Master Lii Tzu said: Since when has the expression "circulation of the Light" been revealed? It was revealed by the 64 True Men of the Beginning of Form " (Kuan Yin Hsi) (7). When the Light is allowed to move in a circle, all the powers of Heaven and Earth, of the Light and the Dark, are crystallized. That is what is described as seedlike, or puri ication of the power, or puri ication of the concept. When one begins to apply this magic, it is as if, in the middle of one's being, there were a non-being. When in the course of time the work is finished, and beyond the body there is another body, it is as if, in the middle of the non-being, there were a being. Only after a completed work of a hundred days will the Light be real, then only will it become spirit-fire. After a hundred days, there develops by itself in the middle of the Light, a point of the true Light-pole (yang). Suddenly there develops the seed pearl. It is as if man and woman embraced and a conception took place. Then one must be quite still in order to await it. The circulation of the Light is the epoch of ire.

In the midst of primal becoming, the radiance of the Light (Yang Kuang) is the determining thing. In the physical world it is the sun; in man the eye. The emanation and dissemination of spiritual consciousness is chie ly brought about by this power when it is directed outward (flows downward). Therefore the meaning of the Golden Flower depends wholly on the backward-flowing method.

Man's heart stands under the fire sign (8). The flames of the fire press upward. When both eyes are looking at things of the world it is with vision directed outward. Now if one closes the eyes and, reversing the glance, directs it inward and looks at the room of the ancestors, that is the backward-flowing method. The power of the kidneys is under the water sign. When the instincts are stirred, it runs downward, is directed outward, and creates children. If, in the moment of release, it is not allowed to low outward but is led back by the force of thought so that it penetrates th& crucible of the creative and refreshes heart and body and nourishes them, that also is the backward-flowing method. Therefore it is said: The meaning of the Elixir of Life depends entirely on the backward- lowing method.

Circulation of the Light is not only a circulation of the seed-blossom of the one body, but it is, in the irst place, a circulation of the ' true, creative, formative powers. It has to do, not with a momentary fantasy, but with the exhaustion of the circular course (soul-wanderings) of all the aeons. Therefore a breath-pause means a yearaccording to human reckoning-and a hundred years measured by the long night of the Nine Paths (of reincarnation), After a man has the one tone of individuation (9) behind him, he will be bom outward according to the circumstances, and not until he is old will he turn a single time to the backward- lowing way, vThe force of the Light exhausts itself and trickles away. That brings the nine-fold darkness (of rebirths) into the world. In the book Ling Yen (10) it is said: By concentrating the thoughts, one can fly; by concentrating the desires, one falls. When a pupil takes little care of his thoughts and much care of his desires, he gets into the path of depravity. Only through contemplation and quietness does true intuition arise: for that, the backward- lowing method is necessary.

In the book of the Secret Correspondences (11), it is said: Release is in the eye. In the Simple Questions of the Yellow Ruler (12) it is said: The seed-blossom of the human body must be concentrated upward in the empty space. That refers to it. Immortality is contained in this sentence and also the overcoming of the world is contained in it. That is the common goal of all religions.

The Light is not in the body alone, neither is it only outside the body. Mountains and rivers and the great Earth are lit by sun and moon; all that is this Light. Therefore it is not only within the body. Understanding and clarity, knowing and enlightenment, and all motion (of the spirit), are likewise this Light; therefore it is not just something outside the body. The Light- lower of Heaven and Earth ills all thousand spaces. But also the Light-flower of one body passes through Heaven and covers the Earth. Therefore, just as the Light is circulating, so Heaven and Earth, mountains and rivers, are all rotating with it at the same time. To concentrate the seed- flower of the human body above in the eyes, that is the great key of the human body. Children, take heed! If for a day you do not practise meditation, this Light streams out, who knows whither? If you only meditate for a quarter of an hour, you can set ten thousand aeons and a thousand births at rest. All methods take thei/ source in quietness. This marvellous magic cannot be fathomed.

But when the work is started, one must press on from the obvious to the profound, from the coarse to the fine. Everything depends on there being no interruption. The beginning and the end of the work must be one. In between there are cooler and warmer moments, that goes without saying. But the goal must be to reach the breadth of Heaven and the depths of the sea, so that all methods seem quite easy and taken for granted. Only then do we have it in hand.

All holy men have bequeathed this to one another: nothing is possible without contemplation (fan ckao, reflection). When Confucius says: Knowing brings one to the goal; or when Buddha calls it: The view of the Heart; or Lao Tzu says: Inward vision, it is all the same.

Anyone can talk about reflection, but he cannot master it if he does not know what the word means. What has to be changed by reflection is the self-conscious heart, which has to direct itself toward that point where the formative spirit is not yet manifest. Within our 6 ft. body, we must strive for the form which existed before the laying down of Heaven and Earth. If to-day people sit and meditate only one or two hours, looking only at their own egos, and call it contemplation, how can anything come of it?

The two founders of Buddhism and Taoism have taught that one should look at the end of one's nose. But they did not mean that one should fasten one's thoughts to the end of the nose. Neither did they mean that, while the eyes were looking at the end of the nose, the thoughts should be concentrated on the yellow middle.

Wherever the eye looks, the heart is directed also. How can the glance be directed at the same time upward (yellow middle), and downward (end of the nose), or alternating, so that it is now up, now down? All that means confusing the finger with which one points to the moon with the moon itself.

What is really meant by this? The expression, "end of the nose," is very cleverly chosen. The nose must serve the eyes as a guiding line. If one is not guided by the nose, either one opens wide the eyes and looks into the distance, so that the nose is not seen, or the lids shut too much, so that the eyes close, and again the nose is not seen. But when the eyes are opened too wide, one makes the mistake of directing them outward, whereby one is easily distracted. If they are closed too much, then one makes the mistake of letting them turn inward, whereby one easily sinks into a dreamy reverie. Only when the eyelids are sunk properly halfway, is the end of the nose seen in just the right way. Therefore it is taken as a guiding line. The main thing is to lower the eye-lids in the right way, and then to allow the Light to stream in of itself, without trying to force the Light to stream in by a concentrated effort. Looking at the nose serves only as the beginning of the inner concentration, so that the eyes are brought into the right direction for looking, and then are held to the guiding line: after that, one can let it be. That is the way a mason hangs up a plumb-line. As soon as he has hung it up, he guides his work by it without continually bothering himself to look at the plumb-line.

Fixating contemplation (13) is a Buddhist method which by no means has been handed down as a secret.

One looks with both eyes at the end of the nose, sits upright and in a comfortable position, and holds the heart to the centre in the midst of conditions (on the ixe3 pole in the flight of phenomena). In Taoism it is called the yellow middle, in Buddhism the centre in the midst of conditions. The two are the same. It does not* necessarily mean the middle of the head. It is only a matter of fixing one's thinking on the point which lies exactly between the two eyes. Then all is well. The Light is something extremely mobile. When one ixes the thought on the midpoint between the two eyes, the Light streams in of its own accord. It is not necessary to direct the attention especially to the central castle. In these few words the most important thing is contained.

The centre in the midst of conditions," is a very fine expression. The centre is omnipresent; everything is contained in it; it is connected with the release of the whole process of creation. The condition is the portal. The condition, that is the fulfilment of this condition, makes the beginning, but it does not bring about the rest with inevitable necessity. The meaning of these two words is very luid and subtle.

Fixating contemplation is indispensable, it ensures the strengthening of illumination. Only one must not stay sitting rigidly if worldly thoughts come up, but one must examine where the thought is, where it began, and where it fades out. Nothing is gained by pushing re lection farther. One must be content to see where the thought arose, and not seek beyond the point of origin; for to find the heart (consciousness), to get behind consciousness with consciousness-that cannot be done. We want to bring the states of the heart together in rest, that is true contemplation. What contradicts it is false contemplation. This leads to no goal. When the flight of thoughts keeps extending farther, one should stop and begin contemplating. Let one contemplate and then start concentrating again. That is the double method of strengthening the illumination. It means the circular course of the light. The circular course is ixation. The Light is contemplation. Fixation without contemplation is circulation without Light. Contemplation without ixation is Light without circulation!

Take note of that!

The general meaning of this section is that the protection of the centre is important for the circular course of the light. The last section dealt with the theme that the human body is a very valuable possession when the primordial spirit is master. But when it is used by the conscious spirit, the latter brings it about that, day and night, the primordial spirit is scattered and wasted. When it is completely worn out, the body dies. The method is described whereby the conscious spirit can be subjected and the primordial spirit guarded; that is impossible if one does not begin by making the Light circulate. It is like this: if a splendid house is to be built, a fine foundation must irst be found. When the foundation is strong, then only can the work proceed and the base of the walls be deeply and solidly grounded, and the posts and walls built up. If a foundation is not laid in this way, how can the house be completed? The way of cultivating life is exactly like that. The circulation of the Light is to be compared with the foundation of the building. When the foundation stands firm, how quickly it can be built upon! To protect the yellow middle with the fire of the spirit, that is the work of building. Therefore the Master makes especially clear the method by which one enters in the cultivation of life, and bids people look with both eyes at the end of the nose, to lower the lids, to look within, sit quietly with upright body, and fix the heart on the centre in the midst of the conditions.

Keeping the thoughts on the space between the two eyes allows the Light to penetrate. Thereupon, the spirit crystallizes and enters the centre in the midst of the conditions. The centre in the midst of the conditions is the lower Elixir- ield, the place of power (solar plexus).

The Master hinted at this secretly when he said: At the beginning of the work one must sit in a quiet room, the body like dry wood, the heart like cooled ashes. Let the lids of both eyes be lowered; then look within and purify the heart, cleanse the thoughts, stop pleasures and conserve the seed. One should sit down daily to meditate with legs crossed. Let the light in the eyes be stopped; let the hearing power of the ear be crystallized and the tasting power of the tongue diminished; that is, the tongue should be laid to the roof of the mouth; let the breathing through the nose be made rhythmical and the thoughts fixed on the dark door. If the breathing is not irst made rhythmical it is to be feared that there will be dif iculty in breathing, because of stoppage. When one closes the eyes, then one should take as a measure a point on the back of the nose which lies not half an inch below the intersection point of the line of sight, where there is a little bump on the nose. Then one begins to collect one's thoughts; the ears make the breathing rhythmical; body and heart are comfortable and harmonious. The Light of the eyes must shine quietly, and, for a long time, neither sleepiness nor distraction must set in. The eyes do not look outward, they drop their lids and light up what is within. There is Light in this place. The mouth does not speak nor laugh. One closes the lips and breathes inwardly. Breathing is at this place. The nose smells no odours. Smelling is at this place. The ear does not hear things outside. Hearing is at this place. The whole heart watches over what is within. Its watching is at this place. The thoughts do not stray outward; true thoughts have continuity in themselves. If the thoughts are lasting, the seed is lasting; if the seed lasts, the power lasts; if the power lasts, then will the spirit last also. The spirit is thought; thought is the heart; the heart is the ire; the fire is the Elixir. When one looks at what is within in this way, the wonders of the opening and shutting of the gates of Heaven will be inexhaustible. But the deeper secrets cannot be effected without making the breathing rhythmical.

If the pupil begins and cannot hold his thoughts to the place between the two eyes; if he closes the eyes, but the power of the heart does not enable him to look at the place of power, the cause is most probably the fact that the breathing is too loud and hasty. Other evils arise from this because body and heart are kept busy trying to suppress forcibly the uprush of power and quick breath.

If the thoughts are only held to the two eyes, but the spirit is not crystallized in the solar plexus (the centre in the midst of the conditions), it is as if one had mounted to the hall but had not yet entered the inner chamber. Then the spirit-fire will not develop, the power remains cold, and the true fruit will hardly manifest itself.

Therefore the Master harbours the fear lest, in their efforts, men only fix their thoughts on the place on the nose, but fail to think of ixing their ideas on the place of power; that is why he used the comparison of the mason with the plumb-line. The mason only uses the plumb-line in order to see if his wall is perpendicular or slanting, and for this the string serves as a guiding line. When he has determined the direction, he can begin the work. But then he works on the wall, not on the plumb-line. That is clear. From this it is seen that fixing the thoughts between the eyes means only what the plumb-line does to the mason. The Master refers again and again to this because he fears his meaning might not be understood. And even if the pupils have grasped the way of doing the thing, he fears they might interrupt their work, and so he says several times: " Only after a hundred days of consistent work, only then is the Light real; only then can one begin work with the spirit-fire," If one proceeds in a collected fashion, after a hundred days there develops spontaneously in the Light, a point of the real creative Light (yang). The pupils must examine that with sincere hearts.