《金华冲碧丹经秘旨》

Secret Instructions of the Golden Flower Elixir Jing (Jing, scripture) on Piercing the Azure, Volume One

Transmitted by the Old Man of Haiqiong, Bai Yuchan, and received by Peng Zu, the Recluse of Heling on the Three Mountains.

Materials

Take ten liang of base lead (a kind of lead used in elixir methods) and two liang of bright sulfur, and grind them together into powder. Roast the powder, grind it fine, and shape it into an elixir embryo, which is then placed in the elixir chamber.

Take two jin of superior mountain-marsh material and combine it with two jin of fine black lead. Refine them gradually in an ash pit until they are completely smelted, then pound the result into small, fine beads.

The Form and Image of the Spirit Chamber

Take eight liang of true gold of full purity (gold of high fineness) and cast it into a "Chaos Embryonic Origin Casket" (a gold vessel for holding the elixir embryo). Shape it like an egg, or make it a round sphere.

Then take one liang of true gold of full purity and beat it into a hollow gold tube. The bore at its center should be about the size of a coin. The tube extends out of the casket, with about half an inch showing at each end. The tube must fit the elixir embryo exactly, neither too wide nor too narrow. After the embryo is placed inside, close the casket tightly. Wrap it in red halloysite (a mineral used for sealing metals) and gold-earth, then seal the seams with luting clay mixed with vinegar, and let it dry.

Take eight liang of white gold (here meaning a metallic material named in ancient alchemy) and beat it into the base of the water sea. Set it into the mouth of the cauldron to a depth of about two inches, so that the base joins the cauldron mouth. The gold tube passes through the center of the base, allowing water to enter the "Central Palace" (the central part inside the cauldron) through the tube. Seal the joint tightly with fat-clay, let it dry, and only then pour in the water.

The Outer Cauldron

Shape the alchemical vessel into a roof-ridge form (meng), large enough to hold the Spirit Chamber (shenshi), and place two catties of white metal inside. The vessel must be neither too wide nor too narrow inside. If the interior is too wide, mix yellow earth with vinegar, coat the inner wall with it to hold everything firmly in place, and let it dry thoroughly.

Next, put in a little more than a handful of white metal, spread it flat and settle it steadily, then set the gold casket in place. Add more white metal, scattering it evenly until the casket is covered. Then form a ring from a sheet of paper and set it on the casket in place of the water sea. Once coarse white metal has been spread to fill the space, insert the silver water sea into the paper ring, and shake the vessel until the contents are level and compact. Finally, seal it firmly from the outside and hang it within the alchemical cage.

Timing the Water-and-Fire Talismanic Regimen

Apply eight liang of water above and half a catty of fire below, replenishing and changing them at the Zi and Wu hours, or advancing and retreating the fire phasing at the Mao and You hours. After half a month, open the cauldron and take out the elixir embryo. If its color is jade-green and bright, it is good. If it is purplish-red, the fire phasing has not yet been sufficient, so apply the fire talisman again for seven days, until the color is jade-green and bright, which is the proper sign. When the Qi of water and fire have joined and achieved completion, this is the true seed.

The white metal remains intact and unchanged, and its weight has not decreased. Even if there is slight loss, it does no harm. This shows that it has received true Qi.

On the Water-and-Fire Method of Severing the Soul

Take one jin of silver and plunge it into cold water, quenching and refining it repeatedly, fifty times in all. First place three liang of the Three Yellows (san huang) in the water, ground into fine powder, to draw out the essence and Qi (精气) of the silver. Then filter the water through paper and silk until it runs clear, and pour it into a golden bowl to simmer and nourish it, refining the elixir embryo. After half a day the water evaporates; stir-fry the elixir embryo until dry. Throughout, it must not touch copper or iron utensils. This step is called "bathing" (muyu).

Next, use a roofed water-and-fire cauldron, heating alternately with gentle fire (wen huo) and fierce fire (wu huo), until the elixir embryo is refined into a liquid. Remove it and shape it into pellets the size of beans, wrapping each one tightly in thick gold leaf. Then spread two jin of white gold beads over the elixir embryo and place them in the water-and-fire cauldron, with water above and below. Use a moderate fire to harmonize the Qi of Kan and Li (Kan and Li are alchemical terms, symbolizing water and fire respectively), and keep it in continuous operation for a month. When taken out, grind it into powder, which appears deep jade-green and crimson, bright and dazzling. This is called the "Golden Liquid" (jinye), the raw material of the "returned elixir" (huandan). This method of refining is called "refining the true lead of the elixir."

Another account says: first boil the Three Yellows in water for a day, then remove them, and plunge molten silver into the water to quench and refine it.

"Man Ting Fang"

For the Jade Liquid and Golden Paste to return to their original embryonic substance, everything depends on the working of the two powers, Kan and Li. The celestial soul (hun) and the earthly soul (po) rely on one another and circulate within the golden chamber. Circulate the Divine Water of Central Yellow in its cycle, so that all things return to the Flowery Pool (Huachi, an alchemical term for the place where the elixir is refined and nourished). In this way heaven and earth are penetrated, and the five Qi gather at the central root. Seal and guard the Mysterious Pass (Xuanguan, a cultivation term for the key aperture) and the two orifices, so that the powers of Metal and Wood move in exchange. Then harmonize them with Wu and Ji (Five Phases terms referring to Earth), and the purple-gold lingzhi grows. Through nine turns of flying refinement and condensation, let the clear and the turbid, mercury and lead, follow the course of the two waters, and the returned elixir is completed. When the fire phasing is applied gently, the elixir will reveal its precious radiance.

"Mi Yuan Chun"

If you wish to become an immortal, you must refine the Golden Liquid and seal the Mysterious Pass and the two orifices. Let Metal and Wood move in exchange, harmonize them with the Earth of Wu and Ji, and the purple-gold lingzhi grows. Through nine turns of flying refinement and condensation, let the clear and the turbid, mercury and lead, follow the course of the two waters, and the returned elixir is refined. When the fire phasing is applied gently, the elixir will reveal its precious radiance.

To become an immortal, one must refine the Golden Liquid and pass through the alchemical process of the "Seven Returns and Nine Revolutions." The phrase "the woman returns to Qian, the Metal Lord resides in Kan" describes the transformations of Yin-Yang (阴阳) in alchemy: things of a yin nature return to the Qian position, while things of a metallic nature rest in the Kan position. Fierce fire burns in the jade furnace, yet cold smoke curls above the golden cauldron; lead is used to wrap and refine the silver substance, and quicksilver is in turn refined from cinnabar.

The Shen (神) fire (spirit fire) circulates up and down within the Flowery Pool, and within the Dantian (丹田) there seems to be a pathway leading straight to the Heavenly Gate. One must carefully regulate the transformations as metal and water meet, employing the yin fire and the yang talisman; none of this is ordinary practice. Observe the white snow illuminating the sky and the yellow sprouts spreading across the earth, the tortoise and the snake entwining, the crow and the jade rabbit uniting with one another. Since ancient times, the symbols of Yin-Yang, such as Qian and Kun, Li and Kan, have had to be refined nine times in order to remove all impurities. The key lies within the human body itself.

Diagram and Construction of the Zeng

Below, place a brazier, and lay bricks flat to fill the space above it. Make a zeng (甑, a steaming vessel), one foot and five inches high and one foot and two inches in diameter. In the middle of the zeng, open doors at the four directions of Zi, Wu, Mao, and You; at the rice-mouth in the upper part, open five holes to release the fire's heat. Thicken the outside of the zeng's mouth with bricks, building them up to fill the upper portion; open a round hole five inches in diameter, and cover it with a square brick pierced with a round hole.

Set up another lu kuang (炉匡, the outer frame of the furnace), one foot and two inches wide, to cover the top and to harmonize water and fire. The alchemical cauldron hangs in the middle.

Here ends the first fascicle of the Secret Teachings of the Jinhua Chongbi Elixir Classic (《金华冲碧丹经秘旨》).

Transmitted by Lan Yuanbai, the Perfected One Yangsu of the White Crane Grotto-Heaven.

Received by disciple Meng Xu of Chenyang, the Old Man of the Western Retreat.

Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) is the root of cultivation, and the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) are the rules by which it is put into practice. Qian and Kun serve as the spirit chamber in which the Golden Elixir is conceived, while Kan and Li provide the "raven and hare" medicinal substances (symbolizing the two alchemical materials of Yin and Yang). The two emotions are paired with the hun and po souls, and the meeting of dragon and tiger is the key to transformation. The three natures (generally understood as Jing, Qi, and Shen) are brought together and made to unite like husband and wife, giving rise to the "infant maiden" and transforming into male and female (both are symbolic expressions in Neidan (internal alchemy) for the transformations of Yin-Yang and the inner process of generation). The sixty hexagrams take turns on watch, with the hexagrams Zhun and Meng symbolizing the beginning of practice and its return. Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, the three powers, are regulated together, and the four images serve as the furnace and cauldron. The practice follows the principle of the correct Five Phases, circulating between Jiji (Already Crossing) and Weiji (Not Yet Crossing). In harmonizing, the six periods of the fire cycle coordinate with one another; in the interplay of generation and overcoming, the nine returns turn through one another. Yin and Yang each have their measure, Water and Fire are held in balance, and not the slightest portion is off. Practice is founded on the number one hundred and in the end returns to a single thing. Its transformations extend across the great thousand-fold world, yet follow the same path as the creative work of Heaven and Earth. The myriad changes merge into one body, and their efficacy returns to Taiji. When the qi of the ancestral origin is gathered together, the Golden Liquid Divine Elixir can be completed.

The Huachi Mijue (Secret Instructions of the Flowery Pool) says: When the lead liquid returns into the mercury marrow, this is called the "Flowery Pool." When the mercury water returns into the metal fluid, this is called the "Divine Water." The efficacy is complete in seven returns, and De (Virtue/Power) is fulfilled in nine returns. When the nourishing warmth has completed one full cycle, the spirit embryo is released and transformed from it. This is the secret transmission of the immortals' cultivation and the writing left by the sages of old; later students should hold it in esteem and never treat it lightly.

Diagram of Refining Lead and Mercury and Returning to the Ancestor in Jiji

The method of refining lead and mercury.

Choose cinnabar of a bright red color, fine and dense in texture, with a natural luster, ten liang in all. Add two liang of "Japanese sulfur" (a sulfide-type mineral; the specific mineral the original text refers to is difficult to determine). Grind the two into a fine powder and stir-fry them until they combine. Then refine them by sublimation in the "water-and-fire cauldron," grind the result into powder again, and set aside eight liang for later use.

Take eight liang of pure, full-grade yellow gold and cast it into an egg-shaped "Chaos Spirit Chamber" (Hundun Shenshi, a gold vessel used in alchemy to hold the ingredients). Take another liang of gold and make it into a tubular instrument with a closed bottom, about four cun long. Place it inside the Spirit Chamber so that it reaches the bottom, and connect it to the vessel holding the silver liquid. Then, as the original text describes, make and join the corresponding apparatus from silver, alum with fatty residue, and other materials, and seal the joints. Next, make silver beads from refined "flower silver" (silver that has been processed), spread them around the outside of the Spirit Chamber so that they surround the elixir powder, and seal all the joints again.

The original text goes on to describe the process of placing the Spirit Chamber into a jar-shaped cauldron and heating it over a charcoal fire. It explains the intended effect by saying that "the qi (vital energy) of the elixir seed passes through of its own accord." The text also mentions a firing schedule called the "soul-severing fire," and notes that warm water must be added continually to the silver liquid so that it does not dry up. What is described here reflects the apparatus and the concept of firing control in ancient Waidan (external alchemy); the effects the original claims for this process belong to the claims of its own system of occult techniques.

The Method of Severing the Soul

Take the eight liang of "elixir seed" refined above and grind it into fine powder. Wash it with "Flowery Pool Water" (Huachi shui, the name of a particular water used in Daoist alchemical literature), then boil it briefly, and stir-fry it until dry.

This section of the original text contains evident garbling and repetition. In particular, sentences about the firing process have been inserted into the passage on "the method of severing the soul." The above sets out the general sense according to the surviving text.

Take eight liang of the elixir seed (danzhong) refined earlier and grind it into a fine powder. Wash it in Huachi water (the purified water used in alchemical work), simmer it briefly, and stir-fry it dry. Then place it in the golden cauldron, lay it out, cover it, and seal it as before. Heat it with water and fire until it is refined into a liquid, then simmer it a little longer so that it coagulates.

Next, wrap it in layers of thick gold foil. Separately, take one jin of lead and refine it into "silver blossom" (the silvery-white substance formed when lead is smelted), then grind it into a fine powder. Use this powder to line the bottom and cover the elixir seed, and place it in the urn-shaped cauldron. Take another eight liang of the "Silver Water Sea" (a silver vessel or component used in the alchemical process) and fill its lower part with "Three-Water Guan silver" (the original term for a silver material or component; its exact meaning is unclear), so that the two embrace and hold each other in place. The place where the medicine rests must open all the way down to the water at the bottom, and the water channel (guan) must open directly into the Water Sea. Then plug it tightly with fat-alum (a sealing material made of fatty substances and alum) and leave it to dry.

When adding water, always add warm water. The outside of the vessel must be sealed completely. Then hang it again inside the Dan Ao (a vessel used in alchemical refining) and heat it with two jin of fire. Following the method of rotating among the three directions, nourish it warmly for another seven days. Only then does the elixir seed begin to become spiritually responsive, and it is called "True Lead." The silver used in this step is not used again. Take the elixir seed out once more, hang it in a pit dug in the ground, and refine it again with three jin of fire. If it comes out emerald green, it is complete.

Diagram of the Cauldron Apparatus

Once the lead elixir seed has been refined and begins to become spiritually responsive, it is called "True Lead." The silver used in this step is not used again. Hang the elixir seed in a pit dug in the ground and refine it again with three jin of fire. If it comes out emerald green, it is complete.

Diagram of the Cauldron Apparatus

Diagram of Lead and Mercury Returning to the Root (Weiji, "Before Completion")

Take ten liang of pure cinnabar (zhusha, whose main component is mercury sulfide) and grind it into a fine powder. The cinnabar must be selected from ore taken from silver or gold mines; ore from other mines contains too many impurities and cannot be used. Take eight liang of full-grade gold, two liang of lotus ash (here meaning an ash-type material used in the refining), and two liang each of the male and female ingredients, and grind them evenly together.

First melt the gold into a liquid, then add the ash and the other two liang of material, stirring slowly until a yellow powder forms. Next, wash it repeatedly in boiling water until it is perfectly clean, then bake it dry. Mix it evenly with the cinnabar ground earlier and load it into a small-mouthed pomegranate jar that has been sealed firm, filling it to nine-tenths. Pack the mouth of the jar tightly with rice-straw ash, cover it with a perforated tile, bind it securely with silk thread in a crisscross pattern, and seal the seams tightly.

Invert the small jar over a wide-mouthed jar filled with deep water, so that the mouths of the two jars meet, and bind them tightly together. Then hang them in the elixir furnace and calcine them. First apply one jin of upper fire and two liang of middle fire, repeating this three times. Then add three jin of upper fire and let the lead and mercury melt and drip into the water jar. The water in the jar is called the "Floral Pool Water" (huachi shui). Nurture and refine the resulting material until it is dry, stirring it once more each time. After that, continue to follow the same method as before to obtain ten liang of cinnabar mercury. Then change the gold, boil the mercury dry, and set it aside as the "true lead seed" (zhen qian zhongzi) for use in elixir refining.

The Method of Uniting the Embryo and Mating the Mercury

Each time, take eight liang of the elixir seed, the "true lead," and grind it into a fine powder. Then take eight liang of "true mercury" that has been filtered and refined, and place both in a mortar set over a jar of boiling water. Grind the lead and mercury together vigorously and repeatedly until they are extremely fine, continually adding the Floral Pool Water in small drops as you grind. Doing this for a full day is called "forming the embryo" (jietai).

Place a small amount of the finished product on the fire to test it. If it does not move, put it into a Crescent Moon Model Cauldron (yanyue faxiang ding, the cauldron used in elixir refining) and calcine it with water and fire for half a month. Afterward, continue as before, adding water and grinding for one day each time, which is still called "forming the embryo." Then add more filtered and refined true mercury until the mercury reaches three jin. From then on, take the cinnabar mercury directly, boil it in the Floral Pool Water, and add it. After a considerably longer period of transformation, there is no need to boil the mercury any more, and it will naturally become "true mercury."

Terms such as "lead," "mercury," "embryo," and "water and fire" here are alchemical terminology, referring to the materials and stages used in the refining process. The original text describes traditional Waidan (external alchemy) techniques and should not be taken directly as instructions for modern chemical procedures.

The First Transformation of the Returned Elixir: Golden Sand, Yellow Sprout, the Initial Elixir, and Diagrams of the Cauldron Vessels

Take four, five, six, seven and a half, and nine and a half taels in turn, for a total of three catties.

Take eight taels of full-grade genuine gold (gold of pure fineness) and melt it into liquid. Add two taels of bright sulfur, half a tael of realgar (xionghuang), and half a tael of orpiment (cihuang), then stir and roast the mixture into powder. Using a water-and-fire cauldron furnace (the furnace and vessel used in alchemy), refine them until they are of a single color, then hammer them into two hollow-centered bowls shaped like a reclining moon. Leave a gap of about one inch at the center of each bowl so that the two do not touch. Pierce the center of the upper bowl and insert a gold-water tube (a pipe through which the golden liquid flows), so that it passes through to the top and connects to a "sea" (a vessel holding liquid) containing eight taels of silver water.

Seal it firmly with fatty alum, and once it has dried thoroughly, draw the water into the space between the two moon-shaped bowls. Next, place into the reclining-moon furnace (Yanyue furnace, a furnace shaped like a half-moon) one catty of lead and mercury that has previously been joined together (combined in the refining process). Outside it, set a wide-mouthed jar that has already been sealed tight, seal the joins at its mouth, bind it firmly with iron wire, and suspend it within the alchemical stove. Apply fire all around and beneath it, increasing the quantity of fire from eight taels to one catty, and adjust the heat according to the hours of mao and you (roughly dawn and dusk). Refine it for half a month until the moisture has completely receded, then insert five taels of fire to nourish it gently.

After three days, open the furnace and cauldron, and the lead and mercury will have been refined into a stable state. Take them out, boil them again in the Flower Pool (Huachi, a liquid or medicinal solution used in alchemy), then put them back into the water-and-fire cauldron and refine them once more into liquid, to be used again as the "husband" (the substance used in the compounding).

Next, take five taels of genuine mercury that has already been strained and refined, grind it over hot water as before, and place it into the reclining-moon furnace and cauldron by the same method, refining it with water and fire for half a month. When the period is complete, take it out and treat it by boiling as before, then pour it back in once it has been refined into liquid. Continue adding in this gradual manner until three catties of mercury have been incorporated; at that point, everything obtained becomes a supreme treasure.

If the golden sand and yellow sprout still cannot withstand fire and become stable, continue refining them with water and fire until they can subdue fire. After a further period of gentle nourishing, take them out, treat them by boiling as before, and pour them back in once refined into liquid. Continue adding gradually until three catties of mercury have been incorporated, and everything obtained becomes a supreme treasure. If the golden sand and yellow sprout have still not subdued fire, keep refining them with water and fire until they do. Nourish them gently until they turn the color of yellow earth and have the luster of gold; this is the true Wuji (an alchemical term).

The method of the Great Returned Elixir begins here. When more yellow sprout is to be taken, the surface of the reclining-moon furnace must be replaced. This method should be kept secret.

This passage records the preparation and use of what is called the "Second Cycle of the Returned Elixir, the Elixir of Primordial Spirit and Simplicity." "Returned Elixir" (Huandan) is the name of an elixir in Daoist alchemy, and "vessel" (dingqi) refers to the equipment used to refine the elixir.

First, take ten liang of cinnabar, five liang of realgar and orpiment, and one liang of bright sulfur. Grind them into a fine powder and place it in the water-and-fire vessel for sublimation. The material produced, called "Luzi," comes to about one jin. First, boil it for a day in the "Flowery Pool" (Huachi). Then take ten liang of pure yellow gold and shape it into a flat case. Fill it with fifty liang of elixir sprouts, and place one jin of the red Luzi in the middle. Seal the outside with refined yellow earth, then set the case inside an earthen casing.

Next, use six liang of gold to make a water ring; it may also be made from "yellow sprout" (huangya). Measure its size according to the height of the cinnabar Luzi, and spread the elixir sprouts over its upper and lower surfaces so that they cover the water ring evenly. Cut an opening in the face of the ring and insert a silver water pipe, so that it reaches into the ashes and passes through the lid of the case. Attach a water bucket above it. Seal the joints and seams firmly with fatty alum, and let it dry until it no longer leaks. Once everything is sealed and thoroughly dry, hang the vessel inside the "Elixir Dragon" (Danlong) furnace and heat it.

The heating schedule proceeds in stages. First, the upper fire is eight liang for five days and the lower fire five liang for five days. Next, the upper fire is ten liang for five days and the lower fire eight liang for five days. Finally, the upper fire is twelve liang for five days and the lower fire ten liang for five days. When the vessel is taken out, the elixir is complete. However, its moisture will have been depleted, so warm water must be added continually, and it must not be allowed to dry out within a short time. Every two and a half qian of elixir can transform five liang of mercury treated in the Flowery Pool into top-grade gold.

There is another method. After the upper and lower fires are finished, remove the elixir and place it in a pit in the ground. Burn it once with ten jin of fire and let the fire die out on its own. When the moisture is depleted, add warm water regularly. The method of retrieving the elixir afterward is the same as above, as is the heating schedule, but the refining takes two months. It is said that every two and a half qian of elixir can transform five liang of mercury treated in the Flowery Pool into top-grade gold.

There is yet another method. Here too, after the upper and lower fires are finished, the elixir is removed and placed in a pit in the ground, burned with ten jin of fire, and left until the fire dies out on its own, with warm water added as needed. The method of retrieving the elixir afterward is the same, and the heating schedule is identical. At this point the original text repeats the latter half of the previous method and does not explain how the two differ.

Terms such as "sublimation" (feilian), "heating schedule" (huohou), and "elixir sprouts" (danya) are all technical terms of ancient alchemy. The original text describes how the vessel is sealed and assembled, how it is heated, and how the water is controlled, and it claims that the elixir can transform mercury into gold.

Third Cycle of the Returned Elixir: The Elixir That Penetrates Heaven and Earth, with Illustrations of the Vessels

Take eight liang of the Vermilion Elixir refined in the previous cycle. Add eight liang of cinnabar that has been sublimated and refined to remove its mineral nature, together with half a liang of Xiongying (an arsenic-bearing mineral used in alchemy), and grind them together until evenly blended. Take ten liang of Mercury-Gold (refined mercury material) and form it into a sandwiched well-ring that is sealed on all sides, above and below, and hollow within like a well. Leave an opening at the top, insert a Gold-Water Conduit (a tube), and then place the whole in a Water Sea (a vessel holding water). A hollow water pin is also set in the Water Sea, passing into the central well until it nearly reaches the bottom.

The gold casing is five cun high and four cun in diameter; it is placed inside the gold well and fitted loosely. The well is four cun high and three cun in diameter, and its interior is lined with powder of Gold-Sand Yellow Sprout (a metallic ingredient used in alchemy). The original text repeats this passage on the dimensions of the vessels and the lining material. The Vermilion Elixir, one jin in total, is formed into lumps the size of chess pieces. For the outer vessel, use a jar-shaped cauldron (a container for heating the elixir); the outer cauldron may be made from ten liang of the gold casing material, or from yellow earth. Set the gold casing into the hollow of the outer cauldron, then pack the space with powder of Gold-Sand Yellow Sprout, one jin in all. Beneath the silver Water Sea, attach two water conduits, seal them, and hang the assembly in the Elixir Furnace (a furnace used in alchemy).

Refine it with the Three-Direction Fire (a method of regulating heat by compass direction). Shift and exchange the position of the fire according to the Mao and You double-hours, using eight liang of fire each time. Afterward increase this in steps to ten liang, then to one jin, and stop increasing there. Work with water and fire in this way for three months. When the term is complete, add ten jin of fire, applied in two stages. The fire in the pit in the ground should make the sides and the bottom glow red throughout; when the water is depleted, keep adding more. When the furnace has cooled, take out the Vermilion Elixir. Half a liang of it, once weighed, can congeal half a jin of mercury until it is dry. What results is entirely Purple-Burnished Great Treasure (a precious elixir material produced by refining). Mercury is still to be boiled in the Three-Yellow Silver Water (a silver solution prepared from three yellow ingredients) to give it form.

Fourth Cycle of the Returned Elixir: The Elixir of the Three Powers That Transforms Substance, with Illustrations of the Vessels

Take one jin of the Vermilion-Xiong Elixir refined in the third cycle and grind it into a fine powder. Then take four jin of vermilion mercury, add four liang of Xiongying, and grind them together evenly, working slowly over a gentle fire until the mixture turns purple and the mercury congeals and no longer flows. Then take three jin of the Gold-Sand Yellow Sprout described above and cast it into a vessel. Here the original text ends.

First take one jin of Cinnabar-Realgar Elixir (Zhu Xiong Dan) from the third transformation and grind it into a fine powder. Then take four jin of cinnabar mercury, add four liang of realgar essence, and grind them together until even. Refine the mixture over a gentle fire until the substance turns purple and the mercury loses its fluidity. Next, take three jin of the Golden Sand and Yellow Sprout (Huangya) refined earlier and cast it into a elixir cauldron one chi and two cun high and four cun in diameter.

Inside the cauldron, use ten liang of mercury-gold to make two rings, and five liang of mercury-gold to make a water reservoir, with the dimensions set as described below. The lower ring is one cun and two fen high and three and a half cun in diameter, with a flat base and no holes. A hole is opened in the center of its top, and a gold water tube is set upright, inserted into the hole and soldered firmly in place. The gold water tube is open at both ends and is roughly five or six cun long. The base of the upper ring also has a hole, which fits over the opening in the top of the lower ring. The upper ring has another hole connected to the silver water sea (a silver vessel that holds water), so that the bottoms of the two are linked, allowing water to flow to the bottom of the lower ring without leaking outward. The upper ring and the silver water sea are separated by about one and a half cun.

Into the gap on the outer side of the two rings, place the elixir prepared earlier, five jin in total, filling it completely. Wrap the cauldron inside and out with silver sheeting, then seal it with yellow earth according to the method of elixir refining, to a thickness of about two fingers, making it firm and tightly closed. Separately take one jin of silver and hammer it into a wide, deep silver water sea able to hold water, set it into the outside of the cauldron's mouth, and bind it tightly with iron wire.

Suspend the elixir cauldron within the Dan Ao (an elixir furnace used for refining elixirs), applying fire on all sides, using three jin of fire in total, adding fire at the Mao and You hours. After refining in this way for three months, take out the cauldron and hang it in a pit in the ground. Burn it three times with thirty jin of fire, letting it be refined away, and keep adding hot water as the water is consumed. When the furnace has cooled, take out the elixir. The elixir's color will be like a vermilion tangerine, with a purple luster, gathered into a single mass. Mix in five liang of mercury and refine it into the Great Medicine (Da Yao), and it will show a purple-gold radiance, bright as the sun.

The method of taking the elixir.

In a deep, quiet place where no one is present, draw clear water from a well. Seal the elixir in a gold box, wrap it tightly in cotton wadding, and hang it in the well to soak for three months. Take it out and steam it in "Qi beans" (炁豆, qi dou) for five days and five nights. Then boil it in a licorice decoction for one day, and nourish it in breast milk for three days and three nights, until it can be ground into a powder as fine as light dust.

Blend the powder with polygonatum paste to form pills, making three hundred and sixty pills from every two liang of powder. Each morning, swallow one pill with freshly drawn well water or with ginseng broth. During the course, avoid the five pungent foods (strong, spicy, stimulating foods), goat's blood, and other impure things, and do not tell anyone about the practice. Once the course is complete, the scripture (Jing) says, one will be able to see ten thousand li and hear the ninth heaven. The body will be light and robust, the complexion will not age, and one will enjoy long life and lasting vision, becoming an Earthly Immortal.

"The Fifth Revolution of the Returned Elixir: the Supreme Treasure Elixir of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), with Diagrams of the Cauldron and Vessels" is the title of the section that follows. It refers to the fifth revolution of Returned Elixir cultivation, the "Supreme Treasure Elixir of the Three Pure Ones," and is accompanied by illustrations of the cauldron and vessels.

Take nine jin of the inner "dry mercury-gold" (neiqian gong jin) refined in the Fourth Transformation and cast it into an outer cauldron, called the "Spirit Chamber" (Shenshi). The Spirit Chamber stands one chi and five cun high and measures five cun across. Then cast one jin of mercury-gold into a "Water Sea" (Shuihai), five cun deep and the same diameter as the cauldron's mouth, and set it inside the cauldron.

Next, use gold sand and Yellow Sprout (huangya) to cast an inner chamber shaped like an egg, with three legs beneath it, each one and a half cun high. The inner chamber is nine cun high and three and a half cun wide. Prepare the Yellow Sprout according to the method of the Circulating Water (tongyun shuifa), and use three jin of it to refine this inner chamber. The lid at the top of the inner chamber leaves a gap in the middle, and beneath it is a water conduit (shuiguan, a pipe through which liquid passes) that leads directly into the chamber. The Spirit Chamber can hold five jin of medicinal material.

For refining the medicine, take five jin of cinnabar mercury (chenhong), first add eight liang of realgar essence (xiongying) and eight liang of sulfur, and stir-fry them together until evenly mixed. Then simmer the mixture in "divine water" (shenshui) for half a day, stir-fry it dry, and place it in the Water-Fire Cauldron (shuihuo ding). Hammer it into a block, take it out, and grind it into powder. Fill the Yellow Sprout Spirit Chamber with the powder and seal it, letting the water conduit pass through. Then close the water-sandwiching lid, so that the conduit on the lid opens into the Golden Water Sea. Seal every joint tightly with fat-alum lute (zhifan), wait until it dries thoroughly, and then pour the Supremely Subtle Clear Water into the Water Sea.

Seal the whole outer cauldron with Six-One Mud (liuyi ni) about two fingers thick, bind it tightly with iron wire, and suspend it in the Dan Ao (a furnace apparatus used for refining elixirs). According to the hour and direction, open the furnace doors in three directions: Yin, Wu, and Xu. Each time, use three jin of fire, feeding the fire from one direction while the other two doors vent the heat. Add fire three times a day, three jin each time, rotating among the Yin, Wu, and Xu directions, and keep the fire going for sixty days.

Afterward, take out the elixir cauldron, suspend it in a pit dug in the ground, and rest it on ashes. Refine it three times with forty-five jin of fire, allowing it to melt. As the water diminishes, frequently add warm water. When the furnace fire has cooled, take out the elixir, and you will see a color like purple mist, bright and dazzling in its radiance.

According to the scripture (Jing), an elixir the size of a single character can transmute the five metals into purple gold. One character of the elixir can also dry-transform five liang of the world's mercury into Heavenly Treasure of the Upper Age (shangshi tianbao), and can transmute five liang of silver into gold. There will also be a light, purple, powder-like substance at the top of the inner chamber. Collect it and store it in a golden box; this is the essential body of the Great Elixir. It must not be used lightly, but should be kept for the Ninefold Returned Elixir (jiuzhuan huandan).

Take nine jin of the elixir material that has completed the fifth transmutation and re-congealed at the bottom, and melt it into liquid in a water-and-fire cauldron furnace. Cast it into an outer cauldron twelve cun high and four cun across. Then make an outer wall of gold sheeting to enclose and protect the elixir cauldron, so that the two fit closely together.

Next, take two jin of dry mercury and purple gold (ganhong zijin) and cast an egg-shaped Shenshi (the "spirit chamber," a vessel for holding the elixir material), seven cun high and three and a half cun across. Grind together eight liang of accumulated light dust, one jin of cinnabar mercury that has been subjected to compulsion, and four liang of realgar that has been sublimated, until no grains remain visible. Place the mixture in the Shenshi, then close and seal it. Pack the outside of the chamber with powder of gold sand and yellow sprout (jinsha huangya) until it is level and full, and seal the opening.

At the base of the Shenshi, use eight liang of gold to make a round pedestal, three and a half cun across and three and a half cun high. Leave openings on both sides of the pedestal and insert the Jinshui wan (a conduit that carries the "gold water"). Run it up to the top of the chamber so that the conduit joins the Shenshi, and then continue upward until it reaches the underside of the Jinshui hai (the "sea of gold water," a vessel that holds the gold water), which weighs one jin. Use the Jinshui wan to hold the Shenshi in place, then pack the outside of the chamber with gold sand and yellow sprout powder, making it level and firm so that the chamber is not exposed.

Coat the outer cauldron with yellow earth that has been refined, to a thickness of about two fingers, and let it dry. Then place it in the water sea, seal it again, and hang it inside the Dan'ao (an elixir-refining implement). Apply fire according to the method of water-and-fire talismans (fulu). Wait two months, and at the hours of mao, you, and the like, adjust the heat at three places, using three jin of fire at each. The original text is repetitive here, and the meaning of the phrase "three jin of fire each, completed in a single day" is not clear.

Take out the elixir material and set it in a pit in the ground. Smelt it with fifty jin of fire, in three stages, and let it melt. As the moisture diminishes, add warm broth frequently. When the furnace has cooled, remove the contents. According to the original text, at this point the Chen mercury inside has all turned into a purple-gold liquid and a snow-like substance. Ten liang of "one-character dry mercury" can be refined into the Heavenly Treasure of the Supreme Age. One liang of this gold is worth two or three liang of silver in the world, or it can be transmuted into gold. The purple, rosy-colored liquid and the snow-like substance that rise from beneath the water sea and the Shenshi are to be collected and stored in a gold casket. All of it is the Great Elixir.

Seventh Reversion: The Elixir of the Five Peaks Penetrating the Mysterious, with Diagrams of the Cauldron Vessels

Take the material that has re-congealed in the spirit chamber from the sixth reversion, and smelt it together with the cauldron material already formed earlier, until it melts into a liquid and displays a purple divine light. Then add "yellow efflorescence" (huangying) into it, in an amount of nine to ten catties, and in every case it can be refined into the cauldron. Pour it into an earthen mold and shape it into a form like mountainous terrain, with uneven heights, rises, and hollows.

Next, boil five catties of cinnabar-mercury in divine water and pour it over the elixir base, setting the base within three catties of gold in a state of primal chaos. Cover it above with the elixir powder from the sixth reversion. Seal the outside firmly with lute clay and similar materials, then fit the lid onto the urn and embed it in a golden casing, covering and sealing it once more. After that, use the method of water below and fire above, suspending it in the elixir cauldron. Each day, forge it with five catties' worth of fire and let it melt. When the water is used up, add hot water. On the second day, when the water is changed, use five catties again, neither increasing nor decreasing, and nurture it warmly in this way until two months are complete.

Remove the golden yang lid and replace it with the vessel from the sea of gold and water. Press it against the lower casing, seal the joint, reinforce the outside, and bind it tightly with iron wire. Suspend it once more in the elixir furnace and refine it with bottom fire for one month. Each of the three directions receives one catty of fire, rotated at the hours of Mao and You. When the period is complete, take it out and suspend it, seal the joint, reinforce the outside, bind it with iron wire, and hang it back in the elixir furnace. Then continue refining it with bottom fire for another month, with one catty of fire for each of the three directions, again rotated at the hours of Mao and You.

When this period is complete, take it out and hang it in an earth pit, with the upper and lower parts set in water. Burn it for one round with thirty catties of fire, then for another round with twenty catties, and let it melt. Remove the vessel and open it. Inside, there will have formed golden silkworms and jade bamboo shoots, and there may also be shapes of lions, elephants, oxen, and horses, or figures like fierce generals, each differing in form. The scripture (Jing) holds that these numinous forms congeal because they are stirred by the spiritual power of the constellation presiding over that day and by the heroic qi (Qi) between heaven and earth, and that they are the condensed essence of water, fire, and Yin-Yang.

Each character's worth of mercury produced yields ten taels, which may be called the Heavenly Treasure of High Antiquity. Each tael of the gold can transmute five taels of ordinary silver into gold. Each time the refining is done beneath the sea of water, something like auspicious clouds of five colors rises and flies upward. This is called "flying, transforming numinous efflorescence," a great medicine formed from light, clear spirit-qi (Shen and Qi). Store it in the golden chamber, nurture it warmly with water and fire, and wait to use it later in refining the Great Elixir.

The Eighth Transformation of the Returned Elixir: The Returned Elixir within the Taiji, with Diagrams of the Cauldron Vessels

Begin by taking five jin of cinnabar and mercury (the cinnabar and mercury-type materials used in alchemical refining), and add one jin of the Three Yellows Flying Efflorescence. Refine and sublimate these in a water-and-fire cauldron (an alchemical vessel heated by a combination of water and fire) to produce cinnabar.

Boil the cinnabar in divine water. Then take five jin of the powdered materials refined in the seventh transformation, such as the Jade Bamboo Shoot and the Golden Silkworm, and grind them together with the cinnabar. Next, add the materials already completed in the seventh transformation, such as the Spirit Chamber and the Elixir Ground, together with a further quantity of Golden Sand and Yellow Sprout Elixir, sixteen jin in all. Boil and refine them together until the materials are evenly blended.

Using a strong fire, cast a cauldron in the form of Chaos (Hundun), two chi in height and eight cun in inner diameter. Then use five jin of medicinal gold to make an outer shell that encases and protects the cauldron, so that the two fit closely together. Separately, take eight liang of gold-mercury gold and make a hollow sphere, three cun in both height and diameter. At each end of the sphere, fit a water conduit (a pipe used to channel water), each weighing two liang. The lower end of each conduit is sealed, the upper end is open, and each passes through the cauldron and extends beyond it. The water basins above and below the cauldron (vessels that hold water and allow it to circulate) should allow warm water to circulate and flow through the hollow space.

Place the ten jin of materials prepared above around the inside of the cauldron, packing them down until it is half full. Close the lid and bind it firmly with iron wire. Coat the outside with refined yellow earth to a thickness of about two finger-widths, let it dry, bind it tightly again with iron wire, and suspend it within the Spirit Turtle (Shen'ao, a vessel used in alchemical refining).

First apply a cauldron fire of one jin, alternating between the mao and you hours, and refine for five days. Then add a base fire of ten liang and refine for five days. Next, apply a cauldron fire of one jin for five days, followed by a base fire of ten liang for five days. When the water diminishes, add warm water, taking care that it does not overflow, and replenish it through the water basins. Thereafter, continue to alternate the fire in the order of one jin of cauldron fire and ten liang of base fire, with each base-fire phase lasting five days. Proceed in this way for a full three months.

Remove the elixir cauldron and set it in a pit in the ground. Burn it three times with a fire of fifty jin, adding warm water from time to time, and let the fire go out of its own accord. When the furnace has cooled, take out the vessel. The elixir will have become a golden paste, dazzling with purple light and sweet as honey in flavor. This is called the completion of the Great Medicine.

One liang of this elixir can be blended with one jin of mercury to turn it into a great purple golden treasure. One liang can also transmute ten liang of silver into what is called the "gold of the Great Medicine," or cause ten liang of mercury to congeal into gold. Beyond these, there are further transformations, such as Flying, Restoring, Golden Frost, and Liquid Snow, all of which are called the Great Returned Elixir (Dahuan Dan).

Ninth Transformation of the Returned Elixir: The Golden Liquid Great Returned Elixir and Diagrams of the Vessels

Take the fifty taels of purple-gold returned elixir refined earlier and cast them into a "spirit chamber" (shenshi, the inner vessel in which the elixir is placed during refining), seven inches high and five inches in diameter, and fit it with a lid. Then use twenty-four jin of Yellow Sprout gold essence to cast a cauldron one foot five inches high and nine inches in diameter. Inside the cauldron, cast five supporting pillars: the low point in the middle measures four inches, and the pillars stand two and a half inches high, serving to hold up the spirit chamber.

Next, take one jin of returned-elixir gold and cast a water cauldron with a pointed base. It must fit over the outside of the golden cauldron, with its straight, pointed tube inserted into the "Chaos Joint" (hundun he, the connecting point of the alchemical apparatus), made in the same way as in the first refining. Then use half of the eighth-transformation elixir to support the spirit chamber. Take another jin of returned-elixir gold and cast a second pointed-base water cauldron, so that it can cover the golden cauldron from outside, with its straight tube inserted into the Chaos Joint, again made as in the first refining. Make a golden paste from the powder of the eighth-transformation elixir and apply it to the outside of the Chaos Joint as a sealing material.

In the Chaos Chamber, place one jin of large pieces of cinnabar and boil them in divine water. Then spread over them long-stored elixir grains, in no fixed amount, until the chamber is full. Alternatively, grind dust powder together with vermilion mercury; this too can produce the Great Returned Elixir.

Once the vessels are assembled, fit the water sea and the golden cauldron together, insert them into the mouth of the apparatus, and seal the joints layer upon layer. For the exterior, take eighty-one large taels of yellow clay, mix it with salt, alum water, and paper fiber, and pound and work it thoroughly. Wrap it around the outer cauldron to a thickness of one and a half to two finger-widths, bind it firmly with iron wire, and suspend it from an iron frame.

Place the cauldron assembly in the three-tiered divine furnace modeled on the cosmic order, set up before the altar. Offer incense and fire without interruption day and night, and set up a clepsydra to keep time, regulating the fire phases according to the water-and-fire talismanic schedule. Open or close the Eight Gates as the method prescribes, adjusting the fire below and the water above, and increasing, decreasing, or shifting the heat and the amount of water. The scripture then repeats the steps of placing the furnace before the altar and offering incense and fire day and night; the original text is duplicated here. After this, following the prescribed weights and procedures, run the water and fire of the Great Celestial Cycle for one year. Cover the whole with a further three-tiered enclosure, set up a separate screen around it, and allow no one to enter.

In the second year, remove the elixir cauldron from its pit in the ground and hold a jiao covenant ceremony (jiaomeng) to report to the Supreme Lord. The scripture says that at this point "no water sea is permitted," yet water must still be conveyed into the cauldron. Around it, use thirty-six jin of fuel, added in three portions. Continue in this way for nine days, and as the period nears its end, wait for the ashes in the furnace to settle, then let the furnace cool for three nights.

The elixir taken out will display a marvelous, gem-like luster, like jade medicine or purple-mist paste, dazzling to the eye. Divide the elixir into three portions: one to offer to Heaven and pray for blessings, one to relieve the poor, and one for liandu (a Daoist rite for the salvation of the dead and the deliverance of souls in the underworld). Bury the remaining elixir in a pit, soak it in water for one hundred days, and then steam it to remove its toxicity. Take eighty-one grains from each portion, blend them with polygonatum paste, form pills, and take them for one year.

Finally, hold a grand jiao ceremony to report to the deities of the Three Realms, and to make a covenant announcement to the Heavenly Emperors of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the Three Officials and Nine Bureaus, the immortals and patriarchs who attained the Dao through alchemy, and the perfected immortals of the Nine Provinces, while awaiting ascension to immortality. The closing passage of the scripture, concerning the burying, soaking, pill-making, and reporting, is repeated once more.

In the eleventh month, in which the winter solstice falls, choose an auspicious day to begin applying fire. From then on, increase the heat by one liang each day, reaching its peak in the ninth month, after which it is gradually reduced. Nine days before the beginning of winter, suspend the water-and-fire training. For the practice, choose an auspicious site and an auspicious day, set up the altar, install the cauldron, and place the furnace, with the furnace and cauldron facing due south. The location should have beautiful mountains and waters and lie far from human affairs; it should also avoid places with chickens and dogs, cat carcasses, or foul odors. The practitioner must purify the mind and observe a fast, remain undisturbed by worldly tasks, and attend single-mindedly to the fire phasing, allowing no thoughts of fame, profit, or sensual desire to stir. Three like-minded companions are also needed to practice together.

What follows lists the daily amounts of fire and water. "Fire phasing" (huohou) refers to the control of heat during the refining of the elixir, and "water" refers to the quantity of water used in coordination with it. The original text uses the liang as its unit of measure:

Day 1 (new moon): fire 1 liang, water 14 liang.

Day 2: fire 2 liang, water 13 liang.

Day 3: fire 3 liang, water 12 liang.

Day 4: fire 4 liang, water 11 liang.

Day 5: fire 5 liang, water 10 liang.

Day 6: fire 6 liang, water 9 liang.

Day 7: fire 7 liang, water 8 liang.

Day 8 (first quarter): fire 8 liang, water 7 liang.

Day 9: fire 9 liang, water 6 liang.

Day 10: fire 10 liang, water 5 liang.

Day 11: fire 11 liang, water 4 liang.

Day 12: fire 12 liang, water 3 liang.

Day 13: fire 13 liang, water 2 liang.

Day 14: fire 14 liang, water 1 liang.

Day 15: fire 14 liang, water 1 liang.

Day 16: fire 14 liang, water 1 liang.

Day 17: fire 13 liang, water 2 liang.

Day 18: fire 12 liang, water 3 liang.

Day 19: fire 11 liang, water 4 liang.

Day 20: fire 10 liang, water 5 liang.

Day 21: fire 9 liang, water 6 liang.

Day 22: fire 8 liang, water 7 liang.

Day 23: fire 7 liang, water 8 liang.

Day 24: fire 6 liang, water 9 liang.

After the eighth day, the original text contains a passage that is duplicated and garbled: "On the eleventh day, first quarter, fire 8 liang, water 7 liang. On the ninth day, fire 9 liang, water 6 liang. On the tenth day, fire 10 liang, water 5 liang." Here the figures have been arranged according to the later, consecutive dates and amounts, and this repeated passage has not been calculated as a separate round.

On the twenty-fifth day, use five liang of fire and ten liang of water; on the twenty-sixth, four liang of fire and eleven of water; on the twenty-seventh, three liang of fire and twelve of water; on the twenty-eighth, two liang of fire and thirteen of water; on the twenty-ninth, one liang of fire and fourteen of water. The thirtieth is the last day of the month, the dark day (hui), and it also uses one liang of fire and fourteen of water.

The fire phasing (huohou) described above is the rule by which immortals in their cultivation govern the strength of the fire and the measure of the water, and it is not to be passed on to those of shallow attainment. Here the medicinal substance is taken as one jin, and the total fire phasing is likewise taken as one jin, as an analogy. A year has three hundred and eighty-four zhu, which together also make one jin. For each yang line (the line in the Yi hexagrams that represents Yang), use two liang of fire; on the dark day, use one liang of fire. The water is fourteen liang.

Another account holds that each yang line uses two liang of fire, while each yin line (the line in the Yi hexagrams that represents Yin) uses two and a half liang of water. The six lines together total fifteen liang, which is the number of one jin. The Qian hexagram takes the number nine and the Kun hexagram takes the number six, and together they too make fifteen liang.

Secret Instructions of the Golden Flower Pure Jade Elixir Scripture (Jinhua Chongbi Dan Jing Miezhi), Volume 2