Once the four limbs are properly aligned,
Once blood and Qi are still :
Unify your intent, consolidate your heart/mind;
And the ears and eyes will be restrained
Even though what is remote seems near.
Deep contemplation creates understanding;
Disdain and laxity creates worries;
Cruelty and arrogance creates resentment;
Worries and melancholy create sickness.
Sickness then causes death.
If you contemplate these and do not let go of them,
Inside you will be distressed, outside you will be weak.
Do not neglect to make plans for this,
Or life will leave its dwelling.
Do not eat as if you were starving,
Do not contemplate as if you were indifferent.
When you restrain these appropriately and simultaneously,
That [Dao] will naturally arrive.
From: Study of Inner Cultivation, by Anonymous, Translated by Bruce Linnell | Courtesy of Project Gutenberg