Sixteen Octaves on the Great Elixir

2 If you do not seek the great Way out of delusion, Though gifted with a sage's talents, how are you worthy?A hundred years flash like sparks from struck stone; A whole life floats like a bubble on water.You only crave profit and rank, seeking glory, Unheeding as your body secretly withers away.Tell me: with gold piled high as mountains, Could you buy off impermanence and keep it from coming?

3 Though human life might last a hundred years, None foreknows its length or fate, poverty or success.Yesterday a rider still galloped through the streets; This morning a corpse lies in the coffin.The wife and wealth you leave behind are no longer yours; You carry the burden of your deeds and cannot deceive yourself.Without seeking the great medicine, how will you find it? To find it and not refine it is sheer folly.

4 To study immortality, study celestial immortality: Only the golden elixir is the surest path.When the two substances meet, nature and feeling join; When the five phases are whole, tiger and dragon coil.Through Wu and Ji as matchmakers it begins, And husband and wife are joined in enduring joy.Wait only for the work's completion to attend the northern palace, Riding an auspicious phoenix through ninefold rosy clouds.

5 This method is truth more wondrous within the true; All because I alone differ from other people.I know reversal comes from Li and Kan; Who knows how floating and sinking determine host and guest?To keep vermilion-wrapped mercury in the golden cauldron, First set water-born silver in the jade pool.The divine work of tending fire takes less than a night: A round sun rises from the deep pool.

6 Tiger leaps and dragon soars amid rough winds and waves; In the central place of honor the dark pearl is born.Fruit growing on a branch is bound at last to ripen; How could a child in the womb be otherwise?North and south, source and root, reverse the hexagram images; Dawn and dusk, the fire's timing accords with heaven's pivot.Know that the great recluse lives in the marketplace: Why guard solitude in stillness deep among the mountains?

7 Every person possesses the medicine of long life; In foolish bewilderment they simply cast it away.When sweet dew falls, heaven and earth unite; Where the yellow sprout grows, Kan and Li meet.A well frog would say there is no dragon's cavern; How could a sparrow by the hedge know the phoenix's nest?When the elixir ripens, gold fills the house of itself: Why seek herbs and learn to burn thatch?

8 If you would know the river-source where the medicine rises, Its native place lies only in the southwest.When lead passes and gui is born, gather it at once; When gold meets the distant full moon, it cannot be tasted.Return it to the earthen vessel and seal it tight; Then introduce the flowing pearl to join its mate.The medicine weighs one pound: two eights are required; Regulate the fire's timing by yin and yang.

9 Do not refine the three yellows or the four spirits; If you seek a multitude of medicines, you have missed the true.Yin and yang meet their kind and enter union; The two eights match and naturally become kin.The sun glows red beneath the pool: yin phantoms vanish; The moon shines white above the mountain: new medicine sprouts.If people today would know true lead and mercury, They are not common cinnabar and quicksilver.

10 Do not take solitary yin to contain yang; Cultivating one thing alone only weakens you.Toiling at stretches and massage is not the Way; Refining breath and feasting on clouds is madness.Seek all your life in vain to subdue lead and mercury: When will you ever see tiger and dragon yield?I urge you: search out the place where your body was born; Returning to root and source is the sovereign medicine.

11 Set your heart on seeking true lead; Do not let the hours pass lightly by.With the earthly spirit capture vermilion mercury, And the heavenly soul will master water-born gold.Then the Way is exalted, and dragon and tiger submit; Virtue is weighty, and ghosts and spirits revere it.Knowing already that life will last as long as heaven and earth, How could vexation find its way back into the heart?

12 The yellow sprout and white snow are not hard to find; The adept must rely on the depth of virtuous conduct.The four images and five phases all depend on earth; How could three origins and eight trigrams depart from ren?Once its numinous substance is refined, none can recognize it; Yin demons dissolve, and no ghost can invade.I would leave the secret instructions in the human world, But have yet to hear a single kindred voice.

13 Plants and trees, too, have yin and yang in equal measure; If one is lacking, they cannot flower.First green leaves open, with yang taking the lead; Then red blossoms unfold, with yin following after.In the ordinary Way this serves our daily lives; Who knows the true source that reverses its course?I tell you, gentlemen studying the Way: Do not act blindly if you do not know yin and yang.

14 If you do not know reversal within the reversed mystery, How can you know to plant a lotus within fire?Lead the white tiger home and nurture it; Bring forth a bright pearl round as the moon.Do not merely tend the medicine furnace, watching the fire's timing; Still your spirit and breath and let nature take its course.When the hosts of yin are stripped away, the elixir ripens; Leap from the cage and live ten thousand years.

15 Three, five, one: only three written signs; Few indeed in any age have understood them.Eastern three and southern two together make five; Northern one and western four make five as well.Wu and Ji themselves return to the generative number five; When the three families meet, the infant is conceived.Thus the Supreme One holds the true breath within; In ten months the womb is full, and the foundation of sagehood is laid.

16 Without knowing true lead, the rightful ancestor, Ten thousand practices only waste your effort.Dismiss your wife, and you vainly sever yin from yang; Abstain from grain, and merely empty your stomach.Herbs and trees, gold and silver are drossy matter; Clouds, mists, sun, and moon belong to hazy illusion.Even if you add breathing exercises and visualization, None of it is the work of the golden elixir.

17 Ten thousand volumes of immortal scriptures speak alike: Only this golden elixir is root and source.Following its form born at Kun's station, Plant it in Qian's palace of mutual union.Do not marvel that heaven's secrets are wholly disclosed: Students themselves are foolish and blind.If anyone understands the meaning within these verses, He will see at once the Most High Lord of the Three Pure Ones.

2 If you don't seek the great way out of confusion,Can you be a worthy person, however talented you are?A hundred years flash like a spark from a stone;A whole life floats like a bubble on water.You only crave profit and office, looking for honor,And don't notice your body wasting away unseen.Suppose your gold were piled as high as mountains:Could it buy a promise that death will not come?

3 Though a person's life may last a hundred years,No one knows its length, its poverty, or its success beforehand.Yesterday someone rode a horse down the street;Today a corpse lies inside a coffin.The wife and wealth left behind are no longer yours;You cannot fool yourself about the wrongdoing you take with you.How can you find the great medicine if you don't seek it?To find it and fail to refine it is foolish.

4 If you study immortality, study heavenly immortality;Only the golden elixir is the surest way.When the two things meet, feeling and nature join;When the five phases are complete, tiger and dragon coil together.Because wu and ji act as matchmakers,Husband and wife can live together in lasting joy.Just wait for the work to finish and go before heaven's northern palace;Ride a lucky phoenix through nine-colored clouds.

5 This method is true and more wonderful than anything else true;It all comes from my being different from other people.I know the reversal depends on Li and Kan;Who knows that rising and sinking determine host and guest?If the golden cauldron is to hold the mercury in cinnabar,Put the silver from water into the jade pool first.The remarkable work of tending the fire takes less than a night;A round sun appears in the deep pool.

6 The tiger leaps and dragon rises through rough wind and waves;A dark pearl is born in the central, proper place.A fruit growing on a branch will ripen in time;Why should a child in the womb be any different?North and south, the sources and their lineages, reverse the hexagram images;Morning and evening, the timing of the fire follows heaven's pivot.Know that a great recluse lives among shops and markets;Why sit alone in the deep mountains seeking stillness?

7 Everyone has the medicine for a long life;People foolishly throw it away in confusion.When sweet dew falls, heaven and earth join;Where the yellow sprout grows, Kan and Li meet.A frog in a well would say there is no dragon's cave;How could a small bird by a fence know a phoenix's nest?When the elixir ripens, gold naturally fills the house;Why search for herbs and learn to burn plants?

8 If you want to know the source where the medicine is produced,Its home is in the southwest.Gather it quickly when lead passes and gui is born;When gold meets the full moon from afar, it is no longer fit to use.Bring it back and seal it tightly in the earthen pot;Then add the flowing pearl to make the pair.The medicine weighs one pound, made up of two eights;Adjust the timing of the fire through yin and yang.

9 Don't refine the three yellows or the four spirits;If you seek among many medicines, it is not the true one.Yin and yang meet by finding their own kinds;The matching two eights naturally join as a pair.The red sun beneath the pool drives away yin's strange forms;The white moon above the mountain brings new medicine sprouts.People today should recognize true lead and mercury:They are not ordinary cinnabar or quicksilver.

10 Don't mistake yin by itself for something containing yang;Cultivating just one thing only makes you weaker.Straining the body with massage and stretching is not the way;Refining breath and swallowing rosy clouds is sheer folly.You can spend your whole life trying in vain to tame lead and mercury;When will you ever see tiger and dragon brought under control?I urge you to seek the place where your body was born;Returning to the root and the source is the best medicine.

11 Take care to seek true lead;Don't let your time pass easily away.Use earth's moon-soul to catch red mercury,And heaven's sun-soul will control watery metal.Then you can say your way is high, for dragon and tiger submit;You can say your virtue is great, for spirits respect you.You know your life will last as long as heaven and earth;Troubles will no longer come into your mind.

12 The yellow sprout and white snow are not hard to find;Those who understand must rely on deep virtue and good conduct.The four forms and five phases all depend on earth;How could the three origins and eight trigrams leave ren-water behind?Once you refine the spiritual substance, people can hardly recognize it;With yin demons gone, no ghosts can invade.I want to leave the secret instructions among people,But I haven't heard of a single person who would understand them.

13 Plants too have yin and yang together;If either is missing, they will not bloom.When green leaves first unfold, yang leads;When red flowers open next, yin follows.This is the ordinary way in daily use;Who knows that the true source reverses it?I tell all of you studying the way:If you don't understand yin and yang, don't act recklessly.

14 Without knowing the reversal within the mystery,How can you know that a lotus grows well in fire?Lead the white tiger home and care for it;It will produce a bright pearl as round as the moon.Don't just watch the timing of the fire by the medicine furnace;Settle your spirit and breath and let nature work.When all the yin is stripped away, the elixir ripens;You leap out of the cage and live ten thousand years.

15 “Three, five, one”: these are only three words;Few people, past or present, have truly understood them.East's three and south's two together make five;North's one and west's four make five too.Wu and ji themselves come back to the generating number five;When the three families meet, they form a child.Thus the Great One holds the true energy;In ten months the fetus is complete and enters the state of a sage.

16 If you don't know that true lead is the chief source,Everything you do is wasted effort.Leaving your wife merely separates yin and yang;Giving up food only leaves your stomach empty.Plants, metals, and silver are all impure matter;Clouds, mists, sun, and moon are vague things.Even if you add breath exercises and visualization,None of it is the work of the golden elixir.

17 The countless scriptures on immortality all say the same thing:The golden elixir alone is the root and basis.It follows Kun's position to bring a body into being,Then is planted in Qian's home, the palace where things join.Don't be surprised that heaven's secret is fully disclosed;Students themselves are simply confused and foolish.If someone understands what this poem means,They will at once see the highest elder of the Three Pure Ones.