Alchemical Classics VI:
大成捷要 [柳華陽]
The Essentials of the Shortcut to the Great Achievement by Liu Hua Yang
Liu Hua Yang [柳华阳] together with Wu Shou Yang [伍守阳] make up the so-called Wu-Liu School with its main focus on Internal Alchemy [nei dan 內丹]. The former is also the author of the Scripture of Wisdom and Life [hui ming jing慧命經].
The following chapter originates from the alchemical classic ‘The Essentials of the Shortcut to the Great Achievement’ [da cheng jie yao大成捷要]. It details vital and indispensable requirements for meditation and stillness cultivation practices. It is a pure translation, whereas the first fifteen chapters from the very same classic are interspersed with explanations by our teacher Li Shi Fu, which can be found on the Five Immortals Temple webpage for free (http://fiveimmortals.com/the-essentials-of-the-shortcut-to-the-great-achievement/?fbclid=IwAR3jl6saqUnpCjQUGhjlFAscS8WecNu3BMZJQdtILVJwYJODsHkQZeAS_OI )
In Li Shi Fu’s own words this scripture is worth being translated…
…in order to transmit it to everyone with destiny in each and every country in the West, in order to explicate the upright principles of cultivation, in order to ignite a Heavenly light, as well as to make it unlikely for anyone to end up in misinterpretations and in losing one’s direction and way.
Chapter 20: [working draft]
炼药天机口诀
Oral Transmissions of the Heavenly Mechanism’s Refinement of the Medicine
所谓炼者何也？答曰 : 药即皈炉，速行锻炼之法。炼药真诀是呼吸并用。神存气穴，停其自然之息，以烹以炼，升则有心，降则有意，吸谓采取，呼谓烹炼。总要悠扬条畅，切忌猛烈短促。以三十六息为度，或七十二息亦可。将丹田气机扇开，炼得丹田自吹自嘘为止。从有心，以至於无心，由有为之呼吸，以至于无为之吹嘘，元精尽化为元气。皈宿于命宫，谓之炼也。此时炼药以后之文火，要多做百十息之久，方可宴息而卧，归入混沌。若罢功太早，而真精不能尽化成气，终有走失之患者也。
What is the so-called refinement? The answer is: ‘The medicine is namely the refuge to the furnace, and to swiftly carry out the method of refinement. The true transmission of refining the medicine is the combined application of inhalation and exhalation. When the spirit is preserved in the qi cavity [i.e the lower elixir field], one stops one’s natural breathing, in order to boil and refine [the elixir]. Ascent then is with having a heart-mind and descent then is with having intent. Inhalation is called picking and fetching [the medicine], while exhalation is is called boiling and refining [the medicine]. Nevertheless, one must always be mellifluous and smooth, avoiding by all means being fierce [in breathing] and gasping [for air]. One [must] consider thirty-six breaths as one’s measurement; or seventy-two breaths may also be fine. Fan-open the qi mechanism of the [lower] cinnabar field, until one’s refinement obtains the elixir field [sounds] of blowing and hissing by itself, then stop. [One progresses] from having a heart-mind to being without a heart-mind; from the dependence of action in inhalation and exhalation to non-action in blowing out and exhalation. The original essence is transformed completely into original qi. One [should] take refuge in the abode in the life palace; this is called refinement. This time is for the civil fire after refining the medicine, which one should do for the long period of a hundred or so breaths, only then is one able to breathe leisurely and may lie down, to return to entering the primal chaos. If one ceases one’s gong too early, then moreover the true essence will be unable to fully be transformed into qi, and eventually one will suffer its loss.
Post-Scriptum: Prints of this illustration from the book ‘The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao’ and many more fabulous paintings can be viewed and purchased from: https://www.jenniferkingstudio.com/collections/138316
Post-Post-Scriptum: Eventually Purple Cloud Press intends make the whole work (100+) chapters available to the English-speaking world.
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