The Yellow Court Scripture, Inner Landscape (Huangting Neijing Jing)

1 Before the Void Sovereign in the purple glow of Highest Clarity,the Lord of the Jade Dawn, of the Most High and Great Way,at leisure in Stamen Pearl, composed these lines of seven words;he scattered and transformed the five forms, changing them into ten thousand spirits,and so made the inner chapters of the Yellow Court.The lute-heart folds threefold, and the embryo immortal dances;nine breaths blaze forth in brightness from the heights of heaven;the spirit canopy and the child bring forth purple smoke.This is called the Jade Book, and it can be studied with utmost care.Chant it ten thousand times and you will rise to the Three Heavens;a thousand calamities will melt away, a hundred illnesses be healed;you will not fear the savagery of tigers and wolves,and you will hold off old age and lengthen your years without end.

2 Above lies the numinous soul; below, the Gate of Origin;on the left, Lesser Yang; on the right, Great Yin;behind, the Secret Door; before, the Gate of Life;out with the sun, in with the moon, breathing, and holding them in mind.Where the primal breath comes together, the ranked constellations part;purple smoke above and below, and the three plain clouds.They water the five blossoms and plant the numinous root;the seven fluids run clear through and rush into the throat;circling the purple, embracing the yellow, they enter the Cinnabar Field;the secluded chamber glows within and shines on the Gate of Yang.

3 The mouth is the Jade Pool, the Palace of Great Harmony;rinse and swallow the numinous fluid, and calamity cannot touch you;the body puts forth radiance, the breath is fragrant as orchid;a hundred evils are driven off and destroyed, and the face is refined like jade.If you can truly practice this, you will climb to the Vast Cold;by day and night without sleep you will become a True One;thunder roars, lightning strikes, and the spirit fades into stillness.

4 Thunder roars, lightning strikes, and the spirit fades into stillness.In the Yellow Court the inner people wear robes of brocade,skirts of purple blossom that fly, gauzy with cloud vapor,cinnabar and azure, green sashes, emerald boughs of the numen;a jade key of seven tassels bars the two doors,and twice over it veils the golden gate and its hidden pivot.The Dark Spring and the Secluded Gate-Tower rise high and towering;in the midst of the Three Fields, essence and breath are subtle;the delicate maiden, graceful, veils the radiance of the heavens;the Double Hall blazes, raising the Eight Awes;at the Heavenly Court and the Earth Gate, axes and hatchets stand in ranks;the Numinous Terrace stands coiled and firm, and will never decline.

5 The spirit within the Central Pool wears crimson pearls,a cloud robe of cinnabar brocade, a tiger tally at the belt;the Transverse Ford, of three inches, is where the numen dwells;hidden fungus and dense shade uphold one another.

6 Tend with essence and care the peak at the center of heaven;once the numinous dwelling is clear, the Jade Emperor roams there;the roads and paths run open and free, and never cease.The brows, called the Flowery Canopy, cover the bright pearls;the sun and moon of the Nine Secluded Realms pierce through to the Void Origin;in the dwelling is a True One who always wears cinnabar;if you can truly see him, you will be free of sickness.Crimson pearls, a numinous skirt, flowered and radiant scarlet;beneath the tongue, the Dark Breast, the shore of life and death;the two breaths, green going out, dark coming in, blaze forth;if you meet them, you will rise to the River of Heaven.

7 The supreme Way is not complicated; its secret is to hold the true in mind.The Mud Pellet and the hundred joints all have their spirits:the hair's spirit, Azure Blossom, is styled Great Origin;the brain's spirit, Essence Root, is styled Mud Pellet;the eyes' spirit, Bright Above, is styled Dark Bloom;the nose's spirit, Jade Ridge, is styled Numinous Firmness;the ears' spirit, Empty Leisure, is styled Secluded Field;the tongue's spirit, Open Destiny, is styled Right Order;the teeth's spirit, Cliff Edge, is styled Thousand Ranks.The spirits of the whole face take the Mud Pellet as their head;in the Mud Pellet the Nine True Ones each have a chamber,and in a space an inch across, square or round, they dwell,all wearing purple robes and skirts of flying gauze.Only contemplate one part, and your years will be without end;it is not that each lives apart, in a separate place in the brain;they sit in rows in their order, facing outward;what you hold in mind in your heart answers to them of itself.

8 The heart's spirit, Cinnabar Origin, is styled Guardian of the Numen;the lungs' spirit, Gleaming Blossom, is styled Void Complete;the liver's spirit, Dragon Smoke, is styled Holding Light;Dense Shade and Smoke Guide govern the turbid and the clear;the kidneys' spirit, Dark Obscurity, is styled Nurturing Infant;the spleen's spirit, Ever Present, is styled Soul at Rest;the gallbladder's spirit, Dragon Radiance, is styled Awesome Light.The six bowels and the five organs, spirit and body alike pure,all within the heart turn the heavenly course;hold them in mind by day and night, and long life comes of itself.

9 The palace of the lungs is like a flowery canopy;below it a child sits on the jade gate-tower;the Son of the Seven Origins governs and tunes the breath;outwardly he answers to the Central Peak, the nose, in its own place.He wears a plain brocade robe and a belt of yellow cloud;when you pant and gasp and the body is ill at ease,quickly hold the White Origin in mind and bring the six breaths into harmony;you will be a spirit immortal who sees for ages, free of calamity and harm;practice it without pause and the body will not stagnate.

10 The palace of the heart is a lotus holding its blossom;below it is the home of the child, Cinnabar Origin;he governs the balance of cold and heat, and the harmony of the nourishing and the guarding breaths;in flying skirts of cinnabar brocade, a mantle of jade gauze,with golden bells and a vermilion belt, he sits swaying at ease.He tunes the blood and orders life, so that the body does not wither;outwardly he answers to the mouth and tongue, which put forth jade blossoms;even at the brink of death, call on him and you will rise and revive;practice it long, long, and you will fly to the Great Glow.

11 The palace of the liver is wrapped in layer on layer of emerald;below it is the Azure Child, the spirit young lord;he governs all the gates and mirrors, where keen hearing and clear sight begin;in an azure brocade mantle, with jade bells at his belt,he harmonizes and restrains the spirit-soul and the body-soul, and levels the fluids;outwardly he answers to the eyes, the essence of sun and moon.Where a hundred maladies gather, hold Bloomless in mind;use it together for seven days and you will fill to fullness of yourself;at the point of death, think on the spirit and the dying will live again;draw in the spirit-soul and bring back the body-soul, and you will never fall.

12 The palace of the kidneys is a round Dark Gate;within it is a child, Obscurity Above the Dark;he governs the source of all the six bowels and the nine fluids;outwardly he answers to the two ears, the ford of a hundred fluids;in azure brocade and a cloud robe he dances with dragon banners.Upward he brings the bright glow, the smoke of sun and moon;for a hundred illnesses and a thousand calamities, hold him in mind at once;the two divisions, kings of water, face the Gate of Life,and they let a person live long and rise to the Nine Heavens.

13 The palace of the spleen belongs to Wu and Ji;within it is a bright child, wrapped in a yellow skirt;he dissolves grain, spreads breath, and holds the teeth in his keeping;these are the two bright children of the Great Granary,who sit on a golden terrace, a city of nine tiers,an inch across, square or round, within the Gate of Destiny.They govern and tune the hundred grains and the fragrance of the five flavors;they ward off weakness and emaciation, and no illness or injury comes;outwardly they answer to the Foot-Long Dwelling, its color and breath fragrant;the radiance that springs from them makes all this plain.In yellow brocade and jade robes, with a tiger emblem at the belt,fix your thought on the Three Elders and you will soar lightly;you will live long, become a high immortal, and stay far from the woes of death.

14 The palace of the gallbladder is the essence of the six bowels;within it is a child, Radiant Awesome Light;eightfold the thunder and lightning shake, raising jade pennants;dragon banners stretch across the sky and hurl bells of fire.He governs all strength of breath and commands the tiger soldiers;outwardly he answers to the pupils of the eyes and the pillar of the nose;brain and hair sustain one another, and both are bright and fresh.In a brocade of nine colors, a skirt of green blossom,gold at his side, jade at his belt, patterned with dragon and tiger,if you can hold Awesome Light in mind, you will ride the clouds of good omenand send the ten thousand spirits to pay court to the Three Origins.

15 The spleen is a foot long and covers the Great Granary;in the central division the Elder Lord governs the Hall of Light;his style is Numinous Origin, his name Blended Ease;he cures a person's hundred illnesses and dissolves grain and food;in a yellow robe and purple sash, with the emblem of dragon and tiger,to lengthen the essence and add to life, one relies on this sovereign lord.Call my name three times and the spirit opens to you of itself;the Three Elders sit together, each with his companions;some for the essence, some for the embryo, each holds a separate method;the Peach Child joins them to prolong life and bring forth a blossoming radiance.Men and women, circling through the Nine, have Peach Ease within;the Father of the Way and the Mother of the Way face each other;the Father-Teacher and the Mother-Teacher dwell in the country of cinnabar and dark;by holding them in mind and contemplating them you may climb into the void;the paths differ, but they meet in one and return to the end that matters.Shut and seal the Three Passes, hold fast, and be still;rinse the mouth with golden nectar and swallow the jade bloom;then you will feel no hunger, and the Three Worms will perish;with heart and mind always in harmony, you will reach joy and flourishing.The cloud vapor of the Five Peaks swells and billows;guard and water the Jade Throat, and so make yourself whole;the five forms will be complete and firm, without calamity or harm.

16 Above, you see the Three Origins like a string of pearls;far and wide their bright light shines on the nine corners;the five numinous ones, lamps in the night, blaze across the eight regions.You who hold the Inner Sovereign in mind, roam with me;in a phoenix robe, bearing the tiger tally,arrive but once, and before long you will rise into the void and the nothing.Within the square inch, let thought lie deeply stored;neither square nor round, shut its windows and shutters;the three spirits restore the essence, and the old grow strong again;the spirit-soul and the body-soul keep guard within and do not contend.The spirit born within the belly bears a jade pendant;the numen pours into the Secluded Gate-Tower—how could it be lost?Boughs of fine jade, ten thousand fathoms tall, give shade and support;the three spirit-souls are calm of themselves, by the Emperor's written command.

17 The Numinous Terrace, thick with haze, looks out on the yellow plain;within three inches lie strange chambers, some above, some below;through the winding passes the nourishing and guarding breaths are received by the High Dark;the Cavern Chamber and the Purple Pole are the doors and gates of the numen.This is what the Most High told me long ago:on the left, the Spirit Young Lord utters spirit words;on the right, the White Origin stands beside him;between the Hall of Light, the golden casket and the jade chamber,the True One of Highest Clarity stands before me.The Child of Cinnabar in his yellow skirt, his breath thick and quick—may I ask where he is? At the tips of the two brows?Within, flanked by sun and moon, the ranked constellations are laid out;the Seven Luminaries and the Nine Origins crown the Gate of Life.

18 In the midst of the Three Passes, essence and breath lie deep;within the Nine Subtleties it is secluded and shaded;the mouth is the Gate of Heaven, the pivot of essence and spirit;the feet are the Gate of Earth, the door of life and destiny;the hands are the Gate of Man, holding the balance of flourishing and decline.

19 If you can hold the dark cinnabar in the Three Palaces,the Great One's flowing pearl will rest on Kunlun;within the layers stand towers and pavilions in twelve rings;from the highest to the lowest, all are True Ones.The Jade Hall and the crimson eaves are all Dark Palaces;the Turning Pivot and the Jade Beam gleam the color of orchid jade.Look up: children sit lingering there;I ask, whose children are these that dwell in my body?Where do these people go? They enter the Mud Pellet;by thousands and by hundreds they join one to another,one by one and ten by ten, like mountain upon mountain.Cloud Regalia and Jade Blossom flank the gates of the ears;the Red Emperor and the Yellow Elder are with my spirit-soul;the Three True Ones support the bones and share the fluid of the chambers;the Five Dippers blaze with light—they are the Seven Origins;sun and moon fly through the Six Directions;the Emperor's country lies at the center of heaven, at the head of the Earth Door;in the region of the face, souls and spirits are all held in mind together.

20 Breathe the primal breath in and out, and seek immortality;the immortal lord and the young lord seem to stand before you;the Vermilion Bird breathes out and draws in at the source of the White Stones;bind the essence, nurture the womb, and a living body is born by transformation;keep the embryo, stop the essence, and you may live long.The three breaths circle to the right, and the Nine Paths grow bright;the Upright One holds its blossom, and all is filled to fullness;gaze far to the one heart, like stars spread out;beneath the Golden Chamber you will not fall;it lengthens my life, though my head is white, and turns me back to infancy.

21 In the Chamber of Gems the Eight Plain Ones gather;the Lady of the Mud Pellet stands in the center;the Long Valley and the Dark Country circle the outskirts and the towns;six dragons fly scattering, hard to tell apart.For long life, the utmost caution is needed—in the bedchamber, most of all;why bring on death by your own act and make the spirits weep?Neglect it, and you are in the country of disaster; the three numens perish.Only draw in the breath and keep the register of your essence;the Inch Field and the Foot-Long Dwelling can order life;if the sea were breached, a hundred channels would pour out;the leaves leave, the tree withers, the lush green is lost;breath gone, fluid spilled, the form is no longer your own.Seal it with a single mind and rein in the light, and you will know lasting peace;guard my Mud Pellet and its three wondrous numens;in calm and plainness, look at leisure, and within you grow bright of yourself;things one by one do not intrude; all is serene and level;be sincere and free of affairs, and the old become men in their prime again;contemplate and chant the Jade Book, and enter Highest Clarity.

22 Keep in mind always that the Three Chambers open into one another;seeing through them, you can perceive with no inside or outside;hold in mind and rinse with the Five Sprouts, and you will neither hunger nor thirst;Spirit Blossom carries the towel, and the Six Ding come to pay their respects.Guard the chamber of essence at once, and let none of it spill in folly;keep it shut and treasure it, and you can live long.It rises from within the form, at first not wide;the Three Offices lie close at hand and are easy to rein in.Void and nothing, silent and still, the plain within the empty:let the form be so, and it will not be defiled.The Nine Chambers, truly empty, are the lodging of the spirit-light;hold in mind and contemplate through a hundred thoughts, watching the measure;tend and order the six bowels, and let them not grow old,and you will go soaring of yourself onto the road of clouds.

23 The way to order life is not burdensome at all;only cultivate the Cavern Dark and the Jade Chapters,and together with them practice the Eight Radiances, the spirits within the form;the Twenty-Four True Ones will come forth of their own accord.With hands folded high, doing nothing, spirit-soul and body-soul are at peace;in pure stillness the spirits appear and speak with me.Where are they? In the Purple Chamber, amid curtains and hangings;outside the chamber they stand and sit, the dark ones, in threes and fives.Burn incense, and join hands before the Jade Blossom;together enter the Great Chamber by the gate of the Turning Pivot;on high, in calm and plainness, study the garden of the Way;look within, gaze in secret, and you will see all the True Ones.The True One is in yourself—do not ask the neighbors;why go far afield to search for a destined tie?

24 Hide your radiance, conceal your form, and be set apart from the world;hold the breath, nourish the essence, and your lips are red as cinnabar;with nature and destiny held at your belt, keep to the void and the nothing;your name enters Highest Clarity, struck from the register of death;the joy of the Three Spirits comes from dwelling in seclusion.In an instant you roam and wander, with no worry left behind;once you have settled your feathered robe, the eight winds are driven off;take the reins of the three plain clouds and ride the dawn glow;the golden carriage takes its station, and the jade coach follows;why not climb the mountain and recite my book?Lush and dim, the haunt of the True Ones;what is hard about entering the mountain, that you hang back?In the human world all is bustle and stench, like the reek of a treasury.

25 The Five Phases press one another on and return to the One;the Threes and Fives join their breath in nine times nine joints;you may use Hidden Earth and turn the Eight Arts;the Crouching Ox in the Secluded Gate-Tower spreads out its ranks in rows.The Three Names emerge at the border of life and death;the numinous images of the Cavern Chamber are Dipper, sun and moon;the father is called the Mud Pellet, the mother the Female One;the Three Lights blaze and shine into your chamber.If you can hold the Dark True One in mind, all affairs are done;the essence and spirit of the whole body must not be lost.

26 Speeding high toward sun and moon, I take the upward Way;Yuyi and Jielin, guard one another well;then you will see the Elder of Void and Nothing in Jade Clarity,and you can restore your face and fill blood and brain.With a numinous fungus in your mouth, carrying the five stars,a tiger register at your waist, golden pendants at your side,you ride out in an instant to meet the banquet of life at Dongmeng.

27 In the Dark Origin, the Supreme One, spirit-soul and body-soul are refined;as a thing, the One cannot be seen at a glance;you must attain the utmost truth before you may cast it a look.What you must shun above all is the breath of death and every foul and mean thing;the Six Spirits gather together and feast in the void.Bind the pearl, make the essence firm, nourish the root of the spirit;the jade bolt and the golden key stay whole and firm;close the mouth, curl the tongue, and feed on the embryo's fluid,so that I may finally complete the refining and gain flight as an immortal.

28 Immortals and masters of the Way are not spirits by nature;by piling up essence and heaping up breath they become true.The wondrous voice of the Yellow Child is hard to hear;the jade book, the crimson tablets, the writing in red cinnabar.He is styled True One, in a golden kerchief;in armor, bearing the tally, he opens the seven gates;fire soldiers, tallies and charts stand ready at the numinous pass,some raised in front, some low behind, ranked high and low.Wielding swords a hundred rods long, they dance in coils of brocade;the Ten Severances wheel through the sky, fanning and swirling;bells of fire crown the heavens and fall as smoke.Where? At the Yellow Gate-Tower between the two brows:this is no branch or leaf; it is the root.

29 The Supreme Sovereign of Purple Clarity, the Lord of the Great Way,with Great Dark and Great Harmony attending on either side,transforms and gives birth to the ten thousand things, and makes me an immortal;I fly up through the Ten Heavens, driving the jade wheels.Seven days and nights, think and do not sleep;if you can cultivate this, you may endure forever.Merit piled up and refining achieved do not come of themselves;they come from utmost sincerity and from single-mindedness;guard within, firm and unshaken, the truest of the true,and in emptiness, calm and plain, the spirit comes of itself.

30 The fruit of the hundred grains is the essence of the earth;the five flavors, fair outside, are the rankness of evil and demons;their stench confuses the spirit-light, and the embryo's breath dwindles;how then can one turn back old age and become an infant again?The three spirit-souls grow faint and hurried, the body-soul wastes and collapses!Why not eat breath, the essence of Great Harmony?So you may never die, and may enter the Yellow Repose.

31 The heart presides over the whole body, king of the five organs;in motion and in stillness, keep it in mind, and the Way and its Virtue are practiced;pure and clean, the good breath is bright and radiant of itself;sitting or rising, I am together with it, sharing the ridgepole and the beam;by day it shines in radiance, at dusk it shuts and stores itself away;it opens the way to the blossoming essence and tunes yin and yang.

32 Passing through the Six Directions, it hides in Mao and You;the spirits of the two kidneys govern the lengthening of life;turning and descending, it meets the Dipper and stores the First Nine;know the male, keep to the female, and you may be free of age;know the white, keep to the black; sit and guard it at once.

33 The liver's breath billows up, clear and long;spread among the six bowels, it gives birth to the Three Lights;the heart's essence and the mind's focus hold within, unshaken;above, it joins the Three Burners; below, the Jade Brew.The dark fluid moves like cloud, dispelling stench and leaving fragrance;it cleanses and sweeps hair and teeth, and refines the Five Quarters;take the fluid from the Dark Breast and bring it into the Hall of Light;it waters the throat below, and the spirit-light passes through.Seated, you attend the Flowery Canopy and roam the Noble Capital;drifting, drifting, on the mats of the Three Clarities, cool and clear;clouds of five colors swirl, fresh and verdant;close your eyes, look inward, and let them gaze upon one another,and let all the spirits of the heart return and stand exalted of themselves.The bloom and blossom of the Seven Darks open the Gate of Destiny;the Way of Heaven runs clear and free, and the dark root is held in mind.For a hundred and twenty years you can still return;beyond that, to keep to the Way is truly hard;only wait for the Nine-Turn Cinnabar of the Eight Gems,and once more, with fine concentration, hold the Seven Origins in mind;the blossom of sun and moon rescues the old and the failing;the liver's breath circles and flows, and has no end.

34 The lung is breath, and it rises from the Three Burners;in sight and hearing, in the dim and dark, watch for the child;it tunes and orders the five blossoms, the essence of hair and teeth;thirty-six swallows within the Jade Poolopen the hundred vessels, where blood and fluids begin.The complexion gains radiance, glossy as gold and jade;the teeth firm, the hair black, and white unknown;hold this true spirit in mind, and do not be slack;remember that in the Purple Palace there are seats,where the many spirits gather and in turn seek one another.

35 Hidden beneath the feathered canopy, look upon the halls of heaven;pay court to the Great Yang, joyfully calling to one another;the bright spirit, with his Eight Awes, rightly drives off evil;the spleen's spirit goes back home, to the house of the stomach.Delight in nourishing the numinous root, and it will not wither again;close and seal the Gate of Destiny, and guard the Jade Capital;then the ten thousand spirits bestow their blessing, and life is more than enough;this is what is meant by the spleen standing established in the Central Palace.It is the master of the spirit-light of the five organs and six bowels;above, it joins the Gate of Heaven and enters the Hall of Light;keep the female, hold the male in mind, and bear the Three Lights on your crown;outside square, inside round, with the spirit in the middle.It clears the vessels of the blood, and the five organs grow rich;bones green, sinews red, marrow like frost;the spleen rescues the seven openings and drives away ill omen;sun and moon are set out in ranks, and yin and yang established.The two spirits meet and become jade bloom,tasteless and plain, food of the heavenly;the Child of Cinnabar serves the dishes, the meats a pure yellow;they are called lang-gem cream and jade frost.The Most High's Hidden Ring, the gem of the Eight Plain Ones,waters and enriches the eight fluids, and the kidneys receive essence;crouched in the Great Yin, my own form appears;raising the wind of the Three Darks, it comes forth first green.In the trance between being and not being, it reaches utmost clarity and numen;playing on the Whirlwind Terrace, it sees the scarlet arise;in the carefree realm it thrives, nourishing the true and the blossoming splendor;gazing inward in silence, refine the five forms.The three breaths linger and wander, and the spirit-light is gained;hidden dragon and vanishing fungus, cloud and lang-gem bloomcan fill the hunger and command the ten thousand numens;above, roofed by Dark upon Dark; below, the tiger emblem.

36 Bathe, make yourself thoroughly clean, and put away rich meats and pungent herbs;enter a room facing east and recite the Jade Chapters;after some ten thousand recitations the sense grows fresh of itself;with hair unbound and free of desire, you will live long.When the five flavors have all come, the upright breath returns;level the heart, be silent and still, and let no vexation or grievance in.When the count is past and complete, body and spirit are refined;the Jade Maiden of Yellow Blossom will tell you the truth of it;once the True One has come, he sets the Six Ding to work,and then bestows the Great Cavern Scripture of the Hidden Fungus.Read it ten times, bow four times, and pay court to the Most High;first present yourself to the Great Emperor, then face north;the Inner Scripture of the Yellow Court, the jade book, flows on unimpeded.The giver is called the master; the receiver swears a covenant;cloud brocade and phoenix gauze, wrapped with golden knots,are used in place of cutting the hair, so that the flesh stays whole;hand in hand they climb the mountain and sip the liquid cinnabar in oath;only then may the golden writings and jade radiance be proclaimed.If you are to pass it on, give it with care, and report to the Three Offices;do not let the Seven Ancestors suffer the afflictions of the dark;the subtle words of the Most High bring one to spirit immortality;the way of deathlessness: this is its true text.