Zhang Boduan · Complete work
Sixty-Four Quatrains, II (33-64)
Sixty-Four Quatrains, II (33-64) of 5. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Classical Chinese
50.長男乍飲西方酒，少女初開北苑花。若使青娥相見後，一時闗鎖在黃家。
51.兔雞之月及其時，刑徳臨門藥象之。到此金丹宜沐浴，若還加火必傾危。
52.日月三旬一遇逢，以時易日法神功。守城野戰知凶吉，増得靈砂滿鼎紅。
53.否泰纔交萬物盈，屯䝉受卦稟生成。此中得意休求象，若究羣爻漫役情。
54.卦中設法本儀形，得象忘言意自明。舉世迷人惟泥象，卻行卦氣望飛昇。
55.天地盈虛自有時，審能消息始知機。由來庚甲申明令，殺盡三屍道可期。
56.要得穀神長不死，須憑𤣥牝立根基。真精既返黃金屋，一顆明珠永不離。
57.𤣥牝之門世罕知，休將口鼻妄施為。饒君吐納經千載，爭得金烏搦兔兒。
58.異名同出少人知，兩者𤣥𤣥是要機。保命全形明損益，紫金丹藥最靈竒。
59.始於有作人爭覺，及至無為衆始知。但見無為為道妙，不知有作是根基。
60.黒中有白為丹母，雄裏藏雌是聖胎。太一在爐冝慎守，三田寳聚應三台。
61.恍惚之中尋有象，杳㝠之內覔真精。有無由此自相入，未見如何想得成。
62.四象㑹時𤣥體就，五行全䖏紫光明。脫胎入口通神聖，無限龍神盡失驚。
63.華池飲罷月澄輝，跨箇金龍訪紫微。從此衆仙相識後，海田陵谷任遷移。
64.要知煉養還丹法，自向家園下種栽。不假吹噓並着力，自然果熟脫靈胎。
65.休施巧偽為功力，認取他家不死方。壺內旋添延命酒，鼎中収取返魂漿。
66.雪山一味好醍醐，傾入東陽造化爐。若過崑崙西北去，張騫始得見麻姑。
67.不識隂陽及主賓，知他那箇是疎親。房中空閉尾閭穴，誤殺閻浮多少人。
68.萬物芸芸各返根，返根復命即長存。知常返本人難㑹，妄作招凶衆所聞。
69.歐冶親傳鑄劍方，鏌鎁金水配柔剛。煉成便㑹知人意，萬里誅妖一電光。
70.敲竹喚龜吞玉芝，鼔琴招鳯飲刀圭。近來透體金光現，不與凢人話此規。
71.藥逢氣类方成象，道在虛無合自然。一粒金丹吞入腹，始知我命不由天。
72.赫赫金丹一日成，古仙垂語實堪聴。若言九載三年者，總是推延款日程。
73.大道修之有易難，也知由我也由天。若非積行施隂徳，動有羣魔作障縁。
74.三才相盜食其時，此是神仙道徳機。萬化既安諸慮息，百骸俱理證無為。
75.隂符寳字逾三百，道徳靈文止五千。今古上仙無限數，盡從此䖏達真詮。
76.饒君聰慧過顔閔，不遇師傳莫強猜。只為丹經無口訣，教君何䖏結靈胎。
77.了了心猿方寸機，三千功行與天齊。自然着鼎烹龍虎，爭奈擔家戀子妻。
78.未煉還丹須急煉，煉了還須知止足。若也持盈未巳心，不免一朝遭禍辱。
79.但將死戶為生戶，莫執生門號死門。若㑹投機明反覆，始知害裏卻生恩。
80.禍福由來互倚伏，還如影響相隨逐。㑹能轉此生殺機，反掌之間災變福。
81.修行混俗且和光，圓即圓兮方即方。顯晦送從人莫測，教人爭得見行藏。
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the Chinese Wikisource transcription of the Daozang text (revision 2596349), with one pentasyllabic poem missing there supplied from the Siku quanshu Wuzhen pian zhushu, covering the whole work: the preface, sixteen octaves, sixty-four quatrains, the pentasyllabic poem, twelve Xijiangyue songs with their supplement, five coda quatrains and ‘Reading the Cantongqi’, 5,083 characters, for fidelity, clarity, imagery and cadence.
50 The eldest son has just drunk western wine; The youngest daughter first opens a flower in the northern garden.Once the blue maiden brings the two together, Lock them at once within the yellow house.
51 In the months of hare and rooster, when their time arrives, Punishment and virtue come to the gate, and the medicine shows its sign.At this point the golden elixir should be bathed; Add fire now, and disaster will follow.
52 Sun and moon meet once in three ten-day periods; The method of divine work substitutes hours for days.Know the ill and good of guarding a city and fighting in the field; The numinous cinnabar grows until the whole cauldron glows red.
53 When Obstruction and Peace first meet, ten thousand things abound; Difficulty and Youthful Folly receive their hexagrams and take life.Once you grasp their meaning, cease searching the images; To scrutinize every line would only weary the heart.
54 The methods laid down in hexagrams originally use forms as models; Once the image is grasped, forget the words and meaning shines clear.Deluded people throughout the world cling solely to images; They practice the hexagrams' breaths, hoping to ascend in flight.
55 Heaven and earth have their times of fullness and emptiness; Only by discerning growth and decline will you know the key.From the beginning geng and jia proclaim the command: Slay all three corpses, and the Way may be attained.
56 If you would keep the valley spirit alive forever, Set its foundation in the mysterious female.When the true essence returns to the house of gold, One luminous pearl will never depart.
57 Few in the world know the mysterious female's gate; Do not rashly practice with mouth and nose.Breathe in and out for a thousand years if you like: How will the golden crow ever seize the hare?
58 Different names spring from one source; few people know it; Both are mystery upon mystery, the essential key.To preserve life and keep the body whole, discern loss and gain; The purple-gold elixir is most wondrous and numinous.
59 At the outset, active work is apparent to everyone; Only at the end do they recognize nonaction.They see that nonaction is the marvel of the Way, Not knowing that active work is its foundation.
60 White within black is the mother of the elixir; Female hidden within male is the sacred embryo.Guard the Supreme One carefully within the furnace; Treasures gathered in the three fields answer the three terraces.
61 Seek form within the dimly shimmering; Search for true essence in the dark and obscure.Being and nonbeing enter each other through this: How could imagination produce what you have not seen?
62 When the four images meet, the mysterious body is formed; When five phases are whole, purple light shines forth.Leaving the womb, entering the mouth, it communes with the sacred; Countless dragons and spirits recoil in astonishment.
63 After drinking at the Flowery Pool, the moon shines clear; Ride a golden dragon to visit the Purple Tenuity.Once you have come to know the assembled immortals, Let seas turn to fields and hills to valleys.
64 If you would know how to refine and nurture the returned elixir, Plant its seed within your own garden.Without blowing or straining to exert your strength, The fruit ripens of itself and the numinous embryo is born.
65 Do not expend cunning and pretense as effort; Recognize the deathless formula from the other house.Within the flask add the wine that lengthens life; Within the cauldron collect the soul-restoring draught.
66 One flavor from Snow Mountain, exquisite clarified butter: Pour it into the transforming furnace of eastern yang.If it crosses Kunlun toward the northwest, Only then does Zhang Qian encounter Magu.
67 Not knowing yin and yang, nor host and guest, How could you tell which is stranger and which is kin?Vainly sealing the coccygeal gate in bedroom practice Has brought mistaken death to how many in Jambudvipa!
68 All teeming things return each to its root; Returning to the root and restoring life is to endure.Few understand knowing constancy and returning to the source; That reckless action invites ill fortune is known to all.
69 Ou Ye himself transmitted the art of casting swords; Moye's metal and water join supple and strong.Once forged, it understands the human will And strikes down demons ten thousand miles away in a flash of lightning.
70 Tap bamboo to call the tortoise to eat jade fungus; Play the zither to summon the phoenix to drink the elixir dose.Of late a golden radiance has shone through my body; I will not tell ordinary people this rule.
71 The medicine forms only when it meets a breath of its own kind; The Way resides in empty nothingness and accords with nature.Swallow a single grain of golden elixir, And only then know that my life is not decreed by heaven.
72 “In one day the radiant golden elixir is made”: The words bequeathed by ancient immortals deserve to be heard.Those who speak of nine years or three years Are merely drawing out the appointed days.
73 In cultivating the great Way there are easy and difficult paths; I know it depends on me, and also on heaven.Unless you build up good deeds and practice hidden virtue, At every turn hosts of demons will obstruct your way.
74 The three powers steal from one another, feeding at the proper time; This is the immortal's secret of the Way and its virtue.When all transformations are at peace, all cares cease; When the hundred limbs are ordered, nonaction is realized.
75 The precious words of the Yinfu exceed three hundred; The sacred text of the Daode amounts to only five thousand.Countless supreme immortals, ancient and modern, Have found the true teaching through these very words.
76 Though your wisdom surpass Yan Hui and Min Ziqian, Without a master's transmission do not guess by force.The elixir scriptures lack oral instructions: How, then, will you conceive the numinous embryo?
77 Understand fully the mind-monkey's workings in the heart; Let three thousand meritorious deeds equal heaven.Then naturally set the cauldron to cook dragon and tiger— But what of carrying a household and clinging to wife and children?
78 If you have not refined the returned elixir, refine it quickly; Once it is refined, you must know when to rest content.If your mind still tries to hold on to fullness, One day you cannot escape calamity and disgrace.
79 Take the gate of death for the gate of life; Do not insist that life's gate is the gate of death.When you grasp the moment and understand reversal, Only then know how blessing rises from harm.
80 Misfortune and good fortune have always lain concealed in each other, Following each other as shadow follows form, echo follows sound.If you can turn the pivot of birth and destruction, Disaster becomes blessing in a turn of the hand.
81 Cultivate amid the crowd, blending your radiance with theirs; Be round where things are round, square where they are square.Appear or withdraw as occasion leads, beyond anyone's reckoning: How could people discern your action or repose?
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the same original, covering the whole work: the preface, sixteen octaves, sixty-four quatrains, the pentasyllabic poem, twelve Xijiangyue songs with their supplement, five coda quatrains and ‘Reading the Cantongqi’, 5,083 characters.
50 The eldest son has just drunk western wine;The youngest daughter has just opened the northern garden's flower.When the young woman in green has met them,Lock them all inside the yellow house at once.
51 The months of rabbit and rooster are the right times;Punishment and virtue come to the door, shown by the medicine.Then the golden elixir should be bathed;If you add fire, it will surely be in danger.
52 Sun and moon meet once every thirty days;Using hours for days is the method of this remarkable work.Know the good and bad outcomes of defending a city and fighting in open country;You will gain more spiritual cinnabar until the whole cauldron glows red.
53 When Pi and Tai first meet, everything flourishes;Zhun and Meng take their hexagrams and receive birth and growth.Once you grasp the meaning, stop seeking the images;Studying every line only tires the mind in vain.
54 The hexagrams set out a method modeled on forms;Grasp the image and let go of words, and the meaning becomes clear.Confused people everywhere cling only to the images,Working with hexagram energies in hopes of flying up to heaven.
55 Heaven and earth each have their times of fullness and emptiness;Only by studying their waning and waxing can you know the right moment.Geng and jia have always made the command clear;Kill off all three corpse-spirits and the way is within reach.
56 If you want the valley spirit to live forever,You must establish its basis in the dark female principle.Once the true essence returns to the golden house,A single bright pearl never leaves it.
57 Few people know the gate of the dark female principle;Don't mistakenly treat the mouth and nose as that gate.You may breathe in and out for a thousand years:How could that bring the golden crow to catch the rabbit?
58 Few know that different names come from the same source;The two, both deeply mysterious, hold the essential secret.Understand loss and gain to preserve life and keep the body whole;The purple-gold elixir is the most powerful medicine.
59 At first, people all notice deliberate action;Only on reaching nonaction do they understand.They see only that nonaction is the wonder of the way,Not knowing that deliberate action is its foundation.
60 White within black is the mother of the elixir;Female hidden in male is the sacred fetus.Guard the Great One carefully in the furnace;The treasures gather in the three fields, matching the three stars of the Dipper.
61 Seek a shape in what is vague and fleeting;Seek true essence in deepest darkness.Being and nonbeing enter into each other through this;How could you picture what you have not seen?
62 When the four forms meet, the dark body is complete;Where all five phases are present, purple light shines.The fetus leaves and enters the mouth, giving access to the divine;Countless dragons and spirits are all startled.
63 After drinking from the splendid pool, the moon shines clear;Ride a gold dragon to visit the Purple Palace.Once you know all the immortals,Let seas become fields and hills become valleys as they will.
64 To know how to refine and nourish the returned elixir,Plant its seed in your own garden.Without blowing or forcing anything,The fruit naturally ripens and the spiritual fetus emerges.
65 Do not use clever tricks and deceit as your method;Recognize the other family's means of escaping death.Keep adding wine that prolongs life to the pot;Gather the liquid that restores the soul in the cauldron.
66 Pour the fine butter from Snow MountainInto the furnace of nature at East Yang.If it crosses Kunlun toward the northwest,Only then can Zhang Qian meet Magu.
67 If you don't understand yin and yang or host and guest,How can you tell which is distant and which is close?Pointlessly closing the tail-gate point during sexual practiceHas wrongly killed so many people in this world.
68 All the countless things return to their roots;Returning to the root and restoring life means lasting long.People find it hard to understand the constant and return to the source;Everyone has heard that reckless action brings harm.
69 Ou Ye personally passed on the method of casting a sword;The metal and water of Moye are paired as soft and hard.Once refined, it understands a person's intentions;In a flash it kills a monster ten thousand miles away.
70 Strike bamboo to call the turtle to swallow jade fungus;Play the zither to summon the phoenix to drink the elixir.Recently golden light has appeared through my body;I do not tell ordinary people this method.
71 The medicine takes shape only when it meets energy of its own kind;The way lies in emptiness and accords with nature.Swallow one grain of the golden elixir,And you will know your life is not controlled by heaven.
72 The brilliant golden elixir is made in one day;What the ancient immortals said is truly worth hearing.Talk of nine years or three yearsIs just a way to put off the appointed time.
73 Cultivating the great way has both ease and difficulty;I know it depends on me and also on heaven.Unless you build a record of good deeds and unseen kindness,Crowds of demons will constantly stand in your way.
74 Heaven, earth, and humanity take from each other and feed at the proper time;This is the moral process of the immortals' way.Once all changes settle and worries cease,Every part of the body comes into order, confirming nonaction.
75 The precious words of the Yinfu number just over three hundred;The sacred text of the Daode has only five thousand.Countless great immortals, ancient and modern,Have found the true teaching in these writings.
76 However much your intelligence exceeds Yan Hui and Min Ziqian,Don't guess at this without receiving a teacher's instructions.Elixir scriptures omit the oral instructions;How else could you form the spiritual fetus?
77 Understand clearly the restless mind and its workings;Three thousand good deeds will bring you up to heaven's level.Then you can naturally set up the cauldron and cook dragon and tiger;But how can you do so if you cling to household, children, and wife?
78 If you haven't refined the returned elixir, do it quickly;Once refined, you must know when to stop and be content.If your mind never stops trying to hold on to fullness,One day disaster and disgrace will surely come.
79 Make the gate of death into the gate of life;Don't insist that the gate of life is the gate of death.If you grasp the opportunity and understand reversal,You will finally know how help is born from harm.
80 Misfortune and good fortune have always depended on each other;They follow each other like a shadow and an echo.If you can reverse this process of life and death,Disaster becomes good fortune in an instant.
81 Practice among ordinary people, keeping your light modest;Be round with what is round and square with what is square.Appear or disappear and go along so no one can predict you;How could people then see what you do or where you hide?