Wu Zhen Pian (悟真篇) · Volume 4

四象會時玄體就，五行全處紫光明。脫胎入口通神聖，無限神龍盡失驚。

When the four images meet, the dark body is accomplished, and where the five phases are complete the purple gold shines. Shedding the womb and taking it into the mouth, one communicates with the sacred, and countless divine dragons are all startled.

藥逢氣類方成象，道在虛無合自然。一粒靈丹吞入腹，始知我命不由天。

When the medicine meets its kind of qi, it can take form; the Way lies in emptiness and accords with nature. Once a grain of numinous elixir is swallowed into the belly, one finally knows that my life is not up to Heaven.

大道修之有易難，也知由我亦由天。若非積行施陰德，動有群魔作障緣。

In cultivating the Great Way there is ease and difficulty, and one also knows it depends on me and also on Heaven. If one does not accumulate good deeds and hidden virtue, a host of demons will readily set up obstacles and hindrances.

了了心猿方寸機，三千功行與天齊。自然有鼎烹龍虎，何必擔家戀子妻。

To understand the monkey of the mind is the mechanism of the square inch, and three thousand works and deeds equal Heaven. There will naturally be a cauldron cooking the dragon and tiger; why shoulder a household or cling to wife and children?

始於有作人難見，及至無為眾始知。但識無為為要妙，誰知有作是根基。

It begins in doing, which people can hardly see, and only when it reaches non-doing do the many know it. They only recognize that non-doing is the essential wonder, and who knows that doing is the foundation?

修行混俗且和光，圓即圓分方即方。晦顯逆從人莫測，教人怎得見行藏。

Practice amid the world, and soften your light; be round when you should be round and square when you should be square. Hidden or manifest, going against or going with, people cannot fathom it, so how could they see where you walk or hide?

五言四韻一首

One poem of five characters and four rhymes.

（以象太乙之奇）

(Used to represent the odd number of the Great Unity.)

女子著青衣，郎君披素練。見之不可用，用之不可見。

The woman wears green clothes, and the gentleman is draped in plain silk. Looking at it, you cannot use it; when using it, you cannot see it,

恍惚裡相逢，杳冥中有變。一霎火焰飛，真人自出現。

Meeting within the indistinct, change takes place within the dim. In an instant a flame flies up, and the true person appears of himself.

西江月十二首

Twelve poems to the tune Xijiang yue.

（西江月，西者，金之方。江者，水之體。月者，藥之用。一十二首以週歲律）

(Xijiang yue: "west" is the direction of metal, "river" is the substance of water, and "moon" is the use of the medicine. The twelve poems are made to match the pitches of the annual cycle.)

內藥還同外藥，內通外亦須通。丹頭和合類相同，溫養兩般作用。

The inner medicine is the same as the outer medicine; once the inner is penetrated, the outer too must be penetrated. The elixir head is harmonized and the kind is the same, but warm nourishment is a different working in each.

內有天然真火，爐中赫赫長紅。外爐增減要勤功，妙絕無過真種。

Within there is the natural true fire, glowing red continually in the furnace. The outer furnace needs diligent work in adding and reducing, and nothing is more wondrous than the true seed.

此藥至神至聖，憂君分薄難消。調和鉛汞不終朝，早睹玄珠形兆。

This medicine is utterly spiritual and sacred, and I fear your fortune is thin and you will have trouble enjoying it. Harmonizing lead and mercury need not take a whole morning, and the sign of the dark pearl is already seen.

志士若能修煉，何妨在市居朝。工夫容易藥非遙，說破令人失笑。

If a person of aspiration can cultivate and refine it, what harm in dwelling in the marketplace or at court? The work is easy and the medicine is not far; once spoken plainly, it makes people laugh.

白虎首經至寶，華池神水真金。故知上善利源深，不比尋常藥品。

The first menses of the white tiger is the supreme treasure, and the divine water of the flower pool is true gold. Thus one knows the profit of the highest good runs deep, and is unlike ordinary drugs.

若要修成九轉，先須煉己持心。依時採取定浮沉，進火須防危甚。

If you want to complete the nine turnings, you must first refine yourself and hold your mind. Gather at the proper time and settle what floats and what sinks; in advancing the fire, guard against extreme danger.

七返硃砂返本，九還金液還真。休將寅子數坤申，但看五行成準。

The seven-times-returned cinnabar returns to the root, and the nine-times-returned liquid gold returns to the true. Do not use yin and zi to count kun and shen; only look at the five phases becoming the standard.

本是水銀一味，周流歷遍諸辰。陰陽數足自通神，出入不離玄牝。

It is originally the single flavor of quicksilver, circulating through all the hours. When the numbers of yin and yang are complete, it naturally penetrates the spirit, coming and going without leaving the mysterious female.

牛女情緣道合，龜蛇類秉天然。蟾烏遇朔合蟬娟，二氣相資運轉。

The destined bond of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl accords with the Way, and the kinds of tortoise and snake hold to nature. The toad and the crow meet at the new moon and form the beautiful moon (the source text has a variant character for "beautiful" here), and the two qi aid each other and turn.

總是乾坤妙用，誰人達此真詮。陰陽否隔即成愆，怎得天長地遠。

All is the wondrous use of qian and kun; who penetrates this true explanation? When yin and yang are blocked and separated, they turn into faults; how then can there be long heaven and distant earth?

若要真鉛留汞，親中不離家臣。木金間隔會無因，須用媒人勾引。

If you want true lead to hold the mercury, in intimacy it does not leave ruler and minister (the source text has a character here that probably should be "ruler"). Wood and metal are separated, with no cause for meeting, and one needs a go-between to draw them together.

木性愛金順義，金情戀木慈仁。相吞相咽卻相親，始覺男兒有孕。

Wood by nature loves metal and is obedient to righteousness; metal in feeling longs for wood and is kind and benevolent. They swallow each other and yet grow close, and only then does the boy feel himself with child.

二八誰家奼女，龍三何處郎君。自稱木液與金精，遇土方成三姓。

Whose maiden is the two eights, and from where is the gentleman called the dragon three? They call themselves wood liquid and metal essence, and meeting earth they become three surnames.

更假丁公鍛鍊，夫妻始結歡情。河車不敢暫留停，運入崑崙峰頂。

Again they borrow Lord Ding's forging, and the couple at last forms a bond of joy. The river cart does not dare to stay even a moment, and carries it up to the summit of Kunlun.

天地才經否泰，朝昏好識屯蒙。輻來湊轂永朝宗，妙在抽添運用。

Heaven and earth have just passed through pi and tai, and morning and dusk are the moment to recognize zhun and meng. Spokes come together at the hub, and forever the court is attended; the wonder lies in withdrawing, adding, and applying.

得一萬般事畢，休分南北西東。損之又損慎前功，命寶不宜輕弄。

Obtaining the One, ten thousand matters are done, and there is no need to separate south, north, west, or east. Diminish and diminish again, be careful of the earlier effort, and do not treat the treasure of life lightly.

冬至一陽來復，三旬增一陽爻。月中復卦朔晨超，望罷乾終兆。

At the winter solstice, one yang returns, and in thirty days one yang line is added. In the moon the fu hexagram rises from the dawn of the new moon, and after the full moon qian is finished, the sign is complete.

日又別為寒暑，陽生復起中宵。午後罷一陰朝，煉藥須知昏曉。

The day too is separately divided into cold and heat, and yang arises again from the middle of the night. After noon, once the one yin has come to an end, it is morning; in refining the medicine one must know dusk from dawn.

不辨五行四象，那分砂汞鉛銀。修丹火侯未曾聞，早便稱呼大隱。

If one does not distinguish the five phases and four images, how can one tell cinnabar, mercury, lead, and silver? Not yet having even heard of the fire phases for cultivating the elixir (the source text has a variant character for "phase" here), they already call themselves great recluses.

靡肯自思己錯，更將錯路教人。誤他永劫在迷津，似恁欺心怎忍。

Unwilling to think themselves wrong, they even teach others the wrong road. They mislead others into the ford of delusion for endless kalpas; how can one bear such self-deception?

雄裡內含雌質，真陰卻抱陽精。兩般和合藥方成，點化魂靈魄聖。

Within the male there is the substance of the female, and true yin embraces the yang essence. When the two are harmonized, the medicine is complete, transforming the spirit soul and the sacred po.

信道金丹一粒，蛇吞立變龍形。雞餐乃亦化鸞鵬，飛入真陽聖境。

Believe in this Way: a single grain of golden elixir, swallowed by a snake, at once turns it into a dragon's form. Eaten by a chicken, it can also turn into a luan or a peng bird, flying into the sacred realm of true yang.

德行修逾八百，陰功積滿三千。均齊物我與親冤，始合神仙本願。

When one's virtuous conduct is cultivated beyond eight hundred and hidden merit is accumulated to three thousand, regarding self and other, kin and enemy as equal, one accords with the original vow of the immortals.

虎兄刀兵不害，無常火宅難牽。寶符降後去朝天，穩駕鸞輿鳳輦。

Tigers, rhinoceroses, blades, and weapons cannot harm one (the source text has a variant character for "rhinoceros" here), and the burning house of impermanence cannot entangle one. After the precious talisman descends, one goes to court in heaven, steadily riding a luan carriage and phoenix palanquin.

又一首

One more poem.

（以象閏月）

(Used to represent the intercalary month.)

丹是色身至寶，煉成變化無窮。更能性上究真宗，決了無生妙用。

The elixir is the supreme treasure of the physical body, and once refined it transforms without end. If one further pursues the true lineage within nature, one settles the wondrous use of non-birth.

不待他生後世，現前獲佛神通。自從龍女著斯功，爾後誰能繼踵。

Without waiting for another life or a later world, one attains the Buddha's spiritual powers right now. Ever since the dragon girl took up this work, who after her has been able to follow in her footsteps?

絕句五首

Five quatrains.

（以象五行）

(Used to represent the five phases.)