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

1 Before the Void Emperor, in the purple clouds of Upper Clarity, the Most High lived at ease in Stamen Pearl. He is the Lord of the Great Way and the Jade Dawn, and he composed these seven-word verses. He scattered the five forms and changed them into ten thousand spirits. This is the inner text he made for the Yellow Court. When the heart is tuned like a lute, three times over, the immortal embryo dances. The nine breaths shine brightly and come out among the clouds. The spirit's canopy and the child bring forth purple mist. This is called the Jade Writing, and it is worth close study. Chant it ten thousand times and you will rise to the Three Heavens. A thousand calamities melt away and a hundred illnesses are healed. You need not fear the fierce cruelty of tigers and wolves. You will also push back old age and stretch out your years for good.

2 Above is the soul-spirit, and below is the Gate of Origin. On the left is Lesser Yang, and on the right is Great Yin. Behind is the Secret Door, and in front is the Gate of Life. As you breathe out and in, picture the sun going out and the moon coming in. Where the primal breath joins together, the constellations are set apart. Purple mist lies above and below, with clouds of the three whites. They water the five flowers and plant the spirit root. The seven fluids flow all the way through and rush through the skull. They turn the purple, embrace the yellow, and enter the Cinnabar Field. In the dark chamber it is bright inside, and the light shines on the Gate of Yang.

3 The mouth is the Jade Pool, the Palace of Great Harmony. Rinse your mouth with the spirit fluid and swallow it, and calamity will not touch you. The body gives off a glowing light, and the breath smells sweet like orchids. It drives away a hundred evils and refines the face like jade. If you can truly practice this, you will climb to the Vast Cold. Go day and night without sleep, and you will become a true being. Thunder rolls and lightning strikes, and the spirits fall still and dim.

4 Thunder rolls and lightning strikes, and the spirits fall still and dim. The inner people of the Yellow Court wear brocade robes. Their skirts of purple flowers fly, draped in gauze made of cloud breath. The colors are cinnabar red and azure, with green sashes and jade-green spirit branches. The jade key with seven tassels locks the two doors. The golden pass is covered twice over, and the secret pivot is kept hidden. The Dark Spring and the Hidden Tower stand high and steep. In the three fields, the essence and breath are faint. The lovely maiden, slender and graceful, veils the light of the sky. The Double Hall glows brightly and raises the eight powers. Heaven's Court and Earth's Gate are lined with axes and hatchets. The Spirit Terrace is coiled and firm, and it will never decay.

5 The spirit inside the Middle Pool wears red pearls. It wears a cloud robe of cinnabar brocade, with a tiger tally at the belt. The spirit lives in the Crossing Ford, which is three inches across. Hidden Fungus and Dense Shade grow thick and hold each other up.

6 The Peak in the Middle of Heaven should be tended with care and purity. Once the spirit house is clean, the Jade Emperor comes to roam there. The roads are open and clear, and they never stop. The eyebrows are called the Flower Canopy, and they cover the bright pearl. The sun and moon of the Nine Depths shine through the empty source. In the house lives a true one who always wears red. If you can truly see him, you will have no illness. The red-pearl spirit skirt is bright, rich and glowing. Under the tongue, the Dark Breast is the shore between life and death. Breath goes out green and comes in dark, and the two breaths glow. If you meet it, you will rise to the Milky Way.

7 The highest Way is not complicated. The key is to hold the true in mind. In the Mud Pellet and in the hundred joints, every part has a spirit. The hair spirit is Azure Flower, whose formal name is Great Origin. The brain spirit is Essence Root, whose formal name is Mud Pellet. The eye spirit is Bright Above, whose formal name is Radiant Mystery. The nose spirit is Jade Ridge, whose formal name is Firm Spirit. The ear spirit is Empty Leisure, whose formal name is Hidden Field. The tongue spirit is Life Connector, whose formal name is Right Order. The teeth spirit is Rocky Edge, whose formal name is Thousand Ranks. The spirits of the whole face look to the Mud Pellet as their chief. In the Mud Pellet, all nine True Ones have rooms. Each lives in a space one inch across, inside it. They all wear purple robes and flying gauze skirts. Just think of any one part, and your life will have no end. It is not that each lives separately in the brain. They sit in rank order, facing outward. What you hold in mind is in the heart, and it matches them on its own.

8 The heart spirit is Cinnabar Origin, whose formal name is Guard Spirit. The lung spirit is Shining Flower, whose formal name is Empty Completion. The liver spirit is Dragon Smoke, whose formal name is Holds Brightness. Dense Shade and Guiding Smoke rule over the cloudy and the clear. The kidney spirit is Dark Obscurity, whose formal name is Nurture the Infant. The spleen spirit is Ever Present, whose formal name is Soul Rests. The gallbladder spirit is Dragon Gleam, whose formal name is Majestic Light. The spirits of the six hollow organs and the five solid organs have bodies of pure essence. All of them are within the heart, turning the heavenly course. Hold them in mind day and night, and you will live long on your own.

9 The palace of the lung region looks like a flower canopy. Beneath it a boy sits in a jade tower. The Child of the Seven Origins governs the regulation of breath. Outside, it answers to the Central Peak, and the nose holds the matching place. He wears white brocade clothes with a belt of yellow cloud. If you gasp, if breathing is hard and your body feels unwell, quickly picture White Origin and bring the six breaths into harmony. You will become a spirit immortal with long life, free of calamity and harm. Keep using it without stopping, and your body will not grow stuck.

10 The palace of the heart region is a lotus holding its flower. Beneath it is the boy, in the house of Cinnabar Origin. He governs cold and heat, and he brings the nourishing and guarding energies into harmony. He wears a flying robe of cinnabar brocade, draped with jade gauze. With golden bells and a red belt, he sits swaying. He tunes the blood and orders life, so the body does not wither. Outside, it answers to the mouth and tongue, which give out jade blossoms. Even at the edge of death, call to him and you will revive. Keep doing this for a very long time, and you will fly into the Great Rosy Cloud.

11 The palace of the liver region is wrapped in layers of green. Beneath it is the Green Boy, the divine young lord. He governs all the passes and the mirror, where keen hearing and clear sight begin. He wears green brocade clothes and carries jade bells. He harmonizes and controls the hun and po souls and keeps the fluids even. Outside, it answers to the eyes, the essence of the sun and moon. Where a hundred ailments gather, picture Without Blossom. Use them together for seven days, and you will fill up on your own. When you are near death, think of the spirit and the dying will live again. Gather the hun soul and bring back the po soul, and you will never be overturned.

12 The palace of the kidney region is a round Dark Gate. Inside is a boy, dim and high in the darkness. He rules all the six hollow organs and is the source of the nine fluids. Outside, it answers to the two ears, the spring of a hundred fluids. He wears dark-green brocade cloud clothes and dances with a dragon banner. Above, he brings bright rosy clouds and the mist of the sun and moon. For a hundred illnesses and a thousand calamities, hurry to picture him. The two kidney palaces, kings of water, stand facing the Gate of Life. They make a person live long and rise to the nine heavens.

13 The palace of the spleen region belongs to the earth signs Wu and Ji. Inside is a bright boy, wrapped in a yellow robe. He digests grain, spreads out the breath, and controls the teeth. These are the two bright boys of the Great Granary. They sit in a golden tower inside a city of nine layers. It is one inch across, within the Gate of Life. They regulate the hundred grains and make the five flavors sweet. They drive away weakness and frailty, so there is no illness or injury. Outside, it answers to the face, the foot-wide house, where the color of the breath is healthy and fragrant. The radiance it produces shows itself clearly on the outside. He wears yellow brocade and jade clothes, with a tiger emblem at the belt. Fix your thoughts on the Three Elders, and you will soar lightly. You will live long, become a high immortal, and stay far from the misfortune of death.

14 The palace of the gallbladder region holds the essence of the six hollow organs. Inside is a boy called Gleam, whose other name is Majestic Light. Thunder and lightning shake eight times as he raises the jade banners. Dragon flags stretch across the sky, and he hurls bells of fire. He governs all strength and commands the tiger troops. Outside, it answers to the pupils of the eyes and the pillar of the nose. The brain and the hair support each other, and both stay fresh and bright. He wears nine-colored brocade robes and a skirt of green flowers. He wears gold and jade, with belts patterned with dragons and tigers. If you can picture Majestic Light, you will ride auspicious clouds. You will command ten thousand spirits, and they will come to pay court at the Three Origins.

15 The spleen is one foot long and covers the Great Granary. In the middle region, the Old Lord rules the Bright Hall. His formal name is Spirit Origin, and his given name is Blended Health. He cures people of a hundred illnesses and digests their grain and food. He wears a yellow robe and a purple belt, with an emblem of a dragon and a tiger. To grow the essence and add to life, you depend on this lord and king. Call my name three times, and the spirit will answer on its own. The Three Elders sit together, and each has companions. Some hold the essence and some hold the embryo, and each keeps to a different method. Peach Child joins in and lengthens life, bringing out a flowering glow. Men and women circle through the nine, and Peach Health is there. The Father of the Way and the Mother of the Way face each other. The Teacher-Father and the Teacher-Mother are in the land of Cinnabar and Dark. Use visualization to climb up into the empty sky. The paths are different, but they meet as one and come back to the same essential end. Close the three passes, make the firm-grip fist, and stay still. Swish the golden nectar in your mouth and swallow the jade blossoms. In the end you will not be hungry, and the three worms will die. Heart and mind will stay in harmony, bringing joy and prosperity. The cloud breath of the five peaks swells and fills. Guard and water the jade skull, and you repay yourself. The five forms will be whole and firm, with no calamity.

16 Looking up, you see the Three Origins like strung pearls. Bright lights shine one by one on the nine corners. The Five Spirits light lamps at night, glowing over the eight regions. Picture the Inner Emperor, and he will roam with me. You wear a phoenix robe and carry a tiger tally. Once he arrives, before long you will rise into the Void. Within the square inch of the heart, hold your thoughts deep inside. Neither square nor round, it keeps its windows shut. The Three Spirits restore the essence, and the old grow strong. The hun and po souls stay guarded within and do not fight. A spirit born in the belly carries jade pendants. The spirit pours into the Hidden Tower, so how could it be lost? Jade branches ten thousand fathoms tall give shade and support. The three souls settle themselves, at the written command of the Emperor.

17 The Spirit Terrace is thick with mist, looking out over the yellow fields. Within its three inches are separate rooms, upper and lower. The nourishing and guarding energies wind through the passes, and the High Dark receives them. The Cave Chamber and the Purple Apex are the doors of the spirit. This is what the Most High told me long ago. The divine young lord on the left spoke divine words. On the right, White Origin stands beside him. Between the Bright Hall, the golden cabinet and the jade room, the True Person of Upper Clarity stands before me. The Cinnabar Child in his yellow robe breathes thick and fast. I ask, "Where is he?" At the tips of the two eyebrows. Inside, the sun and moon stand on both sides, and the constellations are laid out. The Seven Luminaries and the Nine Origins crown the Gate of Life.

18 Within the three passes, the essence and breath run deep. Inside the Nine Subtleties, it is dark and shadowy. The mouth is the Gate of Heaven, the trigger of essence and spirit. The feet are the Gate of Earth, the door of life. The hands are the Gate of Humans, holding rise and decline in their grasp.

19 If you can hold the Dark Cinnabar in the three palaces, the flowing pearl of the Great One rests on Kunlun. Inside the layers are towers and pavilions in twelve rings. High and low, all are True Ones. The Jade Hall and the Crimson Roof are all dark palaces. The Jade Pivot and the Jade Beam are the color of orchid jade. Looking up, I see the boys sitting and lingering. I ask, "Whose children are these in my body?" Where do these people go? Into the Mud Pellet. By thousands and hundreds they link to one another. By ones and tens they look like mountains piled in layers. Cloud Form and Jade Blossom stand beside the ear gates. The Red Emperor and the Yellow Elder are with my hun soul. The three True Ones support the bones and share the fluid of the chamber. The Five Dippers blaze bright, and they are the Seven Origins. The sun and moon fly through the six directions. The Emperor's home is in the middle of heaven, at the point of Earth's Door. In the region of the face, all the souls and spirits keep each other alive.

20 Breathe the primal breath in and out to seek immortality. The immortal lords and young lords seem to stand before you. The Red Bird spits out and draws back at the source of the White Stone. Gather the essence, nourish the womb, and a body is born by transformation. Keep the embryo and hold back the essence, and you can live long. The three breaths circle to the right, and the nine paths grow bright. The True One holds its blossom and is then filled to the full. Looking far off at the single heart, it is like stars set out in order. Below the Gold Chamber, you will not fall. It lengthens my white-haired age and turns me back into a baby.

21 In the fine-jade chamber, the Eight Whites gather. The Lady of the Mud Pellet stands in the middle. Long Valley and the Dark Land wind around the towns. Six dragons scatter in flight, hard to tell apart. To live long, be extremely careful. Being careful in the bedroom is urgent. Why bring about death and make the spirits weep? Neglect this, and you end up in the home of disaster, and the three spirits die. You should only breathe in the breath and hold on to your essence. The Inch Field and the Foot-wide House can be used to govern life. If the sea is breached, a hundred streams pour out. When the leaves fall, the tree withers and loses its green. When the breath is lost and the fluids leak, the body is no longer yours. Seal it up completely and steer the lights, and you will be at peace for a long time. Protect my Mud Pellet and the three marvelous spirits. Be calm and plain, and look gently, and you will be bright inside on your own. No outside thing disturbs you, and you are at ease and even. Be sincere and do not strive, and the old become strong young men again. Think on the Jade Writing and chant it, and you will enter Upper Clarity.

22 Always think of the three chambers as connected. See through them, and you will see with no inside or outside. Picture the Five Sprouts and swish them in your mouth, and you will not be hungry or thirsty. The Spirit Flower holds the towel, and the Six Ding come to pay their respects. Quickly guard the essence chamber, and do not let it leak carelessly. Close it and treasure it, and you can live long. It starts inside the body and at first is not far off. The Three Officials are near and easy to keep in order. In the silent void, within the emptiness, is plainness. Make your body like this, and it will not be soiled. When the nine chambers are properly empty, they are the home of the bright spirits. As you picture them, watch your hundred thoughts and keep to the right measure. Tend the six hollow organs and do not let them grow old. Then you will soar on your own along the road of clouds.

23 The way to govern life is not troublesome at all. Just practice the Cavern Mystery and the Jade Book. Also work with the spirits of the Eight Lights inside the body. The twenty-four True Ones come out on their own. Fold your hands high and do nothing, and the hun and po souls will rest. In purity and stillness, the spirits appear and speak with me. Where are they? In the Purple Chamber, among the curtains and screens. They stand and sit outside the room, in threes and fives, in the Dark. Burn incense and join hands before the Jade Blossom. Enter together the Great Chamber, the gate of the Jade Pivot. Study deeply in the calm and quiet garden of the Way. Look inward, glance secretly, and you will see all the True Ones. The True Ones are in yourself, so do not ask the neighbors. Why go looking far away for a connection?

24 Hide your light and conceal your form, and be different from the world. Hold the breath and nourish the essence, and the mouth stays bright red. Hold your nature and your life close, and guard the void. Your name will enter Upper Clarity and be removed from the records of death. The joy of the Three Spirits comes from living in seclusion. Quick as a flash you roam and wander, with no worry left behind. Once you straighten your feather robe, the eight winds drive you along. You steer the three whites and ride the morning glow. The golden carriage takes its place, followed by the jade cart. Why not climb the mountain and recite my book? Dense and deep is the dwelling place of the True Ones. Entering the mountain is not hard, so why do you hesitate? The human world is a noisy crowd, and it stinks like a treasury.

25 The five phases push one another along and return to one. Threes and fives join their breath in nine-times-nine sections. You can use the eight arts of hiding in the earth and turning back. The Hidden Ox at the Dark Gate spreads out and arranges the ranks. The three names appear at the border between life and death. In the Cave Chamber are spirit images: the Dipper, the sun and the moon. The father is called the Mud Pellet, and the mother is the Female One. The three lights blaze and shine into the child's chamber. If you can hold the Dark True One in mind, everything is done. The essence and spirit of your whole body must not be lost.

26 Race high through the sun and moon: this is my way upward. Yuyi and Jielin protect each other well. Then you will see the Elder of Jade Clarity, of Void and Nothingness. You can bring back your youthful face and fill the blood and brain. With a spirit mushroom held in your mouth, you carry the five stars. A tiger register hangs at your waist, and gold pendants at your belt. You ride in a flash to join the banquet of life at Dongmeng.

27 Through the Dark Origin and the Highest One, the hun and po souls are refined. The One is a thing that is hard to see all at once. Only when you reach the Utmost True will it turn and look at you. What you must avoid most is the breath of death and everything filthy and vile. The six spirits gather and feast in the emptiness. Form the pearl, secure the essence, and nourish the root of the spirit. The jade key and the gold key stay whole and firm. Close the mouth, curl the tongue, and swallow the embryo's fluid. So I can finish the refining and become a flying immortal.

28 Immortals and masters of the Way are not gods by nature. They pile up essence and gather breath until they become true. The wondrous voice of the Yellow Boy is hard to hear. There are jade writings, crimson slips, and red cinnabar script. His formal name is True Person, and he wears a gold cap. In armor and holding a tally, he opens the seven gates. Fire weapons, tallies and charts guard the spirit passes. They are raised in front and low behind, arranged high and low. He holds a sword a hundred zhang long and dances with coiling brocade. The ten cutting strokes circle in the air, fanning out in swirls. Bells of fire rise to the top of the sky and fall down as smoke. Where is he? In the Yellow Tower between the two eyebrows. These are not branches and leaves. They are the root.

29 The Supreme Emperor of Purple Clarity, the Lord of the Great Way, has Great Mystery and Great Harmony standing at his sides as attendants. He changes and gives birth to the ten thousand things, and he makes me an immortal. I fly up to the ten heavens, driving a jade wheel. Day and night for seven days, think and do not sleep. If you can practice this, you can last forever. Piling up effort and finishing the refining do not happen on their own. They come from pure sincerity and from focus. Guard within, firm and solid: this is the true of the true. In emptiness be calm and plain, and the spirit will come on its own.

30 The fruit of the hundred grains is the essence of the earth. The five flavors are sweet on the outside, but they are demonic and rank. Their stench confuses the spirit's clarity, and the embryo's breath dwindles. How, then, could you go from old back to being an infant? The three souls grow faint, and the po soul is ruined and topples! Why not feed on the breath, the essence of Great Harmony? Then you can escape death and enter the Yellow Peace.

31 The heart manages the whole body and is king of the five organs. In movement and in rest, keep it in mind, and the Way and Virtue will act. Pure, clean, good breath brightens on its own. Sitting or rising, I am with them, and together we are the beams of the house. By day it shines with light, and at dusk it closes up and stores it away. It reaches the flowers of the essence and brings yin and yang into balance.

32 It passes through the six directions and hides at Mao and You, the east and west points. The spirits of the two kidneys govern long life. Turn and go down to the Dipper, and store the first Nine. Know the male and keep to the female, and you can be free of old age. Know the white and keep to the black. Sit at once and keep watch.

33 The liver's breath rises thick and vigorous, clear and long. It spreads through the six hollow organs and gives birth to the three lights. When the heart's essence and the mind are focused, the inside does not fall. Above, it joins the Triple Burner, and below it brings the jade nectar. The dark fluid moves like clouds and drives out foulness, leaving fragrance. It washes the hair and teeth and refines the five directions. Take the fluid from the Dark Breast into the Bright Hall. Below, it waters the throat, and the brightness of the spirits flows through. Sit and attend the Flower Canopy, and roam in the noble capital. Drifting, you come to the seats of the Three Clarities, cool and clear. Five-colored clouds swirl, green and lush. Close your eyes and look inward, and see each other. Then all the spirits of the heart go back and raise themselves up. The Seven Dark Blossoms open the Gate of Life. The Way of Heaven flows freely, and the dark root is kept. Even at a hundred and twenty years, you can still turn back. Beyond that, keeping to the Way is truly very hard. Wait only for the Nine-Turn Elixir of the Eight Fine Jades. You must again focus your thought and picture the Seven Origins. The flowers of the sun and moon save the old and worn out. The liver's breath circulates all the way around and never comes to an end.

34 The lung's breath rises from the Triple Burner. Sight and hearing, in the dim depths, wait for the Boy. It tunes the five flowers, the essence, the hair and the teeth. Thirty-six swallows go into the Jade Pool. They open the hundred vessels, where blood and fluid begin. The face gives off light, with the sheen of gold and jade. The teeth are firm and the hair is black, and you never know white. Hold this true spirit in mind, and do not be careless. Remember that the Purple Palace has seats. The many spirits meet and call for one another in turn.

35 Hidden under the feather canopy, look at the house of heaven. Pay homage to the Great Sun, and call to each other with joy. The bright spirits of the eight powers rightly drive off evil. The spleen spirit returns, and the stomach is its home. Devote yourself to nourishing the spirit root, and it will not wither again. Close the Gate of Life and protect the Jade Capital. Then the ten thousand spirits grant their blessings, and life is more than enough. This is called the spleen standing firm in the central palace. It is the master of the bright spirits of the five organs and six hollow organs. Above, it joins the Gate of Heaven and enters the Bright Hall. Keep to the female, hold the male, and carry the three lights on your crown. Square outside and round inside, the spirit is in the middle. The blood vessels flow freely and the five organs are rich. The bones are blue, the sinews are red, and the marrow is like frost. The spleen helps the seven openings and takes away bad omens. The sun and moon are laid out and set up yin and yang. The two spirits meet and change into jade blossom. Bland and without taste, it is the food of heavenly beings. The Cinnabar Child serves the dishes, and the food is truly yellow. It is called gem cream and jade frost. The Most High's Hidden Ring is the Eight Whites, fine jade. It waters and adds to the eight fluids, and the kidney receives essence. Hidden in the Great Yin, it shows my form. Stirring up the wind, the three dark ones come out, green at first. In the dim and hazy moment between, the purest spirit arrives. Playing on the Whirlwind Terrace, you see red arise. In the realm of ease, the true ones flourish and nourish blossom and glory. Look inward in silence and refine the five forms. The three breaths pace to and fro and win the light of the spirits. There are the hidden dragon, the fugitive fungus, the cloud, and the gem blossom. They can fill your hunger and let you command the ten thousand spirits. Above is the canopy of dark upon dark, and below is the tiger emblem.

36 Bathe, make yourself fully clean, and give up rich food and strong smells. Enter the room, face east, and recite the Jade Book. After about ten thousand recitations, the meaning becomes clear on its own. Let your hair down, be free of desire, and you will last long. The five flavors all arrive, and the upright breath returns. Keep your mind even, quiet and still, and do not be irritated or resentful. When the count is finished, your body and spirit are pure. The Jade Maiden of the Yellow Blossom tells you the truth. When the True Person has come, he sends the Six Ding to work. Then he hands you the Great Cavern Scripture of the Hidden Fungus. Read it ten times, bow four times, and pay homage to the Most High. First greet the Great Emperor, and then face north. The Inner Scripture of the Yellow Court, the Jade Writing, is set forth in full. The one who gives it is called the teacher, and the one who receives it takes an oath. Cloud brocade and phoenix gauze are bound with gold clasps. They take the place of cutting the hair, so the skin stays whole. Take hands, climb the mountain, and take the liquid cinnabar to your lips. Only then may the golden writings and the jade lights be spoken aloud. When you pass it on, make sure you give it correctly, and report to the Three Officials. Do not let your seven ancestors suffer misery in the dark world. The subtle words of the Most High lead to spirit immortality. The Way of deathlessness is this true text.