《庚道集》Vol. 3

First take ten liang of “xin” (arsenic trioxide), grind it into a fine, uniform powder, and place it in a clay pot. Fill a water vessel with one cup of water and heat it until the water boils vigorously. Once the fire has gone out, take it out the next day. The finished product will be silver-colored and can be used as a “kui” (a vessel or material for sealing and nourishing substances during refinement); it is said to be able to transmute substances immediately.

Next, grind the ten liang of xin mentioned above into a fine powder. Wrap it in four liang of frost powder inside silver foil, place it in a lidded crucible, and nourish it with fire for three days. At the mao and you hours, add three liang of top-fire each time. When the three days are up, take it out; only then can it be used for transmutation. Take one liang of molten metal, first open its surface with a bean-sized piece of fine xin, then transmute it with one qian of “dead powder.” The result is remarkable.

If you do not transmute directly with dead powder, but use it as the kui, place cinnabar in a lidded crucible and nourish it with fire for three days. Add three liang of top-fire at both the mao and you hours. When the three days are up, take it out, and it can then be used for transmutation. Take one liang of molten metal, first open its surface with a bean-sized piece of fine xin, then transmute it with one qian of dead powder. If you do not use dead powder for transmutation, use it as the kui to nourish the cinnabar. Place the cinnabar in close contact with “xipeng” for seven days; it is said to be ready for transmutation.

If you do not use a dead-arsenic kui for transmutation, use one to nourish orpiment. Again, keep the orpiment in close contact with xipeng for seven days; it is said to be able to transmute geng. Also, nourish mother sand with dead powder for fourteen days, and it will become a treasure. If you nourish mother sand with dead arsenic, it will become a treasure in seven days.

Method for making arsenic powder to transmute bones, and for using bone as a kui to nourish elixir sand

Use six liang of frost powder and four liang of chu. Also use kochia fruit, plantain seed, Chinese gall, white aconite, Chinese chive seed, chinaberry seed, pine nut, terminalia fruit, and paper mulberry seed.

Grind these ingredients in equal proportions into a coarse powder. Put the arsenic powder in an iron tiaozi, a kind of alchemical vessel, and boil it in flowing water for one day. Fry it dry, then place it in a water cauldron for sublimation, using fifteen jin of charcoal for one day. When the furnace has cooled, remove it. The next day, boil it again, fry it again, and return it to the cauldron to refine for one day, then take it out. Use one qian at a time to transmute one liang of bone material. Crush the bone material to make a “mother matrix,” a base that carries and nourishes the medicine. Each jin of mother matrix nourishes four liang of cinnabar. First refine it for three days with a fire of two liang, then increase the fire to four liang and continue refining for four full days. When the furnace has cooled, take it out and remove the mother matrix. Put the cinnabar in a fireproof crucible, add four liang of nitre and sand, and refine it for three days with a fire of two liang. Increase the fire to four liang and continue refining for four full days. When the furnace has cooled, take it out and remove the mother matrix. Put the cinnabar back into the crucible and refine it with nitre, salt, and other ingredients. Then combine the cinnabar and base material in “four-six” and “three-seven” proportions; the results are excellent.

Using an arsenic matrix to nourish calcined powder frost and white cinnabar “dogwood heads”

Making the arsenic matrix

Take one jin of arsenic and grind it finely. Mix it with crushed daylily, add water, and boil for three days. Remove it, dry it by heating, and place it in a water-and-fire cauldron for sublimation for one day. Remove it again and nourish it for seven days with two liang of mao-you fire, a gentler heat adjusted in stages. Then increase the heat and refine it for another seven days, until it no longer gives off smoke. Next, add two liang of raw arsenic in successive portions, refining for seven days after each addition, until a total of four liang of raw arsenic has been added. Only then is the arsenic matrix considered effective and ready to nourish white cinnabar. When adding the arsenic, also place mercury and “He,” an ingredient named in the original, at the center of the matrix. Only after this treatment is the matrix considered effective and able to nourish powder frost.

How to add mercury and “He” to the arsenic matrix

Boil “He” until it becomes liquid. Add a little white pine resin and stir. When the impurities in the “He” have settled and the liquid has cleared, add mercury. For every five liang of arsenic, use three liang of “He” and nine qian of mercury. Weigh them in this proportion and distribute them evenly through the arsenic matrix.

Method for white cinnabar “dogwood heads”

Take twenty liang of mercury and twenty liang of arsenic. Grind them together into a powder until no grains of mercury are visible. The original then repeats the instruction to boil “He” until liquid, let it settle and clear, and add mercury; it gives the same proportions for placing the ingredients in the arsenic matrix: five liang of arsenic, three liang of “He,” and nine qian of mercury.

Mercury (i.e., quicksilver), twenty liang, and xin (arsenic-bearing mineral medicine), twenty liang, are ground together into a fine powder until no beads of mercury remain visible. Add five liang of xipeng and five liang of fanzi, and grind them finely with the other ingredients. Place the mixture in a water-and-fire cauldron and shape it into a “cornel head.” After one day, remove the powder and form it into pieces the size of chess pieces.

Take mu bie, duanchang chrysanthemum, matixiang, and Sichuan pepper, and place them in three large bowls of water. Suspend the “cornel head” above the medicinal liquid and steam it for one day. When it is done, place it in an arsenic vessel (a container or medicinal material made from arsenic compounds), and temper it over a low fire for fourteen days. Then pour it out for use as the medicinal vessel material (a container or medicinal material used to continue tempering medicines).

Method for Tempering Calcined Powder Frost in an Arsenic Vessel

First, boil powder frost in y’an grass juice. Then decoct licorice segments, and mix the resulting liquid with powders of sanleng, dendrobium, diy’ü, and wujia bark to make a medicinal material to be placed against the body. Put it in the arsenic vessel for tempering. This step must be completed before the cornel head is placed in the arsenic vessel for sublimation.

After sublimating and boiling the cornel head, take the arsenic vessel powder prepared earlier and spread two liang above and below it. Moisten the powder with fresh juice of tieta grass and ginger, and temper it with the liquid for seven days, using two liang of fire at the mao and you hours each day. Remove it and grind it finely, then load it into the container as before. Moisten it with fresh juice of fragrant celery and ginger, and temper it for seven days with two liang of fire.

Next, moisten the powder with fresh juice of tieta grass and ginger, and temper it with the liquid for seven days, using two liang of fire at the mao and you hours each day. Remove it and grind it finely, then load it into the container as before. Moisten it with fresh juice of fragrant celery and ginger and temper it again for seven days, using two and a half liang of fire. Finally, grind it finely to make the medicinal vessel material; only then place powder frost inside for tempering.

Fire Schedule for Tempering Powder

From the first through the fourth day, use one liang of fire each day. On the fifth and sixth days, use one and a half liang each day. On the seventh day, use two liang of fire.

Method for Making Sulfur and Realgar Fire-Proof

Take one liang each of sulfur and realgar, and one fen of heding frost (an arsenic-bearing mineral medicine). Grind them together finely and place them in a box. Cover the surface with another one fen of heding frost, seal it tightly, and put it in an earthen furnace. Temper it with five jin of fire applied externally, then add half a dan of fire to burn it until the medicine is “fire-proof” (after processing, it no longer displays its original properties of burning, volatilizing, and so forth). This is what is called the “Pill of the Two Pure Yang Energies.”

Method for Destroying Sulfur

One liang of sulfur, one liang of ephedra, and two liang of euphorbia.

Burn the materials listed above to ash, spread the ash across the bottom of a crucible, and seal it firmly. Heat it through the furnace opening with a fire basket until it glows red, then pour it into water. When the sulfur rises to the surface, collect it in a vessel. Melt it again and process it as before, adding two liang of Euphorbia (a Chinese medicinal herb). After calcining it, it is ready for use.

Burn the materials listed above to ash, spread the ash across the bottom of a crucible, and seal it firmly. Heat it through the furnace opening with a fire basket until it glows red, then pour it into water. When the sulfur floats to the surface, collect it. Melt it and calcine it again as before, then set it aside.

Method for destroying the “Three Yellow Cabinet” (an implement used to hold or process mineral medicines):

Take one liang each of orpiment and sulfur, and grind them carefully into powder.

Prepare a small lidded jar. If it contains oil, first place the female sulfur inside, setting it down gently until the jar is about half full. Grind some self-heal into powder and sprinkle a little over the substance. Take another half ounce of self-heal, mix it with water to make a paste, and seal the mouth of the jar with it. Then pound four ounces of field pennywort into a mash and apply it around the outside of the jar to seal it firmly. Add another layer of salt mud, about one inch thick. Let it dry in the sun, taking care not to let the sealing mud crack.

Place the jar on the floor in a clean room. Take one or two bowls of mulberry-wood ash, sprinkle vinegar over it to moisten it, and use the vinegar ash to encircle the jar tightly on the floor, so that none of the jar remains exposed. Heap about half a jin of charcoal evenly around it and ignite the charcoal from the top. When the fire has burned out and the jar has cooled completely, remove it, break it open, and grind the substance finely.

Next take one ounce of male sulfur, grind it finely in the same way, and put it in the jar. Seal and fire it as before. When it has cooled, remove the substance and grind it finely again. Add one ounce each of raw Sanhuang and grind them together, then fire the mixture as before. Afterward, add three ounces of Sanhuang and grind everything finely. Put it in a large jar, seal it with grass powder, and fire it until cool. Then add three ounces of mercury and “yellow seed,” grinding them together until no bright specks of mercury are visible.

Return the substance to the jar and seal it with salt mud. Place it in an ash pit, the kind used to maintain a steady fire. Set four ounces of banked fire above and below the jar and keep it heated for seven days, replenishing the fire morning and evening and maintaining four ounces each time. After seven days, inspect it. If the substance has turned into yellow powder, use it as “Golden Mother material for the crucible,” a substance used to wrap and cultivate other materials.

Next take one ounce of refined gold, hammer it into thin foil, and put it in a ceramic bottle with five ounces of mercury. Add five qian of ground Sichuan pepper, plug the mouth of the bottle with ginger, and warm it over ash-banked fire. Shake it from time to time and add more ground Sichuan pepper repeatedly, until the mixture congeals into a sandlike substance. When removed, it should have formed firm grains shaped like lotus seeds. Mix these with grains of pure gold.

Take another sand crucible and first lay down four ounces of Golden Mother powder. Add a layer of sand grains, then another four ounces of Golden Mother powder, followed by another layer of sand grains. Cover everything with the remaining powder. Seal the crucible with salt mud, let it dry in the sun, and place it in the ash pit. First cultivate it for one fu period (about twelve double-hours) with two ounces of banked fire, then add three ounces of banked fire for another fu period. After that, continue cultivating it with four ounces of fire for five days. Finally, add three jin of banked fire and heat the crucible until it glows red. Once removed, it is ready to serve as the crucible.

Method for Calcining Sulfur

Use any amount of sulfur. Place it in a crucible, a heat-resistant vessel for medicines, and calcine it over a low flame. When a flame like a ghost fire appears, continue warming it gently for five days. Then raise the fire to an intensity equivalent to three jin, until the crucible and its contents are glowing red. Remove it and use it as a container for holding medicines during calcination or gentle heating.

Method for Calcining Sulfur

Use any amount of sulfur. Place it in a crucible and calcine it over a low flame. When a flame like a ghost fire appears, drip in the natural juice of birch leaves until the flame goes out. Then plug the mouth of the crucible with birch-leaf pulp and calcine it over the fire until the vessel glows red. Remove it and use it as a container for gently heating cinnabar, realgar, sulfur-mother sand, and similar substances.

Method for Calcining Realgar

Take one liang of realgar, break it into pieces, and boil it for a full day and night in the natural juice of winter holly. Next, fumigate and heat a crucible with medicinal herbs before placing the substance inside. The herbs are grass, mugwort, juanwu, and great burnet, ground into a fine powder in equal quantities. Fumigate the crucible with the powder until the smoke is dense, then put the realgar inside and cover it with the powder. Calcine it over a low flame until the crucible glows red. Remove it and let it cool. Break open the crucible and take out the realgar, then fry it in goose fat for two double-hours, about four hours. For every liang of silver, add one qian of yellow, dripping it in three portions; this produces red geng.

Method for Subduing Sulfur

Take one liang of sulfur and grind it together with two liang of mugwort ash. Put the mixture in a crucible. Cover it completely with powdered cold-water stone and pack it down firmly, then calcine it with a fire equivalent to three jin. Once cooled, remove it and place it on paper. Add a bowl of water, then, for every liang of silver, drip in one qian of yellow in three portions; this produces red geng.

Method for Subduing Sulfur

Take one liang of sulfur and grind it together with two liang of mugwort ash. Put the mixture in a crucible. Cover it completely with powdered cold-water stone and pack it down firmly, then calcine it with a fire equivalent to three jin. Once cooled, remove it and place it on paper. Rinse it with water, let it settle, and pour off the clear liquid. Add another two liang of mugwort ash and subdue it by calcining, then rinse it again with water. When dry, grind it into a fine powder; it can then be used for transmutation.

Method for Subduing Realgar

When refining realgar, regardless of the amount used, first grind pine-foot moss, a succulent plant, and oyster shell into a fine powder, then add water and knead it into a thick paste. Coat the outside of the crucible with this paste, seal the rim tightly, and make the layer rise two or three finger-widths above the rim and about one finger-width thick. Grind the realgar into a fine powder before placing it in the crucible. Apply a fire of five jin and watch over it closely. Once the smoke has dispersed, inspect the substance in the crucible. If it has a bright, mirror-like sheen, pour it out; the refinement is complete.

Method for Subduing Sulfur

For each liang of sulfur, wrap it in paper treated with vinegar and ink. Cover the outside of the packet with five-directions grass, then seal the seams with saltpeter and clam powder. Next, wrap the outside in bamboo-leaf ash and salt mud to make a container for enclosing the substance and withstanding the fire. First warm it twice with a fire of half a jin, then apply a fire of five jin and calcine it until the process is complete.

Four Spirits Container

Take one jin of sulfur in a solid piece about the size of a fist, and three jin of fresh rehmannia root. Press the root to extract its natural juice. First place the sulfur in an iron pot. Pack the pressed rehmannia pulp around it and press it firmly against the bottom of the pot. Mix three sheng of genuine mulberry-wood ash with the rehmannia juice, then spread the mixture over the pulp. If a blue-green flame appears around the sulfur, sprinkle on dry mulberry-wood ash to keep the flames from rising. Burn wood beneath the pot until the sulfur glows red.

Next, remove the rehmannia pulp and ash from the surface of the sulfur and grind them finely together. Take the sulfur out of the bottom of the pot. Repeatedly rinse the medicinal ash with hot water until the strained liquid is clear. If it remains cloudy, rinse it again with hot water and let it settle until completely clear. Then return the sulfur to the pot, add the clear ash liquid, and boil until all the water has evaporated.

Put the sulfur in a copper crucible and heat it over a fierce fire, like the fire used to smelt silver, until it melts into a liquid resembling molten gold. Pour it into a mold, where it will solidify into a gold-ingot shape. Its color will remain unchanged, and it will be dense and heavy. Take one liang of sulfur processed in this way and combine it with one liang each of the female and male substances. Here, “female” and “male” are terms for classes of substances in alchemical practice.

Place the two substances in the bottom of a sand crucible and cover them with the processed sulfur. Heat over a strong fire until the vessel glows red. Then remove the two substances and grind them finely together. Add one liang of “dead lu” (a mineral substance used in alchemy), grind the mixture into powder, and put it in a copper crucible. Place a cup over the crucible and heat it using the water-and-fire cauldron method. Keep up a strong fire until the vessel glows red, then add five cups of water and heat until the water has dried up. After cooling, remove the contents in layers and discard the ash frost: lu is on top, sulfur in the middle, and the male and female substances at the bottom.

Next, take one liang in total of the three substances—yellow, male and female, and nourishing cinnabar—and grind them finely. Spread the powder over the bottom of the vessel and cover the surface of the substances. Apply a low sustaining fire for seven days, using two liang of fuel morning and evening. Then continue the process for another seven days with four liang of fuel. Remove the substances and make them into a “Four Spirits Coffer” (a sealed vessel for alchemical work), to use in cultivating and refining the Mother Sand of Geng Silver. The method of “following the mother as it transforms” may also be used. The sand need not be shaped into a ball; instead, make it into a long strip, insert it into the Four Spirits Coffer, and cultivate and calcine it there.

If the lu sand forms a white layer floating on the surface, it may be removed. Lu must not be ground together with the three yellow substances. If ash frost forms on the surface of the crucible, the contents must not be used. Remove the substances layer by layer and completely clear away the ash frost.

Processing Dead Sal Ammoniac

Use any quantity of sal ammoniac, together with a vegetable such as lotus root greens, also called mu cai. Extract two bowls of its natural juice. Wrap the sal ammoniac in silk cloth and suspend it in the juice to boil until all the liquid has evaporated. Remove the cloth bundle and grind the sal ammoniac in a Jian bowl, a type of tea bowl. Spread the vegetable residue beneath and over it, then calcine until the residue is charred black. Remove the sal ammoniac and brush away the smoky residue. It can then be used as the packing material for refining the “Three Yellows”—a material used to wrap or contain substances during calcination.

A Method for Calcining Sulfur

Take four liang of sulfur and one portion each of field chickweed and spinach. Pound them and extract five or six bowls of juice. Grind the sulfur into fine grains, wrap it in silk, and suspend it in the juice to boil for a full day and night. Remove it and place it in a covered crucible used for calcining substances, with the plant residue spread above and below it. First keep it at low heat for three days, until the residue inside is dry; then calcine it once over a fire made with three jin of fuel.

After removing it, moisten plum-pit sand with vinegar and sprinkle it over the sulfur. Put it back into the crucible, seal the lid, and tie it firmly around the outside with cord. Grind equal portions of wubei and Chinese yam rhizome into a fine powder, mix it with honey into a ball, and coat the plum-pit sand with it. Seal the outside with liuyi clay, a clay used to seal furnace vessels. Once dry, place it over a gentle and strong alternating fire for one or two double-hours. Remove it and proceed with the next stage of refinement.

First heat a pot in the furnace until it is glowing red. Add the sand, then sprinkle one qian of powdered sulfur over it. Wait for it to melt. Add another qian of sulfur powder, and wait for it to melt before adding more; fan the fire rapidly as you work. When it has fused with the borax and appears bright and clean, pour out the finished product. This is called “treasure.”

A Method for Boiling Dead Sulfur

Use equal portions of plantain juice, mugwort juice, and banana oil, and boil them for one day. When the mixture comes to a boil, add drops of paper-ash solution. One qian of this preparation is enough to transform silver into “geng.”

Subduing the Three Yellows

Grind the leaves, orpiment, water-ground realgar, and imported sulfur to an extremely fine powder, then mix them with bitter wine (vinegar) to form a block. Use Kunlun paper. One qian can transform silver into “geng.”

“Subduing the Three Yellows” refers to a method of refining substances in the Three Yellows category by preparing, sealing, and calcining them to bring about a transformation. “Transforming silver into geng” is alchemical terminology for using the refined substance to turn silver into a material called “geng.”

Grind the leaves, orpiment, water-ground realgar, and imported sulfur until very fine. Mix them with bitter wine (vinegar) into a block and wrap it in Kunlun paper. Take one and a half liang each of fangfeng and huangqin, then take yangti vegetable—here this means not sheep’s sorrel, but deer’s-foot herb. Pound these two ingredients with honey into a paste. Spread it out and wrap it around the medicinal block. Next, pound qiānzhēn grass to extract its juice, then pound it together with the root of the missing-character leaf and salt. Seal it with yellow clay. If yellow clay is unavailable, chives and earthworm castings can be used instead. Make the clay seal about half an inch thick and let it dry completely.

Place the sealed medicinal block in a shallow pit dug in the ground and bank it with ash. First fire it with the force of three jin of fuel. Once the fire weakens, continue burning until it has died out. Then cover it with cold ash. When it has cooled, it is ready to use.

The poem says: Plants and trees can subdue the three yellow substances, and their effects accord with the transformations of nature. The immortals handed down subtle instructions, which ultimately lead to union with the heart of the Dao.

Method for Calcining Sulfur

Grind one liang of arsenic into powder and place it in a pot, pressing it down with hemp seeds. Cover the mouth of the pot with silk gauze. Take one cup of ginger juice and brush it onto the gauze with a pen until all the juice has been used. Set the pot on its side in cold ash and cover it. Once it has cooled, remove the contents. Use one qian for every liang of the medicine.

Method for Five-Metal Powder

Take one cup each of arsenic, five-boron powder, and mercury. Dip a pen into the mixture and brush it onto silk gauze until all the medicinal liquid has been used. Set the pot on its side in cold ash and cover it. Once it has cooled, remove the contents. Use one qian for every liang of the medicine.

Method for Five-Metal Powder

Take one part each of arsenic, five-boron powder, and mercury, along with half a liang of processed cinnabar. Grind each ingredient separately in a mortar until no grains are visible. Wrap them in two layers of paper and coat the wrapping thickly. Choose one or two auxiliary ingredients, such as honey, pepper, lingzhi, wuling fat, or sickle senna. Wrap the medicine packet in them, then bind it tightly with hemp cord. Coat the outside with fine ash mixed with vinegar. Use eight jin of freshly glowing charcoal to calcine it over a fierce fire from above.

The essential instructions say: Roast seven portions of the medicine until half-cooked, then separate them. Turn and gather the medicine with an iron spatula, and continue heating until it becomes ash. Cover it with an earthenware basin, seal the edges tightly with strips of clay, and leave it overnight. Add three liang of bone and one liang of meat. Cook the bone first; when its juices have emerged, add half a qian of powdered medicine, stir rapidly, and pour it out. Seal it with strips of clay and leave it overnight. Then calcine it again and add another half qian of powdered medicine. Repeat this process four times. Keep the heat beneath it under control, adding the two qian of powdered medicine in successive portions.

When using a trough-shaped vessel, drip water onto it after heating: the droplets should gather together without dispersing. Pour it into the trough, where it will form a honeycomb-like pattern. Take two qian of saltpeter and one qian of arsenic-bearing mineral (sengpi). Once the process is complete, remove its green color. Take half a qian of roasted arsenic, one qian of mirabilite, and one fen of fragrant weighing herb. Coat them with milk and heat them until no trace of the medicine remains visible. Grind the three ingredients into powder, mix with milk to make a thin paste, apply it with a goose feather, and then heat it gently.

Method for Preparing the Powder

Take one liang of powder and two qian of silver powder. Grind them together until evenly mixed, then wrap them in silk. Next, take one liang each of nanxing, crow, diyü, soap pod, thousand-year moist herb, and caowu. Grind them into a fine powder and divide it into two portions. Mix one portion with honey and wrap it around the bundle. Pound the other portion together with camptotheca root and garlic juice, then wrap on another layer, packing it tightly. Seal it with salt mud and calcine it over three jin of fire until red-hot. When the fire has died down, let it cool and remove it.

Take another one liang of powder and form it into ten pieces. Wrap them in silk and suspend them in the air. Boil them overnight with ginger juice, honey, and rice vinegar. Then put them in a pan and stir-fry them together with Aristolochia nine times.

Method of the Three Preservations

Take one part of arsenic and half a part of powder. Add one liang of silver sand, ground to a fine powder, and mix evenly. Wrap the mixture in boiled silk and suspend it inside a vessel. Combine one bowl each of camphor willow juice and scallion juice with four liang of honey, and boil until dry. Next, grind one liang each of Eucommia bark and dried tangerine peel into a fine powder. Place them in a crucible used for smelting, cover it above and below, and pack it firmly. Cover the mixture with one liang of powdered raw alum and sprinkle with water to moisten it. Then fill the vessel with lime, cover it with a tile, bind it tightly with iron wire in a cross, and seal it with salt mud. Once the salt mud is dry, burn three jin of charcoal on top until it glows red-hot. Remove the contents and chop them into small pieces. Use one qian for every liang of medicine.

Method for Calcining Powder Frost

Take one liang of powder frost and grind it finely in a basin. Mix it with paper mulberry juice and knead it into a ball. Wrap it in two layers of soap silk, bind it tightly with thread, and cut off the excess silk. Then prepare the medicinal liquid as follows:

Take equal parts of gardenia fruit, Chinese gall, and sliced turmeric, and grind them into a fine powder. For every half liang of this powder, add half a zhan of rice vinegar, then add ginger juice and honey, half a zhan in total, and mix well. Place the medicinal honey in a Jian ware tea bowl and heat it over a strong fire using two jin of fuel. When the liquid boils, add the three powders and stir them into a thick paste. Place the powder ball in the center of the medicinal liquid and heat it with a ring of fire around the vessel. Once the medicine catches fire, remove the ring of fire and continue calcining over a strong flame until the smoke is gone. If a pellet-sized substance forms in the center of the bowl, remove the bowl and cover it with ash that is half dry and half damp. Once cool, take it out. Use one qian for every liang of medicine, divided into three doses.

Method for Calcining Xìn

Take one liang of xìn and grind it finely in a basin. Use Sophora root, tuber of Arisaema, and five-leaf ginseng.

Grind the three ingredients mentioned above in equal proportions into a fine powder. Prepare a pot containing a six-liang fireproof crucible. Put the powder in the crucible and heat it, covering the top with a layer of damp paper. When the crucible has turned black from the smoke, remove the ash from the medicine and put in the xin (a medicinal substance made from an arsenic-bearing mineral). Cover it with the powder prepared earlier. If the xin begins to give off a fragrance, sprinkle on some more powder. After a short while, take it out. Once it has cooled, break the crucible and retrieve one liang of the xin substance. Use one qian at a time, adding it in three portions: put in the xin first, then the powder.

Method for Calcining Arsenic Powder

One liang of arsenic, half a liang of powder, two qian of a processed ingredient, half a liang of xipeng, two qian of cinnabar, and two qian of mercury.

Grind all the ingredients together into a fine powder and tie them in silk to form a ball. Take an earthenware container, fill it with liquid made from plantain ash, and bury the medicine ball in it to mature in the frost. After fourteen days, seal it with didancao, then close it tightly with lingni (clay used to seal vessels when refining elixirs) and place it in a furnace to heat gradually. For the first seven days, apply four liang of heat at the mao and you hours each day; for the next seven days, apply five liang each time. Then apply six liang of heat for five days, increasing it to half a jin on the seventh day. When this is done, take it out and leave it on the ground for seven days. Then open the container and retrieve the medicine. Use one qian for every liang of medicine.

Method for Calcining Xin Powder

Two liang of xin and one liang of powder.

Grind the two ingredients together into a fine powder, then add three qian of buguzhi powder and grind until evenly mixed. Tie it in silk to form a ball, then boil it in fresh spinach juice until the liquid has penetrated to the center. Next, wrap the ball in the spinach pulp, seal it in a bottle, and heat it. When the pulp has charred, take it out. Use one and a half qian for every liang of medicine, adding it in three portions.

Another Method

Four liang of xin, ground into powder; three liang of fenshuang, divided into three packets.

Gather medicinal herbs from the five directions (herbs collected from five different regions), in any quantity. Pound them, squeeze out the juice, and use it to mix with arsenic into small balls. Press the herbal residue into cakes, wrap them around the arsenic balls, and place them in a sand vessel. Separately, pound fresh ginger thoroughly, pack it into the vessel, and cover it. Seal the vessel’s mouth tightly with red stone fat (a mineral material used for sealing), then coat the entire vessel with salt mud to a thickness of about half an inch. Once the seal is dry, place the sand vessel in an ash pit and warm it gently with a fire of four liang for one fu (about twelve double-hours).

The next day, add another four jin of pounded fresh ginger, pack the vessel full, and cover it. Seal and dry it as before, then warm it with a fire of four liang for one fu. On the third day, fire it with a force of four jin until the fire is spent. Leave it for a day, then take it out and inspect it. The arsenic will have been treated and fused into a single mass. Grind it very finely, add one liang of powder frost (a refined mercury-containing medicinal substance), and grind them together until evenly mixed. Then use herbs from the five directions to mix and seal it as before. Once dry, fire it with a force of three jin until it glows red. Leave it for a day, open the vessel, and add another one liang of powder frost. Repeat the process as before. Do this three times, then add one more firing of the arsenic on its own, for a total of four firings. When the substance has turned amber-colored, grind it into a fine powder. For every one liang of the other materials, use one qian of the amber-colored arsenic; melt them together and pour out the mixture. The finished product will have a fine color and can be used to make vessels. Boil it in plum broth, and its color will neither blur nor appear overly harsh.

Another method:

One liang of yellow arsenic, one liang of fire-treated pao, half a liang of powder frost, and half a liang of arsenic sulfide.

Grind these medicinal substances together, place them in a sand vessel, and seal it in the usual way. Warm it gently, alternating between a mild fire and a strong fire, for seven days. At the end, apply only a short spell of strong fire, lasting about the time it takes an incense stick to burn down one chi. Once cool, grind it finely. Divide each liang into two packets; add one jin of well-prepared material to each packet.

How to make fire-treated paosha:

For every one liang of paosha, use one liang of cuttlebone. Grind the two materials together. First heat a pot until red-hot, then add the medicinal powder. As soon as it melts, pour it out.

“Method for fire-treating powder frost” is the next subsection heading.

Mix one liang of powdered lead with the juice of golden lantern flower and knead it into a small ball. Wrap the ball in paper coated with vinegar and ink, then place it in a box. Spread one liang of Arisaema rhizome over the ball, cover it with five layers of lotus leaves, seal it firmly according to the method, and calcine it in a fire for three jin. The process is complete once it has been calcined.

Calcining Xin

Use any quantity of xin, a mineral substance used in traditional alchemical preparations. First spread powdered gypsum over the xin and place them together in a refractory crucible, covering it with a bowl. When heated, the xin sublimates and adheres to the inside of the bowl. Remove it. Then pound the flesh of hemp plant into a paste and wrap the xin in it. Wrap this in Kunlun paper, seal the outside with mud, and calcine it in a fire for three jin. Once cooled, remove it.

Five Spirits Seize the Seven Po

Grind one liang of powdered lead to a fine powder and place it in a Jian ware tea bowl. Soak it in boiling water to remove its alum fumes. Seal it firmly at five or six points, then calcine it over a fire for three jin. Once cooled, remove it.

Five Spirits Seize the Seven Po

Take one liang of medicinal powder, grind it very finely, and put it into a Jian ware bowl (a tea bowl fired in the Jian kiln). Soak it in boiling water to remove its alum taste. Change the water five or six times, until no taste remains. Use white silk to divide the powder into two portions and tie them tightly into bundles.

Next, combine ginger juice and radish juice in a bowl, add one liang of honey, and put in the silk-wrapped bundles. Suspend them over water and steam until dry. Then stir-fry them in an iron pan until the white silk turns black and charred. Do not remove the silk. Grind equal amounts of langdu and Sophora root into a fine powder, and grind it thoroughly with the kernels of four walnuts. Add a little honey and shape the mixture into a cake to wrap around the bundles. Then wrap and secure them with mashed di dan cao.

Place the medicinal bundles in a box, cover them above and below with powdered mulberry leaves and eggplant leaves, and seal the box tightly. Each morning and evening, warm them slowly over a fire of two liang for three days. Then heat the bundles red-hot in a furnace with a fire of three jin. Let them cool, take them out, and grind them into fragments; add two and a half liang of mercury. Cover and seal the box as before, then warm it slowly for three days. Next, heat the bundles red-hot, let them cool, take them out, and grind them again. Add another two and a half liang of mercury, seal the box as before, and warm it for seven days. After that, heat them red-hot once more, let them cool, take them out, and pound them into powder in a mortar. Add another two and a half liang of mercury, seal the box as before, and warm it for three days. Finally, heat the bundles red-hot in a furnace with a fire of three jin, then take them out and shape the material into a block.

Take seven liang of “mozhangzi” and melt it in a furnace. Add the medicinal material prepared above to the molten substance to make “upper silver.”

Hundred-and-One Powder

The original describes an alchemical recipe using several minerals, plants, and other ingredients, which are prepared, heated, and calcined before being used for “transmutation.” “Powder,” “arsenic,” “mother cinnabar,” “borax,” and “nitre” are names for substances or minerals in the text. Their precise identities may be impossible to determine from this passage alone, given variations in historical terminology and textual versions.

Grind one liang of “powder” to a very fine consistency and wrap it in silk to make four small balls. Take three liang of honey and heat it in a double boiler until it dries. Remove the powder balls and wash them clean, then boil them for a full day in concentrated soapberry water. Next, boil half a liang of borax in one cup of fresh chickweed juice to make a medicinal coating for the powder balls. Wrap and secure them in a piece of soapberry cloth, then stir-fry them in an iron vessel for about three shichen. Remove and grind them finely; add one liang of three-seven mother cinnabar, grind the ingredients together, and wrap them again. Then grind equal portions of “hundred-medicinal decoction,” lead white frost, and Dutchman’s pipe root into a fine powder, and use it to stir-fry the powder balls. After two shichen, remove them and bury them in a pit in the ground overnight. To use, take one qian of the powder and add it to the material being treated in three portions, wrapping the powder in silver foil before putting it in. The text says, “three-seven, four-six, use as desired,” but the meaning is unclear.

Method for Calcining Arsenic Powder

Take one liang of arsenic, half a liang of powder, three qian of borax, and one qian of nitre. Grind the four ingredients into powder and wrap them in Kunlun paper to form a ball. Separately, grind one liang each of monkshood and arisaema into powder. If five-leaf clover is unavailable, spinach may be used instead. Pound these ingredients into a paste and shape it into a medicinal lump, securing the previously wrapped ball inside as its inner layer. Seal the outside with salt mud to a thickness of about one cun, then dry it in the shade.

Use six jin of fire, calcining the top lightly. As soon as smoke appears, remove the fire. According to the text, calcine it twice this way. Once calcined, cool it in damp ashes, then grind it to the fineness of millet. Each time, take seven qian of “material,” three qian of “mother,” and one and a half qian of the medicine; add them in three portions to produce the desired substance. Then boil it with salt, alum, and plum for half a day. Several characters and phrases here are missing or corrupt, so the precise procedure cannot be established.

Four Spirits Transmutation

One liang of three-seven mother cinnabar, one and a half liang of powder, one liang of arsenic, one qian of borax, one qian of nitre, Huayin asarum, juanxiang grass, monkshood, and white mugwort.

Prepare equal amounts of the four herbs listed above and grind them into a fine powder. Take a jar and spread half an ounce of the powder over its bottom. Place the previously prepared medicine in the center, then cover the mouth of the jar with another half ounce of powder. For the first heating, use half a jin of fuel and three bowls of water, cooking until done. For the second, use two jin of fuel and five bowls of water; for the third, five bowls of water and five jin of fuel. Add one qian of arsenic for every liang of medicine.

Golden Tripod Powder

Take one liang of powder and grind it finely, then wrap it in silk cloth. Separately, use Chinese gall, placenta, and various tooth-like horns.

Boil these ingredients in a large bowl of water until the powder has cooked dry.

Method for Striking the Golden Tripod with Arsenic

Three liang of foundation material and four liang of lead.

Place lead in a crucible or similar vessel and melt it into a liquid. Add three or four drops of water to clarify the molten lead. Then cut a material called “Pi” into dice-sized pieces and place them in one at a time. After waiting for a while, take them out and open the vessel at the Ling. The contents will have separated into layers: the lead settles at the bottom, while the golden-colored “Pi” floats on top.

Next, grind the “Pi” very finely, and grind the boiled powder just as finely. Put one qian in a silver dish and cut it into small pieces, dividing it in half. Leave one half in the dish and spread the other half over it as a cover. Place the powder in the middle, then add a little mercury and mix. Cover it with nine qian of “Golden Tripod Pi,” place it in a Jian bowl, seal it tightly, and cover it with a lamp bowl. Seal all around with ash, piling it into a pointed mound.

Build a fire around it and calcine it with five jin of fuel, burning away about two-thirds. After it cools, take it out. During calcination, a water bottle must be placed underneath and a bowl set above. Calcine it once more by the same method, this time without “Pi,” using only a white calcining bowl as the cover and three jin of fuel. When the furnace has cooled, take it out early the next morning and grind it finely. Add one qian of “Bright Raw Arsenic,” and mix with sour mash to form pills. When the pills are dry, wrap them in silver foil, then add one fen each of Juanqiao and withered lotus receptacle. Mix with sour mash to make the inner layer of the pill, which is worn close to the body.

Separately, grind purple sorrel and duckweed, in any quantity, into a paste to make the outer layer of the pill. Seal it with Liuyi clay and calcine it with three jin of fuel, burning away about two-thirds. After it cools, take it out. Each qian of the medicine can transmute one liang and three-seventh ge.

Lead-calcined Danyang powder

First take six liang of powder and wash it with white poplar water. Then add four liang each of earth vermilion, white mineral powder, salt, and jade hairpin; three liang of hematite; two liang of red stone resin; four liang of green vitriol; and four liang of crystal. Grind everything together into a fine powder and mix well, then add rice vinegar and knead it into a paste.

Take yellow wax in proportion to the amount of powder: the more powder there is, the smaller the wax pill should be. Coat the wax pill with the medicinal paste prepared earlier and let it dry. Then melt the wax over a flame; once it has flowed out completely, fill the space with the powder. Seal the mouth of the container with the medicinal paste and let it dry, then bind it tightly with iron wire. Place it in an iron vessel, pour in molten lead, and boil it for three days and three nights. When removed, the medicine will be black. One qian of this medicine can transmute one liang of material; no “mother catalyst” (a material used in refining to trigger or facilitate transformation) needs to be added.

The Wangmu Palace Method of the Single-Month Cycle

Take one liang of frost powder and half a liang of mercury, and grind them together until no grains of mercury are visible. Make a hole at one end of an egg and pour out the yolk and white. Grind an appropriate amount of camphor to a fine powder, put it into the eggshell, shake it around, and then pour it out. Next, put the frost powder and mercury into the eggshell, and sprinkle an appropriate layer of powdered scutellaria root over them. Take half an eggshell and use it as a lid. Seal it firmly with sealing clay, place it in a container called the “Deathless, Holy, Unknowing Casket,” pack it tightly, and seal the container’s mouth. Then bind the outside tightly with iron wire.

Set the container on a tripod and bank it with paper ash, covering the vessel with an inch and a half of ash. Heat it according to the schedule below. “Mao-You fire” here refers to the fire regulated according to the Mao and You watches.

First cycle:

On the first day, use one liang of fire; on the second day, again use one liang. On the third day, use two liang; on the fourth, three liang; on the fifth, four liang; on the sixth, five liang; and on the seventh, six liang. On the eighth day, take it out and grind it finely. Load it again according to the original method, then continue cultivating it with fire for seven days.

Second cycle:

On the first day, use two liang of fire; on the second, three liang; on the third, four liang; on the fourth, five liang; on the fifth, six liang; on the sixth, seven liang; and on the seventh, again use seven liang. On the eighth day, take it out and weigh one qian to transmute one liang of red silver. The text says this will refine it into a “supreme treasure.”

Suppression of Niter: Take one liang of niter and half a liang of mulberry ash frost. Grind them together into a fine powder and place it in a container, then add one fen to make a lid. Seal it firmly with clay. Warm it over a low fire for three days, then raise the heat and calcine it until the container glows red. Once it has cooled, remove the contents: this is niter after its fire has been subdued.

Another method: For every liang of niter, use one piece of frankincense. Grind them into a fine powder. First melt the borax, then add the frankincense and stir until evenly mixed. When it has become liquid, pour it out. A single zi (an ancient unit of measure, roughly a small amount) is enough to refine one liang of medicinal material.

Method for Dead Borax: Take four liang of borax, one liang of aged tangerine peel, and two liang of anemarrhena. Grind them together into a fine powder. First use the powder to fumigate and heat a crucible (a heat-resistant vessel used to hold materials during alchemical refining). Then add the borax and fan it rapidly to help it melt. Once it has become liquid, pour it out.

Method for the Immortal’s Shrinking-He White Divine Elixir: Take half a liang each of cinnabar and sulfur, and one liang of dripping frankincense.

First grind the three ingredients into a fine powder. Add a little walnut flesh and grind until the mixture binds into a lump. Wrap it in two layers of damp paper and one layer of dry paper, then tie it tightly with strips of hemp bark. Separately, take one qian each of gall and alum, and half a liang of high-quality mengshi. Grind them together into a fine powder. Add half a liang of purslane and grind until evenly mixed, then pour in one sheng of rice vinegar. Simmer over low heat until it thickens into a paste. Shape the paste into a cake and wrap it around the center of the medicine ball prepared earlier. Cover the outside with another three to five layers of paper.

Place the medicine ball in a box, then pack one sheng of lime tightly around it, above and below as well as on all sides. Seal the box’s opening with clam powder mixed with honey, then secure it with salt mud and let it dry completely. Dig a pit one chi and two cun deep and wide. Put the box in the pit, then spread three dou of millet husks over it, filling the space evenly and packing them down firmly. Set the husks alight from above and let them burn out completely. After the smoke has fully cleared and the box has cooled, open it and remove the medicine.

Next, calcine it over a strong fire fueled with five jin of material. After three jin of the fuel has burned away, remove the medicine; its weight will not have decreased at all. Then place it in a gan crucible, used for alchemical refining, seal the opening, and continue calcining until the medicine melts into liquid. Pour it into a pit, and its weight will still not have diminished.

This medicine is used for transmutation. For every ten liang of purified he, add one liang of White Spirit Elixir and melt them together in a gan crucible. When you hear a sound like the chirping of cicadas, stir quickly with a willow branch. As soon as the sound stops, pour it into a pit. Once it has solidified into a lump, it can be fashioned and used as needed.

Method for Stir-Frying He

First take ten liang of he, a metal or material named in the original text, and melt it in a new iron vessel. Add two liang of antelope horn and two liang of Taiyin Xuanjingshi, a mineral used in Daoist alchemical processes, ground into a fine powder, and stir immediately. If the “he” disappears from sight, do not be alarmed. Stoke the furnace fire and keep stirring; it will reappear. Pour the molten mixture onto the ground. As it solidifies, the “he” will split in two. When the process is complete, it will be white as snow and ring clearly when struck. This indicates success; it can then be inspected.

End of Volume Six of the Geng Dao Collection.

Volume Seven of the Geng Dao Collection

A Method for Making Iron “He” Resemble Silver

Grind lychee seeds into powder and use it to roast the “he.” Once the seed powder has burned to ash, sift it off and continue roasting. Then place the “he” in boiling water containing oxhide glue and soak and boil it three to five times. This treatment makes the “he” look like silver, with a pale pink hue. Each portion weighs three to five fen, and it will not become damp and black or develop black spots.

Another Method for Treating Copper

Smoke a crucible used for smelting metals with the smoke of drumstick-grass roots until its interior is thoroughly blackened. Then add borax and melt it. Once cooled, the borax liquid will solidify into a lump. In another crucible, melt the copper and add the solidified borax. The copper will separate into layers: red on top and white below. Next, heat a fresh strip of roof tile until red hot and stir with it until there are no more cloudlike impurities floating on the surface and the liquid is clear as water. Then the treatment is complete.

A Method for Removing Blackness from Various Objects and Making Them Clean as Treasures

Take one liang of saltpeter, five tubes of light powder, thirty wen of green vitriol, two qian of sea pumice, and a lump of borax about the size of the pumice. Grind these into powder. Put the object to be treated in a pot, first spreading the medicine over the bottom, then covering the object with the powder, and heat it. Impurities inside the object will separate on their own, and the blackness will disappear, leaving it clean as a treasure. The treatment is best when the pot’s bottom reaches this condition.

Method for Soft Rods

Grind fifty units of frankincense and one liang of saltpeter together into a fine powder. Add one qian of the powder for every liang of rod. Adding too much will make the rod too soft.

Blood-Extraction Method

Use five wen each of wood lye and chu, selecting good-quality material.

Melt the rod. For every liang of molten material, wrap the medicine powder described above in paper, add it, and stir well. Then pour the mixture into a mold channel and cover it with damp paper. The finished product will turn white.

The text records several methods of refining arsenic-based substances as their main ingredients. It claims that processing can “subdue the fire” in them, making them suitable for further refinement or use in mixtures. These are terms from ancient alchemy; they do not mean that the arsenic has lost its toxicity.

The first method says to grind “five wen of dried lizard and five wen of arsenic stone” into a fine powder, mix it into the juice mentioned earlier, then pour it out. The finished product is also white. Here, “arsenic stone” refers to an arsenic-bearing mineral such as realgar.

The section titled “Method for Transforming Dead Arsenic” lists arsenic and several medicinal herbs. It describes processing the ingredients into powder and mixing them with the arsenic, with silver and frankincense as optional additions. The mixture is then heated in a water-fire cauldron, and the text claims the result resembles jade and silver in color. “Transformation” here is an alchemical term for changing a substance and bringing it into a particular state.

“Making a Casket from Dead Arsenic” and the several “Alternative Methods” that follow continue to describe treating arsenic with plant juices, lye, or other medicinal ingredients. They claim that boiling, refining, heating, and similar steps can “subdue the fire.” The text also mentions alchemical materials such as alum, lead powder, rouge, the Three Yellows, and mother cinnabar, indicating that the author applied these methods to refine various minerals and medicinal substances.

These passages describe ancient alchemical practices involving toxic substances such as arsenic and lead. Terms like “subdue the fire” and “transformation” belong to traditional alchemical language and should not be taken as evidence that the materials are safe or nontoxic.

Another method:

Grind thunderbolt seeds into powder and spread it across the bottom of a jar. Add a layer of arsenic, then another layer of medicinal powder, alternating in this way for three or four layers. Spread a layer of saltpeter on top, add a layer of “White Tiger” medicinal powder, fill the mouth of the jar, and press it down firmly. Seal the jar. When the sealing clay has dried, place it in a dark place and calcine it over a strong fire. Once it has cooled completely, remove the contents and grind them to powder.

Another method:

Take two ingredients, bark of the chinaberry tree and morning glory seeds, and grind them into powder. Spread the powder across the bottom of a jar, then cover it with arsenic and seal the jar. After calcination, the medicinal substances are said to have been refined.

Another method:

Take three liang of arsenic and three liang of saltpeter, grind them together into a fine powder, and wrap them in Kunlun paper. Take another three liang of “White Tiger” medicinal powder and spread it across the bottom of a jar. Place the wrapped arsenic and saltpeter in the center, then cover them thoroughly on all sides and on top with more White Tiger powder. Press the mouth of the jar firmly and seal it. Once the sealing clay has dried, begin with a low fire, gradually increase the heat, and then calcine it over a strong fire. Remove it after it has cooled.

“The Four White Heads, Five-Quarter-Hour Transformation Method”

The substances may also be calcined in a ding cauldron. Once the medicinal substances have been refined and subdued, they become a “container” (a vessel or material used to transform other substances). Take two liang of arsenic, one liang of powdered mercury, half a liang of southern borax, and half a liang of sal ammoniac, and grind them together into powder. Wrap the powder in a sheet of silver, then wrap that in silk. Take one liang each of white peony root, white peony, aconite, and anemarrhena, grind them into powder, and spread the powder across the bottom of a new large earthenware pot. Place the silk-wrapped bundle on the medicinal powder, cover it with more powder, and press it down firmly. Fill the pot with clean yellow earth. Calcine it over three jin of charcoal until it glows faintly red, then remove it and cover it with a mound of fresh earth. After a short while, continue firing. Repeat this process five times, firing for one quarter-hour each time. After the fifth firing, cover it with earth and wait until it has cooled completely before removing it. Form it into small pieces. Use two qian each time; it is said to transform one liang of “staff.”

Bone-Transformation Method (a method for changing or refining bone-like materials)

Take equal amounts of arsenic trioxide and powdered mercury, mineral medicines used in Daoist alchemy, and grind them together into a fine powder. Add fresh ginger juice and mix until the ingredients form a lump. Wrap it tightly in white silk, then coat the outside thickly with a paste of powdered Euphorbia and selaginella mixed with honey. Place the lump in a container and seal its mouth with a mixture of clam powder and oil. Reinforce the seal by wrapping the container in paper fiber and mud. When the mud has dried, calcine it over a fire. Remove it when a fragrant smell appears. Grind the product into a fine powder; one qian of this powder can transmute one liang of material. Then add the mother medicine: a proportion of one-half mother medicine is superior, four parts to six is middling, and three parts to seven is inferior.

Method for Subduing Powdered Mercury

Take one liang of powdered mercury and three qian of silver filings. Cut the filings into small pieces, mix them with the powdered mercury, and grind them very finely. Wrap the mixture tightly in boiled silk. Cook it in fresh ginger juice and knotweed juice. If knotweed juice is unavailable, scallion-root juice may be used instead. Add camphor-tree root juice and continue cooking until the liquid is used up and the wrapped medicine is dry. Remove it, cut away the tied end, and wrap it in a silver dish.

Take one cup of each of the various medicinal juices used earlier. Grind the three ingredients—Notopterygium, dried tangerine peel, and Eucommia bark—into a coarse powder, and place a small amount in a crucible. When the smoke is nearly gone, immediately add half a liang of white alum, then put in the wrapped powdered mercury. Sprinkle more powdered white alum over it to cover, and calcine over a fierce fire. When the fire dies down, remove it and let it cool; it is then ready for use.

Another method

Take half a liang each of purple ginseng, anemarrhena, and asparagus root. Grind them into a fine powder and mix with fresh ginger juice to make a paste; coat the outside of the medicinal pellet with it. Then chew three dried persimmons into a paste. Pit thirty Qingzhou jujubes and pound them into a paste. Apply these pastes around the pellet in turn.

Next, seal and secure the pellet with paper fibers, salt, and clay. Calcine it in a fire using five jin of fuel. When the fire has died down by more than half, turn the pellet over and calcine it again until the fire burns out. Remove the pellet and plunge it into a pit of water. After a short while, take it out; when it has cooled slightly, place it over a fire to test it. If the medicine has not yet been fully subdued by fire—that is, made stable through calcination—calcine it again by the same method, heating it until red-hot. Repeat this at most three times; this will dispel its fiery nature. For use, take one zi, a very small dose, and apply borax to it. This works well.

Another method:

Take the root of the camphor willow, also called danglu, dry it, and burn it to ash. Leach the ash with water and pour the resulting liquid into a porcelain bottle. Use the more concentrated ash liquid to wash the medicinal material twice more. Boil and refine it in the ash liquid until the water has evaporated, then place it in a covered vessel, leaving a narrow gap as it is calcined so that the powder is subdued by fire.

Another method:

Line the bottom of a jar with iron-footed Brahman grass, and place the medicinal powder in the middle of the grass. Seal it over with a paste made from pounded castor seeds. Set a cup of water over the jar’s mouth and secure it with iron wire. Then calcine it using the water-and-fire cauldron method, an apparatus or process that combines water and fire for heating. If the medicine has not yet been subdued by fire, continue with the method of applying fire below and water above, repeating it three to five times to make the medicine stable. Other preparation methods are also available and can be used to apply dianyang to mao; their effects are remarkable.

First grind the white calcined substance into a fine powder. Mix it with paper mulberry sap to form pills, then dry them in the sun. Wrap them in clean silk, and take one bowl each of the juices of di lian, yan cao, and chicken-intestine grass. Soak the medicinal bundle in these juices, suspend it inside a vessel, and simmer over a low fire for about one hour; a slow, gentle heat is best.

Next, grind equal portions of coptis, huangxiang, scutellaria, Chinese gentian, and bitter-rod into powder. Mix the powder with vinegar and spread it around the outside of the bundle to a thickness of about one inch. Place five jin of charcoal closely around it. When one-third of the charcoal has burned away, remove the fire, then cover and seal everything with damp earth. This powdered medicine is not made into a clay ball; this is the method transmitted by Doctor Yuanwu.

Using the “Four White Heads” as a receptacle for nurturing and refining various substances, or for making Danyang

Here, “receptacle” refers to a container or packing material used to hold or surround substances while they are heated. The amounts of the four listed substances are: prepared arsenic, four liang; prepared arsenic sulfide, six liang; prepared arsenic trioxide, half a liang; and prepared saltpeter, two and a half qian.

Prepared arsenic: Take a large piece of danglu root (phytolacca root) and hollow out a cavity. Put a small piece of arsenic trioxide inside. Then boil it in the natural juice of danglu root until the large root turns black; this is taken to mean that the arsenic trioxide has been subdued by fire and is suitable for further refining. If the effect has not been achieved, use another root as a base and boil it again in the juice until it has been subdued by fire. Repeated trials have shown this result.

Prepared arsenic sulfide: Grind kochia seeds into powder, mix them evenly with the substance, then place it in a jar, seal it, and calcine it. Alternatively, powdered purple-backed saxifrage or tianqier may be used to subdue the arsenic sulfide; both methods have been tested repeatedly.

Prepared arsenic trioxide: Boil it in the juice of wild safflower root to subdue it by fire.

Prepared saltpeter: Pound the leaves and branches of ceqiao to extract their juice, and use it to stir-fry the saltpeter until it has been subdued by fire. Then pound the leaves of ceqiao into a paste. Spread half the paste on the bottom, place the saltpeter on it, and cover it with the remaining paste. Calcine over a strong fire until it forms a single piece like jade; it is then ready to use. Repeated trials have shown this result.

Once all four substances have been prepared, place them in a water-fire cauldron, add seven or eight cups of water, and calcine over a strong fire. The original says that this process makes the substances “truly dead,” so they can be used as a receptacle. To make Danyang, add two and a half qian each of frankincense and yellow lead to the cauldron. After calcining, remove the substance; it can be used to touch other things.

Method for making mother and subsidiary sand

Two liang of mother material and eight liang of mercury.

First shape the “mother” into a dish, and place it in the crucible. Put mercury on the dish, then sprinkle medicinal powder over it to cover it. The powder consists of Sichuan pepper, asarum, yellow peony, dried lao, tea leaves, and schizonepeta, three qian of each. Grind them into a fine powder, put it in the crucible, and cover the “mother” and mercury with it. Then roast the contents with one scale-weight of charcoal. Remove the resulting sand and cut it into dice-sized pieces. Mix honey with powdered litharge, coat the sand pieces with this mixture, and place them in a lead container for maturation and refinement.

Method for making a dead-lead container

Take one jin of lead and half a jin of saltpeter. First put the saltpeter in a crucible and melt it into a liquid. Add the lead and boil for a day, then remove it and grind it into powder. Soak the powder in boiling water, then dry it in the sun to make the container material; use four liang of it. Put the sand prepared earlier into this material and refine it for three days, applying the fire at the hours of Mao and You. Remove it, then use the following furnace medicine.

Treasure-destroying medicine

Grind equal amounts of buckwheat ash and arsenic into powder, add water and form it into a lump, roast it, then grind it into powder again. Separately, take equal amounts of chalcanthite, white medicinal jade powder, dingtou, and roasted red ochre, then add one liang of saltpeter. Roast them together until fused. Add twenty wen of Shao powder and twenty wen of borax, roast the mixture, and grind it into powder. Each time, take three qian and spread it above and below the sand pieces, using it to roast one liang of sand.

Method for roasting lead

Take half a jin of black lead and put it in an iron pan. Turn it over while frying with a large bamboo spatula. Add saltpeter powder and continue frying until the lead becomes dry. For every liang of lead, use half a liang of saltpeter powder.

First place the lead powder in a sand container, with the mercury-sand pellet in the middle. Remove its outer wrapping and cover it with lead powder. Put the container in the chest for processing, and secure it tightly with iron wire. Seal the outer seams with a paste made from mineral pitch and vinegar. Then place it in the furnace and dry it with ashes from burned paper. Put the sifted materials in the furnace above the container, and heat from the top with one or two liang of charcoal for a full day and night. Process it this way for three days and nights. When it has received enough heat, take it out and place it in a nest. Press it down with the herb ancestor mentioned earlier, then seal the surface with salt. Boil it over a strong fire until it melts into liquid.

Method for Binding the Mother Sand

Take five liang of mercury and two liang of silver, and put them together in a mortar. Then take two liang of Anemarrhena rhizome, simmer it into a fine decoction, and pour it over the ingredients. Grind them together thoroughly, stopping when the mixture has taken shape. If it has not yet taken shape, continue adding decoction and grinding. Then wrap it in white paper, shape it into a pellet, and tie it tightly with thread.

Next, take two liang of mother material and simmer it into a decoction in the same way. Pour it over the ingredients and grind them together, stopping once the mixture has taken shape. If it has not yet taken shape, continue adding decoction and grinding. Then wrap it again in white paper, shape it into a pellet, and tie it tightly with thread.

Next, take two sheng of sour pulp water. If sour pulp water is unavailable, ginger juice may be used instead. Pour the liquid into a clean jar and suspend the sand in it by a thread, so it does not touch the bottom of the jar. Boil it for a full day and night. Take it out and place it in a basin of cold water; the substance will harden on its own.

Medicine Applied Next to the Body

Take equal amounts of Sichuan pepper, Sichuan aconite, and asarum. Use them raw, pound them into powder, and mix the powder evenly with honey. Apply it to the pouch of sand and leave it to dry in a clean place. Then put it in the chest for processing.

Method for Making the Chest

Three liang of black lead, one jin of lime, and one and a half liang of sal ammoniac.

First place black lead in a small pot and heat it until it melts into a liquid. Add the two kinds of lime and stir until they are evenly mixed. Then add luosha, a mineral medicine used in the refining process, and stir with an iron spoon until everything has melted. Remove the pot and set it on the ground. Once it has cooled, take out the material and put it in an urn-shaped container.

Next, use pingzi—whose precise meaning as a tool or material is not specified in the original here—and sand to treat it as one would care for lotus seeds. Then mix clam powder and salt with water into a paste and seal the container’s opening. Fill a new earthenware basin with ash, bury the sealed container in the middle of the ash, and cover it completely.

On the first day, use one and a half jin of fire, gradually adding fuel, and calcine it for one fu, or one day and night. On the second day, again use one and a half jin of fire and follow the same method. On the third day, use three jin of fire, gradually adding fuel, and calcine it for another day and night. Once it has cooled, remove it and boil it in dark plum water for one shichen, about two hours. Then refine it over a stove fire, and the substance called the “treasure” will be made.

Forming Geng Sand

Take one qian of geng and three qian of mercury. Add half a cup of genuine sesame oil and one snakegourd seed, and refine them together over a fire. Use three jin of fire, gradually adding fuel, and calcine for one fu. Once it has cooled, remove it and boil it in dark plum water for one shichen, then refine it over a stove fire. This produces the substance called the “treasure.”

Forming Geng Sand

Place one qian of Geng and three qian of Mercury together. Add half a bowl of genuine sesame oil and one melon-seed kernel, then decoct them. When the ingredients turn yellow, add more melon-seed kernels gradually, until you have added seven in all. Next, add white resin in several portions, six or seven fen in weight, and continue decocting briefly. Pour off the mixture while pressing it so that it coagulates. Then wash it with hot water to remove the medicinal odor. Continue until the sand becomes lustrous.

Put it into a container filled with black plum pits, with cinnabar against its inner surface. Wrap a layer of white plum flesh around the outside. Mix powdered kusnezoff monkshood with vinegar and wrap it around the whole. Then cover everything with paper and clay, and roast it until dry. Cover the top with ash and surround it with charcoal. Warm it gently overnight, and the sand will be refined. Next, mix honey with powdered placenta and spread on a layer, wrapping it in silk. Outside this, mix equal parts powdered asarum and kusnezoff monkshood with lily and croton, and bind them with honey; wrap on another layer. Finally, seal it with salt clay. Once dry, place it in the furnace and warm it gently over a low fire for a full day and night.

Method for “Following the Mother, Three in One”

Take one qian of Geng and one fen of Mercury, and refine them together until they form sand. Then take one qian of cinnabar. Grind these three ingredients together until evenly mixed, and use houttuynia juice to form them into a ball. To refine gold, wrap yellow alum against the inner surface and seal the outside with Jin alum. To refine silver, wrap Jin alum against the inner surface and seal the outside with yellow alum.

Wrap it in continuous-strip paper and leave it on a yin stone overnight. Then use a ball of pounded houttuynia, wrapping it in alum as described above: for gold, yellow alum inside and Jin alum outside; for silver, Jin alum inside and yellow alum outside. Wrap it again in continuous-strip paper and leave it on a yin stone overnight. Next, press pounded houttuynia against the surface of the substance to a thickness of about one finger. Pound yellow flowers, chicken-intestine herb, and five-leaved snakeweed, then apply them as an outer layer, also about one finger thick. Separately, take one liang of charcoal ash and one qian of green salt, and mix them with hot water to make packing material. This is called the “willow-floss crucible.” Then fire it for a full day and night with five or six jin of charcoal. Once the substance has been refined, take it out.

Passing Through the Furnace

Take two liang each of jade stone and mica, and boil them in a bowl of rice vinegar until the vinegar has dried up. Dry them over heat and put them in a porcelain container. Cover each liang of the medicinal substance with half a liang of this material, then refine it over an ash fire. After taking it out, dissolve it in water; it can be used again.

Cinnabar-Gold Method

Take four liang of large pieces of cinnabar, wrap them in silk, and suspend them above the medicinal liquid. Cook them in a water bath as described below. Grind one liang each of garden burnet, paper mulberry seeds, Morinda root, and kansui into a fine powder, then divide the powder into four packets. Cook it for a full day and night in fine rice vinegar, first adding vinegar and then one packet of powder each time, until all four packets have been added. When the cooking is finished, remove the cinnabar.

Next, combine one liang of silver with four qian of geng, melt them together, hammer the mixture into thin foil, and cut it into small pieces to wrap around the cinnabar. Then roast it according to the “lotus seed method.” Here, “geng” is the term used in the original text; the “lotus seed method” refers to the wrapping, layering, and calcining process described below.

Divide the fine powder into four packets and cook it for a full day and night in fine rice vinegar, first adding vinegar and then one packet of powder each time, until all four packets have been added. When the cooking is finished, remove the cinnabar.

Melt one liang of silver together with four qian of geng, hammer the mixture into thin foil, cut it into small pieces, and wrap them around the cinnabar. Roast it according to the “lotus seed method,” placing the cinnabar inside. Mix honey with powdered litharge and apply it as an outer coating about half a meter thick. Then mix refined honey with powdered fish mint root and Chinese lizard’s tail, and apply another outer layer about one meter thick. Once wrapped in this way, place it in a green salt container and warm it over four liang of fire for seven days.

Remove it and place it on a brick, then calcine it over three jin of charcoal. After it cools, take it out and place it in a crucible for pouring and refining. Boil it together with salt, alum, and bile, then pour it out and repeat this process dozens of times. This produces what is called the “treasure.”

How to make a salt container

Take half a jin of green salt and boil it in two bowls of lotus-root juice until the liquid has evaporated, then dry it over heat. Put it in a crucible and calcine it until it melts, then pour it out. When it has cooled slightly, grind it into a fine powder and place it in a box. First put “dead white salt” at the bottom, then add the green salt, and cover it with another layer of “dead white salt.” Seal the joints with clam powder mixed with vinegar. “Dead white salt” is a salt material made by calcining and processing anemarrhena.

How to make cinnabar elixir

Take eight liang of mercury. Separately prepare one and a half liang of sulfur, half a liang of “landmine sulfur,” half a liang of realgar, and one qian of orpiment. Grind these three mineral drugs into a fine powder and roast them according to the method to form a “green gold head.” Place it in a tripod with water above and heat below, then calcine it to produce cinnabar elixir. The meaning of the final phrase in the original, “one or two qian to feed,” is unclear; it may refer to a finished-product dose of one or two qian.

Boiling method

Qianghua, Chinese sumac, euphorbia, Sichuan pepper, langdu, lotus-leaf ash, and sal ammoniac, two qian of each; alum.

Grind the above ingredients in equal amounts into a fine powder. Boil them together with river water and vinegar for three days. Remove the mixture, add four liang to the silver container used to hold the medicine and withstand the heat, and nurture it with one liang of fire.

Medicine applied close to the body: blue vitriol, three qian; western borax, half a liang; cinnabar, one qian.

Grind these three ingredients into a fine powder and mix it with honey. Place it on top, then fry it. Afterward, nurture it with a steady, gentle fire for seven days. Remove it and fry it again.

How to make the herbal container:

Arisaema, langdu, five-leaf ginseng bark, kejie, Scutellaria, Coptis, sanguisorba, Sichuan pepper, and yellow hibiscus.

Grind the above ingredients in equal amounts into a fine powder and mix with honey to form a paste. Put it into a box and seal it in this manner. Nurture it over a three-liang fire for seven days.

Next, take two liang each of ink plum, alum, white salt, and Chinese sumac.

Grind these ingredients into a fine powder, then boil and fry them together for one fu, an ancient measure of time roughly equal to one day and night. Remove them and wash them clean with river water, then fry them again for four liang. Pour two liang of mercury over them and nurture them over a two-liang fire for three days. Repeat this pouring twenty times in all; do not pour over the ya zi, the crystalline material formed during the refining process.

The furnace method:

Put one liang of litharge into a pot, place the ya zi in the middle, then cover it with half a liang of litharge. Put it in the furnace and blow air into it until it melts into a liquid. Remove it and break open the ganwo crucible holding the melted material; a single ingot of precious metal will be inside.

Ge Xianweng’s Ninefold-Transformed Spirit Sand Golden Elixir

Method for Spirit Sand to Shed Its Shell and Change Its Embryo:

Five liang of cinnabar, two liang each of sulfur, green salt, and Chinese sumac, and three qian of half-dose sal ammoniac.

Boil the above three ingredients together with the cinnabar in rice vinegar for one shichen. If the vinegar boils dry, add more and continue boiling. Remove the cinnabar and coat its outer layer with blue vitriol.

Method for boiling blue vitriol:

Two liang of duck-bill blue vitriol, one fen of mirabilite, two liang of table salt, and two liang of mercury.

Grind the four ingredients mentioned above together until evenly mixed, then let them rest overnight. Place them in an unglazed cast iron pot, add river water, and heat over charcoal until the water boils. As the water evaporates and its level falls, add hot water as needed; do not add cold water. Keep the fire going for a full day, or half a day, then use an iron spoon to gather the mercury from the bottom of the pot. Stop cooking once the mercury has formed grains of sand. Pour away the remaining liquid, keeping only the mercury sand. Rinse it clean with water, dry it with paper, and set it aside for later use.

Next, wrap the grains in two layers of paper and place them in the iron pot. Continue heating for a full day or half a day. Again, use an iron spoon to gather the mercury from the bottom of the pot, stopping as soon as it forms grains of sand. Pour away the remaining mixture, keeping only the mercury sand; rinse it clean with water and dry it. Put the grains in paper and stir them to separate out any mercury that has not solidified into sand, then wrap the grains individually.

Place the grains in a clean iron pot and secure them in place. Cover them with a Jian bowl, a teacup made in the Jian kiln. Seal the gaps all around the rim of the bowl with mulberry paper, then heat it over a low flame for a while. Remove it from the heat and take out the grains. The portion successfully refined will be purple and clumped at the bottom of the pot; the portion that has not been refined will have scattered onto the bowl. Grind the refined portion into a fine powder. Mix the previously boiled cinnabar with honey, then coat it evenly with the mercury sand powder. Finally, wrap each piece in “Three-Seven Mother Sand,” a mother sand used in a later stage of refinement.

How to prepare Three-Seven Mother Sand.

Take three liang of cinnabar from the first calcination and place it in a he (a vessel used for alchemical refining). Then take two liang of mercury and pour it over the cinnabar. Seal the vessel securely. Once the sealing clay has dried completely, place it in an ash bed and heat it with five liang of charcoal, gradually changing the heat from a fresh, strong fire to a gentle, steady mature fire. Then spread charcoal over the top of the he and cover it with ash. Add another four liang of charcoal in the afternoon, and add more at the end of the first night watch; replenish the fire at the appointed times each morning and evening. Continue warming it in this way for three days and three nights.

Open the he and inspect it. If yellow sprouts—a term in alchemy for yellow crystals or products that appear during the refining process—have formed around the cinnabar at the top of the vessel, take another one liang of mercury and pour it into the he. Seal and secure it, then warm it gently for three days and three nights as before before removing it for inspection. If yellow sprouts are still forming around the top of the he, take a further twenty-four liang of mercury and pour it over them. When the sprouts have formed, gather and collect them, place them in the Great Elixir, and refine them further by the method described below.

The procedure described earlier in this passage is as follows: grind three qian of shanze silver powder together with seven qian of mercury until the mixture becomes sand-like, then coat each wrapped piece of cinnabar thinly and evenly. If the mixture is too hot to coat easily, let it solidify and then proceed in the same way. Spread the cinnabar on an iron tray, cover it with a purple cup, seal the opening with damp paper, and place it over a low fire to drive off excess mercury. Once all the mercury has been driven off, spread in the shanze silver powder and yellow elixir (red lead), as directed in the text; seal the opening and place the vessel in an ash bed, where it is to be refined over charcoal for three days and three nights. When the refining is complete, remove the cinnabar; the silver powder is not used. This step is called the first calcination. Its purpose is to remove the cinnabar’s “mortal matrix”—the impurities or ordinary nature that alchemists believed had to be eliminated. It does not use the “mother,” an alchemical term used in the original text.

Leave the sprouts that have already grown inside the crucible in place; do not take them out. Pour in another four liang of mercury, and, following the method described earlier, seal the seams tightly with red stone clay. First place a water vessel beneath the crucible, then set the crucible over its mouth. Pack the space around it with paper ash, and spread a layer of ash about two inches thick over the top. Place four liang of prepared charcoal, whose heat has been stabilized, on top to keep it warm. Add fuel during the Yin, Wu, and Xu periods, four liang each time. Continue this heating for two and a half days, then remove the water vessel and fill it with water. Continue heating in this way for five days and five nights. Open the crucible and pour in another four liang of mercury. Keep the heat as before and continue for one month, repeating the process six times and adding four liang of mercury each time, for a total of twenty-four liang.

Each time you open the crucible, check whether any Yellow Sprouts—yellow crystals or deposits formed during refining—have risen to the top. If so, collect and store them each time. Once you have collected eight liang, ten liang, or one jin, store them separately for refining the Great Elixir, an advanced Daoist elixir. Continue refining it with the prescribed heat to bring about its transformation. Repeat the mercury pouring and heating six times, adding four liang each time, for a total of twenty-four liang. The material at the bottom of the crucible that has not risen to become Yellow Sprouts is also useful: it can be made into the finished product only by calcining it together with the earlier cinnabar and herbs.

The Great Medicine of the Ninefold Golden Elixir: Method for Retrieving the Elixir, Bringing About Its Transformation, and Taking It

First, on the heat schedule for urging the Yellow Sprouts into the Elixir through the Flower Pool

Instructions for the Flower Pool

To refine dry mercury into silver, salty and sour substances must serve as the principal ingredients.

When combined with powerful flames, ingredients such as saltpeter and alum can quickly lead one beyond the ordinary and toward sagehood.

Borax, saltpeter, white alum, and table salt: one liang each.

Grind these four ingredients together finely and place them in a sand pot, spreading them evenly over the top and bottom. Put the previously collected Yellow Sprouts in the middle. Mix half a bowl of paper mulberry juice with one sheng of rice vinegar, then drip the mixture onto the ingredients little by little, allowing the mercury to reach the bottom. Cover with a purple bowl. Once all the vinegar mixture has been used, heat over a strong fire to drive off the moisture. Seal the lid tightly and leave it for about one hour, until the ingredients are scorched dry. Then remove the heat. When it has cooled, take it out and bathe it—a further washing and treatment of the elixir in the alchemical process.

The purple robe and silver belt are brightly colored. Seal the vessel’s mouth tightly and do not open it casually. Leave it until the vinegar has been used up. Then simmer it over a strong fire until dry. Seal it again and keep it closed for a long time, until the medicine is scorched and dry. Then remove the heat, take out the medicine, and bathe it.

Instructions for the Second Bathing

The purple robe and silver belt are brightly colored; when sealing the vessel, make sure it is airtight and do not open it casually.

Next, use Chinese fangfeng (a medicinal herb) as an aid. Place it together with the buds and grind them in water.

Use one liang each of purple gromwell, baiyou, closed-mouth pepper, and Chinese fangji.

Combine these four herbs and simmer them thoroughly in a clay pot with water boiled from the root of Phytolacca, until three bowls of liquid remain. Strain out the dregs, then use the liquid to bathe the medicine. Wash the buds that have first undergone the “Flowery Pool” treatment—a step or implement for washing the medicine during refinement—until clean. Do not use unboiled water. Then place them in a purple cup and heat-fry them over a low flame until dry, driving off all the moisture. Next, move them to a clean place and leave them in the open air overnight, where they can receive the balanced Qi of Heaven and Earth; then place them in the furnace.

Instructions on the Fire Timing for the Gushing Spring of Long Life

After bathing the yellow sprout—the substance prepared in alchemy—in the Flower Pool, the vessel used to bathe and nourish the ingredients, leave it exposed overnight to receive the harmonizing Qi between Heaven and Earth. Only then place it in a vessel for combined refinement, and seal it firmly as before. Every five days, add four liang of mercury to nourish and refine it: first let the water be below and the fire above for two and a half days, then reverse them for two and a half days, with the water above and the fire below. Together, these make a five-day cycle in which water and fire alternate.

When the water is below, first put it in a bottle, set the joining vessel used for alchemical work over the bottle’s mouth, then bury and cover the assembly in a porcelain vessel filled with paper ash. Finally, apply fire above to nourish and refine it. When the fire is below, use an iron tripod and place the joining vessel on it, with the bottle of water above the vessel. This is the arrangement in which water and fire alternate between above and below.

When applying the fire at the Yin hour, from three to five in the morning, begin with one liang of mature fire—charcoal that has burned hot and is steady—and watch it until three time units have passed. On the second day, increase the amount to two liang, then gradually raise it in the same way to sixteen liang before gradually reducing it back to one liang. This is called the “accelerated fire method.” If a day of nourishment is missed during any firing, make up for it. After a full month of nourishment and refinement, use only one liang of fire; this is called “gradually increasing the fire measure.” By raising and lowering the fire in this way, the mercury will not be exhausted.

The yellow sprout must also be turned over. After turning it, five-colored purple powder will appear. Whenever you open the joining vessel and find purple powder formed and gathered on its top, sweep it off and collect it in a silver box. Once enough has accumulated, put it in a separate divine chamber cauldron, a vessel specially made for refining the Great Elixir, to refine the Great Elixir and transform the ingredients. Collect the remaining yellow sprout as well and refine it into a treasure. After fifteen days, bathing it once more in the Flower Pool is also beneficial.

Master Bao said, “Without bathing in the Flower Pool, the refined substance will never be complete. Even if it is forced into powder, it will scatter and fly away. Only during firing will the corresponding transformations appear.”

Immortal Bao said, “If the Flower Pool is not obtained—the term in alchemy for a crucial substance or state in the refining process—then the work will ultimately be difficult to bring to completion. Even if one manages to refine it into powder, it will scatter and fly away. This principle should be followed from the very start of the firing process. Those who master the timing of the fire according to this secret will never fail. They will naturally attain transformation and spiritual communion, and harmonize with the workings of creation. The Book of Changes says: ‘Waxing and waning, fullness and decline, are all patterns in the operation of Heaven’s Way.’”

This secret passage from Wei Boyang’s Cantong qi describes the timing of the inner Gushing Spring fire, a term for the timing of cultivation and refinement known as the “Gushing Spring.” Observe the five colors as they enter the Purple River Cart, an alchemical term for a crucial substance that carries or transforms the ingredients during the refining process. Cultivate and refine the Gushing Spring according to the prescribed method, pouring over it in successive stages and allowing it to open and close and change. Suddenly, you will see the vessel filled with sprout-like forms. Their colors may be purple, jade green, tea-leaf brown, purplish red, white, or even the original color. If yellow earth or gold then appears, these are the true colors. If you do not pour over it in successive stages to bring them forth, place it in the cauldron separately. If the purple powder has still not been obtained, the colors that appear in the vessel can be used to verify the secret of the five colors.

The Jindan Jue of the Perfected Yin says, “Cinnabar is coarse and stubborn in substance; it has not yet been refined into an elixir fit to take. Only when the forms of Heaven and Earth are complete are the numbers of Yin and Yang made whole. Above, a yellow dragon coils; below, a white tiger lies concealed. When one substance manifests five colors, it can become the immortal’s blessing and good fortune for ages to come.”

The Lord of Purple Mists said: The purple dragon coils around the head, while the white tiger conceals Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy). Those who close their doors to cultivate in seclusion cannot do without the Cantong qi (Token for Joining the Three), a Daoist alchemical classic. Practitioners of either Neidan (internal alchemy) or Waidan (external alchemy) generally believe that if dust on a window appears bright purple and iridescent, this is a sign that the elixir is manifesting wondrous transformations.

If, upon opening the vessel, five-colored hues appear inside, hammer a piece of silver into a leaf-shaped sheet about the size of the box holding the Yellow Sprout, weighing roughly two or three liang. Shape it so that the edges are thick and the center thin, then set it over the sand vessel—the container for the alchemical ingredients—as a lid. Afterward, tend the fire each day as before, and purple powder will naturally appear on the silver sheet. Open it once every five days and gather the powder with a goose feather, then store it in a silver box. Once enough has accumulated, place it separately in the spirit chamber, a vessel used to seal away substances during alchemical work so they can continue transforming. There, the purple powder changes and condenses into Qi. It is said not to be the cinnabar-mercury itself, but its essence.

Method for transforming the purple powder in a separate spirit chamber

Take fine silver and hammer it into a small box. Place two to four liang of purple powder inside. First take three qian of fine gold, make it into gold leaf, cut it into pieces, and put them in a small crucible. Heat until they glow faintly red. Use tongs to remove the crucible, immediately pour in seven qian of mercury, and stir with an iron rod until it forms a sandy substance. Wash this mercury sand with clear broth, wipe it dry with paper, and knead it into three pieces.

Next, combine concentrated ash water with collected dew and boil the pieces in the mixture for half a day or a full day, until they become firm. Remove them and place them in the purple powder. Seal the silver box, then put it in an ash bed and warm it alternately over a gentle fire and a strong fire for seven days. Take it out, place the pieces in a Qi furnace, and refine them into a “treasure.” The original text says their weight does not diminish in the slightest, and regards this as the wondrous property of the purple powder.

“Spirit chamber” refers to a silver vessel, which must be enclosed within an outer vessel made of earthenware. Once it has been sealed, it can be cultivated by alternating gentle and fierce heat. Use six liang each morning and evening. If you do not intend to refine the purple powder further, you can use it to cultivate golden sand; this precious substance can then be taken.

Grind the purple powder into a fine powder and mix it with paper mulberry juice to form pills the size of hemp seeds. Once dry, wrap the pills in yellow wax and bind them tightly in silk. Leave them to soak for forty-nine days in continuously flowing water, or in freshly drawn well water. When the soaking is complete, take out a pill and swallow it on an empty stomach, washing it down with well water drawn that morning. The scripture says that whoever takes this elixir will be free from the disturbance of evil spirits, live long and in peace, and become a “terrestrial immortal”—an immortal who has attained the Dao yet remains in the human world. The marrow, too, will become as firm as metal and stone, and the way of numinous transformation will not easily be destroyed.

If the purple powder is as fine as dust on a window and you do not wish to take it yet, you may continue to place it in the Golden Elixir and cultivate it through nine transformations to produce the “great medicine,” making it numinous.

First Transformation of the Golden Liquid Elixir

How many people know how to cultivate lead and mercury? Their subtle transformations grow ever more profound. Add green water among the cold woods, and red powder flows with the current. Refined to the color of true gold, it shines like autumn moonlight reflected on flowers. Keep this method for me; do not let it spread easily.

Master Zihua says: Gather the “yellow sprout,” a name for a substance or ingredient used in alchemy, grind it finely, and wash it with water. Put the portion carried away by the water into a cauldron vessel and cultivate it into the “great medicine.” Control the firing according to the method given earlier, and nurture it with water and fire. The methods of separating and transforming it by washing with water have their own particular details. The portion that does not flow away with the water is called “white sand”; when melted and refined, it too can be made into a treasure. The portion carried away by the water is called “gold”: it is the gold essence within the yellow sprout.

Second Transformation: The Method of Adding Mercury to the Yellow Sprout to Produce the Medicine

The cold spring flows like white snow; add mercury, and the yellow sprout grows anew. Seal the golden cauldron with honey. After firing, it takes the form of purple chrysanthemums. Its fragrance drifts away like falling leaves in flight, then gradually congeals into blossoms.

From a cold spring flows something like white snow. Add mercury, and tender shoots emerge. Seal a golden cauldron with honey; after firing, it becomes purple crystals shaped like chrysanthemums. They give off fragrance and drift down like falling leaves, gradually solidifying into flowers. Few understand this principle. To forget artifice and follow nature is nothing to boast about.

Master Ye said: First wash five liang each of white sand and yellow sprouts with water, then place them in the Flower Pool, the vessel or liquid used in alchemical refining. Pour in five liang of mercury and heat the mixture over water until it coagulates into grains of sand. Arrange the grains in the cauldron, seal it, and place it in the furnace. Nurture and refine them over alternating gentle and fierce heat for one day and one night. Then pour in another five liang of mercury and regulate the fire as before. Refine for seven days, and all the ingredients will become precious substances, able to commune with the transformations of nature.

Third Transformation: The Method of Refining the Six Qi with Dust from a Bright Window

Marvellous transformations unfold thousands of times; a True Person, one who has attained the Dao, serves as guide. Cold clouds reach down to the earth, while the Yin tiger stirs the Yang thunder. Two currents of Qi surge up as blue clouds, and three mountain peaks are piled high with jade snow. To harmonize their subtle principle, one must draw on the sun’s power.

Take two liang of dust from a bright window and add one liang of raw sulfur. Grind the two ingredients finely and place them in a cauldron: first spread a layer of window dust, then add the finely ground mixture of window dust and sulfur, and finally cover it with more window dust. Seal the cauldron and place it in the furnace to be nurtured by fire for five days. When you take it out, the ingredients will all be golden purple; grind them together into a fine powder. Next take one liang of yellow material and, following the same method, load it into the cauldron with window dust and sulfur powder. Seal it and nurture it over the fire for five days. When you take it out, grind it into a fine powder as well. Add five liang of raw sulfur, grind everything together into powder, and mix it with paper mulberry juice to form pills about the size of mung beans. Each pill can be combined with one liang of mercury and refined into a precious substance. If it has not yet formed, continue refining it for twenty-one days.

Fourth Transformation: The Method of Refining the Purple River Cart with Dust from a Bright Window

Draw in the sun’s essence and calmly refine and nurture the purple shoots. Jade Purity, the quality of what is pure and true, is not far away; by upholding the Great Dao, one can reach the infinite. Jade-colored essence gathers into a precious substance, and gold can fill the house. The true treasure lies within one’s own heart, so there is no cause for pride or extravagance.

The method on the right is as follows: Take five liang of dust from a bright window and place it in a spirit chamber, the sealed vessel used for alchemical refinement. Then take five liang of mercury and set it in the dust like a lotus seed. Seal the vessel securely, place it in the furnace as before, and maintain the fire for seven days. Once refined, it becomes “true sprout,” a strip-shaped alchemical substance. Melt it down again to obtain superior gold. The powder adhering to the cauldron is called “River Cart powder.”

Fifth Transformation: The Method for Transforming Purple River Cart into Yellow Ju

Yellow Ju is regarded as a true method for attaining the Dao, and its transformation, too, opens a path to understanding. This method is profound and wondrous; do not disclose it casually to ordinary people. With careful refinement, it yields a precious alchemical substance. Taking it is said to make the “Three Spirits” depart. Only those who have grasped the source of true condensation and the wondrous Dao may pay audience to the Celestial Lord.

The method on the right is as follows: Take five liang of Purple River Cart and grind it to a fine powder. Place it in the spirit chamber, seal it as before, then put it in the furnace and maintain the fire for forty-nine days. When removed, it will have turned into Yellow Ju. Grind it to powder, mix it with paper mulberry juice, and form pills the size of hemp seeds. Coat them in yellow wax, then soak them in water for forty-nine days to remove the fire toxicity. On an empty stomach, swallow one pill with ash-free wine, meaning wine without added ash. This elixir is said to summon back the hun and po souls and restore the dead to life.

Sixth

The method on the right is as follows: Grind Yellow Ju into a fine powder and place it in the cauldron inside the spirit chamber. Refine it over fire for twenty-one days, then remove it and grind it finely once more. Use date flesh to form pills the size of beans. Each day on an empty stomach, swallow one pill with wine or wellhead water, drawn from a well at dawn. It is said that when Yang energy is weak, the breath is failing, and the spirit is disoriented, taking this pill can strengthen and protect Yang energy and increase physical strength, restoring health and even reversing old age. Its effects are said to be beyond measure.

Seventh: The Divine Transformation Method of the Purple Gold Elixir

The method on the right is as follows: Place the Purple River Cart powder in the spirit chamber once more and maintain the fire for forty-nine days.

Eighth

The text next contains the words “pill, when Yang is weak and the breath is failing…” and similar phrases. This section again describes the effects of taking the pills, which are the same as those stated earlier: strengthening Yang, increasing vitality, and reversing old age.

After a year of refining and nourishing, open the furnace and collect the five kinds of elixir separately. Then place them in the Golden Cauldron, the vessel used for alchemical work, and continue to tend the fire and take the elixirs. The five are called the Great Elixir of the Dragon and Tiger, Divine Talisman White Snow, Purple Tenuity Elixir, Golden-Purple Elixir, and Golden Liquid Minor Numinous Elixir. When the refining reaches its ninth transformation, it is called the Golden Liquid Minor Return Elixir.

The Ninth Transformation

The changes of metal follow the natural order, and the natures of the Hun and Po souls are bound together. When the furnace is opened, the elixir rises like flying white snow; the cauldron is filled with crystals like red lotuses. Those who once traveled far by raft have now become people able to take their whole families to become immortals. The family journeys together to the Purple Palace, where immortals dwell, and ascends to heaven in broad daylight.

Following these steps, place the elixir back in the Golden Cauldron and tend the fire for another year. The practitioner must fast and bathe, then offer thanks to Heaven and Earth through a jiao rite, a ritual conducted at an altar to report to the deities. Only then may the furnace be opened, the cauldron removed, and the various elixirs collected. If the elixir has congealed into a vivid red, it is called the Great Return Elixir of the Dragon and Tiger. It is said that anyone who takes it can ascend to heaven in broad daylight and journey in spirit to the Purple Palace; a chicken that eats it becomes a phoenix, and a dog becomes a dragon. This elixir is said to bring withered bones back to life and restore the dead.

If all the elixir in the cauldron has congealed into red forms resembling lotuses, it is called the Purple Tenuity Elixir. If it is purple, with no other colors, it is called the Purple-Gold Elixir. If the cauldron is filled entirely with brilliant, radiant gold, it is called the Golden Liquid Minor Return Elixir.

The Casket of the Heavenly Treasure Longevity Divine Talisman, a box for storing the talisman.

Select ten portions of the finest northern stone tingzhi (a mineral used in alchemy), taking one jin as the standard, and remove any stone chips. Pound the flowers, leaves, and roots of wa-song into juice. Place the tingzhi in a silk pouch and suspend it in a porcelain jar. Simmer over a gentle fire for five days and five nights. The fire must not be too strong, and the material must not come into contact with iron. When the time is up, take it out and put it in a jar, laying the remaining herbal residue underneath and over it. Seal the jar, then warm it over the fire for seven days. During this warming, the fire must again not be too strong, and the material must not touch iron.

When the time is up, take it out and put it in a jar, again laying herbal residue underneath and over it and sealing it securely. First fire it for three days, using four liang of fire each day; then for another three days, using six liang each day; and finally for one day, using eight liang. Draw out the portion that has already been stabilized by firing from the bottom of the vessel, then put it in the water-and-fire cauldron chamber and calcine it until it melts into liquid. Take it out, remove the ash from the surface, and clean it.

Put the refined material in a sand jar and warm it over a low fire for fourteen days, pressing the original herbal residue ash over it as before. Use three liang of fire each day for the first seven days, and four liang each day for the next seven. When the time is up, take it out and make it into a “vault,” a vessel or material used to seal away substances for continued warming.

Spirit Transforms into White Snow

Take four liang of powder frost from the two cauldrons as the standard measure. Boil it in ginger juice for half a day, then cut it into pieces of about five qian each. Spread a thin layer of honey over them and mix them with “living yin.” Wrap each liang in mother foil and place it in the vault to warm for twenty-one days. During the warming, observe whether the divine talisman’s essence is potent: on the fourteenth day, take some out and test it. Its color should be black like flour; once the twenty-one days are complete, its state should be like that of an “undying soul.” After the allotted time, pay especially close attention to controlling the fire.

One liang of bone and one and a half qian of White Snow can produce pure-gold treasure. If the fire is properly controlled and the divine talisman’s essence is potent, one qian of White Snow can transmute one liang of material. For transmutation, warm the powder frost in a vault used as a “Vault of Long Life.” If it is not intended for transmutation, there is another method of transformation: the powder frost obtained after warming is called the “vault,” while the powder frost that comes away is called “dust from the bright window.”

White Snow Vault

Take one jin of refined mercury powder and place it in a clay pot. Add four liang of cinnabar, cook it with Wasong for seven days, then place it in the crucible for a further seven days of nurturing and refining. Observe the heat morning and evening each day: use three liang of fire for the first three days, three and a half liang for the next three days, and four liang on the final day. The cinnabar is then considered refined. If you do not intend to use it to nurture and refine mercury powder, follow the method above for fourteen days, then use one qian to transform one liang of silver amalgam.

Forming Frost

Grind four liang of cinnabar into powder, then take another one liang of cinnabar and cook it with Wasong for five days. Place it in the crucible, wrap it in silk to form a ball, and cover it above and below. Nurture and refine it for eight days: use two liang of fire for the first two days, three liang for the next three days, and four liang for the final three days. Remove the cinnabar and add one liang of female material. Cook it with Mutong for one day, replacing the medicinal liquid as soon as it turns black. Repeat this more than ten times. Then grind the female material finely and nurture and refine it together with the cinnabar for seven days: use two liang of fire for the first two days, three liang for the next three days, and four liang for the final two days. Next, grind the cinnabar and female material together, then nurture and refine them for seven days, using the same heat schedule.

Then take one liang of sorted male material, cut it into pieces the size of beans, and cook it with radish juice for one day; grind it until evenly blended. Combine these three materials and nurture and refine them for seven days, using the same heat schedule. Next, take one liang of sorted sulfur, cut it into pieces the size of beans, cook it with Tian Kujia for one day, and grind it until evenly blended. Combine it with the preceding materials and nurture and refine them for seven days, using four liang of fire. In this way, the four materials are refined into what is called pure gold.

Initiating Transformation

Take four liang of Four Spirits, add six qian of thin-sheet mother material and one liang, four qian of mercury, and soak them overnight. Grind the mixture until it becomes sand-like, then form it into eight pills. Place them in the crucible used earlier, seal it tightly, and nurture and refine it in an ash pit for ten days, using five liang of fire each day. When removed, it is called ten-tenths red gold.

Communing with the Spirits

Next, take four liang of the gold obtained and hammer it into a small lidded container. Take two liang of cinnabar and boil it with roof moss for five days, then place it in the container and process it for seven days. Each day, work with four liang at a time. Once eight liang have been processed, remove them. Mix one qian of cinnabar into every liang of mercury; this is called the “Supreme Treasure.”

Mixing and Processing Method

Mix tea powder with vinegar to form a small pot-shaped vessel, and place the mercury inside. Grind one qian of alchemical seed into a fine powder and spread it over and under the mercury. Seal it with salt, place it in a Jian ware bowl (a tea bowl), and smelt it with a fire of two jin’s strength. This will produce pure purple gold.

This is the skill of adepts who refine internally and transform metals. It is said to be able to turn the materials into a Great Elixir, an alchemical medicine in Daoism. This is beyond the ability of ordinary people. Practitioners must be sincere in their resolve, able to endure hardship, and put helping poor households first.

Eight True Methods of the Embryonic Elixir

Take two liang of large pieces of cinnabar and one liang of raw sulfur. Wrap them separately and boil them for seven days in fresh juice from roof moss. It is said that this can transform the materials into a Great Elixir, a feat beyond the ability of ordinary people. Practitioners must be sincere, endure hardship, and put helping poor households first.

Take two liang of “Great Bright Vermilion” and one liang of raw sulfur. Wrap them separately and boil them for seven days in the juice of tile moss. If tile moss juice is unavailable, use “Mysterious Lord” in its place; it is also highly effective. Remove them, then fry the sulfur in an iron vessel. Fry the cinnabar together with plant ash until the sulfur is completely consumed. Next, take four qian of “Metal Mother,” shape it into a bead, and mix it thoroughly into the preparation.

Take a black hen’s egg and empty it out. Put the mixture of cinnabar and the other ingredients inside the egg; if the egg is small, the amount added does not matter. Seal the shell, mix egg white with Kunlun paper, and wrap the egg in seven layers. Then seal it with yellow clay, making sure there are no gaps. Crush eight jin of raw lead, spread it above and below the egg, and cover it completely. Secure the egg with an iron fork to keep it from floating. Seal the earthenware vessel and cover it with ash and fire. Heat it slowly from all sides with a low, steady fire until the lead and tin melt. Refine it at this heat for seven days. When it is done, remove the “Mother” that served as the container. Take only half a liang of cinnabar, grind it to a fine powder, put it into a goose egg, and carry it close to the body.

Place ten liang of “Binding Nine-One, Conjoining Qi” inside a goose egg, then put it in a lead container and warm it for seven days as before. When removed, it is said to have “sprouted and opened.” The scripture says that this brings treasure and transformations without limit.

If no goose egg is available, put two liang of cinnabar in a fifty-liang crucible, then place it in an iron jar and pour four liang of mercury inside. Refine it for seven days according to the “Seven-Day Alternating Pouring and Sealing Method.” The scripture says that once removed, the refined “Elder” can become treasure and bring transformations without limit. It is called the “Longevity Sprout.” The “Elder” may also be refined and warmed in separate containers; those who follow the Dao can discern and understand the method for themselves.

The Method of Silver from Plum Pits

First, use one tael of black lead and one tael of mercury. Place them together in a crucible and roast them until they form a sandlike substance. Then wash the yellow-flowered dandelion herb and pound it to extract its natural juice. Take one tael of cinnabar and purify it to remove impurities such as bits of iron and stone. Boil it in the herb juice for a full day and night, then remove it, dry it in the sun and by heating, and grind it into a fine powder.

To use it, first take a gallnut—the hollow shell formed by the gallnut, which can hold medicine—and gauge its capacity. If it can hold two qian, put in one qian of cinnabar powder, then half a fen of silver mother, a silver-based material used in preparing elixirs, and on top of that one qian of mercury sand. Seal the opening with asphalt, then secure it with washing clay and red ochre. Make a mark at the mouth of the gallnut, and dry it in the sun with the opening facing upward.

Spread half the powdered incense in an iron incense burner and bury the gallnut in it. Fill the burner with the remaining powdered incense and pack it firmly. Light the incense at night. At daybreak, once the ashes have cooled, take it out and break open the gallnut. The “treasure” produced by the refining will be inside.

This concludes volume seven of the Gengdao Collection.

The Method for Refining Cinnabar Sand in Nine Cycles for the Great Elixir of Ascension, attributed to Perfected Lord Xu.

The method says:

Take four liang of transparent sulfur and first boil it with “water-field gentleman’s herb,” meaning the large duckweed that grows on the water’s surface. Its leaves are round and broad, with a cross-shaped pattern at the center. Pound the duckweed to extract its juice, then boil the sulfur in the juice for three days and nights. If this duckweed is unavailable, finely powdered qumai may be used instead, boiled in river water; this also works well.

To prepare mercury, take one liang of guanzhong, one liang of Chinese gall, and a little transparent pine resin. Grind all three into a fine powder, add concentrated vinegar, and simmer over low heat for half a day, until the mixture thickens into a paste. Then remove the “sticky mercury”—mercury that has become viscous through treatment—and put it in an iron vessel. Add juice from pounded fresh ginger and boil the mercury for another half day. Once it is dry, heat it over alternating gentle and fierce flames.

The passage above repeats these steps for treating mercury: grind the guanzhong, Chinese gall, and pine resin finely; add concentrated vinegar and simmer over low heat for half a day; once the mixture has thickened into a paste, remove the sticky mercury and place it in an iron vessel with ginger juice, then boil for half a day. After it dries, heat it with alternating gentle and fierce flames, until the sulfur melts into liquid. Remove it from the fire, pour the sticky mercury into the sulfur, and stir slowly and evenly with an iron spoon to make “Green Gold Head.”

Next, grind it finely with a willow-wood mallet and fry it over a low flame. Do not let “ghost flames”—unusual flames—appear, and keep sprinkling it with sour vinegar using willow twigs. Continue frying for seven double-hours before stopping. For example, if you begin at the hour of Yin, take turns keeping watch and frying until the hour of Shen. Only when the sand-like material has been thoroughly fried and compacted should it be placed in the “Water-and-Fire Cauldron,” a refining vessel heated with water and fire. This is done to prevent “wandering mercury”—mercury that has not set and still flows—and to make the spirit sand more solid.

The poem says: “When the two forces of Yin and Yang are matched, the noble one of the Li trigram must observe with care. Once harmonized, they can bring about myriad transformations, like an old woman marrying Liu Lang.” The pairing of Yin and Yang and the image of marriage serve as metaphors for bringing different materials together so that they transform during the refining process.

Method for Casting the Cauldron

The cauldron should be one chi and four cun deep, with “Three Mountains”—three supports or projections—on its outer sides. The bottom of the water basin should not be too thick; about one meter is recommended.

Method for Making the Furnace

First build a clay base about one foot high, then add a tier on top. Let people decide its height and width as needed. The third tier should be about three feet high. Make an opening for the air at the very bottom, with a doorway one foot and six inches square or round. Set an iron cauldron on the tier below the furnace, then build two more tiers above it for the fire. One foot farther down, leave an open space at the foot of the structure. Make a square door on the left and a round door on the right, corresponding respectively to the sun and moon. Each door should be eight inches wide. The phrase “two eight, Mao and You” refers to the Mao and You directions. Set a door on each side of the furnace’s front to serve as air vents. In general, air channels run more often east to west than north to south.

Method for forging spirit sand and placing it in the cauldron

Roast and refine the sand prepared earlier until the green-gold head within it is mature. Then grind and triturate it two or three thousand times before placing it in the cauldron. Mix red stone fat with sour vinegar and apply it to the three mountain-shaped parts of the cauldron. Next, set down the water cauldron plate so that the upper and lower parts fit together, and seal the joint firmly according to the method. Leave it overnight. Then place the cauldron in the tray inside the furnace, add water to the water furnace, and light the fire to heat the water. Take care that the water does not overflow, and do not let the fire grow too strong.

At first, apply three jin of fire. When the water level falls by one or two fen, add hot broth. Then apply another one or two jin of fire. When the water level has fallen by about three fen, keep adding broth until the refining has continued for five double-hours. Then apply five more jin of fire for calcining, gradually increasing the fire to fifteen jin. Once the heat has reached the proper level, stop the calcining. When the furnace has cooled, remove the cauldron. The specific method of preparation is described later.

Usually, if spirit sand is not firm after forging and free mercury appears, it cannot become a treasure. If the embryo’s color is unstable during nurturing and refining, or problems arise such as spirit sand swallowing its mother, this is because the green-gold head was not roasted thoroughly. If sulfur is not prepared through refining, mercury cannot coagulate; if the mercury does not coagulate, its efficacy cannot develop. Failure will also result if the fire is too strong or too weak when introducing water and fire, or if one does not know the thickness of the cauldron’s base. The water-and-fire cauldron should be made of iron to reduce damage.

The Lord Lao says: The origin of Jia and Geng is called “Blue Gold.” Place it in the furnace and set it inside the crucible. Suppose fifteen jin of fire are used, and it is refined for one day and night by the method of “Already Fulfilled.” This allows Yin and Yang to circulate throughout Heaven and Earth, and the Spirit Sand can then be made. The required materials must be firm and solid. The fifteen jin of fire mentioned here are equivalent to nine hundred years of refinement: the Sun makes fifteen circuits and passes through fifteen cycles of Jiazi. In a single day and night, this completes the transformations of nine hundred years, causing mercury to congeal into sand. Within the Spirit Sand are Li and Kan; Yin and Yang circulate throughout Heaven and Earth, and so it is refined. Mercury itself is red and belongs to Yang. The “meeting of Kan and Li” means cooking and refining by the method of Already Fulfilled, mixing Water, Fire, Metal, and Earth into one body to bring about transformation. This method is explained in particular to illuminate the true Dao.

The poem says:

With five jin of fire, refine it in the palace of Kan and Li, Already Fulfilled. Once Yin and Yang have mingled, the refined substance becomes firm and red.

Examine closely the power of Yin and Yang meeting within it: after ninety cycles of Jiazi, the refinement is complete.

During refinement, fierce fire brings forth the medicine’s potency; stored properly, it will remain sound for a long time.

Take it, and you may live long and extend your years; understand this method, and you will comprehend all manner of principles.

Recipe for Cooking the Spirit Sand

Take the Spirit Sand previously removed from the crucible and break it up. Cut it with a knife into pieces the size of pearls, place them in a bamboo basket, then suspend the basket in mulberry-ash liquor and cook for three days and nights. A new iron pot must be used. Then add the following ingredients as described below:

One liang of alum, one liang of Sichuan peppercorns, with the seeds removed, one liang of salt, two qian of blue vitriol, and two qian of realgar.

Grind these five ingredients one at a time into a fine powder, add strong vinegar, and cook the Spirit Sand for three days and nights. The longer it cooks, the better. When it is done, wash the Spirit Sand in a decoction of Sichuan peppercorns to remove the substances clinging to it, then drain it and set it aside.

The Lord Lao says: Why must it be cooked as well? Once sulfur and mercury have congealed into a form, they must be treated to stabilize them; that is why the cooking method is used. The five medicinal substances used here are selected according to the Five Phases. Treated sulfur and mercury are more suitable for use. After removing them, they must still be washed clean in a decoction of Sichuan peppercorns to remove the substances clinging to them, then drained and set aside.

The Old Lord said: “Why must this be done by boiling? Because once sulfur and mercury have condensed into a solid form, they must first be made ‘dead’ before they can be boiled. Only these five numinous medicines, prepared according to the principles of the Five Phases, can do this. They are medicines that deprive sulfur and mercury of their activity, and so they are called the ‘Five Numinous Medicines.’ Boiling with mulberry ash is meant to subdue the sulfur. Once the sulfur has been subdued, the mercury can be subdued as well. Thus, one first uses the ‘death’ of sulfur to make the mercury ‘die’ too. If sulfur is to be deprived of its activity, why use it at all? Because sulfur can be made into a powder that helps blend and subdue the other medicines, playing an important role.”

The poem says:

Yin and Yang restrain one another, and gold can thereby be refined.

It all depends on the work of mulberry ash, which can help those who are worn down.

When the refinement reaches the ninth stage, the elixir can transform;

All this is through the elixir’s power, which makes it possible to pay one’s respects to the Immortal Lord.

Method for Making the Crucible

Take one jin of Mountain Marsh Gen, boil and refine it into a liquid, then add powdered lotus leaf and stir. Immediately remove it from the fire and continue stirring until it sets into fine, fragmented beads. Pour them into water to wash away the ash, then sieve out the small, round, even grains. If the grains are too large, the crucible will not work. They should be about the size of millet and allow air to pass through. This also depends on the quality of the “mother” material. If the mother material is poor, the refinement will be difficult to complete successfully.

The poem says:

Only when child and mother are properly matched can they accord with the transformations of nature.

Though the child may be wondrous, without joining with the mother it cannot fulfill its function.

Once the Great Medicine has been refined, the cultivator should cherish it

And avoid losing the way and suffering in vain.

Use four liang of mother material for every one liang of child material. The Numinous Cinnabar should be separated with “body-contact medicine,” then placed in the crucible and carefully layered from top to bottom until fully covered. Seal the mouth of the crucible, place it in an ash pit, and warm it with fire so that it can receive numinous Qi.

Body-Contact Medicine

Take four qian of transparent, sheet-like bile alum and grind it finely. Take one qian of imported yellow mineral and grind it finely as well. Mix it with the juice of paddy-field grass, then boil the Sevenfold Sulfur.

Put these two ingredients in a new pot and stir-fry them until they turn purple. Let them cool, then grind them into a fine powder. Moisten the Numinous Cinnabar with strong vinegar, then roll it in the medicinal powder so that its surface is evenly coated. Wrap each piece tightly in silver foil, then place it in the crucible and arrange it using the Covered Lotus method.

The Venerable Lord said, “Why must mineral sulfur and gall be kept together and used side by side? These two substances are the essential materials for refining dead mercury. When mercury meets gall, it congeals into powder; when it meets sulfur, it congeals into sand. Both materials must therefore be used, in keeping with the principles of refinement.”

A poem says:

Gold and wood unite and enter the position of Fire;

One must also find the right moments of Mao and You,

following the Cantong qi (Token for Joining the Three), a classic on the principles and methods of elixir refinement.

After seven cycles, like an unfeeling immortal maiden;

Then invite Liu Lang to enter the blue sky.

The Method of Refining in an Ash Pit and Regulating the Fire

After placing the medicine in the container and sealing it, put it in an ash pit. Take five dou of paper ash and place the medicine container in the center of the pit, supported by an iron tripod. Cover it with paper ash on all sides, leaving only a three-inch opening at the top.

At Mao hour and You hour each day, add two liang of fresh fire. Adjust the amount of fire at the top, removing the old fire. Continue gently warming it this way, day and night. On the second day, increase the fire to four liang. Continue refining in this manner for three or four sets of seven days—that is, twenty-one or twenty-eight days—without interruption, day or night. Once the fire has cooled completely, take out a piece of the medicine to inspect it.

Take the flesh of white plums that have been stored for years, wrap the medicine in it, and warm it for the time it takes to cook a meal. Then quench and soak it in strong vinegar. If the medicine comes out snow-white and feels lighter, the sulfur has been removed and only dead mercury remains; the mother medicine has not diminished.

If the medicine is not yet fully refined, remove the medicine that had been kept close to the body. You will then see the color of the gall. This means the fire was too strong; the ash was not lacking in strength. Next, bring sour vinegar to a boil, put the mother medicine powder in the container, and place it in bitter wine (vinegar). Take two qian of white alum and rub it forcefully again and again in your palm. Then wash it clean, drain it, and return it to the container. Increase the fire to five liang, continuing to add and reduce the fire at Mao hour and You hour. Keep it gently warming for three more days, and the process will succeed.

The medicine container must be cast from iron and weigh about five jin. The fire used should be a mature fire that has been brought to a strong, steady burn.

The Old Lord said: Why is fire introduced at the hours of Mao and You? Because Mao and You mark the times when the sun and moon rise and set. They symbolize the alternation of Yin and Yang, and the passage between them. When Water, Fire, and Earth are added, introducing fire at Mao and You completes the Five Phases.

The poem says:

Without Jing and radiance, the elixir cannot work its wonders; when the mother substance is depleted, the child substance instead undergoes change.

If you do not understand its hidden workings and essential methods, how can you bring the work of creation to completion?

The Old Lord said: Bathe the “mother” in vinegar, then continue nurturing and refining it. When mercury, sulfur, and the Qi in close contact with it disturb the “mother,” it loses Jing and radiance; its substance becomes blocked and insufficiently pliable, and can no longer continue its transformative work. After using the mother to nourish the child three to five times, if some of the mother has been depleted, simply replenish it according to the “four-one proportion,” then continue nurturing and refining. If the practitioner is capable, they may take the sand formed earlier and use materials such as mountain, marsh, and Gen from elsewhere, following the earlier method of transformation. Increase and decrease the ingredients and introduce fire according to the original schedule; nurture and refine for seven days, and the resulting substance will be exceptionally firm. If you continue refining and nurturing through successive cycles, its potency will grow. Once more than twenty portions have been gathered through refining, bathe the substance twice; this is called “transcending the ordinary and entering sagehood.”

The poem says:

Foxes and hares do not nurse horses; eagles and cranes do not hatch sparrows.

Refining the Golden Elixir depends on lead; from beginning to end, it cannot be separated from this foundation of lead.

First Turning

Remove the impurities from close contact, excess sulfur, and extraneous matter known as “food thieves.” Remove them in this way, and nothing can go wrong. Whenever fire-refined numinous sand reaches this stage, it gradually enters a higher realm of refinement and nourishment.

The poem says:

Only repeated depletion and refining can make it firm; only by removing the impurities that steal the Mysterious Essence can its original substance be revealed.

Refining it into a flawless form—these secrets are passed mouth to ear by the immortals.

Whether lead is used or not, the work must begin with lead. But when the time comes to use lead in earnest, it is a mistake to regard lead as something that can simply be used directly.

Pound the prepared spirit sand in an iron mortar until it is crushed, then wrap it in Kun arrow paper to make a ball. Gather whole roots and leaves of diding flower, and pound them into a paste with equal amounts of hemp seed and croton seed. Use the paste to wrap and secure the spirit sand ball. Place it in a large sand crucible, surround it with silver foil, then pack “Holy Ignorance” tightly around it. Set the ball in the center of the crucible and drill twenty-three holes in it. Seal the crucible according to the method, place it in the furnace, and nourish and refine it overnight with a half-weight measure of fire.

When you take it out and open it, you will see a substance in the center of the crucible resembling a silver furnace. Remove it and process it by cooking. As before, wrap it in the casing material, strike it until crushed, and form it into beads for use.

The verse says: “The elixir turtle is refined through seven returns and the number nine-three; the hidden key to the mercury furnace must be discerned. When the black and white substances together comprehend the principles of creation, bathing in the Flower Pond will make them rise naturally.”

To bathe the spirit sand, put one sheng of strong vinegar, half a liang of green alum, and three qian of saltpeter into a pot and boil them together for a day. This makes it firm and compact; after refinement, it becomes a new true treasure. This is the method of the First Turning. The formula “The good has no head, the cauldron no ears; use no medicine, regulate it directly. The principles of Heaven and Earth—examine this meaning” points to the key details of the refining vessels and method, which should be carefully understood.

Second Turning: The Method for Transforming Spirit Sand into the Real

Each time, take the spirit sand that has been bathed from the mother casing, using one jin as casing material, and place it in the crucible as before. Then take spirit sand that has already been hammered and refined, in the proportion of “two-eight,” and boil it as before. Also use the adhering medicine for the shell-less white-bodied spirit sand: three qian of white frost, three qian of arsenic, four qian of goose-pipe stone, four qian of borax, and two liang of white mastic.

Grind the five medicinal ingredients mentioned above into a fine powder and mix them with vinegar. Apply the mixture to the medicine placed inside. Wrap it in two layers of Kunlun paper and bind it tightly with hemp cord. Trim off the excess, then place it in the silver container for the first transformation. Seal the container as described earlier, put it in the ash pit, and adjust the heat according to the prescribed schedule. Continue the firing for seven full days, following the earlier method.

Once the container has cooled, open it. Inside, each grain of spirit sand will be like a lychee. The sulfur, mercury, and medicine placed inside will have fused into a mass of white silver. It does not need further refining in a lead bath. When four liang of the medicine placed inside have accumulated, they can be used to make a “Three-Seven Mother Sand Longevity Container” for cultivating spirit sand.

Laojun says: This is the method for removing the mortal body and shedding worldly bones. This kind of container needs no sour vinegar and does not consume the mother medicine, so it is called a “Longevity Container.” What it cultivates is spirit sand. If sixteen liang of spirit sand have accumulated, there is no need to set up another furnace: one can proceed directly with the method of “planting gold and shedding the shell.” For every two qian of this white silver, one liang of red copper can be transmuted into a treasure called “Danyang.” There is also no need for the processes known as boiling, striking, or covering.

The verse says:

Without relying on ordinary agents, white silver can still be refined. Freed from its original embryonic Qi, it naturally becomes numinous and clear.

Originally attuned to the numinous, it can bring about transformation. From here, refining Danyang advances the practice further.

The Third Transformation: The Method of Using Spirit Sand to Plant Gold and Shed the Shell (the third refinement of spirit sand, using it to transmute metal and shed its outer shell)

Mix ten liang of Erba Qingjin, the name of an alchemical ingredient in the scripture, with half a qian of “que” and half a liang of cinnabar. Grind the mixture finely, then take it out. Wrap it in one liang of Kunlun paper, fold it into a small parcel, and tie it tightly with hemp thread. Moisten it with the milk of a black donkey and the juice of the paper mulberry tree. This forms the second, moistened layer, which lies close to the inner medicinal substance. The parcel should be about as thick as a grain of rice. Place it in a container holding white-bodied silver sand, seal the joints as before, and put it in an ash pit. Regulate the heat as before and warm it gently for three days. When removed, the Qingjin will shed its shell on its own.

Next, take the dead mercury ball that has coagulated during the refining and break it apart. Sow it in the morning and gather it in the evening: one liang of the small container can refine one liang of silver into “geng.” One qian of white-bodied silver can transmute one liang of red copper into a precious substance.

Laojun said, “Why is this called the ‘Seed-Gold Shell-Shedding Method’? Because it refers to Qingjin.”

The poem says:

The sulfur shell sheds itself, revealing the blue inner layer.

Its transformations unfold without limit, guiding the sage to dispel worldly delusion.

One sees only the sowing at dawn, yet it is hard to understand the workings that bring about these wondrous transformations.

If a dog parrot could swallow it, it would become a phoenix and join the lineage of dragons.

Fourth Transformation: The Pouring Method of Sowing in the Morning and Gathering in the Evening

Break the dead Qingjin ball, which has shed its shell after gentle warming, with an iron hammer until it is in pieces like fruit.

“It is hard to understand the workings that bring about these wondrous transformations. If a dog parrot could swallow it, it would become a phoenix and join the lineage of dragons.”

Take out the blue-gold pellets that have been cultivated and refined, with their outer shells removed. Break them with an iron hammer into granules about the size of plant fruits. Weigh out half a jin and place it in a sand vessel—a ceramic container used for refining elixirs—to serve as the kui, the container that holds the ingredients. Each time, pour in two liang of mercury. Seal the vessel at the yin hour (3–5 a.m.), then place it in an ash bed and apply a fire of five liang. Remove it at the shen hour (3–5 p.m.). The next day, open the sand vessel and check whether all the mercury has solidified at the bottom. Pour in mercury once each day thereafter, allowing the material to accumulate through repeated refining. Once half a jin of solidified mercury has accumulated, it can be refined further into transformed substances known as “Jade Smiles” and “Jewel-like Wonders,” among others.

Laojun said, “What is meant by ‘sown in the morning, harvested by evening’? It means that two liang of mercury, after being treated with hidden fire and solidified, is poured in the morning and refined by evening.” He then asked, “How can the ingredients reach this state?” The answer was: “Combine herbs with mineral elixir ingredients, and they will naturally transform into numinous mercury, which can then be refined further into what are called ‘Jade Smiles’ and ‘Jewel-like Wonders.’”

Laojun again said, “What is meant by ‘sown in the morning, harvested by evening’? It means that two liang of mercury, rendered inert by hidden fire, is poured in the morning and refined by evening.” He then asked, “How can the ingredients reach this state?” The answer was: “By using herbs together with mineral ingredients, the substances naturally transform and become numinous; this is why it is called numinous sand. The transformation reaches a subtle and wondrous realm that cannot be grasped by ordinary reasoning. Hence the saying, ‘difficult at first, easy afterward.’ How could ordinary people who do not understand its principles recognize it? One qian of the remaining kui medicine can transmute one liang of what is called ‘Jinhe’ into a supreme treasure, with the power to undergo a thousand transformations.”

The poem says:

Watch the refining and accumulation until they reach a numinous state;

Transform what is impure and make it pure.

Thus I can turn the deviant into the proper and alter its substance;

To forget both gain and loss and cease to crave is to be a true great man.

Fifth Turn: The Method for Refining Jade and Other Jewel-like Substances

Take five liang of the inverted blue-gold inert mercury refined earlier. Add no other impurities. Place it in a separate vessel, then pour in five liang of mercury. Set the vessel at the bottom of an ash-bed vat and heat it with a fire of five liang. Adjust the heat each day during the yin and mao hours (3–7 a.m.). Then raise the vessel on an iron tripod and warm it with fire from above, turning it over once every three days. The mercury refined in this way will rise and take shapes like “Jade Smiles” and “Jewel-like Wonders,” or like jade forests and trees, and pearl-like nipples. It will be faintly red, like coral, becoming a precious and beautiful treasure.

Laojun said, “‘Jade laughter’ refers to mercury surging and swirling. It is like the clear, crisp sound of fine jade striking against itself, and like the crystalline beauty of a forest of jade trees. It also resembles a pearl-like nipple, faintly tinged with red and shaped like coral.”