Daoist Cultivation, Book 21

A landmark of Daoist inner alchemy, Xìng Mìng Guizhi-full title «¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿»-sets out a clear, authoritative standard ("Touchstone") for the dual cultivation of Xìng and Mìng.

Xìng Mìng Guizhi is arranged in four parts named after the four virtues of the Qián hexagram (¿¿¿¿):

Yuán Collection (¿¿: Original / Prime) - Book 21

Heng Collection (¿¿: Flourishing / Pervasive) - Book 22

Lì Collection (¿¿: Beneficial / Advantageous) - Book 23

Zhen Collection (¿¿: Correct / Constant / Persevering) - Book 24

This volume presents the complete translation of the Yuan (Original/Prime) Collection, the foundation of the work's fourfold sequence (¿-Yuan, ¿-Heng, ¿-Li, ¿-Zhen). It includes the classic diagrams and programmatic chapters that made the text central to Daoist internal alchemy while harmonizing Confucian ethics and Buddhist mind-training.

What's insideFour historical front texts: Preface to the Essential Principles of Xìng and Mìng (two versions), On the Occasion of Carving the Essential Principles, Inscription for Perfected Yin's Complete BookThe Yuan Collection in full, featuring: Diagram of Universal Illumination, Turning the Light Around, Timed Illumination, Inner Illumination, Tàijí Elaboration, Center Diagram, etc-plus chapters such as Nine-Turn Refining of the Heart, Fire-Dragon & Water-Tiger, Sun-Crow & Moon-Rabbit, Five Qì Paying Court to the Origin, Returning the Eight Consciousnesses to the Origin, On Ascending in Flight, and more.

How this edition reads

Technical key terms are kept in pinyin (e.g., Xìng, Mìng, Kan, Lí, dantián, Niwán, Guanyuán) with first-mention glosses-preserving doctrinal precision without flattening meanings.

The translation highlights the text's unity of the Three Teachings: Confucian dé/xíng (virtue/conduct) as the furnace, Daoist Lead-Mercury / Dragon-Tiger method and cosmology (Tàijí, Five Phases, Heavenly Stems), and Buddhist Eight Consciousnesses / alaya-vijñana as a psychology of release.

Diagrams are treated as practical maps that show where to begin (front and rear Three Passes, Rèn and Du vessels, timing of qì), while doctrinal chapters braid cosmology, physiology, and soteriology into one line of work ruled by the Center (Yellow Court).

Who this book is for

Practitioners of neidan/Daoist meditation, students of Chinese religion and philosophy, Chan/Zen readers curious about alchemical counterparts, and anyone seeking a rigorous, jargon-clear doorway into the classic project of reuniting Xìng and Mìng.

Bottom line: The Yuan Collection gives you the compass. Fewer extremes, more constancy; less chasing of phenomena, more fidelity to the Middle-the Touchstone by which all later work in the series is measured.