Huang Ting Nei Wai Jing Jing (黃庭內外景經) · Volume 1

黃庭內外玉景經

The Scripture of the Jade Scenes of the Inner and Outer Yellow Court.

內景經

The Scripture of the Inner Scenes.

上清紫霞虛皇前，太上大道玉晨君，閒居蕊珠作七言，散化五形變萬神。

Before the seat of the Void Sovereign of Purple Mists in Highest Clarity, the Jade Dawn Lord of the Supreme Great Dao (Laozi uses this word to point to the origin and manner of operation of all things, which in itself cannot be described), dwelling at leisure in the Palace of Pistil Pearls, composed these verses of seven characters, scattering and transforming the five forms and changing the myriad spirits.

是為黃庭曰內篇，琴心三疊舞胎仙，九氣映明出霄間，神蓋童子生紫煙。

This is the Yellow Court, called the Inner Chapter: the heart's lute is thrice folded, setting the embryonic immortal dancing; the nine qi (the flowing substance that makes up and runs through all things) shine bright as they come out from the Milky Way, and the child beneath the spirit canopy sends forth purple smoke.

是曰玉書可精研，詠之萬過升三天，千災以消百病痊，不憚虎狼之兇殘，

This is called the Jade Book. It can be studied closely; recite it ten thousand times and you rise to the Three Heavens, a thousand calamities vanish and a hundred illnesses are healed, and you need not fear the savagery of tigers and wolves,

亦以卻老年永延。

and you can also drive back old age and extend your years forever.

上有魂靈下關元，左為少陽右太陰，後有密戶前生門。出日入月呼吸存，

Above is the spirit-soul, below is Guanyuan; on the left is Shaoyang, on the right is Taiyin; behind lies the secret door, in front lies the gate of life. As the sun rises and the moon sets, visualize them within the breath,

元氣所合列宿分，紫煙上下三素云，灌溉五華植靈根，七液洞流沖廬間。

where the primal qi gathers and the constellations divide. Purple smoke rises and descends, the clouds of the Three Whites; it irrigates the five flowers and plants the spirit root, and the seven fluids flow through openly, rushing into the hut between.

回紫抱黃入丹田，幽室內明照陽門。

Turn the purple, embrace the yellow, and enter the cinnabar field. (The terms used in this text, such as lead, mercury, dragon and tiger, tripod and furnace, infant and maiden, as well as cinnabar field, Mud Pellet and Yellow Court, are names borrowed by inner alchemists from the drugs and vessels of outer alchemy to refer to the essence, qi and spirit within the body and the places of cultivation; they do not mean actual minerals or drugs.) Within the hidden chamber all becomes clear of itself, and the gate of yang is illuminated.

口為玉池太和官，漱咽靈液災不幹，體生光華氣香蘭，卻滅百邪玉煉顏。

The mouth is the Jade Pool, the office of Supreme Harmony. Rinse and swallow the spirit fluid, and calamity will not come to attack; the body gives forth radiance, the breath is like fragrant orchid, it drives off the hundred evils, and a jade complexion is refined in the face.

審能修之登廣寒，晝夜不寐乃成真，雷鳴電激神泯泯。

If one can truly practice this, one can ascend to the Cold Vast Palace; going without sleep day and night, one can become perfected, and though thunder rolls and lightning strikes, the spirit remains quiet and settled.

黃庭內人服錦衣，紫華飛裙雲氣羅，丹青綠條翠靈柯，七蕤玉龠閉兩扉，

The inner persons of the Yellow Court wear brocade robes, with purple-flowered flying skirts and gowns of cloud vapor; there are green strands of cinnabar-blue, and jade-green spirit branches; the seven-flowered jade flute closes the two doors,

重扇金闕密樞機，玄泉幽闕高崔巍，三田之中精氣微，嬌女窈窕翳霄暉，

layer upon layer of golden towers keep the pivot sealed; the dark spring and secluded gate stand tall and towering; within the three fields the essence and qi are fine and subtle, and the lovely maiden, graceful and shy, veils the radiance of the sky,

重堂煥煥明八威，天庭地關列釜斤，靈臺盤固永不衰。

the many-storied halls shine brilliantly, lighting up the eight awes; the heavenly court and earthly pass are lined with cauldrons and axes, and the Spirit Terrace is coiled firm and will never decay.

中池內神服赤珠，丹錦雲袍帶虎符，橫津三寸靈所居，隱芝翳鬱自相扶。

The spirit within the Middle Pool wears red pearls, a robe of cinnabar brocade and cloud, and carries a tiger tally; it crosses the ford for three inches, where the spirit dwells, with hidden lingzhi thick and shadowy, supporting one another.

天中之嶽精謹修，雲宅既清玉帝遊，通利道路無終休，眉號華蓋覆明珠，

The Peak in the middle of Heaven must be carefully cultivated. Once the cloud-dwelling is pure and clean, the Jade Emperor will come to roam; the road is open and smooth, without end or rest. The eyebrows are called the Flowery Canopy, covering a bright pearl,

九幽日月洞空無，宅中有真常衣丹。審能見之無疾患，赤珠靈裙華茜粲，

the sun and moon of the Nine Depths are open and hollow; within the dwelling there is a true one, always wearing red robes. If one can truly see him, one will have no illness; the spirit skirt of red pearls, in splendid crimson, is dazzling,

舌下膺玄生死岸，出青入玄二氣煥，子若遇之昇天漢。

under the tongue lies the Mystery, the shore of life and death; going out in green and entering in black, the two qi shine forth; if you meet him, you will ascend to the Heavenly Han.

至道不煩訣存真，泥丸百節皆有神。發神蒼華字太元，腦神精根字泥丸，

The Supreme Way is not complicated; the secret lies in preserving and guarding the original truth. The Mud Pellet and the hundred joints all have spirits. The spirit of the hair is called Cang Hua, style name Tai Yuan; the spirit of the brain is the root of essence, style name Ni Wan (Mud Pellet),

眼神明上字英玄，鼻神玉壟字靈堅，耳神空閒字幽田，舌神通命字正倫，

the spirit of the eyes is Ming Shang, style name Ying Xuan; the spirit of the nose is Yu Long, style name Ling Jian; the spirit of the ears is Kong Xian, style name You Tian; the spirit of the tongue is Tong Ming, style name Zheng Lun;

齒神峨峰字羅千。一面之神宗泥丸，泥丸九真皆有房，方圓一寸處此中，

the spirit of the teeth is E Feng, style name Luo Qian. The spirits of the whole face all take the Mud Pellet as their ancestor; the nine perfected ones of the Mud Pellet each have a chamber, one square inch, and they dwell within it,

內服紫衣飛羅裳，但思一部壽無窮，非各別住俱腦中，列位次坐向外方，

wearing purple robes and flying gauze skirts. One need only visualize this one region and life becomes limitless; they do not live apart in separate places but are all in the brain, seated in order of rank, facing outward,

所存在心自相當。

and what is visualized and where it is naturally correspond to the heart.

心神丹元字守靈，肺神皓華字虛成，肝神龍煙字臺明，翳鬱導煙主濁清，

The spirit of the heart is Dan Yuan, style name Shou Ling; the spirit of the lungs is Hao Hua, style name Xu Cheng; the spirit of the liver is Long Yan, style name Tai Ming, with dense mist guiding the smoke, governing the turbid and the clear;

腎神玄冥字育嬰，脾神常在字魂停，膽神龍曜字威明。六腑五臟神體精，

the spirit of the kidneys is Xuan Ming, style name Yu Ying; the spirit of the spleen is Chang Zai, style name Hun Ting; the spirit of the gallbladder is Long Yao, style name Wei Ming. The six hollow organs and five solid organs have spirits that are the essence within the body,

皆在心內運天經，晝夜存之自長生。

all turning the celestial warp within the heart. Visualize them day and night, and you will naturally live long.

肺部之官似華蓋，下有童子坐玉闕，七元之子主調氣，外應中嶽鼻臍位，

The office of the lungs is like a flowery canopy, and beneath it a child sits in a jade tower. The Child of the Seven Primes governs the regulation of qi, and corresponds outwardly to the Central Peak, at the position between the nose and the navel,

素錦衣裳黃雲帶。喘息呼吸體不快，急存白元和六氣，神仙久視無災害，

in a plain brocade robe with a belt of yellow cloud. When breathing is labored and the body is uneasy, quickly visualize the White Prime and harmonize the six qi; immortals gaze long and there is no harm,

用之不已形不滯。

if you do not stop, the body will not become stagnant or blocked.

心部之官蓮含華，下有童子丹元家，主適寒熱榮衛和。丹錦飛裳披玉羅，

The office of the heart is like a lotus holding its blossom, and beneath it a child, the home of Dan Yuan, governs the proper balance of cold and heat and the harmony of nutritive and protective qi. In flying cinnabar-brocade robes, draped in jade gauze,

金鈴朱帶坐婆裟。調血理命身不枯，外應口舌吐五華，臨絕呼之亦登蘇，

with golden bells and a red sash, he sits in the lotus seat. He regulates the blood and orders life, so that the body does not wither; he corresponds outwardly to the mouth and tongue, spitting forth the five flowers; even at the moment the breath is cut off, calling on him can bring revival,

久久行之飛太霞。

and by long practice you will fly up to the Great Rosy Clouds.

肝部之中翠重裡，下有青童神公子，主諸關鏡聰明始，青錦披裳佩玉鈴。

Within the liver, in layers upon layers of emerald green, beneath it dwells the Green Child, the divine young lord, who governs the mirror of all the passes and is the beginning of keen hearing and sight, draped in a green brocade robe and wearing jade bells.

和制魂魄津液平，外應眼目日月清，百療所鍾存無英，同用七日自充盈，

He harmonizes and restrains the spirit-soul and bodily soul and steadies the bodily fluids; he corresponds outwardly to the eyes, to the sun and moon being clear and bright, where a hundred illnesses gather; visualize Wu Ying, and in the same way for seven days it will naturally fill up,

垂絕念神死復生，攝魂還魄永無傾。

when near death, think of the spirit and you may die and live again, calling back the spirit-soul and returning the bodily soul, so that you are never overturned.

腎部之宮玄陰圃，中有童子冥上玄，主諸六府九液源，外應兩耳百液津，

The palace of the kidneys is the garden of Dark Yin, and in its midst there is a child called Ming Shang Xuan, who governs the six hollow organs and is the source of the nine fluids; it corresponds outwardly to the two ears and is the ford of all fluids,

蒼錦雲衣舞龍潘，上致的霞日月煙，百病千災急當存，兩部水王對生門，

in a robe of dark-green brocade and cloud, dancing with the dragon banner, summoning upward the rosy clouds and the smoke of sun and moon; for a hundred illnesses and a thousand calamities, one should quickly visualize this; the two Water Kings face the gate of life,

使人長生升九天。

making a person live long and ascend to the Nine Heavens.

脾部之官屬戌已，中有明童黃裳裡，消谷散氣攝牙齒，是為太倉兩明童，

The office of the spleen belongs to wu and ji (the source text has a variant character for ji, which should read ji), and in its midst there are bright children within yellow robes; they digest grain and disperse qi, and govern the teeth; these are the two bright children of the Great Granary,

坐在金合城九重，方圓一寸命門中，主調百穀五朱香，闢卻虛贏無病傷，

seated within the ninefold Golden Gate City, one square inch in size, within the Gate of Life; they govern the regulation of the hundred grains and the five flavors and red fragrance, ward off weakness and emaciation, so that there is no illness or injury,

外應尺宅氣色芳，光華所生以表明，黃錦玉衣帶虎章，注念三老子輕翔，

corresponding outwardly to the foot-long dwelling (the face), with fragrant color and complexion, where radiance is born, as a sign; in yellow brocade and jade robes, wearing a tiger emblem, one who concentrates on the Three Elders will find the body lightly soaring,

長生高仙遠死殃。

living long as a lofty immortal, far from the calamity of death.

膽部之宮六府精，中有童子曜威明，雷電八振揚玉旌，龍旗橫天擲火鈴，

The palace of the gallbladder is the essence of the six hollow organs, and in its midst is a child, Yao Wei Ming; thunder and lightning rouse the eight directions, jade banners are raised, dragon flags sweep across the sky, and fire bells are hurled,

主諸氣力攝虎兵，外應眼童鼻柱間，腦發相扶亦俱鮮，九色錦衣綠華裙，

governing all strength and commanding the tiger soldiers; it corresponds outwardly to the pupils of the eyes and the bridge of the nose, where brain and hair support each other and are also fresh and glossy; robes of nine-colored brocade and skirts of green radiance,

佩金帶玉龍虎文，能存成明乘慶云，役使萬神朝三元。

with gold belts and jade, bearing the patterns of dragon and tiger; one who can visualize and achieve this radiance will ride auspicious clouds, command the myriad spirits, and have audience with the Three Primes.