《参同契五相类秘要》

The Wuxiang lei miyao of the Cantong qi holds that the yang numbers one, two, three, four, and five correspond to Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth, while the yin numbers are six, seven, eight, nine, and ten.

In former times the Perfected Wei Boyang transmitted the Cantong qi and the ancient songs to Chunyu Shutong and to Xu Congshi of Qingzhou. After succeeding in elixir refinement, Wei Boyang composed the Wuxiang lei. He later ascended on clouds and departed, instructing his disciples to transcribe it in large-seal script. This writing is absent from other transmitted versions; some claim it is the middle chapter of the Cantong qi, a view the author regards as reflecting shallow insight. The Wuxiang lei discusses the analogical relationships among various things and how these relationships may be used to subdue the “three yellows and two treasures,” which is why it is called the “Five Analogies.”

The scripture states that the “Heaven-born Original Woman” refers to mercury and the “Earth-born Yellow Man” refers to gold. Both are endowed with the Qi (vital energy) of Great Harmony; their natures are subtle and opposite. The left belongs to yang and the right to yin; when each occupies its corresponding position they communicate with one another, mutually stimulate and respond, and operate according to analogical relationships, thereby subduing the “three yellows and two treasures.”

The “primordial woman” generated by Heaven is mercury, while the “yellow man” generated by Earth is gold. Both receive the nature of Taihe (the harmonious and subtle primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth). Yin-Yang are opposite yet interpenetrating: the left belongs to Yang and the right belongs to Yin; each occupies its own position, yet they are able to conjoin with one another. Mercury and gold are precisely what is generated by the blending Qi of Heaven and Earth.

Initially it is cinnabar, which belongs to the left and resides in the east; later it transforms into mercury, which resides in the west and belongs to the right—this is explained by means of borrowed positions. Cinnabar flies from the south, where the Zhang and Yi lunar mansions are located, toward the north, where the Xu and Wei lunar mansions are located; this constitutes one transformation. The Zhang and Yi mansions belong to the south and symbolize cinnabar; the Xu and Wei mansions belong to the north and symbolize mercury. Mercury emerges through the transformation of cinnabar, just as flying from south to north.

This innate nature of generation, after undergoing transformation, becomes the elixir. Cinnabar reverts and transforms into mercury, and mercury in turn reverts and transforms into the elixir; this is one transformation of the elixir. Once the elixir has formed, it rises to the Upper Palace. Here the “Upper Palace” refers to the Vermilion Palace of the south, symbolizing the place to which mercury’s transformation returns. Upon reaching this point, it no longer permits the myriad things to transform of themselves, but rather mercury assumes the function of generating and transforming the myriad things.

“Solar white mercury” refers to mercury. Mercury is the Jing (essence) within water, belonging to Yin Jing, and originally contains red water. Mercury originally arises from cinnabar, therefore it is said to contain red water. Returning my elixir liquor means causing mercury to revert and transform into cinnabar; this is like husband and wife uniting, because mercury originally comes from the transformation of cinnabar.

“Pure black Jing-origin containing cyan” refers to black lead. The color of black lead is cyan, and its directional association belongs to the east; the east belongs to Wood of the Five Phases, and cinnabar likewise belongs to the Jing of Wood, therefore it is said to contain cyan.

Now the “Four Images” (the four basic substances or states in elixir alchemy) must be firmly established and their respective functions clearly distinguished, after which they are to be blended in accordance with their individual natures. Once the matter is understood it becomes easy; if one remains confused it is difficult. Understanding renders the work exceedingly easy, while confusion makes it extremely arduous.

“The primordial Jing follows the Dipper’s handle in spring.” Here “primordial Jing” refers to zi mercury. The eleventh month is the zi month; at that time the Dipper’s handle points toward the zi position and Yang Qi (vital energy) begins to stir. Hence it is said that in the eleventh month one receives the allotted measure of Yang Qi, meaning that when the Dipper establishes the zi position in the eleventh month this marks the commencement of the year.

The substances of East and West interpenetrate and mutually constrain one another: the East pertains to Zhu (vermilion), the West to silver, and the two act upon each other. “Yin Ling occupies the You position, coming and going through the central palace.” Here the “central palace” denotes realgar; yin mercury interacts with the Metal of the You position, thereby initially subduing male mercury. The blending of two substances of dissimilar natures may take the form of the union of Metal and mercury, though some interpret it as the union of mercury and cinnabar.

The relations among them are comparable to those of husband and wife, mother and child, ruler and minister, and assistants: mercury takes lead as its wife, and the analogies of mother-child or ruler-minister may equally be applied. By mastering the proper measure and the verifying signs of the talismans one can control them, just as water extinguishes fire and the fire’s force is inevitably suppressed. If the fire timing is regulated according to the seasons so that its advance and retreat proceed in orderly sequence, and if it is modulated according to the generating and overcoming transformations of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), then Metal and mercury will naturally submit. The Zhi Fu and Zhi Shi (the spirits or talisman positions that take duty according to time and preside over the matter) determine the sequence of ascent and descent, and the refining can thereby succeed.

This section of the Cantong qi wu xiang lei miyao classifies minerals and metals such as cinnabar, mercury, realgar, orpiment, sulfur, lead, and tin as “same kind” according to the relationships of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), and thereby explains the principles of refining elixirs. What the text calls “same kind” refers to substances the author regards as matching in nature and capable of interacting with or transforming into one another; “Great Elixir” and “Returned Elixir” are names of elixirs in Daoist alchemy.

The text states that refining the Great Elixir must follow Yin-Yang and the Five Phases, with the relevant substances and quantities clearly distinguished, otherwise it cannot succeed. Cinnabar is also called “Great Yang,” and the mercury within it is termed “Great Yang mercury” or “Great Yang gong”; realgar belongs to the yang category, orpiment to the yin category. The author regards the combination of these substances as the essential key to the “Great Returned Elixir.”

Next, the text enumerates various refining methods, using phenomena such as minerals being heated, melting, congealing, and changing color to illustrate that they “combine with” one another or can be subdued. For example, when realgar encounters a substance called “paosha,” it is said to quickly transform into a blood-colored liquid; orpiment mixed with fritillary powder and heated also exhibits corresponding changes. Sulfur combining with mercury is said to cause the mercury to congeal; the author further interprets this change as sulfur subduing mercury, thereby refining it into cinnabar or elixir. The “fu” mentioned in the text refers to the alchemical term for subduing, making a substance no longer volatile or restoring it to stability.

Subsequently, the author continues to incorporate lead, tin, silver, copper, and minerals of the lapis lazuli type into the Five Phases relationships, describing how after grinding, mixing, steaming, sealing, and heating they can congeal into powder frost, change color, or transform into other metals and elixirs. For instance, the text states that cengqing combined with sheep fat can refine a cyan-colored elixir substance; kongqing ground with daihe, then steamed together with mercury-type substances, can cause metals to change. Terms such as “shafan” and “guji” here are operational expressions in elixir refining: the former refers to the vessel or steaming method used for the medicines, the latter to sealing and fixing the furnace, tripod, or container.

The conclusion uses relationships such as “child and mother” and “father and mother, ruler and minister” to explain the constraints and transformations between metals and elixirs: mercury is called the “child,” silver the “mother”; after mercury is constrained by silver and other substances, it can congeal and stabilize or transform. The author believes that the various substances of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases subdue one another and interact, ultimately making it possible to refine the Great Elixir; after ingesting the elixir, one can attain longevity of the Shen (spirit) and hun, lasting as long as Heaven, Earth, the sun, and the moon. These claims of immortality constitute the alchemical beliefs of the original text.

I have seen the interpretations of this jing (scripture) offered by various schools; they all claim already to understand it, yet some maintain that there is no need to distinguish Yin-Yang (阴阳), and they do not even know what “tonglei” (同类) means. Others believe the sage concealed the oral instructions, yet they themselves cannot read the jing, judging solely by their own ideas, which greatly departs from the sage’s original intent.

To grasp the arts of the furnace and fire, the refining and control of mineral medicines, one must consult the relevant formula books, concentrate on studying the jing arts, thoroughly comprehend the writings of the ancients, and then attentively realize their meaning; this is the way that leads to the Great Dao (the Way). Nowadays, in famous mountains and grotto-heavens throughout the land, people seek the transmitted teachings of masters, yet their explanations differ from one another. Many who study the jing and formulas discuss the meanings of the medicines and also talk of the specific procedures; they believe that by carefully studying various formula books and investigating the principles of Yin-Yang transformations they can understand what “tonglei” is.

The jing then employs a series of metaphors to illustrate the matching of medicines and the changes of fire timing. “Dragon and horse receiving the harness” takes the dragon as Qian, symbolizing Heaven and Yang, and the horse as Kun, symbolizing Earth and Yin; “receiving the harness” means that Yin and Yang operate in coordination like a chariot and horses. “Dragon and tiger swallowing each other” refers to the two medicines of dragon mercury and tiger silver matching and blending with one another. “Man and woman copulating” uses the union of man and woman as a metaphor for the joining of Yin and Yang, and also for the blending of the two medicines, gold and mercury. “Father and son in harmonious regard” identifies the father with cinnabar and the son with mercury, while the mother is gold containing mercury; here father-son and mother-child relations analogize the generation and matching among the medicines. “White and red floating together” has white as white alum and red as red salt. “Black and green both confined” has black as silver and green as zengqing. “The six spirits revolving leftward from zi to si” describes the six spirits operating in sequence from zi to si; earthly branches and directions are used to indicate the order of transformations in the medicines. “Having already passed through my palace” means mercury transforms from the zi position into cinnabar, then upon operating to the si-wu region turns from mercury into red sand. “Thereafter turning rightward and passing briefly, thus according with Heaven and Earth” indicates that mercury moves from left to right, transforming into the form of gold, analogizing accordance with the operations of Heaven and Earth. “Circling the eight nodes to determine the four seasons” means operating according to the eight nodes (the seasonal markers that divide the year), corresponding to the changes of the four seasons. “Successively occupying and vying to precede, according to the two solstices, determining days and hours, and thereby nurturing the fire” means relying on the winter solstice and summer solstice as key junctures to fix the dates and times and to master the fire timing of cultivation. “Thereby verifying the position of the five” checks the position of the “five earths”; “five earths” refers to the Earth that occupies the center of the Five Phases (五行), and is also used to analogize the joining of male and female medicines.

All these expressions borrow Yin-Yang, directions, seasonal timings, and kinship relations to describe the matching of medicines, their circulation, and the transformations of fire timing in refinement.

The principles of the supreme sages and great worthies have already been recorded in the Sanbian. Cinnabar belongs to the south and also corresponds to the east, while mercury belongs to the north. Each of the various medicinal substances occupies its proper directional position, and the dragon and tiger (metaphors used in Waidan (external alchemy) for interacting medicinal substances) vie to take effect first.

The red cinnabar gradually turns purple. Names such as tiger-silver and dragon-mercury are designations employed in Waidan for the relevant medicinal substances. Red refers to the color of the cinnabar. White alum is able to communicate with primordial Qi (vital energy). Specially generated alum stone contains alum that can be used to subdue mercury.

Eight mineral medicines are brought together and divided into the “three yellows” and “five metals,” collectively called the “eight stones,” and they are compounded according to a definite sequence. Mercury of the north can be transformed into gold. Arranging the medicines of the five directions means disposing the cinnabar according to the directional positions of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) so that they coordinate with one another. Because the compatibility relations among the various medicines are difficult to explain one by one, one therefore selects the “Red Emperor”—an alternative name for mercury—as representative.

The phrase “shuaitu wujuan” in the text means taking five kinds of medicines; “the meaning of dividing the mother, so that the child specially carries it out” indicates separating a portion from the mother substance in order that the child medicine may act independently. After mineral impurities have been removed, the method of “one constraining nine” is applied: one part of silver matched with nine parts of mercury. Gold is able to restrain mercury, causing the two to mutually constrain each other and return to stability.

Next the method of “five determining seven” is used: seven represents gold and five represents orpiment. The so-called “one black three sections” means dividing the black medicinal substance into three sections; “one black fifteen days” means that fifteen days are divided into three segments of five days each. Seven and eight taken together: according to one explanation this is seven liang of mercury and eight liang of silver; according to another, “seven-eight” indicates that after fifteen days the medicine manifests signs of transformation. At that point the returned elixir (the transformed product spoken of in the alchemical process) may be observed.

When alum stone is used, three auxiliary medicines are required, namely chalcanthite, yellow alum, and white alum; two cyan-colored medicinal substances are also to be used. The “zengkong” mentioned here refers to the related methods of refinement; “Taiyin Yuanshui Stone,” that is, salt-brine substances of the lujian type, cannot be used.

Realgar, orpiment, the three kinds of frost medicines, and also sulfur must first be steamed and refined with fire, then boiled for one month with water, stones, and salt, so that their medicinal nature becomes stable and less readily affected by fire. These belong to the decoction methods of the “four yellows,” and therefore compounding methods of the “five alums” type are not adopted.

In using green alum, dark alum, and similar substances, the secrets of fire timing must be mastered: a gentle fire is used when the duration is long and a fierce fire when the duration is short, so that the medicines may be properly controlled. When refining the great elixir, the medicinal substances cannot be placed upon unburned raw charcoal; thoroughly burned mature fire must be employed.

The song says

The deep, elongated ridges should interlock with one another in order to coordinate Yin-Yang. The ding vessel is shaped like a raised moon and also like a sphere; both ends are fashioned with downward ridges so that the two sides can close together. There is a definite knack to the use of fire: prolonged heating employs gentle fire while brief heating employs fierce fire, thereby never losing control of the fire timing. When the Great Elixir is refined it must never be placed directly on raw charcoal; thoroughly burned charcoal whose fire is already stable must be used.

The song states that the deep, elongated ridges ought to match in order to coordinate Yin-Yang. The ding vessel resembles a recumbent moon and likewise a sphere; the lower ridges at both ends must close tightly against the upper ridges, and the making of the vessel requires the utmost care, without the slightest deviation. The bottom must be thick and solid so that the elixir can be preserved for a long time and thereby reach flourishing completion. The ding described here is fashioned of lead and silver, its form like primordial chaos, and is used to store and nourish the spirit medicine.

The solar flowing pearl enters the Flower Pool. “Flowing pearl” here denotes mercury. It is prepared with the substance of the black pool in order to boil and refine mercury together with silver; once the sand has condensed it is ground, mixed, and returned to the vessel.

Red salt and white snow are refined into male and female. Alum-type medicines are combined and heated until they turn red, hence the name “red salt.” In the work of elixir-making this substance causes the drugs to fly and transform into a frost-and-snow appearance. “White snow,” together with female snow and male snow, are all names belonging to this class of medicines. The Dao (the Way) is not distant; people simply do not know it. The method lies immediately before the eyes, yet few understand it.

The red dragon turning to powder refers to mercury becoming a red powder. The white tiger sharp as frost refers to lead and mercury transforming together until they finally assume a frost-snow state. “Stone liquid,” that is, sulfur, is then added, and “imperial flowing slurry” is used to subdue the stone liquid. Imperial flowing slurry denotes the liquid of magnetic mother. By regulating the circulation of fire and by storing and nourishing the qi (vital energy) of the Five Phases one keeps the shen (spirits) of the five viscera within the elixir chamber pure; in other words the practitioner must keep the five viscera themselves clean and solemn.

If the “Three Yellows” are to be refined, lead and mercury must be subdued in their fiery nature by the Three Yellows so that they recover the quality of pure Yang. The Three Yellows belong to Earth; Earth generates Metal, and that is why they are employed. Their nature is hot; they are regarded as the jing (essence) of the sun and can therefore modulate the cold nature of mercury. The Three Yellows are realgar, orpiment, and sulfur. Zengqing communicates with divine brightness; it is the sprout of Metal and Metal’s envoy. Realgar, orpiment, sulfur, and Metal are the essences it assists in completing.

In the work of the Great Returned Elixir lead is the host, mercury the ruler, sulfur the minister, realgar the general, orpiment the assistant, and zengqing the envoy. Ruler and minister are matched so that the principal medicine and the general medicine subdue one another, while the assistant and envoy help the substances circulate freely. Although the remaining auxiliary medicines merely assist from the side, after long refinement they too become the ash that subdues fiery nature. Whether the medicines themselves are solid, how plain mercury is to be distinguished from firm silver, and the still-undifferentiated state of mother-and-child medicines are matters the text says have not yet been explained in detail.

How then is Yin-Yang to be applied? Yin-Yang is Qian and Kun. First the two medicines must be determined, together with the ding vessel, the method of subduing, and the temporal sequence of fire; thereafter they are employed in alternation according to the hexagram images of Qian and Kun. From the zi hour through chen and si belongs to “direct tally”; from the wu hour through xu and hai belongs to “direct affair.” The numbers and periods of the fire timing are arranged according to those hexagram images.