The Kinship of the Three (Zhouyi Cantong Qi)

1 Qian and Kun are the gates of the Changes, the parents of all the hexagrams. Kan and Li form the frame; they turn the hub around its true axle. The four female and male hexagrams make the bellows. They encompass the way of yin and yang, like a skilled charioteer who follows the marking line, holds the reins, sets square and compass true, and follows the wheel tracks: stationed at the center, he governs what lies outside. Their numbers are recorded in pitch pipes and calendars. A lunar interval has five and six; warp and weft obey the sun's command, joining to make sixty; firm and yielding have inner and outer faces. At dawn on the new moon, Zhun takes its charge; by nightfall Meng receives it. Each day and each night has one hexagram, used in due sequence. Before the dark moon has yielded to dawn, the end begins anew: sun and moon set the measure, motion and stillness have their morning and evening. Spring and summer occupy the inner body, from zi through chen and si; autumn and winter work outwardly, from wu through xu and hai. Reward and punishment answer spring and autumn; dusk and light follow cold and heat. The line texts hold benevolence and justice, showing joy and anger as the season demands. Thus they answer the four seasons, and the five phases take their proper course.

2 Heaven and earth establish their stations, and the Changes move between them. Heaven and earth are the images of Qian and Kun; establishing stations means arranging the places where yin and yang pair. By the Changes is meant Kan and Li, the two workings of Qian and Kun. These two workings have no fixed line-positions: they circulate through the six empty places, coming and going without fixed course, rising and falling without constant rule. Hidden and submerged, they transform within; they contain the myriad things and provide the order of the Way. The nonexistent governs the existent: what serves the vessel is its emptiness. Thus, if one pursues waxing and waning, Kan and Li disappear. These words are not carelessly made, these arguments not born of emptiness: observed results are brought as proof; the divine workings are compared and measured. The argument is traced and its words composed with the original principle as evidence.Kan bears wu, the moon's essence; Li bears ji, the sun's light. Sun and moon make the Changes, firm and yielding matching one another. Earth flourishes in all four seasons and binds beginning to end; blue, red, black, and white each inhabit a quarter, yet all depend upon the center and the work of wu and ji.

3 The Changes are images. Among the images suspended aloft and made manifest, none is greater than sun and moon. Probe the spirit to know transformation: when yang departs yin comes; spokes converge and the wheel turns; entry and exit alternate, now folding, now unfolding. The Changes have three hundred eighty-four lines: from the lines one selects the tallies, which are the sixty-four hexagrams. From the dark moon to new-moon dawn, Zhen arrives to receive its tally. Then heaven and earth join their essences, and sun and moon bear each other up. Male yang spreads its dark seed; female yin transforms the yellow envelope. Chaos joins with chaos, establishing the first foundation. They tend and nurture the boundaries, concentrating spirit to form a body. The multitude walk forth from it; no creeping thing is otherwise born.

4 Then Confucius praised the primal mist: the powers of Qian and Kun penetrate the void. Looking back to the first sovereign, the ospreys' call establishes the first beginning; at the crowning and wedding, breaths intertwine, and in the first year shoots arise and grow. The sage is not born in vain: he looks upward and discerns heaven's manifest tallies. Heaven's tallies advance and withdraw, bending and extending in season. Thus the Changes govern heaven's heart: the hexagram Fu establishes the budding beginning; the eldest son inherits his father's body and through his mother plants the germ of its foundation. Waxing and waning accord with the central pitch pipe, ascent and descent follow the Dipper's pivot. On the third day, the moon emerges in brightness: Zhen, with geng, receives the west. On the eighth, Dui receives ding, the first-quarter moon level as a cord. On the fifteenth Qian's body is complete, full in the east with jia. The toad and the hare's moon-soul: the breaths of sun and moon shine together. The toad marks the hexagram intervals; the hare gives forth living light. After the seventh and eighth the course is complete; it bends and descends. On the sixteenth the rule changes hands: Xun with xin appears at dawn; Gen is stationed with bing in the south, the last quarter on the twenty-third. Kun with yi, on the thirtieth day, loses its companion in the northeast. When an interval ends, they yield to one another; inheriting the body, the dragon is born again. Ren and gui pair with jia and yi; Qian and Kun encompass end and beginning. Seven and eight make fifteen; nine and six correspond as well; the four together make thirty, and yang breath is sought out, extinguished, and hidden. The eight hexagrams display the luminaries, moving in their courses without losing the center. The primal essence is too subtle to see; measure its effects by the confirming tallies. At rest observe its images and take their forms as your model; set up a gnomon for a standard, and by watching signs determine fortune and misfortune. Issue commands in accord with the seasons; do not miss the moment when a line moves. Above, examine the River's patterns; below, set the earth's shapes and streams in order; at the center, investigate the human heart, bringing the three powers together for examination. In motion follow the hexagrams' intervals; in stillness rely on the judgments. When Qian and Kun put their workings into effect, the world is governed.

5 At the beginning of government, renew the cauldron and transform the old. Gather and enclose the subtle and secret; open and spread the treasures. The pivotal handle of the essential Way governs the bonds of transformation. Line-images move within; fortune and misfortune arise without. The five planets cross or proceed in order, stirred in answer to their season. The four and seven fall out of alignment, scattering and tilting. Wenchang keeps the records and calls the high ministers to account; the hundred officers each govern their proper departments. The sun unites the essence of the five phases; the moon receives the order of the six pitch pipes. Five times six makes thirty degrees; when the degrees are finished, the cycle begins again. Seek the beginning and grasp the end, the thread of survival and ruin: a ruler may be arrogant and idle, overfull and contrary to the Way, or a minister may be false and flattering, his conduct straying from the track.At quarter and full moons, fullness and contraction bring errant changes and ill fortune. The officers of law censure faults and present the ruler with his errors. The celestial pole receives its true position and calmly lets those below perform their tasks. Government issues from the Hall of Light, and the realm's Way comes to no harm.

6 Within, nourish yourself in quietude and emptiness. Seek the root, conceal your brightness, shine inward upon your body. Close its openings and build firm the spirit's root. The three lights sink from sight; warm and nurture the child-pearl. It cannot be seen, yet is near and easy to seek. Yellow at the center gradually opens its channels, and moist radiance reaches the skin. When the beginning is set right, the end is perfected; when the stem is established, it cannot yet be grasped. The One conceals it: the people of the world know nothing of it.

7 The highest virtue acts without contrivance; it does not seek by scrutiny. Lesser virtue acts, and its activity never ends. When the upper opening closes, it is called being; when the lower closes, it is called nonbeing. Nonbeing ministers to what is above, where divine virtue dwells in being. Such is the method of the two apertures; the breath of metal also awaits its partner. Know the white and guard the black, and divine illumination comes of itself: white is the essence of metal, black the foundation of water. Water is the pivot of the Way; stripped of number, it is called One. At the beginning of yin and yang, darkness holds the yellow sprout. Master of the five metals is the northern River Chariot. Thus lead is black without but holds metal's radiance within: clothed in coarse cloth with jade in its breast, outwardly it seems a madman. Metal is the mother of water, and the mother hides in her child's womb.Water is the child of metal, and the child hides in the mother's womb. The perfected person is most wondrous, seeming at once to be and not to be, like a vast abyss, now sinking, now floating. When they withdraw and separate, each keeps to its own bounds. Gathered, it resembles white; fashioned, it becomes vermilion. Refined, the outer guard is formed, while the true dwells inside the white. Square and round, an inch across, they mingle and bind each other. Born before heaven and earth, august and exalted, it has walls and gate-towers beside it, shaped like the Isles of Peng. Closed all around, it has passages in four directions where movement pauses. Guard it tightly and firmly, barring treacherous intrusion; its winding doors communicate, ready against the unexpected. It can be attained without thought, but not through anxious labor. When spirit and breath fill the chamber, none can keep them there. Whoever guards it prospers; whoever loses it dies. In movement, stillness, and repose, it is always with us.

8 This is not the method of traversing the organs and thinking of visions within, pacing the lodges of the Dipper and marking days and hours by the Six Jia. The yin practice suppresses the nine and the one, muddying and troubling the primal womb. Swallowing breath sets the guts rumbling; exhaling the true draws in evil from without. By day and night they never sleep, nor pause at dark or new moon. Their bodies grow weary daily; they wander as if senseless. The hundred channels boil and race, unable to settle clear and calm. They mound earth to raise altars and worship reverently morning and evening. Spirits and ghosts appear in form, moving them in dreams; hearts joyful and minds delighted, they believe their years will surely be prolonged, only to die suddenly before their time, their corpses left to rot in the open. Every action strays, perversely losing the vital pivot. Their techniques are exceedingly many, more than ten thousand among their thousand rules: ahead or behind, they violate the Yellow Emperor and Laozi; their crooked turnings defy the nine capitals. Those who see clearly examine the meaning and freely discern the cause. Practice diligently, never ceasing by night or day. After ingesting the subdued substance for three years, you rise lightly and travel afar; cross fire without burning, enter water without becoming wet; appear or disappear at will, rejoicing always without care. When the Way is accomplished and virtue complete, lie hidden and await your time. Then Taiyi summons you to dwell in the Central Isle; your work fulfilled, you ascend and receive the chart.

9 The reckoning of the fire is not devised in vain; unfold the Changes to make it clear. Shape the furnace and cauldron like the crescent moon; the White Tiger serves as the pivot of heating. Mercury is the sun's flowing pearl, and the Green Dragon accompanies it. Bring east to meet west, and soul and moon-soul bind themselves together. The upper quarter, Dui, counts eight; the lower quarter, Gen, also eight. The two quarters join their essences, and the body of Qian and Kun is complete. Twice eight makes a pound; the Way of the Changes holds true and does not tilt.

10 When metal enters a raging fire, it does not lose its color or its brilliance. Since the opening of heaven and earth, sun and moon have never lost their light. Metal has not lost its weight; sun and moon keep their accustomed forms. Metal was originally born from the moon; at new-moon dawn it receives the sun's tally. Metal returns to its mother; at the dark moon, moon and sun enfold each other. Their outlines disappear, sinking and rising in the hollow void. Metal recovers its original nature, and the cauldron blazes with majestic light.

11 The numbers of zi and wu together are three; wu and ji are called five. Once three and five are joined in harmony, the eight stones fall into right order. Breathing together, they nurture one another and wait in contemplation as husband and wife. Yellow earth is metal's father; the flowing pearl is water's child. Water takes earth for its adversary; earth subdues water so it cannot rise. The Vermilion Bird is the essence of fire, holding the balance and adjusting victory and defeat. When water prevails, fire is extinguished; both die and return to the deep earth. The three natures then come together, sharing their original nature and common ancestry. Sesame can prolong life; the reverted elixir can be taken by mouth. Metal's nature does not decay, so it is the treasure of all things. Adepts ingest it after subduing it, and their lives are prolonged. Earth moves through the four seasons, guarding the boundaries and setting the rules. Gold sand enters the five inner organs, scattering like mist in wind and rain. Its vapor reaches all four limbs; the face becomes fresh and luminous. White hair turns black; fallen teeth grow again in their places. An old man regains youthful vigor; an old woman becomes a young girl. Their forms transformed, they escape the world's calamities and are called perfected persons.

12 When white lead is cast into fire, its color is destroyed and it becomes lead again. Ice and snow, meeting warm water, dissolve into profound darkness. Metal takes cinnabar as its master, finding harmony with mercury. Transformation springs from their true nature; end and beginning depend upon each other. Whoever would become an immortal by ingesting the subdued substance should use things of the same kind: to plant grain, use its seed; to hatch a hen, use her egg. Like restores what is natural; then the substance is readily formed and tempered. Can a fish's eye be a pearl? Can mugwort grow into a catalpa tree? Things of like kind follow one another; where kinds clash, no treasure is made. Sparrows do not beget phoenixes; foxes and rabbits do not suckle horses. Flowing water cannot blaze upward; moving fire cannot moisten downward. In our age many learned men possess lofty gifts and fine talents, but, never meeting the right opportunity, waste fire and lose their wealth. They follow written prescriptions and recklessly put their words into practice; without a trace of a proper beginning, they lose hold of weights and measures. They pound and treat stone gall from Qiang, mica, alum, and magnetite; burn sulfur with camphorwood; plaster mercury and refine it together; blow the bellows beneath five-stone copper, using it as a supporting pivot. Substances of different natures and kinds will not dwell together in one body. For a thousand attempts there will surely be ten thousand failures; aspiring to cleverness, they become fools. From childhood to white hair they grow doubtful halfway through. Turning their backs on the Way, they keep to the path of confusion; leaving the straight path, they take a crooked track. Looking through a tube gives no broad vision; it is hard for them to judge what lies ahead.

13 As for the supreme sages, none surpasses Fuxi, who first drew the eight trigrams in imitation of heaven and earth. King Wen, forebear of kings, joined their forms and developed the line texts. The Master, a hero among later sages, supported them with the Ten Wings. These three lords were raised up by heaven, arising in succession to govern their ages. Their accomplishments came in stages, yet their works and virtues do not differ. In making their works each had a predecessor; in calculating and measuring they examined every fraction of a grain. What has form is easy to assess; what shows no sign is hard to plan for. They made their deeds worthy of imitation and established the classics for the world. Without innate foreknowledge, I learned through a teacher and awoke to understanding: bright as when a cold curtain is drawn aside, and with eyes wide open I climbed a high terrace.The Record of Fire has six hundred chapters, all pursuing the same end. Its writings speak earnestly, but the people of the world do not think them through. Trace their sources and course: darkness and light originally dwell together. I speak quietly to the worthy; how would I dare write carelessly? If I remained tongue-tied and silent, I would sever the Way and incur punishment. But if I set my thoughts down on bamboo and silk, I fear revealing heaven's tallies. Hesitating, I sigh ever more, and in deference set down these imperfect words. The work of refining has its rules; I cannot lay them all out. I briefly describe its main principles, leaving the branches to show themselves in their spread.

14 Make metal the embankment, and water enters and moves at ease. Metal's number is fifteen, and water's number is the same. At the furnace, determine the precise weights: there is an excess of water by five parts. Take these two as true, and the metal weighs what it did at first. Its earth does not leave it; both are joined by it. The three substances embrace and receive each other; their transformations seem divine. Below them is the breath of the great yang, which steams them in an instant. First they liquefy, then congeal; this is called the yellow carriage. When the months and years are nearly spent, their nature is destroyed and their allotted years wounded. The body becomes ash and earth, like dust in a sunlit window. Pound and treat it, unite it, and carry it into the red gate. Seal its joints securely and make them perfectly firm. Set a blazing fire beneath; dragon and tiger cry out urgently. At first the gentle fire may rest; at the end the fierce fire completes the work. Watch and wait with the greatest care; inspect and regulate heat and cold. Pass through the twelve intervals, and at each interval's end renew your close attention. When breath is spent and life nearly extinct, its body dies and its souls depart. Its color then turns purple, and in a blaze it becomes the elixir again. Lift a single pill of powder: the knife-measure is most wondrous.

15 Work out the numbers of the five phases, concise and not elaborate. Raise water to strike fire, and at once its light goes out. Sun and moon eclipse each other, always between new moon and full. When water prevails, Kan encroaches upon yang; when fire weakens, Li's daylight darkens. Yin and yang feed upon each other; their joining and response are the natural Way. A name determines the condition; a style name speaks of the nature. When metal returns to its original nature, it can be called the reverted elixir. I do not dare speak without foundation: I follow the writings of the sages. An ancient record is entitled Dragon and Tiger; the Yellow Emperor praised the Golden Flower. Huainan refined autumn stone; Yuyang added the yellow sprout. Let the worthy practice it; let the unworthy take no part. Ancient and modern follow one Way: face to face, they speak their designs. Students, redouble your effort; hold it in mind and reflect deeply. The most essential words are laid bare; their clarity does not deceive me.

16 Qian and Kun, firm and yielding, pair and enclose each other. Yang bestows, yin receives; male and female need one another. Only through their joining in creation can essence and breath unfold. Kan and Li stand foremost, first shining forth and spreading their light. Deep and dark, beyond fathoming, they cannot be drawn in a picture. The sages measured them, comparing and ordering the primal foundation. The four mingle in chaos and enter directly into emptiness. Sixty hexagrams complete the cycle, spread out to make a carriage. The dragon-horses are harnessed, and an enlightened ruler governs his age. In harmony they follow; the road is level and not crooked. Crooked paths are steep and perilous, bringing danger to a state.

17 When a noble person remains in his room and speaks well, a response comes from a thousand miles away. This speaks of the lord of ten thousand chariots: dwelling behind ninefold walls, he issues commands in accord with the intervals of yin and yang. He keeps his instruments hidden and awaits the time; he does not defy the months of the hexagrams. Zhun uses zi and shen; Meng uses yin and xu. Each of the remaining sixty hexagrams has its own day. I set forth these two images, unable to exhaust them all. Form intentions and establish penalties; when benevolence is fitting, bestow virtue. Defy this and misfortune follows; obey it and fortune comes. Follow calendar and ordinance with sincere and undivided care. Watch the days and hours closely, examining waxing and waning. The slightest error invites regret and trouble as enemies. At the two solstices the measure changes; errors throw everything askew.Bitter winter brings great heat; high summer brings frost and snow. At the two equinoxes things run awry, failing to answer the water clock. Flood and drought assail each other; winds and rains lose their seasons; locusts swarm and seethe, and all manner of portents appear. Heaven shows its prodigies; mountains fall and earth splits. A devoted son's intent can move the imperial pole: what issues nearby from his own mouth flows far into distant lands. It may summon disaster or bring blessing; it may make great peace or kindle war. These four outcomes arise from the heart. Movement and stillness have fixed rules; keep to their marking line. Let the four seasons follow their proper course and accord with the breath. Firm and yielding stand distinct, without trespassing upon each other. The five phases guard their bounds, without undue increase or decrease. The Changes move in their circuit, bending and extending, turning back and returning.

18 Between dark moon and new, the tallies join and move at the center. In primal chaos, female and male follow one another. Nourishing moisture flows and spreads transformation. The divinity of heaven and earth cannot be measured. Put it to use and rest securely, hidden from sight and stored away. It begins in the northeast, the land of the Winnowing Basket and Dipper. Turning to the right, it breathes out the wheel and sends forth sprouts. Its image appears in the deep pool, radiating its essence. Above the lodges Mao and Bi, Zhen comes forth on its course. Yang breath begins: the first nine is the hidden dragon. Yang is established by three, yin passes through by eight. On the third day Zhen stirs; on the eighth Dui takes its course. The second nine is the dragon appearing, bright and at peace. At three times five its virtue is complete, and Qian's body takes shape. The third nine keeps watch at evening; the divine tally begins to wane. Fullness and decline gradually exchange places, returning at last to their beginning. Xun succeeds to its rule, firmly holding the boundaries. The fourth nine may leap; advance and retreat are dangerous. Gen governs advance and rest; neither may overstep its time. On the twenty-third day, it keeps watch over the quarter-moon interval. The fifth nine is the flying dragon, blessed in heaven's place. The fifth six is Kun receiving, binding beginning to end; she nurtures her many children, mother of their kind for generations. The upper nine is the overreaching dragon, its virtue battling in the field; using all the nines, it glides, the pattern of the Way. Yang's numbers are exhausted; at their end they rise again. Seek out feeling and join it to nature; turning, they yield to one another. The celestial armillary sphere revolves, ascending and descending. Circling through the six lines, they are hard to discern. Because they have no constant station, they are the ancestral source of the Changes.

19 New-moon dawn is Fu: yang breath first flows through. Coming and going without haste, it raises a marker of nascent strength. The Yellow Bell establishes zi; signs begin to grow manifest. It spreads a yielding warmth and the multitudes receive their due. At the furnace, set out the rules and open the way for true light. Its radiance advances by degrees, lengthening day by day. At chou, its great companion joins it, setting right the rise and fall. Rising to form Tai, firm and yielding both flourish. Traveling far, they meet: the small departs and the great comes. They gather like spokes at silver, turning with the season. Passing on to Da Zhuang, they flank the gate of mao. Elm seeds fall, returning to the root. Punishment and virtue oppose each other; day and night first divide. In Guai, yin withdraws, and yang rises forward. Wings are washed, old dust shaken away. Qian is vigorous and radiant, casting its light on all four neighbors. Yang ends at si, meeting and touching at the center. Joining begins in due sequence: treading frost comes first. A cold spring wells from the bottom of the well; wu is marked by the pitch pipe Ruibin. The guest submits to yin, and yin becomes host. Dun leaves the world and relinquishes its place, gathering in its essence; holding virtue and waiting for its time, it lingers in the dimness. Pi is obstructed: shoots do not grow. Yin extends and yang bends, hiding yang's very name. Observe its weights and measures; study the manifold signs of autumn. Entrust it with tender young life, so the old and withered flourish again. Shepherd's purse and wheat sprout, breaking through their covering to grow. Bo strips and destroys the limbs, diminishing their form. The transforming breath spent, the highest spirit is lost. When the Way reaches its limit, it turns back to Kun, its source. Always following the patterns of earth, it receives and spreads heaven's commands. Deep and distant, it links what lies apart. At the appointed measure it nurtures seeds, the source of yin and yang. Vast and indistinct, its origin cannot be known. First it loses the path; afterward it becomes master. No level ground remains without a slope: such is the Way's nature. Changes return to fullness; waning and waxing succeed each other. Kun ends and Fu begins, joined like an endless ring. Emperors take up its governance, enduring for a thousand years.

20 If you would nurture your nature and prolong your destined years, consider the end and think first of the beginning. The body a person receives was originally nothing. Primal essence spread like clouds and took its first support in breath. Yin and yang gave it measure, a dwelling for the sun-soul and moon-soul. The yang spirit is the sun-soul, the yin spirit the moon-soul; each becomes the other's lodging. Nature reigns within, setting its boundaries; feeling rules outward work, raising ramparts and walls. When walls and ramparts are whole, those within are safe. At this time, feeling is in harmony with Qian and Kun. Qian moves straight, its breath spreading and essence flowing; Kun is still and receptive, a dwelling for the Way. The firm bestows and withdraws, the yielding transforms and nourishes. Nine returns and seven turns back; eight goes home and six remains. The man is white, the woman red; metal and fire bind each other. Thus water restrains fire at the beginning of the five phases. Supreme goodness is like water, pure and without blemish. The Way's image, the true One, is hard to depict. Changed and dispersed, they each dwell alone. Like a hen's egg, white and black match, an inch in width and length at the beginning. Four limbs, five inner organs, sinews and bones then all come together. After ten months it emerges from the womb, with bones soft enough to bend and flesh as smooth as lead.

21 The burning mirror draws down fire: without the sun it gives no light. Without the stars and moon, how could the moon mirror gather water? These two breaths are mysterious and far away, yet their response and transformation still reach each other. How much more so what dwells close in the body, held within the heart and breast! Yin and yang pair with sun and moon; water and fire provide the proof.

22 Ears, eyes, and mouth are the three treasures: close their gates and let nothing pass. The perfected person hides in the deep abyss, afloat but keeping within the circle, turning and bending to see and hear; opening and closing both accord with the union. These are the pivots of oneself, inexhaustible in motion and stillness. Li's breath serves as inner guard; Kan no longer uses its sharp hearing. Dui's mouth closes, no longer speaking; sparing of words, one follows the primal mist. Once the three are fastened shut, relax the body in an empty room. Give up your will to emptiness and make freedom from thought your constant state. The proof cannot be shifted by argument; fix the mind and do not let it wander. In sleep, the spirits embrace one another; awake, watch for their presence or absence. The complexion grows moist, and the joints grow stronger. Drive away the multitude of dark malign influences; then establish the true yang. Cultivate it unceasingly in the body, until gathered breath travels like cloud and rain, soaking like spring showers, flowing like thawing ice. From the head it runs down to the feet, then rises back up again; coming and going, it penetrates without limit, filling the body with warmth. Return is the evidence of the Way; weakness is virtue's key. Plow away old filth, bringing even the smallest things into harmony. What is turbid leads toward clarity; after long darkness comes bright light.

23 People of the world delight in petty arts, never probing how deep the Way runs. They abandon the true for crooked paths, craving speed yet finding their way blocked. They are like the blind refusing a staff, or the deaf trying to hear the notes gong and shang; they dive beneath water to catch pheasants and rabbits, climb mountains seeking fish and dragons, plant wheat hoping to reap millet, or wield a compass to draw a square. They exhaust their strength and spirit; a whole year yields no result. If you would know the method of ingesting the subdued substance, it is simple, not elaborate.

24 The sun's flowing pearl forever seeks to leave us. But when it meets the Golden Flower, the two turn and follow one another; it becomes a white liquid, then congeals to utter hardness. The Golden Flower calls first, and in a moment it dissolves into water, like horse teeth and gleaming stone. Yang then comes to join it, as feeling and nature naturally do. With time pressing and yin advancing, keep it confined behind the closed gate. A loving mother nurtures; a devoted son repays her care. A stern father issues commands and instructs his descendants. The five phases alternately reign, generating one another in turn: fire's nature melts metal; metal fells wood so it may flourish. Three and five joined with one are heaven and earth's highest essence. It may be imparted by spoken instructions but is hard to transmit in writing.At zi turn to the right; at wu the chariot wheels round. Mao and you mark the boundary, and host and guest are two names. The dragon calls to the tiger, the tiger draws in the essence. Each drinks and feeds on the other, each greedily takes its share; they seize one another in their jaws, chew, and swallow. Mars guards the west; Venus crosses the sky. Where deadly breath descends, what does not fall? The wildcat and dog watch the mouse; small birds fear the hawk. Each has its work: who dares make a sound? Without the principle one cannot speak recklessly. They use up the household estate, leaving wife and children hungry and poor. From antiquity until now, millions have loved the art, but scarcely any have met the right conjunction and succeeded. Seeking rare medicines far and wide, they stray from the Way.

25 If you truly meet with it, behold its first signs. Compare like with like and consider a substance from beginning to end. The five phases overcome one another and become parents in turn. The mother holds nourishing fluid; the father bestows what he carries. Essence condenses and form flows forth; metal and stone do not decay. Guard it intently without leakage, and you can attain the Way. Set up a pole and its shadow appears; call into a valley and its echo returns. Is this not wondrous? Such are the supreme images of heaven and earth. But take an inch of wild kudzu or an ounce of croton: as soon as it reaches the throat, the body stiffens, unable to bend or lift its head. At such a moment, could King Wen of Zhou cast the yarrow stalks, Confucius divine by the images, Bian Que wield his needle, or the shaman Xian beat his drum and bring the dead back to life, to rise and run again?

26 The lovely maiden beside the river is most marvelously numinous. Given fire she flies away, leaving not a trace of dust: hidden like a ghost, concealed like a dragon, no one knows where she is. If you would restrain her, let the yellow sprout be your root. Where things are made of yin alone or yang alone, they defy heaven and turn against their source. A hen laying her own eggs produces no complete chicks. Why is that? The pair has not joined; three and five do not meet, firm and yielding are parted. The essence that gives and transforms belongs to heaven and earth by nature: fire moves and blazes upward, water flows and moistens downward. No master teaches them to do so. The forces that govern them were fixed at the beginning and cannot be altered. See how, when female and male mate, firm and yielding bind inextricably. They find their proper measure and tally; no craftsman contrives to govern them. At birth the boy lies face down, the girl lies on her back. So it is when they first receive breath in the womb; these signs appear not only at birth but again at death. No parental command taught them this: the pattern was established first, at their conception.

27 Kan, the male, is the moon; Li, the female, is the sun. The sun bestows its virtue; the moon spreads its light. The moon receives the sun's transforming power, its body unstained. If the sun loses its counterpart, yin invades its radiance. At dark moon and new moon they draw close in eclipse, covering and eclipsing one another; the sun's form dwindles and disaster comes as yin prevails. Man and woman wait for one another, sustained by the earth they hold. Male and female intermingle, seeking their own kind. Metal becomes water, whose nature spreads in every direction; fire becomes earth, and water cannot flow. The man moves and bestows outwardly; the woman is still and stores within. If he exceeds the measure, she holds him fast; the moon-soul seals the sun-soul against excess and indulgence. Neither cold nor hot, they advance and withdraw with the season, each attaining harmony, both uttering the tally of right rule.

28 Cinnabar is the essence of wood; meeting metal, it joins with it. Metal and water unite; wood and fire are companions. These four mingle in chaos and arrange themselves as dragon and tiger. The yang dragon's number is odd; the yin tiger's number is even. The blue liver is father, the white lungs mother, the black kidneys son, the red Li daughter, the yellow spleen ancestor; zi and wu mark the beginning. Three substances form one family, returning together to wu and ji.

29 Firm and yielding rise in turn and spread through successive stages. Dragon in the west and tiger in the east set the transverse line at mao and you. Punishment and virtue meet together and rejoice at seeing each other; punishment governs suppression and killing, virtue the stirring of life. In the second month elm seeds fall and the Dipper's bowl reaches mao; in the eighth month wheat grows and the Dipper's handle occupies you. Zi is south, wu north; each provides the other's guiding order. The numbers one and nine end and begin anew. Holding the primal breath at Xu and Wei, it sows its essence at zi.

30 “Calling, calling, the ospreys on the river island; a graceful, gentle maiden is the noble man's good mate.” The male does not dwell alone, nor the female live in solitude. The Dark Warrior's tortoise and snake coil around and support each other, showing that female and male must need one another. Suppose two women share a room, both exceedingly lovely. Let Su Qin speak between them and Zhang Yi broker their match; let them unfold eloquent arguments and beautiful phrases, lay bare their hearts, and bring them together as spouses. Their hair would wear thin and their teeth rot before they could ever know each other. If the medicines are not of one kind, their names and classes differ, their divisions and measures are at odds, and their governing order is lost. Even if the Yellow Emperor stood at the furnace, the Grand Duke tended the fire, the Eight Lords pounded and refined, and the lord of Huainan mixed the substances; even if they built a high altar-house with jade steps, offered unicorn meat and phoenix fat, held scriptures and knelt long in prayer to the gods, implored the ghosts for mercy, bathed and fasted in hope of fulfillment, it would be like mending a cauldron with glue, dressing a wound with sal ammoniac, adding ice to dispel cold, or using hot water to relieve heat: a flying tortoise or dancing snake would only make the absurdity plainer.

31 The sages and wise people of old embraced mystery and held fast to truth, subduing and refining in nine cauldrons. They changed their tracks and went into hiding, preserved essence and nourished spirit, and brought their virtue into communion with the three lights. Vital fluids entered the tissues; sinews and bones grew firm. All malignant influences were driven away and true breath endured. Through long accumulation their forms changed and they became immortals. Moved by pity for later generations of seekers of the Way, they traced its outward signs and pointed to ancient writings, making collections of diagrams to reveal it to their descendants. They showed the branches while hiding the root, using various names and disguising it in confused writings. Students who received these kept them in caskets their whole lives. Sons continued their fathers' work; grandsons followed their ancestors. Handed down through generations, their confusion brought no understanding. Thus officials did not take office, farmers neglected their fields, merchants abandoned their wares, and aspiring scholars impoverished their households. Deeply distressed, I have put this writing in order: its words are few and easy to ponder, its procedure brief and not complex. I unfold its stages so the reality can be examined; each portion has its measure, and the steps follow one another. Thus I have written these closing verses to open its gateway. Let the wise examine them closely and bring all their attention to bear.

32 No images and models are greater than heaven and earth; the dark channel stretches tens of thousands of miles. When Hegu faces the lodge Xingji, all the people are struck with fear. The gnomon's shadow advances and retreats out of order, and for nine years disaster reigns. The exalted ruler observes it and withdraws to correct his ways. The pivots rise and fall, and harmful breath flees. The Yangtze and Huai rivers dry up, their waters flowing into the sea. Heaven and earth's female and male move back and forth between zi and wu. Yin and shen are ancestors of yin and yang; they come and go, ending and beginning again. Following the Dipper and its swinging handle, they grasp the balance and fix the primal order. The substance rises and heats on the steaming mountain, with a blazing fire set below. The White Tiger leads the song before; the azure liquid responds behind. The Vermilion Bird soars at play, its flying colors fivefold bright; caught in a spreading net, it is pressed down and cannot rise. Its wails are grievous, like an infant longing for its mother. Upside down it goes to the boiling cauldron, its feathers battered and broken. Before half a water-clock period has passed, fish scales and bristling fins arise. The five-colored images blaze, transforming without fixed master. Seething, the cauldron boils and races, surging violently without rest. Layer upon layer they gather, interlocking like dogs' teeth. Their shapes resemble midwinter ice, while shining stone puts forth stalactites. Towering, mingled, and crowded, they heap against and prop each other up. Yin and yang find their match and abide together in quiet simplicity. The Green Dragon occupies the sixth lodge of Fang; spring flowers shake the east at mao. The White Tiger is in the seventh lodge of Mao; autumn ears of grain answer Dui in the west at you. The Vermilion Bird dwells in the second lodge of Zhang, mixed with full yang in the south at wu. All three come to court, their families joining as kin and companions. At the root there are only two substances; in the end they become three and five. Three and five together with one gather back in the two places. Treat them by the rules above, and take the full count of days. First white, then yellow, red and black reach inside and out. This is named the First Cauldron; eat an amount the size of a large millet grain. Nature itself works this, not a false or crooked way. Breath from mountain and marsh steams together, raising clouds that become rain; dried mud turns to dust, and extinguished fire becomes earth. Like cork-tree bark dyeing things yellow or indigo making green thread, hides boiled into glue or ferment turning into wine: kindred things are easily made to work, while alien kinds resist even skill. Consider this marvelous art closely: these are no deceptive words. Passed down a hundred million generations, it can still be clearly tested. It shines like stars across the River of Heaven and gathers as waters return to the sea. Ponder until you know it well; turn again and again to what lies above and below. After a thousand readings its brilliance will gleam; after ten thousand you may see it. Perhaps divine powers will tell you, or insight will suddenly arise in your own heart. Probe its beginnings and seek its threads, and you will surely find its gateway. There are no fixed favorites or foes in entering the Way: it is always passed to the worthy.

33 Round: three and five; in an inch, one tenth; the mouth: four and eight; the lip: two inches; its length is a foot and two inches, its thickness uniform. The belly is level with three, and beneath it rests the warmth. Yin is above; yang races below. Fierce fire at beginning and end, gentle fire between. Begin with seventy and end with thirty; three hundred and six, properly regulated and balanced. Yin fire and white, yellow sprout and lead. Two sevens gather to aid and support the person. They nourish and order the brain, steadying the ascent of the mysterious. The child dwells within: can it remain secure? It wanders back and forth but does not leave the gate. Gradually it grows great, its nature and feeling pure. It returns to the One, going back to its first source. Love and respect well, as ruler and minister do. Reaching one complete circuit demands great labor. Guard it closely; do not lose your way in darkness. The road is long, deep, and mysterious. If you attain this, you will unite Qian and Kun. With a knife-measure moistened, cleanse sun-soul and moon-soul. You will gain long life and dwell among immortals. Lovers of the Way, seek its root. Examine the five phases, establish the weights down to the grain. Think it through truly; there is no need to debate. Keep it deep within and guard it; do not pass it on in writing. Ride a white crane, drive a scaled dragon, roam the great void and visit the lords of immortals. Entered on heaven's chart, you are called a perfected person.

34 The Kinship of the Three sets forth the broad outlines, but cannot be perfectly complete: it ranges widely in its account, leaving subtle details unfinished, omissions and hazy passages. Now I compile it again to fill what was left out, polish the deep and hidden, and draw related matters together. The meanings agree and their aims do not conflict. Thus I make this further work and name it Three Kinds Alike: with it the nature and feeling of the Great Changes are fully revealed.The nature and feeling of the Great Changes each keep their measure. Apply the teachings of Huang and Lao thoroughly, and through comparison they can be mastered. The furnace-fire practice truly has its foundation. The three Ways arise from one and issue along a common path. Branches, stems, flowers, and leaves spread forth with their fruit, but all lie in the root and do not lose their original substance. I speak in sincerity: examine this and you will not go astray. Consider the midwinter season, when bamboo and trees alike are wounded. Assist yang and call merchants to account; the ruler hides deep within. Model yourself on the time and follow its ordinances: close your mouth and do not speak. Heaven's Way is boundlessly vast; the Great Mystery has no form. Empty and silent, it cannot be seen; even its outline vanishes. Mistakes lose the thread of the work; words of return bring harm upon the speaker. I set out these four images separately, to enlighten the blind among later generations.

35 I am a humble man of Kuaiji, a decaying life in a secluded valley. I keep simplicity in my breast, caring nothing for power and glory. I linger in remote and humble places, disregarding profit and fame, holding fast to quiet ease and hoping for times of peace. Living in tranquil leisure, I composed this work. It sings of the Great Changes and relates the words left by the three sages; I examined their aims and brought them together in one account. In following their principle, let your spirit shine forth. Divine transformation flows freely, bringing peace to the four seas. Set out as a calendar, it can guide ten thousand generations; arranged for government, it is not difficult to practice. Turn it inward to nourish your nature, according to the natural Way of Huang and Lao. Hold virtue deep and return to the root, to the primal source. It lies close by, within my heart, never separate from my own body. Embrace the One and do not let go, and you may endure. Join this with ingesting the subdued substance, setting male and female in place. Cast out Wudu; discard the eight stones. Examine and use the perfected substance, prized by the world. I have arranged three strands, their branches and stems entwined. They come from the same source though they bear different names, all proceeding through one gate. These are not merely piled-up phrases or cleverly paired lines; they surely hold truth, visible even among the rough stones. If I were spreading falsehood, I would be guilty of needless error. I named this the Kinship of the Three; glimpse its subtle beginning. Its words are few, its meaning vast: may those who come after honor it. Leave behind the harm of your time and take refuge in hills and mountains. Wander through the immense emptiness, dwelling beside the spirits. Transform your form and become immortal, sinking silently from sight. A hundred generations later, wander again among humankind. Spread your wings and tilt east, west, and south. Tang met with a time of hardship, when flood and drought came together. Branches and leaves yellowed and withered, losing their flowering glory. When good people bear one another up, they may live long in peace.