1.
"The sun, in the position of fire, turns into a woman; water, in the moon
palace, turns out to be a man."
IX. Setting Up the Foundation in a Hundred Days
This and the following three sections, comprising the rest of the text as it is
found in the canonical version on which the present translation is based, are
entirely omitted by Wilhelm in his rendition, because he considers them of
"inferior quality." He does not explain, however, the basis of this
evaluation. While it is true that these last four chapters go back to basics
again and again, this is in fact a general characteristic of the whole text,
which repeatedly reviews fundamental theory and praxis as it develops the
details of their experiential implications. It may be that the difficulty of
these sections, which contain relatively high concentrations of Buddhist and
Taoist technical terms, discouraged Wilhelm from attempting to translate
them.
1. There are a number of scriptures with the generic Mind Seal title in the
Taoist canon. The practice of one hundred days setting up the foundation to
stabilize consciousness is common in Taoist alchemy. Here when the text
says "you are still working with the light of the eyes" this means that at the
