The words of the myriad books on immortality are all the same – the golden elixir alone is the root source.
The substance is produced on the ground of the position of EARTH planted in the chamber of intercourse in the house of HEAVEN,
Do not think it strange that the celestial working has been leaked – it is because students are confused and ignorant.
(Understanding Reality, Cleary translation, p. 54)
This verse talks of the great way of the golden elixir, of transcending the common and entering the path of the sages. It is the final verse in the initial sequence of the Wù Zhēn Piàn.
The previous verses spoke of how the effect of the golden elixir was vastly superior to that of the side tracks, and how one could see that only this matter is factual, no other way was real. But it is not only this book, the Wù Zhēn Piàn, that states this: each of the ten thousand classics of elixir are concerned only with this single matter.
The pre-heaven Yì Jīng of Fúxī brings up Qián, Kun, Kăn and Lí; he was the elder pioneer who cleared the mountain for this temple of elixir classics. The Dào Dé Jīng and Qīng Jìng classics solely model themselves on Being-as-is. Although they directly point to the path of wúwéi, the effect of the golden elixir is already there within.
The books of Yīn Fù and Cān Tóng want people to return to their root, and although they detail practices that are yŏuwéi (ie, active as opposed to wúwéi), yet the effect in the final analysis still comes back to the great way of Being-as-is.
And everything that Zhuāngzi and Lièzi and the Wénshì Jīng expounded comes back to this, and what Zhōnglĭ Quán and Master Sea Toad described—all are just this: investigating the root of Essence and Life in order to set up the principle of the golden elixir. And as for the saying “only the golden elixir is worthwhile,” this is the root source.
The effect of the golden elixir is explained in detail within the text, but the gist of it is merely to produce medicine in the furnace of Kūn (坤爐) and congeal the fetus in the cauldron of Qián (乾鼎). These two phrases cover it all.
In terms of the golden elixir, the great medicine is produced when Kăn and Lí start to interact—this is the work in the palace of Kūn. As to culling according to the time, ascending to the entrance of the Celestial Valley, and guiding the return to the Yellow Court, these are all in the household of Qián.
In terms of elixir reversion (还丹), it is using a gentle fire to warm and nourish the medicine that has been gathered into the furnace; again, work in the palace of Kūn. As to the practice of concentrating fire and metal in close interaction at the peak of Kūnlún, this too is in the household of Qián.
When Master Cui said the birth is from Kūn, the seed is from Qián he was referring to all the above. This is why the line in the text here says The substance is produced on the ground of the position of EARTH (Kūn) planted in the chamber of intercourse in the house of HEAVEN (Qián).
Exposing things to this extent, Master Zhāng could be said to have openly revealed the secret Celestial mechanism. Yet worldly people still are misled by side-tracks! They might take, for example, ‘you’ and ‘I’ as Qián and Kūn, a mistake which destines them for the lowest reach of hell. Or they might take ‘above the navel’ and ‘below the vertex’ in the body as Qián and Kūn, thus working their way toward the ghost cave at Black Mountain (黑山鬼窟). Isn’t this the ultimate stupidity?
The Fat Monk 