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Introduction

This verse was a real challenge. The macro-level, philosophically oriented translations and interpretations fell flat—something about it kept eating at me. I dove headfirst down the rabbit hole, expanding my lexicon of Daoist alchemical terminology to overlay with my training, and eventually, it clicked. I could suddenly parse troubling sentences and obscure paradoxes resolved into clear instructions. 

This verse discusses most of the critical transition points and alludes to the technical details of Daoist meditation. Perhaps you can find some details here to support or begin your practice.

Translation

If one is deficient in
  Great Skill,
  breath unbroken.

If one is overflowing in
  Great Fullness,
    breath “no extremes.”

If clumsy in skill…
If stammering in revealing…
If bending in uprightness…

Overcome “cold” with “fire.”
Overcome “heat” with “stillness.”

Stillness and clarity put the world in order. 

Commentary

If one is deficient in
  Great Skill,
  breath unbroken.

Great Skill refers to the initial phase of the meditative journey where one learns to still the mind, invert the breathing (meaning the stomach expands on the inhale), remove tension throughout the body, hold the gaze steady, turn the senses inward, and such things. The point of this practice in Daoist Alchemy is to restore, harmonize, and refine the three treasures of essence, breath, and illuminating consciousness (the three treasures) in preparation for the energetic work to come. 

While many techniques are involved in this process, the text here points to one in particular: breath unbroken. Breath unbroken is not necessarily a persistently smooth breath that immediately exchanges from inhale to exhale, though this is the eventual state. This process may require restraining the breath between inhale and exhale. The central point of “breath unbroken” is recognizing that the breath is the go-between for the “heart” and the “spirit.” 

The heart is another name for the container (subject), the spirit refers to that which goes out and illuminates all the contents (objects), and breath is the bridge (self-awareness). The “unbroken breath” is the process of yoking the spirit to the heart – i.e., not letting the discursive mind jump around according to sensory impulses but having it squarely focused on the experience of being conscious. 

Just doing that over and over again will lay the foundations for the coming stages, notably regenerating essence ( 精 jīng， i.e., energetic vitality) to refine it into Breath, this time with a capital “B” that has a meaning more akin to prana, or Life Force (炁 qì instead of 气 qì ). As the breath becomes Breath, it smooths out and becomes quite imperceptible while the experience of Breath in the body strengthens.

If one is overflowing in
  Great Fullness,
    breath “no extremes.”

In the next stage, breath is refined and accumulated by circulating it from the pelvic floor along the spine to the pineal gland and down the front of the body to the pelvic floor. At a certain point, those circulations result in a feeling of fullness in the belly and indicate that Essence has transformed into Breath. This process is called “compounding the medicine.” Like the image in this post, the full belly appears in many sculptures. 

The intention must remain strong enough to stay with the practice, otherwise the Breath will disperse. However, forcing it and thinking about it will “cook” the Breath and create an energetic excess. The breath of “no extremes” indicates holding strong intent but an inert state of being at the point when the Breath has adequately accumulated in the abdomen. 

If clumsy in skill…
If stammering in revealing…
If bending in uprightness… 

Overcome “cold” with “fire.”
Overcome “heat” with “stillness.”

Next, the compounded medicine must be further collected and transmuted into the Original Spirit, which is the silent, vast heart perfectly illuminated by awareness. The energetic feeling of this is that the full abdomen of energy expands upward until the entire spine/brain is permeated with it. This process is called “bathing” and requires one to “tune the string” of the system, meaning that we are neither too tight (hot/concentrated) nor too loose (cold/relaxed). Add heat when we are too cold; when too hot, add stillness. Such is the progression from the “doing” required to lay the foundations to the “non-doing” needed to return to the Dao. 

Stillness and clarity put the world in order. 

When stillness and clarity have induced the Original Spirit to bathe all four corners of the world in equal measure, all that’s left to do is wait until we disappear into the Dao. Since there’s not much to say, I’ll add that the world’s four corners are the perineum, pineal gland, navel, and the spine interior at S1/L5.