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The Ultimate Meaning of the Chinese Way of Immortality

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Original publication

Original title: 中國仙道之究竟（內金丹法）
Author: Wang Dehuai (王德懷)
Publication year: 2011
Original language: Chinese (Traditional)

Source edition: The supplied title page credits the first edition to October 1988 and the eighth edition to February 2011. The EPUB’s own metadata identifies a June 2026 reconstruction. The two supplied copies are byte-identical. No volume number is printed in the supplied title text.

About this translation: This complete English translation follows all 48 units of the supplied EPUB in their original reading order, including the contents, both prefaces, all eight parts, appendices, practice diary, commentary on the Scripture on Slaying the Dragon, afterword, and all 15 images. It was translated with language models directly from the supplied Chinese, without an external machine-translation service. Source-unit comments preserve the mapping to the EPUB. Diagram labels are supplied as English keys below the retained original figures. Obvious layout damage has been repaired; uncertain or corrupt wording is identified in translator’s notes rather than silently replaced with material from another edition. Dates added in square brackets are explanatory. A glossary prepared for this translation follows the original text.

Reader’s note: The author’s medical, scientific, historical, longevity, and paranormal claims are reproduced in his own voice and with his original degree of certainty. They are not endorsed or independently verified by this translation. Instructions involving breath retention, attempted cessation of breathing, looking directly at the sun, forceful bodily manipulation, or striking the head are preserved for fidelity to the source; their inclusion is not a recommendation to attempt them or an assurance of safety. This book is not medical guidance and should not replace appropriate medical care.

Cover of The Ultimate Meaning of the Chinese Way of Immortality

Cover text: The Ultimate Meaning of the Chinese Way of Immortality (The Method of the Inner Golden Elixir), by Wang Dehuai.

Stages of cultivation · Essential instructions of the inner method · Channels, vessels, and the qi mechanism · Essential meanings of elixir methods · Formation of the Inner Elixir.

“A classic of Chinese immortal cultivation.”

Labels around the cover diagram: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. The trigrams and the small decorative seal are retained in the original image.

Contents

The supplied EPUB abbreviates several entries to chapter numbers alone and merges words of body text into one part heading. For navigation, the complete translated headings from the body are used here.

The Ultimate Meaning of the Chinese Way of Immortality

The Method of the Inner Golden Elixir

By Wang Dehuai

First edition: October 1988

Eighth edition: February 2011

Photograph reproduced on the original title page

Preface

This is a book about the Way of Immortality, written by a modern person who has actually undertaken the practice, with an objective attitude and in modern language. Writing such a book is, in the first place, a difficult and thankless undertaking. To begin with, the writer must have enough courage to face the suspicion and sense of mystery that society may attach to him. Although Chinese people have spoken of “immortals” for thousands of years, in most people’s minds the “Way of Immortality” is still a term inseparable from “superstition.” If you write a book on the subject, people may very well associate you with “superstition” too. Those who do not know you may even think you are mentally unwell.

Second, books of this kind are extremely difficult to write. Without some genuine personal understanding, one would not even know how to begin. I am a civil servant, not a religious teacher; indeed, I cannot yet even be counted as a follower of any particular religion. To this day I have neither been baptized nor taken refuge. Although there are ancestral tablets in my home, that can only be described as honoring the dead and remembering one’s forebears, to show that they have not been forgotten. I had only a little contact with the Way of Immortality three or four years ago. It was after becoming interested that I began to study it as an amateur.

Fortunately, Heaven does not disappoint a person who makes a sincere effort. In only about two short years, I went from being an outsider to the River Chariot revolving of itself, opening the eight vessels, gathering the medicine and forming the elixir, undergoing ten months of gestation, and reaching the stage at which the spirit emerges and returns to emptiness. I experienced sensations and states that many people have never undergone, and came to understand the true substance of the Chinese practices of immortality. It is precisely because of these experiences and insights of my own that I have the courage to come forward. I want to use the simplest possible language and manner of explanation to set out what I have understood, disclose the true face of the Way of Immortality, and let the world understand what it really is. Some of what is involved is admittedly exceedingly profound and mysterious. Modern scientific knowledge, after all, still has its limits. Some matters touch on philosophy, advanced physics, religion, and so forth, and I cannot claim full knowledge of them all. There are therefore still many places where the argument is not entirely satisfactory; I ask my readers’ understanding.

Moreover, the practices I have studied belong to the Wenshi school, and in the course of them I also adopted the method of riding the light. They consequently differ from the usual methods. Naturally, what I say represents only one school’s view and cannot be treated as universally applicable. My hope is simply that, by throwing out a brick to attract jade, I may help the learning of China’s Way of Immortality one day receive the world’s attention and recognition.

Wuyun

Wang Dehuai, preface written at Jingmei, Taipei

June, Republic of China year 77 [1988]

Preface to the New Edition

The Ultimate Meaning of the Chinese Way of Immortality is being reissued. When the first edition appeared, I had to summon all my courage and overcome repeated hesitation before committing it to print. Here we were, approaching the twenty-first century, and I did not know what would happen if I published a book devoted entirely to the Way of Immortality. Whether anyone would read it was a minor matter; it would be a genuine miracle if it were not dismissed as absurd fantasy, as talk of extraordinary powers and unruly spirits. Fortunately, things went fairly well. The book not only met with a favorable response among those interested in immortality, but also crossed the oceans and spread to every continent within a relatively short time. Many readers wrote or telephoned; people even came frequently to see me in my office. Clearly, this field of learning still attracts the interest and regard of many people. Yet amid my excitement there were two things I regretted.

First, the book still contained many misprints and wrong characters that had not been caught beforehand. Because it had been put together hurriedly, just as I was about to travel far from home, there were also two errors caused by insufficient checking. Although they did not affect the main argument, they remained blemishes in an otherwise satisfying result. Second, I had not discussed methods of cultivation for women. This is no longer the feudal age: women and men now occupy entirely equal positions in society and scholarship, and increasing numbers of women are undertaking cultivation. Material of this kind is still not often found in published books; by passing over it without discussion, my book was unfair to women fellow practitioners. For these two reasons, soon after the original work appeared I began planning a new edition, hoping to remedy those shortcomings.

Next, in the United Daily News of January 25 this year, I saw a report about Mr. Wang Yung-ching’s visit to Beijing to see the mainland practitioner of extraordinary abilities, Zhang Baosheng. It said that Zhang demonstrated a number of feats, such as “making a paper ball appear inside a sealed box that had originally contained nothing.” The United Daily News also published the following survey of Mr. Zhang Baosheng’s extraordinary abilities. I reproduce the clipping below:

Extraordinary Abilities Leave Scientists Speechless

Zhang Baosheng Can Walk in the Rain Without Getting Wet; Mainland Uses Him in Space-Technology Research

Special report, this newspaper’s mainland news desk

“It is said that Wang Yung-ching met Zhang Baosheng when he visited the mainland.

Research into extraordinary human abilities began quite early on the mainland. Among its subjects, the person most enthusiastically discussed by the relevant mainland journals and researchers is Zhang Baosheng.

In 1987, at an event held in Beijing by the China Association for Science and Technology, Zhang Baosheng gave a live demonstration of his extraordinary abilities before prominent mainland scientists. He subsequently became famous and was made the subject of research and demonstrations.

Before more than thirty scientists, Zhang Baosheng performed five experiments in succession:

  • Passing through a spatial barrier to remove an object from a bottle
  • Restoring a business card that had been crumpled and damaged
  • Producing and extinguishing fire with qi
  • Recognizing written characters without using sight
  • Moving objects through concentrated intention

Zhang’s performance left the mainland scientists present, including Yan Jici, Zhou Peiyuan, Qian Sanqiang, Wang Daheng, and Wu Jieping, dumbfounded. They found it inconceivable and expressed the view that extraordinary human abilities certainly deserved serious study.

To study Zhang’s extraordinary abilities, Associate Professor Wang Pinshan of Liaoning College of Traditional Chinese Medicine lived with him for more than a year beginning in 1982. During that time Zhang ‘inadvertently’ performed many ‘experiments’: for instance, walking a long distance in the rain without getting wet, making the pointer of a weighing scale move as he wished while standing on its platform, seeing with the naked eye how a patient’s internal organs had been sutured after surgery, and making himself invisible. Wang Pinshan published a research report on these observations and experiments, which caused a sensation at the time.

It is understood that mainland specialists in space medicine are employing Zhang Baosheng in high-technology space research, hoping for breakthroughs in problems that science and technology have had difficulty answering.”

Given this material, can we say that Mr. Zhang Baosheng is not a living immortal, a superhuman, in the world today? And does this not also demonstrate the reality of China’s Way of Immortality?

Finally, I want to explain something to certain readers. Some have cultivated for many years without experiencing the various responses described in this book. I suppose this is probably because people differ in age, constitution, disposition, and diligence. This is true of work; it is true of study; naturally it is true of studying and cultivating the Way of Immortality as well. In practicing these arts there is actually another, even more important factor: moral conduct. The perfected Zhang Ziyang once said, “This Way is supremely spiritual and supremely holy; I fear that your allotted portion is too slight to bear it.” Weng Baoguang comments, “‘An allotted portion too slight to bear it’ warns against lacking merit and virtue, forgetting one’s teacher, and betraying the Way.” The Doctrine of the Mean also says, “Without the utmost virtue, the utmost Way does not take form.” I wish once again to emphasize the importance of “inner disposition” and “moral conduct” in cultivating the Way of Immortality, so that we may encourage one another.

Wang Dehuai

Second preface, written at Wenshan, Taipei

June, Republic of China year 79 [1990]

Part One: On Immortals

Chapter One: The Meaning of Immortals

When the word “immortal” is mentioned, most people’s immediate response is to find it marvelous and intriguing, while also remaining skeptical. Some fashionable people who regard themselves as progressive, however, will thoughtlessly bring out the word “superstition” and lightly place it over the immortal’s head. Whether immortals actually exist in this world has been debated in China for thousands of years. The Baopuzi offers exceptionally fine analysis and argument on the question. But for all this talk, the issue has still not truly been resolved. Meanwhile, accounts of immortals remain popular among the Chinese people and recur continually even in the official histories.

For example, we are told that the Yellow Emperor asked Guangchengzi about the Dao; that he fought his wars while also studying immortality; and that when his elixir was completed at Dinghu, a dragon descended into his courtyard, and several hundred of his ministers ascended along with him. It is perfectly possible to read these events and records as stories or fiction, but they cannot be taken as certain fact. Several incidents from the Tang dynasty, however, are worth mentioning and seem to give one something to think about. During Emperor Dezong’s reign in the middle Tang, a very famous man appeared in history: his surname was Han, his personal name Yu, and his courtesy name Tuizhi. This was Lord Han, foremost among the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song, celebrated for reviving literary writing after eight dynasties of decline. There is certainly no disputing the strength of the old gentleman’s writing.

He was, however, an eccentric and stubborn man. Throughout his life he revered only Confucian learning and did not believe in Buddhism or Daoism. In his eyes, Confucian thought was everything; Buddhism and Daoism were heterodox, to say nothing of immortals. Strangely enough, despite his disbelief and strenuous opposition, certain events happened to involve him personally. The first concerned the woman immortal Xie Ziran’s ascent to heaven in broad daylight. Xie Ziran came from Guozhou in Sichuan. It is said that she loved the Dao from childhood. Finding the Great Dao hard to encounter, she wanted to seek a true teacher on Penglai. When she reached the coast, someone told her that at Mount Tiantai there was a certain Sima Zihui, whose name was already registered on the Elixir Terrace and who was then living at Chicheng [that is, Mount Chicheng in the Tiantai range]. It would be more convenient to study with him there.

Xie Ziran therefore returned to Tiantai and found Sima Zihui, that is, Sima Chengzhen. She studied with him, received his instructions, and went home to cultivate. Because she entered the Dao as a virgin and was steadfast in her resolve, she soon reached the stage at which qi was so abundant that she no longer thought of food. Reports of various marvels spread through the district. Prefect Han Yi suspected she was a fraud, confined her, and cut off her food and drink. When the confinement was opened after more than a month, Xie Ziran was found unchanged. Only then was Han Yi convinced, and he asked his daughter to become her disciple. Before long, Xie Ziran’s father returned home. He too strongly disapproved when he saw that his daughter was cultivating the Dao, and locked her up for more than forty days. Yet Ziran was even livelier and healthier afterward. Xie Wen could only marvel.

Three years later, Prefect Li Jian came to govern Guozhou and built a house on Mount Jinquan for Miss Xie’s secluded cultivation. On the ninth day of the eleventh month that year, the tenth year of Zhenyuan, Ziran went to Guozhou to take leave of Li Jian, saying that she would leave the world in the middle of the first month of the following year. On the twelfth day of the first month of Zhenyuan 11, she did indeed ascend from Mount Jinquan in broad daylight, before the eyes of the people of the prefecture. It is said that when she left, colored clouds filled the sky, and celestial music and a wondrous fragrance lingered all day. Ziran rose lightly like a wisp of smoke, gradually disappearing into the sky. The local authorities regarded this as an auspicious omen and submitted a memorial to the throne. The emperor was delighted. Besides issuing an edict of commendation, he ordered courtiers skilled in writing to compose poems recording the event. As the leading literary figure of the day, Han Yu naturally could not decline. He therefore wrote an old-style poem to record what had occurred. The poem follows:

In Nanchong county of Guozhou,
A poor woman named Xie Ziran,
Naïve from childhood, knowing nothing,
Heard only that immortals existed.
Making light of life, she studied their arts,
And dwelt upon Mount Jinquan.
She cut off longing for splendor and glory,
Forsook her parents’ tender love.
One morning, seated in an empty room,
Clouds and mist arose about her,
As though the harmonies of pipes and reeds
Came down from the dim heavens.

Eaves and pillars flashed and darkened,
Five-colored lights joined one another.
Those who watched were overwhelmed with terror;
Who, hesitating, dared approach?
Suddenly she rose by herself,
Floating like smoke upon the wind.
Vast are the eight reaches of the world;
No trace or echo could be followed.
The village officer reported the affair;
The prefect was astonished and sighed.
He drove out with his officials,
While the common folk raced ahead.
Entering the gate, they found nothing,
Only cap and shoes, like a cicada’s cast shell.
All said it was the work of immortals,
A shining truth worthy of transmission.
I have heard that the ancient ruler of Xia
Depicted things to know malign spirits.
People could enter mountains and forests
Without meeting demons there.
As time wound on, that order did not revive;
Later ages freely practiced deception.
The dark and visible worlds became confused;
People and ghosts harmed one another.
The Qin emperor loved these arts devotedly;
Emperor Wu of Han enlarged their source.
From those two rulers onward,
Such misfortunes followed without end.
Wood and stone gave rise to strange transformations;
Foxes spread their uncanny afflictions.
If none can even complete the life allotted them,
How can they prolong it further?
Among the ten thousand kinds of living thing,
Human knowledge is the highest.
Why will people not trust themselves,
But wish to change and follow other beings?
Those already gone cannot repent;
Their lonely souls bear a deep grievance.
Those yet to come may still be warned:
Are these words of mine mere empty writing?
Human life has constant principles;
Men and women each have their proper relations.
Clothes for the cold and food for the hungry
Come from weaving, tilling, and tending crops.
Whoever departs from this way
Throws away the self.
Alas for that poor woman,
Forever consigned to the company of strange beings!
Moved to sorrow, I have made this poem;
Let those who transmit it write it on their sashes.

Translator’s note: Several characters in the EPUB’s transcription of the poem are visibly corrupt. The affected lines are rendered according to their immediate sense; the supplied transcription, rather than a silently substituted edition, remains the source.

If we read this poem carefully, its language is cutting: seemingly praise, it is actually disparagement. Han Yu even brings in such words as “demons” and “foxes,” showing his rejection of the affair. Precisely for that reason, it also demonstrates the reliability of the event and leaves a powerful historical testimony. Nor is this all. Although Han Yu himself disbelieved Buddhism and Laozi’s teaching and disliked immortals, he unfortunately had a nephew, Han Xiangzi, one of the traditionally known Eight Immortals, who happened to belong to the Way of Immortality. Han Yu naturally did not approve of his nephew’s failure to pursue a “proper occupation.”

Contact between uncle and nephew consequently became less frequent. Later, at Han Yu’s birthday celebration, when distinguished guests had gathered and well-wishers filled the courtyard, Xiangzi suddenly arrived gracefully to offer his uncle birthday greetings. Han Yu urged him to study diligently. Xiangzi said, “What I study is different from what you study, sir,” and composed a poem expressing his aspirations:

In green mountains, a refuge of clouds and streams:
This place is my home.
At midnight I drink the liquid of jade;
At the dawn hour of Yin I chew the crimson clouds.
On my zither I play the tune of blue-green jade;
In my furnace I refine white pearl cinnabar.
My precious cauldron preserves the golden tiger;
My mushroom field nourishes the white crow.
One gourd holds the workings of creation;
A three-foot sword cuts down demons and evil.
I know how to make wine in an instant,
And make flowers bloom in a moment.
If someone can learn from me,
Together we shall gaze upon immortal flowers.

After reading it, Han Yu said, “Can you really take over the powers of creation?” Xiangzi then took a wine vessel, filled it with water, and gathered some earth in which to plant flowers.

When the vessel was opened, the water had become wine. The flowers he planted immediately sprouted and put out leaves; before long, a whole tree of fresh blossoms had opened. Hanging from the flowers was a couplet in fourteen large characters:

Clouds lie across the Qinling: where is home?
Snow banks up at Blue Pass; my horse cannot go on.

No one understood what it meant. Xiangzi merely said that they would know another day and offered no explanation. Though Han Yu wrote well, he had very little sense of what the times required. It would have been one thing simply not to believe in Buddhism or Daoism himself, but he insisted on meddling in other people’s affairs and interfering even with their beliefs. Emperor Xianzong, however, favored Buddhism. Before long he brought back a relic of the Buddha from the Western Regions and planned extensive building works to erect a temple for it. Han Yu’s obstinacy surfaced again. He even interfered in the emperor’s personal affairs, tactlessly submitting a “Memorial Against Receiving the Buddha’s Bone,” whose words were exceedingly unpalatable.

This enraged the emperor. An edict demoted Han Yu and sent him to Chaozhou, ordering him to leave the capital immediately and reach his post by a fixed date. The old gentleman, so reluctant to leave Chang’an, had no choice but to set out hurriedly in misery and apprehension. One day he reached the foot of a great mountain, and heavy snow suddenly began to fall. Men and horses were trapped, unable to move. Just as there seemed no way out, Han Xiangzi appeared in the snow at the right moment. Astonished and delighted, Han Yu asked, “How did you know I was in difficulty?” Xiangzi replied, “Sir, do you still remember that couplet?” On making inquiries, Han Yu learned that this was indeed Blue Pass, a strategic pass in the Qinling range.

Only then did he understand that the event had been ordained beforehand and foreseen by the immortal. He could not help sighing, and composed a poem around the original couplet:

At dawn I sent one memorial to the ninefold heavens;
By dusk I was banished eight thousand li to Chaoyang.
I meant to remove an ill policy for my enlightened sovereign;
How could I begrudge my worn-out body’s remaining years?
Clouds lie across the Qinling: where is home?
Snow banks up at Blue Pass; my horse cannot go on.
I know you have come far with a profound intention:
Gather my bones, then, beside the miasmic river.

This regulated poem in seven-character lines is included in selections of Lord Han’s writings. It is something we all read as children and know well. Besides it, there are many other records of immortals. Among the figures most familiar to everyone, Chen Tuan of the Song and Zhang Sanfeng of the Ming are both recorded in the official histories.

In more recent times, in the tenth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing [1884], Huang Yuanji taught at the Leyu Hall in Ziliujing, Sichuan. When the school session ended, the students accompanied him to the entrance, and before everyone’s eyes he ascended in broad daylight. In the sixth year of the Republic [1917], Master Feng Jiliang completed the Dao and departed as an immortal. There are numerous records to consult concerning both. Readers may nevertheless remain unconvinced. That is understandable, since after all they have not seen these things with their own eyes. To resolve this problem, I think it will not be enough simply to recount events of the past. We must also study and analyze other evidence that is available to us now.

First, what does “immortal” mean in the Chinese tradition, or what does it represent? In the past Li Taibai could compose a hundred poems after a dou of wine, and people called him the “poetry immortal.” Today Miss Yang Lihua can drink a thousand cups without becoming drunk, and people call her the “wine immortal.” Professor Xia Yuanyu is an eloquent and gifted talker, so people call him the “storytelling immortal.” On this understanding, an immortal is a superhuman. Anyone who possesses abilities beyond those of other people seems eligible to be regarded as an immortal.

People usually treat immortality as a religious belief and confuse it with Buddhism, Daoism, and the gods. In fact, immortals are immortals, Daoism is Daoism, Buddhism is Buddhism, and deities are another matter altogether. The “Treatise on Arts and Letters” in the History of the Han did not place the school of immortals among the Nine Schools but assigned it to the Three Schools; there was a reason for this. Precisely because immortality is not in itself religious, followers of any religion may undertake its cultivation. For instance, Liu Huayang, the second founder of the Wu–Liu school, was a Buddhist monk, while Huang Yuanji of the Qing was a Confucian scholar. They all employed the cultivation methods of the Way of Immortality to achieve a certain breakthrough. To regard immortality as a religion is therefore a major conceptual mistake. If someone regards immortality as superstition, it is because he has not yet understood it.

From my own actual experience, “immortals” are simply people who make use of certain factors in the natural world that modern science cannot yet explain, and employ special methods of training to acquire particular supernormal abilities. If we can look upon immortals as “superhumans,” then although they are mysterious, they are not beyond comprehension, and there is even less reason to speak of superstition. Is this not precisely what we mean when we call Li Bai a poetry immortal, Yang Lihua a wine immortal, and Xia Yuanyu a storytelling immortal?

As for the immortals people generally have in mind, practitioners of the Way of Immortality describe them as people of exceptional attainment, capable not only of longevity but even of not dying, who stand apart from worldly things and do not contend with the world. Because their accomplishments differ, so do their ranks of attainment, and immortals are divided into many grades. The lowest is the “ghost immortal,” also called a “spiritual immortal.” Although such a person has died, his soul surpasses the ordinary, does not enter reincarnation, and may wander freely in another world. Next comes the “human immortal,” who enjoys health and longevity, remains free of the suffering of illness throughout life, and completes his natural span. Above the human immortal stands the “earth immortal.” Earth immortals already possess certain supernormal abilities and can remain in this world for several hundred years, but cannot leave the earth and ascend.

Above the earth immortal is the “spirit immortal.” Spirit immortals possess powers greater than those of earth immortals and need not rely on any material substance to survive. Their yang spirits soar aloft, wandering freely throughout the universe. Above them stand the “celestial immortals,” also called “golden immortals.” Besides possessing many supernormal abilities, they can gather to take form and disperse to become qi, attaining the state in which body and spirit are both wondrous. Heaven and earth have an end, but the life of a celestial immortal is inexhaustible.

According to this account, almost everyone now living in the small kingdom of Hunza, in the Himalayas north of Kashmir, would be a human immortal. Hunza is a tiny country with only a few tens of thousands of inhabitants. Deep in the mountains, it lies beyond the reach of modern scientific civilization. Its people drink cool snow water flowing down from the heights and eat simple but nutritious natural foods. Their customs are honest, their lives uncomplicated. They quarrel with no one, compete with no one, and do not know what laws or punishments are.

Thus every person is healthy and long-lived. Those over 140 can still marry and have children, and work in the fields without the slightest appearance of old age. Compared with our condition, in which hair and teeth begin to fail before fifty and walking becomes difficult after seventy, the difference is beyond heaven and earth. Even so, I do not think merely citing Hunza can make people believe that immortals truly exist. The reason is simple: becoming an immortal is, after all, an exceedingly mysterious claim, and people have not really witnessed it. Although a person’s range of activity is small and the things he has seen are limited, the great majority still place such trust in their own eyes and ears that they insist on seeing and hearing for themselves.

Fortunately, as the times have changed and science and technology have advanced, humanity has gradually become able to face reality and present evidence concerning matters formerly considered fantastic and absurd, for the study and reference of those interested in this Way.

First, our traditional acupuncture has gained recognition in modern society, demonstrating the reality and value of the traditional Chinese theory of channels and vessels. Acupuncture is one of China’s inherited medical arts. After the May Fourth Movement, we rushed en masse to worship foreign things and cast everything of our own into the eighteenth level of hell. For several decades, the mention of acupuncture called to mind “superstition” and “unscientific” practice. In recent years, however, it has been put to many practical tests. In particular, when the American senator Mr. Goldwater visited China two years ago, in Republic year 75 [1986], television showed him singing and dancing after receiving acupuncture at Veterans General Hospital. Since then we have no longer heard people call it “superstitious,” “unscientific,” or even “backward.” The basic theory of acupuncture developed from the theory of channels and vessels in the qi-refining arts of the Way of Immortality. Thus, to acknowledge that acupuncture works also demonstrates that part of the theory of immortality is workable.

Second, modern science and technology have helped demonstrate the existence of qi. Nothing is more central to cultivating the Way of Immortality than “refining qi”; indeed, the whole method of the Inner Golden Elixir is simply another name for the art of refining qi. Yet this thing called qi can neither be seen nor touched. Some practitioners can feel its existence, but cannot produce evidence. They therefore have no choice but to use a mass of abstract and elusive words to describe it. The Daodejing, for instance, says: “Indistinct and elusive; elusive and indistinct, within it there are images. Indistinct and elusive, within it there is something. Deep and dark, within it there is essence; that essence is most genuine.” After all these words, no actual explanation has been given. Only such expressions as “indistinct,” “elusive,” “deep,” and “dark” are available. After reading them, those who know still know, while those who do not know remain ignorant.

Today, however, we can use a kind of high-frequency camera to photograph qi’s existence. The photograph reproduced below shows the first time I emitted qi from the middle finger of my right hand, after completing one month of actual practice. Evidently qi not only really exists but can also be brought under control through training.

Photograph that the author describes as showing qi emitted from his right middle finger

Third, qigong has become widespread in society and is being studied as a discipline through scientific methods. Qigong is of course not itself the Way of Immortality, but it is an offshoot of its practices. In the past we also had some misunderstandings about qigong, and many people still view it with a degree of suspicion. Yet practicing qigong really does have distinctive effects in cultivating the disposition, treating illness, delaying aging, and strengthening the body. The number of students is therefore growing daily. Unofficial estimates put the present number of people practicing qigong in Taiwan, including waidangong and chaoyang qi, at more than one million. After practicing, many of them can feel qi. Across the Taiwan Strait, according to relevant reports, scientific research into qigong has been conducted since the 1970s.

The research covers a very broad range, including anti-aging, immunity, anticancer effects, and antiviral effects. It is said to have achieved considerable results. If qigong is credible, then the arts of immortality would seem to possess some credibility too. Two newspaper clippings are appended for reference.

United Daily News, February 5, Republic Year 77 [1988]

Qigong Effective in Treating Illness; Experts from Many Countries Show Strong Interest; Exchange Conference to Be Held in October

[This newspaper, Hong Kong, February 4] According to the overseas edition of the Chinese Communist People’s Daily, the First International Conference on Medical Qigong Academic Exchange will open in Beiping on October 10 this year. Experts from twenty or thirty countries have already registered. This reflects a growing international enthusiasm for qigong therapy.

The report says that the mainland began studying qigong by scientific methods in the 1970s. During the following decade, results were obtained in basic theory of medical qigong, its physical, chemical, and biological effects, and clinical medicine. Projects attracting international attention include Tsinghua University’s research on the effects of emitted qi on molecules of matter; the Shanghai Hypertension Research Institute’s study of qigong’s anti-aging effects; and research by the Communist Navy General Hospital into qigong immunity and its anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral effects.

United Daily News, April 14, Republic Year 77 [1988]

Qigong Healing Is Neither Medicine nor Sorcery; Developing Latent Abilities Has a Basis in Evidence

According to the Chinese Communist People’s Daily, the First International Conference on Medical Qigong Academic Exchange will open in Beiping on October 10 this year. Experts from twenty or thirty countries have already registered.

Qigong was once regarded as sorcery because modern science could not explain it and most qigong masters could not give reasons for it. Moreover, people are accustomed to things they can see and touch; they often either deify or deny things they cannot see or touch. Consequently, qigong’s promotion and application within Chinese medicine have never become widespread.

The mainland’s enthusiasm for qigong research has also arisen only in recent years. This may be because mainland hospitals lack medicines, creating favorable conditions for the development of qigong, which can treat a hundred illnesses without requiring many drugs. A conservative estimate puts the number of mainland people studying and practicing qigong at nearly fifty million, and considerable success has already been achieved in medicine.

Mainland qigong masters base their treatment of illness on the theory that human beings are the most complex and advanced form of life on earth. The human body preserves the whole historical process and information of human evolution; in the course of that long history, however, some of our functions have been suppressed or submerged. Qigong healing seeks to bring all humanity’s latent abilities to the surface and develop them.

Mainland Chinese medicine has now obtained results in the basic theory of qigong, its physical, chemical, and biological effects, and clinical medicine. These include research in Jiangxi on qigong’s influence on microcirculation; at Tsinghua University in Beiping on emitted qi’s effect on molecules; at Xiyuan Hospital in Beiping on the combined biomedical effects of emitted qi; at the Shanghai Hypertension Research Institute on qigong’s anti-aging effects; and at the Navy General Hospital in Beiping on qigong immunity and its anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral effects. All these projects have reached a certain level and attracted international attention.

The Navy General Hospital in Beiping is the best-known institution on the mainland using qigong to treat illness. It has established a Qigong Immunity Research Outpatient Department and has treated many otherwise incurable illnesses.

For example, a three-month-old girl had embryonal cancer. Even if all the organs in her pelvic cavity were removed and radiotherapy were added, her life could be prolonged for no more than two years. Last June she arrived at the hospital with a tumor the size of a duck’s egg. Her first treatment with emitted qi lasted fifteen minutes. Three days later, three grape-sized tumors detached and were expelled from her body. After the second and third treatments, the cancerous growths continued to detach. The little girl, who had been on the verge of death, grew plumper day by day.

Another patient, a Japanese person with a brain tumor, had an egg-sized growth on the brainstem behind the nasal cavity. Neither surgery nor radiotherapy was possible, and death seemed the only prospect. After the hospital gave him twelve hours of treatment with emitted qigong qi, the tumor had clearly shrunk and the pain had greatly lessened. He is now recovering.

The conditions treated by the Navy General Hospital in Beiping include primary brain cancer, stomach cancer, bowel cancer, and cervical cancer without metastasis. Results are also very good for shingles, lumbar disc herniation, glandular-duct inflammation, and some forms of rheumatoid arthritis.

Besides the Navy General Hospital, many qigong hospitals in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and elsewhere specialize in difficult and complicated illnesses.

Recently, mainland researchers have also begun studying qigong combined with Chinese medicine for treating AIDS, and it is said that certain results have been achieved.

Fourth, there is Indian yoga. On television and in other news media we often see Indian yogis demonstrating yoga. Although people find their displays of supernormal abilities, inexplicable to modern science, marvelous, they seldom express doubt or mock them as “superstition.” In fact, the process of yogic cultivation, especially Kundalini yoga, closely resembles the Way of Immortality. Why do our countrymen express no doubt about yoga, yet so readily label their own inherited Way of Immortality “superstition”?

Now let me turn back to myself. I am a civil servant through and through, currently serving in a central government agency. I am neither a charlatan nor a Daoist priest, but merely an amateur practitioner with an interest in the Way of Immortality. In the past I knew nothing about it, much less had any interest in it. After the astronauts landed on the moon, even the little childhood yearning I had felt for immortals was utterly destroyed. How could there have been the slightest interest left in cultivating immortality or refining qi? Then, in the autumn of Republic year 73 [1984], I happened upon a book about China’s Way of Immortality by the Japanese author Takafuji Sōichirō in a small bookshop on Nanhai Road. Through personal practice and actual cultivation, he had demonstrated the reality and effectiveness of the Chinese Lesser Celestial Circuit. Only then did I suddenly awaken to the subject.

I went through bookshops large and small all over Taipei. Besides collecting every Japanese work I could find, good or bad, I bought many books by Chinese authors, from ancient classics such as the Daodejing and Cantong qi to modern works such as Yinshizi’s Method of Quiet Sitting and Corroborations on Laying the Foundation. I brought them all home and buried myself in study. Later I sought teachers and visited practitioners of the Dao, who gave me many insights. Through continuous study and reflection of my own, I made many mistakes, but fortunately recognized them in time and corrected them myself. Eventually I found a path. In only about two years I opened the Conception and Governing Vessels, turned the River Chariot, opened out the eight vessels, gathered the medicine and obtained the elixir, and went on to gestation, the emergence of the spirit, and even “deterioration.”1 I experienced many marvelous states that other people have not experienced after decades of practice.

There is indeed much in all this that present-day science cannot explain. But for me, the question is no longer whether the Way of Immortality is believable. It is how to go further in seeking explanations. For an account of my actual practice, please see Appendix Two, “A Record of Refining Qi.”

Chapter Two: The Development of the Way of Immortality

The “Way of Immortality” consists of methods and principles teaching people how to cultivate so as to become immortals. Because it has spread widely and has many schools, there is a saying: “The Way of Immortality has three thousand six hundred gates; each person clings to a single root and shoot.” In the final analysis, however, they remain within the elixir methods of the Three Origins: the Celestial Origin, the Earthly Origin, and the Human Origin. These three may in turn be broadly divided into two classes: the Outer Golden Elixir and the Inner Golden Elixir.

1. The Method of the Outer Golden Elixir

This form of cultivation centers on compounding and ingesting elixirs. It relies on wondrous medicines from outside oneself, seeking either immediate ascent or prolonged life in this world. It can be divided into two kinds.

The Divine Elixir of the Celestial Origin, also called the Great Elixir of the Celestial Origin, emphasizes setting up a furnace and cauldron, refining lead, and transforming mercury. Once the elixir is complete, one ascends on the spot. Xu Xun of the Jin, the Perfected One of Jingyang, is said to have attained the Dao in this way. Not only did people who took the elixir immediately become feathered immortals and ascend to perfection; even the chickens and dogs that took it ascended with them. These practices, however, have long been lost. The Baopuzi contains some records but does not explain them in detail. The arts that caused emperors throughout history to lose their lives through the mischief of masters of esoteric arts mostly belonged to this school.

The Elixir Method of the Earthly Origin, also called the method of ingestion, seeks long life and lasting longevity through consuming the essences of plants and minerals. Its authentic transmission has also now been lost. Moreover, when a person’s spirit and qi have both declined and the lamp’s oil has been exhausted, the power of medicines ultimately has its limits. Claims that they can truly confer ageless longevity or even deathlessness cannot be accepted without reservation.

2. The Method of the Inner Golden Elixir

This is also called the Elixir Method of the Human Origin, or, more generally, the art of refining qi. Daoists also call it the Elixir-and-Cauldron school. Its methods of cultivation and realization take as their keys to attaining perfection the refinement and nourishment of yin and yang, returning to the root and source, jointly cultivating inner nature and vital existence, and bringing both to fulfillment. It is further divided into purity-and-stillness methods and grafting methods. The purity-and-stillness method, also called pure cultivation, means practicing with the essence, qi, and spirit already present in one’s own body. It is solitary cultivation, without gathering from others to replenish oneself or looking elsewhere for assistance. The grafting method, also called paired cultivation, means joint male–female practice, gathering the yang of the other party to replenish the yin in one’s own body; it is therefore also called yin–yang cultivation. Some writers, however, leave the Outer Golden Elixir aside and call pure cultivation the Celestial Origin method and yin–yang cultivation the Human Origin method. To avoid confusion, this book follows the usual terminology.

The principal schools of the Inner Golden Elixir may be grouped into the following six.

1. The Wenshi School

Among the Inner Golden Elixir traditions, the Wenshi school is generally considered the highest, and the Shaoyang school the largest. The theories and practices of both are said to originate with Laozi. Laozi transmitted his teaching to Yin Xi, the Keeper of the Pass, also known as Yin Wenshi. Yin transmitted it to Li He, the Hemp-Clad; Li to Chen Tuan, known as Xiyi; Chen to Huolong; and Huolong to Zhang Sanfeng. This is the Wenshi school. It advocates direct cultivation of the Great Dao of empty nonbeing, employing nonaction while also incorporating deliberate action. Through sudden transcendence and direct entry, the fulfillment of inner nature naturally fulfills vital existence as well. These practices are generally thought too lofty to find many who can respond to them, so they have few practitioners. Yet the True Explanation of Immortal Learning says:2

Passing through the three barriers from deliberate action into nonaction is the gradual method. Cultivating the upper barrier while including the three lower barriers is the sudden method. One need only return to the practice of refining spirit and returning to emptiness. When emptiness is utmost and stillness complete, essence naturally transforms into qi and qi naturally transforms into spirit. The handle is in one’s own hand; one’s life is made by oneself.

The barrier of refining spirit and returning to emptiness is the simplest and most direct. Those entering the Dao should consider this carefully.

This passage too may serve as a reference.

2. The Shaoyang School

Laozi also transmitted his teaching to Wang Shaoyang, the Imperial Lord of Eastern Florescence. Donghua transmitted it to Zhongli Quan, and Zhongli to Lü Dongbin, known as Chunyang. Thereafter it divided into northern, southern, eastern, and western branches.

The Northern School. Lü Dongbin transmitted to Wang Chongyang, who opened the Northern School and established the Quanzhen teaching. Wang transmitted to Ma Danyang, Wang Yuyang, Liu Changsheng, Tan Changzhen, Hao Taigu, Qiu Changchun, and Sun Bu’er, collectively called the Seven Perfected Ones of the North. This school principally practices solitary purity and stillness. Its theory draws above all on the principles of the Changes while also engaging with Buddhist learning. When Qiu Changchun taught the Dao at Longmen, he opened the Dragon Gate lineage. Responding to Temüjin’s summons, he traveled far across the desert to spread the Dao in the Western Regions and wrote the Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun. In the late Song and early Yuan, this school flourished north and south of the Yellow River. Later, Wu Chongxu of the Ming and Liu Huayang of the Qing wrote such works as Correct Principles of Celestial Immortality, The Common Origin of Immortals and Buddhas, and the Scripture of Wisdom and Life. Their tradition is known as the Wu–Liu Immortal School, whose nourishing Dharma spread throughout the country. Among earlier practitioners of immortality in Taiwan, the Wu–Liu school likewise had the largest following.

The Southern Lineage. Lü Dongbin also transmitted to Liu Haichan, who taught Zhang Ziyang. Ziyang transmitted to Shi Xinglin and Liu Yongnian. Shi taught Xue Daoguang, Daoguang taught Chen Nijiu, Chen taught Bai Yuchan, and Bai taught Peng Helin. Except for Liu Haichan, all these men came from the south, and later generations therefore called them the Seven Southern Patriarchs. This lineage principally practices paired yin–yang, that is, male–female cultivation. Its essentials are returning yang and transforming the bones, gathering the medicine and reconnecting vital existence. Achievement comes in a brief moment. Middle-aged and elderly people whose essence and qi have declined find results more readily through this practice.

The Eastern School. This was founded by Lu Xixing of Huaihai, also called Qianxu, in the Ming dynasty. It too is said to derive from Patriarch Lü’s personal transmission. It is devoted exclusively to paired yin–yang cultivation and resembles the Southern Lineage. Its essential instruction is first to practice pure cultivation for one hundred days, then employ the cauldron, accomplishing the work in one operation. This school is generally regarded as simple and easy to complete, and as a high-grade elixir method. Unfortunately, few transmit it today.

The Western School. Also called the Great River Western School, this was founded during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing by Li Xiyue of Sichuan, also known as Hanxu. It too claims Patriarch Lü’s personal transmission. At present it has quite a few successors in Taiwan. Its principal texts for study and practice are The Secret Meaning of the Three Vehicles, Talks on the Openings of the Dao, and Commentaries on the Thirteen Scriptures of the Most High. It also centers on paired yin–yang cultivation, but its procedures are more elaborate and the number of cauldrons employed can be as many as nine. Broadly classified, it too falls within the Southern Lineage.

3. The Central School

“Central” did not originally constitute a school. Some cultivators who belonged neither to Wenshi nor Shaoyang, nor to the eastern, southern, western, or northern schools, nevertheless mostly adopted “guarding the center and embracing the One” as their inner method; they are therefore collectively called the Central School. Its principal standards of practice are Guiding Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Existence, written by the disciples of the Perfected Yin; Li Daochun Qing’an’s Collected Writings on Central Harmony; and Huang Shang Yuanji’s Recorded Sayings of the Leyu Hall and Essential Sayings of the Daoist Gate. Some advocate studying the Three Teachings together; others bring Confucian learning into the Dao. Commentators say that this school penetrates the most subtle depths without falling into established ruts. It is another form of purity-and-stillness alchemy.

4. The Sanfeng School

Founded by Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng [張三豐], it is also called the New School. Broadly speaking, it combines the Wenshi and Shaoyang schools’ methods of purity and stillness and paired yin–yang cultivation. But the Complete Works of Sanfeng circulating commercially have in fact been infiltrated by later writers with the “mud-and-water” methods of other schools. This too must be understood.

5. The Qingcheng School

This school was founded by the Elder of Qingcheng. Although it too principally combines northern and southern cultivation, it emphasizes spiritual communion while the bodies remain apart, differing from the methods commonly transmitted in the Southern Lineage. Commentators say that in its subtleties it more fully possesses the essence of the Wenshi school.

6. The Three Peaks School

The principal current of this school derives from Zhang Sanfeng [張三峰], known as Puyangzi. Its alchemical methods focus exclusively on yin–yang “gathering and combat,” and it is the leading exponent of what is commonly called “mud-and-water alchemy.” It is generally regarded as a side gate or deviant path because its methods are unacceptable to our social customs and laws.

The foregoing is only a broad outline. Opinions on the relative strengths, weaknesses, and rankings of these schools differ according to the commentator’s standpoint and understanding. Generally speaking, what is simple and easy to accomplish is ranked higher, and what is elaborate and difficult to practice lower. I quote a passage from Bai Yuchan’s Discourse on Resolving Doubts for readers’ reference:

There are three grades of cultivating immortality and three levels of accomplishment in refining the elixir. The way of the celestial immortal enables transformation and flight to heaven. A person of the highest capacity can learn it. The body is taken as lead and the mind as mercury; concentration as water and wisdom as fire. Within a brief moment they can congeal, and in ten months the embryo is formed. This is the highest-grade elixir method. Originally it has neither hexagrams and lines nor weights and measures. Its method is simple and easy, so it is transmitted from mind to mind.

The way of the human [spirit] immortal enables one to pass in and out, become hidden and appear. A person of middling capacity can learn it. Qi is taken as lead and spirit as mercury; Wu as fire and Zi as water. Within one hundred days they can mingle, and in three years a form is completed. This is the middle-grade method of refining the elixir. Although it has hexagrams and lines, it has no weights and measures. Its method is essential and wondrous, so it is transmitted orally and can assuredly be accomplished.

The way of the earth immortal enables one to preserve bodily form and remain in the world. An ordinary person can learn it. Essence is taken as lead and blood as mercury; the kidneys as water and the heart as fire. Within one year they can fuse and congeal, and the work is completed in nine years. This is the lower-grade method of refining the elixir. It has both hexagrams and lines and weights and measures. Its method is complicated and difficult, so it is transmitted in writing, and one fears that it will be hard to accomplish.

The highest-grade elixir method uses essence, spirit, the hun and po souls, and intention as its ingredients; walking, standing, sitting, and lying down as its firing times; and following what is natural as its operation. The middle-grade method uses the liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys as its medicinal ingredients; years, months, days, and hours as its firing times; and embracing the origin and guarding the One as its operation.

The lower-grade method uses essence, blood, marrow, qi, and fluids as its medicinal ingredients; closing, biting, pounding, and rubbing as its firing times; and visualization, ascent, and descent as its operation.3 In general, the wonder does not lie in looking for a fine horse by following a picture. Those who cling to images and insist on the written word merely become arrogant themselves, reaching old age without accomplishment.

Part Two: On Essence Qi and Spirit

Considering the entire course of refining qi, that is, the practices of the Elixir-and-Cauldron school, the sequence from beginning, through transition, to completion is generally divided into four stages:

  1. Refining essence into qi: the introductory stage of laying the foundation
  2. Refining qi into spirit: the intermediate attainment of nourishing the embryo
  3. Refining spirit and returning to emptiness: the higher attainment of nursing the infant
  4. Returning to emptiness and uniting with the Dao: the final completion of the great attainment

This describes only the methods of the majority of schools. In actual cultivation, some combine the three practices of refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, and refining spirit and returning to emptiness, or two of them, without separating them into successive levels. Some schools even proceed directly to returning to emptiness once the foundation is complete. For ease of explanation, this book will nevertheless follow the cultivation sequence of the usual schools.

Chapter One: The Meaning and Nature of Qi

In the art of refining qi, qi is the most important thing. What, then, is qi? This is the first matter we need to clarify. The characters 炁 and 氣 [气] are pronounced alike, but from the standpoint of modern physics it is necessary to distinguish them. Gas, 氣, is one of the forms in which matter exists in nature, distinct from solids and liquids; it is not itself the name of any particular substance. We know that heating water can turn it into steam, but steam has the same chemical composition as water. We also know that heating a metal to a sufficiently high temperature will vaporize it, but its atomic structure remains the same as when it is solid.

We further know that if air is placed in a refrigerated chamber and subjected to sufficient pressure, it too will become liquid or solid. We can therefore say quite decisively that gas is merely a form of matter. What, then, is qi, 炁? It is certainly not gas as modern physics understands it. In his commentary on Awakening to Reality, Xue Daoguang quotes an alchemical scripture: “Subdue the breath; do not ingest the breath. To ingest the breath, you must subdue qi. Ingesting the breath does not bring long life; for long life you must ingest qi.” Evidently the ancients already knew and understood that this qi is not that gas, and that ingesting air cannot confer longevity. Otherwise, under present conditions, everyone would need only strap on an oxygen cylinder to become a living immortal. Why would anyone have to undertake arduous cultivation? Chinese people have generally been rather casual about their choice of characters. But when genuinely discussing this issue, the distinction must be made perfectly clear; carelessness will no longer do.

Many people in society today practice qigong, and many have experienced or come into contact with qi. Various scientific instruments have also appeared for investigating and analyzing its existence and properties. Some say qi is a mass of warm air; others call it electromagnetic waves; still others call it a kind of numinous qi between heaven and earth. Judging from the actual sensations of those who have practiced, refining qi can produce eight distinct sensations, commonly called the “eight contacts in refining qi”: heat, cold, lightness, heaviness, numbness, roughness, movement, and smoothness. If we rely only on sensation, calling it warm air because it feels hot or electromagnetic waves because it feels numb, we inevitably mistake a part for the whole and lose accuracy. In my own experience, the greatest difference between qi and other things is its exceptionally strong power of penetration.

When a practitioner projects internal qi outward, ordinary buildings present no obstacle. It passes through hills and high mountains as though nothing were there. This cannot be explained by any material property presently known to us.

Let us now turn back and see what our ancestors said about this thing. According to the theories of the alchemical scriptures, the one precelestial qi existed before heaven and earth. The Guan Yinzi says, “Like the Great Void, within utmost nonbeing it transforms into the one qi; within the one qi it transforms into the ten thousand things.” This holds that all things in the universe are generated through the transformation of the one qi. The Daodejing says, “The Dao gives birth to One; One gives birth to Two; Two gives birth to Three; Three gives birth to the ten thousand things.” The Book of Changes likewise says, “The Supreme Ultimate generates the Two Modes; the Two Modes generate the Four Images; the Four Images generate the Eight Trigrams; the Eight Trigrams generate the ten thousand things.” Here “One” and the “Supreme Ultimate” both refer to qi, while the Two Modes refer to yin and yang. Although we cannot accept everything the ancients said, there are also things we should not disbelieve. These statements offer us at least some inspiration.

According to modern scientific knowledge, all material things are made of atoms. Take this foul skin-bag of ours, what Buddhists call a “provisional combination of the Four Great Elements.” The principal component of our flesh is water, accounting for more than thirty percent of total body weight. The rest consists of proteins, fats, bones, and small amounts of other nutrients. We know that water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen: one molecule of water contains two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. A hydrogen atom consists of one negatively charged electron and one positively charged proton. An oxygen atom consists of eight negatively charged electrons and a nucleus formed from eight positively charged protons.

The situation resembles one or eight satellites, like moons, revolving in orbit around a planet such as the earth. To the naked eye an atom is already inconceivably small. In fact, who knows how many water molecules there are in one tiny drop, much less how many hydrogen and oxygen atoms? An atom is about one hundred-millionth of a centimeter across, including the electrons moving in their orbits around its nucleus.

Since the naked eye cannot distinguish the gaps or distances between molecules, still less can it see the gaps between atoms or between electrons and nuclei. With scientific progress, however, scientists have recently been able to analyze them with instruments. They believe that if a proton were enlarged to the size of a golf ball, the distance between proton and electron would be about two hundred kilometers. The intervening space would be enormous. No wonder qi can pass freely through many kinds of matter without obstruction.4 Is there anything else in so vast a space? If so, what? This is the question this part seeks to explore.

Modern nuclear physics already knows that small numbers of other particles or ultrafine particles, such as neutrons and neutrinos, exist in this space. I personally believe there is also much more qi floating in the void. This is why, in the course of refining qi, we sense that “within emptiness there are images” and that “true emptiness is not empty.”

Anyone who has studied electronics knows that although there is no air in outer space, ultrashort radio waves can reach their destination through some medium in space. Radio signals and television pictures transmitted by artificial satellites, spacecraft, and other space vehicles from as far away as the moon and Mars return to earth in this way. This shows that even in airless outer space, something still exists. Physics calls this something “ether.” Interestingly, the Western ether theory also says, “When ether moves, the ten thousand things arise,” which is identical to what our ancestors said.

If qi, or ether, is indeed the source from which all things are constituted, then although their names differ, their reality is the same. As for the essential nature of qi or ether, some call it an ultrafine particle; others call it a wave or a kind of energy. This is much like the views we held until recently concerning the nature of light. Only quite recently, after science demonstrated that light has weight and can be drawn by gravity in space, was it determined to be an ultrafine particle. If we compare light with qi, ordinary light cannot penetrate a thin sheet of paper, whereas qi can freely pass through all matter. There is plainly a very great difference between them.

If establishing the nature of light has been so difficult, then explaining qi with our present scientific knowledge seems even farther out of reach.

I have said a great deal about theories of qi, and not all readers will necessarily be interested. Most important is how to demonstrate its existence. Although the ancients had many experiences of qi and could argue their theories in detail, they could never produce solid evidence. During the past century, however, thanks to scientific civilization, humanity has become able to capture qi’s image. This is due to the invention of the Kirlian camera. With this special high-frequency apparatus, people first discovered that a damaged leaf appeared complete and intact in a Kirlian photograph. This proves that, besides the material familiar to us, plant tissue contains an unknown gaseous substance with the same form as the plant itself.

Similarly, in hospitals, Kirlian photographs of patients whose limbs had been surgically amputated showed clearly that the removed hands or feet still existed. This too proves that besides known matter, animal tissue contains an unknown gaseous substance with the same form as the tissue. Especially in people who have practiced refining qi and can project internal qi outward, this equipment can photograph qi clearly. Evidently qi is no longer something beyond our grasp, and in reality the art of refining qi is no longer mysterious.

Some people further distinguish between precelestial qi and postcelestial qi. What they call postcelestial qi actually means the breath, that is, air. Precelestial qi can itself be divided into “the precelestial within the precelestial” and “the precelestial within the postcelestial.” The latter is also called the qi of water and grain. It is the true qi within the body, formed as qi enters with food and drink and accumulates day after day. The various kinds of light described in Dr. Zhu Wenguang’s book The Divine Light of Life are actually constituted by this kind of qi. Chinese Daoist books also call this qi the “intermediate-state body.” As for the precelestial qi within the precelestial, it is the qi mentioned earlier, floating in the void outside our bodies.

Chapter Two: The Meaning and Nature of Spirit

The Scripture of the Mind-Seal says, “The highest medicines are of three kinds: essence, qi, and spirit.” The word “spirit” occurs continually in books on the Way of Immortality. If qi is the root of the art of refining qi, spirit is its mother. Wu Chongxu likewise said that the way of cultivating immortality consists simply of the two words “spirit” and “qi.” Evidently spirit is of incomparable importance in this art. But what does it mean? The Book of Changes says, “That which cannot be fathomed in yin and yang is called spirit.” It also says, “Spirit is a term for that which wondrously operates in all things.” One statement calls it unfathomable, the other says that it works wondrously in all things. Clearly this is something profoundly mysterious and difficult to explain. This book has already said much about qi. Although it cannot yet be explained with complete clarity, I believe readers will at least have some conceptual understanding of it.

Spirit, however, is even more something that can only be known inwardly and is difficult to express in words. Among the ancient books, none says more about spirit, or speaks of it more mysteriously, than the Scripture of the Yellow Court. In his preface to that scripture, Liu Wuyuan writes:

Consider the various inner landscapes: each has its spirit. In the upper region are the spirits of the hair, brain, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, and teeth. In the middle region are the spirits of the throat, heart, liver, spleen, stomach, gallbladder, lungs, and Triple Burner. In the lower region are the spirits of the abdomen, large intestine, small intestine, bladder, left yang, right yin, left kidney, and right kidney.

There are also the Perfected Ones of the body’s Nine Palaces. The heart is the Perfected One of the Crimson Palace; the kidneys, the Perfected One of the Elixir-Origin Palace; the liver, the Perfected One of the Orchid Terrace Palace; the lungs, the Perfected One of the Secretariat Palace; the spleen, the Perfected One of the Yellow Court Palace; the gallbladder, the Perfected One of the Celestial Numen Palace; the large intestine, the Perfected One of the Everlasting Numen Palace; the small intestine, the Perfected One of the Original Numen Palace; and the bladder, the Perfected One of the Body Chamber Palace.

There are also the Perfected Ones of the Nine Palaces of the head: the Perfected Ones of the Double Elixir Palace, Hall of Light Palace, Elixir Field Palace, Niwan Palace, Flowing Pearl Palace, Great Emperor Palace, Celestial Court Palace, and Utmost Reality Palace.5 There are also the twelve spirits of the Tiered Tower. So numerous are the spirits that they cannot be counted.

The Changes says, “That which cannot be fathomed in yin and yang is called spirit,” and again, “Spirit is a term for that which wondrously operates in all things.” “Unfathomable” and “working wondrously in all things” mean that amid the indistinct, elusive, deep, and dark, it is neither form nor emptiness, neither being nor nonbeing. It cannot be seen, heard, conceived, or discussed. It can only be known inwardly, not spoken by the mouth. This invisible, inaudible, inconceivable spirit is precisely the spirit of the Yellow Court.

The spirit of the Yellow Court is not in a Yellow Court below the heart and above the kidneys; it is not in a Yellow Court at Niwan; it is not in a Yellow Court in the spleen region. Although the scripture speaks of three Yellow Courts, it is speaking of the Yellow Court’s landscapes, not its reality.

The reality of the Yellow Court is one great all-embracing whole. Because it is such a whole, its spirit is present everywhere and at all times. Because there is this all-embracing spirit of the Yellow Court, fluids naturally circulate above and below and blood and qi pass back and forth through the five viscera, six bowels, nine openings, and hundred bones, without any need for forced effort. The spirits of the five viscera, six bowels, nine openings, and hundred bones all have their basis in the Perfected One of the Crimson Palace. This Perfected One is also called the Spirit of the Lump of Flesh, that is, the King of the Heart. The heart is the ruler of the entire body, and its king governs all the body’s spirits. Yet although the King of the Heart governs them, it is ultimately the operation of the one spirit of the Yellow Court that enables them to function spiritually. Unless the King of the Heart borrows the numinous power of the Yellow Court’s spirit, it too cannot function as spirit. The Yellow Court’s spirit is therefore also the ruler of the King of the Heart. When the King of the Heart governs the many spirits, it is in truth the Yellow Court’s spirit that governs them.

The one spirit divides into many spirits; the many spirits return to the one spirit. Spirit is real; the landscapes are provisional. The real borrows the provisional to perform its work; the provisional relies on the real to acquire numinous power. The real operates the provisional; the provisional conceals the real. When the provisional possesses spirit, it is actually the spirit of the Yellow Court that makes it spiritual.

Thus, for all its discourse, the Scripture of the Yellow Court is speaking only of this one word, “spirit.” I am sure readers will be very puzzled: how can there be so many spirits in one person’s body? Liu also says:

Where can one see that the five viscera, six bowels, nine openings, and hundred bones possess spirit? If they have no spirit, they are all dead things. If they do have spirit, spirit cannot be seen, so who will believe it? Let us describe their spirits. Hair raises the blood: this is the spirit of hair.6 The brain can think: this is the spirit of the brain. Eyes can see: this is the spirit of the eyes. Ears can hear: this is the spirit of the ears. The nose can smell: this is the spirit of the nose. The mouth can eat: this is the spirit of the mouth. The tongue can taste: this is the spirit of the tongue.

Teeth can chew: this is their spirit. The throat swallows things: this is its spirit. The heart is numinous and luminous: this is its spirit. The lungs regulate qi: this is their spirit. The liver nourishes blood: this is its spirit. The spleen digests grain: this is its spirit. The stomach stores grain: this is its spirit. The gallbladder is courageous and discerning: this is its spirit. The Triple Burner warms: this is its spirit. The large intestine expels waste: this is its spirit. The small intestine receives water: this is its spirit. The bladder expels water: this is its spirit. The abdomen encloses things: this is its spirit. The left yang raises yang qi: this is its spirit. The right yin circulates yin qi: this is its spirit. The left kidney governs receiving essence: this is its spirit. The right kidney governs discharging essence: this is its spirit. The body’s Nine Palaces each perform their duties: this is the spirit of the body’s Nine Palaces. The Nine Palaces of the head each contain their numinous power: this is their spirit. The twelve sections of the Tiered Tower convey food and drink: this is their spirit.

Beyond these, the movement and circulation of the four limbs, hundred vessels, and twelve channels are nowhere without spirit. The Inner Scripture says, “The utmost Dao is not troublesome: resolve to preserve the real. Niwan and the hundred joints all have spirits.” Thus we may know that inside and outside the body, spirit takes many forms.

Recently I read a book called The Lotus Sutra and Nuclear Physics, written by the well-known Japanese mathematician and physicist Matsushita Shin’ichi.7 It argues that the “minute dust particles” of the universe all possess life. Through modern scientific civilization, and especially techniques developed in biology during the past twenty years, such as asexual reproduction, we can take particular tissues from a plant or animal and reproduce countless individual organisms of the same appearance and nature. From this fact we can see that every part, and indeed every cell, of a living being is filled with the potential of life.

If, then, we interpret “spirit” as the functions of life, does our single body not contain many spirits? Broadly speaking, spirit may be divided into precelestial “original spirit” and postcelestial “discriminating spirit.” The postcelestial discriminating spirit is the spirit of consciousness that directs all our activities in everyday life, including knowing, feeling, and willing. Physiologically, it should refer to the functioning of the cerebral nervous system. Original spirit, that is, the spirit of the Yellow Court described above, is precelestial. Ordinarily we have no awareness of it, so Japanese writers also call it the “non-discriminating spirit,” to distinguish it from discriminating spirit. Physiologically, it broadly corresponds to the sympathetic nervous system and endocrine system.

Some alchemical scriptures also call original spirit jingshen, “essential spirit.” The Guan Yinzi, for example, says, “One who can see essential spirit lives long; one who can forget essential spirit transcends life.” This “essential spirit” is original spirit. In short, spirit holds an extremely important position in the Way of Immortality. The distinction between practicing qigong and cultivating immortality lies simply in the difference in their work of refining spirit. Cultivating immortality and refining qi require the joint cultivation of inner nature and vital existence. They emphasize “entering qi with spirit” and “refining spirit and qi together,” principally seeking to perceive original spirit and reveal the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass. Qigong practice, by contrast, uses postcelestial discriminating spirit. Although intention and mental concentration necessarily enter into it, these do not amount to original spirit.

Some Japanese writers further believe that spirit is the organic organization of qi. Some Chinese writers maintain that it is a “numinous particle” originally floating through the universe, which enters the mother’s body along with the sperm at the moment when male and female essences unite to form an embryo. On this account, the discussion becomes more intriguing still! In my own experience and understanding, however, original spirit really is something that seems nonexistent but actually exists. Although invisible and inaudible, its presence is often felt. It is another ruler within our bodies, possessing certain kinds of wisdom unknown to our postcelestial selves.

Chapter Three: The Meaning and Nature of Essence

“Refining essence into qi” is the foundational practice that ordinary people whose original bodily integrity has been broken must undergo when entering the art of refining qi. This means people who have had sexual experience, or who, even without sexual experience, have discharged semen. But the “essence” spoken of in the Way of Immortality differs from what is ordinarily called essence. In ordinary usage, it means the tangible, material essence discharged by the male body, also called sperm or spermatozoa. Here, however, “essence” refers broadly to what we normally call vitality. Some people can play mahjong for three days and nights without leaving the table; others can deal with countless affairs each day without knowing fatigue. We often say such people have “excellent vitality.” In fact, those with exceptionally good vitality often also have greater sexual capacity than the average person. Clearly vitality and sexual capacity are closely related. In the art of refining qi, this vitality is usually distinguished from the sperm or spermatozoa of physiology.

The former is generally called “original essence,” the latter “turbid essence.” What qi refinement requires is original essence. But because turbid essence is related to original essence, it must not be allowed to escape either. Thus “preserving essence and enriching qi” becomes an important subject in this art. How, then, are the two distinguished? The Daodejing says, “Not yet knowing the union of male and female, yet the organ rises: essence is at its utmost.” This means, “When the genitals become erect naturally without sexual arousal, it shows that essence has arrived!” Most young men have experienced this: waking in the middle of the night, they discover that their sexual organ has become naturally erect. If erotic thoughts have not yet arisen, the essence at that moment is original essence.

Many schools hold that at this moment, worth a thousand pieces of gold, the student should immediately put on his clothes, sit up, circulate qi, and regulate the breath, gathering the vitality of the whole body into the elixir field. This is the practice called “gathering the faint yang” or “restraining the Yang Pass and adjusting the outer medicine.” If erotic thoughts have already arisen, the source of the water has become turbid, and the essence is now turbid essence.

It should no longer be gathered. Even if it is brought back into the elixir field, it must be tempered with martial fire before leakage can be avoided. In the cultivation of immortality, almost all schools regard essence and qi as two forms of bodily energy that can transform into one another. Essence is transformed from qi, so those with abundant qi generally also have strong essence. Ordinary people turn qi into essence; the Way of Immortality turns essence into qi. Hence the saying: “Following the course produces human beings; reversing it produces immortals.”

Part Three: The Theory and Effects of the Lesser Celestial Circuit

Chapter One: The Causes of Aging

Old age is a fact many people would rather not discuss, yet cannot avoid facing. Why people age is also a major subject of modern medical research. There are numerous theories and, as yet, no final conclusion. Let us begin with Chinese medical learning. In the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, regarded as the foundation of Chinese medicine, the first chapter of the Basic Questions, “On the Heavenly Truth of High Antiquity,” contains this passage:

The emperor asked, “When people are old and cannot have children, is it because their bodily powers are exhausted, or because their allotted heavenly span is exhausted?”

Qibo replied, “At seven years of age, a girl’s kidney qi flourishes, her teeth change, and her hair grows. At twice seven, the heavenly gui arrives, the Conception Vessel opens, the Great Thoroughfare Vessel flourishes, and the monthly discharge comes on time; therefore she can have children. At three times seven, kidney qi is balanced, so the true teeth appear and growth reaches its limit. At four times seven, sinews and bones are firm, the hair has fully developed, and the body is strong and flourishing. At five times seven, the Yangming vessel declines, the face begins to wither, and the hair begins to fall.

“At six times seven, the three yang vessels decline in the upper body; the face begins to wither and the hair begins to turn white. At seven times seven, the Conception Vessel is empty, the Great Thoroughfare Vessel is weakened, the heavenly gui is exhausted, and the earthly way is no longer open. Thus the body deteriorates and she cannot have children.

“At eight years of age, a boy’s kidney qi is full, his hair grows, and his teeth change. At twice eight, kidney qi flourishes and the heavenly gui arrives. Essence-qi overflows and is discharged; yin and yang harmonize, and therefore he can father children. At three times eight, kidney qi is balanced and sinews and bones are powerful, so the true teeth appear and growth reaches its limit. At four times eight, sinews and bones flourish and the muscles are full and strong. At five times eight, kidney qi declines, the hair falls, and the teeth dry out. At six times eight, yang qi declines and is exhausted above; the face withers and the hair at the temples turns gray. At seven times eight, liver qi declines and the sinews can no longer move. At eight times eight, the heavenly gui is exhausted, essence is scant, the kidneys decline, and the entire body reaches its limit, so teeth and hair fall out. The kidneys govern water, receiving and storing the essence of the five viscera and six bowels. Only when the five viscera flourish can essence be discharged. Now all five viscera have declined, sinews and bones have weakened, and the heavenly gui is exhausted.

“Thus the hair and temples turn white, the body becomes heavy, the gait unsteady, and he cannot father children.”

From this passage, the purpose of human life appears to be the continuation of the species. In fact, this is true not only of humanity but of all other living beings. Bamboo does not ordinarily flower, but once it flowers it immediately withers. North American salmon are born in streams and grow up in the sea. When the time to spawn approaches, they swim upstream in groups, returning to the place where they were born. The males are then brilliantly colored and robust, the females heavy-bellied and full of eggs. After chasing one another, laying eggs, and releasing sperm, they complete their mission of continuing the next generation; their color immediately fades and their bodies weaken, and within days they die in large numbers. Evidently the purpose of life is to transmit the ancestral line and continue the species.

These phenomena, however, show only the result of the living world’s succession and renewal. What causes that result still has no settled explanation.

For human beings, birth, development, growth, strength, aging, and death constitute an entire life process that remains unchangeable in modern medicine. The immune system, for example, reaches its peak at thirty and subsequently declines year by year, reducing the body’s resistance to illness. After twenty-five, muscles gradually become slack, which is why middle-aged people grow stouter than the young. Between thirty and eighty, the kidneys’ metabolic capacity may decline by fifty percent. The same is true of the liver, so elderly people’s ability to metabolize alcohol and drugs diminishes continually. Heart and lung function also declines by about thirty to fifty percent.

Hence heart disease becomes more common after middle age. Bones are strongest at thirty; afterward their calcium diminishes by about one percent a year. Elderly people are therefore prone to fractures, especially women after menopause. Hair, skin, teeth, eyes, and ears likewise age as the years pass. Senile dementia, in particular, is attracting increasing social concern.

These phenomena could not previously be explained, but thanks to scientific progress in recent decades we have finally identified the principal culprits. First, physicians and physiologists have learned that how long a person lives is determined mainly by two factors: inherited constitution and the later environment of life. Regarding the latter, diet, work, exercise, emotions, and living space all affect health. Improving one’s way of life, eating less, exercising more, abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, limiting sun exposure, balancing work and rest, avoiding highly stressful environments as far as possible, and remaining mentally relaxed and happy are all methods of nourishing life recommended by experts.

As for heredity, modern scientists have learned that the main reason human beings, like other living things, age is endocrine imbalance. This imbalance is caused by shrinkage of the pituitary gland, which is in turn controlled by hereditary genes, DNA, causing it to issue commands according to a schedule. This is the mystery of aging as we presently understand it.8

Chapter Two: Human Efforts

Since the Second World War, human science and technology have advanced continually, production has developed, and economies have grown prosperous. Particularly in developed countries, people enjoy material abundance unprecedented in history. With improvements in living conditions, people work hard in their prime and successfully create wealth and careers. In old age, they have all the more need of a healthy, normal life in which to enjoy the fruits of their youthful efforts. As the elderly population increases daily, geriatric medicine is also receiving more attention. In the 1950s, French medical researchers already understood the importance to human metabolism of various endocrine secretions, including hormones. They also discovered the pituitary gland’s role in human aging and attempted to transplant the pituitary glands of calves into people.

In the early period after transplantation, various encouraging signs of rejuvenation were reportedly observed, and the results were heartening. Before long, however, they discovered not only that the original pituitary gland shrank because its function had been replaced by the transplant, but that the transplanted gland itself died from rejection by the recipient’s body. The entire operation was thus a failure, and the Western theory of pituitary transplantation disappeared. In neighboring Japan, however, specialists in diseases of old age, such as Drs. Onoda Daizō and Ogata Tomosaburō, used modern scientific methods to investigate the Lesser Celestial Circuit from China’s ancient arts of refining qi. Through personal practice and research, they found that these things our own countrymen had always dismissed as absurd actually had the effects of dispelling illness, strengthening the body, delaying aging, and restoring youth.

Practices of immortality consequently spread like wildfire in Japan, becoming one of the most popular activities in society. The scale of the Japanese “Immortality Federation” organization also astonishes us. Looking back at our own country, almost all our inherited culture has been devastated since the May Fourth Movement. Belief in immortals had always been debated by our countrymen; after that, its position scarcely needs describing. Yet when things reach an extreme, they reverse. In recent years, acupuncture, once mocked as unscientific and unhygienic, first attracted the attention of many foreign scientists; now it is no longer criticized. Then foot massage, which had been lost in China for many years, was brought back from Switzerland by Father Josef Eugster, giving rise to another wave of popular study and research. What, then, will become of the qi-refining practices of immortality, regarded in China since antiquity as incomparably precious and never transmitted lightly?

What have Chinese people themselves done to study the Lesser Celestial Circuit? First we must mention Mr. Jiang Weiqiao, courtesy name Zhuzhuang, of Wujin, former director of the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education. In his early years he studied in Japan. Sickly from childhood and physically frail, he also contracted tuberculosis, then considered incurable, and medicine proved ineffective. He therefore adopted the Daoist Lesser Celestial Circuit described in “Essential Principles of Dispensing with Medicines,” a section of Collected Explanations of Medical Prescriptions kept in his family, and began practicing on his own. At first he practiced intermittently. After the age of twenty-eight, however, his lung disease worsened, with coughing and spitting blood. He finally made the firmest possible resolve, set aside all medicines, separated himself from his wife and children, and lived alone in a quiet room, refusing worldly affairs. After three months of diligent practice he finally produced qi and opened the Governing Vessel. Continuing to practice, he at last opened the Conception Vessel as well, after one year and four months.

In this way he not only cured all his illnesses but walked lightly and vigorously, able to travel several dozen li without fatigue. He later opened the eight extraordinary vessels and lived into his nineties. He successively wrote Yinshizi’s Method of Quiet Sitting, Further Discussion of the Method of Quiet Sitting, and Yinshizi’s Experiments in Quiet Sitting, which became popular in China and abroad. These marked the beginning of Chinese writing on such subjects in modern concepts and language. Unfortunately, works of this kind remained uncommon afterward.

Chapter Three: The Meaning of the Lesser Celestial Circuit in the Way of Immortality

Before discussing the contents of the Lesser Celestial Circuit, we must first clarify its definition. Theories of immortality offer several different accounts of its meaning. Let us first examine the Lesser Celestial Circuit described in Collected Explanations of Medical Prescriptions:

First stop thoughts and settle body and mind into clarity. Sit cross-legged facing east; an ordinary seated posture will also do, but the knees in front must not be low and the testicles must not press against anything. Let the breathing be peaceful and even, and form the samādhi mudra, bending the ring finger. Place the right palm over the left and rest them below the navel. Click the teeth thirty-six times to gather the body’s spirits. Let the Red Dragon stir the sea thirty-six times inside and out: the Red Dragon is the tongue, and “inside and out” means inside and outside the teeth. Let both eyes follow the tongue’s rotation. Place the tongue against the upper palate, quiet the mind, and count the breaths. When three hundred sixty circuits are complete, wait for the divine water to fill the mouth. Rinse it around several times, then use the four-word formula: draw up, press, close, inhale. Draw up the Grain Passage; press the tongue against the upper palate; close the eyes and look upward; inhale through the nose without exhaling.

Draw from the Conception Vessel past the Grain Passage to the Tailbone Point, and move it with intention. Slowly raise it to the middle barrier at the Spinal Pass, gradually somewhat faster. Close the eyes and look upward; inhale through the nose without exhaling. Break through the Jade Pillow, the bone behind the neck. Direct the eyes forward with a concentrated effort, and turn straight to Kunlun, the crown of the head. Descend over the Magpie Bridge, the tongue. Divide the saliva and send it down the Tiered Tower, into the Palace of Li, the heart, and on to the Sea of Qi, the Palace of Kan or elixir field. Settle there briefly, then repeat the previous method, three times in succession. Swallow the saliva in three portions. This is what is called making the water of the Celestial River flow backward.

Sit quietly for a while, then rub the elixir field with the hands to left and right one hundred eight times, and hold it together with the navel. When releasing the hands, wrap clothing or bedding around the navel so no wind can enter. Let the elixir field become warmly heated: this is the true wondrous instruction of the immortals. Next rub the backs of the thumbs until hot and wipe the eyes fourteen times to remove heart fire. Rub the nose thirty-six times to moisten the lungs, the ears fourteen times to replenish the kidneys, and the face fourteen times to strengthen the spleen. Cover the ears with both hands and sound the Celestial Drum. Slowly raise the hands upward, saluting heaven; do this three times.

Slowly breathe out four or five mouthfuls of turbid qi and gather in clear qi. Embrace the shoulders with both hands and shift the sinews and transform the bones several times. Rub the Jade Pillow Pass twenty-four times, the hollows of the lower back one hundred eight times, and the soles of each foot one hundred eight times.

The passage just quoted says:

Use the four-word formula. Draw from the Conception Vessel past the Grain Passage to the Tailbone Point, and move it with intention. Slowly raise it to the middle barrier at the Spinal Pass, gradually somewhat faster. Close the eyes and look upward; inhale through the nose without exhaling. Break through the Jade Pillow. Direct the eyes forward with a concentrated effort, and turn straight to Kunlun. Descend over the Magpie Bridge. Divide the saliva and send it down the Tiered Tower, into the Palace of Li and on to the Sea of Qi.

The Conception Vessel mentioned here is the channel on the front of the body, beginning at the Chengjiang point midway between the lower lip and chin and running in a straight line down the front midline to the perineum.9 The Grain Passage means the anus; the Spinal Pass refers to the spinal region behind the waist; and the Tiered Tower means the throat.

We can therefore draw a conclusion: a celestial circuit is the circular route beginning in the elixir field of the lower abdomen, descending past the perineum, going around the anus to the rear, ascending from the coccyx through the center of the spine to the back of the head, then continuing along the brain’s midline to Baihui at the crown, or Kunlun. From there it passes between the eyebrows, descends the nasal groove, curves around the corner of the mouth to the center of the chin, and follows the midline through the throat and chest back to the elixir field below the navel. There are, of course, various other definitions. Some call it “moving the celestial circuit” when the route begins at the perineum, rises up the left side of the body to the crown, and returns down the right side to the perineum. They call rising up the back and descending down the front “turning the River Chariot.” Others say that the Lesser Celestial Circuit is qi traveling the circuit, and the Greater Celestial Circuit is spirit traveling it.

Mr. Xu Jinzhong also divides the Lesser Celestial Circuit into two stages: the circuit itself and preliminary cultivation before it. The theories are too numerous to list. Since there is no universally applicable definition, saying too much would only confuse people. Following the usual account, this book takes the Lesser Celestial Circuit described in Collected Explanations of Medical Prescriptions as the basis of its explanation.

Chapter Four: What the Lesser Celestial Circuit Involves

According to China’s traditional arts of refining qi for immortality, practitioners use quiet sitting, deep breathing, or expelling and drawing in the breath. After a period of practice, a current of warmth arises in the elixir field, one cun and three fen below the navel. This warmth is generally called yang qi; it is what this book calls the precelestial qi within the postcelestial. In the purity-and-stillness school’s method, this yang qi arises within the practitioner’s own body. In the grafting school’s method, it is received from another of the same kind. The former is therefore called “accumulating qi to open the barriers,” and the latter “gathering qi to open the barriers.” As this yang qi accumulates in the elixir field, it becomes increasingly strong. After moving for some time, it gradually shifts toward the Tailbone Point, the coccyx, and gathers nearby.

The practitioner then feels a heavy warmth and pressure in that region, with a tendency to rise along the spine. If he strengthens his intention and guides it, the qi enters the center of the spine, passes the Spinal Pass, and gradually rises to the Jade Pillow at the back of the head. After passing the Jade Pillow and reaching the Niwan Palace at the crown, it descends in a straight line along the center of the head, passes the root of the nose between the eyes, curves beside the nose, and goes from the edge of the lips to Chengjiang at the midpoint of the chin. From Chengjiang it passes the throat and Danzhong between the breasts, goes through the Crimson Palace, roughly corresponding to the stomach, and returns to the elixir field. Along this whole route, the ascent up the Governing Vessel in the back is called “advancing yang fire,” while the descent down the Conception Vessel in front is called “withdrawing the yin tally.” Advancing fire and withdrawing the tally together make one celestial circuit.

This is the actual course of the Lesser Celestial Circuit. A schematic diagram follows:

Original schematic diagram of the Lesser Celestial Circuit

Diagram labels, clockwise from the crown: Niwan; Jade Pillow; Spinal Pass; Tailbone Point; elixir field; Crimson Palace; Danzhong (Chest Center); Chengjiang; root of the nose. The upward route is labeled “advancing yang fire”; the downward route, “withdrawing the yin tally.”

Chapter Five: The Functions and Principles of the Lesser Celestial Circuit

The Lesser Celestial Circuit described above is also called transport by the River Chariot, or opening the Conception and Governing Vessels. Classified by degree, it can involve three different conditions: false opening, qi opening, and true opening. False opening means there is no qi at all, but only a psychological illusion caused by the practitioner’s excessive concentration. Wherever intention goes, he seems to feel something moving on his back. This is one of the pathological states most easily encountered during practice. The alchemical scriptures call it “heating an empty pot without water,” harmful and of no benefit. They say that unless it is stopped, it will burn dry the essence and blood of the whole body, and therefore warn strongly against it. Qi opening is a genuine circulation of the circuit, but it must be guided and driven by the practitioner’s intention; the qi itself does not yet have the strength to break through barriers and open the apertures.

In true opening, by contrast, after one becomes settled in stillness, the qi mechanism starts by itself, rises along the Spinal Pass to Niwan, and descends to the Crimson Palace, all without human contrivance. This is the condition the alchemical scriptures call “the River Chariot carrying treasure.” Because circulation of the circuit admits so many distinctions, its effects are not entirely the same. But if one reaches the true opening of the Conception and Governing Vessels, with the River Chariot carrying treasure, and even gathers the medicine and brings it home, then, according to the relevant records and my own practical experience, the following effects can occur. Functions throughout the body improve, including age-related farsightedness, impaired hearing, senile dementia, softening and rejuvenation of the skin, removal of excess flesh, and increased physical strength. Some illnesses, such as disorders of the digestive, respiratory, and endocrine systems, and postoperative wound healing, can almost all be treated effectively. People with a slow pulse or slow breathing, or with low blood pressure, however, should not practice.

Recently there have even been reports from Japan and the mainland of using qigong to treat cancerous tumors and AIDS. These show something of the Lesser Celestial Circuit’s functions. Why should its practice have such great effects? That is what we must investigate. This book has already explained aging in detail: its main cause is disorder of hormones and the other endocrine systems. Endocrine disorder results from shrinkage of the relevant glands, particularly the pituitary, which affects the functional balance of the body’s whole metabolic system. The pituitary shrinks because it is controlled by hereditary genes.

Now consider once more the route of the Lesser Celestial Circuit. Starting at the elixir field in the lower abdomen, it passes the perineum and Tailbone Point, rises along the spine to the back of the head and into the center of the brain, then goes in a straight line from the brain’s center forward through Yintang, the root of the nose, Chengjiang, and the throat, descending the middle of the chest and passing the navel to return to the elixir field.

Precisely along this route lie concentrations of nerves and important endocrine glands: the sympathetic nerves, spinal cord, sacral cord, cerebellum, cerebrum including the pituitary, salivary glands, thyroid, thymus, and others. The powerful circulation of qi strongly stimulates and massages these tissues, restoring normal function to glands already tending to wither and cutting off the control and commands of the genes. It not only stops aging but even produces various signs of returning youth. It consequently promotes health and increases both resistance to illness and the power to recover from it. Here lies the excellence of the qi-refining art of immortality.10

Part Four: The Meaning and Scope of the Greater Celestial Circuit

The Lesser Celestial Circuit is the initial stage of the qi-refining art of immortality. It belongs to refining essence into qi and is also called laying the foundation. For anyone, studying the Way of Immortality is an exceptionally demanding, far-reaching, and momentous undertaking. The time required may be as little as ten years or as much as several hundred. A tower a hundred zhang high rises from the ground; without a firm foundation, it cannot help being abandoned halfway. The quality of the foundation must therefore affect later results. Yet provided the methods are correct and circumstances allow, anyone can obtain results in this stage through perseverance, determination, and sufficient time. With the Greater Celestial Circuit, this may not be true for everyone.

In China, definitions of the meaning and scope of the Greater Celestial Circuit differ from school to school. The Japanese student of immortality Takafuji Sōichirō visited Taiwan and the mainland many times to investigate and analyze the various theories. He found ten accounts of the state of the Greater Celestial Circuit, which can broadly be grouped into five categories.

1. The Whole-Body Celestial Circuit

The Lesser Celestial Circuit means the circulation of yang qi in the Conception and Governing Vessels. In the Greater Celestial Circuit, besides circulating through these two vessels, yang qi flows down to the Bubbling Spring points on the soles and then circulates throughout the body. Some, however, consider circulation through the Conception and Governing Vessels, together with flow to Bubbling Spring, sufficient to be called the Greater Celestial Circuit.

2. Horse-Like Concealment of the Genitals

Following cultivation, a male practitioner’s testicles retract into the body, or his external genitals shrink to resemble those of a young boy. When he can no longer produce sperm, the circulation of yang qi throughout the body or through the Conception and Governing Vessels is called the Greater Celestial Circuit.

3. Production of the Lesser Medicine

After practicing the Lesser Celestial Circuit for a time and warming and nourishing at certain important openings, yang qi becomes sticky and gives off light. It is then condensed into something the size of a small pearl. This pearl-like thing is called the Lesser Medicine. If its production is accompanied by all of the following, it is the Greater Celestial Circuit:

  1. Light appears
  2. True breathing occurs
  3. Horse-like concealment of the genitals occurs

4. True Opening and False Opening

The “false opening” meant here is actually what this book calls “qi opening”: the practitioner guides yang qi with intention and turns the River Chariot. “True opening” means that yang qi rises along the spine of itself. Some call this true opening the Greater Celestial Circuit.

5. Refining the Form with True Fire

This state means that the practitioner possesses the four conditions described above and, after embryonic breathing has arisen, the Thoroughfare Vessel opens. Precelestial qi is carried through it to the head and shoots out through the crown into the air. This is also called “refining the form with celestial fire,” and it is counted as one kind of Greater Celestial Circuit.

These are Takafuji’s conclusions after arranging a large body of material. Some Chinese students of immortality also hold that yang qi circulating through the Conception and Governing Vessels and eventually producing the Lesser Medicine constitutes the Lesser Celestial Circuit. After obtaining the Lesser Medicine, one continues cultivation through three hundred wondrous celestial circuits, that is, the River Chariot carrying treasure, and then obtains the Great Medicine; this is the Greater Celestial Circuit. On this view, the Lesser Celestial Circuit may occur many times, but the Greater Celestial Circuit occurs only once. This account is chiefly maintained by practitioners of the Wu–Liu school, the Western School, and Huang Yuanji’s lineage. In my own case, both my wife and I stopped the furnace and ceased the firing immediately after obtaining the medicine once. There was no distinction between Lesser and Great Medicines, nor any question of three hundred wondrous celestial circuits. Takafuji’s classification therefore seems more objective.

On the basis of this classification, Takafuji sets out five criteria distinguishing the Greater from the Lesser Celestial Circuit:

Conditions of the Greater Celestial CircuitConditions of the Lesser Celestial Circuit
1. Qi can circulate without the use of conscious intention.1. Conscious intention is used to circulate qi.
2. Yang qi can rise through the central Thoroughfare Vessel and emerge from the body through the crown.2. Yang qi moves along the surface of the skin.
3. Yang qi circulates throughout the body.3. Yang qi circulates only through the Conception and Governing Vessels.
4. Light is seen during meditation.4. Only the movement of qi is felt during meditation.
5. Breathing becomes faint, as though it has stopped.5. Martial breathing is performed consciously, and after it has been strengthened to a certain degree, one changes to gentle breathing.

Based on this analysis and my own experience, I tentatively define the scope of the Greater Celestial Circuit as follows:

  1. Yang qi circulates naturally throughout the body without the use of conscious intention.
  2. The state of refining the form with celestial fire occurs.
  3. True breathing or embryonic breathing occurs.
  4. The medicine is gathered and the elixir formed. Where gathering the Great Medicine is additionally required, the Great Medicine is obtained and the elixir formed.
  5. Horse-like concealment of the genitals, or slaying the Red Dragon, occurs.

Anyone possessing all five conditions has unquestionably entered fully into the state of the Greater Celestial Circuit. As for the second condition, however, viewed in terms of the Golden Elixir school’s practices, there may still be room for discussion. If conditions 1, 3, 4, and 5 are present, one may therefore generally regard it as the Greater Celestial Circuit.

After analyzing the conditions of the Lesser Celestial Circuit, Takafuji also proposes the concept of a “Whole-Body Celestial Circuit” between the Lesser and Greater Circuits, which is quite meaningful. This means that after the Lesser Celestial Circuit opens the Conception and Governing Vessels, one gradually opens the remaining six: the Yin Heel, Yang Heel, Yin Linking, Yang Linking, Belt, and Thoroughfare Vessels.

According to relevant material, people whose eight vessels were fully open have lived beyond ninety; those with horse-like concealment of the genitals beyond 120; and those who obtained the Lesser Medicine could live to three hundred. It is also said, “Unless the eight vessels are open, the Three Corpses cannot be slain,” showing the importance of opening them. In my experience, after obtaining the medicine of the Greater Celestial Circuit, the Conception and Governing Vessels necessarily stop their circulation naturally. Thereafter only the Thoroughfare and Belt Vessels continue to move. Finally the Thoroughfare Vessel also stops, leaving only the Belt Vessel circulating frequently. In fact, the Thoroughfare and Belt Vessels are the hardest to open. Takafuji’s addition of a Whole-Body Celestial Circuit beside the Lesser and Greater Circuits therefore has real significance.

Part Five: The States Beyond the Greater Celestial Circuit

The entire process of cultivating immortality can generally be divided into four stages: refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, refining spirit and returning to emptiness, and returning to emptiness and uniting with the Dao. Completion of the Greater Celestial Circuit marks the beginning of refining qi into spirit. The states that follow are broadly divided into ten months of nourishing the embryo, three years of nursing, and nine years of facing the wall. “Ten months of gestation” means that after gathering the medicine and forming the elixir in the Greater Celestial Circuit, something resembling a woman’s pregnancy develops at the Central Court, or field. Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng’s Rootless Tree says:

The rootless tree’s flowers shine bright;
The moon’s po soul at the heart of heaven presses upon the sun’s hun soul.
The golden crow, jade marrow, and jade hare’s essence:
Capture the two things and cook them in one place.
Divide yang fire and yin tally between Zi and Wu;
Add bathing at the gates of Mao and You.
Guard the Yellow Court, nourish the Valley Spirit:
A man becomes pregnant, making people laugh themselves to death.

This refers precisely to that phase of practice.

When the ten-month embryo is complete, the yang spirit emerges through the opening. Many schools then have a further spirit-emergence practice for training it. This takes about three years and is therefore generally called “three years of nursing.” All this falls within refining qi into spirit. After the three years are complete, the yang spirit has been trained to be strong and experienced, able to leave the physical body at will, roam the four seas, and travel throughout the realm of form. One must then take another step: draw back the yang spirit that has been trained to maturity, set up the furnace and cauldron anew, reestablish Qian and Kun, cultivate and refine again, and return once more to empty nonbeing. This phase requires about nine years, hence “nine years of facing the wall.” It is the stage called refining spirit and returning to emptiness. Once it is completed, one naturally enters the state of returning to emptiness and uniting with the Dao. This account broadly follows the Shaoyang school’s sequence of cultivation.

Other schools often differ. In the Wenshi school’s practice, for example, once the medicine has been gathered and the elixir formed in the Greater Celestial Circuit, one proceeds directly into transformation into qi and return to emptiness. There is neither embryo formation nor spirit emergence. When form and spirit are both transformed, one naturally joins the Dao in reality. The practices of the various schools are not identical, and the states that appear also differ. Students should not generalize from one to all.

Part Six: The Elements of Qi Refinement

Having introduced the circumstances surrounding the qi-refinement arts of the Way of Immortality, we shall now begin to examine some of the matters and things needed in actual cultivation, in preparation for taking the next step and beginning practical training.

Chapter One: Choosing a Method of Practice

There are four indispensable conditions for cultivating the Way of Immortality: method, financial means, companions, and a place. Of these four, “method” is fundamental. If students do not know the method of cultivation, then however vast their wealth or wholehearted their enthusiasm, they will not know how to begin. Thus method is everything: whether one obtains the method determines the success or failure of the whole undertaking. Yet the Way of Immortality has three thousand six hundred gates, each different. How can you know which should be studied and which should not? Let us set aside the distinction between orthodox and deviant for the moment. At the very least, you must choose a method worth learning, one that will give you the result you seek, if your sincere desire to seek truth and turn toward goodness is not to be disappointed. Of course, in Taiwan today there are quite a few people who have founded schools, claim to possess an authentic transmission, and teach these arts.

Some appoint themselves religious leaders, others heads of a lineage. To enter their gates and seek instruction, besides kowtowing and paying homage, you must present a substantial monetary gift. Then you must follow them respectfully and wait upon them for many years before the master graciously allows you to hear the secrets of the Way. After another few decades of arduous cultivation, in the end you remain an ordinary person, unable to resolve the matter of life and death. How unjust that would be! Thus, in the art of qi refinement, great care at the beginning is essential. Readers may ask: if that is so, what exactly should one do? My answers are as follows.

First, it is more reliable to choose a school with a history, one that has genuinely produced accomplished predecessors. After all, such schools have accumulated more experience and information about cultivation, so the likelihood of success is greater.

Second, consider the objective circumstances of society today. Take the Grafting school: its methods are good. In particular, when people enter the Way in old age and both qi and blood have declined, the assistance of a member of the opposite sex can make it possible to restore yang at a single stroke. The questions are whether today’s laws and moral ideas permit this, and whether one can shoulder the enormous financial requirements. Most concerning of all, where can one find a teacher who truly has experience and attainment? The gradual decline of schools practicing the joint cultivation of yin and yang is therefore not without reason.

Third, consider your own working circumstances. In many schools, including the various branches of the Shaoyang tradition, once the Great Medicine is gathered, one must enter profound meditative absorption. For seven and a half days one is unaware of worldly affairs, as if dead. After entering the stage of ten months of nourishing the embryo, one is in a dim, withdrawn state all day, like a hen brooding over eggs or a dragon nurturing its pearl. How could one still go to and from work and continue one’s former occupation? In my case, I am the deputy head of a first-level unit in a central government ministry, with countless duties pressing upon me. Although I have more than twenty days of leave each year, how could I take several months off at a time?

Thus, after obtaining the medicine and forming the elixir, when the celestial circuit stopped revolving and the horse-like concealment of the genitals and other phenomena occurred one after another, and I judged that I had indeed entered the Greater Celestial Circuit, my feelings were indescribably complicated. I really did not know what to do next. In fact, I have always been indifferent to fame and profit; if I had to give up this modest career, so be it. The problem was that although I possessed the method, my financial means were still unsettled. I bore responsibility for supporting an entire household. If I resigned and entered seclusion for pure cultivation, the livelihood of my wife and children would become a problem. How could I create such karma? Perhaps I was destined to make some contribution in this field: only later did I learn that the method I practiced was actually different from those of the Shaoyang school. Not only was there no risk of great intoxication for seven and a half days, but even during the ten months of nourishing the embryo I could go to work as usual. Heaven had truly looked after me.

Fourth, consider whether you can find a genuine teacher. Our predecessors in the cultivation of the Way of Immortality always emphasized transmitting methods without transmitting the key instructions. They regarded transmitting methods as a matter for the public, but transmitting the key instructions as a matter between master and disciple. There was also the tradition that “three mouths do not discuss it, and six ears do not hear it.” Thus, if you wish to obtain the key instructions and truly cultivate, it is still necessary to find a teacher with genuine experience and attainment who is willing to guide you.11

Fifth is the question of sexual life, a very practical matter. In former times, Perfected Cao Huanyang’s foremost condition for accepting a disciple was that the person first marry and have children before undertaking cultivation. This was because the methods of the Pure Cultivation school placed the greatest emphasis on abstinence: once cultivation began, no further sexual activity was permitted. Carrying on the family line was one of the duties of filial piety, hence this strict rule in the Wu–Liu school. As for the Grafting school, although it begins with dual cultivation and thus seems unable to dispense with a member of the opposite sex, once the medicine is obtained in the Greater Celestial Circuit, its methods become the same as those of the Pure Cultivation school, and sexual activity is likewise forbidden. Young people should therefore give this particular consideration as well.

Chapter Two: Understanding the Channels and Vessels

In traditional Chinese medicine, qi and blood, channels and vessels, are all important components of the human body. Chinese physicians have always relied on four methods of diagnosis: looking, listening and smelling, questioning, and palpating. What is called palpation can generally be divided into pulse examination and abdominal examination. The channels, networks, and acupuncture points are even more fundamental to an acupuncturist’s decisions about where to insert needles to treat illness. In recent years, Chinese medicine has also benefited from modern scientific civilization. With the help of instruments, it has finally substantiated the theory of channels and networks, which our own countrymen once disparaged as “superstitious” and “backward.” Generally speaking, the “channels” are the main routes running through the relevant parts of the body, while the “networks” are the branch routes linking the channel vessels and spreading through the various tissues. Channels and networks connect with one another to form a dense web distributed throughout the body. The channel vessels can be further divided into three major groups: the twelve regular channels, the eight extraordinary vessels, and the twelve divergent channels. The network-vessel system likewise comprises three groups: the fifteen connecting vessels, the channel networks, and the minute connecting vessels. Their distribution is shown in the following scheme.12

Classification of Channels and Networks

  • Channel vessels:
    • Twelve channel vessels, or regular vessels: run within the physical body and connect with the outside through acupuncture points.
    • Twelve divergent channels: supplement the regular vessels.
    • Eight extraordinary vessels: independent channel vessels separate from the regular vessels, without qi flowing through them.
  • Network vessels:
    • Fifteen connecting vessels: the main branches linking the regular and extraordinary vessels.
    • Network vessels: branches apart from the fifteen connecting vessels.
    • Minute vessels: in terms of blood circulation, their branching network corresponds to capillaries.
  • Internal connections:
    • Viscera and bowels: connected with the twelve regular vessels; this refers to the five viscera and six bowels.
  • External connections:
    • Twelve channel sinews: the skin and muscle portions related to the twelve regular vessels, a three-dimensional relationship.
    • Twelve cutaneous regions: the skin portions related to the twelve regular vessels, a two-dimensional relationship.

In qi refinement, it is chiefly the eight extraordinary vessels that are important. Li Shizhen of the Ming dynasty wrote an Examination of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, whose detailed account follows.

General Discussion of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels

Throughout the human body are channel vessels and network vessels. Those running directly are called channels; their lateral branches are called networks. There are twelve channels: the three yin and three yang of the hands, and the three yin and three yang of the feet. There are fifteen connecting vessels. Each of the twelve channels has a separate connecting vessel; the spleen has a great connecting vessel in addition; and the connecting vessels of the Conception and Governing Vessels make fifteen. [The source’s next clause, referring to the Classic of Difficulties, is damaged: it mentions yin, a total of twenty-seven qi, and yang connecting vessels.]13 Thus the yin vessels circulate through the five viscera and the yang vessels through the six bowels. Yin and yang pass through one another like a ring without ends. No one knows its beginning; when it ends, it begins again. The qi that overflows from this circulation enters the extraordinary channels, irrigating them in turn, warming the viscera and bowels within and moistening the interstices of the flesh outside.

There are eight extraordinary vessels. They are not subject to the regulation of the twelve regular channels, nor do they have exterior–interior pairings, and so they are called extraordinary. The regular channels are like ditches and canals; the extraordinary channels are like lakes and marshes. When the vessels of the regular channels become full and abundant, they overflow into the extraordinary channels. Hence Qin Yueren compared this to rain descending from Heaven: the ditches and canals fill and overflow, the waters rush unchecked, and they flow into lakes and marshes.14 This reveals a secret meaning not disclosed in the Divine Pivot and Basic Questions. Accounts of the eight vessels are scattered through many books and are brief and incomplete. Physicians who do not understand them cannot fully investigate the mechanisms of illness. Practitioners of immortality who do not understand them find it difficult to establish their furnace and cauldron. I, Shizhen, though lacking in ability, have consulted the various accounts and gathered them below, to serve as fish traps and rabbit snares for those studying immortality and medicine.

The Eight Vessels

The eight extraordinary vessels are the Yin Linking, Yang Linking, Yin Heel, Yang Heel, Thoroughfare, Conception, Governing, and Belt Vessels. The Yang Linking Vessel begins where the yang channels meet and rises from the outer ankle through the defensive level.15 The Yin Linking Vessel begins where the yin channels intersect and rises from the inner ankle through the nutritive level. They therefore form the binding framework of the whole body. The Yang Heel Vessel begins within the heel and follows the outer ankle upward along the left and right sides of the body. The Yin Heel Vessel begins within the heel and follows the inner ankle upward along the left and right sides of the body. They enable the joints and bodily mechanisms to move nimbly. The Governing Vessel begins at the perineum and follows the back along the rear of the body. It governs all the yang vessels and is therefore called the Sea of the Yang Vessels. The Conception Vessel begins at the perineum and follows the abdomen along the front of the body. It receives and bears the yin vessels and is therefore called the Sea of the Yin Vessels. The Thoroughfare Vessel begins at the perineum, runs on either side of the navel, and surges straight upward. It is the crucial thoroughfare of all the vessels and is therefore called the Sea of the Twelve Channel Vessels. The Belt Vessel encircles the waist horizontally like a belt, binding all the vessels together.

Thus the Yang Linking Vessel governs the exterior of the whole body and the Yin Linking Vessel governs its interior, in terms of Qian and Kun. The Yang Heel Vessel governs the yang on the left and right of the whole body, and the Yin Heel Vessel governs the yin on the left and right, in terms of east and west. The Governing Vessel governs the yang at the rear of the body, while the Conception and Thoroughfare Vessels govern the yin at the front, in terms of south and north. The Belt Vessel binds all the vessels horizontally, in terms of the six directions. Therefore, a physician who understands the eight vessels has grasped the essential meaning of the twelve channels and fifteen connecting vessels. A practitioner of immortality who understands the eight vessels has grasped the subtle wonders of the openings through which the tiger and dragon rise and descend and of the hidden profundity of the Mysterious Female.

Drawing on the account above, together with the relevant descriptions in the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, the Classic of Difficulties, and Mr. Nan Huaijin’s Seated Meditation, Cultivation of the Way, and Longevity Without Aging, we offer the following further explanation.

I. The Governing Vessel

The Governing Vessel has four routes of distribution:

  1. It begins at the perineum and rises along the spinal column. At the Fengfu point behind the neck, it enters the brain, rises to the crown, descends along the forehead, and reaches the bridge of the nose.
  2. It begins in the womb region of the lower abdomen, descends to the genitals and perineum, passes the tip of the tailbone, winds obliquely around the buttocks, and enters the kidneys.
  3. It begins at the inner corners of the eyes, rises to the forehead and crown, enters and connects with the brain, then descends separately through the back of the neck and along both sides of the spine to the lower back.
  4. It rises straight from the lower abdomen, passes the navel, connects upward through the heart, enters the throat, rises to the cheeks, circles the lips, and reaches the central area below the eyes. (See Figure 1 for its distribution.)

II. The Conception Vessel

Original vessel diagram placed before the Conception Vessel description

Source caption: “Conception Vessel.” The adjoining damaged line also identifies it as Figure 1, Governing Vessel; see the translator’s note.16

Diagram label key: Fengmen (Wind Gate); Huiyin (Meeting of Yin). The numbers 1–4 identify the illustrated routes.

The Conception Vessel has two routes of distribution:

  1. It begins at the Zhongji point in the lower abdomen, four cun below the navel, and rises straight along the midline of the abdomen and chest to the throat, then continues upward to Chengjiang.
  2. From the womb region, it passes through the spine and rises along the back. (See Figure 2 for its distribution.)

Figure 2: Conception Vessel

Figure 2. Conception Vessel.

Diagram label key: Chengjiang (Receiving Fluid); Huiyin (Meeting of Yin).

III. The Thoroughfare Vessel

The Thoroughfare Vessel has five routes of distribution:

  1. From within the lower abdomen, it emerges toward the surface at the Qichong point, two cun lateral to the pubic bone, joins the Foot-Shaoyin Kidney Channel, and rises with it, one cun lateral to the Conception Vessel. After reaching the chest, it spreads diffusely.17
  2. After spreading in the chest, the Thoroughfare Vessel rises to the nose.

Figure 3: Thoroughfare Vessel

Figure 3. Thoroughfare Vessel.

Diagram label key: Youmen (Hidden Gate); Tonggu (Connecting Valley); Yindu (Yin Capital); Shiguan (Stone Pass); Shangqu (Shang Bend); Huangshu (Huang Transport Point); Zhongzhu (Central Pouring); Siman (Fourfold Fullness); Qixue (Qi Cavity); Dahe (Great Manifestation); Henggu (Horizontal Bone); Yinjiao (Yin Intersection); Qichong (Qi Thoroughfare); Huiyin (Meeting of Yin).

  1. The vessel’s qi passes from the abdomen to below the kidneys, emerges toward the surface at Qichong, follows the inner thigh into the hollow behind the knee, then passes along the inner edge of the tibia to the rear of the inner ankle and reaches the sole.18
  2. It descends obliquely from the inner edge of the tibia to the instep and distributes itself to the big toe.
  3. From the womb region of the lower abdomen, it passes inward through the spine and runs along the back. (See Figure 3 for its distribution.)

IV. The Belt Vessel

The Belt Vessel begins at the fourteenth vertebra, below the lower ribs, and runs horizontally around the waist and abdomen, roughly following the circle where a belt is worn. (See Figure 4 for its distribution.)

Figure 4: Belt Vessel

Figure 4. Belt Vessel.

Diagram label key: Daimai (Belt Vessel); Wushu (Five Pivots); Weidao (Linking Path).

Note: In my actual experience, the Belt Vessel begins at the perineum and spirals obliquely upward clockwise, passing through the waist and chest all the way to the crown. For the moment, the diagram follows the generally accepted account.

V. The Yang Heel Vessel

The Yang Heel Vessel begins at the Shenmai point below the outer ankle. It rises behind the outer ankle, passes along the outer thigh, distributes itself to the flank and elbow, follows the outside of the shoulder and upper arm, rises along the neck to beside the mouth, reaches the inner corner of the eye, enters the hairline, follows behind the ear to the Fengchi point, and enters the brain through the Fengfu point between the two sinews behind the head. (See Figure 5 for its distribution.)

Figure 5: Yang Heel Vessel

Figure 5. Yang Heel Vessel.

Diagram label key: Jingming (Bright Eyes); Chengqi (Receiving Tears); Juliao (Great Bone Crevice, at the cheek); Dicang (Earth Granary); Jianyu (Shoulder Bone); Jugu (Great Bone); Naoshu (Upper-Arm Transport Point); Juliao (Dwelling Bone Crevice, at the hip); Fengchi (Wind Pool); Fuyang (Instep Yang); Shenmai (Extending Vessel); Pucan (Servant’s Attendance).

VI. The Yin Heel Vessel

The Yin Heel Vessel begins at the Zhaohai point below the inner ankle. It follows the inner ankle and inner thigh, passes the genital region, runs to the front of the chest, follows the throat into the face, reaches the inner corner of the eye, and rises again to the brain. (See the diagram for its distribution.)

Figure 6: Yin Heel Vessel

Figure 6. Yin Heel Vessel.

Diagram label key: Jingming (Bright Eyes); Jiaoxin (Exchange of Trust); Zhaohai (Shining Sea).

VII. The Yang Linking Vessel

Figure 7: Yang Linking Vessel

Figure 7. Yang Linking Vessel.

Diagram label key: Benshen (Root Spirit); Muchuang (Eye Window); Toulinqi (Head Overlooking Tears); Yangbai (Yang White); Zhengying (Upright Encampment); Chengling (Receiving the Spirit); Naokong (Brain Hollow); Fengchi (Wind Pool); Fengfu (Wind Mansion); Yamen (Mute Gate); Tianliao (Heavenly Bone Crevice); Naoshu (Upper-Arm Transport Point); Jianjing (Shoulder Well); Yangjiao (Yang Intersection); Jinmen (Golden Gate).

The Yang Linking Vessel begins at the meeting place of the various yang channels, namely the Jinmen point below the ankle. It rises along the outer thigh to the side of the waist, ascends obliquely to the shoulder blade, rises behind the neck, distributes itself behind the ear, reaches the forehead, then follows a course above the ear to the Fengfu point behind the neck. (See Figure 7 for its distribution.)19

VIII. The Yin Linking Vessel

The Yin Linking Vessel begins where the various yin channels meet, namely the Zhubin point five cun above and behind the inner ankle. It rises along the inner lower leg and thigh, enters the lower abdomen, connects upward with the chest, reaches both sides of the throat, and joins the Conception Vessel. (See Figure 8 for its distribution.)

Figure 8: Yin Linking Vessel

Figure 8. Yin Linking Vessel.

Diagram label key: Lianquan (Ridge Spring); Tiantu (Heavenly Prominence); Qimen (Cycle Gate); Fuai (Abdominal Sorrow); Daheng (Great Horizontal); Fushe (Palace Dwelling); Chongmen (Thoroughfare Gate); Zhubin (Guest Building).

Chapter Three: Practice Postures

Practice Postures

The postures used in cultivating the Way of Immortality can broadly be divided into three kinds: standing, sitting, and lying down. Standing is suitable for the initial work, while lying down meets the needs of the elderly and physically weak. The later stages of the Wenshi school’s cultivation also frequently employ lying postures. Historical accounts say that Chen Tuan would sleep for dozens of days at a time; he used lying down as his method of cultivation.20 Generally, however, sitting is still the most common. The various sitting and lying methods are explained below.

I. Sitting Methods

1. Full Lotus

This is the standard posture for seated meditation in Buddhism, and there are two ways to perform it. In one, the right foot is placed on the left thigh, then the left foot on the right thigh. This is called the Wish-Fulfilling Auspicious Seat. In the other, the left foot is placed on the right thigh, then the right foot on the left thigh. This is called the Immovable Vajra Seat. Both have the advantage of being steady and not easily tilted. But they are difficult for beginners, particularly middle-aged and elderly people, for whom crossing both legs in this way is very hard. Furthermore, certain methods in the course of cultivating the Way of Immortality require the use of the lower legs and toes. Thus, although this posture is suitable for studying Buddhism, it is not suitable for studying immortality. (See the accompanying illustration.)

2. Half Lotus

This posture likewise has two forms. One places the left lower leg over the right foot and is called the Wish-Fulfilling Seat. The other places the right lower leg over the left foot and is called the Vajra Seat. A cushion two or three cun thick should be placed beneath the buttocks to stabilize the center of gravity. But its drawbacks are the same as those of full lotus, so this book does not adopt it either. (See the accompanying illustration.)

3. Natural Cross-Legged Sitting

Also called naturally crossing the knees or loosely crossed sitting, this is an easier posture. Because the two lower legs lie beneath the left and right thighs, it is quite comfortable, and the legs can easily be extended. Cultivating immortality differs from studying Buddhism: everything should be natural, without forcing. Thus most people adopt this posture. Raising the buttocks slightly makes it steadier and less effortful still. (See the accompanying illustration.)

4. Upright Sitting

This is the traditional sitting posture of China’s Confucians. Sit with the lower legs perpendicular to the ground, the feet shoulder-width apart, the body upright, and the palms facing down, resting lightly on the thighs or knees. The back should lean against nothing; only the buttocks sit squarely on the chair. The thighs extend horizontally, at right angles to the lower legs. Take care that the chair is neither too high nor too low. Sofas and chairs with sprung cushions are unsuitable for beginners. (See the accompanying illustration.)

II. Lying Methods

Walking, standing, sitting, and lying down are commonly called the Four Deportments in the Way of Immortality. Those whose attainment is deep can cultivate at any time and in any place, whichever of these forms they adopt. For most people, however, walking will not do, and standing is not easy either. Apart from sitting, lying down is the only practicable posture, and may also be called the most comfortable and least effortful posture for practice.21

Natural cross-legged sitting

Figure. Group photo of Taiji master and students

Translated labels: Commemorative group photo of Taiji master and students, early summer of the Guiyou year (1933)

Natural cross-legged sitting.

In my own case, I do most of my practice lying in bed under a quilt, remaining there for several hours at a time, allowing the qi mechanism to circulate and original harmony to operate within. I would pay no attention even if the sky fell. But ordinary beginners may be fast asleep before entering the appropriate state at all. Thus, for them it is suitable only as a substitute when they cannot practice standing or sitting. Lying postures can be further divided into supine and side-lying forms. The supine form is the same as the usual posture of lying on one’s back, with head and legs extended and the posture natural. Raise the head slightly and place the hands wherever comfortable, aiming at the greatest possible ease. (See the accompanying illustration.)

Half-lotus sitting

Table. Training Stages: Posture, Focus, Breathing, and Practice

Translated from the source table:

StageStepPostureMental FocusBreathingCoordination
Elementary Stage (40 days)Step OneLying, reclining, sitting against supportFocus on single acupointNatural breathing; sinking-qi breathingSimplified Taijiquan
Elementary Stage (40 days)Step TwoReclining, sitting against support, standingFocus on single acupointSinking-qi breathing; held (closed) breathingSimplified Taijiquan
Intermediate Stage (30 days)Step OneSitting, standingMulti-acupoint linked focusHeld (closed) breathingTraditional Taijiquan
Intermediate Stage (30 days)Step TwoStanding, free practiceMulti-acupoint linked focusHeld (closed) breathing; throat breathingTraditional Taijiquan
Advanced Stage (30 days)Step OneFree practiceFocus on front dantian (Guanyuan)Throat breathing; internal-turning breathingPracticing the form with qigong
Advanced Stage (30 days)Step TwoFree practice, spontaneous styleFocus on rear dantian (Mingmen)Mind-directed breathingPracticing the form with qigong

Half-lotus sitting.

Practice postures: upright sitting, full lotus, lying on the back, and lying on the side

Labels in the illustration: upper left, upright sitting; upper right, full-lotus sitting; middle, lying on the back; bottom, lying on the side.

Next is the side-lying form, which in actual use is even better than the preceding one. Either the left or right side is possible, but the right is preferable. When lying on the right, the right leg is fairly straight, and the left leg is bent and laid over it. Raise the head to a suitable height. Bend the left arm slightly, with its palm resting lightly on the left thigh. Turn the right palm upward, naturally open, and lay it lightly on the pillow a short distance from the head. (See the accompanying illustration.) This lying method is also called the Lion King’s Lying Method. In my experience, however, it is more suitable to fold both arms lightly around the chest and let the legs bend naturally and lie over one another.

Chapter Four: Breathing

Breathing is the most important part of the work of qi refinement. Almost every alchemical classic and Daoist book discusses it. In particular, when explaining the use of the firing times, there is the saying: “Postcelestial breathing raises a gentle breeze, setting in motion the Perfected One’s work of creation and transformation.” Clearly, breathing is the foundation of everything. Understanding breathing is therefore essential at the outset of cultivation.

Breathing can be divided into two kinds: external breathing and internal breathing.

I. External Breathing

Also called breathing outside the body, this means that the air within the body is breathed outward through the mouth and nose. It can be further divided into the following three kinds.

1. Chest Breathing

This is the breathing practiced by ordinary people, also called ordinary breathing. On inhalation, the lungs expand and air enters from outside. On exhalation, the lungs contract and air goes out from within. It is an innate human function, present from birth, which one knows without being taught.

2. Natural Breathing

Also called abdominal breathing. On inhalation, the lower abdomen expands outward; on exhalation, it draws inward. Because the abdomen governs the breathing, it differs from the chest breathing described above, and its effects are also better than those of chest breathing.

3. Reverse Breathing

Also called correct breathing. Its operation is exactly opposite to natural breathing: on inhalation the abdomen draws inward, and on exhalation it bulges outward. It is harder to learn, but its effects are somewhat better than those of the preceding method.

II. Internal Breathing

Also called breathing within the body, this is a form of human breathing that does not pass through the mouth and nose. It is the special form of breathing indispensable when the work of qi refinement enters a higher state.

1. Throat Breathing

This is a special form of breathing midway between external and internal breathing. In the course of cultivation, there are generally two ways in which a practitioner moves from external to internal breathing. In one, when the practice has become deep, internal breathing occurs naturally, without deliberate training. In the other, special training must come first, and only then can internal breathing gradually occur. Throat breathing is the deliberate method used to make the transition from external to internal breathing. It takes natural breathing as its basis and strengthens it further. During practice, breathing through the nose is reduced, while exertion at the throat makes the breath pass in and out very gently, finely, and evenly, thereby gradually bringing about true breathing. It is quite difficult to practice, and the internal breathing produced in this way is also inferior to that which arises naturally.

2. True Breathing

This is an advanced form of breathing. When true breathing occurs, breathing through the mouth and nose almost stops; one feels only qi pulsing at fixed points up and down within the lower abdomen. True breathing is an important stage in the transition from external breathing to embryonic breathing. Ultimately one must reach the point of “true breathing ceasing,” meaning that true breathing too stops, before embryonic breathing can begin.

3. Embryonic Breathing

Only after the work of true breathing is completed does embryonic breathing gradually form. In some schools, the Lesser Medicine can be gathered only after the work of true breathing is completed. When gathering the Great Medicine, one must enter profound absorption for seven and a half days. During that absorption, external breathing must stop entirely and the state of embryonic breathing must begin. Thus obtaining the medicine is absolutely dependent on how well the work of embryonic breathing has been done. This is the case with most Shaoyang methods. Although the circumstances of my own practice were somewhat different, I too entered the state of true breathing when gathering the medicine and obtaining the elixir. Embryonic breathing arose naturally only after my practice reached a higher state. At that time, I felt the breath to be faint, as though present and yet absent. My whole being entered a state of complete self-forgetting, with only a single numinous awareness illuminating: empty and illusory, seemingly there and yet not there. I truly reached a state in which inner thoughts did not go out and outer thoughts did not come in. This breathing, however, forms naturally and cannot be obtained by forced pursuit. When the work becomes deep and the time arrives, one can gradually experience it for oneself.

4. Hibernation Breathing

This form of breathing goes a step beyond embryonic breathing: it is deeper and longer-lasting. Indian Kundalini yoga uses this form of breathing to bring a person into a state of hibernation in which the lungs and heart have almost stopped. Because the method I practice resembles that of the Wenshi school, I often use in practice the breathing method of the Hibernating Dragon Sleeping Method passed down by the patriarch Chen Xiyi. In fact, this belongs to the category of hibernation breathing. When the practice becomes deep, the heartbeat almost stops.

Chapter Five: Guarding an Opening

In antiquity this was called “maintaining and visualizing.” Tianyinzi explained the expression as follows: “Maintaining means maintaining my spirit; visualizing means visualizing my body.” It has two functions:

  1. Gathering in the mind. By concentrating intent on a single point, one gives the tethered horse a stake and reduces the arising of distracting thoughts.
  2. Accumulating qi. Essential Sayings of the Daoist Tradition says:

When students sit in meditation, they must first concentrate the spirit and regulate the breath, regulate the breath and concentrate the spirit. Sweep away all thoughts concerning oneself and one’s family, all the entanglements of affection and love. Be sure to establish your resolve and put your spirit in order. “I am now advanced in years. What kind of person, after all, do I wish to become? What should I do today? In this late twilight of life, if I still do not know to cultivate vigorously and refine urgently, turning back at once, I fear the days and months will have passed! The years will not wait for me. In the end, regret will be too late. Alas, what then?”

If you can urge and encourage yourself in this way, direct the fire of Li downward to illuminate the elixir field. You may count the breaths or not count them, but in either case you must retain no visualization of anything, allowing the myriad concerns to disappear quietly. Follow the coming and going of the breath, and let the qi and breathing be natural. Do not make them excessively long or short, thereby preventing the Great Medicine from arising.

The “fire of Li illuminating the elixir field downward” mentioned above is a typical method of guarding an opening. The “fire of Li” means the mind’s intent, that is, concentrating intent on the elixir field. When this guarding has been practiced sufficiently, water steams and metal boils, and the single point of original-yang true qi within the body naturally gathers in the elixir field. This is the ancients’ basic theory of seated meditation and guarding an opening. In fact, “spirit can govern qi.” Although a person’s spirit cannot be seen, it is an extraordinarily powerful force.

When people concentrate their spirit and direct their attention to a particular part of the body, the qi within the body gradually gathers there, forming a current of yang qi. Students then use it to open the barriers and expand the openings. Guarding an opening is therefore an extremely important subject in the art of qi refinement. Generally speaking, guarding an opening produces quick responses but also many side effects. If it is not done properly, undesirable consequences such as abdominal masses and tumors can easily arise. Conversely, not guarding an opening produces slower effects but is safer. Particularly on reaching the stage of returning to emptiness, those who guard an opening often have many attachments and find it difficult to attain the Great Accomplishment.

Guarding an opening can be divided into three main categories: guarding an opening within the body, guarding an opening outside the body, and guarding an opening neither inside nor outside.

I. Guarding an Opening Within the Body

This is suitable for the elderly and the physically weak. Commonly guarded openings in the human body include:

  1. Baihui, the Baihui
  2. Yintang, the Hall of Impressions
  3. Shangen, the Root of the Mountain
  4. Danzhong, the Chest Center
  5. The Yellow Court
  6. Inside the navel
  7. The elixir field
  8. Huiyin, the Huiyin point
  9. Mingmen, the Gate of Life
  10. Jiaji, the Spinal Pass
  11. Yongquan, the Bubbling Spring, and other points

II. Guarding an Opening Outside the Body

This is suitable for those who are strong and vigorous or have an impatient temperament. Commonly guarded locations include:

  1. One cun above the center of the crown
  2. One cun in front of the tip of the nose
  3. One cun outside the navel

There are also many other forms, such as looking at the tip of a stick of incense, at a circle, or at a single written character.

III. Guarding an Opening Neither Inside Nor Outside

This form is less commonly seen. The places guarded are generally the tip of the nose, the navel, the genitals, and similar locations.

There are also those who advocate not guarding an opening, and their approaches likewise vary. Some advocate guarding the center; some recite incantations, invoke the Buddha’s name, or maintain esoteric sounds; some count, listen to, or follow the breath. Others guard nothing at all.

I myself also studied qigong under a teacher. In the past, however, my teacher taught only reverse breathing, not the practice of stillness. When the month of instruction ended and I left, he gave only these two instructions: “Men guard the elixir field; women guard Danzhong.” He never explained exactly how to guard them, and none of the students asked. By then, however, my qi already flowed through the eight vessels and the elixir had descended into the Yellow Court. I could no longer even guard the elixir field. In fact, from the beginning I had independently chosen to practice an inner method of “mind and breath relying on one another” and “fasting of the mind and sitting in forgetfulness.” Moreover, quite early on I had studied the eight chapters on spiritual liberation in the Tianyinzi, written by Sima Chengzhen of the Tang dynasty. The seventh chapter is “Sitting in Forgetfulness.”

But the original was terse and difficult to understand.22 I therefore also consulted an explanation of Zhuangzi’s fasting of the mind written by Mr. Chen Yingning, Yuandunzi, former director of the Shanghai Institute of Immortality, and used it as the basis for study and practice. An excerpt from the original is given below.

Original Text

Yan Hui said, “May I ask about fasting of the mind?” Zhongni said, “Unify your intent. Do not listen with the ears, but listen with the mind. Do not listen with the mind, but listen with qi. Hearing stops at the ears; the mind stops at correspondence. Qi is empty and waits for things. Only the Dao gathers in emptiness. Emptiness is the fasting of the mind.”

A Simple Explanation

Yan Hui was Confucius’s student, and Zhongni was another name for Confucius. Yan Hui asked what the expression “fasting of the mind” meant. Confucius said: You should concentrate the thoughts in your mind in one place, rather than letting them wander at random. Once your thoughts are unified, apply the key word “listen.” But do not listen with the ears; listen with the mind. Even this is only a preliminary explanation. At a deeper level of practice, you do not listen with the mind either, but with qi. On reaching this state, listening with the ears has long since stopped. Spirit and qi have joined as one, and the mind no longer functions. Qi is empty in its essential nature. It waits for something to come and unite with it. Only this thing called the Dao can unite with the qi of the Great Void. If the practice brings the mind to the same state as the Great Void, this counts as fasting of the mind.

The above is the method Confucius explained when Yan Hui asked about fasting of the mind. The practice proceeds as one continuous process, with no actual stages in between. To make it easier for students to begin, however, we may divide it into several steps and explain them in greater detail.

Step One: “Unify Your Intent”

The word ruo means “your,” and zhi means thought, or what may also be called an idea. When you first begin the practice, the mind’s thoughts must be concentrated, without many distracting thoughts interfering. If distracting thoughts are not thoroughly swept away, it is difficult to practice well.

Step Two: “Do Not Listen with the Ears, but Listen with the Mind”

The word wu here has the same meaning as the prohibitive words “do not.” Once thoughts are unified, begin the practice by applying the key word “listen.” Ordinarily, listening means using the two ears to hear various sounds. Here it certainly does not mean listening to sounds. People will therefore ask: If this is listening, there must be an object to listen to. If we are not listening to sound, then what are we listening to? No clear answer to this question can be found in the various commentaries. Today I specifically point it out: at the beginning, listen to the qi of the breath within. In anyone whose respiratory system is functioning normally and without obstruction, the breath in the nose makes no sound.

Although the qi makes no sound, each person can nevertheless know the breath in the nose going out and coming in, fast or slow, coarse or fine. Even a deaf person has this sensation. Hence the words “listen with the mind.”

Step Three: “Do Not Listen with the Mind, but Listen with Qi”

Another question arises here. The mind has awareness, so one can speak of its “listening.” Qi has no awareness, so how can it be used to listen? The object to which the mind listens is qi; what is the object to which qi listens? To say that qi is used to listen to qi makes no sense in theory. How, then, should this be explained?

The answer is this: After the work of listening to the breath has continued for a long time, mind and qi have become one inseparable whole. Qi can no longer be the mind’s object, and one can no longer say that this mind is listening to that qi. Hence, “Do not listen with the mind.” At this point, although spirit and qi within the body have united, the state of undifferentiated wholeness has not yet been reached, and a little awareness remains. Continue the practice, and before much time has passed awareness will disappear entirely. During this transition from awareness to no awareness, rather than saying that the mind listens to the breath, thereby setting mind and qi against one another, it would be better to say that qi listens to qi, erasing the division between them. Thus, “listen with qi” does not mean that qi listens to qi. Although the word “listen” is still used here, in practice it means no longer deliberately attending to “listening.” In the expressions “let it take its natural course,” “simply let it be,” and “let it go,” the Chinese word ting, which also means “listen,” is the best explanation of its use here.

Step Four: “Hearing Stops at the Ears; the Mind Stops at Correspondence”

At the outset of practice, emphasis is placed on the key word “one.” After thoughts are unified, attention shifts to the key word “listen.” But to cling to “listening” indefinitely without relaxing would also be excessive attachment. Later, one must use the key word “stop.” “Hearing stops at the ears” tells people no longer to attend deliberately to listening. At this point the practice gradually enters the state of undifferentiated wholeness. Spirit and qi within the body unite, and the mind’s awareness no longer functions. Hence, “the mind stops at correspondence.” (“Correspondence” means corresponding with qi.) This state in which spirit and qi unite is without awareness. Outwardly, it looks like sleep, but the situation within is different.

Step Five: “Qi Is Empty and Waits for Things. Only the Dao Gathers in Emptiness. Emptiness Is the Fasting of the Mind.”

Having passed step by step through the earlier states, from shallow to deep, one finally reaches the state of emptiness. This emptiness is naturally obtained after knowing and awareness cease; it is not manufactured by consciousness. If, during practice, one keeps thinking about becoming empty, one will instead be unable to do so. The whole practice is originally a return from the postcelestial to the precelestial. Thus this fifth step should be understood through the precelestial state.

From the explanation above, we can see that “fasting of the mind” means emptiness. Linking fasting of the mind with sitting in forgetfulness in fact makes it a practice of “maintaining emptiness.” I am not the only person in Taiwan who uses this practice; many others do as well. Some, however, maintain emptiness while also guarding an opening. Although the opening they guard is outside the body, this still differs from not guarding an opening at all, so in the later stages a Mysterious Pass outside the body remains. If no opening at all is guarded, even the Mysterious Pass is forgotten. In the end, there is only unbroken emptiness and nothingness, without the slightest trace, and one reaches the true state of sitting in forgetfulness.

Chapter Six: On the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass

We have already discussed guarding an opening. Let us also take this opportunity to discuss another issue involving an opening, yet with no opening that can be guarded: the so-called “One Opening of the Mysterious Pass,” which practitioners of the Way of Immortality have debated endlessly throughout history. An alchemical classic says: “The methods of the Way have three thousand six hundred gates; everyone clings to a single shoot. Who knows that tiny Opening of the Mysterious Pass, which is not among the three thousand six hundred gates?” Yuanduzi said:

A single point of yang essence is hidden in the mountain of bodily form. It is not in the heart or kidneys, but in the One Opening of the Original Pass. If you cling to the body in cultivation, you are merely cultivating these five viscera, six bowels, nine openings, and hundred bones. How could you obtain yang essence? If you cannot obtain yang essence, how could you form the yang elixir? Yang essence is nothing other than the spirit of the Yellow Court, also called the Valley Spirit. The Yellow Court is the One Opening of the Original Pass. Because it is the root of Heaven and Earth and the gate of yin and yang, it is called the Original Pass. Because it is the dwelling of the Valley Spirit, governing the myriad methods and presiding over the myriad affairs, it is called the Yellow Court.

Because it has no shape or image, no direction or location, and is apart from all extremes, it is also called emptiness and nothingness.

Li Daochun, Qing’an, likewise said:

The Golden Elixir has emptiness and nothingness as its substance and clarity and stillness as its function. It is the unsurpassed, utterly true, wondrous Way. Few in the world know it, and few practice it. Thus the sages employed expedient means and exerted their strength, opening a gate of skillful guidance, provisionally establishing names and recording them in alchemical books to lead later students onward.23 They hoped that those to come would recite the words, understand the principles, silently recognize them and penetrate them inwardly, and through practice suddenly transcend into the realm of reality. Alas, later generations did not investigate the principles but clung to the fish traps and rabbit snares. They undertook a hundred kinds of misguided practice, fragmenting and scattering it in ten thousand ways, breaking the Supreme Way into crooked paths and side trails, three thousand six hundred in number, precisely because they had not obtained its transmission. Worse still, the ignorant and shallowly learned of today recklessly annotate the purport of the sages’ classics, with errors and distortions more grievous still. How could they fail to mislead those who come after? Even people of earnest resolve cannot distinguish the deviant from the correct. They are deeply to be pitied.

Because of this, I have made this touchstone to distinguish the genuine from the false, so that students will not be dazzled and confused, but will be resolutely free of doubt and cross directly to the other shore.

The elder Chen Yingning, Yuandunzi, former director of the Shanghai Institute of Immortality, also said: “The One Opening of the Mysterious Pass that I transmit can contend for authority with the Supreme Sovereign and keep pace with immortals and Buddhas. The universe lies in one’s hands, and the myriad transformations arise from one’s body. One is confident that one’s life depends on oneself, not on Heaven.” He further said that this “opening” must be taught only to carefully chosen people and must never be revealed casually. Its importance is evident. What, then, is this “opening” really like? Li Qing’an said:

The One Opening of the Mysterious Pass is the most mysterious and essential mechanism. It is not the Hall of Impressions, not the Cranial Gate, not the navel, not the bladder, not the two kidneys, not in front of or behind the navel, and not between the two kidneys. From the crown above to the heels below, throughout this body of the four great elements, the moment you attach it to any particular place, that is not it. Nor can you leave this body and seek it outside.

Therefore the sages show people only the single word “center.” This word “center” alone is it.

The most important point in this passage is that the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass is neither inside the body nor something to be sought outside it. It can easily leave people utterly bewildered. Fortunately, Li Qing’an went on to say:

I shall offer an analogy to make it easy for you to understand. Consider a puppet: its hands and feet move, and it advances and steps about in a hundred ways. The puppet cannot move by itself; strings pull it into motion. Although the mechanism is on the strings, it is the master manipulating the puppet who pulls them. … The puppet is an analogy for this body, the strings for the Mysterious Pass, and the puppeteer for the master. When the body’s hands and feet move, it is not the hands and feet that move themselves; the Mysterious Pass makes them move. Although the Mysterious Pass makes them move, it is the master who makes the Mysterious Pass move. If you recognize this mechanism of movement, why worry that you will not become an immortal?24

Anyone who has passed through the experience should understand by now what the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass is. If you still do not, I will make one further point explicit: the so-called “master” is the original spirit within our bodies. Although I have studied and practiced the Way of Immortality for less than three years, I believe I have gained a little understanding. It can be summed up in these words: “When cultivation has truly opened the Conception and Governing Vessels, the original spirit has manifested, and the Opening of the Mysterious Pass has opened, simply press straight into it, attain emptiness and guard stillness, neither forget nor assist. Naturally the celestial mechanism will spring into vigorous action, and the channel will form when the water arrives.” Many people have asked me what wondrous method could bring such rapid attainment. I have given them only two words: first, awakening; second, stillness.

Let me now add one further explanation. The original spirit exists within every person. Although ordinarily it cannot be seen or touched, those who have experienced it naturally sense its existence. The question is how to make it appear and preside over your process of cultivation. An alchemical classic says: “Unless ordinary discriminating consciousness is extinguished, the original spirit does not manifest.” The key to removing ordinary discriminating consciousness is stillness. The Daodejing says: “Returning to the root is called stillness; stillness is called returning to vital existence.” The Classic of Clarity and Stillness says: “If a person can remain constantly clear and still, Heaven and Earth will both return.” If your practice truly reaches utmost emptiness and steadfast stillness, why worry that the original spirit will not manifest or the Mysterious Pass will not open?

Once you have seen the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass, you may not necessarily be able, as Master Yuandun said, truly to contend for authority with the Supreme Sovereign and keep pace with immortals and Buddhas. But as far as the method of practice is concerned, there is indeed no further problem. If the remaining three conditions, financial means, companions, and a place, can thereafter be arranged, then becoming a Perfected One and a patriarch? It will not be difficult for the fruit to ripen when the work is complete. If you have not seen the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass, then even if all eight vessels have opened, you can only practice qigong to strengthen the body, ward off illness, and prolong life. You will have no affinity with the Way of Immortality.

Chapter Seven: Methods of Gathering the Sun’s Essence and the Moon’s Radiance

Gathering the essence of the sun and the radiance of the moon is one method of cultivation in the Way of Immortality. Qi is, after all, a form of energy. Gathering external energy to strengthen one’s own energy is surely perfectly logical. The sun is the greatest source of energy in our solar system, so gathering its energy has become an important method advocated by many people. Its essentials are to choose a fairly elevated place with a quiet environment and fresh air, face the sun, and stand naturally. First breathe to make the breath even, relax the mind, and concentrate intent. Look at the sun, imagining its energy entering through both eyes and being inhaled with the qi into the elixir field. Each session lasts about ten to fifteen minutes.25

Most books, however, emphasize that this practice should be performed just as the morning sun is rising. I find this claim questionable. We know that the sun shines toward the Earth continuously, twenty-four hours a day, without distinguishing day from night. At midday the sunlight is too strong to face with the naked eye; there is no question about that. But how does the setting sun differ from the rising sun? In fact, the setting sun is safer. For someone with a regular job, catching the sun as it sets in the west is also easier than catching it as it rises in the east.

The foregoing concerns the practice of ordinary people. For those who can already send out and draw back the true qi within their bodies at will, it is enough on a sunny day to find a place out of direct sunlight, such as beneath a tree or on a shaded terrace, sit down, close the eyes, send out the body’s true qi, and draw it back after it has absorbed energy in the air. Ten minutes is sufficient. If the time is too long, one must beware of yang becoming so strong that leakage occurs easily. I have had this experience myself.

Next is gathering the moon’s radiance. I think this was a makeshift method adopted by the ancients when material civilization was undeveloped. In fact, the moon emits no light of its own and has no energy source to speak of. What we see is merely light from the sun or other celestial bodies reflected from the moon’s surface. In brightness it does not even equal a sixty-candlepower lightbulb. Moreover, the weather may be overcast or rainy, and the moon waxes and wanes. Rather than sit outdoors watching the moon in cold air and chill dew, it is more practical to stay in a room and practice with the lights or television on. Thus I have never blindly followed others in gathering the moon’s radiance. Instead, I often turn on every light in my room to practice, with extraordinary results.

Chapter Eight: Sexual Life During Cultivation

Sexual life during a career of qi refinement is a matter of great concern. In the Shaoyang methods, the Northern school advocates purity. Once cultivation begins, sexual activity must cease, and even a nocturnal emission carries the risk of losing the elixir. It is said that Qiu Changchun lost his attainment in this way and began refining again as many as eight times. Leakage is therefore regarded as the foremost thing to prevent during cultivation. The Southern tradition, and the Eastern and Western schools that may be regarded as belonging to it, all follow the method of joint yin–yang cultivation. Even so, contact with a member of the opposite sex is permitted only at a few particular moments; afterward there must be no further sexual activity or leakage. There are records of Bai Yuchan likewise gaining and then losing his attainment. Clearly, sexual life is prohibited or very strictly restricted in the Shaoyang methods.

There are also the so-called Mud-and-Water methods, which take bedchamber arts as their chief method of cultivation. Generally, however, these methods are considered to do more harm than good. Few ultimately escape failure, and practitioners often take this as a warning. Does that mean sexual life is forbidden throughout the entire practice of the Way of Immortality? Not entirely. Mr. Chen Yingning, former director of the Shanghai Institute of Immortality, once said:

The yin and yang within a single body produce effects very slowly and with little strength, but are easy to put into practice. The yin and yang of another person and oneself produce effects very swiftly and with great strength, but are difficult to put into practice. Moreover, there are many differences among methods of joint yin–yang cultivation:

  1. Some benefit both the other person and oneself.
  2. Some greatly benefit oneself without causing the slightest harm to the other person.

The oral instructions for these two kinds have been transmitted secretly by immortals through the generations and are never made public.

  1. In some, the benefits and harms to the other person and oneself are mutually balanced.

These are the life-nourishing arts of educated men and women in antiquity.

  1. Some harm others to benefit oneself.

These are the immoral practices of itinerant adepts, and also the cultivation methods of demons, monstrous beings, and the like.

  1. Some harm both the other person and oneself.

This results from inadequate learning, an impure disposition, failure to obtain the true instructions, and mistakenly entering a side path.

Thus, among the various methods, there are indeed those that benefit both oneself and the other person. The ancient immortals Liu Gang and Fan Yunqiao practiced joint cultivation together as husband and wife, a celebrated story handed down through the ages. My wife and I also cultivate together, so naturally I am especially concerned with this question. After thorough study and careful experiments, I found that, when practiced properly, it not only does no harm to one’s cultivation but benefits both partners. There are, of course, many particulars to observe. Eventually we actually reached the point where “the man does not loosen his clothing, the woman does not untie her sash; their bodies remain apart while their spirits commune.” One point deserves attention, however: after the yang spirit leaves its shell, ordinary worldly sexual activity is indeed no longer appropriate.

Chapter Nine: Spiritual Powers and Extraordinary Abilities

Students of the Way of Immortality often say that after cultivation reaches a certain state, particular extraordinary abilities can be obtained. The so-called six spiritual powers are the heavenly eye, the heavenly ear, knowledge of others’ minds, knowledge of former lives, powers of spiritual transformation, and the exhaustion of outflows. Guan Yinzi explained spiritual powers as follows: “Use spirit to preserve qi and qi to preserve bodily form, and bodily form can be preserved. Unite bodily form with spirit and spirit with nothingness, and bodily form can be concealed.” He also said:

Things are oneself, and oneself is things. Those who know this Way can form the dragon and tiger within the belly. Know that images change with the mind; by contemplating the mind in this way, one can [form] the Maiden and Infant.26 Know that qi arises from the mind; by drawing in spirit in this way, one can establish the furnace and smelter. Use this to overcome things, and tigers and leopards can be subdued. Use this to become one with things, and water and fire can be entered. Only those who possess the Way can do these things, yet they can also be capable of doing them and refrain from doing so.

The sage sees nothing, and therefore can see everything. The sage hears nothing, and therefore can hear everything.

Thus, for the various spiritual powers to arise, one must first reach the point of seeing nothing and hearing nothing; only then can one see and hear everything. Moreover, one must merge things and oneself and unite spirit and qi before obtaining such extraordinary abilities as concealing one’s form, subduing tigers and leopards, and entering water and fire. Anyone who can reach this point is, of course, a person who possesses the Way. But such people are valued not for being able to do these things, but for being able and yet refraining. In the course of cultivation, we often feel that various extraordinary abilities have arisen. In particular, those with the so-called heavenly eye can easily see things ordinary people cannot see and become smugly pleased, failing to conceal their abilities. What soon follows is the disappearance of their spiritual powers.

Generally speaking, if a person can become utterly still and utterly empty, this body too becomes like empty space and can merge as one with the unified field of the universe. Every change and message arising in the universe produces a corresponding response in our minds. Likewise, commands arising in the mind can be realized one by one through the action of the unified field. The curses of Western witchcraft and the ability of Japanese esoteric Buddhist acharyas to ignite a goma fire through the power of aspiration all arise from this.27 The difference lies only in the degree of skill in unifying the spirit. I have no interest in this, but occasionally, when there has been a need, I have tried it and found it extraordinarily effective. Although this is technique rather than the Way, those who practice it should still resolve to cut off worldly affairs and keep their minds unstained before they can obtain results.

Chapter Ten: Fire Going Astray and Falling under Demonic Influence

In practice, the condition called “fire going astray and falling under demonic influence” often occurs. In fact, fire going astray and falling under demonic influence are two different matters, and students should not confuse them.

I. Fire Going Astray

This means that qi travels off its proper route and enters a side channel. There are two causes:

  1. Students cultivate on their own without instruction from a teacher; or, although they have sought a teacher, that teacher lacks experience and has not transmitted the methods correctly.
  2. Students fail to remain single-minded during cultivation, leaving the qi mechanism without a master, so that it enters a side branch. In fact, cultivating the Way of Immortality and practicing qigong both carry dangers, particularly during the foundation-laying stage and the stage of sending out the spirit.

Thus it is essential at the beginning for students to choose a teacher with experience and genuine knowledge. During practice, they should be all the more single-minded, gather in their thoughts and feelings, and dispel distracting thoughts. When their mood is poor and distracting thoughts are difficult to remove, they should rest temporarily and resume only after their state of mind has become steady. If fire does go astray, they should likewise seek help from an experienced teacher, a Chinese physician, or an acupuncturist.

II. Falling under Demonic Influence

This is far more complicated than fire going astray. It involves such factors as religious belief, psychology, and mental state, and is still difficult to judge through scientific knowledge. Students should nevertheless remember the following: “All phenomena are delusive,” and “All appearances are illusory.” Understand that everything you see during practice is like flowers in a mirror and the moon in water; none is a true realm. Whether closest relatives and dearest friends, husband or wife and one’s own flesh and blood, immortals, Buddhas, deities, demons, or evil spirits, pay attention to none of them. You must reach the point of “When a demon comes, cut down the demon; when a Buddha comes, cut down the Buddha.” Cultivating immortality and studying Buddhism are, however, the greatest and most exalted undertakings in the human world. A scripture says: “Without the highest virtue, the highest Way will not condense.” The Awakening to Reality also says: “Cultivating the Great Medicine has its ease and its difficulty; know that it depends both on me and on Heaven. Unless one accumulates good deeds and cultivates hidden virtue, a host of demons will arise to obstruct the undertaking.” Such were the words handed down by the ancient immortals. Thus, if students acknowledge that in the past they have indeed wronged others and committed acts devoid of conscience and virtue, it is naturally better for them not to practice.

Chapter Eleven: The Question of Cycles

There is a so-called question of cycles in cultivating the Way of Immortality: during cultivation, the state of one’s practice rises and falls in a pattern resembling cycles. I once read the following passage in a letter from Haiyin Shanren, the fourth-generation patriarch of the Western school, replying to Lord Zhizhen:

At Xingjiao Temple I saw an image of Patriarch Lü, most magnificent in appearance. I purchased it and enshrined it. I have worshiped it morning and evening to seek his blessing and protection for three years now. At present I worship three times each day, making eighty-one prostrations each time. Next year I intend to increase this to three hundred prostrations daily. If a suitable affinity should arise in the future, my long-cherished wish of twenty-five years will be fulfilled!

I always found this somewhat strange. Patriarch Lü was the founding patriarch of the Western school, so it was only natural that the elder Xu should honor him. But increasing his prostrations to three hundred each day seemed perhaps out of the ordinary. Moreover, he himself said: “Method and financial means are already in place; companions and a place have not yet been obtained. But this does not create a problem.”

What difficulty, then, remained that made him pray so earnestly to the patriarch? After repeatedly rereading the entire book, I found that when he wrote this letter, he had not yet reached the state of the yang spirit’s emergence. In my experience, before the yang spirit leaves its opening, the Heavenly Gate must indeed first be broken open; otherwise the spirit cannot emerge. Yet in his criticism of the Guiding Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Existence, Haiyinzi regarded this as the twelfth great error. Clearly, he had not actually experienced this state. The emergence of the yang spirit is essential to the final Great Accomplishment of the Shaoyang methods. In principle, this stage of practice should occur before refining the bodily form in true emptiness. But after experiencing the refinement of bodily form in true emptiness, the elder Haiyin was still unable to send out the spirit for a long time. It is therefore no wonder that he sought the patriarch’s help and made three hundred prostrations each day. In my own present circumstances, one major cycle lasts approximately seventy-five to ninety days.

Within each cycle are smaller cycles, lasting approximately seven to nine days, with several days of high tide and several of low tide. When the high tide arrives, the celestial mechanism springs into vigorous action and wondrous scenes are endless. When the low tide arrives, the fire dies and the smoke ceases; the stove is cold and the cauldron chilled. Fortunately, this does not last long, and once one understands it, one can set one’s mind at ease. One of my fellow practitioners, however, has cycles lasting as long as two or three years. When a low tide arrives, all the power of his practice seems to vanish from his body. Such helplessness truly leaves one bewildered and unsettled.

Thus I suspect that Master Haiyin may have made his three hundred daily prostrations for this reason. Cycles, however, are something every student of immortality must face. When this happens, one can only remain composed and intensify one’s quiet cultivation, so that when the next high tide arrives, one may reap a better harvest.

Part Seven: Preparations Before Cultivation

Chapter One: Managing Diet During Cultivation

How to manage diet during cultivation is a matter of concern to everyone. Indeed, many students have expressed different views on it. Some believe a vegetarian diet is appropriate during practice: meat and fish not only contain many toxins, but killing life to preserve one’s own also injures the harmony of Heaven. Others maintain that the Way of Immortality is not a religion and that, during the stage of refining essence into qi, failure to obtain proper nutrition and first build physical strength will necessarily affect later progress. They therefore advocate not only eating fish and meat but preferably also taking foods that strengthen essence, such as ginseng and garlic powder, to fortify the constitution.

Still others believe one should avoid grains entirely and eat only vegetables in the pursuit of immortality. There are too many theories to enumerate. Generally speaking, however, total avoidance of grains is certainly unsuitable for ordinary people, and even the question of vegetarianism need not be overemphasized. Practitioners can decide whether to eat meat or vegetarian food according to their own preferences and needs. Once the Conception and Governing Vessels are truly open, one naturally becomes averse to meat and fish and prefers plain vegetarian food. One point needs attention: whether food is meat-based or vegetarian, it must be light and fresh. Anything spoiled or obstructive to qi should not be eaten. One should also pay attention to eating small amounts more frequently. I quote a passage from the chapter on dietary purification in the Tianyinzi for reference:

Human beings receive the qi of the Five Phases and eat the substances of the Five Phases. One cannot abandon food and seek long life. People do not understand that suspending grain and ingesting qi is an expedient Daoist method, not a prescription to stop eating grain forever. Therefore eating has its purification and restraint.

Purification means attending to cleanliness; restraint means moderation. Eat when hungry, but do not eat to fullness: this is regulating the center. Do not eat food whose flavors have not matured; do not eat an excess of the five flavors; do not eat spoiled things or things that obstruct qi.

In the past, because I loved eating and often ate too much at each meal, I nearly brought illness upon myself. Fortunately I noticed early and adjusted in time, avoiding later trouble. This is truly an important matter in cultivating immortality. Su Dongpo is said to have received the authentic transmission of the inner method and believed that becoming an immortal was within reach. Unfortunately, after being pardoned and returning north, he passed through Yizheng, where relatives and friends invited him to banquets. Failing to exercise restraint, he finally fell ill and died. Practitioners should take warning from this.

Chapter Two: Living Quarters

Method, resources, companions, and place are the four principal conditions required in cultivating immortality. Practice requires a suitable place, preferably somewhere quiet, with fresh air and convenient conditions for daily living. In the past many people thought that choosing a secluded spot deep in the mountains, cut off from the world, was the best way to become an immortal. In fact this is not so. Awakening to Reality says:

This Way is supremely spiritual and supremely holy;
I fear your allotted portion is too slight to bear it.
Blending lead and mercury takes less than a morning;
Already you behold the signs of the Mysterious Pearl.
If a person of resolve can cultivate,
What harm is there in living in the market or serving at court?
The work is easy and the medicine not far away;
Once it is explained, people cannot help laughing.

Shangyangzi explains:

When lead and mercury unite and the Mysterious Pearl appears, this is called the Golden Elixir. This Golden Elixir is already provided for in the marketplace, at court, at home, in daily activity and nightly work, without fixed restrictions.

Fools in the world say that to cultivate the Dao one must live deep in the mountains, stay far from markets and court, send away one’s wife and abandon one’s children, and sit alone doing nothing. How could they understand the operation of true yin and true yang?

Clearly, at the initial stage of practice there is no need to run into deep mountains far from populated places and endure unnecessary hardships. As for the building one uses, spacious halls, luxurious houses, layered mattresses, and soft couches are certainly unnecessary. It should, however, be sturdy and safe, preferably facing south with its back to the north. The bed is best arranged with the head to the east and feet to the west. Air should circulate, but wind must not blow directly on the place where one sits or lies. The room should not be too large or high; excessive height produces too much yang and light. Nor should it be too small or low; excessive lowness produces too much yin and darkness. Lighting should be appropriate, preferably adjustable at will. Windows should have curtains that can be raised or lowered whenever needed. The door should be lockable, allowing one to withdraw from others and obtain peace.

Chapter Three: Daily Life

Ancient people cultivating immortality often cut themselves off from wives and children, abandoned the dusty world, and carried provisions into the mountains as a sign of resolve. Such conduct is, of course, admirable. But since Western customs spread eastward and the small-family system became widespread, this has in practice become unworkable in some respects. In my own case, I joined the army alone and eventually reached Taiwan after many difficulties. My family’s livelihood depends entirely on my work. If I suddenly abandoned wife and children and hid deep in the mountains, the helpless women and children would immediately face hardship. How could someone cultivating reality and studying immortality commit such “karma”?

Family life must therefore be maintained, and for the time being occupational work is also indispensable. This involves the second condition of cultivation, “resources,” and one cannot ignore reality. One point must nevertheless be mentioned: the nature of one’s work. Prolonged sitting, prolonged standing, prolonged toil, and prolonged exertion should all be avoided as far as possible. There should be appropriate regular exercise, but not to excess. I used to enjoy mountain hiking, often arranging all-day outings with three or five friends on holidays. Since beginning to refine qi, however, I have gradually reduced this activity. My holiday destinations are now limited to nearby hills, with routes no longer than fifteen kilometers, to avoid excessive fatigue. Replacing it with taijiquan or jogging would be still more suitable.

Part Eight: The Practice of the Qi-Refining Art of Immortality

The preceding parts have explained the knowledge, theories, and preparations involved in studying the Way of Immortality. The most important question is how to begin genuine cultivation and actual practice. Cultivating immortality is itself work that must be done in earnest. Otherwise, however much learning one has accumulated, if one can only sit and talk but cannot rise and act, knowing is no different from not knowing. In fact, even when the practices belong to the same school and are taught by the same teacher, results often differ because students differ in constitution, temperament, psychology, understanding, and moral character. Thus alchemical scriptures and Daoist books usually offer only a broad outline. The actual states must still be experienced by the student in practice.28

Chapter One: Refining Essence into Qi and Laying the Foundation

The work of refining essence into qi is also called laying the foundation. In those whose original bodily integrity has been broken, the true original vitality has already been depleted, and anyone undertaking cultivation of the Way of Immortality must begin by laying the foundation. Generally, one of the following three methods may be chosen for this work.

First is seated meditation. This method is widely used by the various schools descended from Shaoyang. Li Hanxu, founder of the Western school, said that merely practicing entry into deep obscurity took him several years before he felt confident of it. Clearly, it requires a great deal of time. Its effects, too, are slow to develop and its strength grows gradually, making it rather unsuitable for students over forty who are deficient in both qi and blood.

Second is the breathing method, also called expelling and drawing in. Its results are better than those of seated meditation. Recorded Conversations on Seeking the Way records the words of Master Yunyouzi—Mr. Jian of Daxi:

The Celestial Origin alchemical method begins with expelling and drawing in the breath. It can be practiced both by those whose youthful bodily integrity remains intact and by those in whom it has been broken. Moreover, if one counts those who have attained accomplishment through breath practice since ancient times, they are no fewer than those who have done so through the Great Way of the Golden Elixir. Among methods of cultivating perfection, the breathing method is foremost in being wholly free of harmful consequences.29

This passage is offered for reference.

Third is standing-post practice. Originally a foundational exercise for Chinese martial artists, it is also called horse-stance practice. It too can open the Conception and Governing Vessels. Mr. Sun Jingyang strongly advocated it in the past. The original text of his Natural Standing-Post Method reads:

Keep the eyes half open without looking outward, and do not listen outward with the ears. Quiet the mind, still thoughts, and forget everything. Loosen the waistband and separate the legs to shoulder width. Keep the head, body, back, waist, and arms straight, let the hands hang down, and stand with the legs slightly bent. This is called “standing post,” also known as standing in the horse stance. If the legs become sore, straighten up and rest. Then resume the stance and straighten up again, alternating in this way for about twenty minutes in all, with a minimum of fifteen. If it can be sustained for twenty-five or thirty minutes, so much the better. Practice every day without interruption, and the original qi in the lower abdomen will naturally increase, as will the strength of the legs. If the duration can subsequently be increased gradually to forty minutes or an hour, all illnesses will disappear.29 It is best practiced on an empty stomach on rising in the morning, before lunch, before dinner, or before bed. If time is short, practicing only on rising and before bed is also acceptable. Clothing should be warm during practice; strictly avoid exposure to wind and cold.

After prolonged standing-post practice, one naturally inhales more oxygen—yang qi—from the surrounding space and exhales less. This is the way of leaving death and entering life.29

Some also use seated meditation and breathing simultaneously. In my view, however, such parallel use seems less effective than concentrating first on breathing until qi is produced, and then proceeding to seated meditation in a sequential combination. Breathing methods are further divided into reverse breathing and natural breathing. Reverse breathing is quite effective, but is extremely difficult for the old and physically frail, and many abandon it halfway. Natural breathing is straightforward, easy to practice, and also effective. For the sake of wider accessibility, this book adopts natural breathing.

1. Preparations before Practice

(1) Posture

Either a seated or standing position may be adopted, but standing gives better results. Before practice, loosen the clothing and waistband. The preparatory stance is as follows: naturally separate the legs, with the feet shoulder-width apart; keep the waist, back, and neck naturally erect. Look straight ahead. Place the right palm flat against the lower abdomen at the elixir field, and rest the left palm lightly against the back of the right hand.

(2) Relaxation

Once standing steadily, first regulate the breathing evenly. When the mind is calm, gently close the eyes and lips. Imagine qi and blood descending from the Baihui point at the crown, from front, back, left, and right, in every direction, inside and out, passing gradually through every part—including hair, skin, muscles, bones, joints, channels, blood vessels, nerves, sense organs, internal organs, limbs, and the entire bodily frame—down to the soles of the feet.

(3) Practicing the Four-Word Formula

The four-word formula consists of inhaling, touching, drawing up, and closing. “Inhaling” means drawing in the breath. “Touching” means resting the tip of the tongue against the upper palate. “Drawing up” means drawing up the anus during practice. “Closing” has two explanations: one refers to gently closing the eyes during practice; the other to briefly pausing the breath and sealing after the medicine has been gathered and returned to the furnace. All four are methods of deliberate action within the stage of the Lesser Celestial Circuit. They should be performed easily and naturally, without excessive attention or effort.

2. Breathing Practice

After completing the three preparatory actions above and lightly resting the tongue-tip against the upper palate, lean the upper body slightly forward. Apply slight pressure with both palms, draw in the lower abdomen a little, and exhale a breath of turbid air.30 Then begin inhaling. At first, divide the inhalation into five small draws, bringing each one to the elixir field. The lower abdomen should slowly expand outward in coordination with the incoming breath. Take care not to fill the lungs in a single draw or push the whole lower abdomen outward at once. The abdomen should reach its fullest expansion only when all five draws have been completed. While inhaling, also pay attention to drawing up the anus. When the inhalation is complete, stop breathing for five seconds, keeping the anus drawn up during the pause. After the pause, relax the anus while slowly exhaling through the nostrils, again in five stages.

At the beginning, maintain five seconds inhaling, five seconds pausing, and five seconds exhaling. With greater familiarity, extend both inhalation and exhalation to ten seconds while retaining the five-second pause. As skill develops, gradually adjust the pattern from ten–five–ten to fifteen–five–fifteen, and finally to twenty–five–twenty.29

3. Opening the Conception Vessel

When the breathing has been adjusted to ten–five–ten, concentrate during inhalation and imagine precelestial true qi in the surrounding space, like a stream of water emitting light and heat, descending through the crown. With each incoming breath, it flows from the forehead along the Conception Vessel directly into the elixir field. During the pause, imagine the qi in the elixir field as a mass of fierce fire, shining, giving off heat, and burning. During exhalation, imagine currents of true qi rising from the elixir field with the outgoing breath to the Danzhong (Chest Center) point between the breasts, and imagine a ball of fire at that point emitting heat and light.

When the breathing has been adjusted to fifteen–five–fifteen, imagine the qi entering at the forehead and, with the inhalation, flowing in streams from the elixir field through the Huiyin point, down the inner sides of both legs, to the Bubbling Spring points in the soles. During the pause, imagine the true qi in the two soles as two masses of fierce fire, radiating heat and burning. During exhalation, imagine the true qi in the soles rising from below in streams with the outgoing breath, passing through the Huiyin point. When it reaches the elixir field, imagine a ball of fire burning there. When it rises to the Danzhong (Chest Center), imagine a ball of fire there, burning and emitting heat and light.

Beginners will indeed find this difficult at first, but it soon becomes habitual. Daily practice must not be less than an hour; the longer the better. It may be divided into sessions, but no session should be shorter than fifteen minutes, and the daily total must still be at least an hour.29

4. Prohibitions during Practice

  1. Do not practice within an hour after eating; otherwise abdominal pain and other adverse effects can readily occur.

  2. Do not practice within thirty minutes before or after bathing. Especially after a hot bath, the pores of the whole body are open and true qi can easily leak away, making practice unsuitable. After true opening of the Conception and Governing Vessels, however, this prohibition need no longer be considered.

  3. Strictly avoid excessive drinking. Alcohol clouds the spirit and is inherently unsuitable for qi refinement. After severe intoxication, in particular, all the body’s true qi may disperse.

  4. Do not stay up late or overexert yourself. Both necessarily overdraw physical strength and are major prohibitions in practice.

  5. Before the Conception and Governing Vessels open, avoid sexual intercourse as far as possible, lest it consume vitality and impede progress.

  6. Take a broad, accepting view of events; keep the mind peaceful and the temper even, avoiding mental strain. Above all, avoid flares of unenlightened anger and violent temper.

5. Practice before Opening the Passes

When following the methods above, students may initially feel heat throughout the body and sweat all over. As the movements become familiar, body and mind can gradually relax, and the area of warmth correspondingly contracts, finally concentrating in three places: the soles, the elixir field, and the Danzhong (Chest Center). Particularly at the elixir field, once the work reaches a certain degree, simply concentrating intent brings a sensation of intense, burning warmth. This demonstrates that yang qi has arisen and gathered there. With continued practice, the yang qi in the elixir field grows stronger, the heat intensifies, and sensations of movement and collision gradually arise within the lower abdomen. It then gradually moves toward and gathers around the tailbone. This indicates that the time for opening the passes and expanding the apertures is near. During breaks, students should begin practicing the movement for opening the pass. Stand facing a table or chair-back, supporting the hands upon it. Lean the upper body slightly forward and, using the force of drawing the tailbone upward, concentrate intent and imagine qi entering through the coccyx, passing the Tailbone Barrier and pressing toward the Spinal Pass. Practice this for about ten to fifteen minutes.

6. Qi Passing through the Conception and Governing Vessels

When, during breathing practice or rest, students feel true qi moving strongly in the lower abdomen and shifting in quantity toward the tailbone, they may adopt the posture just described, with hands supported on a table or chair-back. Strengthen the inhalation and use intent to gather the qi at the Huiyin point. During the pause, imagine a ball of fire burning at both the Huiyin point and the tailbone, tighten the anus, and imagine the qi moving from the Huiyin point toward the tailbone. After the pause, concentrate intent and begin exhaling, guiding the qi from the tailbone into the spine. Continue upward, passing the Jade Pillow and proceeding in a straight line from the center of the back of the head, through the Baihui point at the crown, to the forehead.

Then inhale again, bringing down the true qi that has reached the forehead and returning it along the Conception Vessel to the elixir field. When all the qi has returned, regulate the breathing and gently nourish it for a moment before stopping the fire. The Conception and Governing Vessels are now open, and a small accomplishment has been attained.

This is the most important part of laying the foundation. When the Conception and Governing Vessels first open, concentrate intent and open the channel in a single sustained effort. During the movement, strictly avoid stray thoughts or divided attention, lest the qi enter a side channel and cause “fire deviation.” The methods in this book also differ from those of other schools. The stage of opening the Governing Vessel is generally called “advancing the fire.” Most other schools use inhalation, whereas this book uses exhalation. The stage of returning to the elixir field through the Conception Vessel is generally called “withdrawing the tally.” Most other schools use exhalation, whereas this book uses inhalation. Furthermore, in advancing the fire and withdrawing the tally, other schools include stages of “bathing” and “warming and nourishing” at the Mao, Wu, and You positions. This likewise differs from the method here, which is completed in one continuous movement. I note these differences for reference.

7. Seated Meditation

After completing the foregoing work, when yang qi can pass through the Conception and Governing Vessels and the River Chariot revolves, guidance by intent is still required. This is only the stage of “qi passage.” It is still postcelestial work, not precelestial, and its effects are not yet marked. One must continue cultivating and refining until the River Chariot turns of itself, the yang qi of the elixir field activates spontaneously without deliberate intervention, the passes and apertures open, and the celestial circuit revolves. Only this is the precelestial state. In actual practice, most students can initially reach only the stage of qi passage. They must therefore make further use of seated meditation to bring forth the original spirit and strengthen yang qi, seeking the state in which the Dharma wheel revolves of itself and the River Chariot carries its treasure.

(1) Posture for Seated Meditation

Cultivation of the Way of Immortality differs from Buddhist seated meditation. After qi begins to move, not only do many spontaneous movements occur in the hands, but from the middle stage onward movements also appear in the feet—for example, the left big toe pressing firmly against the right big toe, which the alchemical classics call “connecting Heaven and Earth.” Thus the full- and half-lotus positions commonly used in Buddhism are both unsuitable for the Way of Immortality. In fact, after true passage of the River Chariot is attained, practice can take place at any time, walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. Posture is then no longer important; attention to it is needed only in the initial stage. In my experience, a natural cross-legged position or upright sitting is more suitable. When sitting, however, observe these requirements: “tailbone centered and upright; chest contained and back extended; waist straight and shoulders sunk; head and neck upright.”

“Tailbone centered and upright”: the tailbone here means the Tailbone Barrier, in the buttock region. To keep the lower body stable while seated, make every effort to keep the tailbone centered and upright. If sitting naturally cross-legged, use a cushion of suitable thickness to avoid tilting.

“Chest contained” means not thrusting out the chest. Containing it naturally straightens the back, with the aim of aligning the lumbar spine. Do not, however, hunch or bend at the waist in the process, which would make it difficult for yang qi to pass through the barriers.

“Waist straight and shoulders sunk”: keep the lumbar spine straight while sitting, without thrusting it forward. Do not shrug the shoulders, lest this disturb the alignment of the lower back.

“Head and neck upright”: let the crown extend naturally upward, draw in the chin, and keep the neck naturally vertical, as in standing at attention during gymnastics.

These directions concern the body. The hands should be positioned to suit the sitting posture. When sitting naturally cross-legged, rest both palms lightly upon the knees. Alternatively, place the right hand palm-up on the thigh in front of the abdomen, with the left hand palm-up upon it, resting over the left thigh.31 Rest the right thumb lightly on the left palm, and the left thumb lightly on the right thumb. Or place the hands palm-down on the respective knees. When sitting upright, place each hand palm-down lightly on the corresponding thigh near the lower abdomen.

(2) Essentials of Seated Meditation

Before beginning, open the doors and windows to let air circulate, but take care that wind does not blow directly on the sitter. Lighting should be neither too bright nor too dim. Undo the waistband beforehand and ensure the clothes are loose. Once seated, first put aside all stray thoughts and keep the mind calm. Then:

  1. Wear a slight smile and gently close the eyelids.

  2. Bring the lips gently together and lightly touch the tongue-tip to the upper palate.

  3. Regulate the breathing so that breath passes slowly in and out through the nose, as fine and long as possible.

Turn the hearing of both ears inward. Listen to what? To your own breathing and to the signs within the elixir field. At this point readers may ask: how can one listen to the breath? Of course, I do not literally mean using the ears to hear the breath. I mean that, by “listening,” you concentrate your attention on breathing. In other words, this teaches you to listen with the mind, not actually with the ears. And the elixir field? When your practice reaches utmost emptiness and profound stillness, perhaps a sign will appear. The Classic of the Way and Virtue says: “Bring emptiness to the utmost; guard stillness steadfastly. The myriad things arise together, and I observe their return.” Here, at this time, “return” means the return of the single yang. The Scripture of Clarity and Stillness also says: “If people can remain clear and still, heaven and earth will all return.” Stillness may be called the foundation of everything.

The greatest distinguishing features of the method described in this book are emptiness and stillness. If these are truly attained, signs will naturally arise in the elixir field. When they do, simply continue listening. The celestial mechanism will naturally surge into activity, and the true qi of original yang will pour from the elixir field. At this time, let the Heavenly Dipper operate within and its handle shift of itself. That current of qi will pass through the tailbone, rise to the Baihui point, open the passes and apertures, and set the River Chariot revolving without the least deliberate intervention. During the following day or two, the practitioner may also notice a distinctive sweetness in the saliva coming up and waves of fragrance in the outgoing breath. Only at this point have the Conception and Governing Vessels truly opened, and has one truly entered the state of the Lesser Celestial Circuit.

(3) Matters Requiring Attention in Seated Meditation

1. Stray thoughts. These are also called deluded thoughts. Beginners often feel that they have fewer stray thoughts when not meditating, whereas as soon as they sit, thoughts large and small crowd in, suddenly multiplying. In fact, people always have many thoughts; they simply do not notice them ordinarily and only become aware of them after sitting quietly. But the alchemical classics say: “Do not fear thoughts arising; fear only failing to recognize them. The arising of thought is the illness; not continuing it is the cure.” During seated meditation, therefore, remain alert at all times. On noticing a thought arise, immediately put it aside and let the mind return to clarity and stillness. With time and deeper practice, stray thoughts naturally diminish.

2. Drowsiness. After prolonged sitting, stray thoughts gradually lessen, but once they diminish, the problem of drowsiness follows close behind. Most people must face this. Drowsiness differs from entering stillness: after entering stillness, the practitioner feels clear-headed, with fewer stray thoughts and reduced response to external stimuli; after ending the practice, the whole body feels comfortable and the spirit refreshed. Drowsiness, by contrast, brings mental fogginess, alternating clear and confused awareness, and sometimes sudden startled awakening. Essential Sayings of the Daoist Gate attributes this to “the methods of ascending and descending not yet being properly balanced while sitting and practicing stillness.” It also says:

Though ascending and descending are coarse work, they too have a method. Raise too high, and spirit and qi inevitably scatter; lower too far, and drowsiness and sleepiness inevitably arise.

When spirit and qi rise, the eyes see the world as empty and one’s capacity equals heaven and earth. This is the expansive unfolding of spring and summer, nurturing all things. At this point, do not raise them further. Further raising makes spirit and qi diffuse and unable to return, a condition that will not cease until they are exhausted. Thus the Daoists have a method of lowering. Lowering is concealing: what is called hiding the heart in the abyss and merging qi with the boundless stillness, bringing eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind into the single deeply mysterious opening. This is the withdrawal and concealment of autumn and winter, returning to the root and restoring vital existence. Conceal them in this way for a long time; sleeping or waking does not matter. The important thing is to understand that qi may sleep, but the mind must not. Only then will one avoid drowsiness and laxity.

This passage is very well put.

For ordinary people, however, it is not easy to practice, and attaining the state in which “qi sleeps but the mind does not” is certainly not accomplished in a single leap. Generally, drowsiness arises when prolonged sitting brings fatigue. If practice has already reached the stage where qi moves and inner states arise, the mind naturally follows the qi, lifting lightly and revolving subtly, neither forgetting nor assisting. Where, then, would drowsiness come from? This is precisely why this book places seated meditation after breathing practice. Since drowsiness is something that inevitably occurs in the course of practice, there is no need to worry too much about it. If you want to sleep, simply go to sleep; resume cultivation after sleeping enough. Once the Heavenly Heart appears and true qi arises, the problem will naturally resolve itself.

3. Qi movement or swaying. After entering stillness for a time, some people feel a current of qi darting about within the body, twitching in certain muscles or joints, or swaying of the head, neck, or body. This signifies two things:

  1. True qi has arisen within the body.

  2. Qi and blood do not flow freely in some part of the body.

When students encounter this, there is no need to attend to it. It will disappear after a time.29

8. Slaying the Three Corpses and Opening the Eight Vessels

Although human beings are the most spiritually endowed of all creatures, they remain one kind of creature among the myriad. All the ingrained faults found in other animals are likewise present in us from birth. Desire for sensual pleasures, attachment to the profit of possessions, joy, anger, love, and hatred are common to everyone. Ancient cultivators attributed these faults to the mischief of the Three Corpses, saying: “The Three Corpses take form through yin qi and become active in response to selfish desires.” Thus the Yellow Court Classic says: “Superior practitioners cultivate virtue to subdue them; inferior practitioners ingest medicines to remove them.” A scroll of the Book of Yingyang further says: “Intermediate practitioners keep vigil on the gengshen day to restrain them.” More concrete accounts say:

The Upper Corpse, Peng Ju, resides in the head, attacks the ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and teeth, and brings on the signs of old age. The Middle Corpse, Peng Zhi, resides in the abdomen, attacks the viscera, and recklessly commits all kinds of evil through cravings for food and desire. The Lower Corpse, Peng Jiao, resides in the limbs and joints, stirring the seven emotions beyond self-restraint. The harm of the Three Corpses is passed on to descendants. Unless students of the Way first remove the Three Corpses, diligent breathing exercises, ingestion of medicines, and abstention from grain merely conform outwardly to the foundation of the Way; longevity cannot be attained.

The Way of Immortality also has a method of removing the Three Corpses: using qi to open the Eight Vessels. Once all eight are open, the Three Corpses are naturally slain. Opening the Eight Vessels is therefore an extremely important subject in cultivation. The methods of opening them may broadly be divided into two types.

(1) Natural Opening

This may occur in either of two ways.

1. Opening the vessels one by one.

After attaining true opening of the Conception and Governing Vessels through the seated meditation described above, students continue sitting, and the other vessels naturally open one by one. In fact, with the method in this book, most of the Yin Heel Vessel has already opened during the practice of inhaling down to the soles, even before the Governing Vessel opens. What remain are the five vessels: Yang Heel, Yang Linking, Yin Linking, Belt, and Thoroughfare. When the work reaches the necessary degree, all open spontaneously. Past experience shows that, apart from the Belt and Thoroughfare Vessels, the other four open easily. The Belt and Thoroughfare Vessels, however, are numinous vessels. Although important for later true cultivation, they are extremely difficult to open.

2. Opening them all at once.

When students’ practice of the seated meditation above reaches maturity, they may suddenly feel the qi in the elixir field explode, as though all the body’s channels were shaken open at once. The alchemical classics refer to this when they say: “Suddenly, a thunderclap at midnight; a thousand gates and ten thousand doors all open together.” Practitioners also call it “the elixir exploding.” This is of course an excellent occurrence, but a rare one.

(2) Deliberate Opening

This is an expedient method used when students cannot open the channels naturally. In fact, once true passage of the River Chariot is established, every vessel except the Belt and Thoroughfare Vessels can open of itself. Moreover, with this book’s method, true qi has already reached the soles before the Governing Vessel opens, and most of the Yin Heel Vessel has therefore already opened. This is another difference from other schools.

Further explanation is offered below for reference.

1. First open the Conception and Governing Vessels and accumulate qi in the elixir field. Let the River Chariot make one circuit. After the yang qi returns to the elixir field, guide it with intent to the Huiyin point.

2. Opening the channels of the legs.32 Guide the yang qi at the Huiyin point down the inner sides of both legs to the Bubbling Spring points in the soles. Pause briefly, then guide the qi upward along the outer edges of the feet and the outer sides of the legs, through the tailbone to the Gate of Life. All the leg channels can thereby be opened.

3. Opening the channels of the arms. Continue guiding the yang qi upward from the Gate of Life. When it reaches the Great Vertebra point on the back below the neck, let the qi travel forward along the outer sides of the arms, around the backs of the hands, and into both palms. Pause briefly, then guide it from the palms along the inner sides of both arms back to the Danzhong (Chest Center), at the middle of the chest, and from there back to the elixir field. The channels of both arms are thereby opened.

4. Opening the Belt Vessel. The Belt Vessel generally refers to a channel running leftward from the Gate of Life around to the elixir field in front, then rightward from the elixir field around the waist and back to the Gate of Life. But according to my experience and that of many fellow practitioners, the true Belt Vessel actually begins at the Huiyin point and spirals clockwise upward all the way to the Baihui point at the center of the crown. Whether this vessel opens bears upon the later stages of “refining qi into spirit” and “refining spirit and returning to emptiness.” Natural opening is the most complete. Deliberate methods can at most open the portion around the waist. They are as follows.

a. Guidance method. After practicing the Lesser Celestial Circuit and returning yang qi to the elixir field, rest briefly. Then guide the yang qi with intent to the tailbone and upward to the Gate of Life. Starting there, guide it to the left, around the front and to the right, circling the waist once before returning to the Gate of Life. The part of the Belt Vessel around the waist can thereby be opened.

b. Turning the windlass. Turning the windlass is one of the Eight Pieces of Brocade exercises, with single and double forms. First bend both arms. Rotate the left hand together with shoulder and arm in circles thirty-six times, then do the same with the right hand, shoulder, and arm thirty-six times. This is the single form. In the double form, extend both arms forward with fists closed as though holding oars. First raise them, then draw the arms back and the fists inward to chest level, and push forward again as though rowing.33 Practice nine repetitions at a time. With prolonged practice, this too can open the Belt Vessel.

c. Winding and turning the girdle. This is a method of opening the Belt Vessel in external-elixir exercises. Prolonged practice can also make it effective.

5. Opening the Thoroughfare Vessel. The Thoroughfare Vessel is also called the Thoroughfare Vessel [repetition in the supplied text].34 In fact, this vessel cannot be opened by deliberate means. Even if it could be opened, unless the crown opening is open, the true qi within the body still cannot communicate with precelestial true qi outside, and the effect remains limited. Let us first consider how the Thoroughfare Vessel opens spontaneously. Books generally call this state “refining the form with true fire.” According to Secret Writings on the Celestial Mechanism:

In deep absorption, one suddenly feels an icy pain arise beneath the right foot, within the Bubbling Spring point. It passes through the leg and knee and reaches the region between the two kidneys, ceasing only after three days. This is called “the reed shoot piercing the knee.” Wait until the pain reaches its utmost, passes the Mysterious Pass, and travels through the Spinal Pass to Niwan. Then inhale the red sun at the Hall of Impressions into the Middle Palace, lower it to the elixir field, and send it with intent to the painful place. Circle it once with the gaze, and the red light condenses into something like a pearl of fire. It reverses and rises from the Tailbone Point. Again send forth the true fire of samādhi to press against it.

At this time, all the joints of the body make sounds like beans frying, cracking open with unceasing noise. Bones and flesh burn with heat, as though cut by knives. Even the stoutest man has not the slightest control at this point. Send forth the fire and press again. After three such assaults, the qi of the three hundred and sixty joints rushes directly up to Niwan. A thunderclap sounds within the head, and the crown opening opens. At this moment, like an eagle seizing a rabbit or a cat catching a mouse, the lead dragon and mercury tiger cling tightly and will not let go. The head is hard as stone, the abdomen hot as a furnace, beyond description. All the blood and qi of the body seem able to speak, clamoring in a mass below. Suddenly sweet dew descends. Set a spark of spirit-fire in motion and gather it in the Middle Palace of mutual response. This is Golden Liquid and Jade Liquid, forming the millet-sized Mysterious Pearl as it descends to the Yellow Court. At this point, one observes inwardly the five viscera and six bowels, each as clear as though illuminated by a candle. One feels only a burning that reaches through heaven and earth, all red light, filling and flowing everywhere, transforming the body into pure yang. At this time, one has no command over oneself.

Remember above all not to become afraid. This is yin unwilling to submit to true yang, transforming into scenes of every kind to injure one’s resolve toward the Way. Simply remain utterly still and enter deep absorption; the myriad demons will withdraw of themselves.

This is an experience described by Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng. I myself underwent this process on February 24, 1986. It occurred as follows:

While sitting quietly that evening, the qi mechanism in the elixir field became extremely powerful, and true qi spontaneously followed the Conception and Governing Vessels as many as nine times.

After it stopped, I felt hungry, went to the kitchen to drink a bottle of milk, and returned to sit briefly in the living room. The qi mechanism in the elixir field activated again. Once settled in sitting, I felt a powerful current rise from the tailbone into the abdomen. I hurriedly tried to guide it with intent toward the spinal opening, but it did not heed the guidance. Instead, twisting and springing of itself, it leaped upward stage by stage. On reaching the chest, it took on the form of a seesaw: its front end pressed sharply downward directly against the chest, while its rear end sprang rapidly upward. A great current of qi followed the upward spring and rushed straight toward the crown. Only after several repetitions did I realize this was the opening of the Central Channel. But despite repeated impacts, no opening appeared at the crown. I became very anxious and greatly hoped that whatever was directing the process—by then I had realized that another governing presence actually existed within this body—would persevere and not abandon it halfway. After more impacts, opening the crown seemed hopeless.

Suddenly my head began rotating to the right of itself, faster and faster. Within the head, it felt as though a rapidly revolving centrifugal force were pulling upward and outward. Abruptly the pressure diminished. It seemed that the entire crown had opened, and countless white rays, like silver needles of light, shot from the cranial cavity beyond the crown into the air. Soon they fell back in profusion, and I vaguely sensed external qi entering with them. When it descended to the throat, a round airway appeared, with a bright star slowly falling through it. At the same time, I felt the chest opening upward.

A jar-shaped object appeared. After the bright star descended with the qi into its mouth, it mingled with the true qi rising from the lower abdomen. The two qi twisted and wound around each other without ceasing. Soon a sun-like, lattice-shaped object appeared and gradually descended to the Middle Court before coming to rest.35 At this point, the elixir field felt as though it had emptied. The sense of pressure and solidity present for many days suddenly disappeared. After rising from sitting, I felt a cool breeze at the crown, as if qi were entering from outside. It seemed that the Central Channel had finally opened.

Takafuji Sōichirō’s related explanation has already been recorded on page 58 of this book; please consult it as well.36 Some also hold that diligent practice of the Eight Pieces of Brocade exercise “Hands at the Waist, Supporting Heaven on Left and Right” can help open the Central Channel. Students might try it. The method follows.

Place one hand at the waist and raise the other. When it reaches eyebrow level, turn it palm-up, support it above the head, and straighten the arm. At the same time, turn the eyes upward to look at the back of the hand. Alternate the hands, left first and then right, performing five to ten repetitions on each side per session.

6. Opening the Side Channels.

The Side Channels are not among the Eight Extraordinary Vessels; they are channels distributed along the left and right sides of the body. Esoteric Buddhist practitioners often emphasize the importance of opening them and say: “Ascending behind and descending in front is transport by the River Chariot; ascending on the left and descending on the right is the celestial circuit revolving of itself.” Some therefore call opening the Side Channels “turning the celestial circuit.” These channels are very easy to open. Once the Eight Vessels have opened, the Side Channels usually open spontaneously. After performing the Lesser Celestial Circuit, students may also guide yang qi with intent to the Huiyin point, then leftward from there along the left side of the lower abdomen and chest to the crown, before returning along the corresponding places on the right to the Huiyin point. This completes the process.37

Chapter Two: Refining Qi into Spirit

1. Gathering the Medicine and Forming the Elixir

Gathering the medicine and forming the elixir is the most important part of the qi-refining work of the Way of Immortality. The Awakening to Reality says: “Only after swallowing a grain of the Golden Elixir into the belly do I know that my life depends on me, not on Heaven.” If cultivation does not yield the “elixir,” its utmost achievement can only be to strengthen the body and prolong life. This is why even the finest practice of qigong ultimately cannot attain the Great Accomplishment. Whether the elixir can be formed therefore determines the success or failure of cultivation. Forming the elixir, in turn, depends on gathering the medicine, and the alchemical classics pay particularly close attention to this. The Awakening to Reality says: “Cultivating the Great Medicine has its ease and its difficulty; know that it depends both on me and on Heaven. Unless one accumulates good deeds and cultivates hidden virtue, a host of demons will arise to obstruct the undertaking.” Lu Ziye likewise held: “The Way of the Golden Elixir was, for the ancients, transmitted once in ten thousand kalpas; it is no ordinary, trivial matter. The higher the Way, the stronger the demons. Without the support of hidden virtue, one must fear that one’s resolve will be broken.” Such were the opinions of our predecessors. Students would do well to ponder them carefully.

As for the medicine itself, the Wu–Liu school distinguishes between the Great Medicine and the Lesser Medicine. Liu Huayang says: “When one first gathers the medicine in performing the Greater Celestial Circuit, it is called the Great Medicine. Here, when one first gathers the medicine in performing the Lesser Celestial Circuit, it is called the Lesser Medicine, or the True Seed.” The Western school also distinguishes between greater and lesser medicine. Li Hanxu says: “The medicine has its lesser and greater forms, and the Way is divided into the precelestial and the postcelestial. The postcelestial forms the Lesser Medicine, which is used to form the elixir. The precelestial produces the Great Medicine, which is used for the Reverted Elixir.” The Lesser Medicine is also called the Elixir Seed. It is generally held that, because the practitioner’s true qi is insufficient to produce the Great Medicine, the Lesser Medicine is obtained first. If cultivation continues after the Lesser Medicine arises, then, after three hundred wondrous celestial circuits—that is, the River Chariot bearing its treasure and revolving naturally—the elixir matures and the fire is stopped, and the Great Medicine can then be obtained. Thus the Lesser Celestial Circuit may occur many times, whereas the Greater Celestial Circuit is needed only once.

These differing explanations arise chiefly from differences in the methods used to lay the foundation. Those who begin directly with seated meditation commonly encounter these circumstances because their work proceeds slowly and its strength develops gradually. Those who begin with the breathing method described in this book, however, can produce the medicine within a short time if they also strengthen their intent. Moreover, there is then no greater or lesser medicine: a sufficient amount is gathered at once, and the stage at which the elixir matures and the fire stops is reached very quickly. This was the experience both of the author and of my wife, Ms. Liu Ruisong.

The Wu–Liu school also holds that “When the medicine is produced, the spirit knows; those who do not know miss it before their very eyes.” It further says: “If the medicine is old and its qi has dispersed, the elixir will not form. If the medicine is tender and its qi weak, the elixir likewise cannot form. It must be neither old nor tender, as when one has just emerged from bathing and a warm breeze gently suffuses one. At this moment, neither old nor tender, it is just right to gather and circulate, and the elixir can be formed!” This assertion that “the elixir can be formed” actually embraces both the maturity of the medicine and the degree of the firing times. Although the explanation sounds clear, carrying it out is not necessarily so simple. In reality, when the medicine arises, a field of white light flashes before one’s eyes, the two kidneys feel as if they are boiling in a pot, the two ears ring like electricity, and the whole body seems to boil. When beginners encounter such a scene, how many can remain unflustered? How could they still distinguish whether the medicine is old or tender?

Furthermore, how old must it be to count as old, and how tender to count as tender? No one can provide a standard. To ask someone entirely inexperienced to distinguish these things in a single instant is surely easier said than done. Such statements therefore amount to saying nothing, and seem only to confuse people. The real key lies in the single phrase “When the medicine is produced, the spirit knows.” Although the early work of “refining essence into qi” is the business of the discerning spirit, gathering the medicine and forming the elixir belongs entirely to the original spirit. On reaching this state, the practitioner has only this to do: “Maintain emptiness; guard stillness; neither forget nor assist.” At that time, you must remain composed, refrain from bringing deliberate awareness into play, and allow everything to arise naturally and come to its natural outcome.38

In addition, some alchemical books call the method of gathering the Great Medicine and taking it through the passes “Five Dragons Supporting the Sage,” and regard it as an untransmitted secret. Some even describe the “five dragons” as five dragons colored red, black, blue-green, white, and yellow. The chapter “Wondrous Secret of the Celestial Mechanism for Taking the Great Medicine through the Passes” in Secret Writings on the Celestial Mechanism says:

When the Great Medicine is passing through the barriers, the Golden Elixir is in the Cavity of Qi and stirs again three times. One should use true intent to guide the Sacred Embryo upward from the Tailbone Point. It is like a maggot crawling, like the heat of a fire, and also like hot air swirling. It rises from the waist and presses upward to the Spinal Pass. At this time, imagine red and black qi at the Spinal Pass, separately escorting the elixir. Naturally the Fire Dragon guards the right and the Water Dragon the left. Take care not to open the pass. Straighten the spine and silently guard the Sacred Embryo. Wait until the heat is intense and the qi strong; then gradually open the Spinal Pass and let the qi through. Concentrate your intent upon this. The Water Dragon guards the left and the Fire Dragon the right; the Blue-green, White, and Yellow Dragons escort the elixir upward. Guide it through with intent.

It reaches the Jade Pillow directly. Raise the face, and at the back of the head close off the upper pass of the Jade Pillow. Silently guard the Mysterious Pearl. Take care not to open the pass. Guide it with intent into the brain palace to replenish the Sea of Marrow at Niwan. Guard it with intent. This is called the Three Flowers Passing over the Crown. Pause briefly, for the space of a breath. One then feels sweet dew descending in the mouth, shaped like sparrow’s eggs, falling bead after bead, like sugar or honey, dripping down in clusters. The nasal opening opens: great care is needed. Swallow as soon as you become aware of it, taking it past the Storied Tower and sending it with undivided intent into the Yellow Court. When all the Great Medicine has descended, perform one Mao–You Celestial Circuit. Then perform seven days of hibernation practice, dying and coming back to life. From this point onward, do not operate the Dharma wheel of the Lesser Celestial Circuit for gathering and refining, nor advance the fire and withdraw the tally. Such is the mysterious mechanism of the seven days of gathering the Great Medicine. One should now practice the Jade Dew and Golden Liquid Reverted Elixir, the Mao–You Celestial Circuit, ascending on the left and descending on the right, and the ten months of nourishing the embryo.

Zhao Bichen likewise says in his Clear Instructions on the Methods of Inner Nature and Vital Existence:

The relic-seed moves freely within the seminal sac and touches the Yang Pass below; the Yang Pass has already been closed. It can then turn upward of itself and strike toward the heart region. Because the Thoroughfare Vessel at the heart region does not open, the qi descends and naturally turns downward and backward to stir the Governing Vessel. Without the method of Five Dragons Supporting the Sage—drawing in, touching with the tongue, pinching, closing, and lifting the spirit with the Sheep Cart—it cannot pass the Tailbone Barrier. Of itself it turns downward from the tailbone and rushes toward the Grain Passage. The Grain Passage opens easily; the Great Medicine leaks away, and the previous work is wasted. This is the danger of the Lower Magpie Bridge, where the two Perfected Ones, Cao and Qiu, lost their elixir in former times. Prepare a wooden seat shaped like a steamed bun, covered in cotton to make it soft. Sit with it against the Grain Passage so that its raised surface prevents the Great Medicine from rushing downward. This is the implement for external containment. When the Great Medicine rises internally into the Governing Vessel, have a companion in the Way lightly pinch the tailbone.

When it meets an obstruction at the tailbone and the True Treasure remains still, using intent to lead it upward is a heterodox, side-door method and cannot take it through the pass. As soon as true intent is applied within the heart, the pass closes of itself. Hence the method of Five Dragons Supporting the Sage is the correct work of skillful guidance. When the True Treasure meets an obstruction and does not move, keep intent motionless and concentrate the spirit without moving. The companion pinches the tailbone until the marrow loosens. Press a hand against the Opening of Life and Death, and the qi of the True Treasure will strike the Tailbone Barrier of itself. Wait until it moves spontaneously before guiding it; do not guide it in order to make it move.

Suddenly it moves of itself and presses through the barrier. Follow the impulse of its movement, press a hand against the Opening of Life and Death, and support it upward. Turn the two eyes gently and slowly, like a sheep pulling a cart, with great strength but slight sinews, guiding it gently upward. Touch the tongue to the upper palate. Following the spontaneous movement of the True Treasure, draw a breath inward through the nose and straighten the lower back. With a gurgle, it naturally enters the Tailbone Barrier. The companion swiftly pinches upward, and the True Treasure rises stage by stage. At the Spinal Pass it encounters an obstruction and ceases to move. The companion lightly pinches the Spinal Pass. If one uses intent to guide it upward, that is a heterodox, side-door method and cannot get it through the Spinal Pass. As soon as true intent is used within the heart, the pass closes of itself. Hence the method of Five Dragons Supporting the Sage is the correct work of skillful guidance. When the True Treasure meets an obstruction and remains still, keep intent motionless and concentrate the spirit without moving. The companion pinches the Spinal Pass until the marrow loosens. Press a hand against the Opening of Life and Death, and the qi of the True Treasure will strike the Spinal Pass of itself. Wait for it to break through of its own accord before guiding and supporting it. Do not guide first and support afterward.

Suddenly it opens the passage of itself. Follow the impulse of its movement, press a hand against the Opening of Life and Death, and support it upward. Turn the two eyes quickly, like a deer pulling a cart, light and swift, with the intention of quickly lifting the True Treasure. Touch the tongue to the upper palate. Following the spontaneous impulse of true intent, draw a breath inward through the nose and straighten the lower back. With a gurgle, it naturally breaks through the Spinal Pass. The companion swiftly pinches upward, and the True Treasure rises stage by stage to the Jade Pillow Pass, where it encounters an obstruction and ceases to move.

The companion quickly pinches the Jade Pillow Pass. Keep intent motionless and concentrate the spirit without moving. The companion pinches the Jade Pillow until it grows hot and loosens. Press a hand against the Opening of Life and Death, and the qi of the True Treasure will strike the Jade Pillow Pass of itself. Wait for it to break through spontaneously before guiding and supporting it; do not guide first and support afterward. Suddenly it moves of itself and opens the Jade Pillow passage. Follow the impulse of its movement, press a hand against the Opening of Life and Death, and support it upward. This is the ascent of Five Dragons Supporting the Sage. Turn the two eyes forcefully upward, like an ox pulling a cart. The eyes must be turned upward with force.39 Touch the tongue to the upper palate. Following the spontaneous movement of the True Treasure, draw a breath inward through the nose and straighten the lower back. With a gurgle, it naturally breaks through the Jade Pillow Pass. The companion swiftly pinches upward at the Wind Mansion, warming its marrow opening. The marrow loosens, and the True Treasure enters the Wind Mansion stage by stage, meets and joins the medulla, passes inward to the cerebellum, crosses the pons, and reaches the center of the cerebrum: the spirit-and-qi chamber of true inner nature.

This treasure of the qi of true vital existence meets the treasure of the spirit of true inner nature. The two treasures, spirit and qi, unite, so that inner nature and vital existence share one palace. The companion uses “wooden lai-nian” to block the nostrils, preventing leakage through the nose.40 Quickly close both eyes and rotate them from left to right, nine turns followed by a pause, looking at the wisdom-light in the center. Again rotate them nine times from left to right and pause. Make four sets of nine turns in this way, pausing after each set. This is how the eyes are rotated to advance yang. Then open the eyes and rotate them six times from right to left; close them and look at the wisdom-light. Open them again, rotate them six times from right to left, and close them again to look at the wisdom-light. Make four sets of six in this way. This is the withdrawal of yin. To unite spirit and qi in the brain, the eyes must always be rotated. The True Treasure of spirit and qi united within gathers in one place, called the Precelestial True Seed. Direct both eyes downward, and the True Seed detaches and descends from the root of the Ancestral Opening through the channel of the Mysterious Ying Point. Guide it forward and down to the interior of the Hall of Impressions.

When the qi is obstructed and cannot pass, it moves forward beneath the root of the nose toward the empty opening of the side passage. If the “wooden lai-nian” has not sealed it, the True Seed leaks out through the nostrils, and the previous work is wasted. This is the great danger of the Upper Magpie Bridge. One therefore cannot neglect to prepare the “wooden lai-nian” and wooden base as precautions. If the True Seed does not rush downward to the nostrils, it encounters an obstruction within the Hall of Impressions and remains still. Simply let no intention arise; concentrate the spirit and shine downward without moving, waiting for the True Seed to move spontaneously. Suddenly it presses onward of itself. Following the impulse of its movement, with the two mutually aware, use a slight intent to guide it gently down to the Mysterious Ying Point, where it connects with the Twelve-Storied Tower—that is, the airway leading to the lungs.41 Here the True Seed faces great danger. Unless a student has received instruction from an enlightened teacher, the True Seed will certainly be expelled. It is simply a question of whether one has met a teacher or not.

If one has received personal instruction from an enlightened teacher, one moistening swallow takes it into the Twelve-Storied Tower. The lungs lie on either side and the heart in the middle. On the right within the heart is a channel leading down to the root of the liver, called the Crimson Palace, also called the Middle Palace. When the True Seed reaches this point, it meets and joins the liver qi, which belongs to yin. The two eyes still shine downward. The True Seed detaches, passes the large intestine, and enters a channel of the Conception Vessel in the middle of the small intestine. Red blood turns white upon reaching this channel. Exactly one cun and three fen below the navel is the lower elixir field. The True Seed reaches this place and becomes still. Previously it passed the Three Barriers; this is now the proper work of ingestion.42

According to this account, not only are the Sheep Cart, Deer Cart, and Ox Cart distinguished in passing the Three Barriers, but the practice also requires a wooden steamed-bun-shaped support against the Grain Passage (anus), wooden plugs blocking the nostrils, and a companion who pinches the tailbone, the Spinal Pass, and the Jade Pillow and presses a hand against the Opening of Life and Death. Such a profusion of details is truly bewildering.

I imagine this is why so many people criticize the Wu–Liu alchemical method. Put plainly, the “five dragons” in “Five Dragons Supporting the Sage” mean “true intent.” Earth occupies the fifth position among the five—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—and earth is true intent. Hence “true intent” is likened to the “five dragons.” Perfected Wu already explained this in his Correct Principles of Celestial Immortality. True intent is the activity of the original spirit: “At rest, it is the original spirit; in motion, it is true intent.” True intent and the original spirit are merely two aspects of one entity.

True intent is therefore a natural activity. At this stage, students need only follow what happens naturally. All the other measures not only cling to appearances but readily arouse deliberate awareness. If mishandled, they risk “pulling up the shoots to help them grow.” One must be careful.

Some people also hold that “Five Dragons Supporting the Sage” is the whole substance of cultivation in the Way of Immortality. This, too, is not entirely so. The author’s experience of gathering the medicine and forming the elixir was different. In fact, experiences vary not only because different schools employ different methods: even with instruction from the same teacher, they vary with the practitioner’s constitution, disposition, and many other conditions. Readers need not confine themselves to the words of one school and arbitrarily reject other schools and methods.

2. Stopping the Fire

“Stopping the fire” means that, when the medicine has been gathered and the elixir formed, the firing has reached its proper measure and no more fire is advanced. “Firing times” and “medicinal substances” were originally terms used in external alchemy. In the methods of internal alchemy, which chiefly refine qi, however, the ancient alchemical classics also borrowed many external-alchemical terms, such as furnace and cauldron, lead and mercury, and firing times. Thus “stopping the fire” naturally came to be used in qi-refining practices as well. In the course of refining qi, the operation of the Lesser Celestial Circuit is generally called “advancing the fire and withdrawing the tally.” The purpose of advancing the fire is to lay the foundation for gathering the medicine later. The Lesser Celestial Circuit may therefore be performed many times: the more times, the better the foundation. The Greater Celestial Circuit, however, occurs only once, because the objective has been achieved once the Great Medicine is gathered. Furthermore, after the elixir forms, one must enter the stage of nourishing the embryo, so there is naturally no need to circulate the celestial circuit again. The alchemical classics even emphasize that failing to stop the fire once the elixir matures risks damaging the elixir. It is like cooking rice and vegetables: if the rice and vegetables are done but the cook does not realize it and keeps adding heat, the finished food is bound to burn.

There is therefore a real need to stop the fire when the elixir matures. The discussion of the second and third phases, however, concerns the particular methods of the Wu–Liu school. For my wife and me, the circulation through the Conception and Governing Vessels stopped naturally after the elixir formed; there was no need to pay special attention to it. What truly requires care is that, after the fire stops, one may continue to long for the River Chariot’s former ceaseless activity all day long, and frequently think of using intent to drive the true qi and set the celestial circuit revolving again. I myself made this mistake at that juncture. Fortunately I recognized it early and suffered no ill effects.

I mention this particularly so that those who come after me will not repeat the mistake. Understand that the Way follows what is natural. Although refining qi is itself said to reverse the celestial mechanism, the entire course of cultivation must nevertheless accord with the Way and with nature. Any conception or practice contrary to this may be called mistaken and inappropriate.

3. The Sun and Moon United

After gathering the medicine, obtaining the elixir, and stopping the revolving celestial mechanism, one has entered the stage of ten months of nourishing the embryo. If students continue cultivating, utterly stilling the mind and entering meditative absorption, until all six pulses stop and breathing is wholly absent, the phenomenon of “the sun and moon united” will occur.43 Perfected Zhang Ziyang held that the qi of true lead takes the form of a bright moon, while the qi of true mercury takes the form of a red sun. He further said:

As sun and moon unite, they jointly produce two golden flowers, shaped like peonies, golden-red and crimson, with five clearly defined petals. This is the Three Flowers forming embryonic breathing, called the Jade Stamens and Golden Flowers. On seeing this scene, firmly hold your thought steady. When sunlight and moonlight merge in one place, suspended above the Hall of Impressions, set true intent in motion, concentrate and gather them, and conceal them within. Inhale them through the nose into the Xu–Wei Cavity of the elixir field. They naturally ascend behind and descend in front, return to the Middle Palace, and blend into one with the Immortal Embryo.

“Above the Hall of Impressions” here actually means the space in front of the forehead. As for the moonlight, my experience differed somewhat from the appearance of a moon; it looked more like a comet as seen in a film. Some say this is the elixir-light shining outward. I record that explanation here as well for reference.

4. The Celestial Circuit Outside the Body

After circulation through the Conception and Governing Vessels stops, if the Thoroughfare Vessel is open and the opening at the crown has opened, the qi thereafter changes course and follows the Thoroughfare Vessel. In practicing this method, I referred to an innovation of the Japanese practitioner of the Way of Immortality, Takafuji Sōichirō, and performed the celestial circuit outside the body. Whenever the qi ascended from the Huiyin point to the crown, I took advantage of its momentum and strengthened my intent, causing it to burst out through the crown and shoot into the sky. It then followed a parabolic path, descended in front of or behind me, and returned into the body through the tailbone from beneath the chair or from the ground. I succeeded, and its effect was very [text incomplete]. But because an element of deliberate intervention remained, I proceeded with great caution to avoid falling into the postcelestial. Out of every seven circuits, I performed the external circuit only on the second, fourth, and sixth. On the other four, I left everything entirely to nature, allowing the qi to descend naturally after it reached the crown.

Takafuji also said: “When the qi reaches the crown, one may cause it to flow backward down the Governing Vessel.” I tried this too and found that it could indeed circulate at will, exactly as intended. Other writings, however, hold that this reverse mode of circulation may adversely affect the elixir already formed. The qi-circulation method of the Sinew Transformation Classic ascends in front and descends behind; this is also why its practitioners, though they may increase their powers, cannot attain the Great Accomplishment. I therefore tried it only once and never repeated it. Takafuji further holds that the external celestial circuit may be used to draw true qi from trees or exchange yang qi with a member of the opposite sex. As for the former, I live in Taipei, with few large, vigorously flourishing trees nearby, and have never been able to try it. As for the latter, although my wife and I cultivate together, it was difficult because her crown opening had not opened. Only from March 12, 1988, could we truly attain the state in which “the man does not loosen his clothing, the woman does not untie her sash; their bodies remain apart while their spirits commune.”

5. The Horse-Like Concealment of the Genitals

The “horse-like concealment of the genitals” refers to the spontaneous retraction of the male external genital organ and the testicles during cultivation. Its cause is still unknown, and the circumstances differ from person to person. In some cases the genital organ and testicles retract together; in others the genital organ retracts but the testicles do not, or the testicles retract but the genital organ does not. There are also cases in which one testicle retracts and the other does not. All may be called the horse-like concealment. It is commonly said that men require three years of cultivation to attain this condition. In my own case, however, it occurred after only three months. This concealment is one of the important conditions for entering the Greater Celestial Circuit. Although it does not prevent sexual intercourse, the retraction of the testicles into the abdominal cavity must affect the survival of sperm and therefore fertility. This is why I consider cultivation of the Way of Immortality unsuitable for young people and for men who have not made plans to limit childbearing.43 The horse-like concealment generally occurs naturally through deep cultivation. It can also be induced earlier by deliberate means. After true circulation through the Conception and Governing Vessels has been established, the practitioner can adopt the supine position, straighten both legs, and cross the right lower leg over the left. Then send the qi returning to the elixir field downward, guiding it with intent to the testicles and genital organ. After a little time, retraction may occur.

The horse-like concealment is a phenomenon occurring in men through qi refinement. In women, refinement of qi to a certain degree may produce what is called “slaying the Red Dragon.” This means the cessation of menstruation and its bleeding as a consequence of qi refinement. In fact, when women refine qi to a certain level, not only may menstruation cease, but their external genital organs also often change, and even their breasts may diminish. Among the alchemical classics there is also a Classic of Beheading the Dragon for reference. After female practitioners behead the dragon, the regular monthly bleeding ceases, their complexion becomes more radiant by the day, and their appearance gradually grows younger.43

6. The Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown

When the work of refining qi reaches the later part of the ten months of pregnancy, essence, qi, and spirit gradually gather and condense.44 At this point, essence has been entirely transformed into qi, and there is no fear of leakage during sleep at night. Later, the “Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown” occurs. The three flowers are commonly said to be three different radiances formed by essence, qi, and spirit: spirit emits golden light, qi white light, and essence red light, gathering above the crown. In my own experience, however, all three flowers were formed by qi. In the center was a jade-green bamboo rising joint by joint; on the right, a shrub; on the left, an auspicious stalk of grain. The three flowers appeared side by side above the crown. This seems different from the usual account.

7. The Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin

There have always been many explanations of the “Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin,” and the various schools often differ. The Guiding Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Existence holds that when the entire body remains motionless, essence is secured and water pays homage to the origin; when the heart is unmoving, qi is secured and fire pays homage to the origin; when true inner nature is still, the hun-soul is concealed and wood pays homage to the origin; when deluded emotions are forgotten, the po-soul is subdued and metal pays homage to the origin; and when the four great elements are peaceful and harmonious, intent is settled and earth pays homage to the origin. This is called the Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin, all gathering at the crown. Secret Writings on the Celestial Mechanism likewise says:

In nourishing the embryo and entering absorption, [the text reads: “the heart is drawn to worldly pleasures”]; concentrate the spirit and turn deeply toward quiescent extinction, and only then can inner nature and vital existence unite.45 The five viscera are naturally generated anew and the bodily frame established again; substance arises from the insubstantial, forming the Sacred Embryo. Let the single mind preside over stillness, with all entanglements laid to rest. External thoughts do not enter, and internal thoughts do not emerge. Remain in undifferentiated chaos all day, as though in the mother’s womb, like a living dead person. At this time, the yang qi in the heart is about to be exhausted. There may be things in the world to enjoy, but the heart does not waver.

The true qi of the heart channel naturally issues forth, becoming red clouds and rosy vapors that pay homage before Kunlun. The yin qi in the liver is about to be exhausted. There may be things in the world to delight in, but the liver does not stir. The true qi of the liver channel issues forth and becomes blue-green clouds and vapors, paying homage to the left of Kunlun. The yin qi in the spleen is about to be exhausted. There may be things in the world to desire, but the spleen does not stir. Its true qi issues forth and becomes yellow clouds and vapors, paying homage above Kunlun. The yin qi in the lungs is about to be exhausted. There may be things in the world to anger one, but the lungs do not stir. The true qi of the lung channel issues forth and becomes white clouds and vapors, paying homage to the right of Kunlun. The yin qi in the kidneys is about to be exhausted. There may be things in the world to grieve over, but the kidneys do not stir. The true qi of the kidney channel issues forth and becomes black clouds and vapors, paying homage behind Kunlun. These are called the Five Qi. “Paying homage to the origin” requires no method applied at a prescribed time: when stillness reaches its utmost, the qi naturally rises to pay homage. You will see blue-green qi emerging in the east, with the clear ringing of reed pipes, standards, insignia, carriages, and horses, countless on the left and right, before and behind. Then red qi appears in the southeast, white qi in the west, black qi in the north, and yellow qi in the center. The Five Qi pay homage to the Upper Origin, curling and circling in vaporous profusion.

Under no circumstances look at them. Utterly still the mind and enter absorption.

My own experience is that the state called the “Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin” does indeed exist, but is not so mysterious as the books make it sound. After cultivation reaches a certain degree, the qi formerly joined to the physical substance of the five viscera separates from that substance, rises, and gathers in the head. When the qi separates from the five viscera, the practitioner can clearly feel the process. Separation at the heart in particular—perhaps because of its unusual structure—is quite difficult and is accompanied by extreme pain.43

8. The Spirit Moves to the Upper Court

The spirit’s movement to the Upper, or Inner, Court is the stage at which the ten months of pregnancy have run their course, the infant has formed, and the Sacred Embryo moves from the Middle Palace into the upper elixir field. It is the time when “the infant leaves the sea of suffering and moves to the Heavenly Valley.” Perfected Shi Jianwu once said: “Bodhidharma faced the wall for nine years before transcending the Inner Court; the World-Honored One stilled his mind for six years before escaping the cage.” Does it really take so long? I have my doubts. In my actual experience, I gathered the medicine and formed the elixir on February 24, 1986. On December 23 of the same year, the spirit moved to the Upper Court. Counting the time, it was exactly ten months, not a day more or less.46 Thus Perfected Shi’s statement really refers to “returning to emptiness,” not to “the spirit moving to the Inner Court.” Placing this passage in the chapter “Moving the Spirit to the Inner Court,” as the Guiding Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Existence does, shows some lack of discrimination.

Many Daoist books record methods for moving the spirit to the Inner Court. Clear Instructions on the Methods of Inner Nature and Vital Existence, for example, includes a method of “setting thought in motion toward the great void.” I used it when this state occurred, but on reflection afterward felt that using it made no difference. On the contrary, doing so aroused deliberate awareness and led into the postcelestial. What really matters is that, when students encounter this state, they bring emptiness to the utmost and guard stillness, sitting upright in silence, as though aware and yet unaware, as though exerting effort and yet not exerting it, with mind and inner nature settled, the mind utterly still and unmoving. Amid the myriad appearances, hear as though not hearing and see as though not seeing. This is the true work.

9. Heavenly Flowers Fall in Profusion

The Shortcut to the Great Accomplishment says:

After the embryo is complete, when absorption in cessation has reached its utmost, the light of inner nature is revealed. Looking outward in stillness, one’s sight is filled with purple vapors and auspicious clouds. Looking down from within the crown, one sees a mass of golden light covering the body. Do not become attached to it. Utterly still the mind and enter absorption, and golden lotuses will naturally rise from the ground while auspicious snow fills the sky. The golden lotuses spring from the earth and penetrate the Nine Heavens, naturally turning into snowflakes that fly down from the sky in profusion. Retain them with intent, and they return into the body to nourish the Immortal Infant. This is the time to stop the fire when the embryo is complete after ten months. If, once heavenly flowers fall in profusion, one does not know to stop the fire, the Immortal Infant faces the danger of being burned by fire while seated in meditation. Heavenly flowers falling in profusion is the stage of emerging from absorption, leaving the middle elixir field and moving to the upper elixir field. One must stop the fire to transform the spirit, no longer employing the work of quiescent illumination but solely returning to emptiness. The mind abides in nothingness, and everything enters empty nonbeing. Only then can the fire stop, allowing ears and eyes to open anew and hearing and sight to arise again.

The time of emerging from absorption must, however, fall on the same day as stopping the fire. If one emerges before stopping the fire, the spirit will become confused and wander far away. If one emerges after stopping the fire, the spirit will be dull and unresponsive.

According to this account, the state of heavenly flowers falling in profusion should occur when the embryo becomes complete after ten months. In my case, however, the spirit moved to the Upper Court on December 23, 1986, whereas heavenly flowers first fell in profusion on February 1, 1987. If I remember correctly, it occurred after the spirit’s movement to the Upper Court, differing slightly from the account in the books.

Nevertheless, once one has seen heavenly flowers falling in profusion, the time when the yang spirit emerges is not far off.

10. Opening the Heavenly Gate

Opening the Heavenly Gate is also called opening the gate at the crown. The Collection of Mysterious Profundities says: “Seal off the road to the Yellow Springs; burst open the gate of the Purple Palace.” The Collection of Central Harmony says: “Accomplish the opening of an aperture at the crown; within it lies another heaven and earth.” The Guiding Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Existence says: “How could the opening at the crown be easy to open? First send forth the light of samādhi; it shines against it but does not pass through. Next gather the fire of the sun; its assault opens it slightly. The two fires surge and strike without ceasing. In an instant red light fills the realm and purple flames fill the sky. With a thunderclap, the gate at the crown opens.” All these describe the opening of the Heavenly Gate during cultivation.

The elder Haiyin, fourth-generation successor of the Western school, however, held that “In cultivation in the Mysterious Tradition, mind and breath depend upon one another in the space outside the body. Absorption, too, takes place in the space outside. When absorption reaches its utmost, one can naturally separate from the material body. This is what is meant by shedding the embryo and undergoing spiritual transformation. How could there be any question of bursting through the gate at the crown to emerge?” He therefore criticized this as a way of misleading people. I believe that when Master Haiyin wrote this, he must not yet have reached the stage of the yang spirit’s emergence; otherwise he would never have been so categorical. In my judgment, what Master Haiyin referred to as resting in absorption in the space outside was the original spirit, not the yang spirit. The yang spirit remains concealed within the body and has not yet left its opening, so there can be no question of its spiritual transformation. Both the Japanese author Takafuji Sōichirō and I have experienced the opening of the Heavenly Gate. In fact, unless that gate opens, the yang spirit does not emerge. All the books describe it in this way.

In my case, the first occurrence was on February 9, 1987, and the second on March 9. Both openings were extremely arduous, even more difficult than opening the crown when establishing the Central Channel. The first attempt stopped halfway when my wife entered and disturbed my concentration. When it opened again a month later, it still required tremendous exertion. As the qi inside surged violently upward, my whole body involuntarily bounced up from the bed. The force of it was truly beyond what most people could imagine. Moreover, the entire process was spontaneous and involuntary, and could not possibly have been predicted beforehand. Master Haiyin’s criticism of it as attachment seems to rest on a misunderstanding. For my experience, see Appendix Two of this book, “Record of Qi Refinement.”

11. Refining the Form in True Emptiness

The expression “refining the form in true emptiness” first appears in the Guiding Principles of Inner Nature and Vital Existence. The disciple of Perfected Yin quotes Ge Hanchun as saying:47

Gold is obtained by dissolving ore; the bodily form is refined through qi. There are six approaches to refining the form: first, refining the form with Jade Liquid; second, refining the form with Golden Liquid; third, refining the form with Great Yin; fourth, refining the form with Great Yang; and fifth, refining the form through inner observation. None of these is the Great Way of Empty Nonbeing, and in the end they cannot make one of a single substance with the Great Void. Only this one secret is called refining the form in true emptiness. Although it is called doing, it is in fact nonaction. Although it is called refining the form, it is actually refining the spirit. It cultivates the outside while also cultivating the inside. Practice it according to the method for a hundred days, and the seven po-souls lose their forms, the Three Corpses vanish without a trace, the Six Thieves hide away, and the Ten Demons flee far off. Practice for a thousand days, and the body composed of the four great elements becomes like a crystal pagoda, clear and exquisite within and without, transparent inside and out. The flower of the heart shines brilliantly, and numinous light appears.

Numinous light is wisdom-light. Thus it is said: “Where wisdom-light arises, the flower of awakening opens.” The opening of the flower of wisdom and awakening is impossible unless one has refined the form to subtlety and become mysteriously one with the Way. Therefore the Scripture on the Generation of Spirits says: “When body and spirit become one, this is the True Body.” The body unites with the spirit, and the form accords with the Way. Hidden, the form is secured in the spirit; manifest, the spirit unites with qi. Thus one can tread through water and fire without obstruction, and face the sun and moon without casting a shadow.

As for the method of refining the form in true emptiness, the Guiding Principles holds:

It is like moving a large earthenware jar. If one remains inside the jar, how can one move it? One must be outside it. To be outside the jar is what the Buddhists call placing the body outside oneself and making it empty. Thus Laozi says: “Place the body outside oneself, and it is cultivated; forget the form, and it is preserved.” Xue Daoguang says: “If a person empties this illusory body, the sage teacher personally transmits the true rule.” Zhang Quanyi says: “The Great Void is myself.” First empty the body. Once the body is empty, heaven and earth are empty; once heaven and earth are empty, the great space is empty as well. When emptiness has nothing left to empty, this is true emptiness. The Scripture of Clarity and Stillness says: “Observe the mind within: the mind is without its mind. Look at the form without: the form is without its form.” For the form to be without its form is bodily emptiness.

For the mind to be without its mind is mental emptiness. When the mind is empty and unobstructed, the more the spirit is refined, the more numinous it becomes. When the body is empty and unobstructed, the more the form is refined, the clearer it becomes. Refine until form and spirit contain one another, and body and mind become one. Only then are spirit and form both wondrous, and one unites with the Way in reality.

Master Haiyin of the Western school also discusses placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form:

Laozi says: “Put the body behind, and it comes first; place the body outside oneself, and it is preserved.” The Token for the Agreement of the Three says: “Transform the form into an immortal, sinking into stillness without a sound.” Hanshan says: “To increase means to increase one’s essence: this may be called an increase. To change means to change one’s form: this may be called a change. If one can both increase and change, one will enter the register of the high immortals. Without increase and without change, one cannot ultimately escape the calamity of death.” Placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form is precisely what the Mysterious Tradition cultivates. To place the body outside oneself is to understand the key point of empty space beyond the body. Just as someone moving an earthenware jar must stand outside it to move it freely, so it is with transforming the form. One must first leave this material body and come into empty nonbeing outside it, concentrating the spirit and regulating the breath. Only then can something arise from nothing, exhausting the marvels of the Seven Reversions and Nine Returns. Thus the alchemical method of the Mysterious Tradition begins in empty space outside the body and likewise concludes there. From beginning to end, it never departs from empty space for a single step; all its operations take place outside.

Yet all the methods’ effects appear in the material body: changing the hair, changing the teeth, changing the blood and pupils, and even transforming the coarse, heavy material body into a subtle, wondrous one. The sense-body and its world are secretly transformed and shifted, one by one. When one sheds the embryo and undergoes spiritual transformation, one ascends and soars, freely exercising spiritual powers. Therefore, if one can place the body outside oneself, one can transform the form.

The Token for the Agreement of the Three says: “Golden sand enters the five inner organs, dispersing as mist, like wind and rain. Its steaming reaches the four limbs, and the complexion grows pleasing and fair. White hair all turns black; fallen teeth grow in their former places. The old man returns to robust manhood, the aged woman becomes a young maiden. Transformed in form and freed from worldly calamity, one is called a Perfected Person.” It also says: “Contain essence and nourish spirit, joining virtue with the Three Origins. Essence enriches the flesh’s interstices; sinews and bones become firm. All harmful influences are driven out, and upright qi endures. Accumulate this for a long time, and transform the form into an immortal.” This is the proper course of cultivation in the Mysterious Tradition, the efficacy of Heaven and humanity acting together.

The Qing layman Yuanming—that is, Emperor Shizong, the Yongzheng emperor—held that there are two ways of external transformation. He said: “There is a way of placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form from within, and another of placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form from without. To cling to external transformation from within is like remaining trapped in a shell, confused by its enclosure. To cling to external transformation from without is like crazily rushing outside. If one does not understand these two ways of external transformation, merely rejects them indiscriminately, and moreover does not put the Way vigorously into practice, then even a thousand lives and a hundred kalpas will amount only to empty words. One cannot stand firmly on the ground and resolve the matter of life and death. Try to grasp the principles of these two ways, inner and outer, of placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form. If you can grasp them, I will allow that you understand the unified Way of immortals and buddhas. If you cannot, do not cling to wild, empty words to deceive others.”

Let me explain. The tradition of immortality begins by making mind and breath mutually dependent outside the body, using that precelestial One Qi to temper the mortal frame. Body and mind gradually transform and become pure. With prolonged accumulation, the form is transformed into an immortal. This is what is meant by placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form from without. The Chan tradition uses a single critical phrase to cut off the discriminating consciousness of mind and intention, until both person and phenomena are extinguished—or forgotten—object and knowing are both obliterated, neither being nor nonbeing is established, and subject and object alike disappear. Suddenly it is as though the bottom drops out of a bucket: empty space shatters, and the great earth sinks flat. When awakening and cultivation are perfected, one realizes patient acceptance of the unborn and transcends birth and death. This issues from the wisdom of the inner mind and instantly dissolves the division between things and self. It is what is meant by placing the body outside oneself and transforming the form from within. Yet even this is only an expedient explanation from the standpoint of establishing teachings. Ultimately, the nature of phenomena pervades everything; there is originally no inside or outside to distinguish, nor any body or mind to grasp. What we call external transformation and internal transformation are then merely yellow leaves used to stop a child crying.

This essay is excellently written. Apart from using the Yongzheng emperor’s words as its introduction, which strikes me as somewhat incongruous, its explanation is very reasonable. Its concluding remarks in particular may be said to grasp the matter’s essential insight. In fact, “refining the form in true emptiness” is merely part of the process of returning to emptiness. I entered this state at the beginning of April 1987. At first, whenever I sat, I felt both hands rise spontaneously and embrace empty space before my chest, as if encircling a large jar or a large ball. True qi circulated between my hands, revolving ever more widely until it extended several zhang beyond me. It first revolved in front of the body, then gradually around the sides, and finally behind. During practice, I felt both form and spirit transform, and body and mind become entirely still. After six months of this, I felt that the more I refined the spirit, the more numinous it became. Previously I had needed to close my eyes before the qi mechanism would activate.

Later, provided my mind was still, true qi would move of itself even with my eyes open. The qi also became clearer with further refinement. At first, when it emerged, it looked like a fire burning by a river, red tinged with scarlet. Later it grew increasingly thin and shone like incandescent electrical light. Eventually it became clear as water, so subtle as to be invisible. Throughout this, there was neither a division between inside and outside nor confinement to bodily form. The reason was that I had begun from the outset with “sitting in forgetfulness,” rather than guarding an opening, which readily gives rise to attachment. Nevertheless, refining the form in true emptiness is still only the beginning of the process of returning to emptiness.

12. The Emergence of the Yang Spirit

The emergence of the yang spirit is a much-disputed question in the cultivation practices of the Way of Immortality. First, does such a thing as the “yang spirit” actually exist? If it does, how does it differ from the “original spirit”? Second, is it necessary for the yang spirit to emerge during the process of refining qi in the Way of Immortality? Let me address the first point first.

There certainly is such a thing as the “yang spirit.” But it differs from the original spirit. The original spirit is inborn and possessed by everyone, another governing presence within us. Although we cannot see or touch it, it seems absent yet actually exists, and those whose cultivation is sufficiently accomplished naturally apprehend it. The yang spirit, however, is not present at birth. It is produced by practitioners through refining essence into qi and refining qi into spirit. Beginning with gathering the medicine and forming the elixir, and passing through ten months of pregnancy, it is condensed and refined from the precelestial true qi obtained. Everyone therefore has an original spirit; the question is only whether it is responsive or not. Most people, however, have no yang spirit, because they have not had the opportunity to cultivate one.

As to whether the yang spirit should emerge, the methods of cultivating the Way of Immortality broadly offer the following three positions.

  1. The spirit’s emergence is necessary: without the emergence of the yang spirit, the aim of ascent cannot be attained. Most methods of the Shaoyang lineage take this position.

  2. The spirit may emerge, but the essential secret is not to let it do so. The school of Huang Yuanji advocates this position. Essential Sayings of the Daoist Gate says:

If someone has previously done no work on inner nature, but has begun solely with cultivation of vital existence and refined the yang spirit, then, if it emerges at this point, it must be brought back very quickly. Because the ground of inner nature is not yet illuminated and worldly emotions have not been severed, the sight of something desirable inevitably brings delight, and the sight of something frightening inevitably brings fear. The seven emotions and six desires can all stir the heart. Unless it is brought back quickly, I fear that a single mistaken thought may allow demons to seize the hun- and po-souls, so that they never return. Even if one does not suffer that harm, know that the arising of a single thought might cast one into a mare’s belly or a cow’s womb, to be reborn in the human world; this too cannot be ruled out. Those who do not understand assume that, since this person’s yang spirit has emerged, the ranks of immortals must surely be attained. How could they know that thought brings birth and demons seize one away, causing harm that is by no means slight?

It also says:

A person’s cultivation reaches this state only after enduring who knows how many hardships and trials before attaining a body outside the body. If, merely because one has not been able to refine emptiness, trouble becomes unavoidable, is that not a pity?

At this point in the work, those who have done no previous cultivation of inner nature must especially cultivate and refine anew, inwardly nurturing the ground of the heart and outwardly accumulating hidden merit. One must recognize that original point of perfectly luminous inner nature clearly and hold firmly to it. Do not rashly rejoice and repeatedly release the yang spirit outside. Even if it suffers no harm whatever, it will still be chasing outward and cannot remain one’s own.

He therefore advocates the following:

At this point, set up the spirit’s furnace again and establish its cauldron anew. Send the already-formed yang spirit back to Niwan’s Palace of the Eight Scenes, constantly warming and nourishing it, as though present and yet absent, in the single work of refining and returning to emptiness. Above all, the original spirit previously refined must be transformed into nothingness, so that one is wholly unaware of spirit as emptiness or emptiness as spirit. … If spirit and emptiness cannot yet merge into one, it must not lightly be released.

From this passage it is clear that Huang Yuanji does not advocate releasing the yang spirit.

  1. One does not practice the stage of refining qi into spirit at all, but begins from the outset with returning to emptiness. The methods of the Wenshi school and the Mount Jingai school broadly take this position. Heart Transmission of Celestial Immortality quotes Lanyunzi:

Lanyunzi said: “What has traditionally been described is the yang spirit emerging through the crown opening. This is the method of spirit immortals. What my late teacher transmitted is the Great Way of celestial immortals, which cannot be compared with spirit immortality. Celestial immortals are one with heaven and earth; spirit immortals possess only a yang spirit.”

Suting said: “Once the Way of spirit immortality is accomplished, would it not be naturally more marvelous to study celestial immortality afterward?”

Lanyunzi said: “Difficult! Difficult! Difficult! This is why the alchemical books speak of setting up the furnace and cauldron again and reestablishing Heaven and Earth. The method of celestial immortality is extremely simple: one accomplishment settles a hundred matters. If one begins with spirit immortality, the method is complex and difficult. The firing times must be matched; hexagrams, lines, and medicinal substances must be matched; the weights and measures of the water and fire of Zi and Wu must be balanced; the bathing at Mao and You must be carefully watched. One must have an enlightened teacher and helpful friends, never leaving them for even half a step, to ensure freedom from mishap. After the yang spirit has been formed, one sets up the furnace and cauldron again, reestablishes Heaven and Earth, refines spirit and returns to emptiness, and then practices the methods of celestial immortality. Is this not doing the same work twice? The earlier effort was expended in vain, and one still needs nine years facing the wall and ten years forgetting speech. Only after the work is accomplished does one come forth to refine inner nature, accumulating three thousand eight hundred meritorious acts before attaining the rank of a celestial immortal. But if one begins with the method of celestial immortality, with each step of practice one returns a step toward emptiness. Refining essence into qi is all contained within this, and the preceding stage of work is also saved.”

As for me, I began with the Wenshi school’s method, fully expecting that I could return to emptiness throughout and would not have to undertake the work of producing a yang spirit. Only when such states as the spirit’s movement to the Upper Court and the opening of the Heavenly Gate occurred did I become somewhat alert to the possibility. I hurriedly found books concerning the emergence of the yang spirit to read, but still retained the thought that mine might not emerge. Although I read quite a few books, I never truly took the matter to heart. Moreover, at that time the work of refining the form in true emptiness was proceeding particularly well, and I thought I could gradually return to emptiness through it and attain the state in which form and spirit are both wondrous.

Little did I expect what happened on the afternoon of May 24, 1987. I was practicing in my study, just reaching complete stillness of body and mind, when I suddenly noticed a pair of bare thighs before my eyes. Looking more attentively, I abruptly saw above my head a naked little person sitting with his legs stretched out, his head about the size of a silver dollar. He gazed ahead blankly, his little face covered with stubble. On closer examination, was this not a miniature of myself? I suddenly realized that the yang spirit had emerged. Having made no preparations at all, I felt somewhat flustered. Yet the little person appeared neither frightened nor uneasy about the outside world. I thought that, since this was its first emergence, it should not remain out for long, lest something unexpected happen. As I was considering this, I suddenly felt a ray of light burst out from within my body and envelop the little person.

With a slight shift of intent, the ray of light drew inward of itself and instantly pulled the little thing into my head. Because the yang spirit had emerged on its own, I was genuinely troubled for some time afterward and could not say whether I felt sorrow or joy. I was pleased that I had actually cultivated a yang spirit, but worried about what to do next. First, its emergence required daylight and a calm, sunny day. How many fine days does Taipei have in a year? As a civil servant, I had to work during the day except on weekly holidays. Where would I find time to practice the spirit’s emergence? Second, I was not wholly confident in my cultivation of inner nature. Although I had always been indifferent to fame and profit, did not place great value on sensual pleasures, lived simply, and had some understanding of life’s ultimate meaning, a person is still a person. On seeing a truly beautiful young woman, I still could not resist wanting another look.

On encountering something truly disagreeable, I still could not always avoid a rash flare of unenlightened anger. Considering all these things, I ultimately felt that Huang Yuanji’s method—not releasing the spirit—was the most practical. One point worth mentioning, however, is that although I concealed the spirit in Niwan’s Palace of the Eight Scenes, further refinement did not in fact require setting up the furnace and cauldron again or reestablishing Heaven and Earth. Here, too, my experience differed from the three schools discussed above. I append other schools’ accounts of the spirit’s emergence below for readers’ reference.

1. A Body Outside the Body and Gathering the Golden Light

Once the spirit has moved above the crown opening, that opening is like the Heavenly Gate, and the brain palace is the Heavenly Palace. Do not be alarmed. Simply put your mind at ease and proceed boldly, concentrating the spirit with single-minded resolve and visualizing the Dharma body. Think once of going beyond the Heavenly Gate; then close the eyes and make a gentle downward leap. It is like first awakening from a dream, and there is a body outside the body.

When the yang spirit first emerges, it stays some three or four chi beside the material body. Under no circumstances form an intention to see or hear anything outside the body. Whether relatives, friends, parents, wife, or children appear; whether immortals and buddhas come to visit or heavenly writings descend with edicts; whether true or illusory—all such scenes must be disregarded. Acknowledge nothing; become attached to nothing. Only remain utterly still, cutting off worry and forgetting emotion, neither seeing nor hearing, waiting in settled absorption. In a moment a beam of golden—or white—light will shine out from one’s own body, as large as a cartwheel, appearing before one. Use true intent to move the Dharma body in front of the light and keep it gathered there. When true intent is settled, visualize the golden light gradually contracting. It then shrinks to about one cun, shaped like a gold coin. With intent, draw this light into the Dharma body in one inhalation, and the Dharma body will enter the Sea of Inner Nature within the mortal frame and return to its own palace. Again rest in quiescent extinction according to absorption in cessation, entering deep, great absorption.

What is called “the golden light, the wondrous medicine for transforming the form” must under no circumstances be missed. If the golden light disperses at this time, it will not appear again.

2. Gathering the Golden Light and Spreading the Numinous Qi of the Five Sprouts

When the yang spirit first emerges from the mortal body, its form is only three cun high. It circles left and right, then returns to sit in meditation in the spirit chamber of the upper elixir field, quietly nourishing itself in quiescent extinction. Only after nine times nine—eighty-one—such occasions does it spread the numinous qi of its Five Sprouts. This is the qi of the Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin after stillness reaches its utmost, illuminating the sky and transforming into auspicious clouds of five colors. Then, setting true intent in motion, send the numinous light of one’s original nature into these auspicious clouds. It becomes a mass of golden light as large as a cartwheel, with the yang essence seated upright within it. All the residual qi of its elixir-light transforms into heavenly demons and heterodox beings, producing countless distant scenes to entice the yang spirit. If it becomes even slightly attached to form, sound, hearing, or seeing, the yang spirit will depart and never return. People in the world think the practitioner has died in seated transformation and attained a lesser fruit. In fact, the practitioner has entered the demonic realm and the former work is wasted. This is entirely the fault of insufficient self-refinement and a mind that has not truly become still.

One must guard the golden light with undivided intent, remain utterly still, and cling to none of the demonic scenes. When all the demons have withdrawn of themselves, the golden light contracts. Use true intent to illuminate and fix upon it, and with one inhalation gather it, together with the Dharma body, back into its own palace in the Sea of Inner Nature, blending them into one. After a long period of quiet absorption, let it emerge again. Only when these yin demons have all transformed into true spirits and appear before one just like material bodies can one be assured against loss.

When the yang spirit is to emerge, and its rising and descending have become thoroughly practiced, choose an auspicious day and favorable hour, with clear skies and pure air, before guiding the spirit out of the valley. Tend it as one would a newborn: do not go out in thick fog or travel in heavy rain. Regulate and care for it at every moment, never allowing the mind to slacken even briefly, for fear that the yang spirit may leave and not return, wasting all the previous work.

3. Training the Yang Spirit to Emerge and Return

If the yang spirit leaves and does not return, the fault lies entirely in insufficient self-refinement. When it goes out, one must guard the golden light with undivided intent, remain utterly still, and avoid attachment to demonic scenes; the demons will then withdraw of themselves. The yang spirit must not be lightly released. It should go out and return quickly, lest it see its own material bodily shell as resembling a heap of dung and refuse to reenter it. It must emerge and return by the same route, and must not look back, lest the yang spirit become frightened.

“Nursing” means tending and training; it also means refining the spirit and entering absorption. When the yang spirit first emerges, the sacred body is still tender and easily disturbed. To keep its wisdom-light concentrated and prevent its dispersal, one must tend it and enter absorption. Only then can it become settled rather than impulsively active, firm and mature. Thus one enters absorption again and again, joining with natural emptiness, and nurses it again and again, nurturing the body of inner nature with the wondrous form of true emptiness.

To carry out three years of nursing and the method of preserving and nourishing through seven periods of seven days, one must refine the spirit to return to emptiness, concentrating it and entering absorption. When first training the spirit to leave its shell, let it emerge and immediately return; then quiet it in extinction through absorption in cessation. Remain in absorption for seven days before again guiding it out and immediately back, and again quiet it through absorption in cessation. Remain in absorption for twice seven—fourteen—days before again guiding it out and back; then for three times seven—twenty-one—days; then for four times seven—twenty-eight—days; and so on through five, six, and seven periods of seven days before each emergence and immediate return. Tend and train it gradually, continuing for three years. Always use the gathering and releasing of the yang light as the guide for the spirit’s emergence and return.

When the yang spirit resides in the upper elixir field and absorption in cessation has reached its utmost, always first spread the yang light so that it shines through the crown opening. Then think once of emerging, and follow the light beyond the body.

To gather the spirit back into the shell, first draw the ray of light into the Dharma body. The yang spirit then follows its former route back to the upper elixir field of the material body. Again quiet it through absorption in cessation.

Guide it out and immediately back, resting in cessation and quiescent extinction. After three years, the body of inner nature will be seasoned, and only then can one be assured that it will experience no alarm. To speak of “remaining in absorption for seven days” does not mean there will be absolutely no impulse to move during the seven days, or even the forty-nine days. Even if the scene of yang light shining outward appears, retain it with intent, gather it into the Dharma body, and quiet it through absorption in cessation. Only when the time comes to emerge from absorption should one first let the yang light shine beyond the body, then guide the yang spirit through the crown opening along with the light. It should not linger outside; the duration must accord with the extent of its nurturing. Only after three years of nursing can one be assured against loss.

As the yang spirit is guided out and immediately back, wind can topple it and sunlight can parch it. Whether inside or outside, it is safest without exposure to wind or sun. After three months of training, its perception begins to open somewhat, and one must guard against alarm. Both emergence and return should follow an established pattern; its gathering, releasing, coming, and going must not be left to whim. Thus, during the first three months, the spirit emerges three times a day and must not emerge at night. After half a year, it emerges five times a day; after a year, seven times a day, moving only close to the body. After two years, there is no restriction on day or night or on the number of times, and it may briefly leave the material body, both inside and outside the cave—or room. After three years, it is no longer limited by distances of one, ten, a thousand, or ten thousand li.

At the beginning of training, after one, two, and three periods of seven days, let it travel one, two, and three steps before immediately returning. After five, six, and seven periods of seven days, let it travel one, two, and three li before immediately returning. After one, two, and three years, let it travel a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand li before immediately returning. Even after three years of tending and training, it must not remain outside for long; the work of nine years of absorption still remains.

To guide the spirit out of its shell, wait for clear skies and pure air, without wind, cloud, thunder, or lightning. After three years, the body of inner nature is seasoned. The Great Void becomes its dwelling, and heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers are all its bed and pillow. A single step covers a thousand li, and it roams through all nations. It emerges into being and enters nonbeing, reaches Heaven and penetrates Earth, dividing its form and dispersing its reflections into countless millions of transformation bodies that fill the billionfold world system.

The three years of nursing concern only the spirit’s emergence. In short, the yang spirit’s emerging and returning are trained until they are thoroughly practiced and the sacred body is seasoned. Throughout those three years, it is best to remain inside more often and outside less often. After the nursing is accomplished, one must perform the work of nine years of absorption and returning to emptiness. The Great Accomplishment of facing the wall is what is called becoming a Golden Immortal.

Chapter Three: Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness

Huang Yuanji says, “Once the yang spirit has emerged and the Great Elixir has been restored, one must use the divine furnace and divine cauldron, true fire and true medicine, to refine them together within the Niwan Palace.” He also says:

Then set up the furnace and cauldron anew for this yang spirit, reestablish Qian and Kun, and raise the spirit in which yin and yang have harmoniously united once more into the Niwan Palace, to refine an indestructible golden body. There is no separate way. The spirit produced by the conjunction of yin and yang has, after all, been refined out of the physical body. It inevitably remains mixed with heaviness and turbidity, making it difficult to fly through space and move like lightning, ride mists and harness rosy clouds, rise into the realm of emptiness, and remain there without falling. Therefore one must raise this yang spirit, which still has an image, again into pure emptiness, into the single opening of empty vastness. Then, with the breath that is no breath and the spirit that is no spirit, refine what has an image until it has none; refine deliberate action until it becomes nonaction. This is the firing stage in which the medicine of the Great Golden Elixir is transformed and brought to maturity. In truth, it always consists in matching the one yang of clear emptiness with the one yin of yin and yang.

When the great work is complete, there is only the original qi naturally present of itself. Ultimately, what being or nonbeing is there? Let me state it once more: simply entrust everything to what is natural!

In other words, after the yang spirit has emerged through the opening, it must be brought back. The furnace and cauldron are then set up again and Qian and Kun reestablished. The recalled yang spirit is placed in the Niwan Palace and cultivated and refined again through the breath that is no breath and the spirit that is no spirit. What has an image is refined until it has none, and deliberate action until it becomes nonaction. Only then is it the time when the Great Golden Elixir medicine is transformed by fire and ripened. The “breath that is no breath” means embryonic breathing; the “spirit that is no spirit” means original spirit. The Perfected Li Qing’an also says:

A body outside the body is not yet extraordinary; only when emptiness is shattered does complete reality appear. After shedding the embryo and changing the bones, one must truly plant one’s feet on the ground. Only when one shares the same substance as emptiness is the work finished.

He regards the emergence of the yang spirit as still a transitional stage; completion comes only after returning to emptiness. The wonder of refining emptiness lies in forgetting form. One must reach the point where there is neither other nor self, qi flows like a spring, and spirit is still as a mountain. Empty body and mind, remove their contrived activity, and let natural movement take its course. Refine until form is forgotten, where it is oneself yet not oneself, emptiness yet not emptiness. The yang spirit can then naturally share the same substance as the Great Void. This phase is generally thought to take nine years, hence the name “nine years of facing the wall.” These statements all come from the alchemical scriptures and may appear profoundly mysterious. In fact, the work of returning to emptiness is extremely simple: merely attain emptiness and guard stillness, guard stillness and attain emptiness. When the work reaches utmost emptiness and complete stillness, inner nature and vital existence can naturally be restored, and emptiness restored.

Viewed again from the standpoint of modern science, “returning to emptiness” is “transformation into qi.” Earlier, when discussing qi, this book explained that all things in the world, including our own bodies, consist of different molecules. Molecules consist of atoms, and atoms of electrons and protons. Our whole body is thus only a collection of innumerable electrons and protons, while electrons and protons are transformations of the one qi.

In the final analysis, then, all things are merely derivatives of qi. “Transformation into qi” means that through the elixir’s action the human body begins to vibrate, or its vibration intensifies. The molecules composing it gradually separate from their original organization and revert to atoms. These atoms then vibrate again, reverting to electrons and protons, which finally return to qi. In fact, everything vibrates at every moment, at higher or lower, sharper or duller frequencies. People are simply unaware of these vibrations because they lie beyond the range of perception. Quartz, for example, can vibrate hundreds of thousands of times a second. Although the eye and ear do not perceive this, modern scientific instruments can measure it precisely. The quartz watches and clocks we use daily are made by exploiting quartz’s regular high-frequency vibration.

Thus, when practitioners enter the stage of returning to emptiness, the increased vibration of their bodily molecules or atoms gradually makes them feel numb or tingling in various places. In my experience, it began in the right hand, aching and tingling all day as though holding an electrified rod. It next reached the left hand, right foot, and left foot, then gradually spread from the torso to the head. The longer it continued, the stronger the sensation became. As for the true qi within the body, once one enters stillness it swirls like smoke and mist, inside and outside the whole body.48

Chapter Four: Returning to Emptiness and Uniting with the Dao

Li Qing’an says, “A body outside the body is not yet extraordinary; only when emptiness is shattered does complete reality appear. After shedding the embryo, one must truly plant one’s feet on the ground. Only when one shares the same substance as emptiness is the work finished.” He also says, “There is still the final step of refining emptiness; seek it beyond the words.” Li does not explain how to refine emptiness, but we can nevertheless see that, beyond refining spirit and returning to emptiness, the practices of immortality contain a final step called “refining emptiness.” On this subject, the Secret Text of the Celestial Mechanism also quotes a passage from the Most High:

Returning to emptiness means taking the yang spirit that has previously undergone a thousand trials and a hundred refinements, divided its forms and dispersed its images, and reached through heaven and earth, and returning it to the old body. Gather it into the Ocean of Inner Nature, the inner court of the Celestial Valley, and refine and transform the physical body until it is completely merged into the Dharma body. This is again the joint refinement of inner nature and vital existence. Send the yang spirit once more into the Ocean of Inner Nature, withdraw it into hiding in the Ancestral Opening, the position of the Great Void and the Limitless.

Refine, cast, temper, and fuse the physical body until it is neither being nor nonbeing, neither form nor emptiness, without inside or outside, neither emerging nor entering, without beginning or end. Be like a dragon nourishing its pearl, lying hidden and motionless; like a crane brooding its egg, sleeping peacefully without rising. Sink deeper and deeper; become stiller and stiller. All the cultivation and realization achieved before, the hundreds, thousands, millions, and billions of transformed bodies, riding dragons and mounting cranes, stepping on the sun and playing with the moon, and the thousand changes and ten thousand transformations, must be gathered together into the Land of the Unborn and brought to still extinction through the concentration of complete cessation. One must undergo one great death. Guard and sustain it most carefully, allowing the yang spirit no further emergence. For after a hundred refinements the yang spirit becomes more numinous, and after a thousand refinements more pure. Refine it again and again, without ceasing. The more closely the yang spirit’s light of wisdom and divine fire are gathered in, the more universally they spread when released. When hidden, there is nothing by which to hide them; when manifest, nothing by which to make them manifest.

Then one will see that, while spirit lies dormant within the Ancestral Opening, after concentration has reached its utmost and cessation is complete, perhaps in one hundred days or ten months, a whole furnace of divine light rises in dense billows and a whole cauldron of true fire blazes fiercely. It penetrates from the inner opening to the outer, passes from the great opening into the small, without inside or outside, greatness or smallness. It penetrates the crown and reaches the bottom; light illuminates light and opening reflects opening. People and things alike are illumined within the divine light. This is indeed so, yet even this is not the ultimate.

As to how one should “return to emptiness,” the passage offers no explanation. My present state is still far from this. Since I have no personal experience of it, I should not make reckless conjectures. I therefore quote a passage by Daoist Master Chunyi for readers’ reference:

Read through ten thousand times ten thousand alchemical scriptures: no one transmits the final step. Refining emptiness and uniting with the Dao, the work of facing the wall, may be summarized thus: the final return to emptiness, concentrating at the qi opening, is nothing more than cutting off ordinary feelings.

At this final return to emptiness and entry into concentration, condensing spirit in the qi opening is simply forgetting even immortal feelings. Through the concentration of complete cessation, bring all to still extinction: neither emerging nor entering, forgetting others and without self. The three-thousandfold great-thousand world, the whole earth with its mountains and rivers, all return to emptiness. Let the mind die and enter great concentration, whether for one hundred days or ten months, three years or nine years, a hundred years or a thousand, or tens of millions of billions of kalpas. Wait until all Four Great Elements are empty, emptiness is shattered, and there is neither form nor trace. This is the bodily Golden Immortal of Great Awakening, the vajra body indestructible through ten thousand kalpas. With this written here, no secret instructions remain forever hidden.

Appendix One

Categories of Alchemical Methods

In the Daoist alchemical classics, the genuine and the false are jumbled together, like fish eyes mixed in with pearls, making it difficult for readers to distinguish them. How, then, are they to know which instructions for cultivation to follow? Perfected Li Daochun divided alchemical methods into three broad categories: (1) the Nine Grades of Side Paths, (2) the Three Vehicles of Gradual Methods, and (3) the Supreme Vehicle. The Nine Grades of Side Paths are further divided into three categories: “deviant ways,” “outside ways,” and “side paths.” Each category has upper, middle, and lower grades, making nine grades in all, none of which enters the Great Way. Among the Three Vehicles of Gradual Methods, the lower vehicle is the “Method of Peace and Ease,” the middle vehicle the “Method of Nourishing Vital Existence,” and the upper vehicle the “Method of Prolonging Life.” Only the supreme level is the unsurpassed, utterly true, wondrous Way. These categories are transcribed below.

I. The Nine Grades of Side Paths

A. The Three Lower Grades of Alchemical Methods: Deviant Ways

Managing women in the bedchamber; gathering through sexual combat at the Three Peaks; drinking breast milk while facing the furnace; taking women as the cauldron, menstrual fluid as the medicine, the birth passage as the place where the body is produced, and semen and blood as the chief ingredients of the Great Elixir; casting male and female swords and setting up yin and yang furnaces; saying that women are pure yang and calling menstruation the supreme treasure; gathering and ingesting it as “one reversion in one month”; using nine women as nine cauldrons for “nine returns in nine years”; having virgin boys and girls copulate and gathering their first essence; taking the “grain of millet within the yin” as the Mysterious Pearl; and then playing with the Golden Flower and Golden Spear, the joining methods of seventy-two schools, strengthening the troops to win the battle, entering often and withdrawing little, nine shallow penetrations and one deep one: such deviant absurdities are called the Mud-and-Water Alchemical Methods. There are more than three hundred of them. This is a way of great disorder. These are the lowest methods of the lower grades, deviant ways.

There are also the joining methods of eighty-four schools and thirty-six ways of gathering yin: using the placenta as the Purple River Chariot, refining urine into Autumn Stone, ingesting one’s own semen as “returning to the origin,” pinching the Tailbone Point as “closing the pass,” and, when husband and wife copulate, preventing semen from passing as “no leakage.” They gather women’s menstrual blood as Red Pellets. Or they refine the five metals and eight minerals into pills and have a woman swallow them, so that ten months later she gives birth to a lump of flesh, which they consider the supreme medicine and gather and ingest. I do not wish to enumerate all such absurd techniques. There are some three hundred or more. These are the middle methods of the lower grades, deviant ways.

There are also the various alchemical stoves and furnace fires: heating the five metals and eight minerals, “hooking geng and drying mercury,” “touching mao and firing gen,” stirring ashes and tending fires, and even the methods of ingesting numinous cinnabar and external medicines, the “three submissions and five substitutes,” metals and minerals, herbs and trees.49 There are more than four hundred of them. These are the highest methods of the lower grades, deviant ways.

B. The Three Middle Grades of Alchemical Methods: Outside Ways

Giving up cereals and abstaining from grain; enduring cold and eating filth; ingesting pepper and atractylodes; sunning one’s back and lying on ice; taking only one meal a day in observance of a fast, or observing a pure vegetarian fast; treating unusual foods as something remarkable; taking the ability to drink without becoming drunk as proof of achievement; treating a reduction in food as “withdrawing and adding”; avoiding the five flavors and eating the “three whites”; refusing cooked food; or drinking wine and eating meat, disregarding one’s body and life and calling this nonaction; or overturning the blue waters and upending the seas: all these fabricated oddities are the lowest methods of the middle grades, outside ways.

Swallowing rosy clouds and ingesting qi; gathering the essences of the sun and moon; swallowing the light of the stars and ingesting the qi of the five directions; gathering the qi of water and fire; or concentrating on visualizations and imagining journeys through the Nine Provinces as one’s practice; or imagining that the two kinds of qi within the body transform into a man and a woman, imitating the intercourse of a married couple in the human world and calling this “harmonious union”: all these visualizations and varied delusions are the middle methods of the middle grades, outside ways.

Transmitting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts; reading, reciting, cultivating, practicing, and transmitting faith; using methods to obtain recompense and undergo tests; hastening to undertake the return journey; returning to emptiness through the Ten Faiths; the Three Periods and Nine Connections; gazing at the stars and paying obeisance to the Dipper; observing silence or performing strenuous labor, steadfastly maintaining external works.50 All the above involve deliberate action. They are the highest methods of the middle grades, gradually drawing nearer to the Way.

These three grades comprise more than a thousand methods. Practice them without slackening, and you will gradually enter a better state. They particularly deserve attention.

C. The Three Upper Grades of Alchemical Methods: Side Paths

Steady contemplation and examination of bodily form; visualization and breathing out and in; rubbing and stroking, diminishing and increasing; the Eight Pieces of Brocade and the Six-Syllable Incantation; looking toward the crown of the head and guarding the navel root; swallowing saliva and stirring the Divine Water; or using “a thousand mouthfuls of water” to sustain life;51 or calling the tongue the Red Dragon; treating the heat produced by rubbing the body as the firing times; seeking long life through one exhalation and nine rubbings; refining thick saliva into the True Seed; guarding the elixir field; supporting the external kidneys; and even boiling the sea and contemplating the nose, taking saliva, essence, and spittle as the medicine: these are the lowest methods of the upper grades.

Holding the breath and circulating qi; bending and stretching in guiding-and-pulling exercises; rubbing the lower back and kidneys; guarding the Hall of Impressions; moving the two eyes; shaking the Spinal Pass; guarding the navel wheel; taking the two eyes as the sun and moon; taking the space between the eyebrows as the Mysterious Pass; taking the tapping of the teeth as the Heavenly Gate; imagining the original spirit entering and leaving through the crown of the head; traveling through immortal realms in dreams; silently paying court to the Supreme Sovereign; taking dull drowsiness for entry into meditative absorption; taking the counting of breaths as the firing times; or imagining the black and white qi of the heart and kidneys joining and calling this “completion”: these are the middle methods of the upper grades.

Transporting essence and circulating qi; returning the three fires to the navel; harmonizing the five viscera; the Sixteen Contemplations; firmly guarding the elixir field; ingesting the qi of the Central Yellow; reversing and returning through the three fields; replenishing the brain and returning the essence; raising both Golden Wells; the paired passes of the spine; clenching the fists and looking inward; and all manner of transportation and circulation: these are the highest methods of the upper grades.

II. The Three Vehicles of Gradual Methods

A. Lower-Vehicle Alchemical Methods: The Method of Peace and Ease

The lower vehicle takes body and mind as the cauldron and furnace, essence and qi as the medicinal substances, the heart and kidneys as water and fire, the five viscera as the five phases, the liver and lungs as the dragon and tiger, and essence as the True Seed. It conducts the firing times according to the year, month, day, and hour. Irrigation through swallowing saliva is bathing; the ears, eyes, and mouth are the three essentials; the space in front of the kidneys and behind the navel is the Mysterious Pass; and the mingling of the five phases is the formation of the elixir. This is the Method of Peace and Ease. It includes more than a hundred operations. If one can forget the emotions, one can also nourish vital existence. (It is somewhat similar to the three upper grades, but differs in its operations.)

B. Middle-Vehicle Alchemical Methods: The Method of Nourishing Vital Existence

The middle vehicle takes Qian and Kun as the cauldron vessel, Kan and Li as water and fire, and the Crow and Hare as the medicinal substances. Essence, spirit, the ethereal soul, the corporeal soul, and intent are the five phases; body and mind are the dragon and tiger; and qi is the True Seed. The cold and heat of the year are the firing times; irrigation with Dharma Water is bathing; and keeping the inner realm from going out and the outer realm from coming in is sealing securely. The Great Abyss, Crimson Palace, and Chamber of Essence are the three essentials; Niwan is the Mysterious Pass; and the mingling of essence and spirit is the formation of the elixir. This is the middle-vehicle Method of Nourishing Vital Existence. It includes several dozen operations, largely the same as those of the lower vehicle, with minor differences. Practiced without slackening, it too can enable one to live long and abide for a great time.

C. Upper-Vehicle Alchemical Methods: The Method of Prolonging Life

The upper vehicle takes Heaven and Earth as the cauldron and furnace, the sun and moon as water and fire, yin and yang as the mechanism of transformation, lead, mercury, silver, cinnabar, and earth as the five phases, inner nature and emotion as the dragon and tiger, and thought as the True Seed. Refining thought with the mind is the firing times; resting thought is nourishing the fire; containing the light is sealing securely; subduing inner demons is battle in the open field; and body, mind, and intent are the three essentials. The Celestial Heart is the Mysterious Pass; emotion returning to inner nature is the formation of the elixir; and the steaming and permeation of harmonious qi is bathing. This is the upper-vehicle Way of Prolonging Life. It resembles the middle vehicle, but its operations differ. It too has more than ten methods. If a perfected person practices it consistently from beginning to end, the Way of Immortality can be realized.

III. The Supreme Vehicle: The Unsurpassed, Utterly True, Wondrous Way

The Supreme Vehicle is the unsurpassed, utterly true, wondrous Way. It takes the Great Void as its cauldron and the Supreme Ultimate as its furnace. Clarity and stillness are the foundation of the elixir, and nonaction is its mother. Inner nature and vital existence are lead and mercury; meditative concentration and wisdom are water and fire; checking desire and restraining anger are the intercourse of water and fire; and the unity of inner nature and emotion is the joining of metal and wood. Washing the mind and cleansing thought are bathing; maintaining sincerity and stabilizing intent are sealing securely; discipline, concentration, and wisdom are the three essentials; the center is the Mysterious Pass; illuminating the mind is the sign of attainment; seeing inner nature is coagulation; the merging of the Three Primes into one is the Sacred Embryo; making inner nature and vital existence into a single whole is the formation of the elixir; having a body outside the body is emergence from the embryo; and shattering empty space is completion. This is the Way of the Supreme Vehicle, which a perfected person can practice. When the work is complete and virtue abundant, one advances directly to perfect, sudden realization: bodily form and spirit are both made wondrous, and one unites with the Dao in reality.

Appendix II

A Record of Qi Refinement

January 21, Year 75 of the Republic (1986)

At seven in the evening I began practicing qigong, using reverse breathing. It was much the same as the method I had practiced on my own in Year 73 of the Republic (1984), except that a pause in breathing had been added. But I stood for half an hour at a stretch, and did not know how to relax. By the time I finished, I was drenched in sweat and my underclothes were soaked through.

January 24

I continued practicing deep breathing. While inhaling, I was to imagine qi entering through my forehead like a column of water and passing into the elixir field along with the inhaled breath, and to imagine a ball of fire burning in the elixir field. After practicing several times, I found it was not difficult to imagine qi being drawn in through my forehead. But no matter what I did, I could not imagine a ball of fire burning in the elixir field, although my lower abdomen did become warm very easily.

January 28

Today’s practice was to inhale qi into the elixir field, then send it down to the soles of the feet. When the qi reached the elixir field, I was to imagine a ball of fire burning there; when it reached the soles, I was also to imagine two balls of fire burning there. After a brief pause, I was to exhale while imagining qi surging up from the soles to the perineum, joining there and rising to the elixir field, then passing from the elixir field to Danzhong, the Chest Center. I was to imagine a ball of fire burning at each of these two places, the elixir field and Danzhong. After practicing, I found that qi could indeed reach the soles, and that both the elixir field and Danzhong became warm as it rose.

January 31

I continued the previous practice. I felt that I was gradually becoming proficient in this training method. My legs no longer stayed stiff as before, unable to bear standing for long; I now knew how to adjust and relax them myself. The same was true of my hands and body. I also noticed that I was gradually sweating less, and that the areas where I felt heat were growing smaller, concentrating in the elixir field and Danzhong. Even when I was not practicing, I often felt warmth in the elixir field, as though a mass of chili pepper had been smeared there. Whenever I focused my intent on the elixir field, the sensation of heat grew stronger. When practicing inhalation, I could also see in my mind’s eye the qi leaving the elixir field like two streams of water pouring rapidly downward, straight toward the soles, which grew warm at the same time.

When exhaling, I could perceive the current of qi rising from the soles to the perineum. From there, a silvery-white column of qi rose straight to the elixir field, where it formed a white luminous body slightly smaller than a silver dollar, but slightly larger than a present-day NT$10 coin. It then proceeded to Danzhong.

February 4

This time the practice was still the same as before, but it seemed to come more readily. I also found that, later in the practice, the current of qi rising from the perineum to the elixir field changed from white to red. Although I was very hot afterward, I did not sweat. This must have been because the heat was becoming more concentrated and I had also learned to relax.

February 11

Today is the third day of the lunar New Year. I got up early to prepare to take my wife back to her parents’ home. Since New Year’s Eve, I have been at home on holiday. Apart from eating and sleeping, I have spent almost the entire day practicing, from the time I get up at four in the morning. I intended this intensive approach to let me open the Governing Vessel smoothly when classes resumed after the New Year. (The Conception Vessel had opened long ago.) But I had no time to practice early this morning. By the time we returned from Zhongli in the afternoon, it was already after four. Having had no rest all day, not even an afternoon nap, I lay down on the bed as soon as we got home, intending to sleep first and get up afterward to practice.

Unexpectedly, once I lay down and relaxed, a hot current suddenly arose in the elixir field and immediately flowed from below through the perineum toward the Tailbone Point.52 At once I felt intense heat and pressure around the Tailbone Point. I thought the numinous qi was about to pass through the barriers. Opening the Governing Vessel is the first crucial matter in practicing this kind of art, and a dangerous one. If anything went wrong, it would be no joke. I became very anxious and quickly telephoned my teacher. To my surprise, he had gone to Mount Hehuan and would not return for two days. Utterly at a loss, I could only stand up and walk about. At last, after an anxious wait, the qi in the elixir field slowly subsided.

February 13

These past few days, because my yang qi has been too strong, I have had an erection whenever I slept. Last night I slept too soundly and neglected to guard against it, and actually had a nocturnal emission. When I awoke, I felt indescribably vexed. Although I practiced as usual early in the morning and the elixir field could still grow warm, the intensity seemed much diminished.

February 16

Today is Sunday. I got up early to practice. After three or four days of effort, the elixir field had become as intensely hot as before, which was gratifying. After breakfast I lay on the sofa to rest. Unexpectedly, heat suddenly surged in the elixir field like a tide, true qi began to flow, and the Tailbone Point grew warm as well. I quickly telephoned my teacher for advice. He said the Conception and Governing Vessels were about to open, and told me to come to the practice hall at two in the afternoon so that he could teach me the key method for opening the Governing Vessel. I could scarcely endure the wait until half past one, when my wife drove me there. After the teacher arrived, he taught me an auxiliary movement to practice beforehand. I practiced for more than ten minutes and felt that it would not be difficult for the qi to rise from the Tailbone Point, but at that moment the qi in the elixir field was not concentrated.

The teacher assigned a more advanced fellow student to stand beside me and guide me. Because I was somewhat tense, my ability to circulate qi was actually worse than usual. Unaccustomed to practicing while seated, I switched to standing. After several breaths I finally built up some warm qi in the elixir field. With difficulty it passed the Tailbone Point, rose to the Spinal Pass, and passed the Jade Pillow. Only shortly afterward did I feel a slight itching in my forehead. It also seemed as though a small heap of tiny bubbles had accumulated there, an oddly unnatural sensation.

The senior student guiding me came in from outside and asked how I was doing. I hesitated for some time before telling him that it seemed to have opened. He asked me to try once more, so I did. This time I was more relaxed and carried it out more properly. After the qi passed the Spinal Pass, the senior student gently stroked my back with his hand and could also feel qi flowing. Then, one after another, my forehead and the corners of my forehead felt as though ants were crawling over them. The senior student, whose surname I later learned was also Wang, told me it had opened and congratulated me.

Yet I still doubted whether it had really opened. On the way home, as I sat in the car, I suddenly felt the elixir field growing warm of its own accord. I tried once again to circulate qi through the Tailbone Point. When it rose to the Spinal Pass, I felt warmth spread over my back. Before long, qi moved forward through the center of my forebrain like an iron chain.53 Then I felt true qi descending straight down my forehead like a procession of ants, slowly passing down between my eyebrows. Following my teacher’s instructions, I inhaled from my forehead into the elixir field, bringing the descending qi down with it. Before long, I again felt warmth below Danzhong. Only after all the true qi had returned to the elixir field did the sensation gradually disappear. This experience finally convinced me that the Conception and Governing Vessels had really opened.

February 17

Work was fairly quiet today, perhaps because of the New Year or because it was Monday! I was so excited last night that I did not sleep all night, but my spirits were quite good. Early this morning I circulated the celestial circuit several times. The ascending qi was all right, but the descending qi did not flow very smoothly, and the sensation of qi passing through the Conception and Governing Vessels was also very faint.

February 18

This morning I used breathing to turn the celestial circuit, with the same results as yesterday. A little after nine, I was leaning back in my chair with my eyes closed, resting my spirit. Unexpectedly, as soon as I relaxed, the elixir field suddenly began to pulse of its own accord. I tried concentrating my intent on visualizing the elixir field and adjusted my breathing to its pulsations. Suddenly I found that the pulsations were growing stronger and stronger, and the abdominal wall naturally began to draw inward and bulge outward with increasing force. After counting several hundred breaths while following the breathing, I felt the hot current in the elixir field gradually intensify and flow of its own accord toward the Tailbone Point, rising along the Governing Vessel. Its force was considerable, like an iron wire running up through the Spinal Pass toward the Jade Pillow. The speed and rhythm of its ascent matched the pulsations of the elixir field. Each pulse carried the qi another stage upward, just like the movement of a bicycle with its chain engaged.

I counted one hundred breaths from the start until its return to the elixir field, completing a very full celestial circuit. That evening I practiced several more times. When I paused and sat quietly, I suddenly found the elixir field pulsing again. I settled my mind and used intent to observe it, following several hundred breaths. Then I suddenly felt a slight vibration in my buttocks. The amplitude grew greater and greater, and I felt a line trembling upward clockwise from below, passing through the abdomen and chest to the crown of the head before following the line down again. I thought the Belt Vessel might have opened. When the qi descended below my buttocks, I found both legs vibrating at once. It continued winding downward all the way to the soles, then reversed upward. On reaching Danzhong, I felt both arms vibrate together, with qi circling the palms and elbows. I quickly laid one hand over the other on my legs and felt both palms moving up and down together. It continued for more than ten minutes without stopping.

I separated my hands and laid them on my left and right thighs. My palms kept slapping my thighs for a long time. After going to bed, I had not been lying down long when I felt the elixir field pulse again. Then my upper body began to sway, gradually extending to the lower body, until finally both legs vibrated. It resembled the first opening of the Belt Vessel, except that the qi did not go to the crown of the head. Shortly after the vibration passed, the elixir field began contracting again. I felt my entire body expanding in every direction, swelling until it filled the whole room, then slowly shrinking. Soon after returning to its original size, it expanded again. My wife was sitting on the bed watching television at the time. She seemed to notice something unusual and asked what was happening to me. I said only, “Nothing!” Then I felt my body expanding once more. It expanded and contracted three times in this way before settling down. On the third occasion, I tried concentrating my spirit and looking inward. I found qi all around my body, like a peacock spreading its tail, with countless dark halos mingled among rays of many kinds, shooting outward in every direction. My clothes and quilt seemed not to exist, and my entire body felt empty. Perhaps this is what the Buddhist scriptures mean by taking the form of a vajra figure or a great Buddha!

February 19

While practicing early this morning, the elixir field suddenly activated of its own accord. A stream of qi moved toward the Tailbone Point, rose along the Governing Vessel, and completed a circuit automatically. Not long after it returned to the elixir field, a curtain of qi appeared, moving from left to right. At the farthest edge, it suddenly opened slowly toward the front, like a book being opened. A grayish-white curtain of qi then swept from the front to the left and around the back, making a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn, returning to the place where it had originally opened and joining into one. At this point I saw qi outside my body surrounding me on all sides like a cylinder. Then two great sheets of qi, like large flags, emerged from my flanks and stretched upward and outward on either side. At the same time, a separate leaf-shaped stream of qi rose in the middle. The three streams appeared before me in the arrangement of the character 品, one above and two below. Before long, the image of a deity seated cross-legged appeared in the middle sheet of qi, with a withered, aged appearance.

I did not dare look directly at it, but simply concentrated my spirit and guarded within. A few seconds later, the image vanished of its own accord, turning into a mass of white light that descended like a balloon. A hanging band connected it directly to the elixir field. The white light was drawn into the elixir field along the band and gradually approached from the chest. Suddenly I felt it connect with the Conception Vessel, and it all entered the elixir field along that vessel.

February 20

During early-morning practice, after using the breath to initiate three revolutions of the celestial circuit, I again visualized the elixir field. A gray curtain of qi slowly rose at the front of the abdomen, making massaging movements within the front of the abdominal and chest cavities. After gradually descending, it rose again at the back, massaging the rear of the abdominal and chest cavities. After descending, it rose toward the back again and massaged my back. Then it rose once more at the front, massaging the outer surfaces of the lower abdomen and the front of the chest.

In the afternoon, when work was a little quieter, a hot current suddenly surged through the elixir field like a tide, and the pressure at the Tailbone Point became extraordinarily strong. I hastily shut my office door. After sitting briefly, I felt qi from the elixir field go straight to the perineum and make drilling and digging movements near the anus. Then a column of qi rose from below. It was as thick as my thumb, the color of mercury, with a radiance above it like a burning candle. It slowly rose to the crown. Its leading end suddenly began rotating rapidly, drilling upward like a screw. The center of the crown tingled slightly; before long, the column slowly descended. At the time, I intuitively felt that this was the opening of the central channel. But judging from what actually happened, the central channel did not seem to have been drilled through, which left me quite disappointed. After the column of light descended, there was first a kneading sensation and strong writhing within the lower abdomen. These gradually moved to the middle, turned left, and finally spread through the entire lower abdomen. Then a wheel of light appeared, rotating rapidly with the two ends of its axle facing the navel and the rear of the abdomen.

Before long, the wheel rose to the chest cavity and rotated in the same way. Then qi rose like a tide from the Sea Bottom, passed through the lower abdomen, chest cavity, both shoulders, and throat, and reached the mouth. It first massaged the lower gums, then rose to massage the upper gums. Passing through the nose, it rose to the eye sockets. I felt as though threads were pulling at the right-hand corners of both eyes at once, for quite a long time. It then moved to the left-hand corners of both eyes and pulled there for a long time. Next it made massaging movements behind both eyeballs. After a little while it gradually rose to the crown. At the same time, I noticed a white, silvery star at the left corner of my forehead, its radiance shining upon me. It disappeared only after the curtain of qi descended.

After descending to the perineum, the curtain of qi gradually moved toward both legs, and all the channels in the legs opened together. Having reached the soles, it rose again to the genitals and made a circular massage around their base, then rose once more to Danzhong. Before long it turned into both hands. Both hands began vibrating together, and all their channels opened. Then it descended to the lower abdomen, spiraled along the Belt Vessel all the way to the crown, and fell. Afterward, a white band of light appeared, winding around my entire body from below upward like a bandage, then slowly unwinding.

February 21

Qi rose from the Sea Bottom in the form of a curtain. First it massaged the four inner corners of the lower abdominal cavity. Then it rose to massage the four upper corners of the upper chest cavity and pulled outward. Next it turned toward the armpits and massaged both of them, then descended to the soles. As it rose to the perineum, it also massaged the head of the penis.

February 22

After I sat down, qi rose from beneath the abdomen and filled the entire abdominal cavity. It then turned into a length of gray cloth-like curtain, rising outward and upward from the elixir field into the air outside my body. After the curtain passed, another form of qi, shaped like half an archway, rose from the same place to the outside of my body and stopped before my forehead. Only after a long time did it gradually descend. I felt a current of qi spinning rapidly upward at the perineum. As it spun, a gray, petal-like object appeared;54 the more it spun, the more of these appeared. Finally they formed something like a ripe pinecone that had burst open. Its upper end was white, as though decorated with transparent plastic. It somewhat resembled a lotus pedestal, yet was not a lotus pedestal.

February 24

During seated meditation this evening, the movement of qi in the elixir field became very strong. True qi spontaneously circulated through the Conception and Governing Vessels as many as nine times. After it stopped, I suddenly felt hungry. I went to the kitchen, drank a bottle of milk, and returned to the living room to sit for a while. Suddenly the qi in the elixir field activated again. I hurried to the study and sat down, feeling a powerful current rise from the Tailbone Point into the abdomen. I hastily used intent to guide it toward the spinal opening, but it simply would not follow. After a brief pause, it began twisting and springing of its own accord, jumping upward into the abdomen step by step. After reaching the chest cavity, it turned slightly forward and took the form of a seesaw. The front end suddenly pressed down, and the rear end sprang rapidly upward. Taking advantage of this, a great stream of qi surged straight up. Only after this had happened several times did I realize it might be the opening of the central channel. I then cooperated with my intent, forcefully surging upward.

But a great deal of time passed without any sign that the crown had been broken through. I became very anxious, desperately hoping that whoever was directing this affair, the other ruler within my body, would persevere and not abandon the effort halfway. As the surging continued, when it seemed there was no hope of opening the crown, my head above the neck suddenly began rotating clockwise of its own accord. It spun faster and faster, and the inside of my head felt as though it were being pulled upward by the centrifugal force of the rapid rotation. Suddenly I felt the pressure ease. Dimly, I saw countless rays of white light shooting out from inside my head through the crown and rushing into the air. A little later, they began falling back down one after another.

I felt external qi enter along with them. When it descended to the throat, a circular tube of qi appeared there. Inside it, a bright star slowly fell along with the qi. At the same time, I felt my chest cavity opening outward, and a vessel-like object appeared.55 The bright star and descending current fell into its opening and mingled with a current rising from the lower abdomen. The two currents wound around each other and rotated. Before long, a luminous body appeared, shaped like the sun and as large as [perhaps a table-tennis ball].56 It then gradually descended, only coming to rest after reaching Zhongting, the Central Court. The elixir field felt as though it had emptied. The sense of pressure and substantial presence that I had felt over so many days suddenly vanished. After rising from meditation, I felt only a cool breeze at the crown, as though qi were entering through the top of my head. I felt rather happy: it seemed the central channel had finally opened.

February 27

These past few days I have still meditated every day, but suddenly qi no longer travels through the Conception and Governing Vessels. Even forcing it with intent has no effect. Could the time have come for the celestial mechanism to stop revolving? I find it very puzzling. My progress has truly been too rapid lately. From January 21, when I began practicing, to February 24, when the central channel opened, in just one month and three days I actually experienced such a miraculous world.

March 3

During seated meditation early this morning, qi rose from the Sea Bottom, gradually rising and filling the whole body. Before long, a luminous body as large as a teacup and shaped like the sun appeared in the air two or three chi in front of and above my forehead. Then a silvery-white, star-like object appeared beside it, sending cold rays of light in all directions. They hung side by side in the air. I wondered to myself: could this be the state of the sun and moon united? Should I use intent to bring it down, as the books say? The thought had scarcely arisen when the sun-like object floated swiftly down and plunged directly into my chest. Then the star-like object followed, falling toward my body and disappearing in an instant.

March 5

Ever since circulation through the Conception and Governing Vessels stopped, I have felt as though I had lost something. I do not know what the events of February 24 really signified. Had I already obtained the Lesser Medicine? If it was only the Lesser Medicine, there should still be three hundred wondrous celestial circuits before I could obtain the Great Medicine. If it was the Great Medicine, then such states as Five Dragons Supporting the Sage, great intoxication for seven and a half days, and the horse-like concealment of the genitals had not occurred at all. I searched through all the relevant books and periodicals available in the shops but could find no answer. This knot in my mind simply would not come undone.

Note: This knot was finally untied later.

March 8

Recently, inner scenes have become fewer and fewer. During seated meditation, I often feel that qi expands the front and back of my abdomen enormously, and sometimes I can feel it pushing my head a long way upward. The central channel, however, is active every day. Drawing on an invention of the Japanese Mr. Takafuji Sōichirō, I practiced the celestial circuit outside the body. When qi rose to the crown, I tried sending it out through the top of my head, then having it fall along a parabolic arc in front of or behind me, passing beneath the chair and returning to my body through the Tailbone Point. I succeeded and found its effects excellent.

March 11

Today there was a plenary session of the Legislative Yuan. I accompanied the minister and sat in the visitors’ gallery. Because no customs matters were involved in the general questioning, I was quite relaxed. Suddenly I felt my lower abdomen contract inward of its own accord and my diaphragm rise automatically. An internal force drew my entire upper body forward into a seated-meditation posture. At the same time, I noticed that breathing through my mouth and nose had almost stopped. Startled, I tried gently closing both eyes, finding quiet amid the commotion, and rested for a while. I recalled that similar things had often happened before. During seated meditation, a force within my body would often make my upper body lean forward and my head droop, as though urging me to undertake visualization. I tried visualizing the Central Court and often saw brilliant rosy light within the Yellow Court, dazzling my eyes. Recently, however, this has happened less and less.

Today’s situation differed from the previous ones: even my breathing became extremely slight and subtle. It seemed somewhat like the phenomenon of “true breathing” described in the books.

March 24

On the way to work this morning, I followed my usual practice of using the time in the car to cultivate qi. At the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Xinhai Road, the car stopped at a red light. Just then, the qi mechanism within my body activated, and qi rose along the central channel to the crown. As usual, I sent it out through the top of my head, passing through the car roof into the air. Unexpectedly, the car suddenly started moving, and the qi I had sent out almost failed to return. It gave me quite a fright. I thought I must never play this sort of game again.

Note: It was later demonstrated that qi travels like lightning, covering a thousand li in an instant. This idea was fundamentally mistaken.

April 1

Late in the afternoon, just before leaving work, I suddenly felt swelling at the Tailbone Point, with qi gathering nearby. Remembering what my senior fellow practitioner Xiong Yan had said, I tried guiding a small current into the Governing Vessel with intention. After it rose to the Spinal Pass, I noticed that the elixir field had also begun to pulsate. Immediately alarmed, I stopped any further qi from entering the Governing Vessel. That small current, however, had already passed the Jade Pillow, risen to Baihui, and followed the Conception Vessel back to the elixir field. I remembered that many books warn of the danger of failing to stop the fire when the elixir is mature. The cessation of circulation in the Conception and Governing Vessels after the elixir is formed should therefore be an entirely natural phenomenon. I was genuinely worried that what I had done might have harmful consequences.

Author’s note: This was a very serious mistake. Fortunately I was able to stop in time; otherwise all my earlier efforts might have been wasted.

April 10

Recently the signs of embryonic breathing have become increasingly pronounced, and my sittings have grown longer and longer. The central channel, however, has been circulating less and less often: first once a day, then twice every three days, and later once every three days. The Belt Vessel, on the other hand, has gradually become more active. Especially on days when work is heavy and I expend more mental and physical energy, the Belt Vessel always circulates during my evening meditation.

April 12

While meditating this evening, my upper body was initially leaning forward and my head was slightly bowed. After forty minutes, I suddenly felt a force within my body lift my torso upright. My head straightened with it. Then I felt a current of qi emerge from my lower abdomen and rise out through the crown of my head. More and more came out, until it filled the whole room. Sitting within it felt like being enveloped in mist. Only after about five or six minutes did it gradually return to my body. This sensation was truly extraordinary.

April 20

Today is Sunday, and I had more time for practice. While bathing this evening, I suddenly discovered that both testicles had retracted into my body. This startled me: unexpectedly, the “horse-like concealment of the genitals” manifestation had finally occurred. According to the views of the Japanese practitioner of the Way of Immortality, Mr. Takafuji Sōichirō, I have now unquestionably reached the stage of the Greater Celestial Circuit.

Looking back from today to February 21, when I formally took a teacher and began practicing, exactly three months have passed.57 If we follow Takafuji’s view that one enters the Greater Celestial Circuit from the day “celestial fire refines the form” occurs, then, according to the descriptions in the books, what happened to me on the afternoon of February 20 seems already to have belonged to that stage. Counting from that day to today gives exactly two months. If we count instead from February 24, when the elixir formed and the celestial mechanism stopped revolving, that gives one month and twenty-six days. Judging from what actually happened, the “horse-like concealment of the genitals” manifestation should gradually occur after the Greater Celestial Circuit is completed, rather than occurring first and being followed by its completion. Many scholars of immortality also say: “The One Precelestial Qi comes from emptiness.”

They place this emptiness within the body. In my own experience, however, this “emptiness” is outside the body, not within it. That is why it is said that believing everything in books is worse than having no books at all: everything should be tested through personal experience. These three months of practical verification have shown me that the Chinese practices of the Way of Immortality truly exist and have practical value. Before I began, I was still reasonably healthy, but for a man of fifty-eight, already approaching old age, many parts of my body had begun to show signs of aging. Most obvious were declining eyesight and the onset of presbyopia, slack facial muscles, and diminished physical strength. In particular, allergic rhinitis, which neither Chinese nor Western medicine had been able to cure over nearly thirty years, caused me great distress and anxiety.

Unexpectedly, less than two weeks after I began refining qi, my old ailment quietly vanished. By the end of a month, I had also left my reading glasses behind. Later my cheeks filled out and my steps became light and nimble. My health was better than it had been for thirty years. Although ascending to heaven in broad daylight still awaits verification, rejuvenation already has evidence to attest to it.

May 24

Over the past three days, qi has emerged from my body after about twenty or thirty minutes of each sitting. On the twenty-second, it all arose from the Sea of Qi and spread from right to left throughout the room. On the twenty-third, qi emerged from the crown of my head and enveloped me from top to bottom; my torso and limbs seemed to disappear. This morning, qi again came out from the Sea of Qi. Like idle clouds emerging from a mountain cave, it turned from right to left and then from left to right, filling the space within about a zhang of my body.58 Finally it rose upward. Only after several minutes did it gradually descend and return to my body. The Belt Vessel then rotated rapidly before stillness returned.

May 28

After arriving at work this morning, I took advantage of a quiet interval to sit for a while. I suddenly felt qi come out through my left flank and rotate counterclockwise toward the right and in front of me. As it turned, it grew larger and larger, finally becoming a disc of light several zhang in diameter, rotating before me. It continued for a long time before stopping.

June 1

During my early-morning meditation, I felt my head begin to sway from side to side. With each movement, qi emerged from the tip of my nose in ribbons, weaving back and forth with the swaying. It gradually grew larger until it formed a white cocoon of qi, enclosing my body like a cover.59 Within it, I naturally entered a state of seated meditation. After about thirty minutes, more qi surged out on my right. First it turned to either side; then it became an ocean, spreading wider and wider, boundless and without shore. Waves rose from time to time, reflecting a faintly white ring of light, just like the sea at daybreak. This lasted several minutes before I felt the qi mechanism begin to turn. The qi outside my body then poured back in, like a hundred streams converging.

June 2

During my early-morning sitting, besides the cocoon-building movements that occurred yesterday, the emerging qi first became an enormous brownish-yellow balloon, three stories high. When one balloon disappeared, another arose. Then qi poured outward like a mighty river. The scene outside my body suddenly became still, and a vast, boundless expanse of yellow-earth plains appeared, like the scenery in a Western film. My mind was completely peaceful. A long time passed before I felt the qi mechanism within my abdomen begin to turn, and the qi outside my body flowed back into it.

June 3

At noon, I gave up my nap and meditated instead. Soon after settling into the sitting, I felt my body slowly turn from side to side of its own accord. Qi came out with it, spreading outward with my body’s turning and rising into the sky. All around was a silvery radiance, and within it my whole body seemed to disappear. Later the qi changed from silvery white to golden yellow. It only slowly withdrew when the music signaling the return to work began.

I sat again in the evening. After the qi emerged, all above and below and in every direction seemed empty and misty. After a long time, I suddenly felt the center of my chest split forcefully to either side along the Conception Vessel. It was extremely painful. Then both flanks expanded outward, and my whole body swelled to several times its width. At that moment I felt a clear emptiness both inside and outside my body. Within it there seemed vaguely to be something, transparent as crystal and lustrously pure as white jade, utterly still and utterly clean.

June 5

During my noon meditation, after the cocoon was formed, I again felt a dull pain in the center of my rib cage, followed by its splitting open to left and right. My entire torso seemed to widen to either side. Then white masses of qi emerged from my body cavity, curling and unfurling within the space enclosed by the cocoon and the cavity. Wherever they went, I felt only coolness, and all other sensations vanished. Only then did I understand the cocoon’s purpose. Several minutes later, my body slowly contracted inward, and the qi gradually returned to my body, restoring it to its original state.

Less than two minutes later, however, the center of my rib cage split open again, this time without pain, and qi emerged once more. This happened again and again. After the third return to normal, I suddenly felt a white tube of qi extend horizontally from the left side of my abdominal cavity, with what seemed to be a golden flame at its tip. As the tube vibrated, countless white bubbles tinged with gold sprang from its end and gradually sprayed onto the cocoon from left to right. The bubbles became smaller and more densely packed, finally turning into a shower of pale-golden light that sprayed onto the cocoon and added another layer. Then I felt two streams of qi emerge from my upper eyelids, as thick as thumbs, white with blue-green edges, and spread over the cocoon. Soon it had another layer of translucent membrane, white tinged with blue-green.

Then both sides of my rib cage opened again. Large expanses of white qi tinged with blue-green emerged from the cavity and circled up and down inside the cocoon. Dimly, I could see only clear emptiness within and outside the body cavity, incomparably cool and pure. Soon the circling qi gradually grew still. The blue-green qi gathered at the center into a small mountain peak resembling Taiwanese jade, then slowly moved into my body. My whole body also gradually shrank back to its original size.

June 15

After I had sat down to meditate, in addition to the cocoon-forming movements and the rest, an object shaped like a furnace, neither round nor square, appeared directly in front of me. Violet light shimmered inside it, dazzling to the eyes. A column of violet light rose from within it and connected to my nose. The significance of this is truly something to ponder.

June 24

There was another new development during this evening’s meditation. After building the cocoon, concentrating the spirit, and withdrawing the cocoon, I suddenly felt the true qi within my body rise again, pass above my head into the air, and gradually spread in every direction. The surrounding space felt perfectly clear. My whole body also seemed to expand and become transparent, leaving only a faint outline around its edges. Several minutes later, I felt still more qi rise within me. My whole body seemed to become a floating cloud, rising into the air about a zhang in front of my forehead. Only after a long time did it descend toward the place where I sat. At this point, form and spirit alike seemed utterly still, all was empty, and, apart from one point of luminous awareness, everything inside and outside my body had dissolved into emptiness.

After some ten minutes, my hanging hands suddenly rose slowly to either side of their own accord, like a bird spreading its wings. Once above my head, both palms naturally opened, and the backs of my hands gently came together. After a brief pause they separated by themselves and slowly returned to their original position. This movement repeated ten times before stopping. Afterward, I felt as though I had begun to enter the stage of returning to emptiness.

June 28

There is something I have always forgotten to record, though in fact it has happened during every sitting: the appearance of a tunnel. It began before the cocoon-forming movements. The earliest occurrence was on June 5. Soon after the disc of light appeared, I seemed to discover a great well opening below and directly in front of where I sat. Faint violet qi was visible within it, and its depth was unfathomable. Sitting above it gave a strong sense of looking down into an abyss. Whenever this tunnel appeared, my eyes involuntarily fixed tightly on the bottom of the well. Its interior changed color frequently, and its diameter also varied. Whenever my mind lost its concentration, the shape of the well readily bent or even disappeared.

During last night’s and this morning’s sittings, however, after the wall, originally a cocoon, had been built, that wondrous tunnel no longer appeared. The other ruler within my body seemed particularly concerned about this. Again and again it bowed my head to search, even making me get down on the floor to look. Yet the cavern of emptiness simply would not appear. Instead, I was worn half to death. How discouraging!

During my evening meditation, the opening still failed to appear. Eventually every possible method was used to gather the qi: it first rushed forward to make another wall of qi, then descended in successive batches and pressed down toward the floor before me. Only at the end, when the qi turned violet and fell onto the floor in front of me, did the opening begin to appear.

July 1

For three days in a row the qi tunnel had failed to appear, but during my early-morning meditation today it reappeared. It was very small, however. What I had seen before resembled an ancient well or a cold pool of unfathomable depth; today there were only faintly visible little vortices, each vanishing almost as soon as it appeared. During my evening sitting, though, a new scene emerged. After visualization, a well-shaped opening of qi soon appeared above my head. As I sat beneath it and tilted my head upward, a strand of qi was cast up from the crown of my head like a rope. It soon fell, then was thrown upward again. This happened over and over, each throw higher than the last, until it was finally thrown so high that it no longer fell. Sitting beneath it was like looking at the sky from the bottom of a well. I could see only true qi shimmering on every side. It was a long time before it withdrew.

July 2

For two days running, it has taken enormous effort to see even a few small vortices of qi. During this evening’s meditation, my abdomen suddenly ceased to split open, and the wall of qi in front of me was made extremely thin. The number of visualizations also fell from the former ten to three. It seems that this phase is probably drawing to a close.

July 3

During this morning’s meditation, I suddenly felt a great current of qi rush upward from my abdomen. Following the central channel, it continuously spouted from the crown of my head into the air for more than ten minutes.

July 8

The cavern of emptiness, which had disappeared on July 3, reappeared last night. Moreover, the opening I saw was large, quite unlike the little vortices of the past few days.

During my early-morning meditation, I first built the wall as usual. Once it was finished, a natural force straightened my torso, tipped my head backward, and made my eyes stare upward. After this had happened several times, I bent forward at the waist, and my head rapidly turned from side to side. After a while I lowered my gaze, and the opening suddenly appeared. After ten repetitions, I raised my head and straightened my back again, looking level ahead. I felt qi rise from below to eye level, then spread forward and to either side, farther and wider. Soon a vast expanse of pale-golden radiance filled the space before my eyes, boundless and without end. It truly seemed as though I had reached the stage in which spirit fills the Great Emptiness. After a long time, my torso slowly bent forward. Countless golden rays seemed to fly in from outside like arrows, converging on my body and head. My entire head of hair was filled with innumerable sparks, accompanied by a succession of soft popping sounds. The scene was spectacular in the extreme.

After my head had been bent below my knees for several seconds, I again straightened my body and raised my head. I seemed like a hedgehog, with countless golden fiery arrows shooting out once more from my whole body to either side and straight ahead. This gathering and releasing was repeated ten times altogether. Then all the golden rays became sheets of golden, shale-like material moving outward in every direction. These in turn became an immensely deep and enormous golden canyon. Only after a long time did I withdraw the wall and end the sitting.

This evening’s meditation went very well. In addition to the usual wall-building, visualization, concentration of the spirit, and dismantling of the wall, when the wall was halfway dismantled, the ruler within my body playfully showed what it could do. Using the qi that had not yet been withdrawn, it made ten strange and exquisitely intricate things in the blink of an eye and stuffed them into my abdomen one by one. I remember that the first was shaped like an ancient coin, round outside with a square hole at the center, and as large as a truck tire. The square opening was full of colorful, rotating things. It first turned horizontally, then upright facing me, and then rotated into my abdomen. The second was a round object three chi across, white and translucent, with a dark-brown, four-cornered square plate set in its center. This likewise rotated into my abdomen.

Among the others I can remember were an enormous, exquisitely made silver cup with many U-shaped grooves around its rim, and an old-fashioned brass padlock taller than a person. All were stuffed into my abdomen, leaving me terribly, terribly bloated. After I finished meditating, my wife asked whether I wanted mung-bean soup. How could I possibly drink any?

July 10

During my early-morning meditation, wall-building and visualization went as usual. But when the qi had gone out and was about to return, my torso suddenly bent forward three times of its own accord. The scene before my eyes began to move with it. Soon an immense, unfathomably deep opening appeared directly before me, like the time tunnels seen on television. After a long time it slowly vanished, followed by scenes of mountains, waters, and other landscapes. I thought too much time had passed and I did not want to watch any longer. As soon as this thought arose, the other ruler within my body immediately responded accordingly and stopped. The strange feast that had appeared yesterday therefore did not recur.

July 11

At 3:40 this afternoon, during a quiet interval at work, I stood beside my desk facing the window and tried gently closing my eyes. When my mind and qi had become peaceful, I discovered qi rising from both flanks in the shape of round fans, enclosing my head. Then my body began to contract, and that expanse of qi changed along with the contraction or expansion of my body. It seems that the halos seen in every painted image of the Buddha are indeed accurate.

July 12

Today is the weekend, with no work in the afternoon. It was nearly three when I woke from my nap. I got up and practiced sitting on the edge of the bed. A long time after settling down, no wall-building movements occurred. I only felt qi emerge from my lower body and gradually fill the space before me. Then my head naturally swayed from side to side, and the qi before me spread outward like the tide, to either side and straight ahead, following the movements of my head. Once it had spread very far and formed a vast space, my head suddenly began making circles of its own accord. The qi before my eyes swirled with it and soon formed an immeasurably deep tunnel of qi. After a while it vanished, and other tunnels appeared in succession. As they continually disappeared and reappeared, they became more numerous but smaller and smaller, finally turning into countless little vortices before vanishing altogether.

Then I felt a pressure on my hands and arms, lifting them naturally upward. After they passed above my shoulders, they came together above my head with the backs of the hands facing upward, in the pose of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin. Soon they loosened and slowly descended, then rose again after a brief pause. This movement repeated fully forty times.

July 13

At about three in the afternoon, while sitting on the living-room sofa watching television, I suddenly felt my mind and qi become peaceful and every thought fall silent. A natural force appeared in my hands and involuntarily lifted both arms into the Thousand-Armed Guanyin pose. Since sitting was awkward, I stood up. The movement repeated forty times before stopping. After sitting down again, I discovered that qi had already emerged from my lower body and spread around me. Then my head began swaying naturally from side to side, and the qi spread farther away with its movement. At that moment there was only emptiness before me, with neither objects nor self. Soon my head began to turn again, and the qi before my eyes became a qi tunnel that took a long time to disappear. Then the Belt Vessel moved, and the space before my eyes suddenly cleared.

Afterward, my wife, who had been watching television beside me, told me she had also been affected: the qi in her elixir field had grown steaming hot and kept rising straight upward. The children, sitting farther away, said some of my movements looked like those of a spirit medium. Hearing that, I did not know whether to laugh or cry.

July 20

Today is Sunday, and I got up later than usual. While practicing, I noticed considerable changes in my recent experiences:

  1. During practice, qi usually emerges from the right side of my lower abdomen. Each time it comes out, the elixir field and lower abdomen contract violently. Drawing it back in is even more strenuous. The returning qi seems gradually to have become denser and heavier, and it moves very slowly. I must concentrate my intent, keep my head swaying, and have something resembling a turntable continually rotating in my abdomen before it can slowly be drawn back in.

  2. The tunnels that appear look increasingly like Kaohsiung’s newly built cross-harbor tunnel, but they bend very easily, and keeping them straight is quite difficult.

  3. Finally, the qi spirals downward and gathers beneath my buttocks, then gradually rises in a rotating column like a tornado. I feel as though my whole body is being lifted or drawn upward. Unfortunately, the force is not strong enough, and this mortal flesh and bone of mine has not yet been entirely transformed into qi. How could it possibly lift me? Still, that eager, upward-leaping sensation makes me feel that one day I really will fly up.

July 23

Since the twenty-first, I have had the feeling that the present situation may be about to change again. For two or three days running, there have been certain difficulties in transforming qi into tunnels. I must give the other ruler within my body credit for thinking of all sorts of ways to reproduce the earlier phenomena, but clearly they have had little effect and have not satisfied its own needs.

July 25

During practice yesterday and today, I discovered that the wall was no longer being built. Soon after I settled into a sitting, my torso slowly leaned forward of its own accord, my head lowering until it almost touched the floor. My breathing and thoughts gradually diminished at the same pace as this forward descent, until they ceased, just as when seated meditation reaches profound stillness. At that point, I applied the method of Transcendental Meditation to this practice. I also devised a secret sound that I thought suitable for myself and found it very effective. After bending all the way down and remaining still for a short while, my torso slowly rose again by itself. Then I straightened my waist, raised my head, and looked level ahead, before bending forward once more. This rising and bowing was repeated ten times.

When I raised my head once more afterward, an enormous qi tunnel immediately appeared before me, even more impressive than before. As soon as it appeared, my lower abdomen began making powerful drawing-in movements. I once read an account that said, “Spirit takes emptiness as its food.” If these qi tunnels truly are the food needed by the original spirit within the body, then the tunnels themselves must be the emptiness within emptiness. Is this why the other ruler within my body is so interested in them?

July 28

Another new experience occurred during practice last night and this morning. After I had watched the tunnels and performed the Thousand-Armed pose, I suddenly felt a natural force urging me to lie down. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, so I followed the impulse and lay back, with my upper body on the bed and my feet below it. I felt a wave of silvery-white qi move upward from my toes along both legs, abdomen, and chest to the crown of my head, then travel back down, step by step, to my toes. Soon a current of pale-golden qi followed the same route to the crown and then returned to my feet. This happened ten times altogether. Wherever the qi went, all the muscles shook without stopping. The whole process lasted more than half an hour.

August 2

The wall-building movements, which had stopped only a few days ago, have returned over the past two days. Their range is now smaller, however, covering only the area directly in front, without extending to either side. More time is spent overhead. As soon as the wall is finished, qi is released from the right side of my abdomen. Because the emerging qi is very dense, my chin must hook to either side to spread it out before me. Then the force of my head’s swaying parts it and reveals a tunnel. My lower abdomen begins drawing it in, and once the spirit has eaten its fill, the tunnel disappears.

More qi then circles below, whirling upward like a tornado and lifting me, after which my body leans back onto the bed. Besides the qi moving up and down by itself and vibrating the different parts of my body, my hands sometimes make water-sprinkling motions. All ten fingers lift, and currents of qi spray from them onto my body and head. Looking closely at this movement, it seems to be promoting the body’s transformation into qi. Last night it did indeed have an effect. Soon after I had lain back again, I felt an enormous force draw at both legs. Then it seemed that something within my legs was being drawn upward, followed by something within my head and torso rising as well. Had I not still felt my physical body touching the bed, I would almost have believed that my whole person had risen into the air and ascended to heaven. It was truly wondrous.

August 3

This afternoon I read Methods for Manifesting Spiritual Power, by Layman Tian’an. One passage about the power of the divine eye said that someone who has cultivated spiritual power can use spiritual vision to identify numbers written by another person and concealed in an envelope. I am not fond of performing tricks, but this interested me. To test whether I possessed this ability, I asked my second child, Zhifan, to put a playing card inside a thick envelope. I held it against my forehead and concentrated my intent for a while. A faint image of a heart appeared in my mind’s eye, so I said, “Hearts.” When the envelope was opened, I was indeed correct.

August 4

My teacher once said that when the central channel has been opened through practice, one can send out the yin spirit. He also said that many senior fellow students had experienced this, but I had not intended to try it. These past few days, the qi mechanism within my body has felt vigorous, the true qi surging as though ready to overflow at any moment. I also read Layman Tian’an’s account of his own experience of sending out the spirit in Methods for Manifesting Spiritual Power. After lunch today, with a long time still to go before leaving work and a little bored with nothing to do, I thought of my friend Director-General Lai Ying-zhao, who had gone to a meeting in the United States on an important assignment. I very much wanted to visit him. But it was midnight in America, and I did not know where his hotel was, so I had to abandon the idea.

Then I thought: why not go home and see my wife and children? Sitting on the sofa, I gently closed my eyes, concentrated my intent, and thought of the children at home. Soon I felt the true qi within my body rise. The central channel stirred slightly, and qi shot from my lower abdomen along the central channel and out through the crown of my head, leaving my body and floating upward like a ribbon-shaped cloud. In an instant I was home, entering the living room through the front glass window. I could dimly see the sofa, coffee table, and other furnishings, but no one was there. I wondered whether they might be eating in the dining room. I felt myself pass like a gust of wind down the stairs, through the kitchen into the dining room, and even into the children’s rooms, but there was no one anywhere. I concluded that they must have gone out to eat and that I should return to the office. As soon as I thought of returning, the qi came back to the office like a gust of wind and merged with my seated body.

I looked at my watch: it was exactly 12:32. I immediately got up and telephoned home. No one answered, even after a long time, confirming that my wife and children were indeed out. This was a truly unforgettable experience.

August 16

Today is the weekend. After my nap, I got up and began practicing. After the wall-building, which has recently resumed, and the spirit-strengthening visualization movements,60 the true qi within my body began to leave it and rise into the air. Then my body leaned backward and lay on the bed. Soon I felt true qi rising from the feet to the legs, from the legs to the torso, and from the torso to the crown of my head, leaving the body layer by layer as though it had been sliced horizontally. My whole person was divided into five layers, rising into the air one after another. Then something resembling a great factory smokestack formed above my head and towered straight into the sky.

August 23

It seems that every new experience occurs on a Saturday. During my afternoon practice, I suddenly discovered that I no longer needed to lie down. Merely sitting on the edge of the bed was enough for qi gradually to emerge from my limbs, torso, and even my head and rise into the air.

August 24

While practicing lying on the bed this evening, soon after the qi had left my body and risen into the air, I felt a white radiance move slowly upward from my feet, pass above my legs, and extend over my torso to the crown of my head, then slowly return from the crown to my feet. After several repetitions, a piece of white gauze-like material, apparently embroidered with patterns, like that used for a bridal gown, gently and closely wrapped my whole body from right to left. After a while, something like falling snow covered me from feet to head in a thick layer of fine snow. Soon afterward, several sheets resembling transparent acrylic glass covered my whole body from bottom to top. Then a large quilt-like expanse of cottony material appeared and covered me. My reclining body rolled from side to side by itself to receive it. Only after a long time was this finished, and I gathered in the qi and sat up.

Just as I was about to finish the practice, I suddenly felt qi moving before me again, growing more and more extensive. Later a natural force once more made me lean back and lie on the bed. I felt another cloud of qi move above my body, gathering ever more densely and darkening in color until it finally turned black. Within it, an object faintly appeared resembling a human head carved by one of the local indigenous people. I immediately became alert to something unusual and ignored it with the attitude of “if a demon comes, cut down the demon; if a Buddha comes, cut down the Buddha.” But the strange image drew closer and closer. To restore clarity and emptiness within, I silently began reciting the Prajñāpāramitā Heart Sūtra. I had only reached the two lines “Form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form” when my hands, which had been resting flat at my sides, suddenly rose of their own accord. The palms turned over and swept outward.

When the black qi above met my outstretched, sweeping fingers, it seemed to have encountered its nemesis and immediately rose higher. After several sweeps, it vanished like smoke. I went on reciting the White-Robed Guanyin Mantra several times. After ending the practice, I found myself covered in a cold sweat.

September 13

After getting up this morning and briefly washing and rinsing my mouth, I strolled up the hill. Dawn was just breaking, and everything around me was extraordinarily fresh. I chose a shaded spot, sat down, and gently closed my eyes. The qi mechanism within my body felt active. Soon, tunnels formed of qi appeared before me, slowly passing across my field of vision from left to right. My eyes were slightly open, admitting only a thread of vision, and my gaze held tightly to the passing tunnels. My abdomen contracted inward as though drawing them in. Within a few minutes I felt full and distended. Based on my recent experience, these qi tunnels seem to be concentrations of the universe’s energy. The alchemical classics say, “Spirit takes emptiness as its food.” This emptiness is precisely the tunnels formed of qi. Is drawing in the tunnels not drawing in emptiness, drawing in the energy of the universe to strengthen the substance of the original spirit?

I therefore believe that the entire process, from the appearance of the qi tunnels through their absorption, should be classified as practice at the stage of refining the spirit.

According to my earlier experience, the spirit-refining practice should be followed by a bout of forceful movements of the head, sweeping diagonally downward to the left about ninety or a hundred times. A force then swirls up from beneath the body, rotating counterclockwise and lifting upward. Afterward, waves of qi within the body rise from the feet, pass out through the crown, and ascend into the air. None of these phenomena occurred today. I only felt true qi moving outside my body, with pale-golden currents filling the air like a vast, thick mist spread before my eyes. Only after about half an hour did it slowly enter my body. Opening my eyes, I saw verdant green hills and scenery like a painting. My heart was full of joy and strength.

September 16

Work was relatively quiet this afternoon. I stood at the window in my office facing the road and gently closed my eyes. Tunnels of qi quickly appeared before me, one after another. I also felt that openings would appear at any moment in many parts of my body, especially the abdomen, as though mouths had opened, allowing great currents of true qi to flow into the body like water. For me, qi really is readily available without the slightest difficulty. I can also, whenever I wish, direct it out of my body and into another person.

September 27

Over the past week, the spirit-refining work seems to have become less and less frequent, gradually diminishing to once a day or even once every two days. Today, unexpectedly, the spirit-refining movements were incorporated into the movements for transformation into qi: the two have actually become one.

October 4

Today is the weekend. Based on past experience, there should be some new progress or new experience, but today seems to be an exception. During my early-morning practice, it was extremely difficult for the qi to come out. After I had sat for a long time, it was still only moving up and down within my body.

October 5

These past two days, there seem to be signs that the qi is gradually condensing within my body. External qi, however, enters it with tremendous force. As soon as I close my eyes, I feel a vast flood pouring from the air straight into my body. Sometimes my whole head disappears and becomes a V-shaped funnel through which the qi flows, making my entire body shake.

October 13

During practice these past few days, the qi I send out always seems denser and heavier when it returns. In this morning’s practice, the returning qi actually felt sticky, golden-yellow in color, and gelatinous like aiyu jelly. It also took a very long time to draw back in.

Moreover, for the past few months, at any time, as soon as I close my eyes and relax my mind, I feel great currents of qi pouring in from every direction. Openings appear at any moment in my head, thighs, and even my legs and hands, and qi flows into my body through them like spring water.

October 19

I have a class reunion to attend this evening, so I did today’s required practice early, during the daytime. Afterward, I felt that the earlier phenomena of leaping, rising, and being filled with qi, ready to shoot outward at any moment, seemed gradually to be disappearing. During each sitting, the qi now merely moves up and down within my body and takes a long time to emerge. There are about three or four cycles of going out and returning in each sitting.

October 26

Today is Sunday, and the weather is fine. During my ten o’clock morning sitting, I again experimented with sending out the yin spirit, this time to my hometown of Jinyun. Soon after I concentrated my intent, my hometown appeared before my eyes, scene after scene, place after place, as though I were watching an old slide-show film and had returned to the place where I was born. The scenery remained as before, and my old home was silent, without a soul in sight. Later I went to Xiandu, where I did see a car far off on the road. Then I returned to Gexi and saw my parents’ graves: a mound of yellow earth overgrown with weeds. The spirit that went out was like a gust of wind or a flying kite, riding qi through the air without any fixed bearings. I could hear no sounds, and everything I saw was as though in a fog, dim and indistinct. Although going and returning took only an instant, afterward I was drenched in sweat. Could this be what is called “sending out the spirit”?

November 1

Although I did not have to go to work today, I still got up early to practice. After sitting for several minutes, I felt the qi mechanism within my body surge, with qi rising as though from a steaming basket. After a while, I felt qi emerge from the crown of my head like a giant bamboo, rising joint by joint. Then another current rose on my right like a shrub. After that, still another rose on my left like a sheaf of auspicious grain laden with seed. The three currents of qi rose upward in a horizontal row from right to left. After a brief pause, more qi, golden in color and shaped like an equilateral triangle, rose in front of me. It climbed higher and higher, finally appearing like a little triangular mountain, shining brightly before me.

These various scenes appeared before my eyes one after another. Once they rose, none seemed to descend. There were too many instances to record. Only at the very end, when my torso automatically bent forward, did I feel countless currents of qi descend from the air and return to my body. The Belt Vessel then became intensely active. It was a long time before I finished the practice and ended the sitting.

November 4

This morning’s early meditation went very well. After the first batch of true qi had left my body and risen into the air, there was a short pause before the qi mechanism started again. First, a current of qi emerged from the center of the crown and rose into the air. Then another rose on the right, followed finally by one on the left. The three currents ascended side by side, and the scene was extremely clear. I wondered: could this be the “Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown”? Soon I felt the qi mechanism begin once more. My abdomen and chest automatically contracted inward with force, and I felt another current of qi emerge from the region above the Danzhong point and slowly rise. My heart also ached faintly, making me feel that the qi of all five viscera had come out. I had once had a similar experience before, when the pain in my heart was even worse.

Soon both hands rose naturally, and my head tilted up with them. I felt qi circling above my head. My lower abdomen and feet simultaneously extended and exerted themselves. After the big toe of my left foot automatically pressed firmly against the big toe of my right, a qi tunnel gradually appeared above the crown of my head. I stared with eyes wide, concentrating my spirit in visualization, and my abdomen contracted along with it. After a long time, my whole body relaxed at once, and the tunnel naturally disappeared. I felt another current of qi moving before me; then my head swayed automatically from side to side, and the qi gradually spread farther away. It formed a mountain of qi extending without limit, slightly raised in the center, beneath which I sat quietly, enveloped. After a while, the Belt Vessel suddenly became very active, and all the qi that had gone out returned to my body together. Reflecting carefully afterward, it seemed that I had truly experienced the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and the Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin.

November 11

Recently the qi mechanism has been unusually lively. In each sitting, qi leaves my body and rises eight or ten times. During practice last night, the finger-sprinkling movements occurred again. Afterward, I felt qi leave my body layer by layer, floating upward like cotton wool. When only a little remained, a natural force arose from the soles of my feet and pulled it toward the crown of my head, as though drawing out silk. Wherever it passed, there was a sensation like a mild electric shock. Once all the qi had gone out, I felt that, apart from this mind, this consciousness, everything else had disappeared. Dimly, I could see that my entire body had been reduced to a skeleton. My head, in particular, looked just like the skulls displayed in a museum. Yet my mind was quite peaceful. I only felt that when the day came for me to let go and depart this world, this was probably what it would look like.

November 14

During practice last night, the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and the Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin appeared once again, as did the hand-sprinkling movements and the bodily qi flying free that occurred on the eleventh. At the end, after the qi within my head, my brain, had gone out through the crown like silk being drawn out, I concentrated my intent, hoping that the spirit of knowing and deliberating would also leave my body and fly away with the qi. The result was that qi remained qi, while the part that feels and perceives ultimately stayed in the body.

This afternoon I read in Way of Immortality magazine that the elder Lin Yimin had passed away, and I felt deeply unsettled. I had always admired his profound understanding of Buddhism and Daoism and his great attainment in cultivation. More than once I had discussed with my wife going to Zhongxing Buddhist Hall to seek his guidance. I never expected that he would already have left this world. The immortals of antiquity lived for thousands of years; the immortals of today live for only a few decades. Where exactly does the problem lie? Reading this left me unhappy for the rest of the day.

November 19

Recently the qi tunnels, absent for a long time, have gradually become more frequent again. What I see, however, is always shaped like a smokestack, towering high above the crown of my head. Looking upward from beneath, it seems to reach the edge of heaven. The movements for transformation into qi are still occurring, though the experiences are no longer as distinct as they were at the beginning.

December 4

Recently the qi has become increasingly dense and heavy. During practice last night, it felt as thick as malt syrup, making it extremely difficult for it to leave the body and rise.

December 22

A new experience occurred during practice last night. After I had entered deep obscurity, I suddenly felt my right hand naturally rise. A small soup bowl seemed to appear between the edge of my palm and my cheek, with something apparently in it. The bowl continually seemed about to fall, held in place only by the tight pressure of the edge of my hand. Suddenly it slipped toward the front. I had barely tilted my head to the right when its rim touched my lips, and something in it seemed to flow into my mouth, as though I had drunk something. I suddenly felt a force flowing downward within my body, followed by an erection. After I settled my mind and brought this under control, I felt that force gradually flow upward again through my abdomen and chest to the crown of my head. From there it floated back down in sections, tracing arcs toward my lower body. It went back and forth several times before stopping. Both palms then rose and made many movements, as they have often done these past few months. Afterward, my palms came together about one cun in front of my face and slowly moved up and down. Wherever they passed, I felt a warm current of qi issuing from them. Finally, both palms touched my face and rubbed up and down, gradually reaching my hair. The movements were the same as the face-washing and hair-washing movements taught by the teacher of Outer Elixir practice, except that they were faster and entirely spontaneous.

Then there were hand-washing movements, also identical to those taught by the Outer Elixir teacher. Thinking about it afterward, perhaps many of the guiding-and-stretching practices handed down through the generations originated in this way. Who would have thought that the other ruler within my body would seem to know everything?

December 24

During practice last night, I felt strong contractions in my chest, abdomen, and other parts. Qi from the middle elixir field rose in waves. My nasal cavity, mouth, and even the entire cavity of my head were filled with qi. It seemed like the phenomenon called “the spirit moves to the upper court,” so I also applied the six-character formula, “Direct the movement of thought toward the great void.”61 My teacher had previously said, however, that our school’s practice has no stage of ten months’ gestation. What, then, did last night’s experience represent? Was the spirit moving to the upper court, or was qi moving to the upper elixir field?

The date on which my central channel opened and the elixir formed was February 24. As of yesterday, exactly ten months had passed. Does a period of ten months have some particular significance for our school’s method?

Note: Actual experience has shown that the practice of “Directing the movement of thought toward the great void” does not help matters and readily leads instead to attachment to appearances. It is still best not to use it.

January 16

Recently the actual experiences of practice have changed considerably. The qi that emerges each time has gradually changed from its former appearance of thick mist or a campfire. Now it looks like a great expanse of light issuing from a translucent, milky-white glass light bulb, silvery white at the center and gradually turning gold and then golden-red toward the outer edges. The ruler within my body has also recently begun paying attention to my appearance. Movements to improve my outward looks, such as washing my face and hands and combing my hair, keep making their appearance. These past few days it has even made me hit a punching bag and practice boxing, much to the amusement of my wife and children.

January 21

Recently, whenever I practice, the ten fingers of my hands automatically interlace and are pressed over my forehead. They then move gradually downward from my face, lightly pressing without contact, until they reach my lower abdomen. At other times, my palms come together or form the sword gesture; or four fingers of each hand clasp the back of the other hand, with the thumbs lying flat together. Sometimes they rub from the center of the crown to the back of my head; sometimes they follow the bridge of the nose to the philtrum and rub downward along the Conception Vessel to the root of the penis. What is the purpose of all these experiences? It is hard to fathom. Frequently my palms also come together by themselves in a gesture of reverence. If I silently recite the Prajñāpāramitā Heart Sūtra at the same time, my joined palms rise and bow in time with its passages. It is truly wondrous.

During recent practice, I often enter a state of undifferentiated obscurity. I feel body and mind become utterly still, sometimes for a very long time, as though I have fallen asleep. Yet my mind remains clear, and I can hear the sounds of my own changing breaths. When I suddenly wake, the true qi outside my body is still moving without pause.

January 26

Since last month’s experience resembling the spirit’s movement to the upper elixir field, every practice session has included many hand movements, such as massaging the head, face, and hands. Recently there have also been movements covering the forehead and head with the hands, which I find very puzzling. Starting yesterday afternoon, a great change occurred: when my hands covered my head, not only were they overflowing with warm currents, but I also felt true qi circling around the outside of my head, exceptionally warm. It seems there may be another new development after the New Year.

February 2

Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Apart from accompanying my wife back to Zhongli on the third day, I have spent almost every day of the holiday practicing at home. During practice, I repeatedly feel rays of light flashing around the top of my skull and illuminating both inside and out. While practicing last night, I again saw falling snowflakes. Although it did not last long, I vaguely felt that something was about to come out from within. My teacher has said that our school’s practice forms only the elixir, not an embryo. If so, what could emerge other than the yang spirit?

Note: Seeing falling snowflakes means that one has already reached the state the alchemical classics call “celestial flowers falling in profusion.” This indicates that the yang spirit is about to emerge.

February 5

During practice last night, I again saw falling snowflakes. They lasted longer than on the first day of the Lunar New Year,62 and there were more of them than before. For three nights in a row, my hands have also formed fists and tapped my forehead. At first there were ten taps at a time, making my head thud, with two or three such bouts each night. More recently there have been thirty taps at a time. Last night the fists even changed into open palms; the two palms came together and tapped my head just as a barber does. The movements covering my forehead with both palms are also continuing. Each time the palms leave the forehead, however, I can faintly see a brilliant rosy radiance beneath, rising with my hands.

February 10

During practice last night, the qi mechanism became intensely active. True qi continually rushed upward from my lower body to the top of my forehead, as though trying to open a passage through it. My palms automatically came together in the sword gesture, and both index fingers rubbed vigorously and continuously against my forehead. I truly could not tell what was about to happen. Just at the crucial moment, my wife suddenly came in and sat at the table to write. The continual friction of pen against paper reached my ears and disturbed my concentration. Only after I spoke and asked her to leave did she go. But the entire practice sequence was already nearing its end, and the experience that had been about to occur never appeared. I was truly exasperated.

February 13

Today finally brought an answer to the many days of pressing my palms to my forehead and striking my head with my fists. This morning I got up before five. As soon as I had settled into a sitting, the qi mechanism within my body began to move. Then I lay down on the bed and felt true qi surrounding my body. Soon both hands rose with palms together. The ten fingers naturally interlaced and lowered to press over my forehead. Several minutes later, they slowly stroked my hair from the crown toward the back of my head, then held the back of my head firmly as I lay on the pillow. After another few minutes, my palms withdrew and rose again. The fingers once more interlaced, closing into a fist-like shape, and moved to the upper forehead. I struck my forehead sixty times with these joined fists, then rapidly rubbed the exact center of my forehead more than a hundred times with the edges of my palms. The fists then opened into palms again and covered my forehead for several minutes. When I raised my hands and removed the palms, I saw an expanse of light over my forehead, colored like sunset clouds, emerging as my hands moved. My entire head seemed to disappear.

The radiance then gradually expanded, and my whole body slowly vanished. All I could see was a cloud of rosy light about a zhang across, rotating counterclockwise above my body. My hands opened and occasionally circled with its rotation. After a long time, the light gradually contracted into a huge column that rose into the air. Beneath it, I could see golden light flashing inside the column, whose height was immeasurable. Later the column gradually disappeared. Both hands pressed against my forehead again, then changed from palms to fists and struck it another 120 times. I discovered another current of qi, deep violet in color, rising in a column. Within it, violet light whirled like lightning, as though countless enormous purple crystals were continually sparkling. Only when the reveille from the distant military camp kept sounding did I stop. I had practiced for exactly an hour. Perhaps this is the answer to all those recent movements I could not explain?

Note: This answer was completely mistaken. The true answer was to come on the evening of March 9.

February 16

Yesterday was [Sunday],63 and I spent the whole afternoon practicing in my study. First I sat on the edge of the bed for about twenty minutes. Once the qi mechanism was flowing vigorously and my whole body felt energized, I lay down and continued in a reclining posture. I began by joining my palms and covering my forehead. Several minutes later, the palms turned into fists and struck my forehead hundreds of times. When I removed my hands, true qi emerged from my forehead like an expanse of golden light, filling the whole room and flowing around my body. After several minutes, it gradually gathered into a pagoda-like form and rose upward. Following a pause of some twenty minutes, the movements of covering my forehead with both palms and striking it with my fists occurred again. The blows were rapid and forceful, with loud thudding sounds, rather alarming, though fortunately painless. When my hands opened, qi emerged from my forehead again. This happened repeatedly, and I practiced for more than two hours before stopping.

This morning’s practice was much like last night’s. After the third emergence of qi, however, my body suddenly turned to the right of its own accord. I straightened my right leg and slightly bent my left, lying on my side in the Lion King’s posture. Soon I felt qi emerge from somewhere within my body, though I could not tell where, and enclose my whole person like a canopy of light. At this point breathing stopped entirely, and I entered a deep state of embryonic breathing. Only my mind remained very clear, aware even of each sound when my breath occasionally changed.

February 18

Yesterday afternoon, two deputy directors and four department heads from the Central Personnel Administration came to inspect the customs facilities at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. I was instructed to accompany them and did not arrive home until 9:30 p.m. I immediately began practicing. I felt wave after wave of true qi emerge from my head and spread around me. Within about a zhang of my body, I saw nothing but golden clouds rising, falling, and shifting. My whole person dissolved into them. I did not finish until 11:40 p.m.

February 24

During practice last night, the qi emerged very slowly. Once out, however, it was like a great mass of light radiating from a light bulb: brilliant white light tinged with gold surrounded my whole body. The entire world seemed to become utterly silent. Within it, no inner thought went out and no outer thought came in. Body and mind were still to the utmost. After some ten minutes, another vast expanse of qi emerged, violet tinged with red, like the color of pig’s liver, and enclosed me. Everything again entered silence. I felt my whole person sink into deep embryonic breathing, while my heart was filled with joy and gratitude. My lower abdomen contracted tightly backward, with the front and rear abdominal walls almost touching. I do not know how long passed before breathing resumed. When I finished and looked at my watch, I had practiced for nearly three hours.

March 1

Today is [Sunday].63 After breakfast, the sky cleared, and the courtyard was bathed in sunlight. Practicing in my study, I felt that the qi would not come out, so I took a cushion to the balcony and sat there. The warm spring sunshine fell on my head and body. With my eyes closed, I saw only golden light before me. My whole body involuntarily began bowing forward and leaning backward, and I felt that a considerable amount of yang qi, or perhaps energy, was being drawn into my body. The results seemed quite good, so all afternoon I did not even feel like practicing.

After eight in the evening, I began my nightly practice. Soon after emerging, the qi became an enormous tunnel towering above my head. Within it, I could faintly see patches of vermilion light, shaped like thin gauze, mixed into the walls of qi. Presumably this was the essence of the sun that I had absorbed during the day? Yet it had not blended with the other qi. Instead, it was like small pieces of vermilion gauze decorating the deep, long tunnel.

March 2

Since the “horse-like concealment of the genitals” manifestation, I have felt my interest in sex steadily diminish; recently I have almost forgotten it altogether. Presumably all the essence has been transformed. Unexpectedly, though, I had a nocturnal emission last night. Stranger still, in the latter half of the night there was another arising of yang. It seems that I stayed in the sun too long during the day, absorbing more of its essence than I could digest at once. Could that be the reason?

March 9

Yesterday was [Sunday].63 I practiced twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The qi that emerged had become clear, like egg white or jelly before any coloring has been added. Because the afternoon practice lasted so long, by evening I did not feel the slightest inclination to practice and simply gave myself a break.

This morning I got up at half past two. Soon after I closed my eyes and settled into a sitting, the qi mechanism began to move. After some ten minutes, I adopted a reclining posture. Unexpectedly, once I had lain down, the true qi within my body stopped coming out. I kept gathering in my mind with my eyes closed; even my legs and abdomen shook, but the qi within my body simply would not emerge. I lay quietly like this until dawn. It seems some new development is about to occur, though I do not know what.

March 10

During last night’s meditation, the qi mechanism was intensely vigorous. Both hands kept forming fists and forcefully striking and rubbing my head and forehead. After ten o’clock, waves of true qi within my body rushed straight toward the crown of my head. My palms came together, and their edges rubbed rapidly against my forehead more than a thousand times. Amid numbness and heat, I suddenly felt a hot current break through the skin of my forehead beneath the hairline and rush straight into the air, as though a hole had been opened through my forehead. After practice, I looked in the mirror and found that a crescent-shaped burn mark had indeed appeared there, like the god Erlang, as though I had grown an extra eye. After getting up this morning, I felt a column of qi projecting from my forehead like an antelope’s horn, standing more than a chi high in front of me. It was rather difficult to get used to.

March 11

During practice last night, I discovered a great current of qi emerging from the opening in my forehead.

I got up around four this morning to practice. Soon I felt that my whole person had become a mass of qi, clear and transparent, slowly rising and circling in the room.

March 13

This afternoon, Director-General Lai and I accompanied Deputy Minister Xue to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport to inspect Taipei Customs. While we were touring the cargo inspection area, a little bird suddenly flew down and landed on my head. Startled, I waved my hand and scared it away. How strange: not only does our little pet parrot like to fly onto my head, but even wild birds like to land there. Could there be a light above my head that people cannot see but birds can, making them want to fly toward it?

March 19

Recently the experiences have been very good. Each time I settle into a sitting, as soon as my eyes close, the true qi within my body begins to move. The qi mechanism then grows more and more vigorous. After some ten minutes, it has reached every part of my body. A force then makes me lean backward and lie on the bed. Soon the ten fingers of my hands naturally join, covering my forehead, the top of my head, and the back of my head. After several repetitions, qi gradually emerges from my head and every part of my body and rises into the air. My whole person seems to have undergone transformation and to circle in the air with the qi. After a long time, I feel the qi descend and gradually gather around me, forming a mound of qi several zhang high and enclosing my whole person beneath it.

Then the different parts of my body gradually become heavy, and my thoughts grow still. I slowly enter a deep state of embryonic breathing. Apart from the clarity within my mind, every cell of my body seems to have fallen into profound sleep. After a very, very long time, I suddenly start awake. Both hands then naturally make various gestures, and at the end I even perform a sequence of boxing movements before slowly concluding the practice.

April 21

Recently, whenever I practice, qi comes as soon as I settle into a sitting. Soon an internal force draws me down onto the bed. Then the qi within my body gradually emerges and rises into the air. Once it slowly returns and envelops the outside of my body, every part of me naturally enters a state of stillness. I then practice for a while the method of letting mind and breath rest upon one another. As embryonic breathing gradually arises, the mind likewise grows stiller, until breath ceases and mind stops, spirit and qi alike become silent, and my whole person enters meditative absorption, as though going into hibernation. Fortunately, I had recently read Patriarch Chen Xiyi’s sleeping method. Following it, I found that everything fell properly into place, with very good results.

Last night, however, the circumstances changed again. Soon after lying down, I felt my whole body fill with qi, tingling and numb. Every cell felt as though it had received an electric shock. Apart from the continued clarity of my mind, my hands, feet, and limbs were extremely heavy and could not move at all. The qi moved downward step by step from my head, and the heaviness increased. Only after about two hours like this did I gradually enter meditative absorption. I then felt my whole person transform completely into qi and rise into the air. It was after eleven before I awoke as though from a great dream. Even after washing and getting into bed to sleep, I discovered that the qi mechanism was still circling throughout my body without stopping. I had truly never experienced anything like it. Perhaps a day will really come when I ascend in broad daylight; who can say?

May 5

Recently things have been much like last month. Each time I enter stillness, qi begins rising from my lower body and ascends into the air: once, twice, and I do not know how many times after that. This always lasts more than an hour. Then the qi filling the air gradually descends and slowly returns to my body. At this point, from my feet to my legs, from my legs to my abdomen, and from my abdomen to the crown, I feel sensations like electric shocks. My hands, feet, and limbs all feel tingling, numb, and weak, and I gradually enter a state of hazy absorption. After a long time, another force turns me onto my right side. Both arms naturally fold into an embrace; my right leg bends tightly and my left bends slightly. At this point I use the method of letting mind and breath rest upon one another. I feel each breath reach the root, the elixir field. After counting sixty breaths, the breathing becomes fainter and fainter, and my mind grows stiller and stiller.

After three hundred breaths, breath ceases and mind stops, and I enter meditative absorption completely. Eventually I actually fall asleep as though hibernating. Two or three hours later, I wake to discover that the qi mechanism is still flowing both within and outside my body. Most interestingly, since the hidden-genitals manifestation, all the essence has transformed into qi, and the external yang remains unaroused throughout the day. But since the sleeping practice began, I find a vigorous erection each time I finish, quite different from the usual situation. Perhaps this is due to primordial harmony circulating within?

May 24

Today is [Sunday].63 Because Commissioner Mr. Pan Yanxing was coming, I got up very early. Just after eight, the visitors arrived; a Mr. Huang from Guangdong had accompanied him. We exchanged views on certain matters concerning practice, and they did not leave until nine. Seeing that little time remained, I gave myself the morning off.

I began practicing at 2:30 in the afternoon. By nearly four, I felt that the qi was especially strong today, issuing straight out through the top of my head in successive waves. At about 4:50, I suddenly discovered an extra pair of thighs before my eyes. Looking more closely, I suddenly saw a little person appear above my head, a little over three cun tall.64 He was completely naked, sitting with both legs stretched out, and turned his head to look straight at me. His little face was covered in stubble. On closer inspection, I realized: was that not a miniature of myself? I abruptly understood that the spirit had emerged.

The little person, however, seemed neither surprised nor uneasy about the outside world. I thought that since this was the spirit’s first emergence, it should not remain out too long, lest something unexpected happen. As I was considering this, I suddenly felt a ray of light rush out from within my body and enclose the little person. With a slight movement of intent, the light contracted inward, drawing the little fellow into my head along with it. Later, when I tried to picture the child’s appearance again, I found I could no longer recall the face that had been so distinctly visible before.

Recorded by Wang Dehuai at the Department of Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, July of the seventy-sixth year of the Republic [1987].

Commentary on the Scripture on Slaying the Dragon

Scripture on Slaying the Dragon

From the beginning, yin and yang, Qian and Kun, were divided;
Men and women differ somewhat in their cultivation.
A man subdues the White Tiger, watching over it at all times;
A woman cultivates the Red Dragon: do not take this lightly.
At fourteen, a girl’s Heavenly Gui reaches fullness;
Called the Red Dragon, the workings of creation are complete.
Once each month it moves, revolving like a wheel;
Yin fire descends and issues from the jade casket.
Before it flows, a sign appears;
Swiftly make your intent sincere and guard the Mysterious Pass.
While it is flowing, you should be relaxed;
Freely, freely, let the time pass.
Two and a half days after menstruation ends,
Again look inward, with firm mind and resolve.
When true breathing stirs, the Supreme Ultimate appears;
Reverse the Yellow River, and its waters rise to heaven.
Drop by drop, they enter the Elixir Court;
Pause a little, then illuminate as before.
Let practice continue day and night without interruption;
Once the Red Dragon is slain, woman becomes man.
Complete three hundred, the full count of celestial circuits;
With the single point within Kan, fill Li.
This is one scroll of the Scripture on Slaying the Dragon;
Ten thousand taels of gold would not purchase its transmission in vain.

“From the beginning, yin and yang, Qian and Kun, were divided; / Men and women differ somewhat in their cultivation.” These two lines mean that ever since the universe came into being there have been yin and yang, Qian and Kun. Qian is pure yang and Kun pure yin. Men belong to yang and women to yin. Because yin and yang differ, their methods of cultivation also differ. The method used by men is generally called “refining the form through the Great Yang.” The method used by women is generally “refining the form through the Great Yin.” “A man subdues the White Tiger, watching over it at all times; / A woman cultivates the Red Dragon: do not take this lightly.”

Precisely because men and women differ, men’s cultivation centers on subduing the White Tiger. The White Tiger is also called “metal within water” and is in fact another name for qi. Subduing the tiger therefore means subduing qi. For women, the Red Dragon is menstruation. “At fourteen, a girl’s Heavenly Gui reaches fullness; / Called the Red Dragon, the workings of creation are complete.” By fourteen, a girl’s development is generally complete and menstruation begins. In the alchemical Way, menstruation is called the Red Dragon. Its arrival indicates that a girl’s development has matured, that she can conceive and become pregnant, and that the workings of creation are complete. “Once each month it moves, revolving like a wheel; / Yin fire descends and issues from the jade casket.” After a girl’s first period, menstruation comes every month, recurring cyclically like a turning wheel. With the arrival of menstruation, yin fire, that is, the blood, descends and is discharged outward. “Before it flows, a sign appears; / Swiftly make your intent sincere and guard the Mysterious Pass.”

“Sign” means an indication. Before menstruation arrives, there are various signs, such as lower-back pain, aching legs, swollen breasts, emotional unease, or lack of appetite, varying from person to person. When these occur, the female practitioner must rectify her mind and make her intent sincere, guarding the Mysterious Pass with her spirit. The Mysterious Pass meant here differs from what is ordinarily called by that name. It refers to a point one cun and two fen down between the breasts: between the two breasts, one cun and two fen below the pit of the heart at the inverted-V-shaped bone.64 This place is also called the Source of Blood and Danzhong. In other words, when the sign appears, the practitioner should rectify her mind, make her intent sincere, and guard Danzhong with her spirit. “While it is flowing, you should be relaxed; / Freely, freely, let the time pass.” These two lines mean that once menstruation has actually begun, one should relax, stop guarding the opening, and pass the period of menstrual flow freely and at ease.

Therefore, if menstruation has already begun, one must not recklessly set things in motion or circulate them, lest adverse consequences occur. “Two and a half days after menstruation ends, / Again look inward, with firm mind and resolve.” This means that two and a half days after menstruation, the practitioner may wipe with white paper. If the blood’s color has changed from red to gold, that is a sign that menstruation has ended, and she should immediately resume the former practice of inward contemplation and illumination. After several months of this, the menstrual flow will gradually change from red to gold, from gold to white, and finally cease altogether. “When true breathing stirs, the Supreme Ultimate appears; / Reverse the Yellow River, and its waters rise to heaven.” “True breathing” means the true breath. When it appears, breathing through the nose naturally stops, and the true qi in the elixir field spontaneously ascends the Governing Vessel to the Celestial Valley. The celestial circuit begins to operate, and one has naturally advanced another step. “Drop by drop, they enter the Elixir Court; / Pause a little, then illuminate as before.” These two lines describe the operation of the celestial circuit. “Let practice continue day and night without interruption; / Once the Red Dragon is slain, woman becomes man.”

After the celestial circuit begins to operate, practice must be continuous and closely sustained. Once the Red Dragon has been slain, although the body is female, in substance it is no different from a man’s. Subsequent cultivation may therefore likewise employ men’s methods. “Complete three hundred, the full count of celestial circuits; / With the single point within Kan, fill Li.” Completing the count of three hundred means that after the Lesser Celestial Circuit, another three hundred wondrous celestial circuits are undergone. These are, to clarify, the spontaneous revolutions of the River Chariot carrying its treasure. One can then obtain the Great Medicine, take the yang within Kan to fill the yin within Li, and restore the single point of pure Qian that was ours before birth. Casting off the old womb and renewing the bones, becoming a Perfected One and a patriarch, all begin here. “This is one scroll of the Scripture on Slaying the Dragon; / Ten thousand taels of gold would not purchase its transmission in vain.” These final two lines emphasize the value of this one scroll of the Scripture on Slaying the Dragon. Even ten thousand pieces of gold can scarcely obtain it. Those who receive it are earnestly urged to treasure it and never lightly cast it aside.

Annotated and explained by Wang Dehuai on February 13, the seventy-eighth year of the Republic of China [1989].

Afterword

I spent a long time writing this book: writing, stopping, and then writing again. I repeatedly wondered whether I ought to continue. Once I finally managed to finish it, I hesitated again and again over whether to publish it. The main reason for this indecision was my concern about the possible consequences of a book that openly and without reservation exposed, all at once, the secret treasures that a thousand sages of ancient China had never transmitted.

First, would this bring punishment from Heaven? It is said that Heaven keeps this learning secret, and that transmitting it to the wrong person readily brings retribution. In the past Zhang Ziyang transmitted it to unsuitable people three times and three times suffered Heaven’s punishment.65 Why, then, should I show off my skill with words and insist on writing it out, let alone circulating it?

Second, I am a civil servant, not a businessman. How many people would actually read such a book after publication? Print too few and the cost is high; print too many and they will not sell. I also lack distribution channels. I do not want to become famous through this book; I merely hope that people who know me will not regard me as mentally ill. Nor is there any prospect of making money from it. Why create trouble for myself? Yet after considering it this way and that, thinking it over and over, I finally wrote it and published it. What gave me the courage was that I at last understood: Heaven had allowed someone like me, who cannot keep anything to himself, to experience in a little more than two years states that other people have not experienced in decades of practice. Was this not an intention to use me as the means of making the truth known to the world?

Moreover, in my own cultivation I fully tasted the pain of having no one to ask and no methods to consult. Earlier people have already failed those of today; surely we today should not fail those who come after us. These were some of the thoughts through which I finally decided to publish the book.

The materials collected here are not few, and the book is not confined to a single school’s views. Nevertheless, it rests principally on my own experience and understanding. There are inevitably places where the reasoning is incomplete or the methods insufficiently comprehensive. The important concept, however, is simple. Stripped to its essentials, it consists of just two sentences: “Make perceiving the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass the essential task; take attaining emptiness and guarding stillness as the practice.” Apart from this, once the River Chariot is truly open, everything that runs counter to these principles belongs to methods of deliberate action. Readers may consult such material but need not take it too earnestly.

I should also explain one point. The descriptions and analyses of other schools in this book are all well-intentioned studies and reports undertaken for the sake of learning. They contain not the slightest intention of attacking anyone or anything similar. In fact, I myself belong to no school and reject no school. Anyone interested in studying the Way of Immortality may be called my fellow practitioner and friend. Though our methods may differ, all streams return to the One; as far as immortality and the Dao are concerned, there is no difference.

My wife Liu Ruisong gave much help and encouragement in bringing out this book. Mr. Ding Kehua also found time amid his many duties to revise and correct it. I record both here in gratitude.

September, Republic of China year 77 [1988]

Wuyun

Wang Dehuai, supplementary afterword written at the Department of Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance

Translator’s Glossary

These are the principal terms used in the English translation of the supplied EPUB. Chinese technical terms retain their historical meaning; scientific, medical, and paranormal claims are the author’s, not claims independently verified by this translation.

ChineseEnglish
仙immortal
仙道Way of Immortality
炁qi
气qi; breath or air where the context is ordinary respiration
精essence (jing)
神spirit (shen)
性inner nature
命vital existence
性命双修joint cultivation of inner nature and vital existence
先天 / 后天precelestial / postcelestial
丹 / 金丹elixir / Golden Elixir
内金丹 / 外金丹Inner Golden Elixir / Outer Golden Elixir
小周天 / 大周天Lesser Celestial Circuit / Greater Celestial Circuit
河车River Chariot
黄庭Yellow Court
泥丸Niwan
丹田elixir field (dantian)
玄关一窍One Opening of the Mysterious Pass
阳神 / 阴神yang spirit / yin spirit
采药 / 结丹gathering the medicine / forming the elixir
小药 / 大药Lesser Medicine / Great Medicine
胎息embryonic breathing
炉鼎furnace and cauldron
火候firing times
无为 / 有为nonaction / deliberate action
任脉 / 督脉Conception Vessel / Governing Vessel
冲脉 / 带脉Thoroughfare Vessel / Belt Vessel
阴跷脉 / 阳跷脉Yin Heel Vessel / Yang Heel Vessel
阴维脉 / 阳维脉Yin Linking Vessel / Yang Linking Vessel
筑基laying the foundation
炼精化炁refining essence into qi
炼炁化神refining qi into spirit
炼神还虚refining spirit and returning to emptiness
还虚合道returning to emptiness and uniting with the Dao
文始 / 少阳Wenshi / Shaoyang
元神 / 识神original spirit / discriminating spirit
三花聚顶Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown
五气朝元Five Qi Paying Homage to the Origin
马阴藏相horse-like concealment of the genitals
斩赤龙 / 斩龙slaying the Red Dragon / slaying the Dragon
百会Baihui (Hundred Meetings)
膻中Danzhong (Chest Center)
会阴Huiyin (Meeting of Yin; perineum)
乘光riding the light
尺 / 寸 / 分chi / cun / fen: traditional measures; one chi equals ten cun and one cun ten fen. No fixed conversion to modern inches is implied.
坎 / 离 / 乾 / 坤Kan / Li / Qian / Kun

Personal names use untoned pinyin except established Japanese readings. Classical titles are given an English rendering with their Chinese or romanized title where useful. Obvious source typographic errors are flagged when they affect meaning; no unseen original is invented.

Footnotes

  1. The supplied EPUB reads 惡化/恶化, “deterioration,” at this point. It appears to be a transcription error, but the intended wording cannot be established from the supplied text. The unusual reading is retained rather than silently corrected. ↩

  2. The EPUB prints 遷學真詮/迁学真诠, apparently a corrupt transcription of a title referring to immortal learning. The English identifies the apparent subject without claiming to establish an otherwise unverified edition. ↩

  3. The source wording 閉噬搗摩/闭噬捣摩 is unusual and may contain a transcription error. Its four stated actions are retained rather than replaced with an assumed technical formula. ↩

  4. At “No wonder qi,” the EPUB has 無能/无能, literally “inability,” where the context requires the subject qi and the verb “can.” This is treated as an apparent transcription error. The physical, physiological, ether, and Kirlian-photography explanations throughout this chapter are the author’s historical claims, reproduced faithfully; they are not independently validated scientific explanations. ↩

  5. The source calls these the “Nine Palaces” but lists only eight palace names here. The list is preserved without supplying an absent ninth name. ↩

  6. The source reads 發升血/发升血, “hair raises blood,” an unusual expression that may be corrupt. It is retained rather than replaced by a conjectural reading. ↩

  7. Translator’s note: The supplied EPUB prints 松下貞一 (simplified 松下贞一). The National Taiwan University Buddhist Library catalogue identifies the author of this title as 松下真一; its author authority record gives Matsushita, Shinichi. The verified name is used here, with the source variant recorded. ↩

  8. The age thresholds, numerical estimates, and account of pituitary-driven aging in this chapter are translated as stated by the author. They are historical medical assertions, not a current medical explanation or advice. ↩

  9. Here the source prints 承聚, whereas the following chapter gives the recognizable point name 承漿/承浆, Chengjiang. The latter reading is used, with the discrepancy recorded. ↩

  10. This chapter preserves the author’s medical and biological claims, including his own stated contraindications. The translation does not establish those claims or their safety, and the text should not be used in place of medical care. ↩

  11. The source has 我一个, literally “I a,” where the sentence requires “find a” (找一个). The translation follows this evident typographical correction. ↩

  12. The supplied EPUB’s table has collapsed into disconnected lines. Its legible entries have been reorganized as a hierarchy here without changing their claims. Some category labels in the surrounding prose and damaged table differ; those differences are retained where intelligible. ↩

  13. The supplied text reads 难经作阴共二十七气，相阳络, which does not form an intelligible clause. No missing wording has been supplied from an unseen edition. ↩

  14. The source has 雾沛妄行, literally “mist pouring and moving wildly,” in the flood analogy. “The waters rush unchecked” follows the sense of the passage without treating the printed phrase as an established technical term. ↩

  15. The source prints 衡分, “balancing level,” where the paired reference to the nutritive level suggests 卫分, “defensive level.” The translation adopts this probable reading. ↩

  16. The first diagram appears under the beginning of subsection II in the supplied EPUB and has the caption 任脉, “Conception Vessel.” Its spinal routes correspond to the preceding Governing Vessel discussion. The following line begins 圈一督胀, apparently a corrupt “Figure 1, Governing Vessel,” before continuing into the Conception Vessel description. The original image and its caption discrepancy have been preserved rather than silently corrected. ↩

  17. The source prints 足少经肾经; “Foot-Shaoyin Kidney Channel” reads 少经 as an apparent error for 少阴. ↩

  18. The source has 脑窝, “brain hollow,” in the middle of the route through the thigh and lower leg. “Hollow behind the knee” reads this as an apparent error for 腘窝. ↩

  19. The source’s sentence is interrupted by corrupted repetitions of the captions “Figure 6, Yin Heel Vessel” and “Figure 7, Yang Linking Vessel,” together with literal HTML div tags. These are layout contamination, not a further stage of the vessel’s course; the sentence has been rejoined, and both figures and captions are preserved above. ↩

  20. The source prints 陈搏, Chen Bo, apparently a typographical error for 陈抟, Chen Tuan, the figure also referred to in the book as Chen Xiyi. ↩

  21. The first posture illustration interrupts this sentence in the supplied EPUB. The sentence has been rejoined, and all three original illustrations are preserved in their original sequence. The supplied EPUB places the caption “Half-lotus sitting” after the composite illustration; it has been associated here with the preceding standalone half-lotus image. No missing illustrations have been supplied. ↩

  22. The source describes the original as 文简义阈. The final character is anomalous; the translation retains the clear sense of terse wording followed by the author’s explicit statement that it is difficult to understand. ↩

  23. The source has 强立名众, an anomalous expression. “Provisionally establishing names” follows the intelligible portion 强立名 without inventing a meaning for the final character. ↩

  24. The source twice prints 关椀, an unusual form, where the puppet analogy indicates a controlling joint or mechanism. “Mechanism” preserves that contextual sense. ↩

  25. Translator’s safety note: The sun-gazing instruction and the following claim that sunset is safer are reproduced from the source, not recommended practice. Looking directly at the sun can damage the eyes; see the National Eye Institute’s safety guidance. ↩

  26. The source reads 可以女婴, literally “can Maiden and Infant,” with no verb. “[Form]” is supplied tentatively from the parallel phrases about forming the dragon and tiger and establishing the furnace; the missing original wording is not known. ↩

  27. The source prints 阿阁黎, apparently a typographical variant of 阿阇黎, “acharya,” a teacher or preceptor in esoteric Buddhism. Goma is the Japanese name used here for the fire offering. ↩

  28. The EPUB’s heading has 煉無術/炼无术, “the art of refining nonbeing,” and merges the opening words of the paragraph into the heading. In the context of the book’s repeated 煉炁術/炼炁术, the title is rendered “qi-refining art,” while this apparent transcription and layout error is recorded here. ↩

  29. Translator’s note: this chapter preserves the author’s historical exercises, medical claims, and interpretations of bodily symptoms. Claims of curing all illness or being free of adverse effects are not established medical facts. These passages are not medical guidance; forceful breathing, prolonged breath-holding, pain, or involuntary movements should not be treated as proof of successful cultivation. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  30. Translator’s note: the supplied opening cross-reference is broken across lines and reads “第一內（一）三三種動作.” Its context clearly refers to the three preparatory actions in the preceding section. ↩

  31. Translator’s note: the source’s description of the stacked palms and thighs is syntactically awkward. The translation preserves the apparent arrangement without adding further posture instructions. ↩

  32. Translator’s note: the supplied heading is truncated to “部經脈.” “Opening the channels of the legs” is supplied from the immediately following instructions and the parallel heading for the arms. ↩

  33. Translator’s note: the supplied phrase 如運根然 appears to contain a character error. The preceding comparison with holding oars supports “as though rowing.” ↩

  34. Translator’s note: the source repeats the same name in “沖脈又稱沖脈.” The surrounding text also calls it the Central Channel, but that name has not been silently substituted for the repetition. ↩

  35. Translator’s note: the unusual description “lattice-shaped” renders the supplied 槅狀物. The source may contain a character error, but the intended alternative cannot be established from this EPUB. ↩

  36. Translator’s note: this is the author’s reference to the printed edition’s pagination; it is not a page number in this reflowed translation. ↩

  37. Translator’s note: the source reads 古側, apparently a typographical error for 右側, “right side,” as required by the described leftward ascent and rightward descent. ↩

  38. Translator’s note: the supplied text ends this sentence with 結葉, literally “form leaves,” apparently a textual error. The intended sense appears to be allowing the process to reach its outcome naturally. ↩

  39. Translator’s note: the supplied wording in this sentence is damaged (眼非得用力，望上一代轉). The surrounding text clearly describes a forceful upward rotation of the eyes, but the precise intervening wording cannot be established from this EPUB. ↩

  40. Translator’s note: the supplied text alternates the unexplained forms 木來年 and 木年來. They refer here to objects used to block the nostrils; the corrupted or unusual name is retained rather than silently replaced. ↩

  41. Translator’s note: the supplied phrase 通肺氣臊管 contains an apparent character error. It is rendered according to its context as the airway leading to the lungs. ↩

  42. Translator’s note: these descriptions reproduce the quoted author’s traditional alchemical anatomy, not established anatomical relationships. The traditional Chinese measures cun, fen, and chi are retained; they are not exact equivalents of modern English inches and feet. ↩

  43. Translator’s note: these are the author’s historical physiological and medical claims, preserved as written. They are not medical guidance. Actual cessation of breathing or pulse, chest pain, genital retraction, or loss of menstruation should not be treated as proof of successful cultivation. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  44. Translator’s note: immediately before this heading, the supplied EPUB has a stray duplicated fragment of the opening sentence. The complete sentence is translated once here. ↩

  45. Translator’s note: the supplied phrase 心牽世味 says that the heart is drawn to worldly pleasures, although the surrounding passage describes withdrawal from them. It may contain a missing negation; none has been silently supplied. ↩

  46. Translator’s note: the author’s claim of “exactly ten months” is retained. The stated dates, February 24 and December 23, are not exactly ten calendar months apart. Republican-era years in this chapter have been converted to their Common Era equivalents. ↩

  47. Translator’s note: the supplied text reads 尹真人師弟 and 蓋漢醇. The former appears to be an error for “disciple of Perfected Yin,” and the latter is retained approximately as a name; the identification requires comparison with a reliable edition of the quoted work. ↩

  48. The interpretation of bodily sensations as molecular or atomic transformation into qi is the author’s account, preserved as such rather than independently established physics or physiology. The source’s 泥凡 in the first quotation is rendered Niwan, consistent with 泥丸 later in the same passage. ↩

  49. The source reads 勾庚干汞，点茅烧艮 and 三逊五假. These obscure external-alchemical expressions may contain textual errors. They have been rendered closely, retaining the syllables geng, mao, and gen where their intended referents are uncertain; no corrected original is assumed. ↩

  50. The source’s compressed sequence 看诵修习传信，法取报应行考，赴取归程，归空十信，三际九接 is obscure and may be corrupt. The translation follows the printed wording as closely as possible; the exact practices and divisions within the sequence are uncertain. ↩

  51. The source reads 千口水为活, literally something like “a thousand mouthfuls of water as life.” The wording appears corrupt; the intended practice cannot be established from the supplied text. ↩

  52. The diary prints 尾间 here, 尾阁 on February 19, and 尾合 on February 24, where the surrounding descriptions indicate 尾闾, the Tailbone Point. The translation uses that reading and records the variants here. ↩

  53. The source prints 铁练, literally “iron training/refining.” In this description of qi advancing, “iron chain” reads 练 as a typographical error for 链. ↩

  54. The source has 辩状物, which does not yield a clear description of shape. “Petal-like object” tentatively reads 辩 as a typographical error for 瓣, in light of the ensuing pinecone and lotus imagery. ↩

  55. The source describes a 镡状物 and then a 镡口, literally using a character for a sword fitting or guard. The intended shape is unclear and the character may be corrupt. “Vessel-like object” reflects only the following description of an opening into which the currents fall. ↩

  56. The source reads 大如兵兵, “as large as bing-bing,” an apparent textual error. “As large as a table-tennis ball” is a conjectural reading of 兵兵 as 乒乓, not a verified correction. ↩

  57. Translator’s note: The dates and elapsed times are reproduced as written. February 21 to April 20 is not three months; the source’s chronology is internally inconsistent here. ↩

  58. Translator’s note: A zhang is ten chi. These traditional measures varied; the text uses them as approximate descriptions of the author’s perceived dimensions. ↩

  59. Translator’s note: Here and repeatedly in the following entries, the source has 蘭/兰 (“orchid”) where the surrounding description and the explicit use of 繭/茧 (“cocoon”) indicate a cocoon. The translation renders these occurrences as “cocoon.” ↩

  60. Translator’s note: The source wording is 壯神觀隨 (“strengthening the spirit; observing/following”), an unclear expression in this sentence. “Spirit-strengthening visualization movements” is a contextual rendering. ↩

  61. Translator’s note: The source calls this a “six-character formula,” but the formula it prints, 念動向太空, contains five Chinese characters. The discrepancy is retained. ↩

  62. Translator’s note: The source says “the first day” here. The preceding February 2 entry, dated the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, describes snowflakes seen “last night.” The dates have not been harmonized. ↩

  63. Translator’s note: In the February 16, March 1, and March 9 entries, the source prints 星期 without the character specifying the day of the week. The May 24 entry similarly has 禮拜 without a following day character. “Sunday” is supplied in brackets from the diary’s context. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  64. Translator’s note: A cun is one tenth of a chi, and a fen one tenth of a cun. These are traditional measures, not exact equivalents of modern inches. The anatomical descriptions in the commentary are translated as given. ↩ ↩2

  65. Both occurrences of “Heaven’s punishment” are printed 天謎/天谜, literally “heavenly riddle,” in the supplied EPUB. The surrounding account of punishment and retribution makes an apparent transcription error likely; the intended sense is rendered here with the original discrepancy noted. ↩

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