“Though their clothes are too tattered to keep out the cold,
They’ll assure you they change all base metals to gold.” -An anonymous warning against alchemists, Ming Dynasty
Woodcut illustration of ‘Putting the miraculous elixir on the tripod’ fromXingming guizhin (Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life) by Yi Zhenren, a Daoist text on internal alchemy published in 1615 (3rd year of the Wanli reign period of Ming dynasty).
Keep Your Life in Order
Be prepared for anything to happen. The master follows the saying:
“Live each day like it will be the last, For one day you will be right.”
When you accept that you will die, You can truly begin to live.
Settle your affairs at the end of each day.
Tie up your loose ends before bed each night. Keep your life in order
So you do not leave a mess behind.
The sage is ready for death,
As he is ready for retiring to bed. He looks back on his life
Like a good day of work.