Song of Dispelling Delusions and Attaining the True Path
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If not for the destined affinity with the celestial decree, why would I reveal the heavenly secrets to you? Though the words are few, half a phrase, they encompass the meaning of ten thousand volumes of immortal scriptures.
With this single formula, one knows matters beyond the heavens, sweeping away all heretical paths until none remain. If one speaks of this principle as the way of immortals, heaven and earth are empty and void, above and below.
Revealing that wood and metal have no separation, true lead and true mercury have no form. Who knows this mechanism of heaven? Then sun and moon can be made to ascend.
There is no Kan or Li, no dragon or tiger, no crow or hare going east or west. It is not the liver, lungs, heart, or kidneys, nor is it related to the spleen, stomach, gallbladder, or essence.
It is not thought, not imagination, not deliberate action. It does not reside in the three fields—upper, middle, or lower. It is not along the spine up to Kunlun, nor is it essence, fluids, qi, blood, or lymph.
It is not the spirits of the bladder or the five viscera. This thing emerges from within the human body, present throughout the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Who recognizes it as prior to heaven and earth?
When the two substances harmonize, they weigh one jin. The phases of the moon—first quarter, full, last quarter, new—each have their root numbers, cycling day and night without cease. Knowing when to gather, one discerns the old and tender.
Within a brief moment, Jia and Geng combine. It is produced only in the southwest, the Kun position, slowly blended into the Gen palace. Try gently moving the heavenly mechanism,
and the true qi constantly gathers in the great void. Grasping Qian and Kun to use as the cauldron, inverting the cosmos, one acts freely. The Southern Dipper shifts to the Northern Dipper's place,
the Golden Crow flies into the upper toad palace. The sun conceals the Jade Rabbit within; the sun's additions and subtractions harmonize naturally. After the first quarter, seek the medicinal substance;
before the last quarter, the qi is evenly balanced. Between the two quarters is the time for gathering; the sequence of existence and non-existence determines the ancestor. It is the host, I am the guest.
When I float, you sink. Adjusting floating and sinking to return to one place, bathing and hiding are always empty. Li and Kan originally have no north or south;
Zhen and Dui, how could they be fixed east or west? If you encounter an immortal who personally instructs the formula, seize the Northern Dipper to cycle the heavens,
gather yin and yang into the palm, and in an instant, the myriad things are born. These secrets of the golden fluid and returned elixir—without meeting an immortal master, do not force their practice.
If you truly gather the primordial qi, sun and moon are captured in both hands. Day and night they intertwine into one mass, naturally there are sounds of dragon chants and tiger roars.
At first, winds roar above and below, gradually coalescing into purple clouds. Clouds fill the mountains, obscuring sun and moon; at this moment, a haze descends.
Silently, naturally, clouds and mist stir; within stillness, at times, thunderclaps are heard. Purple phoenix and black turtle join together; golden horse and jade rabbit contend with each other.
Tiger encircles, dragon coils, seeking the supreme treasure; golden lord and crimson maiden marry. This time, mother and child meet within; spirit and qi return to the root, uniting with the original truth.
That single point, the initial true seed, entering the dantian brings eternal spring. Prior to heaven and prior to earth return to one place; in undifferentiated chaos, how could there be traces?
Growth occurs naturally, conforming to the sage principle; green leaves and red flowers are of one fresh color. Above and below, water and fire self-irrigate; the single qi intertwines to produce the fetal infant.
Naturally, in one hundred days, the spirit image is born; naturally, one transcends the ordinary and escapes life and death. Truly, guard against danger for one hundred days; blood transforms into ointment, the body like silver.
Truly, after one hundred days without loss, jade ointment flows, moistening, the host bright and luminous. The qi steams and fumigates, without cold or heat; one may become a lofty person of the supreme way.
Blazing refinement for three hundred days, violent rain and wild winds fill the great void. Lightning flashes and dazzles without end; thunder shakes the heavenly pass, startling ghosts and spirits.
Overturning the cosmos, flying white snow; inverting heaven and earth, an endless spring. Bones exchanged, yang returned, the body becomes indestructible; nine returns and seven reversions transform the true form.
Toiling for ten long months, inside and out empty and bright, exterior and interior true. Gathering, it takes form; dispersing, it becomes qi; returning to the origin, it is one with the great void. Changing and moving, others cannot fathom;
transmitted from ancestor to ancestor, ancient to present. One principle changes, matching the great principle of earth; the immortal's oral formula is not empty. If further preserved for one or two years,
hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of years of endless lifespan. Understanding the method of refining form with golden fluid, riding dragons and straddling cranes, one soars freely.
Emerging into being, entering non-being, without hindrance; freely roaming the three isles of Penglai. Even after ten thousand years, a hundred thousand kalpas, when seas turn to mulberry fields, the appearance remains the same.
Alas, the countless students of immortality, all differ from the way of celestial immortals. All are bound by wild fox spirits and bewitching demons; how can one listen to ghostly words and demonic speech?
Roaming the four seas to study the profound mystery, it's all minor arts of heretical paths. The foolish and deluded stubbornly cling, hard to teach; still, the blind lead the blind.
Some ingest pine and drink water—how to escape the root of death? Some forget form and practice fixed breathing—how can all channels return to the root? Some visualize the dantian with breathing—in the end, the fetal immortal cannot be achieved.
Some consider breath-holding as the primordial—even to old age, accomplishment is empty. Some take mouth and nose as the mysterious female—like using a leaky net to catch wind.
Some take the thinking mind as the square inch—how to return to the origin and see the ancestor? Others accumulate essence as lead and mercury—this turns out different from the golden elixir matter.
Some cling to spirit and qi as mother and child—separated from celestial immortals by ten thousand miles. Some take opening the crown as refinement and nourishment—vain effort, laboring the spirit in vain.
Others practice turtle contraction as refining bait—truly minor arts of heretical paths. Some consider moving qi as the fire phases—misleading people for nine years or three.
Holding breath at the nose, ingesting primordial qi—invites evil winds to rumble in the belly. Even if one recognizes mind and sees nature, in the end, one becomes a shade spirit.
Who knows how many close their doors, toiling in vain, their forms like skeletons. Stopping thoughts and subduing the mind for purity—the end result is ultimately sudden emptiness.
Day and night specializing in the Zi-Wu method—do heaven and earth have inauspicious hours? Solitary cultivation, breath-holding, practicing visualization—fixating on the tongue root as the red dragon.
Others cycle the heavens using hexagram images; others recognize the spleen as the yellow court; others point to the spleen as creation; fixating on the coccyx as the root of life.
Others return to the origin, ingesting water and fire; others gather and supplement, absorbing licentious essence; others look up to heaven, inhaling sun and moon, then speak of earthly soul and heavenly soul.
Others swallow essence as creation, cutting off the five flavors as cultivating truth; one meal a day for daily use—the body emaciated like a ghost shape.
Bending the body, leaning back, knocking on the jade door; embracing the origin, guarding the one, moving both eyes; shrugging shoulders, retracting neck, thinking of the spine bone.
Transporting flowing pearls, visualizing the great brightness; others draw talismans and chant spells, studying invisibility after breaking the scrolls; massage, exhaling the six-word formula.
Gazing at stars, worshipping the Dipper, enduring hardship; inhaling clear, exhaling turbid as the elixir basis; tightly restraining the yang pass, fire soars.
Blazing heat permeating the entire body, calling it the root of the true great way; reading scriptures, chanting praises, upholding rituals, setting up altars, performing ceremonies hoping to soar.
Three thousand six hundred heretical methods, not recognizing madness and perversity, all frighten people. Those with affinity encounter a clear master's instruction—in an instant, creation and transformation arise.
The single qi cycles without obstruction, dispersing into the myriad things and human life. The wise gather the primordial qi—throughout the night, thunderclaps do not cease.
Lightning flashes and dazzles without end; when the two qi interact, how could there be form? Collapsing the heavenly pass, beyond compare; thunder, lightning, wind, rain all arise together.
Inverting the inverted, exchanging positions; boundless fire and qi chaotically tower. Tiger encircles the medicine stove contending for creation; dragon coils the golden tripod wanting to soar.
The four images and five phases return to Wu and Ji; refining fluids and humors into the primordial crystal. Ten thousand purple clouds envelop the northern sea; a thousand channels, a hundred vessels strike Kunlun.
True qi radiant, dimming stars and dippers; red light blazing, the sun grows dim. Additions and subtractions naturally distinguish advance and retreat; the first and last quarters determine its truth.
The elixir's maturity and tenderness must be discerned; adding and withdrawing applied in a moment. The fire phase for forming the fetus has its specific times; the true fire blazing burns the cosmos.
Heaven and earth, above and below, completely red. One fire, one water divide into lines; one ascent, one descent naturally float and sink. One coming, one going distinguish guest and host.
One preceding, one following have ruler and minister. One yin, one yang constitute heaven and earth; one hard, one soft naturally balanced. Winter and summer solstices mark the nodes.
Spring and autumn equinoxes determine cold and warmth. Coming and going, above and below, without image or form; cycling day and night, there are times. If not for the formula transmitted from the highest ancestors,
who would know the great way is attained in a moment? Driving back the dipper handle, the principle of the primordial pass; rotating the heavenly pass, the myriad phenomena connect.
In a moment, dragon and tiger frequently battle; the two substances join in an instant. Capturing the猩猩 (orangutan), all is bewildered; chaotic and undifferentiated, not yet clear.
This is the method of water and metal merging; true lead and true mercury, heaven and earth's crystal. Only this fire phase, the golden elixir formula, entirely relies on union in the yellow court.
The primordial unified qi, the medicine of a thousand years; through ten thousand kalpas constantly preserved, an endless spring. Within three thousand marks, the infant image; one hundred days of effort, creation's intelligence.
Ten months refining into a pure yang body; naturally, cold and heat do not invade. Auspicious qi and colored clouds cover the jade body; phoenixes and cranes dance in pairs before you, welcoming.
Jade maidens in pairs hold purple summons; name registered in the jade records, called a true person. Golden light envelops the body, others hard to see; restrained in dignity, moving left and right.
Immortal cranes receive and guide to the origin of heaven; in broad daylight, ascending to audience at the upper capital.