Wu Zhen Pian (悟真篇) · Volume 3

咽津納氣是人行，有藥方能造化生。鼎內若無真種子，猶將水火煮空鐺。

Swallowing saliva and drawing in qi are practiced by everybody; only with the medicine can creation and transformation take place. If there is no true seed in the cauldron, it is like boiling an empty pot with water and fire.

縱識硃砂及黑鉛，不知火侯也如閒。大都全藉修持力，毫髮差遲不作丹。

Even if one recognizes cinnabar and black lead, not knowing the fire phases is as good as idling (the source text has a variant character here; the standard character is meant). Altogether it depends on the strength of one's practice, and a hair's breadth of error means the elixir cannot be made.

黑中有白為丹母，雄裡藏雌是聖胎。太乙在爐宜慎守，三田聚寶應三臺。

White within black is the mother of the elixir, and the female hidden within the male is the sacred embryo. The Great Unity within the furnace should be carefully guarded, and the gathering of treasure in the three fields corresponds to the three terraces.

恍惚之中尋有象，冥杳之內覓真精。有無由此交相入，未見如何想得成。

Within the indistinct and hazy one seeks the image, and within the dark and obscure one seeks the true essence. Being and non-being enter into each other from this; before you have seen it, how can you accomplish it by empty thought?

長男乍飲西方酒，少女初開北地花。若使青娥相見後，一時關鎖在黃家。

The eldest son has just drunk the wine of the west, and the youngest daughter has just opened the flowers of the north. If, after the fair maiden and the lad meet, they were at once locked up together in the Yellow house,

華嶽山頭雄虎嘯，扶桑海底牝龍吟，黃婆自解相媒合，遣作夫妻共一心。

On the peak of Mount Hua the male tiger roars, and at the bottom of the Fusang sea the female dragon chants; Old Lady Yellow knows by herself how to play matchmaker, and sends them to be husband and wife sharing one heart.

西山白虎正猖狂，東海青龍不可當。兩手捉來令死鬥，化成一片紫金霜。

The white tiger of the western hills is raging, and the blue dragon of the eastern sea cannot be withstood. Seize them with both hands and let them fight to the death, and they transform into a patch of purple-gold frost.

赤龍黑虎各西東，四象交加戌己中。復垢自茲能運用，金丹誰道不成功。

The red dragon and black tiger stand in the west and east, and the four images mingle within wu and ji (the source text has a variant character for wu here). From this fu and gou can be put to use (the source text has a variant character for gou here), and who says the golden elixir will not succeed?

月才天際半輪明，早有龍吟虎嘯聲。便好用功修二八，一時辰內管丹成。

Just as the moon shows a half-wheel of light at the edge of the sky, there is already the sound of the dragon chanting and the tiger roaring. Then one may apply effort to the two eights, and within a single double-hour the elixir is guaranteed to form.

赫赫金丹一日成，古仙垂語實堪聽。若言九載三年者，總是推延款日程。

The resplendent golden elixir is completed in a single day, and the words left by the ancient immortals are truly worth heeding. If one says it takes nine years or three, that is always postponing and slackening the schedule.

敲竹喚龜吞玉芝，鼓琴招鳳飲刀圭。近來透體金光現，不與凡人話此規。

Knock on bamboo to call the tortoise to swallow the jade fungus, strike the zither to summon the phoenix to drink the dao-gui. Lately golden light has appeared through the body, and I do not discuss this rule with ordinary people.

偃月爐中玉蕊生，硃砂鼎內水銀平。只因火力調和後，種得黃芽漸長成。

In the crescent-moon furnace the jade bud is born, and in the cinnabar cauldron the mercury is level. Only after the fire is harmonized is the yellow sprout planted and gradually grown.

休泥丹灶費工夫，煉藥須尋偃月爐。自有天然真火侯，何須柴炭及吹噓。

Do not cling to the elixir stove and waste effort; to refine the medicine one must seek the crescent-moon furnace. There is a natural true fire phase of its own (the source text has a variant character for "phase" here); why use firewood and charcoal to blow and puff?

前弦之後後弦前，藥味平平氣象全。來得歸來爐內煅，煅成溫養似烹鮮。

After the first quarter and before the last quarter, the medicine is mild in flavor and the signs are complete. Gather it and bring it back to forge in the furnace (the source text has a variant character for "gather" here), and once forged, warm nourishment is like cooking a small fish.

兔雞之月及其時，刑德臨門藥象之。到此金丹宜沐浴，若還加火必傾危。

When the months of the hare and the rooster arrive at their time, punishment and virtue come to the door, and the medicine takes its image from them. At this point the golden elixir should be bathed, and if one still adds fire it will surely be overturned in danger.

歐冶親傳鑄劍方，莫邪金水配柔剛。煉成便會知人意，萬里誅妖一電光。

Ou Ye personally transmitted the formula for casting swords, and Moye matched hardness and softness with gold and water. When refined, it comes to know human intention, and killing demons across ten thousand miles takes only a flash of lightning.

調和鉛汞要成丹，大小無傷兩國全。若問真鉛何處是，蟾光終日照西川。

Harmonize lead and mercury to form the elixir, so that neither large nor small is harmed and both states are preserved. If you ask where true lead is, the toad's light shines all day on Xichuan.

八月十五玩蟾輝，正是金精壯盛時，若到一陽來起復，便堪進火莫延遲。

On the fifteenth of the eighth month, enjoying the toad's radiance, is exactly the time when the metal essence is vigorous; when one yang rises in fu, one may advance the fire, and must not delay.

一陽才動作丹時，鉛鼎溫溫照幌帷。受氣之初容易識，抽添運火卻防危。

When one yang has just stirred and it is the time to make the elixir, the lead cauldron is warm and shines on the curtains. At the start of receiving qi it is still easy to recognize, but in withdrawing, adding, and moving the fire one must guard against peril.

日月三旬一遇逢，以時易日法神功。守城野戰知兇吉，增得靈砂滿鼎紅。

Sun and moon meet once in thirty days, and by exchanging the hour for the day one takes the model of spiritual work. Defending the city or fighting in the field, one knows fortune and misfortune, and the numinous cinnabar in the cauldron grows ever fuller and redder.

玄珠有象逐陽生，陽極陰消漸剝形。十月霜飛丹始熟，此時神鬼亦須驚。

The dark pearl has an image and follows the rise of yang; when yang reaches its extreme, yin is dispelled and its form is gradually stripped away. When frost flies in the tenth month, the elixir is at last ripe, and at that time even gods and ghosts must be startled.

瑤池飲罷月澄輝，跨個金龍訪紫微。從此眾仙相識後，海田陵谷任遷移。

After drinking at the Jade Pool, in the clear radiance of the moonlight, one rides a golden dragon to visit Ziwei. From then on, once all the immortals know one another, let seas turn to fields and hills turn to valleys, however they shift.

休施巧偽為功力，認取他家不死方。壺內旋添延命酒，鼎中收取返魂漿。

Do not practice cleverness and falsehood and take them for effort; recognize the deathless formula of the other house. Add to the flask the wine that prolongs life, and in the cauldron gather the liquid that calls back the soul.

雪山一味好醐醍，傾入東陽造化爐。若過崑崙西北去，張騫始得見麻姑。

One flavor of ghee from the Snow Mountains is excellent; pour it into the furnace of creation in Dongyang. If you pass Kunlun and go northwest, only then will Zhang Qian get to see Magu.

坎電烹轟金水方，火發崑崙陰與陽。二物若還和合了，自然丹熟遍身香。

Kan lightning cooks and thunders in the region of gold and water, fire arises at Kunlun and divides yin from yang. When the two things are harmonized, naturally the elixir ripens and the whole body gives off fragrance.

要知煉養還丹法，自向家園下種栽。不假吹噓並著力，自然果熟結靈胎。

If you wish to know the method of refining and nourishing the reverted elixir, plant and cultivate it yourself in your own garden. Without borrowing blowing or strain, the fruit ripens naturally and forms a numinous embryo.

未煉還丹須急煉，煉了還須知止足。若也持盈未已心，不免一朝遭困辱。

If the reverted elixir has not yet been refined, hurry to refine it; once refined, one must still know where to stop and be content. If, holding the full, one has no mind to stop, then one day one will not escape trouble and disgrace.

否泰才經萬物盈，屯蒙受封秉生成。此中得意須忘象，若究群爻謾役情。

Pi and tai have just passed, and the ten thousand things become full; zhun and meng are invested, holding to birth and completion. Here, having gained the meaning, one must forget the image; if one goes chasing the many lines, it is only a futile labor of feeling.

卦中設法本儀形，得象忘言意自明。舉世迷人惟泥象，卻行卦氣望飛昇。

The method set up within the hexagrams is originally just a form; having got the image, forget the words, and the meaning becomes clear of itself. The whole world of deluded people clings only to the images, and goes about practicing hexagram qi hoping to fly up to heaven.

天地盈虛自有時，審能消息始知機。由來庚甲申明令，殺盡三尸道可期。

Heaven and earth wax and wane, each in its own time; only if one can truly understand waning and waxing does one know the mechanism. From of old Geng and Jia proclaim the orders, and only when the three corpse-worms are all killed can the Way be hoped for.