《悬解录》

Record of Hanging Resolution (Xuanjie Lu), with Preface

In my youth I was often ill and devoted myself to seeking ways of nurturing my health. I also strove to investigate such techniques as taking medicines made from metals and minerals. In private I observed that some people of that time, zealous for this path, spared no expense and built furnaces and cauldrons on a grand scale. They believed that by refining with the "River Chariot" (hechē) they could quickly produce elixirs, and even turn earth and stone into metal. They also believed that cinnabar sand, once refined, could be transformed into medicine and strengthen the sinews and bones. Yet people were often harmed by these drugs instead, and even physicians had no time to save them. Why was this? Was the fundamental method of cultivation incorrect, or was the lineage of transmission unclear? Why was everything, from beginning to end, so thoroughly at odds with what was promised?

For this reason I turned to reading Daoist books, and by chance came upon the passage in which the Lord of the Nine Empyreans (Jiuxiao Jun) explains the essential teachings on elixirs to Liu Hong. The text points out that those who study the Dao in the vulgar world have not grasped even the surface of the great Dao, yet boast recklessly and deceive and lure others. Everything they do is nothing but a shortcut to self-injury, and how could one not grieve over it? The words of a true immortal surely do not deceive.

For a long time my heart was clouded with doubt, troubled by precisely these matters. So I excerpted the important words, wrote them down, and placed them beside my seat, titling the work Record of Hanging Resolution, in the hope that when I read it in the future, all my doubts would be dispelled. Even if I have not yet mastered the method of protecting the body with the Liquid Gold (Jinye, a term in Daoist cultivation for elixirs or the internal elixir), I may at least avoid the danger of losing my life to poisonous elixirs, which is itself a blessing for preserving my allotted years. If anyone shares my aspirations, I am willing to help them overcome what they have not yet understood. Written on the seventeenth day of the fifth month, the jiazi day, in the yihai year, the ninth year of the Dazhong era.

Distinguishing Metal and Mineral Drugs and Explaining Methods of Detoxification

During the reign of Emperor An of Han, there was a man named Liu Hong who had long studied the great Dao. He later resigned from office and went into the mountains to practice cultivation. In the eleventh month of the first year of Yanguang, the Lord of the Nine Empyreans descended. Taking pity on Daoists who did not understand the proper way of alchemy, he pointed out the fundamental principles of superior medicines, distinguished the categories of the various miscellaneous elixirs, and explained the toxicity of metal and mineral drugs as well as the methods for safeguarding immortal pills. He transmitted all of this to Liu Hong, who organized and recorded it as follows.

The Lord of the Nine Empyreans (Jiuxiaojun) said to Liu Hong: "People cultivate the Golden Liquid Returned Elixir (a Daoist technique for refining elixirs) and take cinnabar, sulfur, and various stalactite-type minerals. The world seeks them with great hardship, believing that in this way it can easily obtain the supreme medicine (the elixir believed to confer longevity). They do not understand how deep the harm runs. Vying to imitate one another in taking these substances, all pursue immortality without grasping that the Golden Elixir and the various mineral drugs each have their own nature, and that within them all lies a deadly poison. Since the time of Fuxi, Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor, among the Daoists who have taken these things, not one in ten thousand has survived; there is none who did not lose their life because of them."

Liu Hong bowed again and asked, "Why is that?"

The Lord of the Nine Empyreans said: "People refine and take the Golden Elixir all in order to seek long life. Foolish people, on the one hand, exhaust their hearts and strength chasing worldly affairs, and on the other, wish to use the supreme medicine to transmute gold and silver, adorning their corpse-like bodies with it and hoping to support servants and concubines. The moment such a thought arises, the omen of certain death is already manifest; even if the supreme medicine were at hand, it would not reveal itself because of this.

"According to the teachings, a medicine cannot bear two functions at once, nor can its efficacy be divided in two. People do not yet know that the substances themselves are violently poisonous. Once the elixir is finished, they see only that certain substances can restrain one another: for example, yugan (emblic myrobalan) can subdue 'the river chariot' (lead), a lodestone can attract a needle, and sulfur can make mercury dry up. So they think the poison of the Golden Elixir has been entirely removed.

"Take the autumn mineral (qiushi, a mineral drug refined from frost-like substances) that the earlier sages prepared. Autumn mineral can attract raw mercury and can also restrain the poison of metals and minerals, yet it may also strengthen that poison. If someone takes it, the poison may break out midway and then cannot be controlled, and death is certain; even if one does not die, one will in the end develop malignant sores, which are the first sign of the poison's eruption. It is said that autumn mineral neutralizes poison, but when cinnabar, powdered frost (fenshuang), and sulfur have been subdued by autumn mineral, does that prove it has neutralized their poison?

"The teachings left by the former sages are hard for people to understand. Those who understand them are true immortals; those who do not are merely ordinary people."

Hong asked further, "Why can the substances used to transmute copper and iron never be taken internally?"

The Master replied, "This is because the methods for refining transmutation substances often rely on various alums, saltpeter, and prepared materials, which are mixed and congealed into a toxic compound. Although such compounds can dry and refine mercury, and can also bring about changes in copper and iron, the fire phases (huohou) they employ differ from the methods used to refine a true elixir (dan). The poison is congealed within the substance itself, so even if it is smelted down and transformed a hundred or a thousand times, the toxicity never disappears.

It is like a person who harbors a poisonous thought in the heart: the poison lies hidden within and did not enter from outside. It is also like the fire inside wood, which was hidden within the wood from the beginning. The art of transmutation is much the same, for the toxicity was already inside the substance. Each material has its own nature, and the methods of refining them differ; their qi (vital energy) generate one another in succession, yet each carries its own poison.

Realgar, orpiment, saltpeter, and other miscellaneous prepared ingredients reinforce one another's fire and heat. Moreover, the refining does not follow the laws of Heaven's timing or earthly terrain, and whether the furnace and vessels are placed near or far, the Dao (the Way) of Heaven is not followed. From this we can understand that the immortals of antiquity did not take such substances.

These substances are intensely poisonous because they do not possess the genuine power to transform and bring forth the myriad things."

Hong asked further: "Elixirs used to transmute metals contain impurities and many poisons, so of course they cannot be taken. I often hear of 'Head-Changing Purple Powder' and 'Sevenfold-Returned Cinnabar.' Since neither has been mixed with alum-treated or otherwise processed impurities, can they be taken?"

The Master replied: "Among a thousand or even ten thousand people in the world, not one truly understands how to make these two preparations. Even if someone could make them, they would not be suitable for consumption. Head-Changing Purple Powder is a powder that immortals compound for building palaces and dwellings, and it contains sulfur. When mercury is mixed with sulfur, the toxicity is severe. How could one eat it?

"Sevenfold-Returned Cinnabar has indeed been heated until its fire nature is subdued, but it does not in itself possess the complete attributes of the Four Images and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Nor does it have a complete composition of sinews and bones, blood and flesh, and the Qi (vital energy) of Yin-Yang. If one takes it, the blood in the five organs will dry up.

"When ordinary people lack blood, they fall ill; when the blood is exhausted, they die."

Hong asked again: "People in the world refine and take cinnabar. Some grains of cinnabar remain intact and keep their original color, and do not change even when burned over a great fire. What should we say of this?"

The Master replied: "When cinnabar first coagulates into form, it always forms amid sand and stone. Even if it looks perfectly pure, once refined, each catty of cinnabar yields only twelve taels of mercury. The remaining four taels are dregs and impurities that have mingled in from the mountains and marshes. These impurities are intensely poisonous. If Daoist practitioners do not separate out the impurities and instead take them all mixed together, they will obstruct the channels of Qi and drain the blood. How could there be any benefit?

"Moreover, from ancient times, Daoist practitioners who have not received transmission from a true immortal have often treated fire-refined cinnabar as 'dead mercury.' They falsely claim that golden sand entering the five organs can make a person immortal. This claim is gravely mistaken. Do people in the world not know this? Of those who took such elixirs in the past, not one escaped death.

"Only sulfur, used alone and not mixed with other substances, can still dispel the accumulated cold in the body. But it should not be taken in large amounts, because the Yang Qi of sulfur is pure but not complete."

As for the other minor arts, they will not be discussed here.

Hong then asked, "What medicine can be taken to prolong life and prevent aging?"

The master replied, "What I am speaking of is the supreme medicine (zhiyao) refined by immortals, which Daoist alchemy holds to be the most potent of all elixirs. This kind of medicine is generally named after the soul of the sun and the spirit of the moon, and takes the Qi of the four seasons as its symbol. The soul of the sun never leaves the sun, and the spirit of the moon never leaves the moon; the supreme medicine is the same, for its root never departs from the place where life arises.

"The medicine is born from wood because wood is green in color, which symbolizes mercury. Wood also contains fire, and fire belongs to Yang, which symbolizes cinnabar. Cinnabar belongs to the Li trigram, and the Li position lies in the south and represents fire. In other words, there is fire within wood, just as cinnabar belongs to fire. Now pair wood with the Earth of the central palace: Earth can overcome water, and fire can generate Earth. If the refining is done properly, one may attain the Dao.

"This is like a person who is born an infant, grows up to become a parent, and so the generations succeed one another without end. The root lies in one place, yet there is transmission and transformation. The supreme medicine likewise has its own root; it is not some other Way without a root. Take the heart as the root. The Dao itself has no concrete form or function; the Qi of the four seasons nourishes the myriad things, causing them to grow, each fulfilling its own role. All things are born through Qi, and through Qi they also die.

"It is said that the supreme medicine can keep a person from dying because it is mixed with no other ingredients and has no toxicity. The medicine is refined into a liquid and then congealed into a solid form. Whether square or round, it should be bright and translucent, shining day and night; only when it reaches this state is it fit to be taken. After taking it, one can dispel drowsiness and dullness, steady the mind and spirit (Shen), drive away malevolent spirits, endure cold and heat, keep the skin moist and glowing, and keep the beard and hair at the temples from turning white, so that the old are restored to youth. It is said that its effects appear after a thousand days of taking it, and this is why it is said to make a person immortal."

Hong asked again, "How many kinds of the highest-grade elixirs are there?"

The Master replied, "There are three true paths. The first is called the Divine Talisman Elixir of the Superior Immortals (Shenfu Shangxian Shangdan); the second is the White Snow Elixir of the Middle Immortals (Baixue Zhongxian Shangdan); the third is the Ninefold-Transformed Elixir of the Lower Immortals (Jiuzhuan Xiaxian Shangdan). These three elixirs come from the same gate and differ only in name. Each carries its own forbidden methods concerning the "Three Ones" (San Yi), which must not be passed on to others lightly.

"Why must they not be transmitted lightly? Take the Divine Talisman as an example. If the Palace of the Supreme One (Taiyi Gong) and the Palace of the Heavenly One (Tianyi Gong) have not been perfected, the preparation can only be called a white liquid, and in the end it cannot be refined into an elixir vessel. By the 'Palace of the Heavenly One' I mean the crucial point in alchemical refining where the substance coalesces into form. The methods concerning the Three Ones must not be casually transmitted.

"If the White Snow does not congeal and solidify, it cannot become ice. If it cannot harmonize the azure qi (Qi), it cannot receive the azure qi, and then it is no different from poisonous powdered frost. It is like the sun without its crow, which gives no brilliance, or the moon without its cassia tree, which shows no lunar soul. The White Snow must congeal into hard ice, and must also draw in the azure qi as a lodestone draws a needle. The related methods concerning the Three Ones must not be casually transmitted.

"Once the Ninefold-Transformed azurite (zengqing) and the White Snow have congealed, they can be placed within the Purple Palace and put to use. The Purple Palace refers to the inner furnace chamber used in alchemical refining. It gathers the qi of the four directions, holds the myriad things, and finally brings the elixir to completion. The related methods concerning the Three Ones must not be casually transmitted either.

"If the highest elixir cannot withstand the mingling of the four qi and the return to primal chaos, how can it be called the Dragon-and-Tiger Elixir? Therefore the immortals refine the elixir through the profound transformations of Heaven and Earth, so that it shines with the same light as the sun and moon. Once the Divine Talisman, White Snow, and other such elixirs are completed, the road to immortal ascension opens. The Ninefold-Transformed Elixir, for its part, can turn the old young again, giving a childlike complexion and a lifespan as long as the Southern Mountain. The secret of the Three Ones must not be lightly transmitted. Does it not deserve careful reverence?"

Hongri asked, "The doctrine of the Three Unities (Sanyi) is profound and secret. What kind of person may be entrusted with its transmission?"

The Master replied, "Someone like me may transmit it."

The so-called "Three Unities" (a Daoist internal cultivation method concerning the union of three elements) is the pivot of the creative transformations of Heaven and Earth, and it does not arise only when the Supreme Medicine is being refined. Every person's body possesses it as well. If one can cultivate the Three Unities within the body, one can keep the "child and mother" from separating, let Jing (essence) and Shen (spirit) and the breath guard one another, bring body and mind into harmonious and gentle balance, and make the inner light appear clearly.

Have you never seen a clear day in the height of the sunny season? Then no wind or clouds rise, not a fine speck of dust stirs, and the sky is limpid and blue, with nothing to obscure it. A person can reach such a state too. If one can constantly harmonize the Three Unities, so that stray thoughts do not arise, one can unite with the clear qi (vital energy) of Heaven and Earth, becoming bright within and without, merging with the original source of emptiness and nothingness, and thereby being able to ascend.

Some people in the world, having happened to hear of this Dao teaching, assume it is merely the swallowing of qi. So they inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, puffing out their cheeks and forcing themselves to swallow, and may soon lose their lives. It is like mistakenly taking a poisonous elixir among the medicines, which cannot be remedied. Therefore, the Three Unities within the body are no different from the Three Unities in the Supreme Medicine, and the method of cultivating the Three Unities within the body must not be casually passed on to others.

Hong then asked: "If someone has previously taken cinnabar, mineral stalactite, sulfur, or purple powder, and the poison flares up, how should it be treated?"

The Master replied: "There is no need to discuss those who have already died from taking such drugs. For those who are still alive after taking them, one can only do one's utmost to treat them, and people should also urge one another to stop taking them. A Daoist should quickly prepare the Shouxian Pill (Guardian-of-Immortality Pill) to treat them, and their lives may yet be saved.

Take the so-called 'Head-Changing Purple Powder' (Huantou Zifen). If it has not had Congealed White Snow added as its bone material (the original text says bone belongs to yang), and has not had blue-green adjuvant added either, it is called Greatly Toxic Purple Powder. Whoever takes this powder, in any amount and however long ago, will have its potency triggered if they later eat anything else. Whether sooner or later, once it flares up, the condition goes beyond what ordinary medicine can treat. If no remedy is given within three to five days, the person cannot be saved.

As for sulfur, purple powder, fire-subdued cinnabar, and the various mineral stalactites, if their potency flares up, the Shouxian Pill can still treat it, and perhaps two or three out of twelve people will survive. For those who have taken various mineral drugs, taking the Shouxian Pill in advance as a precaution, even before any symptoms appear, is especially good."

Hong asked again: "The Three Great Elixirs can extend life and keep the complexion from fading, and they are not toxic. If their preparation is not yet complete, may they be taken?"

The Master replied: "The three elixirs, Divine Talisman, White Snow, and Nine Turns, must not be taken if they have not yet passed through the Taiyi Palace (a particular stage in the refining process) and the Four Images (the four elements or phases required in alchemical refining) are not yet complete. If someone, while waiting to take them, suddenly feels the potency flare up and their body unsettled, they should quickly take a decoction of Fulong liver (baked furnace-earth), licorice soup, and fresh mung bean juice, and they will settle at once. Few die from this. Why? Because these three medicines contain no other miscellaneous drugs interfering with one another; there is only the poison of empty fire, so it does not prove fatal. Apart from these three, other drugs of the cinnabar type, even if taken only grudgingly for a day or a night, can bring some improvement to one's complexion. But if their potency suddenly flares up, one's life is in danger."

Hong asked: "Could you tell me how the Shouxian Pill is made?"

The Master replied: "The Shouxian Five-Seed Pill can suppress the poison of empty fire, so that a person does not lose their life." [Translator's note: the final phrase, "nao, zhi kong huo du," appears to contain textual corruption or omission; its general sense is rendered here according to the context.]

Liu Hong asked, "Can you tell me how the Shouxian pills are refined?" Lord Jiuxiao (Jiuxiao Jun) replied, "The method for refining the Five-Seed Pills of Immortal Preservation (Shouxian Wuzi Wan) is a secret transmission of the immortals. It should be passed on to those who hold the Dao (Way) and used to protect and nourish their lives. Now I will teach you the method step by step, and I will also outline the essentials of the three elixirs (the three kinds of elixirs or alchemical methods spoken of in Daoism). You should reflect on them carefully and pass them on, helping those who have not yet awakened. Do not forget what I have said, for I must now depart."

Hearing this, Liu Hong wept freely and bowed his head to the ground twice. Lord Jiuxiao raised his hand in farewell, entered the clouds, and vanished at once.

Liu Hong then carved this teaching onto a stone in the mountains. Later a Daoist priest discovered it and copied it out, and its contents came to circulate in the world. During the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty, the Master of Penetrating Mystery (Tongxuan Xiansheng), Zhang Guo, presented this formula to Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. The emperor was delighted and stored it among the secret holdings of the palace. Zhang Guo also described in detail the efficacy of the three elixirs, but he did not record the methods of refining them. The more elaborate material is therefore not copied out here.

Ingredients of the Five-Seed Pills of Immortal Preservation: amla (yuganzi), raspberry (fupenzi), dodder seed (tusizi), schisandra berry (wuweizi), and plantain seed (cheqianzi).

Take five large liang of each of the five kinds of seeds mentioned above, pound them separately, and grind them into a fine powder, as fine as flour. Gather tender goji (wolfberry) stems and leaves in the second or third month, and pound them to extract two large sheng of juice. Mix this into the powdered medicine, making sure it is thoroughly blended. Once the powder has dried, take one large sheng of juice from lotus-seed herb (lianzicao) harvested in the seventh or eighth month, mix it into the powder as well, and then let it dry in the air.

Next, take one large sheng of apricot kernels and grind them with good wine, then strain the mixture to obtain five large sheng of liquid. Simmer this in a silver vessel until the bitterness of the apricot kernels is gone. Then add half a large sheng of fresh rehmannia juice, five large liang of genuine su (clarified milk fat), and five large liang of deer antler glue. Put the roasted and ground medicinal powder into this liquid as well, and simmer it briefly. After that, add the powder of the five seeds and stir it quickly with a willow-wood spatula, adjusting it until it is neither too dry nor too moist. Then have several people roll it together into pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Each day, take thirty pills with wine; the dose may be increased or decreased as circumstances require. Avoid chicken, garlic, mustard greens, radishes, and the like.

After taking it for one hundred days, it is said, the toxicity of the minerals and metals previously ingested will be entirely dispelled. The pills are also said to increase the Qi of the Golden Elixir, enabling it to circulate freely through the five organs and nourish the body, and to eliminate all kinds of harm from the flesh and blood, turning the beard and temple hair as black as lacquer and restoring the old to youth. These effects are all attributed to the making of this elixir, which brings the Yin-Yang (阴阳) energies into mutual harmony so that each supplements the other. This formula should be kept secret.

Master Tongxuan composed the "Song of the Five-Seed Pills for Safeguarding Immortality" (Zhi Wuzi Shouxian Wan Ge) in praise of its marvels.

The song says:

To turn the old young again depends on the Returned Elixir; to remain long within the immortal path is by no means easy.

If you wish your graying temples to turn black once more, you need only take thirty pills each day.

Pine and bamboo never had brilliant colors, yet the Golden Liquid is made through painstaking craft.

The Five-Seed pills bring the wish for a thousand autumns of longevity, and a hundred years seem like ten thousand lived.

Master Yin (a legendary Daoist immortal) spoke of the marvelous effects of the Three Grades of Great Elixir (large elixirs divided into three tiers), and also noted that the Five-Flavor Guardian Immortal Herbs can by themselves protect life and aid those who cultivate. Even if one cannot ascend to become a celestial immortal, one may become an earthly immortal and thereafter live forever without dying.

These herbs can also subdue all kinds of cinnabar and neutralize the toxicity of mineral drugs, so that the poison no longer takes effect. They further strengthen the potency of spiritual elixirs, allowing their power to be fully realized within the Rongwei (the nutritive qi and defensive qi of traditional Chinese medicine, which circulate through the body). These claims are beyond doubt.

Lord Yin's meaning is this: if the Five-Child herbs can by themselves keep a person from dying, then the efficacy of the divine elixir can naturally be inferred. Because these herbs can now assist the Guardian Immortal Pills, they are appended here.