Immortal Maiden Cao
Let me tell you all the plain truth: the stem of life has always lain in the true breath.
Illumine the body for long life, empty yet not empty; the numinous mirror holds heaven and contains the myriad things.
The Supreme Ultimate (Taiji) spreads its wonders and humans attain the One; having attained the One, hold it well and take care not to lose it.
When the palace chambers are empty and at ease, the spirit dwells there of itself; when the numinous abode is scorched and tormented, the blood and fluids wither.
Now grief, now joy, now brooding thought; now indulgence, now toil—the body is eaten away as by worms.
Harmed by morning, damaged by evening, deluded and unaware, the essence and spirit are lost in disorder with nothing to rely on.
Worn down bit by bit, one gradually declines; when the original harmony is used up, the spirit departs.
They say that walking is Chan and sitting too is Chan; a sage may be so, but not an ordinary person.
The tender young sprout must be kept hidden and sheltered; when the root consciousness is dim and confused, it easily wavers.
Idling away time and not knowing to clear the thorns—never have I heard of a fine crop growing from a barren field.
When nine years' work is complete and the fire timing is full, one responds to things with no mind and the spirit transforms swiftly.
No-mind is the true mind; forgetting both movement and stillness is freedom from desire.
Spirit is nature and qi is life; when the spirit does not run outward, the qi settles of itself.
These were originally two things—which is dearer? Lose them, and what will you take as your root and handle?
Blend them into one and then forget the one, and you can come and go together with primordial transformation.
To pass through metal and pierce stone is no hard thing; to depart sitting or pass away standing takes but an instant.
This Way is easy to know but not easy to practice; practice until you forget that you practice, and the Way is complete.
Do not take holding the breath as the true task; counting breaths and following diagrams are both wrong.
Of late you have put down the toils of the outer world, but if within the mind is still entangled, how is that any different?
Just look at the infant in the womb: how could it know to scheme and calculate with the mind?
Concentrate the qi to attain softness and the spirit long remains; the true breath comes and goes, gentle and unhurried of itself.
Continuous and winding, it returns to the original life; without drawing from it, the numinous spring always flows of itself.
Thirty-six thousand makes the great work, and the seasons and junctures of yin and yang lie within it.
Steaming and melting the passes and vessels, transforming the sinews and bones, light shines everywhere and nothing is not open.
The Three Peng flee from the house of the yin corpse, and ten thousand states come to pay homage at the Palace of the Red Emperor.
May I ask where the Perfected came from? From the beginning he was only ever in the Numinous Terrace.
In years past, clouds and mists deeply obscured him; meeting him today, the eye of the Way is opened.
This is not the work of a single morning or evening; it is my original truth, not a technique.
Firm as metal and stone in the cold of the year, repel the yin demons in battle and add to the power of wisdom.
All comes from emptiness and blandness, then from refined concentration; this is Huaxu, the land of clarity and stillness.
At first, with what do you lay the foundation? Arrive at non-action (wuwei), and there is nothing left undone.
The scenes and images within your thoughts must be cleared away; the spirit in dreams must be held firmly.
Neither moving nor still is the great essential; neither square nor round is the supreme Way.
Refine the original harmony within and you become perfected; seek outward through breathing and you never finish.
If the original qi does not stay, the spirit is not at peace; a worm-eaten tree without roots has withered branches and leaves.
Do not speak of mucus and saliva, essence and blood; reach the root and exhaust the source, and they are all one and the same.
When has this thing ever had a fixed place? It changes with the moment according to the heart and mind.
In the body, when it feels heat, it becomes sweat; in the eyes, when it feels sorrow, it becomes tears.
In the kidneys, when it feels desire, it becomes essence; in the nose, when it feels wind, it becomes mucus.
Flowing and circulating in every direction, it moistens the whole body; in the end it is nothing but the spirit water.
The spirit water is hard to describe and few recognize it; all that sustains life comes from the true qi.
Know only to be tranquil and without thought or worry; keep the fasts and precepts, calm the mind, and be sparing with words.
A single taste of the nectar of ghee and sweet dew, and hunger and thirst vanish as you see the true and simple.
One day, when the work is complete, you will roam free and at ease; but the early days of refining and cooking are truly hard toil.
Yet within the hard toil there is no toiling; at ease and leisure, one need only nourish the primordial spirit.
But alas, the mind drives you and you cannot be at ease; at this point, releasing and restraining lie wholly with the person.
Now I endure hardship upon hardship, still harder—eating from trees, clothed in grass, alone and in stillness.
The mind knows the Great Way but cannot practice it; fame, reputation, and the body are the great sickness.
Compared with laboring at practice in some quiet place, how much better to cultivate great stillness with calm composure.
Though body and spirit are said to be hard to perfect together, one cannot complete life before first completing nature.
Do not run after fame or chase profit; cut off worldly ties and all is free of affairs.
Resolve lies with the person—why linger? It lies with me—who else could govern me?
What use is a reputation that shakes the heavens? Writing dashed off beside one's horse is not worth prizing.
Have no mind for glory, fine clothes, or food; what good is piling up jade and heaping up gold?
Skill and cleverness, essays, lyrics, and rhapsodies—much ability obstructs the path of practice.
They are just like thin mist and light smoke, idly drifting by the fallen flowers and following the willow catkins.
Floating faintly and idly between heaven and earth, in the end they can never become rain or dew.
Fame or the self—which is dearer after all? Half a life's years have been spent in idle drifting.
Of late, cultivation depends on spirit and qi; if spirit and qi are not at peace, all the toil is in vain.
What a pity—such a fine foundation, a golden hall and jade chamber with no master.
Persuade the master to dwell there long, and place him where all is empty, at ease, and of no use.
The wondrous being within nothingness is hard to hold; to know how to nourish the infant, you must cherish the mother.
Seal away brilliant eloquence and dismiss cleverness; gather in your essence and spirit and become simple and dull.
With a firm heart and single will, let the road ahead take its course; the Great Way will never in the end fail anyone.
(Immortal Maiden Cao's original name was Xiyun. Later Emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty bestowed on her the name Daochong, and later again the titles Great Master Qingxu Wenyi, Master Daozhen Renjing, and Master Xiyuan Guanmiao. See the Record of the Shrine Hall of Master Xiyuan Guanmiao by Zheng Ang of the Song, included in volume 11 of the Records of Historic Sites of Bianjing (Bianjing Yiji Zhi), compiled by Li Lian of the Ming dynasty. This text comes from the second volume of the Compendium of Essential Sayings of the Immortals (Qunxian Yaoyu Zuanji), compiled by Dong Hanchun and included in the Zhengtong Taoist Canon, where it was originally titled The Song of the Great Tao by Immortal Maiden Cao Wenyi.)