Wu Zhen Pian (悟真篇) · Volume 2

七言絕句六十四首

Sixty-four quatrains of seven characters.

（以象卦數）

(Used to represent the number of hexagrams.)

道自虛元生一氣，便從一氣產陰陽。陰陽再合成三體，三體重生萬物昌。

The Way gives rise to one qi out of emptiness and nothingness (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant), and from the one qi produces yin and yang. Yin and yang again combine into three bodies, and from the three bodies are born the flourishing ten thousand things.

萬物芸芸各返根；返根覆命即長存。知常返本人難會，妄作招兇眾所聞。

The ten thousand things in great number each return to their root; returning to the root and recovering one's decree, one can endure long. To know the constant and return to the origin is hard for people to grasp, and to act rashly and invite misfortune is something everyone has heard.

但將死戶為生戶，莫執生門號死門。若會殺機明反覆，始知害裡卻生恩。

Take the door of death only as the door of life, and do not obstinately call the gate of life the gate of death. If one can grasp the mechanism of killing and understand its turning back, one then knows that from harm kindness can be born.

禍福由來互倚伏，還如影響相隨逐。若能轉此生殺機，反掌之間災變福。

Misfortune and fortune have always leaned on and hidden within each other, like shadow and echo following and chasing. If one can turn this mechanism of life and killing, in the turn of a palm disaster becomes fortune.

妥得谷神長不死，須憑玄牝立根基。真精既返黃金屋，一顆明珠永不離。

If you wish to obtain the valley spirit that lasts long and does not die (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant), you must establish the root through the mysterious female. Once the true essence has returned to the house of yellow gold, a single bright pearl never leaves.

玄牝之門世罕知，休將口鼻妄施為。饒他吐納經千載，怎得金馬搦兔兒。

The gate of the mysterious female is known to few in the world, so do not act at random with the mouth and nose. Let him breathe in and out for a thousand years; how could he make the golden crow seize the hare (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant).

異名同出少人知，兩者玄玄是要機。保命全形明損益，紫金丹藥最靈奇。

"Different in name but the same in origin" is known to few, and the two mysteries are the essential mechanism. To preserve life and keep the form whole, and to understand loss and gain, the purple-gold elixir is the most potent and wondrous.

不識陰陽及主賓，知他那個是疏親。房中空閉尾閭穴，誤殺閻浮多少人。

If one does not recognize yin and yang and host and guest, how can one know which is distant and which is close? Shutting the tailbone gate in the bedroom to no purpose has wrongly killed how many people in the world of Jambudvipa.

先且觀天明五賊，次須察地以安民。民安國富方求戰，戰罷方能見聖人。

First observe heaven and understand the five thieves, and next one must examine earth in order to settle the people. Only when the people are at peace and the state rich does one seek battle, and only after the battle is finished can one meet the sage.

用將須分左右軍，饒他為主我為賓。勸君臨陣休輕敵，恐喪吾家無價珍。

In employing a general you must distinguish left army from right army, letting him be host and me be guest. I urge you, in the face of the enemy do not make light of him, lest you lose the priceless treasure of my house.

三才相盜食其時，此是神仙道德機。萬化既安諸慮息，百骸俱理證無為。

The mutual plundering among the three powers must fit their time; this is the pivot of the Way and de of the immortals. When the ten thousand transformations are settled and all anxieties cease, the hundred bones are all governed and non-action is realized.

陰符寶字逾三百，道德靈文滿五千。今古上仙無限數，盡從此處達真詮。

The precious words of the Yinfu exceed three hundred, and the numinous text of the Daode jing fills five thousand. Immortals of past and present are countless, and all penetrated the true explanation from here.

契論經歌講至真，不將火候著於文。要知口訣通玄處，須共神仙仔細論。

The tallies, treatises, scriptures, and songs speak of the utmost truth, yet do not write the fire phases into the text. If you wish to know where the oral instruction penetrates the mystery, you must discuss it carefully with an immortal.

饒君聰慧過顏閔，不遇師傳莫強猜。只為丹經無口訣，教君何處結靈胎。

Even if your wits surpassed Yan Hui and Min Sun, do not guess forcibly without meeting a teacher's transmission. Just because the elixir scriptures have no oral instruction, where would you go to form the spiritual embryo?

夢渴西華到九天，真人授我指玄篇。其中簡要無多語，只是教人鍊汞鉛。

In a dream I paid my respects to the Lord of the West Flower in the ninth heaven, and a perfected person gave me the Zhixuan pian. Its essentials had not many words, only teaching one to refine mercury and lead.

用鉛不得用凡鉛，用了真鉛也棄捐。此是用鉛真妙訣，用鉛不用是誠言。

In using lead one must not use common lead, and even when using true lead one must also discard it. This is the true wondrous secret of using lead: to use lead yet not use it is the honest word.

竹破須將竹補宜，抱雞當用卵為之。萬般非類徒勞力，爭似真鉛含聖機。

A broken bamboo should be mended with bamboo to be fitting, and chicks should be hatched with eggs. All things not of the same kind are vain effort; how can they compare to true lead, which holds the sacred mechanism?

末煉還丹莫隱山，山中前後盡非鉛。此般至寶家家有，自是時人識不全。

Before you have refined the reverted elixir, do not go live in seclusion in the mountains, for in the mountains, front and back, there is no lead at all. This supreme treasure is in every household, but people of the day do not recognize it completely.

虛心實腹義俱深，只為虛心要識心。不若煉鉛先實腹，且教守取滿堂金。

"Empty the mind and fill the belly" has very deep meaning, only because to empty the mind one must know the mind. It is better to refine lead and first fill the belly, and let one hold on to a hall full of gold.

日居離位反為女，坎配蟾宮卻是男。不會此中顛倒意，休將管見事高談。

The sun dwells in the li position yet is female, and kan paired with the toad palace is male. If you do not grasp the meaning of this inversion, do not talk loftily with a narrow view.

震龍汞出自離鄉，兌虎金生在坎方。二物總因兒產母，五行全要入中央。

The mercury of the dragon of zhen comes out of the land of li, and the metal of the tiger of dui is born in the direction of kan. These two things are produced by the child bearing the mother, and the five phases must all enter the center.

離坎若還無戌己，雖含四象不成丹。只緣彼此懷真土，遂使金丹有返還。

If li and kan have no wu and ji (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant), even though they hold the four images they cannot form the elixir. Only because each holds true earth does the golden elixir have its return.

火生於木本藏鋒，不會鑽研莫強攻。禍發必因斯害己，要須制伏覓金公。

Fire is born from wood and by nature hides its sharp edge; if you do not know how to study it, do not attack it by force. Disaster will surely come and harm yourself, and you must subdue it and seek Lord Gold.

金公本是東家子，送在西鄰寄體生。認得喚來歸舍養，配將奼女結親情。

Lord Gold is originally the son of the eastern house, sent to the western neighbor to be born in lodging. Having recognized him, call him back and raise him at home, and match him with the maiden to form a bond of kinship.

奼女遊行各有方，前行須短後須長。歸來卻入黃婆舍，嫁個金公作老郎。

The maiden wanders and travels, each with her own direction; going forward she must be short, going backward she must be long. On returning she enters the house of Old Lady Yellow, and marries Lord Gold as her old husband.

取將坎位中心實，點化離宮腹內陰。從此變成乾健體，潛藏飛躍總由心。

Take the solid at the center of kan, and transform the yin within the belly of the li palace. From then on it turns into the body of qian's strength, lying hidden or leaping up all by the will of the heart.

先把乾坤為鼎器，次搏鳥兔藥來烹。既驅二物歸黃道，爭得金舟不解生。

First take qian and kun as the cauldron and vessel, then gather the medicine of the bird and the hare and cook it (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant). Having driven the two things back to the yellow path, how could the golden elixir fail to be born (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant).

安爐立鼎法乾坤，鍛鍊精華制魄魂；聚散氤氳成變化，敢將玄妙等閒論。

Set up the furnace and establish the cauldron, taking qian and kun as the model; temper the essence and subdue po and hun; gathering and dispersing in swirling mist brings about transformation, so how dare one discuss this mystery as a trifle?