Zhou Yi Can Tong Qi (周易參同契) · Volume 2
○道窮則反。歸乎坤元。恆順地理。承天布宣。
When the Way is exhausted it returns, going back to the origin of Kun. Forever following the pattern of earth, it receives from heaven and spreads it abroad.
○玄幽遠渺。隔閡相連。應度育種。陰陽之元。寥廓恍惚。莫知其端。先迷失軌。後為主君。無平不陂。道之自然。變易更盛。消息相因。終坤始復。始循連環。帝王承御。千載常存。
Dark, deep and remote, separated yet still connected. Answering to the numbers to breed the seed, it is the origin of yin and yang. Vast and indistinct, no one knows its beginning or its thread. First it loses the track, and later becomes the ruler. There is nothing level that does not slope; this is the natural course of the Way. Change alternates between flourishing and decline, and growth and ebb depend on each other. It ends in Kun and begins in Fu, starting to follow a linked cycle. Emperors and kings receive and drive it, and it endures for a thousand years.
○將欲養性。延命卻期。審思後末。當慮其先。人所稟軀。體本一無。元精雲布。因氣托初。
If you want to nourish your nature, prolong your life and put off death, think carefully about the end that follows, and you should first consider its root. The body a person is endowed with is in its original substance a nothing. The primal essence spreads like cloud, relying on qi to lodge in the beginning.
○陰陽為度。魂魄所居。陽神日魂。陰神月魄。魂之與魄。互為室宅。性主處內。立置鄞鄂。情主營外。築垣城郭。城郭完全。人物乃安。爰斯之時。情合乾坤。幹動而直。氣布精流。坤靜而翕。為道舍廬。剛施而退。柔化以滋。九還七返。八歸六居。男白女赤。金火相拘。則水定火。五行之初。上善若水。清而無瑕。道之形象。真一難圖。變而分佈。各自獨居。
Yin and yang are the standard, and are where the hun and po souls dwell. The yang spirit is the sun-hun, and the yin spirit is the moon-po; hun and po serve as each other's dwelling. Nature governs the inside and sets up the outline; feeling governs the outside and builds the walls and ramparts. When the ramparts are complete, people and things find peace. At just this time, feeling joins with Qian and Kun: Qian moves and is straight, its qi spreads and its essence flows; Kun is still and closed, and serves as the house of the Way. The firm gives and then withdraws, and the yielding transforms and breeds. Nine returns and seven turns back; eight goes home and six dwells. The man is white and the woman is red; metal and fire hold each other in check, and then water comes to settle the fire, which is the beginning of the five phases. The highest good is like water, clear and without flaw. As for the Way's form, the true One is hard to draw; it transforms and spreads out, each dwelling alone.
○類如雞子。白黑相符。縱廣一寸。以為始初。四肢五臟。筋骨乃俱。彌歷十月。脫出其胞。骨弱可卷。肉滑若鉛。
Its shape is like an egg, with white and black in accord. An inch in length and breadth, it is the beginning. The four limbs, the five organs, the sinews and bones are only then complete. After ten full months, it breaks out of its birth sac; the bones are so soft they can be rolled up, and the flesh is smooth as lead.
○陽燧以取火。非日不生光。方諸非星月。安能得水漿。二氣玄且遠。感化尚相通。何況近存身。切在於心胸。陰陽配日月。水火為效徵。
The burning mirror is used to take fire, but without the sun it cannot produce light; the moon-mirror, if not turned toward the stars and moon, how could it get water? Two breaths, dark and distant, still communicate through influence; how much more so what is near in one's own body and close to the heart. Yin and yang are matched with sun and moon, and water and fire serve as the sign of efficacy.
○耳目口三寶。固塞勿發揚。真人潛深淵。浮游守規中。旋曲以視聽。開闔皆合同。為己之樞轄。動靜不竭窮。離氣內營衛。坎乃不用聰。兌合不以談。希言順鴻蒙。三者既關楗。緩體處空房。委志歸虛無。無念以為常。證難以推移。心專不縱橫。寢寐神相抱。覺悟候存亡。顏容浸以潤。骨節益堅強。排卻眾陰邪。然後立正陽。修之不輟休。庶氣雲雨行。淫淫若春澤。液液象解冰。從頭流達足。究竟復上升。往來洞無極。怫怫被容中。反者道之驗。弱者德之柄。耘鋤宿汙穢。細微得調暢。濁者清之路。昏久則昭明。
Ears, eyes and mouth are the three treasures; seal them firmly and do not let them spread out. The True Man lies hidden in the deep pool, floating and wandering while keeping to the center of the compass. Turning, he sees and hears; opening and closing, he is in accord. He is the pivot and axle of himself, and movement and stillness never run dry. With the Li breath tending and guarding within, Kan has no need for sharp hearing; Dui is closed and not used for talk, speaking little and following the primal chaos. Once these three are bolted shut, relax the body and dwell in an empty room, entrust the will to emptiness, and take no-thought as the constant. The proofs are hard to push forward; keep the mind single and do not let it range crosswise. In sleep the spirit holds itself together, and in wakefulness it watches over life and death. The complexion gradually grows moist and glowing, and the joints grow still stronger. Drive out the many yin evils, and then set up the true yang. Practice without stopping, and the breath may flow like clouds and rain: seeping like the moisture of spring days, trickling like ice melting. It flows from head to foot, and having reached the bottom rises again, going back and forth through and through without end, spreading richly over the face. Reversal is the proof of the Way; weakness is the handle of virtue. Hoe away the old filth, and the subtle places gain free flow. The turbid is the road to the clear, and what has long been dark becomes bright.
○世人好小術。不審道淺深。棄正從邪徑。欲速閼不通。猶盲不任杖。聾者聽宮商。沒水捕雉兔。登山索魚龍。植麥欲獲黍。運規以求方。竭力勞精神。終年無見功。欲知服食法。事約而不繁。
People of the world are fond of petty arts and do not examine how shallow or deep the Way is. Abandoning the right road and following crooked paths, they want quick success and instead end up blocked. It is like a blind man refusing to use a cane, or a deaf man trying to listen to the notes of gong and shang; like going into water to catch pheasants and hares, or climbing a mountain to look for fish and dragons; like sowing wheat and hoping to harvest millet, or turning a compass and demanding a square. They strain themselves and wear out their spirit, and all year long see no effect. If you want to know the method of taking the elixir, the matter should be concise and not tedious.
○太陽流珠。常欲去人。卒得金華。轉而相因。化為白液。凝而至堅。金華先唱。有頃之間。解化為水。馬齒闌干。陽乃往和。情性自然。迫促時陰。拘畜禁門。慈母育養。孝子報恩。嚴父施令。教敕子孫。五行錯王。相據以生。火性銷金。金伐木榮。三五與一。天地至精。可以口訣。難以書傳。
The sun's flowing pearl always wants to leave a person; only when it meets the Golden Flower do they come to rely on each other, change into white fluid, and congeal into the utterly hard. The Golden Flower sings first, and in an instant it dissolves and becomes water, crisscrossed like horse teeth. Yang then goes forward in response, and its nature arises of itself. It presses the yin of the season, confining and keeping it at the forbidden gate. A kind mother rears, a filial son repays; a stern father gives commands and instructs his children and grandchildren. The five phases take turns as king, relying on each other to come into being. The nature of fire melts metal, and metal cuts and so lets wood flourish. The three-fives and the one are the utmost essence of heaven and earth. They can be passed on by oral instruction but are hard to hand down in writing.
○子當右轉。午乃東旋。卯酉界隔。主定二名。龍呼於虎。虎吸龍精。兩相飲食。俱相貪便。遂相銜咽。咀嚼相吞。熒惑守西。太平經天。殺氣所臨。何有不傾。狸犬守鼠。鳥雀畏鸇。各得其功。何敢有聲。
Zi should turn to the right, and Wu then revolves to the east. Mao and You serve as the boundaries, governing and fixing the two names. The dragon calls to the tiger, and the tiger draws in the dragon's essence; the two eat and drink of each other, each greedy for the other's benefit, so they swallow each other, chewing as they devour. Mars keeps to the west, and Venus crosses the sky; where the killing breath arrives, what does it not overturn? The fox and the dog guard against the rat, and sparrows fear the hawk; each gets its own use, and how would any dare make a sound?
○不得其理。難以妄言。竭殫家產。妻子飢貧。自古及今。好者億人。訖不諧遇。希有能成。廣求名藥。與道乖殊。如審遭逢。睹其端緒。以類相況。揆物終始。
Without grasping the principle within, it is hard to speak at random. One exhausts the family's wealth, and wife and children go hungry and poor. From ancient times to now, hundreds of millions have loved it, yet never met the true accord, and few have succeeded. They seek famous medicines everywhere, and drift away from the Way. If one truly meets it and sees the thread, one may compare it with things of the same kind and gauge the beginning and end of affairs.
○五行相剋。更為父母。母含滋液。父主稟與。凝精流形。金石不朽。審專不洩。得為成道。立竿見影。呼谷傳響。豈不靈哉。天地至象。若以野葛一寸。巴豆一兩。入喉輒僵。不得俛仰。當此之時。雖周文揲蓍。孔子占象。扁鵲操針。巫咸扣鼓。安能令蘇。復起馳走。
The five phases overcome one another and alternately serve as each other's parents. The mother holds the nourishing fluid and the father governs the bestowing. When the essence congeals and flows into form, metal and stone become imperishable. Be careful, single-minded, and do not leak, and only then can the Way be achieved. Set up a pole and the shadow appears; call into a valley and the echo returns. Is that not efficacy? This is the utmost image of heaven and earth. Suppose one takes one inch of wild kudzu and one liang of croton: once swallowed, the body goes stiff and cannot bend or look up. At just that moment, even if King Wen cast the milfoil stalks, Confucius read the images, Bian Que wielded his needle and Wu Xian beat his drum, how could they bring him back to life and have him rise and run again?
○河上奼女。靈而最神。得火則飛。不見埃塵。鬼隱龍匿。莫知所存。將欲制之。黃芽為根。
The Maiden by the River is spiritual and the most divine. As soon as it meets fire it flies away, leaving no trace of dust; hidden like a ghost and concealed like a dragon, no one knows where it is. To subdue it, the Yellow Sprout is the root.
○物無陰陽。違天背無。牝雞自卵。其雛不全。夫何故乎。配合未運。三五不交。剛柔離分。施化之精。天地自然。猶火動而炎上。水流而潤下。非有師道。使其然也。資始統政。不可復改。觀夫雌雄。交媾之時。剛柔相結。而不可解。得其節符。非有工巧。以制御之。若男生而伏。女偃其軀。稟乎胞胎。受氣元初。非徒生時。著而見之。及其死也。亦復效之。此非父母。教令其然。本在交媾。定置始先。
If a thing has no yin and yang, it goes against heaven and turns its back on nothingness. A hen's eggs, laid by herself, will not produce complete chicks. Why? Because the pairing has not yet turned, the three-fives do not meet, and firm and yielding are separated. The essence that bestows transformation is the natural course of heaven and earth. It is like fire moving and burning upward, and water flowing and moistening downward; it is not that a teacher taught them to do so. What is drawn on at the beginning governs the whole and cannot be altered again. Look at the time of union of male and female: the firm and yielding bind together and cannot be undone; they obtain the tally of the season, and no craft can control them. It is like men being born lying face down and women lying face up; this is received in the womb, and the breath was taken in at the very first. It is plainly visible not only while they live, but after they die it is the same. This is not because parents command it so; the root lies in the union, fixed in place at the very start.
○坎男為月。離女為日。日以施德。月以舒光。月受日化。體不虧傷。陽失其契。陰侵其明。晦朔薄蝕。掩冒相傾。陽消其形。陰凌災生。男女相須。含吐以滋。雌雄錯雜。以類相求。
Kan, the man, is the moon; Li, the woman, is the sun. The sun is used to bestow virtue, and the moon to spread light. The moon receives the sun's transformation, and its substance does not wane. When yang loses its covenant, yin encroaches on its brightness; at the dark of the moon and new moon an eclipse occurs, covering and crushing one another. When yang's form is diminished, yin presses on it and disaster arises. Man and woman need each other, holding and giving forth to produce life; female and male are intermingled and seek one another according to kind.
○金化為水。水性周章。火化為土。水不得行。故男動外施。女靜內藏。溢度過節。為女所拘。魄以鈐魂。不得淫奢。不寒不暑。進退合時。各得其和。俱吐證符。
Metal turns to water, and the nature of water is to flow without fixed course; fire turns to earth, and water then cannot pass. So the male moves and gives outward, and the female is still and holds inward. If one overflows the measure, one is held in check by the female. The po is used to restrain the hun and keeps it from excess. Neither cold nor hot, advancing and retreating in accord with the season, each obtains the mean and harmony, and together they bring forth the tally of proof.
○丹砂木精。得金乃並。金水合處。木火為侶。四者混沌。列為龍虎。龍陽數奇。虎陰數偶。肝青為父。肺白為母。腎黑為子。脾黃為祖。子五行始。三物一家。都歸戊己。
Cinnabar is the essence of wood, and only when it meets metal do they join. Where metal and water meet, wood and fire are companions. The four are in chaos together and are arranged as dragon and tiger. The dragon belongs to yang, with an odd number; the tiger belongs to yin, with an even number. The green liver is the father, the white lung is the mother, the black kidney is the child, and the yellow spleen is the ancestor. The child is the beginning of the five phases, and the three things become one family, all returning to Wu and Ji.
○剛柔迭興。更歷分部。龍西虎東。建緯卯酉。刑德並會。相見歡喜。刑主伏殺。德主生起。二月榆落。魁臨於卯。八月麥生。天綱據酉。子南午北。互為綱紀。一九之數。終而復始。含元虛危。播精於子。
The firm and the yielding rise alternately, passing in turn through their divisions. The dragon is in the west and the tiger in the east, with the warp line laid at Mao and You. Punishment and virtue meet together, and when they see each other they rejoice. Punishment governs hidden killing and virtue governs rising life. In the second month the elm leaves fall and the Dipper's head points to Mao; in the eighth month the wheat is born and the Heavenly Net holds You. Zi is in the south and Wu in the north, serving as each other's guiding thread. The numbers one and nine, when finished, begin again. Holding the primal in Xu and Wei, it scatters its essence in Zi.
○關關雎鳩。在河之洲。窈窕淑女。君子好逑。雄不獨處。雌不孤居。玄武龜蛇。蟠蚪相扶。以明牝牡。竟當相須。假使二女共室。顏色甚姝。令蘇秦通言。張儀結媒。發辯利舌。奮舒美辭。推心調諧。合為夫妻。弊發腐齒。終不相知。若藥物非種。名類不同。分刻參差。失其紀綱。雖黃帝臨爐。太一執火。八公搗煉。淮南調合。立宇崇壇。玉為階陛。麟脯鳳臘。把籍長跪。禱祝神祇。請哀諸鬼。沐浴齋戒。冀有所望。亦猶和膠補釜。以*塗瘡。去冷加冰。除熱用湯。飛龜舞蛇。愈見乖張。
"Guan guan" cry the ospreys on the islet in the river; the modest and lovely maiden is a fitting mate for the gentleman. The male does not dwell alone, and the female does not live in solitude. The dark warrior's tortoise and snake coil and twine, supporting one another, to show that female and male must in the end need each other. Suppose two women shared a room, with lovely complexions, and one let Su Qin carry messages and Zhang Yi act as matchmaker, using their sharp tongues and spreading fine words, opening their hearts and harmonizing them, joining them as husband and wife, until their hair is worn out and their teeth rotten, they would still never know each other. If the medicines are not of one kind, their names and categories differ, the measures are uneven, and the guiding thread is lost, then even if the Yellow Emperor came to the furnace, Taiyi held the fire, the Eight Elders pounded and refined, and the Prince of Huainan blended the compounds; even if houses were built, high altars piled up, steps made of jade, unicorn meat and phoenix preserves offered, and registers held up as one knelt long, praying to the spirits and pleading with the ghosts, bathing and fasting in hope of gain, it would still be like using glue to mend a cauldron, or smearing a sore with (a character is missing in the base text); wanting to cool it and adding ice, wanting to remove heat and applying hot water; flying turtles and dancing snakes only make it more perverse.
○惟昔聖賢。懷玄抱真。服煉九鼎。化跡隱淪。含精養神。通德三光。津液腠理。筋骨致堅。眾邪辟除。正氣常存。累積長久。變形而仙。憂憫後生。好道之倫。隨傍風采。指畫古文。著為圖籍。開示後昆。露見枝條。隱藏本根。托號諸石。覆謬眾文。學者得之。韞櫝終身。子繼父業。孫踵祖先。傳世迷惑。竟無見聞。遂使宦者不仕。農夫失耘。商人棄貨。志士家貧。吾甚傷之。定錄此文。字約易思。事省不繁。披列其條。核實可觀。分兩有數。因而相循。故為亂辭。孔竅其門。智者審思。用意參焉。
The sages and worthies of old embraced the profound and held the true, took and refined the Nine Cauldrons, and transformed their traces to dwell in hiding. Holding their essence and nourishing their spirit, they were joined in virtue with the three lights; when the fluids reached the skin's pores, their sinews and bones became firm. Many evils were driven out and the upright qi remained constant; accumulated over a long time, they changed form and became immortals. Pitying those who would come after, who love the Way, they relied on the manner of the age and drew on ancient texts to make diagrams and books, to instruct later generations. They showed the branches and hid the root; they borrowed the names of various minerals and covered errors among the many texts. Scholars who got hold of them kept them in their cases all their lives; sons took up their fathers' work and grandsons followed their ancestors, passing them down through generations in confusion, never having seen or heard the truth. As a result officials did not go to office, farmers neglected their fields, merchants lost their goods, and men of purpose were left poor at home. I grieve deeply over this, and so have set down this text: the words are concise and easy to think over, the matters are few and not tedious, and its items are set out in rows that can be verified and read; the weights and measures have fixed numbers and so cycle back on each other. So I have made a concluding verse to open a small aperture in its gate; let the wise think it over carefully and weigh it with their intent.
○法象莫大乎天地兮。玄溝數萬裡。河鼓臨星紀兮。人民皆驚駭。晷影妄前卻兮。九年被兇咎。皇上覽視之兮。王者退自改。關楗有低昂兮。害氣遂奔走。江淮之枯竭兮。水流注於海。天地之雌雄兮。徘徊子與午。寅申陰陽祖兮。出入復終始。循鬥而招搖兮。執衡定元紀。
For models and images, none is greater than heaven and earth, with the Dark Channel stretching tens of thousands of li. The River Drum comes close to the Star Record, and the people are all startled. The gnomon's shadow advances and retreats wrongly, and nine years suffer misfortune. When the sovereign looks upon it, the king withdraws and corrects himself. The bolt rises and falls, and the harmful breath runs away. The Jiang and Huai rivers run dry, and their waters flow into the sea. The female and male of heaven and earth pace back and forth between Zi and Wu. Yin and Shen are the ancestors of yin and yang, going out and coming in, ending and beginning again. Following the Big Dipper and the Waving Star, holding the scale to fix the primal reckoning.
○升熬於甑山兮。炎火張設下。白虎唱導前兮。蒼液和於後。朱雀翱翔虧兮。飛揚色五彩。遭遇羅網施兮。壓之不得舉。嗷嗷聲甚悲兮。嬰兒之慕母。顛倒就湯鑊兮。摧折傷毛羽。漏刻未過半兮。魚鱗狎鬣起。五色象炫耀兮。變化無常主。潏潏鼎沸馳兮。暴勇不休止。接連重迭累兮。犬牙相錯距。形如仲冬冰兮。闌干吐鍾乳。崔巍而雜廁兮。交積相支柱。
It rises and is boiled at Mount Zeng, with blazing fire laid out below. The White Tiger leads the song in front, and the Azure Fluid answers behind. The Vermilion Bird soars with a gap in its wings, spreading its five colors. Meeting the net spread over it, it is pressed down and cannot rise. Its crying is shrill and sad, like an infant longing for its mother. Upside down it is thrown into the boiling cauldron, and its feathers are broken and damaged. Before the water clock has run half its time, the fish-scale and mane-like bristles stand up. The images of the five colors dazzle, changing with no fixed master. Surging and boiling it races about, fierce and bold and not stopping. Connected and piled up in layers, like dog teeth interlocking. Its form is like midwinter ice, crisscrossed and spitting out stalactites. Towering and mixed, piled up and propping one another.
○陰陽得其配兮。淡泊而相守。青龍處房六兮。春華震東卯。白虎在昴七兮。秋芒兌西酉。朱雀在張二兮。正陽離南午。三者俱來朝兮。家屬為親侶。本之但二物兮。末而為三五。三五並與一兮。都集歸二所。治之如上科兮。日數亦取甫。
Yin and yang find their match and, plain and mild, keep to one another. The Azure Dragon lies at the sixth degree of the Room constellation, the spring bloom belonging to Zhen in the eastern Mao. The White Tiger is at the seventh degree of the Pleiades, the autumn awn belonging to Dui in the western You. The Vermilion Bird is at the second degree of the Extended Net, the true yang belonging to Li in the southern Wu. All three come to court, and their households become close companions. At root there are only two things, but at the tip they become three-fives. The three-fives join into one, and all gather and return to two places. Treat it as the earlier section says, and take the number of days as the settled number.
○先白而後黃兮。食黑達表裡。名曰第一鼎兮。食如大黍米。自然之所為兮。非有邪偽道。若山澤氣相蒸兮。興雲而為雨。泥竭遂成塵兮。火滅化為土。若櫱染為黃兮。似藍成綠組。皮革煮成膠兮。麴櫱化為酒。同類易施功兮。非種難為巧。惟斯之妙術兮。審諦不誑語。傳於億世後兮。昭然自可考。煥若星經漢兮。炳如水宗海。思之務令熟兮。反覆視上下。千周燦彬彬兮。萬遍將可睹。神明或告人兮。心靈乍自悟。探端索其緒兮。必得其門戶。天道無適莫兮。常傳與賢者。
First white and then yellow; eating the black, it passes through inside and out. It is called the First Cauldron, and when eaten it is like a large grain of millet. This is made by nature, and there is no crooked or false way in it. It is like the breath of mountains and marshes steaming each other, raising clouds and making rain; mud dries up and becomes dust, and fire dies out and turns to earth. It is like phellodendron dyeing yellow, like indigo weaving green cords; hide boiled into glue, yeast transformed into wine. Things of the same kind are easy to work on, but what is not of the same kind is hard to make skillful. Only this wondrous art, examined truly, contains no false words. Passed on across a hundred million generations, it will plainly be verifiable for oneself; brilliant as a star crossing the Milky Way, shining as water returning to its source in the sea. Ponder it until it is thoroughly ripe, looking again and again above and below. After a thousand rounds it will be bright and rich, and after ten thousand times it will begin to be seen. The spirits may tell a person, or the mind may suddenly awaken by itself. Probe its beginning and seek its thread, and you will surely find its gate. The Way of heaven has no favorites, and always passes to the worthy.
○參同契者。敷陳梗概。不能純一。氾濫而說。纖微未備。闊略彷彿。今更撰錄。補塞遺脫。潤色幽深。鉤援相逮。旨意等齊。所趣不悖。故復作此。命五相類。則大易之情性盡矣。
What is called the Cantong qi lays out the outline but cannot be wholly unified; it speaks broadly, and the fine points are not all supplied, so it is sketchy and approximate. Now I compile it again to fill in what was left out, polish its depths, hook up passages so that they reach one another, make the aims equal and the purposes consistent. So I have also made this section, named the Five Kinds in Correspondence, and then the nature of the Great Changes is exhausted.
○大易情性。各如其度。黃老用究。較而可御。爐火之事。真有所據。三道由一。俱出徑路。
The nature of the Great Changes follows its own measure. The Yellow Emperor and Laozi used it to probe to the end, and after comparison it can be mastered. As for the matter of furnace and fire, it truly has a basis (one reading holds that this line also acknowledges external alchemy with furnace fire, while the main text still takes inner cultivation within the body as the primary meaning). The three ways come from one, and all go out along this one path.
○枝莖華葉。果實垂布。正在根株。不失其素。誠心所言。審而不誤。
Branches, stems, flowers and leaves, and fruit hanging in rows: the key lies in the root and trunk, not losing their plain simplicity. What is said in sincerity is careful and without error.
○象彼仲冬節。竹木皆摧傷。佐陽詰賈旅。人君深自藏。象時順節令。閉口不用談。天道甚浩廣。太玄無形容。虛寂不可睹。匡郭以消亡。謬誤失事緒。言還自敗傷。別序斯四象。以曉後生盲。
Take the image of that midwinter season, when bamboo and trees are all broken and hurt. Assisting yang and rebuking merchants and travelers, the ruler deeply hides himself. Taking the image of the season and following its rhythm, he keeps his mouth shut and does not speak. The Way of heaven is vast and wide, and the Great Mystery has no description; it is empty, still and invisible, and the outline of it therefore vanishes. Error loses the thread of affairs, and words once spoken only injure oneself. I describe these four images separately to instruct the blind and ignorant among later students.
○會稽鄙夫。幽谷朽生。挾懷樸素。不樂歡榮。棲遲僻陋。忽略利名。執守恬淡。希時安平。宴然閒居。乃撰斯文。歌敘大易。三聖遺言。察其旨趣。一統共倫。
A rustic of Kuaiji, withering in a hidden valley. Holding to the uncarved block (raw, unworked wood, a figure for the original state untouched by human carving) and simplicity, he does not care for glory or joy. Lingering in a remote and humble place, he neglects profit and fame, keeps to quiet calm, and hopes for a peaceful age. Living at ease in leisure, he only then composed this text, singing and narrating the surviving words of the Great Changes and the three sages, examining their purport and gathering them under one common order.
○務在順理。宣耀精神。神化流通。四海和平。表以為歷。萬世可循。序以御政。行之不繁。引內養性。黃老自然。含德之厚。歸根返元。近在我心。不離己身。抱一毋舍。可以長存。配以服食。雄雌設陳。挺除武都。八石棄捐。
One must follow the principle and make the spirit shine. When divine transformation flows and circulates, the four seas are at peace. Set out as a calendar, it can be followed for ten thousand generations; ordered for governing, it can be carried out without tedium. Turned inward to nourish one's nature, it is the naturalness of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi. Holding deep virtue, one returns to the root and goes back to the origin. It is near, in my own heart, never leaving my own body; embracing the One and not letting go, one can last forever. Paired with taking the elixir, set out female and male; pull out the realgar of Wudu and cast aside all the eight minerals.
○審用成物。世俗所珍。羅列三條。枝莖相連。同出異名。皆由一門。非徒累句。諧偶斯文。殆有其真。礫硌可觀。使予敷偽。卻被贅愆。命參同契。微覽其端。辭寡意大。後嗣宜遵。委時去害。依託丘山。循遊寥廓。與鬼為鄰。化形而仙。淪寂無聲。百世一下。遨遊人間。陳敷羽翮。東西南傾。湯遭厄際。水旱隔並。柯葉萎黃。失其華榮。吉人相乘負。安穩可長生。
Using it carefully to bring things to completion is what the world prizes. Three items are set out in a row, their branches and stems connected; they come from one source under different names, all through one gate. It is not merely a piling up of lines to make this text rhyme and pair; perhaps it truly has its truth, rugged and worth beholding. If I were made to spread out falsehood, I would instead be charged with the fault of excess. It is named the Cantong qi, giving a slight glimpse of its beginning. The words are few and the meaning great, and later generations should follow it. Abandon the age and remove harm, rely on hills and mountains, wander through the vast void, take ghosts as neighbors, change form and become an immortal, sinking into stillness and silence. Once in a hundred ages one comes by, to roam in the human world. Spreading wings, east, west and south all tilt; in the time when Tang suffered hardship, flood and drought ran together but apart, branches and leaves withered yellow, and glory was lost. Fortunate people ride on and bear one another, and in security they may live long.
【鼎器歌】圓三五。寸一分。口四八。兩寸唇。長尺二。厚薄勻。腹齊三。坐垂溫。陰在上。陽下奔。首尾武。中間文。始七十。終三旬。二百六。善調勻。陰火白。黃芽鉛。兩七聚。輔翼人。贍理腦。定升玄。子處中。得安存。來去遊。不出門。漸成大。情性純。卻歸一。還本原。善愛敬。如君臣。至一週。甚辛勤。密防護。莫迷昏。途路遠。復幽玄。若達此。會乾坤。刀圭沾。靜魄魂。得長生。居仙村。樂道者。尋其根。審五行。定銖分。諦思之。不須論。深藏守。莫傳文。御白鶴兮。駕龍鱗。遊太虛兮。謁仙君。錄天圖兮。號真人。
[Song of the Cauldron] The diameter is three-five, and the thickness one inch and one fen; the mouth is four-eight, and the lip two inches. The length is one foot two, evenly thick and thin. The belly matches three, and sitting, it hangs down warmth. Yin is at the top, and yang runs below. Use the martial fire at the head and tail, and the civil fire in the middle. Seventy at the start and thirty at the end, two hundred and six in all; be good at blending them evenly. The yin fire is white, and the yellow sprout is lead; two sevens come together to support a person. Nourish and tend the brain, settle it, and rise to the profound. The child is in the middle and so finds safe keeping; coming and going and wandering, it does not leave the gate. Gradually growing up, its nature is pure and single, yet it returns to the One and goes back to the origin. Be good at loving and respecting, like ruler and minister. When one cycle is complete, it is very laborious; guard it closely and do not be lost in confusion. The road is distant and again dark. If one can reach this, one will penetrate Qian and Kun. One touch of the knife-spoon dose, and the po and hun grow still; one gains long life and dwells in the village of immortals. Those who delight in the Way, seek its root; examine the five phases and fix the zhu and fen exactly. Think carefully and do not talk emptily; keep it deeply hidden and do not write it out for transmission beyond the text. Ride the white crane, drive the dragon's scales; roam the Great Void and call upon the Lord of Immortals; record the celestial chart and be named a True Person.
【贊序】參同契者。辭隱而道大。言微而旨深。列五帝以建業。配三皇而立政。若君臣差殊。上下無準。序以為政。不至太平。服食奇法。未能長生。學以養性。又不延年。至於剖析陰陽。合其銖兩。日月弦望。八卦成象。男女施化。剛柔動靜。米鹽分判。以經為證。用意健矣。故為立法。以傳後賢。推曉大象。必得長生。為吾道者。重加意焉。
[Preface to the Eulogy] What is called the Cantong qi has hidden words but a great Way, subtle sayings but a profound purport. It sets out the Five Emperors to establish achievements, and matches the Three Sovereigns to settle governance. If ruler and ministers differ and there is no standard between high and low, then using it to order government will not bring great peace; taking it as a marvelous method of taking the elixir will not give long life; studying it to nourish one's nature will not extend one's years. As for analyzing yin and yang, matching zhu and liang weights exactly, the waxing and waning phases of sun and moon, the images formed by the eight trigrams, the transformations of male and female, the movement and stillness of firm and yielding, distinguishing them like rice and salt, and taking the classics as proof, the intention is firm and strong. So I have set down rules for it, to hand down to later worthy people. Knowing the great models and images, one will surely gain long life. Those who practice this Way of mine should take double care.