《抱朴子神仙金汋经》

The Reverted Elixir of Gold Liquid (Jinzhuo Huandan) is the elixir that Taiyi (the Great One) took in order to become an immortal and ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Anyone who seeks immortality without practicing this method will only suffer in vain. The formula is as follows: take twelve liang of the finest gold and twelve liang of mercury. Place the gold in a furnace and forge it into fragments, then drop them into the mercury so that the two mix together.

If you worry that the gold fragments produced in the furnace will be hard to break down, you can instead beat the gold into sheets as thin as silk, cut them with scissors into ten thousand or so pieces, each about the size of a chive leaf, and then put them into the mercury. This was the method then used among the common people to coat weapons with mercury. When gold meets mercury, it soon dissolves into a paste, turns white, and is no longer yellow. This step may be carried out in an earthenware vessel.

Then wash it ten times with clean water.

Next, place it in a fresh green bamboo tube of suitable capacity, taking care not to make the tube too long.

Add two liang each of realgar and saltpeter. Realgar is a mineral medicine, and saltpeter is a mineral containing nitrates. When gold meets mercury, it soon dissolves into a paste, turns white, and is no longer yellow. This step may be carried out in an earthenware vessel.

Then wash it ten times with clean water.

Next, place it in a fresh green bamboo tube of suitable capacity, taking care not to make the tube too long.

Among the ancient systems of weights, the so-called "Wu scale" was in fact the scale of the Jin dynasty. People did not know that it originated in the Wei dynasty: Emperor Wu of Wei used it to reward military merit, and the gold and silver he bestowed came in portions of half a jin. Now, when weighing these ingredients, one should convert according to the ancient scale, and the same applies to the realgar and saltpeter. The realgar should be of the kind produced in Wudu, with a color like a cock's comb and no admixture of stone. The realgar now produced in Mamen and Shixing Commandery is the color of yellow earth, not red enough, and heavily mixed with stone, so I fear it would not be easy to refine and transform; its medicinal qi is also weak, and it cannot remove the toxicity from the gold. Good saltpeter is hard to obtain, and if the saltpeter is poor, it cannot melt the realgar. You may first take a small amount to test it: if it can dissolve the realgar into liquid, it is good; if it cannot, it should not be used. The method by which saltpeter melts various kinds of minerals is recorded in the Formulas of the Thirty-Six Waters. The realgar and saltpeter should each be pounded a thousand times, until fine as powder, and only then weighed.

Coat the board at the mouth of the tube with lacquer, then seal the seam firmly with silk cloth so that the joint is airtight. Immerse it in vinegar for one hundred days, without missing a single day. Each day, pound the contents with a pestle one thousand times, until the substances are as fine as powder, and then weigh them.

The mouth of the tube must still be sealed with the lacquered board, and the seam bound tightly with silk cloth. Leave it in the vinegar for a full one hundred days before the elixir is complete; if the days fall short, the substances will not dissolve. After that, continue to keep it in the same position and wait for the elixir to finish. The bamboo tube must never be turned upside down.

Cover it with a board as well, and set it over the vessel. After fifty days, the mercury will be subdued by fire and will no longer rise. This means that after fifty days, the gold-water has become mercury-water; the two separate from each other and will not blend again, and from this one can observe the signs of the elixir's transformation. If the mercury has not yet been subdued by fire, heat the mercury for another fifty days. If it seems necessary to open the lid and inspect it midway, the seam must be sealed tightly again as before; otherwise the substances will escape and the labor will be wasted.

After one hundred days, all the substances will have turned into water.

The phrase "all transformed" here means that the gold, realgar, and saltpeter have all become water.

Take two jin of mercury and boil it in the gold-water, then pour and soak it with pure bitter wine (strong vinegar); the bitter wine and the mercury will separate from each other and will not blend.

Mercury must also be taken separately for boiling; it is not the mercury from inside the bamboo tube. When gold is left in the tube for a long time, it and the mercury each turn into water, and their colors and textures differ. Why say this? A later formula states: "Take one liang each of gold-water and mercury-water and ingest them." From this we know that the two liquids are kept separate in the tube. As for whether the water formed from realgar is also different, the text says this cannot yet be determined: if it were separate from the other liquids, its color should differ; if the realgar-water cannot be seen, it may have merged into the gold-water. Gold contains poison, so realgar is added to remove the poison of the gold; saltpeter is added as well, in order to make the realgar dissolve.

Calcine it over a fierce fire for thirty days, and the mercury will all turn purple.

Only when the mercury shows a purple color should the calcining be stopped.

Mercury is held in an ouware vessel (a pottery bowl) fired from yellow clay. In this method, the yellow-clay ou is the vessel into which the mercury is placed after it has been boiled and refined. The exact formula is not described in detail. The "yellow-clay ou" is presumably an earthen cauldron. Yellow-clay ou made in Guangzhou, Changsha, Yuzhang, Linchuan, and Poyang are all suitable, and the yellow-clay supports fired in these places can also be used, since they withstand fire without cracking. Vessels from other regions that resemble ordinary earthenware are unsuitable, because they crack when exposed to fire. Yellow-clay vessels fired in the south may also be used.

One may also mix horse hair and jiangli (a kind of seaweed) with yellow clay, pound the mixture a thousand times, shape it into an ou vessel, dry it in the shade, and then fire it hard. Before use, coat the inside of the ou with Six-One Mud (a clay used in alchemy to seal and line vessels), and only then put in the mercury. This is the crucial point of the method.

Use Six-One Mud.

Six and one together make seven. The sages of antiquity kept the mystery hidden within this number, and so they called it "Six-One."

The method for making Six-One Mud is as follows. Take four materials: alum stone, rong salt, lu xian (a saline mineral), and yu stone, and first calcine them for twenty days. Then take oyster shell from the East Sea of the "left-facing" kind (an oyster said to look toward the left) and red halloysite (a red clay mineral) in equal amounts, the quantity being left to one's own judgment. Combine them and pound the mixture ten thousand times, sift it finely, and blend it into a paste with bitter wine (vinegar) that has been aged a hundred days. Then coat the yellow-clay ou with it to a thickness of three to five fen, and dry it in the sun until it is completely dry before use.

In this method the vessel is left open and uncovered, with no other utensil placed over it. This differs from the Nine Elixirs method (the procedures for refining nine kinds of elixirs).

From morning until night, the mercury transforms into cinnabar elixir. This is what is called the Returned Elixir (huandan).

Mercury was originally produced by refining cinnabar. Now, by refining the mercury again, one makes it become cinnabar once more. Because the elixir has returned to its original form, it is called the "Returned Elixir."

Just one daogui (an ancient, very small unit of measure) of this powder is enough to transform substances into gold or silver.

Anyone who takes elixirs must first try to refine gold or silver. Only once gold and silver have been successfully produced may the elixir be taken. The formula here is for refining the Returned Elixir (huandan), yet it does not call for taking it immediately. It first speaks of using a powder measured by the "knife-scoop" (daogui, a very small measure of medicine) to refine "yellow and white" (huangbai), which means first attempting to refine gold and silver. "Yellow" refers to gold, and "white" to silver. The immortals kept the names of such substances secret, so they are called only "yellow and white." The scripture says merely to refine with a daogui of powdered medicine, without stating exactly what is to be refined. Methods of this kind were not passed on to outsiders but transmitted orally from master to disciple, and so they were not written down in full.

Following the record in the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs (Jiudan Jing), let us now describe the method for refining gold and silver, which is only a small-scale trial. Take one zhu of "Elixir Efflorescence" (danhua, a kind of elixir) and cast it into one jin of mercury, and gold will be produced. Cast the Elixir Efflorescence into one jin of lead, and gold can likewise be produced. Using this as the model, take the mercury or lead, place it in an iron vessel, and heat it so that it boils for a long time. Then cast in the medicine, stirring and scraping with an iron implement. After a short while, the medicine will sink to the bottom and congeal into a lump.

The Returned Elixir calcined in a vessel of yellow earth (huangtu ou, a ceramic made from yellow clay) may be taken. Swallow a single pellet about the size of a small red bean each time, and one can ascend to heaven in broad daylight. The divine beings (shenming) come to receive the adept, and the dragon and tiger fiercely contend and churn in unrest.

This Returned Elixir is first boiled in "Metal Water" (jinshui, a refining material associated with mercury), so that it takes on the qi of Metal Water. It is then calcined again, and the Returned Elixir is complete. It differs from ordinary mercury, which is why it can cause the divine beings to come and receive the adept, and the dragon and tiger to churn in unrest.

This kind of reverted elixir (huandan, an elixir that has been refined through processing) is made by first boiling mercury in "gold liquid," so that the mercury absorbs the flavor and qi of the gold liquid; it is then calcined and refined, and the elixir is complete. It differs from ordinary mercury, and for this reason it can enable a person to attain the Dao (the Way) and become an immortal. When an immortal official descends, the spirits of the mountains, rivers, and lands of that place all become his subordinate officials, which is why this is called "Welcoming with Reverence." The divine beings all have the Azure Dragon on the left and the White Tiger on the right, earnestly praying and receiving the adept.

When taking the immortal medicine, one should choose a day in which the qi of the four seasons is in its ascendant phase, that is, a day when the qi of the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) is at its height. On a jiazi day, or a day of the Open, Remove, or Balance stations, one should take the medicine in the early morning, facing the sun, just as it begins to rise. This elixir formula does not specify the number of days for taking the medicine, and it seems that a single dose is enough to achieve immortality. However, the elixir classics contain one saying: a person of the highest capacity ascends to heaven on the very day of taking it, a person of middling capacity becomes an immortal after ten days, and a person of the lowest capacity becomes an immortal only after a year. If no clear change appears after taking one pill, one may continue taking it every morning, and stop once a change appears. According to this account, taking this elixir is enough to make one an immortal, and there is no need to take the gold liquid as well. Whether to take the mercury liquid is left to the individual's own decision; if one has taken the elixir for a long time without effect, one may additionally take the gold liquid and the mercury liquid.

The gold liquid and the mercury liquid will never be exhausted, however much is used. One need only soak the elixir in bitter wine (vinegar) and take it every morning, stopping once a change appears. Taking this elixir is enough to make one an immortal, and there is no need to take the gold liquid; the mercury liquid may be taken according to personal wish. If, after taking the elixir for a long time, there is still no effect, one may take the gold liquid and the mercury liquid.

These two liquids, the gold liquid and the mercury liquid, will not be exhausted even if used in great quantity; they need only be soaked in vinegar.

Earlier it was said that mercury is boiled in gold liquid, which seems to mean that the gold liquid is taken separately from a tube and that the mercury liquid is not used. Here, however, it is said that the gold liquid and the mercury liquid will not be exhausted however much is used, so it may be that both liquids are to be used together, boiling and refining the mercury jointly to make the reverted elixir.

These two liquids can be used to boil and refine ten thousand jin of mercury.

Judging from this sentence, it seems that the two liquids are probably combined for the boiling and refining. If the gold liquid is plentiful, the process may be divided into two trial refinings; if the gold liquid is insufficient, the efficacy of the medicine may be unstable.

The teaching of the Divine Elixir is now complete.

When the text says "can boil ten thousand catties," it means using the Golden Liquid and the Mercury Liquid to boil other quicksilver, not the quicksilver liquid inside the tube. Once the Golden Liquid and Mercury Liquid have boiled other quicksilver, a Returned Elixir (huandan) can be refined. These two liquids are never exhausted: when the bitter wine (vinegar) has boiled dry, a little more is added. This is why it is said that ten thousand catties of quicksilver can be boiled, producing batch after batch. After the medicine is complete, the remaining Golden Liquid and Mercury Liquid can again be used to boil quicksilver, and a Returned Elixir can still be refined.

Take one catty of elixir and place it over a fierce fire.

Take the mercury liquid obtained during the refining of the elixir and use it to make the Returned Elixir. It may be burned directly, or placed in an ou furnace (a ceramic cooking vessel) and burned there. To keep the medicine from scattering, wrap the elixir in five or six layers of paper soaked in bitter wine and burn it over charcoal. Alternatively, dig a small trench in the ground and set the elixir in a small pit.

Fan the flames vigorously so that the elixir becomes refined. When the Divine Elixir melts, it flows down and becomes gold.

Like craftsmen who forge gold and silver, make a bellows from a small leather bag and blow air onto the fire. When the Divine Elixir melts, it gathers and flows down, just as molten lead or tin flows when burned.

This gold is a bright red color and is called Elixir Gold (dan jin). If it is smeared on knives and swords, it is said to let weapons avoid the calamities of war, so that one may travel ten thousand li and remain safe.

Smear the Elixir Gold on knives and swords as one would apply lacquer to an object. It can be applied while it has just melted and not yet solidified.

If plates and bowls are made from the Elixir Gold and one eats and drinks from them, one will live forever and never die.

One can make a mold for the vessel out of clay, then melt the Elixir Gold and cast it into vessels of any size. The phrase "eat and drink from them" means that ordinary people who have not taken the medicine of immortality, though they cannot become immortals by using these vessels, can still extend their lives; those who have attained the Dao and become immortals will live as long as Heaven and Earth.

"Ending together with Heaven and Earth" means that one's lifespan begins and ends together with Heaven and Earth. Since Heaven and Earth have no end, it is said to "end together" with them. This is offered as proof of long life: although one is not yet an immortal, one can cease to die.

If such a plate is used to catch the light of the sun and moon, one can obtain the Divine Light Sweet Dew (shenguangli, a legendary miraculous nectar).

This is like using a fangzhu (a vessel for collecting dew) to catch moonlight, so that water gathers in the vessel.

If men and women each use separate vessels for eating and drinking, they will immediately ascend to Heaven.

This vessel already possesses miraculous power, and when the divine light of the sun and moon is then directed into it, it can cause a person to ascend as an immortal.

Next, take one liang each of gold water and mercury water. Refine them over fire for fifty days, and no more than one hundred days, and both will turn into liquid. The ancients concealed the method of preparation and deliberately did not link the steps in sequence, leaving the wise to seek them out for themselves.

Drink it facing the sun, and one becomes a "golden person." It should be taken at sunrise, facing the sun. In the past, Han Zhong took it, and his body took on a golden color. The scriptures (Jing) also say that after taking it the complexion turns yellow; this is regarded as proof of having attained the Dao (the Way), the color that appears once the Dao has been attained, and does not mean that the body becomes as hard as a golden statue.

The body will emit light and grow wings, ascend to become Zhonghuang Taiyi (the name of a Daoist deity), take on a golden body, and serve Shu Yuan Jing. In the past, the immortal officials who held the rank of Supreme Assistants were all subordinate to the Lord of Zhonghuang and the Lord Taiyi; these two are the masters of the immortals. One who ascends to heaven after taking the Golden Liquid Returned Elixir (Huandan) becomes a spirit of this level of the heavens and harmonizes Yin-Yang. "Cheng" means to carry out, "Shu" means to put into effect in sequence, and "Yuan Jing" refers to the qi (Qi) of heaven. The meaning here is that once a superior immortal becomes a heavenly deity, they assist the celestial realm and carry out the qi of the four seasons, so that all operations proceed in due order.

Take half a liang each of gold water. What the ancients called half a liang is equivalent to one liang today.

In this way one can attain long life and never die. However, taking half a liang is not potent enough to ascend to heaven; it can only grant long life without death.

Next, mix the gold water and mercury with yellow earth and forge them over a fierce fire for one day, and all of it will turn into yellow gold; burn it for two more days, and all of it will turn into elixir (dan).

When the ingredients are burned mixed only with yellow earth, charcoal must be placed beneath, probably in order to burn the yellow earth so that it becomes gold and is made into the Returned Elixir. Once the elixir is completed, it should be scattered. What was said above probably means placing the gold in an ou (a ceramic vessel) made of yellow earth and burning and refining it according to the method for refining the Returned Elixir.

This elixir is called "Bixian" (Banishing Mortality). To take it, one uses a dose about the size of a small red bean, and one's name may then be entered in the register of the immortals. In the refining process, charcoal is laid at the bottom of the furnace. Out of concern that the fire might scorch the elixir above, a vessel made of yellow earth is placed over it, and the material is smelted into gold, which is then used to make the Returned Elixir (huandan, an elixir in Daoist alchemy). Once the elixir is complete, it should be divided and stored in separate places. The gold mentioned above should likewise be smelted in an ou (a ceramic vessel) made of yellow earth, by the same method used in refining the Returned Elixir.

This elixir is called "Bixian," and each dose, about the size of a small red bean, allows one to enter famous mountains and great rivers and become an immortal.

By "Bixian," it is meant that the elixir enables a person to avoid death. One account holds that after taking it, a person merely abstains from grains (bigu) and prolongs life, but cannot ascend to heaven; therefore such a person enters the famous mountains and great rivers and becomes an immortal. These earthly immortals become the spirits (Shen) of mountains and rivers, such as the Boy of the Eastern Sea and the Lords of the Five Peaks. As for "entering great waters," this does not mean going into the water itself, but taking the river basin as one's own jurisdiction, much like the Grand Administrator of the South Sea.

Baopuzi Shenxian Jinzhi Jing (Scripture of the Golden Decoction of the Immortals by Baopuzi), Part One

Baopuzi Shenxian Jinzhi Jing, Part Two

On the Golden Elixir

Baopuzi says: I have examined and read books on nourishing life and gathered methods for long life, and the volumes I have looked through number in the thousands. Not one of these books fails to discuss the Returned Elixir and the Golden Liquor.

Baopuzi (Master Who Embraces Simplicity) said: I have consulted and gathered many books and methods for nourishing life and extending longevity, and the volumes I have looked through number in the thousands. Without exception, these texts treat the Returned Elixir (huandan, the elixir taken after the Golden Elixir has been refined) and the Golden Liquid (jinye, the liquid obtained from refining the Golden Elixir) as the key. The Returned Elixir and the Golden Liquid are precisely the highest stage of immortality cultivation. If taking them still does not bring about immortality, then no one in antiquity ever became an immortal.

In earlier days, when the realm was torn by war, people everywhere scattered and fled. I wandered through the provinces of Xu, Yu, Jing, Xiang, Jiang, and Guang, and met several hundred Daoists who had been driven from their homes. Some enjoyed great reputations and seemed to dwell high above the clouds, yet when compared, they were much alike. What they knew and had seen was deeper or shallower, greater or lesser, but none could be said to surpass the others. Each owned dozens of scrolls of scripture, though they had not necessarily understood them; they merely copied and stored them.

At that time, some people knew the methods of circulating Qi (vital energy), abstaining from grain (duangu, not eating cereals), and taking herbal and plant medicines. The formulae they held were largely the same, and nearly everyone had a copy of the Daoji Jing (Scripture of the Mechanism of the Way), which they treated as the most secret of classics, claiming it was written by Yin Xi. I told them that it was in fact written in recent times by Wang Tu, a military commander of the state of Wei, and was not the work of the ancients. Wang Tu had no knowledge of refining the great elixir and sought immortality only through Qi circulation, entering the chamber, and similar methods. To suppose that what the Daoji Jing teaches is the whole of the Dao (the Way) would be a grave error, and would seriously mislead people.

I questioned the Daoists about the divine elixir, the Golden Liquid, the Sanhuang Neiwen (Inner Writings of the Three Sovereigns, secret Daoist texts associated with the Three Sovereigns), and the methods for summoning the spirits of heaven and earth, but not one of them truly understood these. Rather, more than half indulged in grand talk and self-praise, deceiving others by claiming that they had already attained long life or had once traveled with immortals. Those who had truly learned the subtle Dao were almost nonexistent. Some had merely heard of the Golden Elixir but did not believe anyone could still refine it in the present age, saying that only the ancients who had already become immortals knew the method. Others had heard scattered accounts of elixir formulae but had not obtained the genuine scriptures; still others had acquired only a few fragmentary recipes for refining elixirs and assumed that the whole of the elixir method lay within them.

Long ago, Zuo Yuanfang devoted himself to cultivation in the Tianzhu Mountains, where a divine being transmitted to him the Golden Elixir Immortal Scripture (Jindan xianjing). It happened to be the end of the Han dynasty, when the world fell into great turmoil. He had no time to refine the elixirs, so he fled the chaos to Jiangdong, intending to entrust these scriptures to renowned mountains so that this path to immortality might continue to be practiced.

My granduncle, the Immortal Lord, also studied under Zuo Yuanfang and received three volumes of the Taiqing Elixir Scripture (Taiqing danjing), one volume of the Nine Tripod Elixir Scripture (Jiuding danjing), and one volume of the Golden Liquor Elixir Scripture (Jinye danjing). My teacher, Master Zheng, was a disciple of the Immortal Lord and likewise went to renowned mountains to practice this path. Later, the Immortal Lord passed these scriptures on to Master Zheng. Because his family was poor, Master Zheng could not afford the ingredients needed for refining elixirs. I attended him in person and swept and cleaned for him over many years. Afterward, I set up an altar and swore an oath in the Mabian Mountains, and received these scriptures, and also heard the oral instructions that were never written in the books.

Jiangdong originally had none of these scriptures. They passed from Zuo Yuanfang to my granduncle, from my granduncle to Master Zheng, and finally from Master Zheng to me. For this reason, other Daoists know nothing of their contents.

However, I have been receiving this kind of transmission for more than twenty years. Because I lack the materials needed for refining, I have never been able to prepare the elixirs according to the methods, and can only sigh in vain. Even those whose homes are heaped high with gold and silver may not know the method that allows one to live forever without dying; and even if one asked them, one would probably not get a single word in reply.

Once you have drunk the Jade Nectar (a legendary immortals' beverage in Daoist tradition), ordinary drinks taste thin and weak; once you have seen Mount Kunlun (the legendary mountain of the immortals), ordinary hills seem low. Once you have read the Way of the Golden Elixir (the practice of refining and ingesting the Golden Elixir), you will no longer want to look at petty arts. However, the great medicines (the Golden Elixir and other major elixirs) are often hard to obtain and refine, so for the time being one sustains oneself with lesser techniques. Many other drugs may be taken, but at most they bring slight benefit and in the end cannot grant long life. Hence the Laojun Koujue (Oral Instructions of Laojun) says: "If one cannot obtain the Returned Elixir or the Liquid Gold (two major types of elixir in Daoist teaching), one toils in vain."

The five grains can sustain people: eat them and one lives, go without and one dies. Then would not the supreme divine medicines benefit people ten thousand times more than the five grains? The Golden Elixir is a substance whose transformations grow more subtle the longer it is burned and refined. Gold placed in fire does not melt even after a hundred refinings; buried until heaven and earth grow old, it does not rot. When one takes these two elixirs, the body is refined and nourished by them, and so one can become ageless and deathless. This is to rely on an external substance to strengthen oneself, just as fat added to a fire keeps the flame from going out.

Smearing verdigris (copper rust) on the feet is said to make them resistant to rot once in water; this borrows the hardness of copper to protect the skin. When the Golden Elixir enters the body, it moistens the Ying and Wei (the Qi and blood that circulate through the body and sustain life), and its effect goes far beyond acting only on the surface, as verdigris does. Most people in the world do not believe in the Supreme Way (the highest path of cultivation), and such people are everywhere. Even if someone happens to set their heart on seeking the Dao, if they cannot find this method and do not meet a worthy master, they will have no way of knowing that such a marvelous method exists in the world.

I will now briefly excerpt the essentials of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) for those of like mind who come after me. You must seek diligently, and not cling to shallow methods and suppose they suffice to achieve cultivation and transcend the mortal world. If you never encounter the true method, you can only set aside your endless hopes.

Consider this: it is like walking out of a murky place to drift upon the great sea; turning your back on the faint glow of a firefly to face the sun and moon; hearing thunder, and only then realizing how shallow the sound of a cloth drum (a drum covered with cloth) really is; seeing a giant whale, and only then knowing how tiny a one-inch fishing net is. Those of shallow understanding often have no prior knowledge to draw on, and so find it difficult to grasp the Great Dao (Dao, the Way).

To hope to ascend as an immortal by means of inferior medicines is like whipping a lame donkey to chase the swift wind, or rowing a little boat in the hope of crossing a great river. There are many recipes for making minor elixirs, but their methods differ in depth and their effects differ, and their quality varies enormously; it is like ordinary vinegar and wine, which cannot be compared with a fine liquor brewed many times over. Yet even a lesser minor elixir is still far superior to the finest herbal and botanical medicines.

Things of the plant kingdom rot when burned. Cinnabar (zhusha), however, when refined by fire turns into mercury, and after repeated refining and transformation can be restored to cinnabar. This nature is far removed from that of ordinary medicines, which is why cinnabar can bring long life, and why only the immortals understand the principle within it. How far removed it is from the understanding of common people!

Ordinary people know little and find much to marvel at. Some do not know that mercury comes from cinnabar, and even when told, refuse to believe it, saying that cinnabar is red by nature, so how could it become white? They also say that cinnabar is merely a stone, and that other stones turn to ash when burned, so why should cinnabar be an exception? If even a matter so easily verified before their eyes is hard to make clear, it is no wonder that they burst into laughter when they hear of the way of the immortals.

The True Ones (zhenren, those who have attained the Dao) of high antiquity took pity on those of later ages who could be taught, and left behind thorough methods in the hope that they might escape the calamity of death; their devotion may be called complete. Yet worldly people still refuse to believe, taking these teachings for empty words. If they were all empty words, how could there be results such as the Nine Cycles and Nine Transformations, refined according to the number of days and matching the elixir formulas? That the True Ones understood these things is truly not something ordinary people can grasp through shallow reasoning.

I delight in fangshu (方术, the Daoist arts of cultivation and nourishing life), and I have climbed mountains and forded rivers to seek instruction, undeterred by the distance. Whenever I hear of something out of the ordinary, I am glad, and even when I am ridiculed for it, I pay no heed. Who can say that those who come later will surely fall short of those who live now? So when I set these matters down for people of discernment to read, was it merely to flaunt curiosities and embellish empty talk, hoping the book would circulate in the world and win the belief of the common crowd?

The midsummer sun cannot make withered, rotted things flourish again, and even the wisest person cannot change the stubborn and foolish. A book is passed only to those who believe in it, and a matter is valued only by those with insight. A farmer who received a red bow used it merely to chase away crows; a southern barbarian who obtained a splendid robe used it merely to carry firewood on his back. How can one force understanding on those who do not know the worth of what they hold?

People spend their days well fed, yet they are not necessarily willing to study diligently the teachings of the Confucians and Mohists, or to strive at cultivating virtue (De). They care only for carefree amusement and for whiling away the years, and what they pursue is either reputation or profit. Some gallop their horses in the hunt, some sink into banquets and wine, some are infatuated with beauty and lost in music, some are captivated by gorgeous clothing, some draw the bow and exhaust their strength, and some are absorbed in gambling and board games, squandering their days. When they hear words about the supreme Dao (zhidao, the highest truth), they seem as if drunk; when they see writings that discuss the Dao (the Way), they grow drowsy. They do not cherish their own bodies, and their very conduct pushes them toward death. They refuse to ask about the methods of nourishing life, as though they meant to wound, scorch, and torment themselves with their own hands. Since those who possess the Dao treasure what they have learned and guard their own insight, not seeking acceptance from others, why would they force their words upon people?

People often say that everyone wants to live forever, and that if longevity could truly be attained, the wealthy and eminent of antiquity would surely have attained it; since they did not, they conclude that the way of long life does not exist. They do not realize that the wealthy and eminent of ancient times were no different from those of today: they neither believed nor sought it, treating present desires as the urgent business, so how could they possibly have attained long life?

Even if one cannot fully believe that destiny can be changed and that immortals and long life can be sought, what harm is there in trying? Even if the attempt yields only modest results, and one lives two or three hundred years, is that not far better than the ordinary person's lot? The affairs of the world number in the tens of thousands, and the arts of the Dao are harder to fathom than any of them; how can one rely on the common person's limited understanding to declare that there is surely no way of long life in the world? If one concludes that something does not exist simply because everyone else disbelieves it, then why should the wisdom of the world be considered so exceptional? Some people grasp the purport of the Dao and cultivate and seek it on their own; must they therefore be duller than the common crowd and inferior to them in every respect?

There are also those who fear that if they seek long life and fail, others will laugh at them and say they were deluded. But if one is certain that no way of long life exists in the world, and it turns out otherwise, and there truly is a method of deathlessness under heaven, would one not be laughed at in turn by those who have obtained it? Even the sun and moon cannot illuminate everything, so how can worldly opinion suffice to make anyone wholly certain that the way of long life does not exist?

I consulted the Huangdi Jiuding Shendan Jing (Scripture of the Divine Elixir of the Nine Tripods of the Yellow Emperor), which says that the Yellow Emperor ascended as an immortal after taking the divine elixir. It also says that although breathing and exhalation practices, guiding and stretching exercises (daoyin), and other methods of nourishing life, together with the taking of herbal and botanical medicines, can prolong life, they cannot in the end spare a person from death. Taking the divine elixir, by contrast, allows one to live forever without aging, to endure as long as heaven and earth, and to ride the clouds and drive cranes, traveling to and fro within Taiqing (the Great Purity, the lofty realm of immortals described in Daoism).

The Yellow Emperor transmitted this method to Juanzi and warned him: "This Dao teaching is exceedingly precious and must be passed on only to the virtuous and worthy. If someone is not the right person, do not reveal it to them even if they have amassed gold as high as a mountain. The one who receives the transmission must cast a golden fish into east-flowing water as a pledge and swear an oath in blood. Those who lack the bones of an immortal (the innate qualities needed for cultivating immortality) must not hear or see this teaching.

"The divine elixir should be refined deep in a famous mountain, in a place rarely touched by human footsteps, and the companions should number no more than three. Beforehand, observe a fast for one hundred days and bathe in five kinds of fragrant herbs, taking care to remain pure and clean. Do not come into contact with defilement, do not associate with outsiders, and above all do not let those who do not believe in the Dao learn of the undertaking. If they slander the divine medicine, the elixir will not be completed. Once the divine elixir has been prepared and taken, an entire household may attain immortality, not merely a single person.

"People of the world do not refine the divine elixir and instead put their faith in herbs and plants. Yet herbs and plants rot when buried in the earth, turn to mush when boiled, and wither to char when burned. They cannot even preserve themselves, so how could they grant long life to anyone? The Nine Elixirs are the essential key to long life, and they are not something ordinary people may see or hear of. The countless multitudes of the world bustle about, knowing only how to covet wealth and rank. Are they not like walking corpses?

"When refining the divine elixir, one should also hold sacrificial rites. The diagrams and methods for these rites fill one scroll and are recorded in detail in the final scroll of the Taiqing Jing (Scripture of Great Purity). Among the methods for refining the divine elixir recorded in the lower scroll, the first elixir is called 'Danhua' (Cinnabar Efflorescence). One should first refine the Xuanhuang (Mysterious Yellow), and the detailed use of realgar and other ingredients is listed in the lower scroll."

The second fascicle of the Baopuzi Shenxian Jinzhuo Jing (Scripture of the Golden Liquor of the Divine Immortals) records methods for refining divine elixirs. The first elixir is called "Cinnabar Efflorescence." Before refining it, one must first prepare "Dark Yellow," treating realgar and other materials by a detailed procedure, the steps of which are listed in the second fascicle.

The Divine Immortals Discuss the Golden Elixirs of the Various Immortals

The first elixir is called "Cinnabar Efflorescence" (Danhua). One must first prepare "Dark Yellow," taking several dozen catties each of realgar solution, alum, mercury, rock salt, bittern salt, yushi mineral, oyster shell, red halloysite, talc, and white lead, and making them into a compound known as "Six-One Mud." Sealed with this mud, the elixir is fired for thirty-six days, and one who takes it for seven days becomes an immortal. The elixir can then be formed into pills with "Dark Unguent" and placed in a fierce fire, where in a moment it will turn into gold. Two hundred and twenty zhu of the elixir, fired together with one hundred catties of mercury for thirty-six days, can also produce gold. When gold forms, the medicine has been successfully refined. If it has not formed, one reseals it with mud and fires it again for the same number of days as before; it is said that none fail.

The second elixir is called "Divine Talisman" (Shenfu), and it is said that one who takes it for one hundred days becomes an immortal. When crossing a great body of water, one may smear the elixir on the soles of the feet and walk upon the surface. Taking three daogui (a unit of elixir dosage) is said to destroy the "Three Corpses and Nine Worms" (in Daoist belief, impure and harmful entities within the body that hinder cultivation), and all illnesses will be cured as well.

The name and method of the third elixir are not fully explained here; the scripture says only that if one fires it for the number of days stated earlier, none will fail.

The text then mentions the second elixir, the "Divine Talisman," once more, stating that taking it for one hundred days brings immortality, that smearing it on the soles allows one to walk on great waters, and that taking three daogui eliminates the Three Corpses and Nine Worms and cures all illnesses.

The third elixir is called "Divine Elixir" (Shendan). It is said that one who takes a single daogui becomes an immortal after one hundred days. The wording of the original is corrupted at this point, but it states that a person or animal who swallows it will not die and can also avoid injury from weapons. After taking it for one hundred days, it is said, immortals, Jade Maidens, and the spirits of mountains and rivers will all come to attend one, appearing in human form.

The fourth elixir is called the "Returning Elixir" (Huandan). Take one daogui (an ancient unit for a tiny measure) and after one hundred days you will become an immortal. Vermilion birds and phoenixes will fly in circles above the elixir, and Jade Maidens will come to your side. If one daogui of the Returning Elixir is mixed with one jin of mercury and heated, it will at once turn into gold. If the elixir is smeared on coins or other objects, then after they are spent they will return of their own accord by the same day. If it is used to write on the eyes of an ordinary person, a hundred ghosts will flee.

The fifth elixir is called the "Nourishing Elixir" (Erdan). Take it for thirty days and you will become an immortal; ghosts and spirits will come to serve you, and Jade Maidens will appear before you.

The sixth elixir is called the "Refined Elixir" (Liandan). Take it for ten days and you will become an immortal. If it is mixed with mercury and heated, it too will turn into gold.

The seventh elixir is called the "Soft Elixir" (Roudan). Take one daogui, and after one hundred days you will become an immortal. If it is blended with sweat from the supraclavicular hollow (possibly referring to perspiration from the area of the quepen point, above the collarbone) and swallowed, even a man of ninety can father a child. If it is mixed with lead and heated, it will turn into gold.

The eighth elixir is called the "Subduing Elixir" (Fudan). After taking it, you will become an immortal in one hundred days. If you carry a bit of it about the size of a jujube pit when you travel, a hundred ghosts will avoid you. If you use it to write on doors and gates, myriad evils and spirit-demons will not dare approach, and you will also be safe from thieves, tigers, and wolves.

The ninth elixir is called the "Cold Elixir" (Handan). Take one daogui, and after one hundred days you will become an immortal. Immortal Youths and Jade Maidens will come to serve you, and the one who takes it will be able to fly lightly and swiftly, without any need of wings.

Of these nine elixirs, one need only refine and take a single kind to become an immortal; it is not necessary to prepare all of them. Which one to refine depends on personal preference. After taking the Nine Elixirs, one who wishes to ascend to heaven may depart, and one who wishes to remain for a time in the human world may do so freely. In either case, one can move in and out of the space between heaven and earth (the "yuanjian") without coming to harm.

There is also the Divine Elixir of the Palace of Supreme Purity (Taiqing Gong), whose method of refining comes from the Primal Lord (Yuanjun). The Primal Lord was the teacher of Laojun, the Lord Lao. The Upper Scripture of Supreme Purity (Taiqing Shangjing) has nine chapters in all. The top three cannot be transmitted. The middle three should be sunk into the Three Springs (the depths of the earth), since no one in the world is worthy to receive them. The bottom three are precisely the upper, middle, and lower chapters of the Elixir Scripture (Danjing).

The Primal Lord was a great immortal, able to harmonize Yin-Yang and command ghosts and spirits. He could also ride the wind and rain, the Nine Dragons, and the Twelve White Tigers, and all the immortals under heaven were subject to his rule. He said that he had originally gained such abilities through studying the Dao (the Way) and taking elixirs, and that he was not born with them; he, too, had once been an ordinary mortal.

The scripture says: those of the highest rank, having attained the Dao, become officials of heaven; those of middle rank gather at Kunlun; those of the lowest rank enjoy long life in the human world. Foolish people do not believe this and think it all empty talk. From morning till night they do nothing but court death and never seek to ascend to heaven, so how could they possibly force themselves to live long? Ordinary people know only how to pursue fine food and clothing, sensual pleasure, wealth, and rank. They indulge their desires and soon die. Never tell such people about the Divine Elixir, lest they mock the great Dao (Way) and slander the true Dao. If one transmits the Elixir Scripture without choosing the right person, misfortune will surely come to oneself as well. If one meets someone of firm faith in the Dao, one may take that person along to refine the medicine and share the elixir; do not lightly pass the formula to others. For one who understands this Dao, why would the power of marquises and kings matter at all?

Once the Divine Elixir is complete, it not only lets one live forever but can also be used to make gold. After one hundred jin of gold has been produced, a grand jiao (Daoist sacrificial rite) must first be performed; the specific method is recorded in a separate scroll.

Once the divine elixir is complete, it can not only grant long life but also be used to refine gold. When the gold has been refined, take out one hundred catties and first hold a grand jiao offering (a Daoist sacrificial ritual). A separate scroll sets out the ritual procedure, which differs from the "Nine Tripods Sacrifice." During the rite, the gold is weighed out and each recipient and its allotment recorded: twenty catties for Heaven, five for the Sun and Moon, eight for the Northern Dipper, eight for Taiyi (a deity honored in Daoism), five for the Well Spirit, five for the Ao (a giant turtle of legend), twelve for the Earl of the River (the god of the Yellow River), five for the Earth God, and five each for the Spirits of the Gates and Doors and for Lord Jing, Questioner of Ghosts, for a total of more than eighty catties.

Set aside another twenty catties in a bag woven from reeds. On an auspicious day, when the market is crowded, quietly drop it where the people are thickest, then walk straight away without looking back. Only after the full one hundred catties of gold have been used in this way may the rest be spent freely. If the gods are not first honored with gold, disaster will follow.

The scripture (Jing) also says that the Dao (the Way) of long life lies neither in sacrificing to ghosts and spirits nor in physical exercises such as daoyin (guiding and stretching). The essential secret of becoming an immortal lies in the divine elixir. This truth is not easy to grasp, and actually refining the elixir is harder still. If you can refine the divine elixir, you can attain long life.

At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Lord Yin of Xinye is said to have attained the Dao and become an immortal after taking this Taiqing Elixir. He was originally a Confucian scholar of great talent, who wrote poetry as well as elixir scriptures.

At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, there lived in Xinye a man known as Lord Yin (Yin Jun), who attained the Dao (the Way) and became an immortal after successfully refining this Taiqing Elixir (Taiqing dan, an elixir made in Daoist practice). He had originally been a Confucian scholar of quick wit. He wrote poems, as well as eulogies and prefaces for alchemical classics (danjing), in which he recounted how he first took up the Dao and followed his master in cultivation. He also listed more than thirty people he knew who had become immortals, and he described them in clear detail.

The method he devised for the Taiqing Elixir is relatively simple, yet the refining is harder than that of the Nine Tripod Elixir (Jiuding dan). It is nonetheless regarded as a superior method that enables one to ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Before refining begins, one must first prepare the materials: Flowery Pool urine-water, Metal Lord yellow bloom, Red Salt Gen snow, Dark-White flying talisman, and Three-Five divine water. Only then can the burning and refining start.

After taking the elixir of the first cycle, one can become an immortal in three years. The second cycle takes two years, the third one year, the fourth half a year, the fifth one hundred days, the sixth thirty days, the seventh twenty days, and the eighth ten days. The elixir of the ninth cycle takes only a single day.

If one takes the elixir of the ninth cycle and places it in the divine tripod, waits until after the summer solstice for the tripod to be heated, and then puts one catty of cinnabar child beneath the tripod's lid, one can wait for the sun's essence (riqing, the vital energy of the sun) to shine upon it. Before long, the elixir will rise together with the light, radiant and brilliant, giving off divine light of five colors and transforming into the Returned Elixir (huandan). Taking a single knife-spoon measure (daogui, a tiny measuring tool used in ancient times for medicines), one can ascend to heaven in broad daylight.

In another method, the elixir of the ninth cycle is sealed and placed in an earthen cauldron, then refined over a chaff fire, first with a gentle flame and then with a fierce one. The number of days required differs from the first cycle to the ninth, and this allows one to judge the elixir's strength. With fewer cycles, the refining time is shorter and the potency is still insufficient, so one must wait longer after taking it to become an immortal. With more cycles, the potency is stronger, so less time is needed after taking it, and immortality comes more quickly.

There is also another elixir, the Nine-Radiance Elixir (Jiuguang Dan), which differs from the Nine-Cycle Elixir (Jiuzhuan Dan) although the methods used to refine them are broadly similar. To make it, one first combines the various ingredients and then uses fire to refine the five minerals. These five minerals are cinnabar, realgar, white arsenolite (baiyu), azurite (zengqing), and magnetite. Each mineral is refined five times and turns five different colors in turn, yielding twenty-five colors of elixir in all. One liang (ounce) of each color is taken and stored separately in different vessels.

To revive someone who has been dead for less than three days, take one daogui (an ancient unit of measure, referring to a small amount of powdered medicine) of the blue elixir, mix it with water, and use it to bathe the whole body of the deceased. Then place another daogui in the mouth of the deceased, and the dead person will come back to life. To summon a "traveling kitchen" (xingchu, food and drink that, in Daoist legend, arrives when called), dissolve the black elixir in water and smear it on the left hand. Whatever one wishes for, one need only speak it aloud and it will arrive of its own accord. It is said that anything in the world can be summoned in this way.

To conceal one's form, foresee what is yet to happen, or prolong life without aging, one takes one daogui of the Yellow Blossom Elixir (Huanghua Dan), and will then live forever without growing old. Seated, one can see things a thousand li away, and events auspicious and inauspicious appear as though they were happening before one's eyes. One can also know the fate of a person's previous lives, as well as their rise and decline, the length of their life, and whether they will be wealthy or poor, noble or humble. The related methods of refining are all recorded in the middle scroll of the Taiqing (Great Purity).

Next there is a further scroll, the Scripture of the Five Numinous Elixirs (Wuling Dan Jing), which records five methods of refining. The refining uses cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, native sulfur, azurite, arsenolite (yushi), magnetite, rock salt (rongyan), and the root of Taiyi Yuyu. It also employs Six-One Mud (liuyi ni, the clay used to seal the vessels in alchemical refining) and the Spirit Chamber (shenshi, the sealed chamber used for refining elixirs). After a sacrificial ritual (jijiao, a Daoist rite of offering), the ingredients are combined and refined in fire for thirty-six days. This is further combined with the Talismans of the Five Emperors drawn in five colors. It is said that this too can make a person immortal, but its effect is not as great as that of the Taiqing elixir and the Nine-Tripod Elixir (Jiuding Dan).

There is also the Minshan method of elixir-making. The Daoist Zhang He practiced single-mindedly in a stone chamber on Mount Minshan and obtained this formula. In this method, one forges cold brass (leng huangtong) into a fangzhu (a vessel the ancients used to collect dew), gathers moon water with it, covers it with mercury, and refines it in the fire of the solar essence. It is said that taking it over a long period makes one immortal.

Take the elixir (dan) and place it in a copper vessel containing realgar, then cover it with mercury and expose it to the sun for twenty days. Once taken out, grind it and mix it with "well-flower water" (water drawn from the well at dawn). The dose is about the size of a small bean. It is said that after a hundred days of taking it, the blind regain their sight, all illnesses are healed, white hair turns black, and teeth that have fallen out grow back.

Another method is called the "Wuchengzi Elixir." Place Ba cinnabar in a copper plate eight inches across, and heat it over an earthen furnace burning charcoal. Dig trenches on three sides of the plate, prop the plate up with branches, and keep pouring stone-sulfur water over it so that the elixir material always remains muddy. It is said that taking it for a hundred days brings immortality, free from death.

Another method is called the "Xianmenzi Elixir." Mix one jin of cinnabar with wine, then soak it in three dou of wine and expose it to the sun for thirty days. When taking it, wash it down with wine, keeping the elixir material muddy. It is said that a hundred days of taking it brings immortality, free from death.

There is also another account of the Xianmenzi Elixir. Mix one jin of cinnabar with wine, soak it in three dou of wine, and expose it to the sun for thirty days. Taking it for a single day expels the Three Corpse worms and all manner of illness, and taking it for three years makes one an immortal. It is said that two Jade Maidens will then come to wait upon the adept and obey their commands, and can instantly provide food and drink to eat. This elixir can also suppress the hundred ghosts, as well as the calamities and epidemics brought by the dead from the four directions. If a household's dwelling is disturbed, or if digging and construction have offended against it, hanging the elixir there will spare it from disaster.

The "Quick-Completion Elixir" (Licheng Dan) has nine forms, resembling the Nine Tripods, though its effects do not match theirs. The key to the method is to take realgar and refine it by fire, cast what results into a vessel, and place the vessel over bitter wine that has aged for three years. After a hundred days, a red, milky substance grows on the vessel, several fen in length, and sometimes five-colored langgan (a jade-like gemstone) appears as well. Take it off, grind it, and ingest it; it is said that this too can bring long life.

Another account says to take the root of newly sprouted dodder (tusizi). Its shape resembles a rabbit. After digging it up, cut it open and take its juice, and use that to mix the elixir. It is said that after taking it, one transforms at once and is able to do whatever one wishes.

Combine this with Cinnabar Grass (Zhucao, a legendary immortal herb), and a single dose will let one rise into the air and travel riding the clouds. Cinnabar Grass resembles a small mulberry or jujube tree, three or four feet tall, with branches and leaves that are all red and a stem like coral. It grows beneath the rocks of famous mountains, and when it is cut open, its sap flows like blood. If jade, the Eight Minerals (the various minerals used in Daoist alchemy), gold, and silver are placed in the sap, they can soon be kneaded into pellets, which will turn to liquid if left for a long time. When gold is added, the result is called "Golden Liquid"; when jade is added, it is called "Jade Elixir" (an immortal liquid made from jade). Taking it is said to grant long life.

There is also a method for making the "Subduing Elixir" (Fudan). It is said that some rivers under heaven are named for "cinnabar" (dan), such as the Dan River in Nanyang, and that all of them contain cinnabar fish. The cinnabar fish is red all over. Keep watch on the tenth night after the summer solstice, and the fish will surely rise to the water's edge, giving off a red glow that lights the water as though it were on fire. They can be caught with a net, but even if many are caught, one should not take them all. The blood is drawn from the fish and smeared on the soles of the feet, and it is said that one can then walk on the surface of water and also dwell for long periods in the deep.

There is also the "Elixir Method of Chisongzi" (Master Red Pine): take the juice of thousand-year-old Mengzhi and of Fanzhi, mix them, and place the mixture in a watertight vessel. Seal it tightly, bury it two feet underground, and leave it for one hundred days. Then press the juice from the red fruit of the catalpa tree, blend the two, and drink it. It is said to turn a person's complexion, eyes, beard, and hair red and make them grow long. Among the Zhonghuang immortals of antiquity there was one called Master Red Beard (Chixuzi); could he not have taken this very medicine?

There is also the "Elixir Method of Baishisheng" (Master White Stone): take thousand-year-old pine needles from high cliffs, golden chrysanthemum flowers, poria (fuling), and spirit-poria (fushen), and make them into a powder. Take it with Flower Pool water (Huachi water, in the Daoist context a pure water used for taking medicines), and it is said to summon spirits.

Then dry the Xiang leaves in the shade for one hundred days, and form them with refined honey into pills or powder. Taken over a long period, they are said to prolong life and make the body light and vigorous.

Another method of taking the elixir is recorded as follows: take a young crow (wu) that has not yet grown its feathers, mix genuine cinnabar elixir with beef, and feed it to the bird. When the crow is fully grown, its feathers will turn red. After the crow is killed, dry it in a shaded place for one hundred days, then pound it together with its feathers into powder. Each dose is one daogui (a very small ancient unit of measure). It is taken for one hundred days, and it is said that one can then live five hundred years.

The method of Kang Fengzi: take the blood of a sheep, a crow, and a stork, and mix it with the juice of Shaoshi aconite (tianxiong). Together with the elixir, place this inside the egg of a hu (a swan-like water bird), seal it, and set it in mica water (a medicinal liquid made from mica). After one hundred days, the contents of the egg are said to turn into a red liquid. One ge (an ancient unit of volume) adds one hundred years to one's lifespan, and one sheng takes one to a thousand years of life.

The method of Cui Wenzi: place the elixir inside the egg of a startled bird and steam it at the level of the belly. Taking it is said to extend life, and with long-term use one is said never to die.

The method of Liuzi: place the elixir inside, and after one hundred days it turns into a red liquid. One ge adds one hundred years to one's lifespan, and one sheng takes one to a thousand years of life.

The method of Cui Wenzi: place the elixir inside the egg of a startled bird and steam it at the level of the belly. Taking it is said to extend life, and with long-term use one is said never to die.

The method of Liuzi: soak the elixir in a dark liquid (xuanshui, a medicinal liquid used in Daoist elixir-making) for one hundred days, until it turns purple and does not stain the hand when held. Then blend it with mica water, seal it in a tube, and drop it into a well. After one hundred days it is said to turn into a red liquid. One ge brings a hundred years of life, and with long-term use one attains immortality.

The method of Yue Zizhang: mix zengqing (a blue-green mineral), lead oxide (a lead-based mineral medicine), mercury, and cinnabar, place them in a bronze vessel, seal it with tile and talc, and bury it in white sand to steam for eighty days. Each dose is a single grain the size of a small red bean, and it is said that within three years one becomes an immortal.

The method of Li Wen: wrap the elixir in white silk and boil it in bamboo juice, which is called the "Red Spring." Then steam it over boiling water, blend it with the dark liquid, and let it stand for eighty days. Each dose is a single grain the size of a small red bean, and it is said that within three years one becomes an immortal.

Another method of Li Wen: wrap the elixir in white silk and boil it in bamboo juice, which is called the "Red Spring." Steam it again over boiling water, then blend it with the dark liquid and take it. One ge is said to bring immortality within a year.

The method of Yinzi: blend the elixir with mica water, seal it tightly, and place it in the Golden Flower Pool (Jinhua Chi, a pool or vessel used in elixir-making). After one year, take it out and consume one daogui. When a full jin (an ancient unit of weight) has been taken, it is said that one can live five hundred years.

There is also the "Taiyi Soul-Summoning Elixir" (Taiyi zhaohun dan) method, made by refining five minerals and then sealing the vessel with Six-One mud (liuyi ni, the clay Daoist alchemists used to seal their containers). Its form resembles that of the Nine Elixirs. It is said to be especially able to save those who have only just died. Within three days of death, one pries open the corpse's teeth, places one pill of the elixir together with sulfur inside, and washes it down with water so that the medicine enters the throat, whereupon the person will revive. Those who return to life all say that they saw an envoy carrying a tally of office (fujie) come to summon them.

There is also the "Lady Cai Elixir" (Cainü dan) method, in which the elixir is mixed with rabbit's blood, honey is added, and the mixture is steamed and refined for one hundred days. One takes one pill at a time, the size of a parasol-tree seed, three times a day. On the one hundred and first day, divine maidens and river spirits will come to attend the practitioner, and afterward they can be commanded to serve.

There is also the "Master Jiqiu Elixir" (Jiqiuzi dan) method, which is blended from clear wine, sesame oil, Hundred-Flower Mead (baihua li, a wine brewed from many kinds of flowers), and dragon's marrow, then sealed with Six-One mud and gently nourished over a chaff fire for ten days. It is said that divine maidens and river spirits will come to attend the practitioner, who can then command them.

There is also the "Master Jiqiu Elixir" method, blended from clear wine, sesame oil, Hundred-Flower Mead, and dragon's marrow, sealed with Six-One mud, and gently nourished over a chaff fire for ten days. Each dose is the size of a small red bean, and it is said that one who finishes the entire batch of the elixir can live for five hundred years.

There is also the "Master Mo Elixir" (Mozi dan) method, which uses mercury and the juice of five-colored stones, heated and simmered in a bronze vessel and stirred with an iron spoon, so that after ten days the elixir is formed anew. Taking one dao gui (an ancient unit for a very small measure) is said to cure all manner of illnesses, and long-term use brings immortality without death.

There is also the "Master Zhang Zihe Elixir" (Zhang Zihe dan) method, in which lead, mercury, cinnabar, and Zengqing water (a liquid made from azurite) are mixed and sealed, then buried in red millet and steamed for eighty days. The result is blended with jujube paste and formed into pills, one taken at a time, the size of a soybean. After one hundred days of taking them, one is said to live for five hundred years.

There is also the "Qi Liji Elixir" (Qi Liji dan) method, in which one first refines the jade dust of the five minerals (wushi yuchen, fine powder obtained from refining five kinds of ores), then mixes it with cinnabar and mercury and cooks it in a large bronze tube for one hundred days, producing an elixir of five colors. Taking it is said to bring about immortality and ascension to heaven. Separately, adding one dao gui of the medicine to one hundred jin of lead and refining them together yields silver; if this is then mixed with realgar water and heated for one hundred days, it yields gold. If the gold is too hard, boil it with paper-mulberry juice (chuzhi, the sap of the paper mulberry); if too soft, boil it with white plum. One who finishes the entire batch of the elixir is said to attain long life.

Another method for the Wang Gui Elixir (Wang Gui Dan, name of an elixir): blend the elixir with Huachi (the "Flowery Pond," a liquid reagent), then add zengqing (azurite), kenghuang, and silver, mix them with realgar water, and refine the mixture by heating. After one hundred days it will become gold. If the gold is too hard, boil it in paper-mulberry sap; if it is too soft, boil it with white plum. After one dose has been taken, one is said to attain longevity.

Another method for the Wang Gui Elixir: blend the elixir with Huachi, cover it with powdered zengqing and kenghuang, place it in a pu vessel, and refine it by heating for fifty days using the huiyu method. After one hundred days of taking it, the Jade Maidens, the Six Jia, the Six Ding, and other divine maidens are said to come and attend the practitioner, who can command their service and come to know the affairs of the world.

Another method for the Elbow-Reserve Elixir (Zhouhou Dan, name of an elixir): blend the elixir with Jinhua (the "Golden Flower"), place it in a pu vessel, seal it with dry tiles, and steam-refine it for eighty days. Take out a grain the size of a small bean and set it on a plate, then mix it facing the sun; the light given off by the elixir will rise and join with the sunlight. Taking one bean-sized grain is said to bring longevity; casting it into Danyang copper and heating it will produce gold.

Another method: blend the elixir with pomelo juice and take it for one hundred days, and one is said to attain longevity.

Another method for the Elixir of Lord Li (Li Gong Dan, name of an elixir): take one sheng each of the true cinnabar and the water of the five minerals, and blend them into a paste. Place it in a cauldron and refine it by heating for thirty-six days. After removing it, add and blend in sulfur liquid. Taken for ten years, it is said to grant a lifespan equal to that of Heaven and Earth.

Another method for the Elixir of Master Liu (Liu Sheng Dan, name of an elixir): blend the elixir with the juices of white chrysanthemum, lotus flower, earth-blood, earth-paper-mulberry, and lingzi, and steam-refine it for thirty days. Then grind it and take it for one year, and one is said to live five hundred years. The elderly who take it will return to youth, becoming so young that others cannot recognize them. Even a small dose is said to keep a person from aging.

Another method for the Elixir of Lord Wang (Wang Jun Dan, name of an elixir): place cinnabar from Ba and mercury inside a chicken egg, seal it with lacquer so that the fluid of the egg mingles with the elixir, and steam-refine it for thirty days. Then grind it and take it for one year, and one is said to live five hundred years. The elderly who take it will return to youth, becoming so young that others cannot recognize them. Even a small dose is said to keep a person from aging.

Another method for the Elixir of Lord Wang: place cinnabar from Ba and mercury inside a chicken egg, seal it with lacquer, and have a hen hatch three such eggs. Take it on a Wangxiang day (an auspicious day in the calendrical system), and within a year one is said to cease aging. Children must not take it, or they will never grow any larger. If newborn chicks and puppies are fed this elixir, they too will stop growing, and birds and beasts that consume it show the same effect.

There is also Master Chen's method for making an elixir: blend white honey with cinnabar, seal the mixture in a bronze vessel, and sink it in a well to steep for a full year. After taking it, one is said to feel no hunger for a year, and a person who finishes a full catty is said to live to one hundred.

There is also Han Zhong's method: blend lacquer and honey with cinnabar, then heat and refine the mixture. It is said to prolong life and sharpen eyesight. One who takes it for a thousand days is said to cast no shadow in the midday sun. Beyond these there are dozens of other methods, not worth discussing one by one.

Baopuzi says: The Golden Liquid (a divine medicine refined from gold and other materials) is the elixir by which Taiyi (a revered deity in Daoism) ascended to immortality, and it surpasses the Nine Elixirs (a collective name for many alchemical methods). To make it, weigh one catty of gold on an ancient scale, then add xuanming, dragon grease, bone, the stone-water of Taiyi's first ten days, the dark water of the Purple Wandering Maiden, transmuted-gold stone, and cinnabar. Seal the mixture and refine it until it turns to liquid. The scripture (Jing) says that once the Golden Liquid enters the mouth, the whole body turns golden.

Laojun (Lord Lao) received this scripture's method from Yuanjun (the Primordial Lady), who told him that the method is exceedingly precious, appearing only once in a hundred generations, and should be kept in a stone chamber. Every stage of the refining requires fasting and purification, and one must have no dealings with ordinary people. One should build a refining chamber (a quiet room used solely for alchemy and cultivation) near a famous mountain, beside swiftly flowing water, and refine for one hundred days. Taking one tael makes one ascend as an immortal. If one is not ready to leave the world and wishes only to become an earthly immortal (an immortal who remains among people), one need only fast for one hundred days. If one wishes to ascend to heaven, one must first abstain from grain for a year and then take the elixir. Taking half a tael is said to grant deathless long life, with no calamity or poison able to harm one again. One may still marry, have children, keep a household, and hold office, free to do whatever one pleases. If one later wishes to ascend to heaven, one fasts again and takes one tael, and becomes a flying immortal.

There is also a method of using the Golden Liquid to make Weixi Jusheng (a medicine in Daoist alchemy): take the Golden Liquid and Zuowei mercury (a mercury-type material as named in the original) and boil and refine them together for thirty days, then take out the yellow…

The Golden Liquid (金液, jinye) is a method for refining elixirs of the "Weixi" and "Jusheng" types. Take the Golden Liquid and boil it together with "the left-hand flavor of mercury" for thirty days. Remove it, place it in a vessel of yellow clay, seal it with Six-One Mud, and set it over a fierce fire for about the time it takes to eat a meal, and it will transform into an elixir. Taking a dose the size of a small red bean will make one an immortal. If one scatters a single knife-point measure (a very small unit of volume) of this elixir into a pound of mercury, the mercury will turn to silver. If one takes a pound of the elixir and fans it over a fierce fire, it turns into red gold that melts and flows, called "Elixir Gold."

If Elixir Gold is smeared on knives and swords, the weapons will be protected from harm by the five kinds of arms, and the bearer can travel ten thousand li. If bowls and plates are made from Elixir Gold and food and drink are placed in them, one can attain long life. If Elixir Gold is held up to receive the light of the sun and moon, one obtains a divine liquid, just as water is gathered with a fangzhu (a vessel for collecting moon dew). Drink this divine liquid and one will not die.

If the Golden Liquid is mixed with yellow earth, placed in a vessel sealed with Six-One Mud, and refined over a fierce fire, it will in the end all turn to yellow gold, which can be put to use. If it is fired again, it will all turn into elixir. Taking a dose the size of a small red bean allows one to enter famous mountains and great waters and become an Earthly Immortal (those who dwell among the mountains and rivers of the human world, having attained the Dao and long life). If one scatters a knife-point measure of the elixir into mercury, the mercury at once becomes silver; and if one then mixes an ounce of that silver with a pound of lead, the lead too all turns to silver.

The Scripture of the Golden Liquid (Jinye Jing, 金液经) says: "Cast eight ounces of gold into eastward-flowing water, and swear an oath by drinking blood; only then are the oral instructions to be revealed." If one does not understand the fundamental method of refining and merely steals the formula and follows it, one will never succeed in the end. Those who are sincere and firmly faithful may be given the medicine; but the secret instructions in the book must not be transmitted lightly, or both the giver and the receiver will surely meet with calamity. The heavenly spirits watch over people, and are in truth very close to them; people simply do not know it.

Baopuzi says: The Nine Elixirs are indeed the finest method for refining immortal elixirs. However, the many ingredients required for the refining are extremely numerous; if communication between regions is open, the materials can all be purchased, but if regions are cut off from one another, the necessary things cannot be obtained.

When firing the elixir, one must watch the heat day and night without interruption, and even across ten inspections the fire cannot be allowed to stray from the proper degree. This kind of refining is exhausting, so it is not as easy as preparing the Golden Liquid (jinye). The main difficulty in making the Golden Liquid lies in obtaining the gold. If one can find an ancient scale, on which one jin equals two jin today, the cost at market price is only a little over two hundred thousand cash. The other ingredients are fairly easy to assemble, and no fire is needed. One simply places the materials in the "Flower Pond" (Huachi, a vessel used in alchemy) and waits until enough days have passed, and the Golden Liquid will be complete. The materials cost roughly three hundred thousand cash in all and yield one batch, enough for eight people to take and become immortals. The quantity, however, must not be reduced. If the potency is insufficient, the materials cannot transform one another and the preparation will fail, just as a few sheng of rice will not brew into wine if the amount is too small.

Baopuzi says: There are also other methods of ingesting gold. They cannot match the Golden Liquid, but they are still effective and far superior to other substances. In some methods the gold is treated with a particular implement, or dissolved with wine and magnetite. Some draw the gold out into a cloth-like sheet, and others turn it into water at once, to be taken after it is refined. Each of these methods carries its own prohibitions, and none equals the Golden Liquid. Others refine the gold together with realgar, orpiment, and similar substances before taking it, drawing and stretching the gold until it resembles leather. All of these belong to the practices of the Earthly Immortals. Silver and the large pearls found in river mussels can also be refined into water and taken, but they must be consumed over a long period and are difficult to supply continuously, so they too fall short of the Golden Liquid.

Baopuzi says: Preparing the Golden Liquid and the Nine Elixirs requires both money and a retreat into the mountains, cutting oneself off from ordinary human affairs, so very few people are able to do it.

Baopuzi (Master Who Embraces Simplicity) says: Refining the Golden Liquid (the Jinye, a Daoist elixir) and the Nine Elixirs (nine kinds of alchemical medicine) demands both considerable expense and a retreat into the mountains, away from worldly affairs, so very few people are able to do it. Only once in tens of thousands of people does someone happen to obtain scriptures of this kind. For this reason, the Daoist books almost never discuss the Golden Elixir.

The first prohibition is this: do not let worldly people who do not believe in the Dao (Way) learn of the undertaking, lest they slander and defame it; otherwise the elixir will surely fail. Master Zheng said that this is because the refining of such a great medicine always involves sacrificial offerings. During the offerings, the Great One Primordial Lord (Taiyi Yuanjun), the Venerable Lord of the Nine Elixirs, and the Jade Maidens all come to observe. If the one refining the medicine does not withdraw from the crowd and hide in a secluded, remote place, and instead lets malicious people in the world hear of it, pass by, or catch sight of it, the gods will blame the practitioner for not obeying the scriptural precepts, thereby giving wicked people an opportunity to disparage the work. When that happens, the gods no longer offer their protection, malevolent Qi (vital energy) seizes the chance to enter, and the elixir cannot be completed.

The practitioner must enter a famous mountain and keep a fast for one hundred days. He must not eat the five pungent vegetables (onions, garlic, and other strongly flavored plants) or raw fish, nor meet with worldly people, and only then may he begin refining the great medicine. The fast must be maintained throughout the entire period of refining, not merely at the start.

Master Zheng said that Master Zuo once told him that ordinary small mountains cannot be used to refine the Golden Liquid and the divine elixir. Small mountains generally lack a true deity who presides over the region; they are mostly home to uncanny spirits and strange creatures that have lived for a thousand years, or to ghosts and gods who receive blood sacrifices. All of these beings carry malign Qi, which will keep the elixir from succeeding. Not only are they unable to bring people blessings, but they instead bring calamity, and they also test those who cultivate the Way. Even if a Daoist devises ways to protect himself and his disciples, these beings may still be able to ruin the elixir.

Physicians today, when preparing fine medicines and salves, likewise often take care that chickens, dogs, women, and children do not see the process; if the preparation is offended by such things, the medicine loses its efficacy. In dyeing, too, people avoid unclean things, or having someone with a crooked gaze look on, for otherwise the color will fade. This is all the more true of the divine elixir and great medicine. This is why the Daoists of old, when refining the great medicines of immortality, always entered famous mountains and did not work in ordinary small ones.

The immortal scriptures (Xianjing) record that the places suited to quiet, focused work in refining immortality elixirs are Mount Hua, Mount Tai, Mount Huo, Mount Heng, Mount Songgao, Mount Shaoshi, Mount Hao, Mount Zhongnan, and Mount Wangwu. This is why such elixirs must be refined in famous mountains and cannot be made in ordinary ones.

The scriptures also list a further group of mountains suited to wholehearted elixir refining: Mount Hua, Mount Tai, Mount Huo, Mount Heng, Mount Songgao, Mount Shaoshi, Mount Hao, Mount Zhongnan, Mount Wangwu, Mount Nüji, Mount Difei, Mount Baodu, Mount Anqiu, Mount Qian, Mount Qingcheng, Mount Sui, Mount Yuntai, Mount Luofu, Mount Yangjia, Mount Huangjin, Mount Aozu, Mount Tiantai, Mount Siwang, and Mount Gaizhu. Each of these mountains is home to a true deity (a spirit who guards the mountain), some shelter earthly immortals (immortals who dwell in the mountains of the human world), and all of them grow zhicao (the spirit herbs of Daoist legend, akin to the lingzhi mushroom). It is said that these mountains are not only suitable for refining elixirs but can also help a person avoid large-scale warfare and flood. When a person of the Dao (Way) climbs these mountains, the mountain spirits help bring blessings, and the elixirs refined there are certain to succeed.

If one cannot ascend these famous mountains, one may also refine elixirs on the large islands in the sea. Shuweng Isle and Fenyu in the Kuaiji region, along with Yangju Isle, Shu Isle, Guang Isle, and Yu Isle in the Xuzhou region, are all second-best choices.

Today, the famous mountains of the Central Plains are difficult to reach, but there are still famous mountains accessible in the Jiangdong region: Mount Huo in Changsha of Jin'an; Mount Tai and Mount Taibai in Shuyang; and Mount Siwang, Mount Tiantai, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang in Kuaiji.

Baopuzi (the Master Who Embraces Simplicity) says: I was fortunate to be born into the family of a high official. Although my talents were not enough to govern a state or manage its affairs, among those who share my aspirations and strive to advance, quite a few have vision no broader than mine. Some of them have already ascended into the clouds and shine brilliantly in the heights of the sky.

I no longer attend the celebrations and funerals of my village, and I have given up the glory and wealth of this age. My whole desire is to climb a famous mountain as soon as I can and finish the book I am writing. After that, I wish to refine divine medicines in pursuit of long life. For this reason, ordinary people all find it strange that I left my hometown and turned my back on an official career, and that I farm the wild mountain forests with my own hands until they are covered in calluses. They think I have fallen into madness and delusion.

Yet the pursuit of the Dao (the Way) runs against worldly life, and the two cannot be held together. If one does not set aside the affairs of the human world, how can one cultivate such an aspiration? Why should anyone who has truly understood the Dao and firmly practices it fear the slander or praise of others? How could they be swayed by discouragement or encouragement? I will set down my intentions for now, and leave them for those who will share my aims in the future. I imagine that those of later generations, bound by firm friendship and common purpose, will give up the same things that I have.

The formula for the Small Divine Elixir (Xiao Shendan) is as follows. Take three jin of true cinnabar and six jin of white honey, stir them together, and dry the mixture in the sun. Then simmer and refine it until it can be rolled into pills. Take it once a day, ten pills at a time, each about the size of a hemp seed. Before a year has passed, white whiskers will turn black, lost teeth will grow back, and the body will become supple and moist. If taken over a long period, the old will regain their youth and will live forever without dying.

Method for making the small-dose elixir: Pound one jin of elixir into powder and sift it. Add three sheng of pure bitter wine and three sheng of pure lacquer, and simmer the three ingredients together over a low flame until the mixture can be rolled into pills. Take three pills at a time, each the size of a hemp seed, twice a day. After thirty days, the various ailments in the belly will be cured, and the Three Corpses (in Daoist belief, spirits dwelling within the body that harm a person's Jing and Qi and report their misdeeds to Heaven) will depart. After a hundred days, the muscles and bones grow strong and firm. After a thousand days, the Director of Destinies (Siming, the deity in charge of lifespans) will strike your name from the register of the dead, and you will live as long as Heaven and Earth and endure alongside the sun and moon. You will also be able to change your appearance without fixed form, and at noon your body will cast no shadow and will instead give off a radiant light.

Method for taking gold in small doses: Melt the gold and plunge it into clear wine, taking it out and putting it back some two hundred times, until the gold boils the moment it leaves the wine and, when pinched by hand, squeezes out between the fingers like mud. If the gold does not boil, or cannot be squeezed out between the fingers, melt it again and repeat the process in the clear wine until it meets these conditions. Once finished, take one pellet the size of a crossbow pellet; alternatively, divide this pellet into smaller ones, kneaded into a paste, and take those. If the gold still does not boil or cannot be squeezed between the fingers, keep melting it and treating it in the wine. Once finished, take one pellet the size of a crossbow pellet, or divide it into smaller pills. After thirty days, you will no longer be troubled by cold or heat, and spirit beings and Jade Maidens (divine beings in Daoist legend) will attend you. Silver can also be taken, by the same method as gold. If you take the medicines made from these two metals in a stone chamber on a famous mountain, you will become youthful and ascend in flight. If you take them only in the human world, you can still become an Earth Immortal (an immortal who remains on earth and does not die). Do not casually pass this on to others.

The method of Liangyizi for taking gold: Take three jin of animal fat, one sheng of pure bitter wine, and five liang of gold, and place them in a vessel to be heated, with the vessel set on an earthen furnace. Put the gold into the fat, taking it out and putting it back one hundred times, and treat the bitter wine in the same way. The scripture (Jing) says that one who consumes a full jin of gold will live as long as Heaven and Earth; half a jin, three thousand years; five liang, twelve hundred years. Gold may be taken in any amount. It should be prepared and taken on a Wangxiang day (an auspicious day chosen according to Yin-Yang and the Five Phases), when its efficacy is greatest. Do not pass the method to those unfit to receive it, or the medicine will not be perfected and will not manifest its power. When you are about to leave the world, you should take cinnabar.

Baopuzi Shenxian Jindan Jing (Baopuzi's Scripture of the Golden Liquor of the Divine Immortals), Part Two