歐冶親傳鑄劍方，鏌鋣金水配柔剛。

煉成便會知人意，萬里誅妖一電光。

Ou Ye personally transmitted a method for casting a sword; 

Mo Ye, with metal and water, alloyed flexibility and strength.

When the forging is complete, it can read people’s minds; 

A flash of lightning, slaying demons for ten thousand miles.

Cleary translation¹

Zhu Yuanyu’s commentary

This passage is discussing the use of the golden elixir sword of wisdom. It is meant to be employed together with the previous passages discussion of ‘bathing.’ When the ancient teachers reached this point, they would be unable to suppress a smile, due to the strange coincidence of legends of miraculous physical swords which were analogies of the golden elixir’s non-physical sword of wisdom.

Now the method of forging these swords requires rigorous tempering with metal and water to complete them; the work of congealing the elixir likewise must be obtained through refining metal and water. The true qi of the two arcs² of metal and water, one hard and the other soft, combine to form the elixir. This exactly resembles the miraculous sword which was created via the pairing of Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, which formed the treasure. The subtle employment of the two arcs requires oral instruction by a true teacher, which again resembles the necessity for Ou Ye to pass on the subtle secrets of forging swords. This is why the passage says:

Ou Ye personally transmitted a method for casting a sword; 

Mo Ye, with metal and water, alloyed flexibility and strength.

When the qi of the two arcs is subtly joined and congealed, then the true fire of the oven of Kun tempers and refines it, transforming them into one qi, making a sharp sword that can cut a floating hair. This is called the sword of wisdom. The edge of this sword cannot be touched, lest you lose your life.

The marvel is in the three words Knowing Human Intent.³ “Intent” (意) is the true ruler of the yellow centre. Intent is this sword, the sword is Intent: there it stands before your eyes, but if you don’t see it, it might as well be ten thousand miles away.

At the time when the great medicine must enter the oven, if yin demons come to interfere, then use the sword of wisdom to its utmost, hitting them right on the head with the first stroke, immediately clearing even their shadows away. This is why the passage says:

When the forging is complete, it can read people’s minds

 A flash of lightning, slaying demons for ten thousand miles.

The first two sentences discuss the structure of the sword of wisdom, the last two lines discuss its use. Note that there is not really a sword of wisdom that one can use, it is actually nothing but the single point of spiritual light from the primal heaven.† And there are not really demons to put to death: they are but the first stirrings you feel of thoughts—it is another way of stating [what is suggested in the second line of the the hexagram Qian in the Yi Jing]: “eliminate the false”.

Ancestor Lü says about this very same sword: “I do have a sword, but it is different to the usual: first it cuts off greed, then it cuts off desire, and finally it cuts off all mental disturbance. That is my triple sword-play.”

This the the sword he was talking about.

Footnotes

1. This translation of the original verse is from Cleary’s Understanding Reality, page 111, where the verse has Liu Yiming’s commentary appended. It may be useful to compare Liu Yiming’s commentary with Zhu Yuanyu’s included here, in order to form a more complete picture of the meaning. For example, Liu explains the story of Mo Ye: “In ancient times there was a smith named Ou Ye: as he was casting a sword, it repeatedly failed to to turn out; his wife, Mo Ye, jumped into the forge and the work was accomplished in one firing. People called it the precious sword of Mo Ye, It was incomparably sharp.”

2. The “two arcs” are the ascending arc of the waxing moon and the descending arc of the waning moon, symbolising the growth of metal on the left and the descent of water on the right.

3. 知人意。Cleary translates this as “read people’s minds.”

†. 先天一点灵光。