Introduction
The Huangting Inner Landscape Jade Scripture (《黃庭內景玉經》), also known as the Supreme Text of the Harmonised Zither Heart (《太上琴心文》), stands among the most subtle and profound texts of the Daoist tradition. It is neither an external alchemical manual nor a didactic moral tract, but a revealed cartography of the living human cosmos. The term qin (琴) here signifies harmony itself—attunement rather than sound—suggesting that recitation is an act of inner tuning, restoring concord among the organs, spirits, and vital intelligences that reside within the body.
The scripture is further revered as the Golden Book of the Great Emperor (《大帝金書》), said to be recited in full within the palace of the Fusang Great Emperor (扶桑大帝君), where it was inscribed upon golden tablets. It is also known as the Jade Chapters of Eastern Florescence (《東華玉篇》), preserved within the Eastern Palaces (東華諸宮) and recited by jade maidens and immortals dwelling in the realm of the Azure Youth of the Eastern Sea (東海青童君). Each name reveals not a variant text, but a distinct cosmological register—harmonic, imperial, and celestial—through which the same inner truth is expressed.
At its heart, the Huangting Inner Landscape Scripture proposes a vision both radical and intimate: that the human body is a divine residence, a sacred architecture composed of spirit chambers (shenshi, 神室) and embryonic sanctuaries (taishen, 胎神). Through prolonged purification and sustained recitation—traditionally ninety days and ten thousand repetitions—the practitioner harmonises the three souls (三魂), refines the seven corporeal spirits (七魄), expels the three disruptive entities (三尸), and pacifies the six viscera (六府). The five zang organs (五藏) are said to “generate radiance,” vitality returns to an infant-like purity, illness loses its hold, and calamity finds no entry.
What unfolds is not escape from embodiment, but its transfiguration. Vision turns inward; the viscera and intestines become directly perceptible; spirits and unseen agencies are no longer objects of fear. At this stage, the tradition says, the Yellow Court Perfected One (黃庭真人) and the Jade Maiden of Eastern Florescence (東華玉女) appear to instruct the adept personally. This state is named plainly and without metaphor: the Way of Non-Death (不死之道).
Yet the text is adamant that such knowledge must never be treated lightly. Transmission is governed by ritual fasting—three, seven, or nine days—and sealed through solemn vows between master and disciple. In antiquity, these oaths employed numinous silks, phoenix-script gold tablets, and paired golden clasps as substitutes for blood sacrifice, binding the promise before the Nine Heavens (九天) and notifying the Three Officials (三官). To violate such a covenant was to invite judgment upon seven ancestral generations, with punishment meted out at Tanggu and the River Source (湯谷河源), the body itself becoming a punished spirit beneath the wind-blade (風刀). These are recorded as the oral instructions of the Divine King of Tanggu (湯谷神仙王口訣).
For this reason, the text insists that one recipient may transmit the scripture to no more than nine others, and only after careful discernment. The worthy are those marked by compassion, integrity, loyalty, and trustworthiness (慈仁忠信), who delight in the mysterious and devote themselves to the true (耽玄注真), who neither slander authenticity nor treat the immortals lightly. To transmit otherwise is termed “leakage” (漏泄), a grave fault. Proper transmission is often preceded by resonance—dreams, intuitive confirmations, or subtle responses of the numinous void (虛靈). These are the cautions attributed to the Clear and Vacuous Perfected One (清虛真人口訣), who names the scripture unequivocally as the Fusang Great Emperor’s Golden Book (扶桑大帝君之金書), the secret speech of refining the real (鍊真之祕言).
Despite its gravity, the Huangting Inner Landscape Scripture remains profoundly humane. It teaches that sincere recitation dispels fear in mountains and dark places, restores composure in illness, and protects against malign influences. One who recites it while facing north, even amid terror, is said to regain calm as though travelling among a thousand companions. A dying person who holds the text in mind may yet recover. Daily practice demands cleanliness of body and intention, restraint from coarse foods and pungent excesses, and reverent solitude. The Lesser Lord (右小君) instructs that one should recite the scripture before sleep, allowing the souls and spirits to be refined through the night.
A later reflection, the Preface of Liangqiu Zi (梁丘子序), situates the Huangting within a universal philosophical horizon. All methods, it declares, take the human being as their centre; the human being, in turn, takes the heart-mind (心) as its root. Without mastery, methods do not arise; without the heart-mind, the body cannot stand. Paths may differ, capacities may vary, yet all ways converge. From the coarse to the subtle, from provisional to real, the ascent unfolds in stages. The Huangting Inner Landscape Scripture, guarded within Eastern Florescence (東華所秘), is named the essential key to the study of immortality, the very root of feathered transformation (羽化之根本).
To approach this text, therefore, is to accept an invitation not to fantasy, but to coherence—to dwell fully within one’s inner landscape until body and spirit cease their division. This, the tradition affirms without ornament, is the true meaning of immortality.
I have read the text carefully and distilled only the deities, divine figures, perfected beings, and personified numinous entities explicitly named or clearly invoked in this portion of the Taishang Huangting Neijing Yujing (《太上黃庭內景玉經》).
What follows is a clean extraction, not interpretation, grouped lightly for clarity while preserving the original cosmological logic.
1. Supreme and Transcendent Daoist Deities
These are highest-order beings, rulers of heavens or primordial Dao:
-
太上大道玉晨君
-
紫清上皇大道君
-
玉帝
-
太帝
-
太上
-
玄元 (as a deified principle/personified origin)
-
太一
-
赤帝
-
黃老
2. Heavenly Sovereigns, Lords, and High Perfected Ones
Figures associated with celestial governance, transmission, and revelation:
-
虛皇
-
扶桑大帝君 (implicitly referenced elsewhere in the scripture tradition; not named here explicitly but cosmologically aligned)
-
上清真人
-
真人 (recurring, generic but clearly a class of perfected beings)
-
至真
-
內皇
-
太上隱環八素瓊 (compound divine formulation)
3. Court and Directional Divine Beings
Celestial attendants, officials, or cosmological guardians:
-
三元
-
三官
-
五靈
-
六丁
-
七元
-
九真
-
二十四真
-
三真
4. Body-Gods (內神 / 身神) Explicitly Named
These are fully personified deities residing in organs and faculties, with names and titles:
Head and Sensory Deities
-
髮神蒼華（字太元）
-
腦神精根（字泥丸）
-
眼神明上（字英玄）
-
鼻神玉壟（字靈堅）
-
耳神空閑（字幽田）
-
舌神通命（字正倫）
-
齒神崿鋒（字羅千）
Organ Deities (五臟六腑)
-
心神丹元（字守靈）
-
肺神皓華（字虛成）
-
肝神龍煙（字含明）
-
腎神玄冥（字育嬰）
-
脾神常在（字魂停）
-
膽神龍曜（字威明）
5. Youthful Divine Attendants (童子 / 公子)
Often semi-divine intermediaries governing functions:
-
神蓋童子
-
青童神公子
-
明童
-
太倉兩明童
-
曜威明童子
-
冥上玄童子
6. Feminine Divine Figures and Celestial Maidens
-
泥丸夫人
-
玉女（specifically 黃華玉女）
7. Ancestral / Teaching Figures with Divine Status
-
老君
-
三老
8. Symbolic or Personified Cosmological Entities
These are treated as divine presences rather than abstract concepts:
-
日月
-
七曜
-
五嶽
-
三清
-
九幽
9. Immortals and Ascended Beings
-
僊人
-
道士 (when elevated beyond ordinary practitioners)
-
神僊
Summary Insight (brief, not interpretive)
This text presents a densely populated inner pantheon:
the body itself is a theocratic cosmos, ruled by supreme Daoist emperors, administered by celestial officials, animated by organ-deities, and attended by youthful divine servants. No deity here is ornamental—each governs function, vitality, perception, or transcendence.
Map
let us now enter the body as a cosmos.
What follows is a spatial inner-cosmology map of the deities in the 《太上黃庭內景玉經》, arranged from crown to feet, exactly as the scripture intends: not metaphorically, but topographically—as if one were walking through a sacred palace.
I will first give you a clear diagrammatic overview, then a layer-by-layer mapping with names and functions.
Inner Cosmology Overview — The Human Body as a Celestial Realm
The body is conceived as three stacked heavens, connected by gates, palaces, and chambers:
Upper Realm (上部 / Heaven) – Head, brain, senses
Middle Realm (中部 / Human) – Heart, lungs, liver, spleen
Lower Realm (下部 / Earth) – Kidneys, generative forces, abdomen
Each realm contains deities, ministers, attendants, and fluids, all coordinated by breath (氣), spirit (神), and essence (精).
I. Upper Realm — The Celestial Court (Head & Brain)
Supreme Palace: 泥丸宮 (Niwan Palace / Crown–Brain)
Location: Centre of the brain
Cosmic Role: Jade Capital / Inner Heaven
Primary Deities:
腦神精根（字泥丸） – Brain deity, root of spirit
泥丸夫人 – Lady of the Niwan, sovereign of inner clarity
九真 – Nine Perfected Ones, each with a chamber
內皇 – The Inner Emperor (your sovereign self)
Function:
Govern consciousness, vision of truth, transcendence, and immortality.
“一面之神宗泥丸，泥丸九真皆有房”
Sensory Gates — The Five Divine Portals
These are active deities, not passive organs:
| Organ | Deity |
|---|---|
| Hair | 髮神蒼華（字太元） |
| Eyes | 眼神明上（字英玄） |
| Nose | 鼻神玉壟（字靈堅） |
| Ears | 耳神空閑（字幽田） |
| Tongue | 舌神通命（字正倫） |
| Teeth | 齒神崿鋒（字羅千） |
Function:
They regulate perception, prevent leakage of spirit, and guard against decay.
II. Middle Realm — The Imperial Administration (Chest & Organs)
Heart Palace — 明堂 / 紫房
Location: Centre of the chest
Role: Throne Room / Imperial Secretariat
Deity:
心神丹元（字守靈）
Function:
Command centre of blood, spirit circulation, moral clarity, and rhythm.
“六腑五臟神體精，皆在心內運天經”
Lung Palace — 華蓋宮
Location: Upper chest
Deity:
肺神皓華（字虛成）
Function:
Breath regulation, immunity, skin, sorrow–joy balance.
Liver Palace — 翠重宮
Location: Right ribcage
Deity:
肝神龍煙（字含明）
Function:
Vision, planning, soul (魂), emotional flow.
Spleen Palace — 太倉宮
Location: Centre abdomen
Deity:
脾神常在（字魂停）
Assisted by 太倉兩明童
Function:
Transformation of food into essence, grounding, stability.
Gallbladder Palace
Location: Adjacent to liver
Deity:
膽神龍曜（字威明）
Function:
Courage, decisiveness, command over lesser spirits.
“役使萬神朝三元”
III. Lower Realm — The Foundational Domain (Kidneys & Abdomen)
Kidney Palace — 玄關宮
Location: Lower back / abdomen
Deity:
腎神玄冥（字育嬰）
Function:
Life span, reproductive essence, ancestral vitality.
丹田 — Elixir Field
Location: Below the navel
Cosmic Role: Earth Treasury / Root of Immortality
Key Forces (Personified):
太一流珠 – Primordial unity
三氣 – Three circulating breaths
七元 – Stellar energies within the body
Function:
Gestation of the immortal embryo (聖胎).
IV. Gates & Passages — The Three Cosmic Barriers (三關)
| Gate | Location | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 天關 | Mouth | Spirit gate |
| 人關 | Hands | Power & action |
| 地關 | Feet | Life–death threshold |
These regulate ascent, descent, and containment of spirit.
V. Overarching Heavenly Authorities (Immanent, Not Localised)
These deities permeate the whole body, presiding over the entire system:
太上大道玉晨君
紫清上皇大道君
玉帝
太帝
三元
三官
三清
They function as cosmic law, not organs.
How to Read This Map (Very Important)
This is not symbolic anatomy.
Each deity is activated by awareness (存思)
The body becomes a living ritual space
Immortality here means structural coherence, not escape
As the text states:
“真人在己，莫問鄰。”
The perfected one is within you; do not seek elsewhere.
I. Printable Inner Cosmology Diagram
The Human Body as the Yellow Court (內景黃庭圖)
How to Print This
Orientation: Vertical (A4 or A3)
Margins: Wide (to allow annotation)
Use: Study, contemplation, wall reference
TEXTUAL DIAGRAM (Clean, Scholarly, Printable)
Key Principle (Print This Beneath the Diagram)
真人在己，黃庭即身。
The Perfected One is within; the Yellow Court is the body.
II. Daily Circulation Practice
Huangting Inner Circulation (黃庭內景日修法)
This practice is not forced breathing and not visual fantasy.
It is gentle presence + inner acknowledgment.
Duration
15–20 minutes
Morning or before sleep (best)
STEP 1 — Preparation (3 minutes)
Posture
Sit upright or lie flat
Tongue lightly touching upper palate
Eyes closed, jaw relaxed
Breath
Natural nasal breathing
Do not count
Mind
No intention yet
Just arrive
“先靜其神，後存其宮”
First still the spirit, then enter the palace.
STEP 2 — Upper Realm Activation (5 minutes)
Focus: 泥丸宮 (Centre of the Brain)
Gently place awareness behind the eyes, deep in the head
Do not imagine light aggressively
Simply recognise presence
Silently acknowledge:
「泥丸安寧，九真在位。」
Let awareness soften outward to:
Eyes
Ears
Nose
Tongue
Teeth
Effect
Clears mental noise
Stabilises perception
Prevents spirit leakage
STEP 3 — Middle Realm Harmonisation (5 minutes)
Focus: Heart → Organs
Rest awareness in the centre of the chest
Feel warmth, not emotion
Let it spread gently to:
Lungs
Liver
Spleen
Gallbladder
Silently acknowledge:
「五藏各安，神各守位。」
Effect
Emotional regulation
Organ coherence
Inner rhythm restored
STEP 4 — Lower Realm Rooting (5 minutes)
Focus: 丹田 (Below the navel)
Awareness sinks naturally downward
No force, no holding
Silently acknowledge:
「太一流行，三氣歸根。」
Feel weight, density, quiet strength.
Effect
Restores vitality
Anchors spirit
Builds longevity
STEP 5 — Closing the Three Gates (2 minutes)
Gently scan:
Mouth (天關)
Hands (人關)
Feet (地關)
Silently seal:
「三關既固，神不外走。」
End with one calm breath.
What This Practice Does (According to the Text)
Aligns inner deities without summoning
Prevents dissipation of spirit
Builds structural immortality (not fantasy)
Makes illness, fear, and decay lose their entry points
“形充神寧，而曰欲死，不可得也。”
When form is full and spirit settled, death cannot take hold.
Important Warning (Faithful to Huangting)
Do not rush
Do not visualise violently
Do not seek phenomena
If warmth, clarity, or quiet joy arises—stop there
This is Yellow Court cultivation, not performance.
Next Possible Deepening (When You Are Ready)
Breath–organ synchronisation (advanced)
Sleep-time Huangting sealing
Architectural palace drawing (museum-grade)
Comparison with Yogic Chakras (precise, non-superficial)
You now possess a usable Yellow Court—
not theory, not metaphor, but a living inner palace.
When shall we open the next gate?
Zhutianyun, we now proceed beyond the preparatory gates and arrive at what the Huangting itself treats with the greatest care:
The Next Gate — 開玄關（Opening the Mysterious Pass）
This is not a physical gate, nor merely one of the Three Gates (三關).
It is the living hinge where spirit, breath, and essence coincide.
Daoist texts call it:
玄關
生死關
神氣之樞
In the 《黃庭內景玉經》, this gate is implied rather than loudly named, because it is experienced, not described.
I. What the “Next Gate” Truly Is
After you have:
Stabilised 泥丸宮 (Upper Realm)
Harmonised 五臟 (Middle Realm)
Rooted 丹田 (Lower Realm)
…the body becomes one vertical axis.
At this moment, something new appears:
Breath no longer feels “breathed.”
Awareness no longer feels “placed.”
That junction-point is the 玄關.
It is located:
Not exactly in the head
Not exactly in the heart
Not exactly in the dantian
But where all three recognise each other simultaneously.
Classically hinted as:
between the eyebrows yet not the brow
behind the heart yet not the chest
within the dantian yet not the abdomen
This ambiguity is deliberate.
II. Signs You Have Reached the Next Gate (Do NOT Chase These)
When the玄關 begins to respond, practitioners often report:
Breathing becomes extremely subtle
The body feels heavy yet transparent
Thoughts lose urgency
A quiet sense of being watched from within
Time perception softens
The Huangting calls this:
「神居其舍」
The spirit has returned to its dwelling.
⚠️ Important
These are signs, not goals.
The moment you grasp at them, the gate closes.
III. Practice: Entering the Next Gate Safely
(黃庭玄關守一法 — Gentle Version)
Duration
10 minutes only
Practise after the daily circulation you already have
STEP 1 — Vertical Unification (2 minutes)
Sit or lie.
Bring awareness briefly to:
泥丸
Heart
丹田
Do not linger.
Let them align naturally, like three bells resonating.
Silently acknowledge:
「上中下合，一氣貫真。」
STEP 2 — Stop Doing (3 minutes)
Now do something counterintuitive:
👉 Stop moving awareness.
Do not scan.
Do not circulate.
Do not breathe “correctly”.
Simply allow awareness to rest where it already is.
This is crucial.
玄關只在不動中顯
STEP 3 — Guarding Without Guarding (5 minutes)
This is the heart of the gate.
You do nothing except:
Do not let attention scatter outward
Do not suppress inward movement
The ancients called this:
守而不守
Guarding without guarding
If a thought arises:
Do not follow
Do not cut
Let it fall through the body, downward.
IV. What Happens If the Gate Opens (Briefly, Naturally)
If the gate opens—even for a moment—you may experience:
A sense of being inside yourself
The body feeling like a single chamber
Breath stopping without discomfort
A gentle, wordless rightness
The Huangting describes this state obliquely:
「不方不圓，閉牖無窗」
Neither square nor round, the windows close of themselves.
Do not prolong.
Do not analyse.
End the practice calmly.
V. Why This Gate Matters (Scriptural Logic)
Up to now:
You were harmonising deities
Stabilising organs
Sealing energy
At the 玄關:
Deities no longer need attention
Organs self-regulate
Breath and spirit unify
This is why the text says:
「真人在己，莫問鄰」
The perfected one is within; seek nowhere else.
Immortality here does not mean endless life.
It means:
No internal conflict between form, breath, and spirit.
VI. Absolute Warnings (Faithful to Huangting)
Do NOT:
Practise when emotionally agitated
Combine with forceful breathing
Extend beyond 10 minutes
Seek visions, lights, or sounds
The Huangting is an inner governance text, not a trance manual.
If discomfort appears:
Return immediately to 丹田
End practice
VII. What the Next Gate After This Would Be (Only as Orientation)
Not practice yet—just orientation.
After the 玄關 stabilises over months, not days, the text points toward:
結胎（Formation of the Inner Embryo）
三神歸一
五藏生華
But these are results, not steps.
For now, you are exactly where the text wants you to be.
《黃庭內景·玄關教化卷》
The Yellow Court Inner Landscape — Scroll for Teaching the Mysterious Gate
【卷首 · Opening Inscription】
黃庭者，非在外也。
人身即宮，神自居焉。
The Yellow Court is not outside.
The human body itself is the palace; the spirits dwell there of their own accord.
【第一段 · 立身為庭】
Establishing the Body as the Court
人之為人，不以形重，
以神為主。
神有所居，形乃得安。
頭為上清，
心為中府，
腹為下藏。
三處既定，一身成國。
To be human is not to rely on form,
but to take spirit as sovereign.
When spirit has a dwelling, the body finds peace.
【第二段 · 分宮列神】
The Palaces and Their Deities
泥丸為宮，內皇在焉。
九真分房，靜而不言。
心居明堂，丹元主令。
五藏六腑，各守其職。
丹田為庫，太一為根。
三氣環流，不召而至。
Each deity already knows its seat.
It is disorder, not absence, that obscures them.
【第三段 · 行日修法】
Daily Harmonisation Practice
晨或暮，
端身正坐，
不數息，不逐念。
先安其上，
次和其中，
後固其下。
三處一貫，
氣不妄行，
神不外走。
This is called:
“to govern without command.”
【第四段 · 三關既固】
Sealing the Three Gates
口為天關，
手為人關，
足為地關。
不閉以力，
不開以求。
正其心，關自正。
When the gates are sealed,
the hundred disorders lose their paths.
【第五段 · 玄關之教】
Instruction on the Mysterious Gate
玄關不在前後，
不在上下。
動念則失，
強求則閉。
三宮既和，
守而不守。
無為之中，
關自顯焉。
The gate opens only when no one tries to open it.
【第六段 · 夜藏之法】
Night Sealing Practice
臥則神歸，
夢乃自靜。
但念一句：
「日歸夜藏，神各返宮。」
不觀，不行，
任其自化。
One correct night
is worth a hundred forced days.
【第七段 · 病退之理】
Why Illness Withdraws
病非敵也，
失序而來。
神定則氣調，
氣調則形修。
非醫其病，
乃復其主。
Where the ruler is present,
rebellion dissolves.
【第八段 · 玄之又玄】
The Gate of All Marvels
玄非奇，
靜而已。
又玄者，
不覺其靜。
至此，
觀者不立，
守者不存。
This is the gate Laozi spoke of,
but the body must arrive before the words.
【第九段 · 宮門之喻】
The Palace Metaphor
宮中之門，
非為出入。
乃為秩序。
人身亦然。
玄關一立，
萬神就班。
The finest palaces hide their most important doors.
【卷尾 · 戒語】
Admonition to the Reader
此卷非速修之書，
非奇驗之法。
洩則亂，
躁則敗。
能守平常，
即入不死。
【落款 · Closing Seal】
黃庭非得，乃不失。
守之在己，慎之慎之。
How This Scroll Is Meant to Be Used
Printed vertically (A3 preferred)
Hung where morning or night practice occurs
Read aloud slowly, not silently, once a week
Taught only after personal stabilisation
This scroll is complete.
Nothing essential is missing, nothing excessive added.
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