Xuanguan yiqiao 玄關一竅
This page is excerpted from F. Pregadio, Dictionary of Taoist Internal Alchemy (Brill, 2025).
Translation
One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier; One Opening of the Mysterious Pass.
Note: This is one of four equivalent terms, namely One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier, One Opening (yiqiao 一竅), Mysterious Barrier (xuanguan 玄關), and Mysterious Opening (xuanqiao 玄竅).
Definition(s)
▣ An image of the Center.
⦿ JDSBZ Preface: You must know the One Opening at the center of the person, which is called the Mysterious-Female (xuanpin). This Opening is not the heart or the kidneys (xin shen), is not the mouth or the nose (kou bi), is not the spleen or the stomach (pi wei), is not the anus (gudao), is not the bladder (pangguang), is not the [lower] Cinnabar Field (dantian), and is not the Muddy Pellet (niwan). If you are able to understand this Opening, then the winter solstice (dongzhi), the Medicine (yaowu), the Fire phases (huohou), the “bathing” (muyu), and the coalescing (jie) and delivery of the embryo (tuotai) are all found there. Now, this One Opening has no edges or sides and has no inside or outside. It is the root of Spirit and Breath (shenqi zhi gen), the Valley of Empty Non-Being (xuwu zhi gu). You should seek it within yourself, as it cannot be sought anywhere else. This subtle One Opening cannot be reckoned by personal views. It requires transmission from heart to heart (or: from mind to mind, xinchuan) and is handed down by oral instructions. Without this, everything would be pointless. 要須知夫身中一竅，名曰玄牝。此竅者，非心非腎，非口鼻也，非脾胃也，非穀道也，非膀胱也，非丹田也，非泥丸也。能知此之一竅，則冬至在此矣，藥物在此矣，火候亦在此矣，沐浴在此矣，結胎在此矣，脫胎亦在此矣。夫此一竅，亦無邊傍，更無內外，乃神氣之根，虛無之谷。在身中而求，不可求於他也。此精之一竅，不可以私意揣度，是必心傳口授，苟或不爾，皆妄為矣。
⦿ JDSBZ 7: This Opening is not a common opening: it is formed by the conjunction of Qian ☰ and Kun ☷. It is called Cavity of Spirit and Breath (shen qi xue), and within there are the essences of Kan ☵ and Li ☲. 此竅非凡竅，乾坤共合成，名為神氣穴，內有坎離精。
⦿ ZHJ 3: What is the Mysterious Barrier? It is an utterly mysterious and utterly wondrous mechanism. In the first place, it has no fixed position. Many people nowadays refer to the wheel of the navel (qi), the sinciput (ding), the Hall of Seals (yintang, in the upper Cinnabar Field, niwan), the space between the kidneys (shen), or the space “before the kidneys and behind the navel” [as the Mysterious Barrier]. All of this pertains to the “side gates” (pangmen). This is what a book on the Elixir means when it says: “The One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier is not in the four directions or above and below. It is not within or without or at the sides. It is not even in the center. It is the place where the four elements (sida) and the five agents (wuxing) do not stick.” 或問：何謂玄關？曰：至玄至妙之機關也。初無定位，今人多指臍輪，或指頂門，或指印堂，或指兩腎中間，或指腎前臍後。巳上皆是傍門。丹書云，「玄關一竅，不在四維上下，不在內外偏傍，亦不在當中，四大五行不著處，」是也。
⦿ ZHJ 3: How could it have a fixed position? If it is located in the body, this is not correct; if it is separated from this body and searched outside of it, this is also not correct. Those who are stuck with the body locate it in the form (i.e., in the physical body), those who are stuck with the external locate it in [outer] things. The Mysterious Barrier is the place where the four elements and the five agents do not stick. 寧有定位？著在身上即不是，離了此身向外尋求亦不是。泥于身，則著于形；泥于外，則著于物。夫玄關者，只于四大五行不著處是也。
⦿ FX: The Mysterious Barrier is the Central Palace. 中宮：玄關。
⦿ FX: The Mysterious Opening is the Central Palace. 中宮：玄竅。
⦿ XZBN: What we call Mysterious Barrier is the place where the four elements do not stick. Neither it is, nor it is not; it is neither form nor emptiness; it is neither inside nor outside. . . . It has many different names, but in general it is called Opening of the Mysterious Barrier. . . . Now let me tell you something. You should know that this Opening is in the land where the six senses do not stick, in the place where the five agents do not reach. Vague and indistinct (huanghu)! Within there is an opening. Dim and obscure (yaoming)! Within there is a gate. It opens and closes by itself. If you call out, it replies. If you knock, it responds. 夫所謂玄關者，乃四大不著之處。非有非無，非色非空，非內非外。. . . 等等異名，總謂玄關竅。. . . 吾今與你指出。要知此竅在於六根不著之地，五行不到之處。恍兮惚兮，其中有竅。杳兮冥兮，其內有門，自開自闔。呼之則應，敲之則靈。
⦿ JHZZ 1: The Celestial Mind (tianxin) is the mind with which the Three Powers (sancai) are equally endowed. This is what the books on the Elixir call the Mysterious Opening. Everyone has it, but in the worthy and the wise ones it is open, in the foolish and the deluded ones it is closed. 天心者，三才同稟之心，丹書所謂玄竅是也。人人俱有，賢哲啟之，愚迷閉之。
⦿ DQT 20: The One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier is born from empty Non-Being (xu wu). It does not reside in the five viscera (wuzang), the six mansions (liufu), or anywhere in the body or its limbs. 玄關一竅，自虛無中生。不居於五臟六腑，肢體間無論也。
▣ The symbolic location where the entire alchemical work occurs.
⦿ ZHJ 3: When you are able to see the Mysterious Barrier, the ingredients, the Fire phases, the cyclical “extracting and augmenting” (choutian), up to the delivery of the embryo and the transformation of Spirit will all occur within this One Opening. 見得玄關，藥物火候，運用抽添，乃至脫胎神化，並不出此一竅。
⦿ XZSS 4 BHL: As long as you are able to be at rest and quiescent, to be without thoughts within your thoughts, and to make your practice pure, you will attain Unity. If you are for the whole day like a hen hatching her eggs, then Spirit (shen) will return, Breath (qi) will be restored, and you will spontaneously see the One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier. It is so great that there is nothing outside it, so small that there is nothing inside it. 但能凝然靜定，念中無念，工夫純粹，打成一片，終日默默如雞抱卵，則神歸氣復，自然見玄關一竅。其大無外，其小無內。
⦿ RYJ 12 Comm. Wang Jie: In the wondrous operation of compounding the Elixir, it is essential to understand the One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier. 作丹妙用，要明玄關一竅。
⦿ XZHB 16: This is the opening that generates Heaven, Earth, and humans; this is the hometown of sages, buddhas, and immortals. You arrange the Furnace (lu) and set up the Tripod (ding) here; you collect the Medicine (caiyao) and refine it here; you coagulate the Elixir here; and you deliver it here. Being (you) is here, Non-Being (wu) is here. The beginning and the end of all operation are here. 乃生天生地生人之孔竅，成聖成佛成仙之家鄉。安爐立鼎在此，採藥烹煉在此，結丹在此，脫丹在此，有為在此，無為在此，始終功用總在此。
▣ The residence of Spirit (shen), Breath (qi), and Essence (jing), joined to one another
⦿ JDWD: The One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier is the cavity of Spirit, Breath, and Essence. 玄關一竅乃神氣精之穴也。
▣ The upper Cinnabar Field (the Muddy Pellet, niwan).
⦿ JDWD: Where exactly is the One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier? It is within the head of human beings. 問：玄關一竅，正在何處？答曰：在人之首。
▣ The lower Cinnabar Field (dantian ②).
⦿ DDZZ 2: The Mysterious Barrier is found 1.3 inches inside the navel. 玄關乃在臍裏一寸三分。
Related Terms
☞ xuanpin 玄牝
Pages that mention this term
- Xiuzhen houbian 修真後辨 (← links)
- Xuanguan 玄關 (redirect page) (← links)
- Xiangyan poyi 象言破疑 (← links)
- Xuanguan yiqiao 玄關一竅 (Image) (← links)