In the Book of the Elixir it is said: “The hen can hatch her eggs because her heart is always listening”.That is an important magic spell.The hen can hatch the eggs because of the energy of heat.But the energy of the heat can only warm the shells; it cannot penetrate into the interior.Therefore she conducts this energy inward with her heart.This she does with her hearing.In this way she concentrates her whole heart.When the heart penetrates, the energy penetrates, and the chick receives the energy of the heat and begins to live.Therefore a hen, even when at times she leaves her eggs, always has the attitude of listening with bent ear.Thus the concentration of the spirit is not interrupted.Because the concentration of the spirit is not interrupted.But the concentration of the spirit suffers no interruption, neither does the energy of heat suffer interruption day or night, and the spirit awakens to life.The awakening of the spirit is accomplished because the heart has first died.When a man can let his heart die, then the primal spirit wakes to life.To kill the heart does not mean to let it dry and wither away, but it means that it has become undivided and gathered into one.
佛云：“置心一处，无事不办。”心易走，即以炁纯之；炁易粗，即以心细之。如此而焉有不定者乎?
The Buddha said: “When you fix your heart on one point, then nothing is impossible for you”.The heart easily runs away, so it is necessary to concentrate it by means of breathenergy.Breath-energy easily becomes rough, therefore it has to be refined by the heart.When that is done, can it then happen that it is not fixed?
大约昏沉散乱二病，只要静功，日日无间，自有大休息处。若不静坐时，虽有散乱，亦不自知。既知散乱，即是却散乱之机也。昏沉而不知，与昏沉而知，相去何啻千里。不知之昏沉，真昏沉也；知之昏沉，非全昏沉也，清明在是矣。散乱者，神驰也。昏沉者，神未清也。散乱易治，而昏沉难医。譬之病焉，有痛有痒者，药之可也，昏沉则麻木不仁之症也。散者可以收之，乱者可以整之，若昏沉，则蠢蠢焉，冥冥焉。散乱尚有方所，至昏沉全是魄用事也。散乱尚有魂在，至昏沉则纯阴为主矣。静坐时欲睡去，便是昏沉。却昏沉只在调息，息即口鼻出入之息，虽非真息，而真息之出入，亦寄于此。
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