Elixir Fields 1 Middle Elixir Field (Crimson Palace)

1. Emending chiang 降 to chiang 絳.

Notes to Page 17 (94-95)

3. The wu 午 is one of the twelve Chinese double-hours, it corresponds to the period between 11 AM and 1 PM.

4. Southern Palace (nan-kung 南宮), also called the Vermilion Palace (chu-kung 朱宮), Vermilion Mound (chu-ling 朱陵), or Fire Palace (huo-fu 火府), was the locale where the p'o of the dead were refined for rebirth. Originally, the Southern Palace seems to have been associated with the seven southern lunar lodgings – Well, Ghosts, Willow, Star, Bow, Wings, and Carriage.

5. The chamber for refinement of the shen is the place of mutual conjunction of the hun and p'o. 6. The Young Girl (ch'a-nü 姹女) symbolizes the cavities and ch'i or fluids (yeh 液) of the heart. The

figure seated above the trigram li (☲) in the heart region is the Young Girl.

7. The expression "Blue-Eyed Foreign Child" (pi-yen hu-erh 碧眼胡兒) is reminiscent of the Chinese Buddhist term "blue-eyed foreign monk" (pi-yen hu-seng 碧眼胡僧). The latter expression is a standard name for Bodhidharma, the founder of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism; it appears in the Diagram of

the Inner Channels (Nei-ching T'u 内經圖).

8. When consciousness is withdrawn from the Crimson Palace, the individual's mental activity is dominated by constant thoughts and worries. Needham writes that ssu-lü chih shen 思慮之神 means "mental activity eaten up by anxiety and worry" (1983: 26). He also notes that "The primary ching deteriorates into the seminal essence of sexual intercourse (chiao kan ching 交感精); the primary

chhi changes into respiratory pneuma (hu hsi chhi 呼吸氣); and the primary shen is 'sicklied o'er by the pale cast of thought' (ssu lü shen). These three primary endowments being thus dribbled away, it

is exceedingly hard to regenerate the original innocence (thien chen 天眞)." (1983: 47, emphasis added).

9. Hou-chiu-t'ien 後九天.

10. Among the five phases, the heart corresponds to Fire; when the heart is tranquil, the heart's deity resides in the heart. On the contrary, when the heart/mind is full of anxiety and worries, the deity leaves the heart. This latter state is referred to as the "dragon exiting from within the fire" (lung

ts'ung huo li ch'u 龍從火裏出).

4.2. Lower Elixir Field

1. True Tiger (chen-hu 眞虎) is true ch'i and true water (seminal secretion); it emerges from the palace of k'an while the true dragon emerges from the palace of li.

2. Reading K'an-ti 坎地 instead of K'an 坎.

3. Variously translated as "infant", "child", "baby boy", "[male] baby", and "little baby", ying-erh 嬰兒 is associated with the kidneys or the kidney ching.

4. Fu-sang kung 扶桑宮. The fu-sang, or solar tree, is a mythical tree in the Eastern Sea, where the sun was thought to rise.

5. Sea of Energy (ch'i-hai 氣海) is another name for the lower elixir field. It is also the name of the sixth point of the Conception Vessel (CV 6). The acupuncture point is located on the midline of the lower abdomen, 1.5 tsun inferior the umbilicus and 3.5 tsun superior to the pubic symphysis.

6. Door of the Feminine (p'in-hu 牝戸) is also a synonym for the vulva.

7. The lower, middle, and upper elixir fields are the seats of the three primary energies ching, ch'i, and

shen respectively. Therefore the lower elixir field is associated with the ching.

8. Life Stem (ming-ti 命蒂) is an alternate name for the eighth point of the Conception Vessel (CV 8), more commonly known as Spirit Gate (shen-ch'üeh 神闕). It is located in the center of the navel and is an important passage for the circulation of fetal ch'i and blood.

9. "[G]eneration and transformation" translates tsao-hua 造化, which is also translated as "creation" or "creative mutation". The term is generally used as a synonym for the cosmos. Nature operates by means of these creative mutations and the changes (pien 變) of yin and yang.

10. The word translated here as "creating" is tsao-hua 造化. See note 9 above.

11. Metal ching (chin-ching 金精), also translated as "metal essence", has various meanings. It designates the ch'i of the essences pertaining to the Metal phase and the hexagram ch'ien 乾. In some sources, it means the original ching (yüan-ching 元精). It is also another term for the kidneys. In addition, in Taoist literature it is held to be a medicinal drug of the highest degree.

12. Hu hsiang shui-chung sheng 虎向水中生. The original ching (yüan-ching 元精) within the body is called "tiger".

Notes to Pages 17-18 (95-96)

13. The yang inside trigram k'an stands for the firmness of the true sense of real knowledge, while the

yin inside trigram li stands for receptivity, and also for mundane conditioning. The One Yang

Returning to Beginning (i-yang fu-ch'ui 一陽復初) is the point where the extreme yin gives birth to

yang. The energy of the true yang, which is the foundation of life, emerges at this point. In the yearly

cycle, the one yang returning to beginning is the winter solstice (Tung-chih 冬至), the period when the yang enery is engendered, while in the daily cycle it corresponds to the tzu 子 hour (11 PM - 1 AM).

14. Tzu 子 hour is the period between 11 PM and 1 AM.

15. Moon at the Bottom of the Sea (hai-te yüeh 海底月) is a metaphor for the tzu 子 hour. In the Lesser Celestial Circuit (hsiao-chou-t'ien 小周天), the tzu hour corresponds to Gathering of Yin (hui-yin 會陰) energy center of the perineum, located at the bottom of the torso, hence the metaphor "bottom of the sea".

16. Some sources suggest an emendation and read "Gate of Humanity" (jen-men 人門) instead of "Human-Light" (jen-ming 人明). The men 門 and ming 明 are roughly homophonous.

17. Ch'u-sheng wo ken-chi 初生我根基. This is a tentative translation, as the ch'u-sheng wo 初生我 can be also read as "new-born self" or "nascent self".

5. Three Passes