2.3. Refining Breath to Transmute it into Spirit

“Refining Essence to transmute it into Breath” is the “initial barrier.” Essence is refined with Breath, and forms a Breath that becomes the “mother of the Elixir” (danmu ). At this stage, “the Three return to the Two.” In the next stage, “refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit,” Breath is refined with Spirit, so that it returns to Spirit. At this stage, which is also called the “intermediate barrier,” “the Two return to the One.” After the “intermediate barrier,” there will be only the One Spirit (yishen ), and one will be able to progress to the “higher barrier.”

The “intermediate barrier” is also called Barrier of the Ten Months (shiyue guan ). The terms used to describe this stage include Great Medicine (dayao ), Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai ), “bathing at the four cardinal points” (sizheng muyu ), “moving the tripod” (yiding ), “going back and forth between the two Fields” (ertian fanfu ), and Greater Celestial Circuit (da zhoutian ). The Barrier of the Ten Months uses the metaphors of the ten-month pregnancy and the nurturing of the Numinous Medicine (lingyao ). When the practice reaches this stage, it has already entered into its idealistic portion: it is deemed that if this stage of the practice is successful, one can invert the process of aging and return to youth, extend the length of one’s life and obtain longevity.

However, although “refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit” abounds in ideals of a religious nature, it also involves arduous practice. The alchemical methods have evolved from the self-cultivation arts of the fangshi (“masters of the methods”); they are related to ancient medicine, but do not draw on the shamanic and mediumistic arts (wushu ) and are not concerned with fictional discourses. The methods, nevertheless, are complex, and for this reason few practitioners reach this stage of inner refinement. But even when these practices to not attain full achievement, they are beneficial to the mind and the body; therefore I will introduce several relevant terms, with brief explications that may be consulted while reading the alchemical texts.

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The Great Medicine (dayao 大藥 )

According to the principles of alchemy, between the stages of “refining Essence to transmute it into Breath” and “refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit” there is an intermediate stage. At that time, the Internal Medicine and the External Medicine coagulate with one another. First, by means of the external cycling of the Celestial Circuit, one accumulates the External Medicine; then, through the operation of Spirit, the External Medicine is moved to the lower Cinnabar Field and rapidly generates the Internal Medicine. When the Internal and the External Medicines coagulate and coalesce together in the lower Cinnabar Field, they form the Great Medicine (dayao ). This is the so-called “mother of the Elixir” (danmu ). After a further refining of seven days, which is called “entering the enclosure” (ruhuan ), it forms the Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai ), also called the Infant (ying’er ). “Entering the enclosure” is also called “barrier of sitting” (zuoguan ); in Buddhism, it is called “confinement” (biguan ).

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The Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai 聖胎 )

In one of the poems quoted above, Awakening to Reality says:

三家相見結嬰兒，嬰兒是一含真氣，十月胎圓入聖基。

When the three families see one another,

the Infant coalesces.

The Infant is the One

holding True Breath;

in ten months the embryo is complete —

this is the foundation for entering sainthood. ¹

Liu Yiming explains this poem as follows:

和合四象、攢簇五行，則精、氣、神凝結。是云三家相見，名曰嬰兒，又曰先天一氣，又曰聖胎，又曰金丹。

When the four images join one another, and when the five agents gather together, then Essence, Breath, and Spirit coagulate and coalesce one with the other. Therefore it says “the three families see one another.” This is called the Infant, the One Breath prior to Heaven, the Embryo of Sainthood, the Golden Elixir. ²

Wu Shouyang says:

胎即神炁耳，非真有嬰兒也，非有形有象也。蓋大丹之成，先以神入乎其炁，後炁來包乎其神，如胎兒在胞中無呼吸又不能無呼吸，生滅之相尚在，出入之跡猶存，若胎孕之將產時，故比喻之曰懷胎、移胎、出胎。

The Embryo is nothing but Spirit and Breath. It does not mean that there is truly an infant, or that it is something provided with a form and an image. Essentially, in the formation of the Great Elixir, first the Spirit enters the Breath, then the Breath is embraced by the Spirit. It is like an embryo in the womb: it does not breathe, but cannot live without breathing. Existence and extinction coexist in it with one another, coming and going are together in it with one another. It is like the coming to life of an actual embryo; this is why we use the metaphors of pregnancy (huaitai ), “moving the embryo” (yitai ), and delivery (chutai ). ³

The terms used by Wu Shouyang in this passage are metaphors for the return of Spirit to the state of “great stability” (dading ) at this stage of the practice. With some exaggeration, the alchemical masters speak of “pregnancy in the middle Cinnabar Field” (zhongtian huaitai ). The texts, however, never say that this should be understood in a literal way.

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“Bathing at the Four Cardinal Points” (sizheng muyu 四正沐浴 )

The term “four cardinal points” (sizheng ) refers to the four spatiotemporal markers Zi 子 , Wu 午 , Mao 卯 , and You 酉 , and to the four seasons, namely spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Zi and Wu respectively correspond to North and South; their images in the precelestial arrangement of the trigrams are Qian ☰ and Kun ☷ . Mao and You respectively correspond to East and West; their images in the precelestial arrangement of the trigrams are Kan ☵ and Li ☲ .

In addition, Zi, Wu, Mao, and You serve to mark the practice of “bathing” (muyu ). The Cantong qi says:

子南午北，互為綱紀。

Zi in the South, Wu in the North,

are each other’s guiding thread. ⁴

It also says:

龍西虎東，建緯卯酉。

Dragon in the West, Tiger in the East,

across the way are Mao and You. ⁵

In terms of locations, Zi is the Meeting of Yin (huiyin ) cavity; Wu is the Palace of the Muddy Pellet (niwan gong ); Mao is the Gate of Life (mingmen ); and You is the Crimson Palace (jianggong ). ⁶ In the Lesser Celestial Circuit, these are the locations of the “bathing at Mao and You” (maoyou muyu ). In the Greater Celestial Circuit, they refer instead to the times of “bathing”: since the Yang principle is born in the positions of these four cardinal points, one should innerly practice the method of “bathing” at the corresponding times.

In more detail, the difference between the “bathing” of the Lesser and the Greater Celestial Circuits is the following: In the Lesser Celestial Circuit, “bathing” consists in pausing Breath at the positions of Mao and You. In the Greater Celestial Circuit, instead, one does not perform the circulation of the River Chariot: the murky and misty Original Breath stays between the Yellow Court and the Cinnabar Field. At that time, “bathing” consists in “washing the mind and cleansing the thoughts,” steaming them with the True Breath, observing subtle silence and brightness with the eyes, and preventing the mind from wandering around unrestrained and becoming unstable.

Therefore, although there are set times, there are no set times. ⁷ As we have seen, Zhang Boduan says in his Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir :

火候不用時，冬至不在子，及其沐浴法，卯酉時虛比。

The Fire Times have no times,

the winter solstice is not at Zi (子 );

and as for the method of bathing,

the times of Mao and You are empty similitudes. ⁸

This means that the “four cardinal points” should be used in a flexible way: one should neither be mired in the images nor attached to the words, and should not be bound by either images or words. Zhongli Quan said: “When you bathe for one year, defend yourself from dangers.” ⁹ “One year” is a conventional term; it refers to the four seasons, but also alludes to the “four cardinal points”: autumn corresponds to the East, summer to the South, autumn to the West, and winter to the North. Within this context, the practice of “bathing” should be performed in a flexible way. However, there should not be excesses, and one should not let one’s mind wander, for as soon as thoughts run unrestrained, dangers occur. The Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir says:

沐浴防危險，抽添自謹持，都來三萬刻，差失恐毫釐。

When bathing, defend yourself from dangers,

When lessening and augmenting, carefully guard yourself.

Altogether there are thirty thousand periods:

watch for even the slightest mistake. ¹⁰

This poem warns once more that, during the practice of “bathing at the four cardinal points,” one should not let one’s mind wander.

In the Greater Celestial Circuit, “bathing” uses “constancy” (chang ). In the same spirit of the Daode jing , which says, “Constantly having no intentions, you observe its marvels; constantly having intentions, you observe its boundaries,” ¹¹ in “bathing” there are constant stability and constant awareness. Once again, this differs from the “bathing” of the Lesser Celestial Circuit: by virtue of constant stability the thoughts appear to cease, and by virtue of constant awareness one should practice in accordance with “four cardinal points.” However, this practice consists in inner contemplation (neiguan ), and under this respect it is not different from the pausing at Mao and You that occurs in the Lesser Celestial Circuit.

Awakening to Reality says:

兔雞之月及其時，刑德臨門藥象之，到此金丹宜沐浴，若還加火必傾危。

As the months of the hare and the rooster reach their time,

punishment and virtue approach the gates — the Medicine takes these images as models.

When you came to this, the Golden Elixir should be bathed:

if you again increase the fire, you will be in danger. ¹²

Mao and the hare correspond to the spring equinox and to Wood; since they are the life-giving Breath, they are called “virtue” (de ). You and the rooster correspond to the autumn equinox and to Metal; since they are the life-taking Breath, they are called “punishment” (xing ). All these terms refer to the positions of the “four cardinal points.” “The Medicine takes these images as models” means that the emblems of the Medicine are Mao-Wood and You-Metal. At these times, therefore, one should stay in quiescence, perform inner observation, and steam the “mother of the Elixir” (danmu ) by means of the True Breath. Cui Xifan’s Ruyao jing says:

初結胎，看本命，終脫胎，看四正。

At first coalesce the Embryo,

whatch your fundamental destiny.

As you finally deliver the embryo,

watch the four cardinal points. ¹³

This poem enunciates the same important point.

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The Greater Celestial Circuit (da zhoutian 大周天 )

Seven days after the Great Medicine has been obtained, the barriers are cleared and one enters the stage of “refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit.” I will describe below the difference between the Greater and the Lesser Celestial Circuits.

In the Lesser Celestial Circuit, the External Medicine is collected and is moved to the lower Cinnabar Field by means of the River Chariot: it passes through the tripod above (the Palace of the Muddy Pellet), reaches the stove below (the Cinnabar Field), and is sealed there in order to be preserved. The sinciput is called Qian-Tripod (qianding ), and the lower Cinnabar Field is called Kun-Stove (kunlu ).

In the Greater Celestial Circuit, instead, the tripod is moved below: the Yellow Court is the tripod, and the lower Cinnabar Field is the stove. The Original Breath, murky and misty, simply stays in the empty space between the two Fields; it should be guarded in that space, instead of being firmly held within one of the two Fields.

When one allows this to occur in a natural a flexible way, and by preserving a state of inaction, the Numinous Radiance (lingguang ) will not be extinguished. This is actually the practice of “entering stability” (ruding , in which one proceeds from “doing” (youwei ) to “non-doing” (wuwei ). “Breath” itself proceeds from subtle movement to non-movement, and is exhausted and transmuted. The operation of the True Intention (zhenyi ) also advances from the eyes’ faculty of sight to a state of non-perception (wujue ).

A poem of Awakening to Reality alludes to this state by saying:

果生枝上終期熟，子在胞中豈有殊。

A fruit grows on the branches

and ripens at the end of season:

could the Child in the womb

be different from this? ¹⁴

An oral instruction on the alchemical practice says:

三萬刻中無間斷，行行坐坐轉分明。

Throughout thirty thousand periods there is no interval:

walking or sitting, you constantly revolve the Light. ¹⁵

These words show that the Greater Celestial Circuit is not based on the cycling of Breath. It uses, instead, the function of subtle silence and brightness and the force of “entering stability” in order to allow the Original Spirit to grow and develop.

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The “True Zi Hour” (zheng zishi 正子時 )

“Refining Essence and transmuting it into Breath” uses the “living Zi hour” (huo zishi ). Despite the reference to the Zi hour, this is actually a code name to mean the time of the refining of the Medicine. Cui Xifan’s Ruyao jing says:

一日內，十二辰，意所到，皆可為。

Within one day,

during the twelve hours,

wherever the Intention goes,

all can be done. ¹⁶

This is unrelated to time: at the stage of “refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit,” the Great Medicine has already been formed, and thus there is no need to return to the “living Zi hour.” When one produces the Great Medicine, therefore, the “living Zi hour” is not the time between 11 pm and 1 am, which is ordinarily meant by the Zi hour. “True Zi hour” denotes, instead, a state or a condition; one could call it a sign that the Great Medicine has been completed. At this time, as the alchemical texts say, the Cinnabar Field blazes, the kidneys swelter, the eyes emit a golden light, the wind blows behind the ears, the eagles cry behind the brain, the body bubbles, and the nose twitches. All this means that the time of the Great Medicine has come; and this is what is called the “true Zi hour.” The next step consists in allowing the Great Medicine to enter the Cinnabar Field, where it coagulates into the Elixir.

The stage of “refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit” constitutes an advanced stage of the alchemical work, in which one’s practice progresses from “doing” to “non-doing.” The Great Medicine is called Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai ) or Infant (ying’er ). Both terms are actually metaphors for Spirit and Breath coagulating and coalescing with one another. Wu Shouyang explains the meaning of these terms saying:

夫即喻之曰胎，宜若真似有胎矣，雖曰似胎，而實非胎也。何也？生人之理，胎嬰在腹 ; 修仙之理，胎神在心。世人但聞胎之名，而遂謂腹中實有一嬰兒出，而為身外身者，實可笑也。蓋人性至虛至靈，無形無體。

Metaphorically it is called “embryo,” as if there is truly an embryo. In fact, however, there is no embryo. Why is it so? Because according to the principle of giving birth, one generates the embryo of a child in the womb; and according to the principle of cultivating immortality, one generates an embryo of Spirit in the Heart. The worldly people hear the word “embryo” and say that within the womb there is truly an embryo, which then leaves and becomes “a body outside the body” (shen wai shen ). This is truly risible. Essentially, the human nature is perfectly empty and perfectly numinous; it is devoid of a form and a body. ¹⁷

Wu Shouyang was a heir of the alchemical methods of the Southern and Northern lineages. Although he was an eighth-generation disciple of Qiu Chuji’s (1148–1227) Northern Lineage, he did not reject the teachings of Zhang Boduan’s Awakening to Reality and Secret Text of Green Florescence . Therefore the explanation of the embryo quoted above elaborates on the views of Awakening to Reality .