11
DRIVING THE ELIXIR OF IMMORTALITY INTO THE CAULDRON
1
When the spiritual foetus is formed by the ball of fire
A white light from the heart illuminates all
Things and a great blaze of golden light appears;
When all channels have been cleared the macrocosmic agent’s made.
2
The bright pearl illuminates the brain
Making in nine turns the elixir.
Only when a drop sinks down to the belly
Does one realise immortals live on earth.
THE ABOVE STANZAS deal with the generative force, vitality and spirit which, after being sublimated, gather in the brain where, under constant pressure from prenatal vitality and spirit, they will in time produce ambrosia (kan lu). The latter flowing into the mouth becomes a liquid (saliva) which, when swallowed, makes ‘sounds’ in the abdomen. This ambrosia produces and nurtures the immortal seed in the lower tan t’ien (under the navel) whence it radiates, lighting up the heart. The light reveals the formation of the immortal seed when all breathing (appears to) cease and pulses to stop beating. This achievement is due mainly to the condition of utter stillness which contributes to the production of the immortal seed.
The cultivation of immortality does not go beyond spirit and vitality. Spirit leads to the realisation of (essential) nature and vitality to (eternal) life. Spirit comes from the sublimation of vitality and vitality from the purification of the generative force. To become immortal it is most important to sublimate the generative force, and when (refined) vitality is full it will manifest. If vitality is used to nurture the generative force the latter, when full, will produce the immortal seed.
All Taoist scriptures, in spite of the diversity of teaching, do not go beyond (essential) nature and (eternal) life. To discuss anything further leads to speculations that deceive and mislead the ignorant. You may speak in as many ways as you like but if you do not know the secrets of transforming the generative force into vitality, vitality into spirit and the return of spirit to the great emptiness, you will only formulate heresy. If you want to achieve immortality you must start by cultivating (essential) nature and (eternal) life, which will surely lead to the attainment of your goal.
This spirit is what the six first steps (Chapters 1 to 6) teach you to realise, that is the true light of (essential) nature in the cultivation of both nature and life; this light is spirit.
As to the light of vitality, it is what the six following steps (Chapters 7 to 12) teach you to realise, that is the light of (eternal) life in the cultivation of both nature and life; this light is vitality in the generative force.
The union of spirit and vitality produces the immortal seed as revealed by the white light in the heart, lights flashing in the head, the dragon’s hum and the tiger’s roar in the ears. If the light of ambrosia is not full and bright, this is due to lack of instruction and guidance by enlightened masters. In this event inner fire should be gathered and lifted to produce spiritual fire which will emit the golden light, and then the light of ambrosia will be full and bright. But you should not gather and lift fire at this stage for too long as it may cause dizziness. If the immortal seed is fully developed the golden light will manifest; if it does not further training is necessary (as follows):
Each day while sitting in meditation, the practiser should unite the two pupils (i.e. draw them together by squinting) to concentrate on and drive spirit and vitality into the lower tan t’ien (under the navel) in order to produce and nurture the immortal seed. When the latter is produced the practiser will feel as if the top of his head is raised; the dragon’s hum and tiger’s roar are heard in his ears;1 his body floats on the clouds and itches all over; he rises in space and rides on the wind, with an accompanying sense of boundless bliss. He will then feel as if a spider’s web covers his face or tickling ants swarm over it from his forehead to the bridge of the nose, eye sockets, cheeks, jaws, teeth and mouth causing continual secretion of saliva which cannot all be swallowed (in one gulp). He is now disinclined to open his mouth or move his body, thus falling into a state of indistinctness in which nothing seems to exist, even his own body cannot be found, his breathing (appears to) stop and his pulses (to) cease beating. Vitality is fully developed and nurtures the immortal seed. Hence it is said; ‘Fullness of vitality makes the practiser forget all about eating.’
At this stage if he continues eating, the negative principle will remain and the positive principle will not be genuine and will arouse his appetite. As a result the immortal seed cannot form because of deficient vitality.
The practiser should train until he achieves stillness and radiance of his spirit which, when full, will make him forget about sleeping. When his vitality is fully developed and enables him to dispense with eating, he reaches the stage of constant stillness and radiance in which breathing (appears to) cease and a massive golden light manifests while all discriminations stop arising, prior to his realisation of perfect serenity. This achievement is revealed by the moonlight appearing in the forehead which will remain constantly there if he is firmly determined to hold on to the original cavity of spirit (between and behind the eyes) while sparks appear between the eyebrows; both manifestations announce the full growth of the immortal seed.
Henceforth the practiser should guard against the drain of vitality in order to hold it in the body for nurturing and developing the immortal seed. During the latter’s growth he should avoid the ten following excesses: 1, excessive walking which adversely affects his nerves; 2, standing, his bones; 3, sitting, his blood; 4, sleeping, his blood vessels; 5, listening, his generative force; 6, looking (at things), his spirit; 7, speaking, his breath; 8, thinking, his stomach; 9, sexual pleasure, his life; and 10, eating, his heart. In short he should avoid all excesses which are very harmful.
While sitting in meditation the practiser should never: 1, give rise to thoughts which cause the (inner) fire to flare up; 2, relax his concentration to avoid cooling down the (inner) fire; 3, look at external objects, for there the spirit wanders thereby harming the incorporeal soul (hun); 4, listen to outer sounds, for this scatters the generative force and so harms the corporeal soul (p’o); 5, breathe quickly, for such breaths disperse easily and cannot be regulated; and 6, break his breath rhythm, for its abrupt stoppage will make it weak when resumed; and when he suddenly stops breathing he cools his (vital) breath and when he starts again suddenly he heats it thereby damaging the immortal seed. If he does not pay attention to all this he will achieve nothing.
Therefore, when thoughts arise the practiser should use the inner fire that has flared up to turn the wheel of the law (i.e. direct it into the microcosmic orbit) to wipe them out, but he should never turn it when unsteady concentration has cooled down the inner fire so as not to injure the immortal seed. His eyes should not look at things but should be closed and turned back to gaze at the white light that appears between them; this is correct seeing. If he is stirred by sense data and opens his eyes to look outward, his concentration and spirit will scatter damaging the immortal seed. His ears should not listen to external sounds and voices because if his hearing is disturbed not only will his heart and body shake but also the immortal seed will be affected and scatter. He should not be impatient about forming the immortal seed because impatience will stir the heart and prevent the seed from developing. His training should take its natural course, that is it should be neither overlooked nor stressed. His awareness of spirit in the cavity of vitality (under the navel) should not be increased by the thought of holding it there, for unless he breathes naturally all the time he will never reach the state of indistinctness.
At this stage the genital organ will draw in but when its root dilates and shakes the practiser may mistake this as revealing the formation of the immortal seed. If the latter is mature he should stop the inner fire to gather the macrocosmic alchemical agent; if it is not he should take advantage of this vibration of vitality to turn the wheel of the law (i.e. the microcosmic orbit) to nurture that seed.
There is a method of knowing whether the immortal seed is mature or not which consists of placing an oil lamp in front of the practiser whose eyes should gaze at its flame while rolling them from left to right nine times, after which he closes them. If a great moonlight appears between the eyes, as bright as the glare of lightning which neither increases nor contracts, the immortal seed is mature. If he sees a circle whose centre is obscure and border bright, the seed is immature; in this event further training is necessary.
The above method is to raise the inner fire to arouse spiritual fire so that the golden light appears. It should not be practised frequently in order to avoid dizziness and waste of vitality that radiates, for the aim of the practice is to realise this prenatal vitality and also the manifestation of this light which is spirit that lies between (and behind) the two eyes. For the ultimate goal of thousands of methods of practice does not go beyond the realisation of vitality and spirit.
During my meditation under the guidance of my masters Liao Jen and Liao K’ung, I practised the ten steps to build up the generative and vital forces in sufficient quantities and then to transmute the generative force into its prenatal form of vitality in order to produce the immortal seed. During each daily sitting I drew the pupils of my eyes close together to concentrate on my lower abdomen until I felt something like itching over my face, a spider’s web covering it and a swarm of ants crawling over it; this showed that prenatal vitality pervaded all parts of my body. The dragon’s hum and tiger’s roar were in my ears, and more saliva gathered than I could swallow (in one gulp). Then suddenly I sank into a state of indistinctness wherein my consciousness and awareness of things seemed to vanish. My body seemed to roam on the top of the clouds. This revealed prenatal vitality that nurtured and developed the immortal seed.
This seed is immature if it contains negative breath and mature if free of it. When it matures the practiser does not want to sleep and when prenatal vitality is full he does not want to eat. At this stage when he breathes in and out through the nostrils or mouth, no outside air (appears to) enter or leave by them. Then a white light appears constantly in front of him and his body cannot be found anywhere.
This is the preliminary stage of serenity in which he should guard against nocturnal emission that drains his generative force. He should avoid strain and overwork by day because if he is too tired the positive principle will drain away at night. He should rest by sitting in meditation in order to nurture and develop the immortal seed as his main objective. He should avoid inquiring into anything so that his ears hear nothing and his heart (the house of fire) is disengaged from all sense data. If thoughts arise inadvertently he should immediately turn the wheel of the law, close and turn back his eyes to gaze at the light of immortal seed, then rising thoughts will disappear automatically. While dwelling in this thoughtless state he should look into the lower tan t’ien centre (under the navel) in which a gentle breath fans the vitality. The latter becomes hot and from it the light of the elixir will rise so that the whole space between the navel and the eyes is filled with a white light. The root of the genital organ will then vibrate and he may wrongly think that the immortal seed is mature but it is not. He should take advantage of the vibration to gather the alchemical agent to nurture that seed.
In order to know if the seed is mature or not, he should follow the method previously mentioned by placing an oil lamp in front of him and looking at its flame while rolling his eyes round from left to right nine times; if he then closes them and sees a great white light surrounded by lightning-like sparks, the immortal seed is mature. If he sees a dark circle surrounded by sparks, the seed is immature; in this event he should gather the alchemical agent to develop that light, and then practise once more the twelve steps (taught in this book). This is called raising and lifting the inner fire to produce spiritual fire in order to see if the seed is fully developed but do not do this too often or it will cause dizziness and harm the generative force, vitality and spirit.
The master P’eng Mou Chang said: ‘The method of producing the immortal seed consists of “uniting” the heart with the eyes for pointed concentration on the lower abdomen so that if vibration is felt there, vitality can be immediately circulated (in the microcosmic orbit) for purification, but the slightest carelessness on the part of the practiser can cause it to drain away thereby nullifying all previous progress.
‘If at this preliminary stage the genital organ shrinks this does not prove that it is really drawn in. If the immortal seed only sparks it is immature. The practiser should continue to work diligently until the penis (appears to) shrink into the lower abdomen. A white light will first appear in front of the eyebrows and, as time passes, will fill the space between them and the lower tan t’ien (under the navel); this reveals the maturity of the immortal seed. But if after long training this light fails to appear the practiser should light and place an incense stick before him, and then focus his eyes to gaze at its burning tip; after rolling them round from left to right nine times, the immortal seed will be completely mature and bright. Further training is needed to lift this bright light of the elixir from the lower tan t’ien (under the navel) to the eyes which will then flash two or three times. This light of the elixir glitters like pure gold and resembles a ball of fire which is a sign that the immortal seed is fully developed.’
The old master Liu Yun P’u said: ‘The practiser should know the method of nurturing and developing the immortal seed. If the spirit is not serene the seed cannot form and the elixir of immortality cannot be prepared. If (vital) breath is not held in the lower tan t’ien the light of the seed does not appear. Both heart (house of fire) and breath should be frozen in the lower tan t’ien; although the (vital) breath may leave it occasionally, the heart should never stray from it. The heart and the pupils of the eyes should always concentrate on that centre until the postnatal (vital) breaths return and stay there to sustain prenatal vitality which will nurture and develop the seed that causes the light of the elixir to manifest. The latter is like a ball of fire, the size of a bullet, in the lower tan t’ien centre which will become hot causing the root of the genital organ to vibrate and set prenatal vitality in motion. The practiser should now visualise this vitality as rising from the base of the spine in the channel of control (tu mo) up to the ni wan or brain, thence descending (by the channel of function) to the mortal gate (at the base of the penis) to spread to all parts of the body and limbs. As a result vitality and blood will become all-pervading, invigorate the body and nurture and develop the immortal seed.’
The immortal T’an Chih Ming said: ‘The great Tao consists of sublimating the generative force into vitality whose fullness will nurture and develop the immortal seed, the light of which reveals the real positive generative force. This is the cultivation of both (essential) nature and (eternal) life, the object of which is to realise full development of positive vitality. If spirit wavers causing nocturnal emission of the ‘most precious thing’ the absence of this light confirms the loss of real positive generative force. All students should pay particular attention to this sublimating method for if the immortal seed is properly nurtured within, it will sustain the positive generative force without, causing the light of (essential) nature and (eternal) life to manifest.’
The Nan Hua Ching says: ‘The real positive generative force is mysterious.’ The Tao Te Ching says: ‘The generative force which is real, exists within that which is profound and mysterious.’ This real generative force is the true seed in the human body. Since it is indistinct, it is called t’ai chi (the supreme ultimate) and since it is the beginning of creativity, it is called prenatal (hsien t’ien). Since it is the undivided yin-yang (the union of the negative and the positive) it is called the One vitality. It is also called the yellow bud (huang ya), the mysterious pearl (hsuan chu) and positive generative force (yang ching). If this generative force is frozen between heaven (the head) and earth (the lower abdomen) it becomes the light of immortal seed.
Question You have said that if the practiser has not received instruction from competent masters, the inner light which he may produce will not be full and bright. Will you explain why?
Answer It is called the light of vitality (hui kuang) and when it develops fully it is called the golden light (shan kuang). The generative force which is still immature cannot produce the white light of vitality and the immortal seed which is immature cannot produce the golden light. The light of vitality is like the moon and the golden light (of the seed) shines like pure gold.
The immortal seed is the crystallisation of positive generative force. When the latter is fully developed the practiser should turn back his eyes to concentrate on and look into the lower tan t’ien centre (under the navel) so that the element of fire in the eyes which are above scorches that of water in the belly which is below, to produce positive vitality whose light manifests in front of him. The fullness of the generative force manifests as the white light of vitality and the fullness of the immortal seed as a golden light which reveals negative vitality within the generative force. The light of the eyes directed downward is positive and when the positive and negative lights meet, a precious light (pao kuang) will emerge.
This is like an electric current which, when the positive and negative poles are joined, gives a bright light, unless the power supply is deficient. In the same way unless the generative force has been fully restored to its strength at puberty it cannot produce the light of vitality which is white like moonlight.
When the generative force has been restored in full and becomes as effective as at puberty, which is revealed when the genital organ draws in, both positive and negative vitalities unite to produce a bright golden light which shines like pure gold. The white light of vitality reveals the imperfect body containing the negative principle which can produce earthly states while the golden light reveals the fullness of generative force, vitality and spirit which unite into a whole.
Any dimness in the light of vitality and in the golden light is caused by nocturnal emission of the ‘precious thing’. This is likened to a short circuit that causes a blackout. If the electric bulb is broken, air will enter it and the light goes out. Likewise, if thoughts are allowed to arise during the meditation, outside air will enter the body and blow out the precious light. Students should pay particular attention to all this.
Question You have said that the practice of gathering and lifting fire to produce spiritual fire so that the golden light manifests, should not be repeated often as it causes dizziness and dissipates prenatal vitality. Will you please explain why?
Answer The organ of nature (hsin ken or the heart) is linked with the cavity of life (ming ch’iao or the lower tan t’ien under the navel) by a channel called the ch’ung ch’iao or ch’ung mo MNOA (see figure 8). When the (exhausted) generative force has been fully restored by the alchemical process, it will have access to the ocean of (essential) nature (hsin hai); this is the (tsu ch’iao) cavity in the centre of the brain which is linked with the two eyes and also with the heart (see here). If in spite of this connection the precious light does not manifest at the early stage of practice, it is because the centre of (essential) nature (i.e. the tsu ch’iao) is still closed.
Figure 8 The channels of control, function and thrusting.
In order to open this centre of (essential) nature the practiser should place an oil lamp in front of him and concentrate his eyes on its flame, rolling them from left to right nine times to vibrate the (positive) vitality in that centre (between and behind the eyes) so that it drops to the cavity of (eternal) life (under the navel) already full of (negative) vitality so that both vitalities unite to thrust open the original cavity of spirit (tsu ch’iao in the centre of the brain). This is called the breakthrough of the original cavity from which the precious light emerges.
This light is bright like that of the moon, revealing the fullness of generative force and is called the light of vitality. When this light turns golden and glitters like pure gold, revealing the maturity of immortal seed, it is called golden light. If the centres at F and G are not linked the turning of the eyes will join them up. If the centres at L and A are not linked the process of sublimating vitality at D and J will join them up.
The technique of lifting fire should on no account be used frequently for to do so causes dizziness and injures vitality. Each turn of the eyes causes vitality in the cavity of life to soar up, spreading to the mouth, eyes, ears and nostrils which are the seven openings by which vitality scatters away. Of the seven, the heavenly pool cavity (t’ien ch’ih) above the mouth is the opening by which the greatest quantity of vitality drains away. This is why the loss of vitality due to excessive speaking and singing is comparatively greater than in other activities. Hence all practisers of Taoist meditation always touch the palate with the tip of the tongue whether they walk, stand, sit or recline, not only to block the heavenly pool and prevent the drain of vitality, but also to make a bridge by which vitality descends from the hsuan ying centre (the mysterious bridle behind the heavenly pool in the palate) down the throat, heart (M), chiang kung cavity (solar plexus) (N), lower tan t’ien centre (0), and mortal gate (A) to nurture the immortal seed.
All students should know that in the upper part of the body if the cavity of the heavenly pool (in the palate) is not blocked the hsuan ying cannot open; that in the lower part of the body if the channel of function (jen mo) is not blocked the control channel (tu mo in the spine) cannot open; and that in the middle part of the body if the other six channels (ch’ung mo, tai mo, yang ch’iao, yin ch’iao, yang wei and yin wei)2 are not blocked, the cavity of spirit (between and behind the eyes) will not open and the vitality in the immortal foetus cannot come out.
When writing the above paragraph I could not refrain from tears (for it is not easy for students to meet enlightened masters). I have endured all sorts of difficulties and hardships in my search for well over thirty masters of whom only a few were truly enlightened whereas the majority were incompetent. This shows that it is not easy to find the authentic teachings which I now present in this book. If readers peruse it they will acquire in a short time the secrets of alchemy.
1The tiger’s roar heard in the left ear reveals the fullness of vitality, and the dragon’s hum in the right ear reveals the fullness of generative force.
2See here for detailed description of the eight psychic channels.