A lump of raw earth, crumbles in the rain,
Only because it hasn't undergone water and fire.
If tempered by water and fire into a brick,
It can remain in the world for ten thousand years.
Its edges and corners firm and complete, never to decay,
Tapping it produces a tone fit for carving.
Even ordinary water and fire can achieve this,
What in all creation can match such firm completeness?
On the path of cultivation, how many people,
Toil for years refining and nourishing, wasting spirit.
They don't speak of never undergoing water and fire,
Until impermanence suddenly descends upon them.
Since they don't awaken, they never repent,
Even in death they come to borrow vital essence.
Upholding right thought is immensely arduous,
Once human form is lost, one becomes another kind.
Have you not seen the Duke Fu Zheng of Luoyang,
Told of the golden elixir, he was like deaf and blind.
Obstinately deluded, he sought the true principle,
How could he know it secretly accords with Creation's work?
Have you not seen Minister Zhang of Jiujiang,
Taking medicines, he lost his sight, spirit and energy withered.
Not knowing the returned elixir is originally without substance,
Instead ingesting metals and minerals—how utterly foolish!
Have you not seen Privy Councillor Zhao of Sanqu,
Practicing Chan, he became a ghost in the end, unrecognizing.
Where is the perfected external body?
Eloquent speech in the end is unreal.
A lump of raw earth, crumbles in the rain,
Just like these few who practice cultivation.
A true man, transcends awakened nature,
Completely exhausts the gate of emptiness, not for validation.
Fuxi transmitted the Way down to the present,
Exhausting principle and fully realizing nature leads to destiny.
To understand destiny, what is the fundamental origin?
First recognize Kan and Li along with the four cardinal points.
Kan and Li are the true eternal home,
Those who see it transcend the ordinary and must enter sagehood.
Kan is the tiger, Li is the dragon,
These two bodies originally share the same palace.
The dragon devours, the tiger bites, residing within,
Separation and union, floating and sinking, beginning and end.
Stripping away then returning, obstruction then prosperity,
Advance and retreat, coming and going, determine their meeting.
Crescent then full, bright then dark,
Waxing and waning, fullness and emptiness match each other.
The divine immortal deeply enters the crystal palace,
At times drinking the clarified, even richer cream of enlightenment.
Ingesting it for a thousand days, the work is accomplished,
Golden sinews, jade bones, the body already lightened.
This vision belongs to oneself alone,
Ascending early, one gains audience with the Three Purities.
The holy rank of the Three Purities I also possess,
Originally I only seize the essence of Heaven and Earth.
Drinking ordinary wine, eating rank and腥 foods,
Nourishes the primordial harmony, making the void more full.
Spontaneously melting and coalescing, transforming into brightness,
Becoming pearls that fly to the Jade Capital.
In a moment, six years, the gut is not hungry,
Blood transforms into white ointment, the body hard to destroy.
Not eating is the true断绝粮草,
True breath steams and fumigates, the limbs grow strong.
Since not eating, surpassing hundreds of millions,
Mouth and nose have no ordinary breath.
The true person breathes through the heels, the ordinary through the throat,
From this, true and ordinary stand apart.
Reaching here, one forms a leakless body,
Embryonic breathing in the elixir field surges with true fire.
Laozi from this is called an infant,
The fire phases of nine years all passed through.
Retaining form, dwelling in the world, unaware of spring,
Suddenly the heavenly gate atop the head breaks open.
The true person appears with great spiritual powers,
From then on, celestial immortals can congratulate each other.
The sages of the three teachings—no different in gate,
The deluded labor their minds, don't be like that.
Consciousness naturally loves life,
Form ultimately does not perish.
I sigh for the foolish, empty in their lofty talk.
Fools drift aimlessly without rule, stopping,
Falling into cycles of interest, when will they penetrate?
Learners, learners, search carefully,
And must study the ancient 'Gold and Azure'.
The 'Gold and Azure' and 'Triple Accord' heed not the years,
Marvel within marvel, mystery within mystery.