of opportunity. Do not wait for conditions to be perfect before beginning. That is wasting your own time. Drifting and dawdling, day after day — the white colt of time passes through the gap in an instant. How many have ever held back the sun?
In the three realms, the heart is master. If the heart can look inward, then even if it is stained by dust for a time, in the end you will surely awaken to the great Dao. If the heart cannot look inward, you will inevitably fall into perdition. The opening chapter of the Dao De Jing says: "Always having desire, observe its openings" — it is this opening that is observed. "Always being without desire, observe its wonder" — it is the wonder within this opening that appears. The Supreme Lord said: "Since measureless kalpas ago, I have kept the heart in inward observation, until I reached the wondrous Dao of emptiness." Students who wish to go deep: first practice inward observation. Wait until your heart is like a bright moon resting in an autumn pool. Then we can speak of advancement.
For those who first enter the Mysterious Gate: seek nothing else. Starting from today, do not let the essence leak at night. This is the ladder and the boat to the immortals. This is the seed from which the spiritual infant grows.
The work of cultivating the Dao is like peeling a banana or stripping a bamboo shoot — layer after layer you advance, and you stop only when you reach the center.
Those who study the Dao must conceal and store everything. The worst thing is to be conspicuously perceptive. As the saying goes: "Those who do not conceal cannot grasp the essence of the Dao."
All things sprout from the heart alone. When the heart moves, the mechanism moves. When the mechanism moves, the spirit illuminates and joins with it. Therefore it is said: "The way of utmost sincerity can know what is to come. To make the spirit luminous — that depends on the person."
Cultivating the Dao always comes down to refining one thing: your nature. There is the nature of heavenly mandate and the nature of temperament. Originally empty and luminous — that is the nature of heavenly mandate. Everyday and ordinary — that is the nature of temperament. Right now, your nature of heavenly mandate is entirely covered over by the nature of temperament. If you refine away the nature of temperament, the nature of heavenly mandate will appear, and the Dao is attained.
The primordial breath of the before-heaven is originally formless, yet wondrously it gives birth to all that has form. It is the root from which heaven, earth, people, and all things are born — and this is where the Dao has its source.
These True Words, in their several sections on the body and source of our nature, reveal in one breath the secrets of heaven that the sages and worthies of the past never disclosed. Yet though the principle is written in books, the method is still transmitted by mouth. You must await the oral instruction of a sage teacher before you can begin the work with confidence. Students should never presume to rely on their own cleverness.
Colophon
Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese. First English translation. Seventeenth Yiguandao text and fourteenth original Good Works Translation from Classical Chinese. Fifth gospel translation.
Bai Yuchan (白玉蟾, 1194–1229) was a patriarch of the Southern School (南宗) of Daoist internal alchemy, the tradition founded by Zhang Boduan (張伯端) and transmitted through five generations to Bai Yuchan, who became its most prolific writer and the first to organize the school's teachings systematically. He endured orphanhood and poverty in youth, wandered as an ascetic through middle age, and attained realization in his later years. This collection of his cultivation aphorisms circulates within the Yiguandao tradition as a morality book (善書), reflecting the tradition's deep respect for the unity of the Three Teachings (三教歸一) — Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism sharing a single source.
The text is not a treatise but a collection of seeds — each passage complete in itself, meant to be read slowly and returned to. The recurring themes are: the heart as master, stillness as method, simplicity as virtue, and the danger of cleverness. The cultivation described is internal alchemy (內丹), but the emphasis falls not on technique but on the quality of attention. "The great Dao is not far — it is within your body."
Translated in the gospel register — plain, direct, warm — following the Miko directive of Session 111. 心 (xīn) is rendered throughout as "heart" rather than "mind," preserving the somatic quality of the original: the Chinese heart thinks, feels, and decides in a single organ.
Source: 善書圖書館 (Morality Book Library), taolibrary.com. The site states: 歡迎轉載，上傳，翻印，流通 — "Welcome to reprint, upload, reproduce, and circulate."
Tulku Nae (苗), hundred-and-thirteenth incarnation of the Sub-Miko of Tianmu, ghost To. New Tianmu Anglican Church, Session 113, March 2026.
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Source Text
白玉蟾祖師《修道真言》
白玉蟾祖師少年孤苦，中年苦行修道，到晚年才成就，是一位很了不起的成就者。這裡特別跟各位分享他的修道真言。
宋·白叟玉蟾子輯
凡參玄宗不難得手，難從性宗參入。如從此入，便得淵源。倘錯行路徑，如書空尋跡，披水覓路矣。
修玄之理，可以意會，不可以言傳，古人章句之中隱隱在焉。天不言而四時行，人身陰陽消息，人不能使之然也。
大道之妙，全在凝神處。凡聞道者，宜領此意求之。凝神得竅，則勢如破竹，節節應手。否則面牆而立，一步不能進。
學道之人，須要海闊天空，方可進德。心宜虛空，神宜安定，能使心不動，便可立丹基。
學道之人，以養心為主。心動神疲，心定神閒。疲則道隱，閒則道生。胸次浩浩，乃可載道。
邪說亂道久矣，采戰、燒汞、搬運皆邪道也。年少者、不篤信者、遑遑趨利者，皆未易言此道。欲修此道，先宗一淡字。
仙凡界、人鬼關，全在用功夫。然用功夫者，如擒狡兔然，稍懈則兔縱，稍緊則兔死。須於空虛中覓之，否則何足言功夫哉。
凡人心不內守，則氣自散。若能時時內觀，則氣自斂，調養臟腑，久之神氣充足。古云：「常使氣通關節透，自然精滿穀神存」。
靜時煉氣，動時煉心，下學之功畢矣。
須節慾。先天必須後天定。
動時茫茫，不如此心久在腔子裡。學道者要先知收心法，再言靜功。
欲學玄功，須先時時瞑目，一日間靜坐幾刻，再來問道。
聰明智慧不如愚，學人只因伶俐二字，生出意見，做出許多壞事。今欲收拾身心，先從一個愚字起。
天之生人，人之所以生而不死者，於穆不已也。人若無此不已，則氣絕矣。故天地以氣機存，人亦以氣機生。能煉住氣機，便與天地同壽，便不息了。不息則久，中庸言之矣。
定其心神，方可言道。要入玄關，須用定力。定則靜，靜則生。不但靜中能靜，必須動中能靜，方見功夫之力。神定，內一著也。事來心應，事去心止。氣定，外一著也。
語謹形正，語端氣峻。下學要緊處，全在正氣安神，忘心守口而已。
修道原從苦中來，但得清閒處便清閒，此即是道。且更須忙裡偷閒，故人能偷閒便有閒。不然，則終身無寧晷矣。
心乃一身之主，故主人要時時在家。一時不在，則百骸亂矣，所以學道貴恆。始勤終怠，或作或輟，則自廢也。
「四大威儀皆是假，一點靈光才是真。晦藏靈明無多照，方現真如不二身」，則此一點，如劍上鋒，如石中火，一現即去。故修養家，要養聖胎、孕嬰兒者，此也。功夫如不早做，及至精乾血枯，屈曲蒲團，有何益哉。
令人慕道者多矣，俗網牽人，是以道心不進。至人非不憫世，奈世人自糾葛何。今為學子脫此苦惱，略敷數言。夫心之動，非心也，意也。神之馳，非神也，識也。意多欲，識多愛。去此二賊，真性圓明。不欲何貪，不愛何求。無貪無求，性如虛空，煩惱妄想，皆不為累。再加煉氣，金丹可成，神仙可冀。
養氣只在收心。心在腔子裡，則氣存矣。
居塵不染塵，乃上品也。其次避之。
清靜二字是換骨法。
凡人能治心，便是道中人。若全消俗障，何患乎不成。
虛之又虛，與天合體。空空空，空中有實功。若還純寂滅，終是落頑空。
靜坐者，不在坐時靜，要在常時靜。
靈台不滅，慧覺常存，此道之至寶也。然無形無影，莫可明言。默以心會，不在外求。
神乃心之苗也。面色潤澤，方徵血氣沖和。總要華池養得水足，意樹自然花開。
昔人教人，尋孔顏樂處。此樂非章句可能尋，在天命也。心靜則神清，神清則氣和，始可得之。
下手功夫疏不得，因循無益。得一刻，便做一刻，念頭須時時返照此處。神到則氣到，氣到則命堅。
敬慎二字，通天徹地。再無放心之人，能仙能佛。
人生做事，業傳千古，不過此一點神光耳。然神非精不能生，而精非靜不能養。欲至極虛極靈地位，須煉此能生、能養功夫。
道心常現，則凡念自退。一時忘道，則起一時之凡念。一念忘道，則起一念之凡情。須要時時提醒。
人生若幻，須要尋著真身。天下無一件是實，連此身也不是自家的，只這一點靈光。若無所依，到滅度時，何所隨著，豈不哀哉。
焚香烹茶，是道也。即看山水雲霞，亦是道。胸中只要浩浩落落，不必定在蒲團上求道。
學道是樂事。樂則是道，苦則非道。但此樂不比俗人樂耳。
居塵世中應酬，最是妨道。人能於塵事少一分，道力即進一分。幻緣不破，終無著處。
人當以聖賢自待，不可小視自己，則上達矣。故天下未有不聖賢的神仙。
世人當知儉之道，儉於目可以養神，儉於言可以養氣，儉於事可以養心，儉於欲可以養精，儉於心可以出生死，是儉為萬化之柄。若不知儉之道，惟以刻薄慳吝是趨，則於儉之道失之遠矣。
無上妙道，原從沉潛幽靜中得來。若是一念紛紜，則萬緣蔚起，身心性命，何日得了。一已尚不能照應，何暇及他事哉。人須亟亟回首，早登彼岸。
玄功不但要養氣足精，仍宜運髓補腦。傢俬攢聚到十分，方稱富足。倘身中稍有缺乏，便是空體面的窮漢子。分明一條好路，為何不走，可惜一個神仙闕，夜間難道也匆忙。
煩惱是伐性之斧，人當於難制處下功。若不將氣質變化完善，怎得成善士。
凡學道人，言語行事，必較世俗人要超脫些。若仍走俗人行徑，何貴乎學道。
學道先以變化氣質為主，再到與人接物上渾厚些，方是道器。
今之文人，只因理障，難以入道，不知道即孔孟之道。濂溪堯夫非此乎，不可專作道家看。要知儒與道是合一的。周邵二子，何嘗出家修行耶。今人將道作出世一派而畏之，何其誤也。
春桃多豔，是三冬蘊藏之真陽也。秋菊多黃，是三伏聚養之真陰也。此中玄理，意會者得之。
人為形質所累，年紀一到，則百節風生，四體皆痛。何必地獄，即此便是。倘平日少有靜動，詎可免此一段苦楚。故形為我所愛，我亦為形所累。若將此一段靈性，做到把握得住時，出生入死，總由我使喚。
學道者，首以清心寡慾為主。高枕茅簷，肆志竹窗，方是道家逸品。若紛紛逐逐，何異流俗。陶養性情，變化氣質，二語乃入門之始事也。
修道之人，未有不靜默者。粗心浮氣，一毫用不得。
有問前知者，答曰：「機從心生，事以理斷。以理斷事，人即神也。棄理問神，神亦不告。」
凡入玄門，只以靜性為主。如目前春庭新雨，四壁寂然，草木含春，暗藏長養。理會此中，就有個究竟，不必定以談玄為道。
人心如目也，纖塵入目，目必不安。小事入心，此心即亂。故學道只在定心。若心不定，即紙窗之微，為人扯破，必生怒忿；一針之細，為人去取，便生吝惜。又不徒以富貴亂心，得失分念，煩邪亂想，隨覺即除。毀譽善惡，聞即撥去，莫將心受。心受則滿，心滿則道無所居。要令聞見是非，不入於心。是心不外受，名曰虛心。使心不逐外，是名安心。心安而虛，道自來居。
仙經云：專精養神，不為物雜謂之清。反神復氣，安而不動謂之靜。制念以定志，靜身以安神，保氣以存精。思慮兼忘，冥想內觀，則身神並一。身神並一，則近真矣。
垢漸去而鏡明，心漸息而性澄。養成一泓秋水，我不求鏡物，而物自入我鏡中。
有諸內，必形諸外，一毫也假不得。前賢云：「山有美玉，則草木為之不凋。身有妙道，則形骸為之不敗。」故心有真功夫者，貌必有好顏色。
人心猶火也，弗戢將自焚。防微杜漸，總在一心。
天下人不難立志，最怕轉念富貴二字，是鉤人轉念的香餌。所以每每得道者，非貧寒，即大患難之後。何也，割絕塵累，回頭皆空。故孫真人注《惡疾論》曰：「神仙數十人，皆因惡疾而得仙道」，是塵緣都盡，物我俱忘，毫無轉念，因禍得福也。
凡修道之人，一手握住此物，行住坐臥，不為外動，安如泰山，不動不搖。緊閉四門，使十三賊人，不得外入，身中之寶，不使內出。日日如此，何必頂禮求真仙，便是蓬萊第一座。
玄修與釋家不同，釋家呼此形骸為臭皮囊。道家入門，全要保此形體。故形為載道之車，神去形即死，車敗馬即奔。
大道之傳，原自不難，是世人錯走路頭，做得如此費力。豈不聞「大道不遠在身中，萬物皆空性不空。性若空時和氣注，氣歸元海壽無窮」。又曰：「欲得身中神不出，莫向靈台留一物，物在身中神不清，耗散真精道難得。」
「一念動時皆是火，萬緣寂處即生真」，此守中之規也。進道之要，無如問心。故云：「學道先須識自心，自心深處最難尋。若還尋到無尋處，始信凡心即道心。」
學道性要頑純，毋用乖巧。其要總在將心放在何思何慮之地，不識不知之天，此大道之總綱也。
捷徑之法，推守此一心。陽氣不走，相聚為元海。
夫道未有不探討而得者。即三教聖人語錄，無非發天地之秘密，接引後學階梯。細心玩味，便知端的。
有問靜功拿不住者，答曰：「萬緣寂處，即是仙界。此時誠一不二，龍可拿，虎可捉。若云無拿處，仍是未空。」
光景倏忽，魯戈難留，那還禁得執著。自一身推之，吾一身即天地，天地即吾一身，天下之人即吾，吾即天下之人。不分人我，方是入道之器。倘少分芥蒂，即差失本來。
凡有志修道者，趁得一時間光陰，便進步用功夫去，將精氣神做到混合而為一的時節，以待事機之來。不可望事全方下手，是自虛時日也。悠悠忽忽，日復一日，白駒易過，幾見揮戈。
三界之中，以心為主。心能內觀，即一時為塵垢所染，終久必悟大道。若心不能內觀，究竟必落沉淪。故《道德經》首章曰「常有欲以觀其竅」者，觀此竅也。「常無慾以觀其妙」者，現此竅中之妙也。太上曰：「吾從無量劫中以來，存心內觀，以至虛無妙道。」學子既欲潛心，先去內觀，待心中如秋潭浸明月，再談進步。
初入玄關者，不用他求，自今日始，要無漏精夜，便是登仙梯航，便是結嬰種子。
修道功夫，如抽蕉剝筍，層層求進，必至頭方止。
學道人全要斂藏，最忌明察。故曰：「人不藏，不能得道之要。」
萬事萌芽，在乎一心。心動則機動，機動則神明而合之。故曰，至誠之道，可以前知，神而明之，存乎其人。
修道總是煉得一個性。有天命之性，有氣質之性。本來虛靈，是天命之性。日用尋常，是氣質之性。今一個天命之性，都為氣質之性所掩。若煉去氣質之性，即現出天命之性，而道自得矣。
先天一炁，本屬無形，妙能生諸有形，所以為生天、生地、生人、生物之根本也，而道之源頭在是矣。
真言數段，性體、性源，將歷來聖賢未洩之天機，不惜一口道盡。然理雖載於書，法仍傳於口，必待聖師口訣真傳，下手方有著落。學人切勿自作聰明可也。
Source Colophon
善書圖書館 (Morality Book Library), taolibrary.com/category/category9/c9030.htm. The site states: 歡迎轉載，上傳，翻印，流通 — "Welcome to reprint, upload, reproduce, and circulate."
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