The Sun and the Moon

 

The Sun conjoins,
The Moon conjoins.

 

With regard to the human body, one's own body is a whole Heaven and Earth, and also contains the Sun and the Moon. The body is Qian ☰ and Kun ☷; Kan ☵ and Li ☲ are the ingredients; and the cyclical movements of the Sun and the Moon are the Fire Phases. "The hundred families use this every day, but do not know it"; how can they know how to set this in motion?

In one's own body, nothing is different from Heaven and Earth, and from the Sun and the Moon. When you compound the Elixir, you circulate the joint wheels of the Sun and the Moon, and cause Yin and Yang to converge in each breath. When the Sun and the Moon return to the Tripod, Yin and Yang conjoin their essences. When they are heated and refined, they coalesce and form the Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai).

Source: Verses quoted from the Ruyao jing (Mirror for Compounding the Medicine) — Commentary by Wang Jie (14th century)

 

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