Saying of the Day
The heavens are lofty above,
The earth humble beneath
And Qian and Kun are settled, forthwith.
Once the humble and lofty spread out..
Rich and poor are established forthwith.
Their motion is constant -
And the firm and yielding are decided,
forthwith.
Thenceforth come about all kinds and
classes,
Things are herded together and divided,
And good fortune and misfortune arise,
forthwith.
In the heavens appear diagrams and
images,
On the earth come about shapes and
forms,
And change and transformation are seen,
forthwith.
Here are are! Starting the translation of the Great Appendix to the Book of Changes - the so-called Confucian 'wings' to the book. Much are this work is seminal to the later development of both Neo-confucian and Neo-Taoist thought. The first chapter of the Beginning Part is concerned with issues of creation: it also discusses what is greatness, what endures, what is virtue and what is wisdom.
It introduces several techinical terms from the commenaries to the book: Qian and Kun, humble and lofty, rich and poor - but especially firm and yielding (the lines), good fortune and misfortune, images, change and transformation. But of course technical in the sense of non-technical if you see what I mean - in that they are part of the everyday world seen about us, nature, that is. Keep looking.
Needless to say the chapter finishes by leaving it up to us to play our part..the chapter concludes...'there being a plan under heaven - it means you have a place to stand and a part to play within it.' The Book of Change is always talking to YOU, so listen!
The final lines to the Yinfu Ching
The stupid use all the world as a model
to be Saintly
I use the rough and ready as a model
to be wise.
萬*人以天地丈理聖，我以時物丈理智
I know what noone else knows and nobody knows what I know. This is the Great Me of Taoism. Yet I also know nothing. This is the Small Me of Taoism. I use the rough and ready as a model to be wise. Thereby comes transcendence. The rough and ready is the stuff of the world, which we observe when timing the firing. This is close to training the fire, in the alchemical sense.
The bright fire throws our body into relief. The looming sensory world is the Yin Fu, or 'matching tally' to our Yang spirit. A shadow which accompanies our spiritual life. How do I know suffering? Because I have a body. As the Tao-te Ching (13) says:
I honour great suffering as it gives me the idea of my body. The matching shadow, the Yin as physical shadow tallies with the Yang spirit.
The inner pre-heaven world and the outer post-heaven world, of both ideas and senses. These are all helpful models.
*Note that this alternative text, more politely, substitutes a different character here! The text then reads 'All people...' not 'The s tupid...'
T.S. Eliot
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
BUIRNT NORTON
(No. 1 of Four Quartets)
The Elixir
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything
To do it as for Thee:
All may of Thee partake:
Nothing can be so mean,
Which with this tincture 'for Thy Sake,'
Will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
Makes that and th' actions fine.
This is the famous stone
That turneth all too gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told. by George Herbert
Be alert!
The world has a need for more lerts!
Song of the Celtic Bard Amergin,
I am a stag: of seven tines,
I am a flood: across a plain,
I am a wind: on a deep lake,
I am a tear: the Sun lets fall,
I am a hawk: above the cliff,
I am a thorn: beneath the nail,
I am a wonder: among flowers,
I am a wizard: who but I
Sets the cool head aflame with smoke?
I am a spear: that roars for blood,
I am a salmon: in a pool,
I am a lure: from paradise,
I am a hill: where poets walk,
I am a boar: ruthless and red,
I am a breaker: threatening doom,
I am a tide: that drags to death,
I am an infant: who but I
Peeps from the unhewn dolmen, arch?
I am the womb: of every holt,
I am the blaze: on every hill,
I am the queen: of every hive,
I am the shield: for every head,
I am the tomb: of every hope.
trans: Robert Graves
DO NOT SEARCH for the Great Way
Among Confusing Pathways
To turn your back on the best you can do -
What sort of man are you then?
A Hundred Years - an Eternity -
All but sparks struck off a stone!
Your whole life a bubble,
Borne briefly on the water!
Seeking what you can gain -
Honour and Recognition
You pay no need to the figure you cut,
Hidden, sad and weak.
Heap up a mass of gold,
It may equal Mount Yo
But when Death Himself wins you over
What do you have then?
An exhortation to the inner path. In your search for The Tao, do not give yourself over to the confusion of the world. Life is brief, a spark off a stone; a white horse glimpsed through a crack in the wall; a swallow flown into a warm hall, the pleasure of life last but an instance. We are foaming bubbles, borne briefly on the waters of life!
When Death himself wins you over, what do you have then? Honours, fame, gold, treasures? None will last. The figure you cut will be hidden, sad and weak.An exhortation to the inner path. In your search for The Tao, do not give yourself over to the confusion of the world. Life is brief, a spark off a stone; a white horse glimpsed through a crack in the wall; a swallow flown into a warm hall, the pleasure of life last but an instance. We are foaming bubbles, borne briefly on the waters of life!
When Death himself wins you over, what do you have then? Honours, fame, gold, treasures? None will last. The figure you cut will be hidden, sad and weak.
MAN'S LIFE, ALTHOUGH it spans
A stretch of some Hundred Years,
Whether it is long or ends in early death,
One can never fore-know.
Yesterday in front of my Hall,
Feasting and partying:
Today alone in my room,
Torn apart by grief!
Play down a wife and fortune -
Nor do you need a Master -
To permit the Crime of Possession
Is only to cheat yourself.
If you do not search for the Great Medicine
You struggle to glimpse it,
And once glimpsed and not worked at,
This is crass stupidity!
Although life stretches for some Hundred Years, it passes in an instant. It is but a Burning House, battered by the fires of desire. We cannot know how long it will last. We cannot exit too soon! One moment feasting and partying, the next torn apart by bitter grief.
Of all transgressions, the Crime of Possession is the worst - valuing material things, other people, a wife, a husband, a fortune, a Master. There is nothing for it but to search for the Great Medicine. And once you have glimpsed it, not to work at it is crass stupidity!
A STUDY OF FAIRYHOOD must be
A Study of natural Fairyhood
Since the Golden Elixir itself
Is quite evidently real.
As the Two Materials assemble,
What you feel and what you are unite -
The Cycle of Five coiling entirely
Together as Dragon and Tiger:
At their Origin they rely on the Soil,
There as Go-between,
Enabling Husband and Wife
To protect their happy home together,
Awaiting only the Task's completion -
Dawn at the Northern Gate,
Nine Times layered clouds with Red Rays of light,
We hold back our fabulous Luan...
Reality is all around us... all around us in the natural world. The tender dusk; the beautiful dawn; an unfolding flower; the soaking mist; a snowfall; the moon rise, it is all evidently real. Two Materials are involved in this delicate dance of living water and flame - the central lines of Kan (water) and Li (fire); the one source essence (
yuan jing), the other source spirit (
yuan shen). As what we feel and are within meld, body and mind are one, tumbling Dragon and Tiger - Wood and Fire, Gold and Water amixed.
Praise be to the Soil! Dear Kun-mother, match-maker, breasted woman, Dark Female! She stands as go-between, protecting our happy home. The Elixir born, dawn breaks at the Northern Gate of Kan, the sun rises on a chilly dawn - its first warm rays bless our cold bodies; the clouds ablaze, the sandals on our feet strong. Hold back your fabulous steeds . . . it does not bode well to release too soon.
THE RULE IS THE TRUTH is the Truth
But strangely there is always more to say -
It comes down to Me alone
Being different to other people:
I may know how to turn on their heads
The family of Water and Fire. But who else?
Who recognises the Current of the Age
And can rearrange Host and Guest?
If you wish to retain the Mercury
In the Gold Caldron lining it red
First find the Sunken Silver under
The surface of the White-Jade Pond.
The Merit of the Sages is to circulate
The Fire and before midday
A Wheel of Sunlight appears -
Immersed in a Dark Pool.
Yes. Our true Reality is the natural world; and it also represents work on the Elixir. In understanding this, I am different to other people. Nobody knows what I know. Who else understands how to turn on their heads the family of Water and Fire? The Current of the Age flows outward - I turn its flow back inward. Guest made Host; Host made Guest; "I would rather be Guest than Host" (Tao-te Ching 69).
The Mercury in the Golden Caldron is easily lost; like the spiritual fire, the quick-silver mind, ever moving. Above all, dive down for the Sunken Silver which must be there, hidden, at the bottom of the White-Jade Pond. This silver treasure is sunken - and as Host does not move. Circulate the Fire ceaselessly round, down and down. Soon a wheel of Light appears within the Belly’s Dark Pool. The Morning Sun annuls all terrors. Body and mind settled and quiet. This is the Yogic practice.
The Tiger frisks, the Dragon soars,
Stirring rough waves and waters
And at the centre-point is begotten
A Pearl quite dark...
As berries borne on branches
At the end of the season come ripe
As a Child nestles in the Womb.
How could this happen any other way?
North to South, to their Natural Origin,
Flutter the trigrams' images,
Dawn to Dusk, timing the Firing,
One with the Pivoting Sky.
You must know that this Great Secret
Dwells also in the Marketplace.
Why should you protect its Stillness
Alone there in the Hills!
At this moment, body and mind intertwine, stirring rough waves and waters. Tiger and Dragon, husband and wife, in a marriage of Tumultuous Confusion beget a Dark Pearl, shining without quite shining. As trees bear fruit, as an infant-child is born from the womb, so new life arrives. This is the Truth. Altogether natural and marvellous!
Kan-son and Li-daughter, Qian-father and Kun-mother; North and South flutter their images. Dawn to Dusk, Dusk to Dawn; day and night, the Yang declines, the Yin is born, the Yin exhausted, the Yang returns; this is timing the Firing, which is one with the Pivoting Sky. Thus this Great Secret can be found anywhere; by anyone, anytime, anyplace. Why the need to protect it there in the Hills!
All people themselves possess
The Medicine of Long-Life,
And yet they follow Confusing Pathways,
Shaken to-and-fro.
At the fall of Sweet Dew -
Heaven and earth conjoin,
And a Yellow Shoot appears
Where Water and Fire entwine.
The Well-frog must deny
There exists the Dragon's lair,
The Wattled Quail struggles
To understand a Phoenix's nest
As the Elixir simmers by itself
Gold piles up in your Room,
What need you to study herbology
Or the boiling up of grasses!
Anyone can possess this Medicine of Long-Life. At the fall of the Sweet Dew, the sky kisses the earth. The Yellow Shoot, the first sign of life, the Hidden Dragon, now emerges into the field; the dawn mists clear, the rains pour down upon the earth, the warm breath of the sun draws up new life. Now the Young Folks of the village go out into the fields, laughing and singing.
Why do small people follow such Confusing Pathways? The frog in the well sees no further than the sky above its head; the wattled quail cannot even raise herself up a foot from the ground. Heaven and Earth are stuck and blocked up. If they would only let all alone. The Elixir simmers by itself - and Gold piles up in your Room. How could this happen any other way?
You know to give birth to the Medicine
Is to live near streams and springs,
Only in the South-west
Lies such a Neighbourhood:
When Lead meets Muddied Water
It must speedily be plucked,
For when Gold has been gazed upon,
It is unfit to be tasted.
Finally return it to the Earthenware Pot,
Sealed up and secure,
Next put in the Unstable Pearl,
Use as much as is needed:
A Medicine weighing one Pound
Will divide into Two lots of Eight -
Adjust accordingly the Firing
To uphold the Yin and Yang.
To give birth to the Medicine you do not need to study herbology, nor work with chemicals or common minerals. For the internal Path, you need only ‘live near streams and springs’ - for it is in these waters that the Gold may be found. Kan-water lives in the belly of Kun-earth, dwelling in the south-west of the
Outer-world Diagram. Into Kun nestles the central Yang line of Chien, giving life to the young boy. He represents the originating Lead: he carries life’s seed.
But Muddied Water, of this Outer-world, cannot easily be used for the task. Speedily extract the Lead to settle the Mercury, the Unstable Pearl, and the water will run clear. Gold, once gazed upon, is corrupt by the senses - so again return it to the Earthenware Pot, sealed up and secure. At once enter in the Mercury, the conscious mind, but not too much. Eight upon eight ounces, one Pound, comprises one single Moon - the One, the Holy Babe - Yin and Yang in just proportion. Now adjust the Firing.
DO NOT WORK with chemicals,
Common minerals or stones,
If you search the herbs and grasses,
Again this is not the way.
Yin and Yang find one another
And renew their warm friendship -
The Two Eights in proper accord,
Self joining with Self.
At the Bottom of the Pool,
The Morning Sun annuls the Uncanny,
On the Mountain-top, the bleached Moon
Enlivens the Medicine new.
You, the People of this Age,
Remember True Lead and True Mercury!
They have nothing to do with common Stones,
Or common Mercury!
Here Master Chang advises us again against the ‘mess and much’ or the external Path. This is not the Way! Let only husband and wife, Yin and Yang renew their warm friendship; Self joins with Self, originating essence and spirit, animus and anima, ovum and sperm, the Two Eights. Then comes the little Child, nestling in the womb. Pure magic in matter.
A Wheel of Sunlight appears - immersed in a Dark Pool, and the Morning Sun annuls the Uncanny. This is the red Treasury of Kan, the true warmth. On the Mountain-top the white Moon appears, glistening on snow. This is the Heart-fluid, true coolness. Remember them! Remember them! True Lead and true Mercury. They have nothing to do with the common external world.
And if you have a fondness for the True Lead
Be careful in your search.
Do nothing which comes easy -
Or guess at the Rhythm of the Times.
Merely with your Earthly Soul
Seize the Red Mercury
And from your Celestial Spirit
Control the Water and Gold.
We can say the Way is lofty
Which subdues the Dragon and Tiger
And call it Power emphatic
Which Demons respect -
But self-knowledge is Life Eternal,
Equal to that of the Universe,
Hot-headed hatred has no agent here
To further touch your heart.
The True Lead is the True Kingly Medicine for us all. It must be searched for with diligence. Nothing comes easy: do not guess at the Rhythm of Yin and Yang, the flavour of the Times. Let your Earthly Soul in the Liver seize the Red Mercury of Li-fire, and the Heart is one; from your Celestial Spirit of the Lungs control the Water and Gold of Kan, and the Kidneys are two. Herein lies the Truth.
Nothing could be greater that this! This self-knowledge is Life Eternal, equal to that of the Universe. Hot-headed hatred has no agent here to further touch your heart.
Yellow Sprout, White Snow,
You are no trouble for me to find,
To succeed, I rely on
My Power carried deep.
Four Images, Five Cycles,
All avail themselves of the Soil,
The Essence, Energy, Spirit and Trigrams,
Only the beginning of beginnings...
Once finished, just Pure Magic in Matter,
Which most have trouble remembering -
It disperses completely all shady Evils
That Demons may never invade.
I long for the whole wide World
To pass on my Sweet Song
But I've never met a single person
Who properly knew its True Refrain.
The Yellow Sprout, the Yang line within Kan; the White Snow, the soft light within Li. Both of you are now my companions. Chen-thunder and Tui-marsh, you are both my friends. You are no trouble for me to find. I have a Power carried deep. Four images, Five Cycles, wood, fire, earth, gold, water; all avail themselves of the Soil. Essence, Energy, Spirit, Trigrams, these are only the beginning of beginnings. The Knowledge is wordless, nameless, voiceless; lost in the dark.
It is Pure Magic in Matter, which most people have trouble remembering! But it will disperse all shady Evils that Demons may never invade. I am different to other people. I long for the whole wide World to pass on my Sweet Song - but I’ve never met a single person who knew its True Refrain. Perhaps it is unteachable.
All plants and trees show forth
Yin and Yang in equal proportion,
At the same time, if either is lacking
There is never luxuriant growth:
Firstly open up Green Leaves,
The Yang foremost in glory,
Next spread out Red Flowers
As the Yin follows on behind.
The Constant Path is only that
Which is daily made use of -
Turn back to the True Origin!
Where are they that understand?
Announcing that they will study the Way -
Here are several Lordly Gentleman,
But they cannot even recollect Yin and Yang,
And all is confusion.
Yang (bright) and Yin (dark), sunlight and water are both necessary for luxuriant growth. If either is lacking, no plants flourish. And both have to be planted in the constant Soil. Firstly the Green Leaves open, then follow on the Red Flowers. How could it be any other way?
This is the ordinary Constant Path - only that one which is daily made use of. Turn back to the True Source! Revert to the originating Primal! Do any understand? Yes, here are several Lordly Fellows, announcing they will ‘study the Way’, but they cannot even recollect the proper stance of Yin and Yang. All is confusion, weariness and worse.
IF YOU CANNOT recognise this Profundity
Within which all is topsy-turvy,
You struggle to understand the Lotus
Born blazing within the Fire -
The White Tiger dragged out
To be taken home and cared for,
Whence is born a single Pearl -
Bright as the Moon!
To guard against being cheated
Check on the Timing of the Firing,
Quieten your mind and breath,
And put your trust in being who you are...
The Flock of Evils falls apart
As the Elixir is cooked and completed,
You spring open the Body's Bamboo-cage
To live ten-thousand years!
If you cannot even understand this Darkness, the Profundity which makes all things topsy-turvy, where the Yang lies within the Yin, and Yin within Yang, you will struggle to understand how a Lotus flower can be born blazing within the Fire-of-desires which make up your world. Get out quickly from the Burning House! Your body will only degenerate and turn weak. Drag out the White Tiger of Kan; and take her home to care be cared for. Whence is born a single Pearl, bright as the Moon.
To guard against being cheated, check on timing the Firing process. Let Yin and Yang nestle together, quieten mind and breath and be simply who you are. The Tiger has a power emphatic which flocks of Demons respect. As the Elixir is cooked and completed you are home! You spring open the Body’s Bamboo-cage to li
The Three Fives as One,
Yet each has a separate Character.
Throughout all times,
Those that understood this are truly few.
The East - Three, the South - Two,
They make up Five.
The North - One, the West - Four,
Together make the same.
The Soil of itself,
In its own position produces Five;
Three Families gaze upon each other
To fashion a Little Child.
The Little Child as One
With the True Breath-Energy -
In Ten Moons the Foetus is fully-grown,
Setting a basis for Sagehood.
The One is mother to the Elixir; she contains the Three Five’s. Sameness within difference, difference within sameness. Yet those who comprehend this are truly few. East, Three-wood; South, Two-fire: wood and fire make up one Five. North, One-water; West, Four-gold: water and gold make up another Five. The Soil, of itself, in its own position produces Five. These Three Families gaze upon each other - fashioning a Little Child. As wood and fire, gold and water are blended into harmony, a Little Child is born. The Holy Babe fully-grown at Ten Moons, complete and whole, the True Breath-Energy is retained within the belly of Kun; this sets the seal for Sagehood. Empty the mind, and fill the belly! There is nothing more important.
Within the Crescent-Shaped Furnace
A Princely Pistil rises,
Lining the Red-Sand Caldron
Silvery Water is weighed in:
Only then, blending
The strength of the Fire,
Does the seed sprout a Yellow Shoot,
Gradually lengthening...
Within this Crescent-Shaped Furnace rises a Princely Pistil: the Yang Energy strengthening and rising from the Kidneys, within the Yin Belly - shown in the central Yang line of trigram Kan. Lining the Red-Sand Caldron, Silvery Water is weighed in: the Yin Fluid taming the Heart, within the Yang upper body - shown in the central Yin line of trigram Li.
This is to blend the strength of the Fire, allowing the seed to sprout a Yellow Shoot, gradually lengthening.
Not yet smelted the Returned Elixir?
Do not go to the Hills.
In the Hills, whichever way you look,
There is no Lead!
This kind of Ultimate Jewel is hidden
Within your own Home;
Itself, it is what the Foolish Man
Cannot quite recall.
If you are new to smelting the Returned Elixir, look no further than your own Home and Garden. Look no further then your own self. Buried in the Hills, whichever way you look, there is no Lead! This kind of Ultimate Jewel, fashioned from the True Lead and True Mercury lies hidden within your own belongings.
This is what the Foolish Man cannot quite recall. He has little memory of the Task of Subduing the Green Dragon and White Tiger.
When bamboo breaks it must then
With bamboo be repaired,
With a broody hen one will
Have to have eggs!
In everything, without Similars
You tire yourself in vain;
Nothing like the True Lead
For joining with the Secret Sagehood!
If a bamboo pot breaks, you repair it with bamboo. If you need eggs, you take a broody hen. The images are from the ‘Combining Similars Together’ scripture. In each task of transformation, without the use of Similars, you tire yourself in vain. Fire and Water cannot boil up an empty Pan! Put into it the True Lead and Mercury.
There is nothing like the True Lead for joining with the Secret Sagehood!
"In using Lead you are not
To use common Lead,
Once the True Lead is taken
It is squandered and destroyed!"
This is the true Secret Rhyme
To do with using Lead -
"Using Lead is not to use it"...
This is the most honest truth.
But you are not to use the common Lead of the Outer-world. Once the Inner-world Lead is taken along with the Mercury, it becomes queered and used up. The central line of Robust Kan fills up the vacancy in Delicate Li and then is at once so easily squandered and destroyed!
The rhyme goes...’using Lead is not to use it’...this is the most honest truth.
In my Dream, I visited the Western Land
Of Flowers and Ninth Heaven.
A True Man received me
And imparted these Dark Writings.
Within them, quite simply,There are a few words
Which merely teach Man
To smelt the Lead and Mercury.
Master Chang tells of his Dream. He visited the Western Land of Flowers and Ninth Heaven, where a enlightened True Fellow received him and imparted these Hidden Writings. They were divinely inspired. His teaching is simple: to smelt together the Lead and Mercury. But to do this you must empty the mind - and it will not stay empty for long!
From Wu Chien PienQian and Kun are the door and gateway to Change,
Father and mother to the various hexagrams;
Kan and Li are greatly assisting
In turning the hub on its proper axis.
Male and female, four in number,
They are the bellows which revive the fire.
Travelling the path of Yin and Yang,
Is like driving a team of horses:
Adjust the dark reins,
Seize bit and bridle,
Proper as square and compasses,
You follow the rutted wheel-tracks:
Settled within thereby you control without.
Here is the crux: settled within thereby you control without. This is Confucian nonsense - but never so close to the truth!
....................
Kan's Lightning explodes
In the region of Gold and Water.
Fire flashes from the Kun-Lun Heights:
Both Yin and Yang!
If the Two Materials have been returned
And blended together,
Of itself the Elixir ripens,
Circulating the body so sweet...
Now the Teaching is in detail revealed. The Yang Fire within Kan explodes, the White Tiger is abroad! Fire flashes from the Kun-Lun Heights, the Green Dragon is restless. Two Fires, Two Materials returned and blended together, the Elixir then ripens of its own sweet accord.
And within the body is felt a substance moving, as sweet as toffee.
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