The following “Song of Silent Sitting”, was taken from The
Secret of Training the Internal Elixir in the Tai Chi Art, which, was said
to have been written by Zhang San Feng, shows that the original aim of Tai Chi
Chuan was spiritual fulfillment.
Sitting silently, practice meditation;
The impulse is at yuanquan.
Continuously and gently regulate your breathing;
One yin and one yang brewing in the internal
cauldron.
Nature must be enlightened, life preserved.
Don’t rush, let the fire burn slowly.
Close your eyes and look at your heart of life,
Let tranquility and spontaneity be the source.
In a hundred days you will see a result:
A drop of elixir rises from kan,
The Yellow Woman is the matchmaker in between,
Both the baby and the red lady are perfect.
The beauty is boundless and inexplicable,
All over the body vital energy arises.
Who can know such a marvelous experience?
It’s like a dumb person having a beautiful dream.
Swiftly take in the primordial essence;
The elixir breaks through the three obstacles,
Rising from the dantian to the top at niyuan,
Then submerging into zhongyuan.
Water and fire combine to form real mercury,
Without wu and ji there is no elixir.
Let the mind be still, and life be strong,
The spirit radiates throughout 3,000 worlds.
Golden cockerel crows beneath the shadow less tree,
The red lotus blossoms in the middle of the night.
Winter comes the sun shines again,
A thunderous roar shatters heaven and earth.
Dragons call, tigers play,
Heavenly music fills the sky in full harmony.
In nebulous mixture everything is empty,
The infinite phenomena are all here.
Marvelous in its mystery, mysterious in its marvel.
All phenomena are born in the union of heaven and
earth.
Drink the dew of nature, sweet like honey,
Saints are buddhas, buddhas are saints.
When ultimate reality reveals dualism disappears,
Now I realize all religions are the same!
Eat when hungry, sleep when tired,
Offer a joss stick and practice meditation.
The great Tao is just before your eyes,
If you are deluded, you’ll miss the chance.
Once you have lost your human form you may have to
wait for a million eons.
The uninformed dream of going to heaven,
The blind go into a deep forest to practice.
The ultimate secret is marvelous beyond the profane,
Letting out the ultimate secret is a heavy sin.
The four true principles you have to cultivate,
Breaking the gate of mystery to reach the marvelous.
Cultivate day and night without break,
Get a master early to develop your elixir.
There are people who know the real mercury
Is the elixir of longevity and immortality?
Cultivate each day, be more determined each day;
Do not regard spiritual cultivation as just an ad
hoc task.
To succeed one must cultivate for three years, nine
years,
Before a pearl of elixir can be obtained.
If you want to know who composed this song,
It’s by the Taoist Priest of Purity and void, the
Saint San Feng.
Purposely written concisely in symbolic language to prevent the arcane knowledge from
being revealed to the uninitiated, this song provides both the philosophy and the method to attain the
highest goal in Tai Chi Chuan, the discipline of
the "body, mind and spirit".