The Grand Ultimate through this produces the Three Powers393 My parents through this nurtured my body (ti)
I should, using this, achieve the Reverted Elixir
Gestated in the Great Mist
Produced from the Kun and Fu [hexagrams]394 Round, bright and scintillating
This is the Light of the Toad
Yuguzi 玉谿子395 said: “Cut open the casing of the Grand Ultimate Out comes dew from the heart of Heaven and Earth396
393 Var.: Baiyunguan ed., wu xing 五行 “Five Phases” for san cai 三才.
394 I.e., pure yin and the initial rising of yang within yin.
395 This is the hao of Li Jianyi 李簡易, a Quanzhen Daoist from Yichun 宜春. The Daoist Canon contains his Master Jade Stream’s Basic Directions on Alchemical Texts (Yuqi zi danjing zhiyao玉谿子丹經指要 DZ 245), with prefaces dated 1264 and 1266 (Baldrian-Hussein in TC: 837). According to Darga, the above quote is not included in this collection (Darga 1999: 382 n. 149).
The Void is vast and limitless
A sliver of moon appears over the solitary peak”
On the bank of the Western river raise your head and look into the distance A beam of the light of the toad [i.e., moonlight] dips into the emerald waves
It’s a good time to cultivate two and eight397
Courteously and punctiliously entrust the charge to the Yellow Grannie
The Great Void is vast and empty. The luminous moon is bright and brilliant.
Waves of snow billow and surge. The Metallic Toad spits out a dazzling light. People see that which makes the moon bright then say: “When the metallic essence is replete the moon is bright.” Who knows398 that that which birthed [the] metallic [gleam] was
produced by the moon? People assume the metallic [gleam] is produced in the moon, not knowing the moons brightness originally comes from the sun.
The moon is a metaphor for the primordial disposition. Water is a metaphor for the Kan Palace.399 The Metallic Toad is a metaphor for the orifice from which emerges one spark of pure yang. Primordial disposition is a metaphor for the moon; [it represents]
the functioning of innate disposition. The initial appearance of disposition is round and
396 This couplet is garbled in many contemporary editions. Fu 2005 writes 剖出太極巴 for 剖開太極包. He also omits 出 in the next line, disrupting the pentasyllabic rhythm. The Baiyun guan edition also substitutes ba 巴 for bao 包.
397 According to Li Daochun in Zhongheji the “two” is half a jin of lead, the “eight” eight liang of mercury.
These were equal measurements at the time. Thus the phrase means to balance equally dichotomously defined elements (i.e., yin and yang) (Darga 1999: 390 n. 151).
A contemporary Taiwanese cultivator, unaware of the Li Daochun reference, interpreted this passage in terms of sexual cultivation: “It’s a good time to practice with one of sixteen/ Courteously and punctiliously/Entrust the charge [of procurement] to the Yellow Grannie [i.e., an intermediary].
398 Var.: Baiyun guan edition has “know well” (zhi zhi 孰知) for shu zhi 熟知.
399 I.e., the kidneys.
craggy, bright and shiny, in form similar to a meteor. Surely the physical disposition 400 pauses (xiaoxi 稍息),401 then the true disposition of primordial yang will manifest. Like the clouds open and the moon appears, the fog disperses and sunlight shines, only then can this object be seen. Clearly then this is produced by primordial qi. Quickly gather and collect it. This is like seeing and grabbing a thief.402 Don’t let him go again. Collect it back into the cauldron vessel. Then one spark of primordial qi—light of the toad—in the end cannot escape.
Commentary
The Encyclopedia of Chinese Daoism (Zhonghua daojiao dacidian 中华道教大辞典) defines
“Light of theToad” as “the first appearance of the primordial yang of true disposition,” or “the flourishing of true lead.”403 “True lead,” in turn, is defined as both “primordial disposition” and “primordial qi.”404 In the preceding discourse, however, it is stated that the emergence of primordial qi is predicated on that of primordial disposition.
While some experience the Light of theToad as a bright, shining circle that manifests in a state of deep meditation, it can also be distinguished by the presence of an erection in the practitioner. The latter is what is being alluded to in the above image of a toad “spitting out a dazzling light.” The discourse below advocates cultivating this energy at the moment of the first stirring of sexual desire.
A portion of this discourse is nearly identical to that found in three closely related texts:
Alchemical Teachings on the Internally Refined Gold Jewel, The Secret Compositions of (the deity) Qinghua (contained in) the Golden Casket of Jade Purity (Yuqing jinsi Qinghua miwen 玉清金笥青華秘文 金寶內鍊丹訣 DZ 240), ascribed to Zhang Boduan and recorded by his disciple Wang Bangshu 王邦叔;405
400 Qi zhi zhi xing 氣質之性. A phrase coined by Zhang Zai. Zhi 質 appears in Lunyu 16.8.
401 “[The movement] of physical nature pauses for a bit.” (Darga 1999: 150)
402 Var.: Fu 2005 repeats zei 賊: “seeing a criminal and capturing a criminal.”
403 Bie Zuyun 别祖云, “chan guang 蟾光,” in Hu 1995: 1223.
404 Bie Zuyun and Zhongfuzi 中孚子 [i.e., Hu fuchen], “Zhen qian 真铅,” in Hu 1995: 1219.
405 Baldrian-Hussein in TC: 829.
The Secret Compositions of (the deity) Qinghua (contained in) the Golden Casket of Jade Purity (Yuqing jinsi Qinghua miwen 玉清金笥青華秘文 ZW 281);406 and Alchemical Doctrines on the Internally Refined Gold Jewel, The Secret Compositions of (the deity) Qinghua (contained in) the Golden Casket of Jade Purity (Yuqing jinsi Qinghua miwen 玉清金笥青華秘文金寶內鍊丹訣 ZW 150).407
406 Overlapping portions of “Light of the Toad” ZWDS 9: 309. See also: I. 14.
407 Overlapping portions of “Light of the Toad” ZWDS 6: 149.