《云笈七签》Vol. 27

Sulfur receives the nature of the southern Fire energy of Bing and Ding. “True lead” is lead that contains the original primal energy and has been smelted from ore, but has not yet undergone extraction and refinement in a cup.

Seventh Section: Combining the Ingredients

Take one jin of true lead and fifteen liang of purple gold from the Reverse-Mysterious True Crimson-Cloud Cinnabar. Melt the two ingredients separately in pots, then pour them together and mix well. Remove them from the fire and quickly stir-fry until they become fine sand. Add five liang of sulfur. Grind all three ingredients thoroughly in a mortar for one day, then transfer them to a cauldron and refine them over the fire in six cycles, adding Yang energy in each cycle. For details of regulating the fire in the furnace and cauldron, see “Section on the Fire’s Timing.”

The Great Elixir is first bestowed by Heaven, then put to use by human beings. Through tending, circulation, and refinement, pure Yang energy gradually accumulates. Within it are Water and Fire; without, it holds the radiance of the sun, moon, and stars. The Five Spirits mingle and transform through steaming, and at times it becomes light and buoyant. It thereby changes and grows fervent, congealing into an elixir that ultimately returns to the south. Clear, serene, and at ease, it comes into being in the Hall of Purple Tenuity. What is described here also seems to refer to the circulation and interaction of Water and Fire within and without, whose transformations ultimately refine the Great Returning Elixir.

Eighth Section: The Furnace and Cauldron, and the Fire’s Timing

The furnace and cauldron used to refine the Great Elixir must also be made according to the principles of the Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and Humanity—and the Five Spirits. The cauldron must be made from medium-grade metal that has been repeatedly refined seven times, corresponding to the twenty-four solar terms. Use sixteen liang of metal to cast a round cauldron with a capacity of nine ge; use another eight liang to cast its lid. The cauldron weighs sixteen liang, making one jin in total; its capacity of nine ge corresponds to the form in which the Yang energy of the Three Origins reaches its fullness. The lid weighs eight liang, corresponding to the eight seasonal turning points of the year. Together, cauldron and lid weigh twenty-four liang, in accord with the great number governing the movement of Heaven and Earth.

Then place the prepared purple-gold cinnabar in the cauldron and seal it tightly so that no Yang energy can escape. Set the cauldron in the furnace.

The “Art of Molding and Casting” explains how to construct the earthen altar and furnace cauldron for casting. During a ten-day cycle beginning with Jiachen, choose the day Wushen and gather clean earth from the Shen position in the southwest.

First, build an altar from earth, eight cun high and two chi four cun wide, and place the furnace on top. The furnace has three tiers, symbolizing the flow of breath between above and below. The upper tier is nine cun high and is called the “Heavenly Pass.” Make nine openings in it to symbolize the Nine Stars. The middle tier is one chi high and is called the “Human Pass.” Give it twelve doorways to symbolize the Twelve Earthly Branches, and fit each doorway with a complete door. The lower tier is five cun high and is called the “Earthly Pass.” Make eight passages in it to symbolize the Eight Winds. The furnace chamber must be one chi two cun in diameter.

Then place the cauldron inside the furnace, suspending it two cun above the bottom and supporting it from below with a small earthen stand. The stand should also be two cun high and about the same size as the cauldron. The fire may then be tended to carry out the smelting.

The Fire Timing Formula explains how to control the furnace fire during alchemical practice, arranging its timing according to changes in Yin-Yang and the seasonal periods and natural signs of the year. The ancients counted five days as one hou, three hou as one qi, and two qi as roughly one month. The seventy-two hou correspond to the twenty-four solar terms and together make up twelve months. When the twelve months complete one cycle, the Qi of Yin and Yang has made its full circuit, and the elixir is complete.

To kindle the fire, choose the midnight jiazi hour on a jiazi day in the eleventh month, and begin at the “Zi Gate.” The gates Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, and the others are furnace-fire directions or stages, divided according to the twelve Earthly Branches. Each gate burns for five days, with different specified weights of charcoal added at each. The scripture first lists the order of charcoal use for the Yang gates, saying that the charcoal in these six gates should be placed vertically to symbolize the gradual stirring of Yang Qi. It then moves to the six Yin gates—Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai—and says that the charcoal should be placed horizontally to symbolize changes in the Yin-Yang climate. After the Si Gate, the original text repeats the Mao, Chen, and Si gates in its sequence for the Yang gates; the listed amounts of charcoal are retained as given in the original.

Proceeding in order from the Zi Gate to the Hai Gate, the process passes through the gates of all twelve periods and uses a total of seventy-two liang of charcoal, corresponding to the seventy-two hou. This forms the fire-timing arrangement known as the “Four Images and Twelve Hou.” After burning for sixty days, or two months, one cycle is complete. At this point, open the furnace vessel and add two liang of stone sulfur. Place it with purple gold sand in a mortar and grind it with a jade pestle for half a day, then return it to the vessel. Seal it firmly and continue the firing as before, following the sequence of five days at each gate.

Next, following the method in the “Fire Circulation Formula,” add another two liang of stone sulfur. Place it together with the purple-gold cinnabar in a mortar and grind it with a jade pestle for half a day. Then put it into the cauldron, seal it, and reinforce the seal with sealing material. Afterward, circulate the fire through each gate as before, burning for five days at each gate.

Begin the fire circulation at the Zi hour on a Jiazi day. Use five liang of charcoal at the Zi gate, six at the Chou gate, seven at the Yin gate, eight at the Mao gate, nine at the Chen gate, and ten at the Si gate. At the Wu gate, reduce the amount to nine liang; use eight at the Wei gate, seven at the Shen gate, six at the You gate, five at the Xu gate, and four at the Hai gate.

This is the second cycle of fire circulation. Burning for five days at each gate is called one hou. Proceeding through the twelve gates in order makes twelve hou, totaling sixty days. Altogether, use eighty-four liang of charcoal—twelve liang more than in the first cycle, corresponding exactly to the number of the twelve seasonal divisions. Then wait for the furnace fire to go out before opening it to inspect the contents. The material inside should be the color of brown earth, with golden flecks glimmering throughout.

Next, add another two liang of stone sulfur and grind it again with the cinnabar mixture. Put it into the cauldron and seal it securely. Then circulate the fire as described above, proceeding through the twelve gates in order and burning for five days at each gate; this counts as one hou.

Begin heating from the Zi position. Every five days, use seven liang of charcoal. The furnace must always contain seven liang of fully burned charcoal, no more and no less. Then move in sequence through the Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, and Si positions. Heat each position for five days, increasing the amount of charcoal in turn to eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve liang.

At the Wu position, reduce the charcoal to eleven liang for each five-day period. Then proceed through the Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai positions, heating each for five days and gradually reducing the amount to ten, nine, eight, seven, and six liang. At each of the twelve positions, add the prescribed amount of charcoal and make one complete cycle. The total charcoal used in the furnace is 108 liang. For the second cycle, add another twenty-four liang of charcoal, corresponding to the twenty-four solar terms.

After heating each of the twelve positions for five days, completing a total of sixty days, wait for the crucible to cool before opening it for inspection. Its color should be faintly purplish. Then add two liang of stone sulfur, remove the gold sand, and grind them together until evenly mixed. Return the mixture to the crucible and seal it. Continue to regulate the fire as before, heating each position for five days.

Beginning at the Jiazi hour around midnight on a Jiazi day, first open the Zi gate and tend the fire for five days, using nine liang of charcoal. Then open the Chou gate and tend the fire for five days, using ten liang of charcoal. Next, proceed in order through the Yin, Mao, Chen, and Si gates, tending the fire at each gate for five days and increasing the charcoal respectively to eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen liang. Continue to regulate the fire through the gates: at the Wu gate, reduce the charcoal to thirteen liang; at the Wei gate, reduce it to twelve; at the Shen gate, to eleven; at the You gate, to ten; and at the Xu gate, to nine. Finally, at the Hai gate, tend the fire for five days, using eight liang of charcoal.

After completing one circuit through the twelve gates, the furnace will have used a total of 132 liang of charcoal. Add a further twenty-four liang, bringing the total to 156 liang, and regulate the fire according to the seasonal conditions. When the firing is sufficient, let the furnace cool before opening it to inspect the contents. If the refined sand has gradually taken on a golden-purple hue, shining like stars and gleaming brilliantly, it has reached the state described. Then add two liang of stone sulfur, remove fourteen liang of the gold sand, and grind them together with the sulfur in a bowl until evenly mixed. Return the mixture to the vessel and seal it tightly. Check the top and bottom of the vessel to ensure there are no gaps through which air can escape, then regulate the fire through each gate again as before.

Begin firing at the hour of the Rat on a Jiazi day. First add eleven liang of charcoal through the Zi gate and burn for five days. Then open the Chou gate and add twelve liang of charcoal, burning for five days. Next open the Yin gate and burn for five days with thirteen liang. Continue in order through the Mao, Chen, and Si gates, burning for five days at each gate and gradually increasing the charcoal to sixteen liang.

At the Wu gate, begin reducing the amount of charcoal: burn for five days with fifteen liang. Then proceed through the Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai gates, burning for five days at each and reducing the charcoal in sequence to fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, and ten liang. In this way, proceed in order from the Zi gate through all twelve gates; according to the text, one complete cycle uses a total of 156 liang of charcoal. The charcoal burns around the body of the cauldron, replenished and tended in sequence for sixty days. On the fourth turn, increase the amount of charcoal by twenty-four liang.

Purple vapors circle the cauldron, resembling mist. Once the furnace fire has cooled, open the cauldron. The gold-colored sand will have turned into an elixir with a purplish sheen, speckled with red points like stars, as though it were about to stir and surge gently. Add two liang of sulfur, mix it with the elixir material in a mortar, and grind it carefully for half a day. Then return it to the cauldron, seal it, and close it with clay. Afterward, adjust the strong fire according to the weather and refine one turn of the Reverted Elixir.

Begin the refining at the Zi Gate on the Jiazi day and hour. Use a fierce fire at each gate for five days: seventeen liang of charcoal at the Zi Gate, eighteen at the Chou Gate, nineteen at the Yin Gate, twenty at the Mao Gate, and eighteen at the Chen Gate. Then begin again at the Yin Gate, burning for five days at each of the Yin, Mao, Chen, and Si Gates, with nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two liang of charcoal, respectively. At the Wu Gate, burn for five days and reduce the charcoal to twenty-one liang. Continue through the Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai Gates, burning for five days at each and using twenty, nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, and sixteen liang of charcoal, respectively.

Refining with a fierce fire from the Zi Gate through the Hai Gate requires a total of 228 liang of charcoal. Add another seventy-two liang to the furnace to complete the fifth cycle, corresponding to the seventy-two seasonal markers. When the fire has done its work, it is said that purple Qi surges skyward from the furnace and crucible, the sun and moon seem to lose their radiance, and mountains and rivers tremble. These are signs that the elixir has been successfully refined.

At this point, extinguish the furnace, remove the crucible, and set it on an incense altar to cool. Then open it and inspect the contents. The elixir is bright in color and so light it seems almost to have left the physical realm. It is joined above and below the crucible lid like a nine-tiered hibiscus flower. After five days, it has lost neither its shape nor its weight. Inside the crucible remains twenty-four liang of a congealed substance, purple-gold in color. A single sesame-seed-sized pill of this purple gold can subdue one jin of mercury and five dan of material, and turn all five metals into treasures. The crucible is then moved to the Three Caverns (Dongzhen, Dongxuan, and Dongshen), where its achievements are enshrined in each. When its efficacy is complete and it returns to the true Dao, it transcends the world like a cicada shedding its skin. Such is the power of the restored elixir—truly extraordinary.

Chapter Nine: The Elixir Is Completed and Returns to the True Dao

Immortals, too, have different grades, but the state attained by a “Perfected One” is of the same nature. Sevenfold-Returned Cinnabar (cinnabar refined seven times) has remarkable effects: those who take it may become high-ranking immortals, yet they cannot be called true Perfected Ones. It still retains a substantial, obstructive form; it cannot transform with effortless lightness, nor can it escape the Five Spirits (divinities associated with the body’s inner spiritual activity). In the end, it remains merely true water that people in the world can melt down.

Once the Ninefold-Restored Elixir (an elixir reheated and refined nine times) is complete, it can transform with ease and lightness, shedding all material form. It shines with a full, brilliant radiance, and its luminous breath rises straight into the clouds. When it encounters external things, it can transform without hindrance. Even if refined with a thousand drums and ten thousand bellows—tools for repeated pounding, blowing, and smelting—it cannot be made to melt; instead, its refined brilliance grows ever stronger. Those who take it undergo feathering and ascend, becoming exalted Perfected Ones. Thus, by gathering Jing and Qi one can become an immortal; and, after becoming immortal, by advancing further to realize the state of a Perfected One, one can transcend utmost Yang, endure alongside Heaven and Earth, soar through clouds and mist, command the myriad spirits and direct the hosts of immortals, and ascend to the lofty Purple Palace in Heaven. This is what it means to be a Perfected One. Yet Heaven and Earth do not diminish Yang essence; only Perfected Ones can endure for a long time, unlike the myriad beings of the world, who continually decline and change.

Fascicle Sixty-Nine · Section on the Golden Elixir, Part Seven

“Treatise on the Sevenfold-Returned Numinous Cinnabar” (with preface)—written by Chen Shaowei of Mount Heng, courtesy name Ziming

At the beginning of the Tianyuan era, I left Mount Heng and traveled as far as Huanglong. While staying at an inn, I unexpectedly encountered a Perfected One in a mountain cave. He passed on to me the essential instructions for Numinous Cinnabar and told me, “I received these instructions from Immortal Lord Xu. Immortal Lord Xu received them from Celestial Master Wu, and Celestial Master Wu received them from Perfected Ding of the same commandery. The source of these instructions is Perfected Ding.

“The fundamental instructions for Cinnabar are mysterious and profound; they are truly difficult to fathom quickly. Those who love the Dao arts and yearn for the immortals, if they do not investigate their origins, will sink into the dust of the world. Since antiquity, the writings of the immortal scriptures have been secretive, often concealing their meaning rather than making it clear to people. I have often regretted this. Now I have set down the material in two works, ‘The Sevenfold-Returned Chapter of Numinous Cinnabar’ and ‘Instructions on the Intent of the Golden Elixir,’ and written prefaces and treatises for them.”

The discussion in Seven Slips from the Cloudy Satchel says that cinnabar is the essence of the sun, the true substance formed by the condensation of Metal and Fire, and that it corresponds to the Eight Stones and the twenty-four solar terms. “Cinnabar” is formed when Metal is acted upon by Fire; “mercury” is the name for what remains when the watery nature within Metal departs. Cinnabar receives Yang essence and forms only when the time is ripe. When mercury leaves its original substance, its form is incomplete. Cinnabar, then, is the essence of Metal and Fire condensed together. It contains the true Qi that is mysterious, primal, clear, and pure, and is the foundation for refining the Returned Elixir, a Daoist alchemical medicine, and the source of the Great Medicine. Joined with De, it can generate the myriad things; separated from its original substance, it becomes profound and difficult to fathom.

The scripture also says that Yang essence shines brightly, and obtaining it can bring the hun and po souls back. Taking in Yang essence is a means of attaining longevity; taking in Yin po soul leads to death and becoming a ghost. Cinnabar is regarded as the pure Qi of Yang and symbolizes the Red Emperor, the southern fire deity. It occupies the southern position of Fire.

There are many kinds of cinnabar. Because they receive different kinds of Qi, only three are considered superior medicines: Bright Cinnabar is the highest, White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar is of middle rank, and Purple Spirit Cinnabar comes next. Stream cinnabar and other miscellaneous kinds are unsuitable as supreme medicines for ingestion. The scripture states that one liang of Bright Cinnabar is as potent as four liang of White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar; it then goes on to say that one liang of White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar...

The efficacy of stream cinnabar and earth cinnabar is far inferior to that of purple spirit cinnabar. Someone asks: These are all called cinnabar and receive the Sun’s vital essence alike. Why, then, do the various kinds of mixed cinnabar, such as stream cinnabar and earth cinnabar, differ in potency?

The answer is that Bright Cinnabar receives the Sun’s pure, clear, luminous, and upright vital essence. When it congeals, it takes on a vivid, brilliant red color, hence the name “Bright Cinnabar.” White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar receives the Moon’s even, clear, and gentle vital essence. When it congeals, it is pure white and gleaming, like mica, hence the name “White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar.” Purple Spirit Cinnabar receives the numinous energy of mountains and marshes. It congeals into cinnabar with a reddish-purple color, hence the name “Purple Spirit Cinnabar.” The energy received by stream cinnabar, earth cinnabar, and other mixed kinds is turbid, sluggish, and impure. When they congeal, they lack a clear, bright luster, so they are unsuitable as ingredients for making superior elixirs.

According to the text, one jin of Bright Cinnabar yields fourteen liang after “subduing and refining”—an alchemical process in which the substance is treated with fire to stabilize it—and seven liang of precious material after further firing and refining. One jin of White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar yields twelve liang after subduing and refining, and six liang of precious material after further firing and refining. One jin of Purple Spirit Cinnabar yields ten liang after subduing and refining, and six liang after further firing and refining. One jin of stream cinnabar, earth cinnabar, or other mottled cinnabar yields only six or seven liang after subduing and refining, and just one or two liang after further firing and refining. This shows that the vital essence received by stream cinnabar and earth cinnabar is unclear, turbid, and mixed.

A skilled cultivator first selects the cinnabar, then adjusts the fire, carefully controlling the refining process to complete the “seven reversals and seven returns,” a term in alchemy for repeatedly refining and transforming the elixir. Among metals and stones, nothing is more numinous, sacred, and luminous than cinnabar. Carrying even one liang on one’s person was said to ward off evil spirits; how much more so, then, when it is subdued through refining and taken into the body? Though the “seven reversals and seven returns” goes by different names, its substance is the same.

“Returning” means refining cinnabar into gold; “reverting” means turning gold back into cinnabar. The scripture says: “Return to my source and return to my constant Dao; take it, and you may pay homage to the Jade Emperor in broad daylight.” Some also say that the term “Seven Reversions” is used because cinnabar belongs to Fire and, through transformation and refinement, becomes gold. The text explains that seven is the completion number of Fire, and that refining through seven transformations accords with the Yang qi reaching the height of its course.

The seven transformations and refinements mean refining cinnabar until it can withstand fire. First, refine it into silver; then refine the cinnabar into fire-proof yellow-flower silver. This is the second reversion. Turn the yellow-flower silver into cinnabar, then refine it into fire-proof blue-gold cinnabar. This is the third reversion. Turn the blue-gold into cinnabar, then refine it into gold. This is the fourth reversion. Turn the gold into red cinnabar, then refine it into red gold. This is the fifth reversion. Next, turn the red gold into cinnabar and refine it into blue-gold cinnabar; turn the blue-gold into cinnabar and refine it into gold; turn the gold into red cinnabar and refine it into red gold; then turn the red gold into cinnabar again and refine it into red gold. This is the sixth reversion. Finally, turn the red gold into cinnabar and refine it into purple gold. This completes the seventh reversion.

The gold refined from this numinous cinnabar contains a deep reserve of Yang essence, and its true original Qi is already abundant. Next, turn the purple gold into cinnabar and refine it with fire for one full cycle, until it is thoroughly integrated and radiant throughout. It then becomes the purple-gold Returning Elixir. After taking it, body and spirit unite, allowing one to lighten the body and ascend by flight.

People often mistake stone sulfur for the “essence of the sun” and mix it with mercury to refine it through the Seven Reversions. But sulfur carries an isolated Yang qi and leans toward the nature of stone, while mercury has become separated from the qi of original harmony—the balanced qi of the primordial source. Both materials are therefore unbalanced. How could they produce an elixir that unites body and spirit in the person who takes it and enables them to lighten the body and ascend by flight?

Within the Dao of Primordial Harmony—the harmonizing of Yin and Yang so that things return to balance—if both ingredients are biased toward one extreme, how can they be refined into a pure treasure? I often see many people in the world practicing alchemy, yet in the end they do not succeed. This is because, generation after generation, they have passed on confusion and carried their errors into later times. I feel deep sorrow over this.

For example, take the first-reversal fire-subdued cinnabar—a cinnabar refined to make its properties stable. Taking one liang can eliminate all kinds of illness; taking two liang can turn the beard and hair black; taking three liang can give the complexion a healthy glow; and taking four liang can prolong life. With second-reversal cinnabar, taking one liang can bring the body into harmony, clear the spirit, and restore youth. With third-reversal cinnabar, taking one liang can make the mind empty, tranquil, and calm, free it from worldly feelings, and bring the mind and spirit into accord with the subtle Dao. With fourth-reversal cinnabar, taking one liang can make the spirit clear and luminous, with inner and outer fully connected. With fifth-reversal cinnabar, taking one liang can fill a room with the body’s radiance; one will not die by drowning or be harmed by fire. With sixth-reversal cinnabar, taking one liang can make one immune to the transformations of creation, beyond the knowledge even of spirits and gods. With seventh-reversal cinnabar, taking one liang can raise one aloft to the Nine Heavens, free to roam through the cosmos. Take the Nine Elixirs as well, and one can travel to the Golden Towers of Heaven and take one’s place among the perfected immortals. From this, the potency of cinnabar is plain to see.

Among the high immortals of antiquity, some explained the principles of alchemy, while others concealed their traces. They all spoke of alchemical methods in obscure and profound terms, making it difficult for those who loved the Dao and aspired to immortality and ascension to investigate their source. After I obtained their secrets, I often wished to use them to benefit the world at large. The Great Dao bestows its grace; I wish for everyone to return to the mysterious realm. So I composed seven chapters of Numinous Cinnabar and two chapters of Golden Elixir. In the chapters that follow, I discuss the timing and stages of alchemical firing, as well as the kinds, quantities, and relative qualities of the ingredients, and pass these teachings on to the worthy. A sincere and upright person who receives them should treasure them, and may then enjoy blessings and longevity without end. Those who reveal them carelessly will bring disaster upon their nine kin. One must not conceal the Great Dao behind false words, either. Choose recipients with care, and when putting these teachings into practice, carefully distinguish the worthy from the foolish.

○ Chapter on First-Reversal Cinnabar

This scripture says that cinnabar, the vermilion mineral used in Daoist alchemy, is the sovereign of the spiritual essence in all things, the source of creation and transformation, and the foundation of the spirits and deities. It dwells in the realm of pure mystery, gathering all spirits under its sway. Once set in motion, it leaves its original form; when still, it can condense into the form of Qian, the Creative. Because it can transform, it is called the “Azure Dragon”; named for its flying form, it is called the “Vermilion Bird.”

Cinnabar is divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. The upper grade is found in stone caverns on Mount Chenjin and comes in several colors. The middle grade is found around Jiaogui and also has different varieties. The lower grade is found around Hengzhou and Shaozhou. These varieties differ because they have received breaths of varying purity and turbidity; their forms and qualities differ, as do their true and false natures. Cinnabar receives the Qi of Heaven and Earth, gathers essence, and can resonate with metals and stones. Cinnabar that has received the proper Qi, when taken, enables one to reach the mysteries, accord with the true Dao, and become an Immortal of the highest rank. Cinnabar that has received unbalanced Qi can also prolong life, allowing one to remain in the human world.

Among these, the upper-grade Luminous Cinnabar is found among the stones of Mount Chenjin. It grows on beds of white-toothed stone, with twelve pieces forming a cluster. Its color resembles a red lotus not yet in bloom; it shines brightly, radiant as the sun…

Some minerals are arranged in clusters, consisting of nine, seven, five, three, or one bead. Among these, clusters of twelve or nine beads are the most numinous; those of seven or five are next. At the center of each cluster is a large bead, weighing more than ten liang, called the “Ruler.” The smaller beads around it weigh eight or nine liang, or less than six or seven liang, and are called “Ministers.” These small beads encircle the large central bead as if paying homage to it.

Around the outside of the cluster lies one or two dou of mixed sand, surrounding the Jade Seat and Vermilion Bed. If minerals shaped like the head of a lotus flower are picked from the mixed sand, and remain luminous and translucent when placed in red silk at night, they too are of the highest grade.

There is also a kind of white mineral sand shaped like horse teeth that gives off light. If one or two dou of it surround the Jade Seat and Vermilion Bed, then minerals shaped like lotus-flower heads, picked from the mixed sand and still clear and radiant when placed in red silk at night, are likewise of the highest grade. Mineral sand as white and luminous as horse teeth is of the highest grade; horse-tooth sand that is white and luminous like sheets of mica is of the middle grade. If horse-tooth sand is elongated and rounded like a bamboo shoot, and naturally reddish-purple, it is of the highest grade.

If Purple Lingsha is white, flaky, angular, and emits a blue-green glow, it is of the lowest grade. Purple Lingsha from Jiaogui is of the highest grade when it has grown naturally on a mineral cluster or been extracted from stone, and is shaped like a lotus-flower head and bright. If it has formed in groups of three or four beads, weighs one jin, and is clear and translucent, it is of the middle grade; if it is merely flaky but clear and bright, it is of the lowest grade. The mineral sands from Heng and Shao are all purple sand; those extracted from stone and tinged with red light are also of the lowest grade.

If stream sand has formed into translucent grains, it can be refined and taken to attain long life and remain in the human world, though it cannot make one a high-ranking immortal. Earth sand grows in earthen hollows, while stream sand is nourished by stream water. Because they are mixed with earth and stone, they are unsuitable as superior medicines for ingestion.

Sand that grows naturally on a mineral cluster is of the highest grade. If one obtains the single Ruler bead from the center of a cluster, refines it, and takes it into the five viscera, one can establish one’s achievement, have one’s name entered in the “Upper Cinnabar Register” (the register of the immortals), preserve the righteous Qi, and transcend entanglements. Continued ingestion through the “Seven Returns and Nine Reversions” (a Daoist alchemical process of repeated refining and restoring the vital essence) refines away the hun and po souls and destroys the corpse, bringing peace to the spirit and purity to the body. When Yin energy has entirely dissipated, one ultimately unites with the Dao, rises lightly, and becomes a perfected immortal of the highest rank who flies through the heavens. From this we can understand that the true essence of Yang energy descends, its breath gathers, and its rounded radiance is complete and full, without bias or impurity. Any sand that has been refined and is shaped like a lotus-flower head, rounded, radiant, and translucent is a superior divine food for immortals.

The scripture says that cinnabar is naturally formed as the perfected elixir, yet people in the world find its origins difficult to understand. For example, people generally know of Jade Seat cinnabar. Gold Seat and Heaven Seat, however, belong to the elixirs of the Supreme One’s Purple Dragon and Mysterious Florescence; ordinary people cannot see or understand them.

Jade Seat cinnabar is suited to people in the world who aspire to cultivate the Dao. Through long accumulation of merit, cultivation, and ingestion, they can become immortals. Gold Seat cinnabar is suited to those who already possess an immortal’s nature. They quiet their bodies and minds, cultivate their spirits, and live in seclusion among mountain cliffs and caves. Immortals gather and ingest Gold Seat cinnabar, then transform and ascend on feathered wings into a lofty, wondrous realm. Heaven Seat cinnabar is a medicinal substance gathered and ingested by celestial immortals and perfected officials; it is not used by immortals of lower rank.

After absorbing six thousand years of pure Yang qi, Jade Seat cinnabar transforms into Gold Seat cinnabar. Within the Yellow Hall are five Gold Seat cinnabars, growing in successive layers and surrounded by forty-five small pearls. After a further sixteen thousand years, they transform into Heaven Seat cinnabar. Heaven Seat cinnabar is blue-green. Nine pieces grow in successive layers at its center, encircled by seventy-two others. It lies within the misty Great Void and is often guarded by the spirit of Taiyi. Each year on the day of the Upper Origin, perfected officials descend to gather the medicine. The mountain suddenly opens, and light illuminates the entire mountain like fire. The officials collect the Heaven Seat cinnabar, which people in the world cannot obtain.

Thus, the deepest mysteries of cinnabar’s origins are hidden and difficult to fathom. Those wise and worthy people who aspire to cultivate the Dao and seek ascension must carefully distinguish the kinds and grades of the ingredients. Only then can they regulate the firing process, coordinate Yin-Yang, and refine the elixir, allowing it to transform naturally and accord with the High Perfected.

Methods for controlling Yin-Yang and regulating the firing process of ascent and descent: Firefly.

The scripture says: Yang Jing, the essence associated with Yang, is like fire; Yin Jing, the essence associated with Yin, is like water. Yin and Yang restrain one another, just as water and fire oppose each other. Ice and charcoal therefore cannot be placed together, and in the end one will prevail over the other. Cinnabar belongs to Yang Jing and must be subdued with something Yin in nature. This Yin subduing means using water-natured substances, such as rock salt, horse-tooth salt, Xuan Ying, and fossil.

The quantities of ingredients vary with the type of cinnabar. For each pound of Jade-seat Bright Sand, use six taels of rock salt and two taels each of Yellow Essence and fossil. For each pound of Bright Sand that grows beyond the seat, use four taels each of rock salt and horse-tooth salt, and one tael each of Yellow Essence and fossil. For each pound of White Horse-tooth Sand, use two taels each of rock salt and horse-tooth salt, and three fen each of Yellow Essence and fossil. For each pound of Purple Numina Sand, use two taels each of rock salt and horse-tooth salt, and three fen each of Yellow Essence and fossil. Cinnabar of lesser potency, such as stream-bed earth and other mixed kinds, requires only two taels each of rock salt and horse-tooth salt per pound.

First grind the rock salt, Yellow Essence, and fossil into a fine powder. Place them in a pot and warm them over a low flame for a day, until they melt into liquid. Then add the horse-tooth salt and heat the mixture until it glows red. First refine the sand and salt into a liquid, then add the substances mentioned above. Break larger pieces of Bright Sand into pieces the size of soybeans and place them in an earthen crucible, a ceramic vessel. Put in the rock salt first, then the horse-tooth salt, and add water. Alternate low and strong heat, boiling and refining the mixture continuously for thirty days and nights. The fire must not go out during this time. When the period is over, wash and let the mixture settle, then take out the sand and place it in a ding vessel for feifu, the process of refining the substance through prescribed stages of fire according to the Yin-Yang firing regimen.

A ding vessel holds one sheng and comes in five kinds: gold, silver, copper, iron, and earthenware. The earthenware vessel is porcelain. Place the sand in the vessel, then refine it through feifu according to the Yin-Yang firing regimen.

The Instructions on the Flying and Subduing Method say: Five days make one phase, and three phases make one qi period. After eight qi periods and twenty-four phases—that is, 120 days—the cycle of sand and fire is complete.

The flying and subduing method for each phase is as follows: In each five-day period, use the Kan trigram for four days and the Li trigram for one day. Kan represents boiling with water for four days; Li represents refining with yang fire for one day. At the start of the yang-fire stage, add seven liang of charcoal and set it upright. Beneath the crucible, place exactly seven liang of fully burned charcoal, without increasing or decreasing the amount. After each cycle is complete, add another one liang of charcoal for flying refinement, increasing the amount each time. After the fifth cycle, black vapor and mercury frost will fly out. Collect the mercury frost, add half a qian of puffed rock salt, and gently pound and grind the mixture in a bowl with a jade pestle.

Grind it finely until the mercury has fully entered the medicine. Then return it to the crucible as before and use the Kan-Li fire regimen—the rule for controlling the heat of refinement through the coordination of Water and Fire, Yin and Yang—to carry out repeated heating and refining, transforming the medicine. After twelve cycles, add two liang of charcoal with each cycle. Once the medicine has been thoroughly refined, add half a fen of rock salt, grind it to powder, spread it over the surface, and seal the crucible. Mercury frost has now formed inside. Continue the repeated heating and refining under the Kan-Li fire regimen. After twelve cycles, add another two liang of charcoal with each cycle. This produces about two liang of mercury frost. The frost is light, porous, and lustrous, while the medicine in the crucible gradually turns yellow-purple.

Collect the mercury frost and mercury, add one qian of rock salt, and grind them thoroughly together in a mortar. Put the mixture into the crucible and continue the repeated heating and refining according to the previous fire regimen. At the eighteenth cycle, add three liang of charcoal; the medicine will turn red. After the twentieth cycle, add four liang of charcoal with each cycle. At this stage, less than half a liang of mercury frost will rise out, but it will be hard and formed into blue-gold-colored flakes that gleam yellow-white. Grind it with rock salt in a mortar, return it to the crucible, and continue the repeated heating and refining. At the twenty-fourth cycle, the cinnabar medicine will have reached the proper stage of refinement, completing the stabilization of its fire nature through repeated heating. Its color will then be a vivid red, with a striking sheen.

After the cinnabar medicine has been stabilized through heating, wrap it in salt crystals, bind it tightly with yellow-earth clay, and place it in a yang furnace for firing over a fierce flame. After thirty days, take out the cinnabar medicine, seal it in a tube of pale bamboo, and bury it deep in a cold spring for thirty days. Then wash and grind it, separating out the light portion that readily disperses, which is taken as a preparation; refine the heavy portion until it becomes molten gold.

After its fire nature has been stabilized, top-grade Luminous Cinnabar is red. Once washed and clarified, it may yield six liang of gold-star cinnabar at the bottom, which can be separated out and taken; refine the heavy portion until it becomes molten gold. After stabilization, mid-grade Horse-Tooth Cinnabar is a vivid red; washing and clarifying it yields four liang of gold-star cinnabar at the bottom. Low-grade Purple-Spirit Cinnabar is tinged with purple-red after stabilization; washing and clarifying it also yields three liang of gold-star cinnabar at the bottom. Cinnabar mottled like streambed earth may turn red after stabilization, but it has no sheen and yields no gold-star cinnabar at the bottom.

The great immortals of antiquity refined and took what they called true cinnabar, using it in their cultivation to attain the Dao. Top-grade Luminous Cinnabar is true cinnabar. Those with discernment should take care to seek out its genuine essence; only then can they refine the Return Elixir. Once stabilized through heating, cinnabar can also be taken from the cold spring and immediately melted and cast, bringing forth the genuine treasure within.

Mix two liang of fire-treated cinnabar with half a liang of salt crystals. Place the salt crystals at the bottom of a pot, then add the treated cinnabar. When the pot and cinnabar have both turned red-hot, work a bellows a thousand times. The mixture will melt into a metallic liquid called “white silver.” Pale yellow, glossy patterns will also appear on its surface. This is said to be the most precious and authentic treasure between Heaven and Earth.

To take it as an ingestible preparation, use one liang and divide it into three hundred and sixty pills, binding them with date pulp. Take two pills each day. Before taking this cinnabar elixir, observe a fast for seven days. Then, at dawn, face east and reverently invoke:

“Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), True Lords of Purple Tenuity, Perfected One of the Great One, immortal officers of the former masters, and spirits of Water and Fire: grant me leave to take this numinous cinnabar elixir into my five viscera. May my body and spirit remain secure for a long time, in accord with the Way of utmost truth.”

After reciting the invocation, bow seven times, then take the elixir. After taking the cinnabar, do not eat foods with foul odors or foods that have been stored too long, and do not eat the meat of animals with blood. Above all, avoid impurities associated with life and death. The scripture says, “Yang essence delights in purity, while Yin corpses delight in filth.” Therefore, keep your mind calm and your body clean, to help nourish the true Qi of the Yang spirit. In this way, your spirit will be joyful and your body refreshed, and becoming an immortal may be within reach.

Chapter on the Second Refining of Precious Cinnabar

The Bencao Jing says: “When the true substance has been refined, one can accord with the hidden wonder. By accord with the hidden wonder, one can attain the utmost numinosity. By attaining the utmost numinosity, one can accord with the utmost spirit. The utmost spirit is union with the highest true Qi.” Then naturally, the spirit will be joyful and the body refreshed, and becoming an immortal may be within reach.

Refining cinnabar to obtain a treasure produces a medicine of utmost truth. Transforming the treasure back into cinnabar produces an elixir whose responses are swift and efficacious. When cultivation reaches the utmost Dao, one can ascend to Jade Purity—the highest heaven in Daoism—and become an immortal of high rank.

The Instructions for Transforming Treasures into an Elixir say: Take four liang of silver refined from cinnabar and forge it into a small pot. Place it inside an oil-glazed bottle that can hold one sheng; the silver pot should be about the same size as the bottom of the bottle.

First, finely grind and mix one liang of Beiting sand, one liang of rock salt, and one fen of dragon’s blood. Use sharp vinegar to make the mixture into a paste, then coat the inside and outside of the silver pot. When it has dried, wrap the pot in clay made from yellow earth, about one cun and two fen thick. Set it in a chaff fire for twenty-one days, then heat it over a strong white-charcoal fire for three days. After firing, remove the clay and return the silver pot to the bottle. Add true mercury, which must be mercury extracted from naturally colored cinnabar. Following the method above, make the mercury into a paste and coat all sides of the pot. Once it has dried, wrap the pot in yellow-earth clay again. Heat it first in a chaff fire for twenty-one days, then over a strong white-charcoal fire for three days. Remove the clay and return the pot to the bottle.

After putting the true mercury into the bottle, add five he of water, replenishing it as needed so that the amount of water in the bottle remains at five he. Gently refine it over a mild fire for seven days. Once the water has evaporated, seal the bottle’s mouth, then intensify the refining with a fierce fire for three days. At this point, reddish-yellow sand will emerge from the silver pot. Collect it, then continue adding mercury by the method described above, keeping exactly eight liang of mercury in the bottle at all times. Gently refine it over a mild fire for seven days; when dry, seal the bottle’s mouth and intensify the refining with a fierce fire for three days. Repeat this process so that more sand is continually produced, and collect it.

Each four liang silver pot is said to yield one jin of sand. When the pot’s essence is used up, it becomes dry and brittle and turns entirely into sand, leaving only about two liang of bluish-black ash in the bottle. Add the sand obtained to the medicinal ingredients and boil them for thirty days, following the method in the preceding chapter. Wash the mixture, place it in a crucible, then carry out the rising and settling process according to the Yin-Yang fire regimen, using different heats to make the substance rise, refine, and coagulate. Each five-day period counts as one phase; after one hundred days, the fire is considered subdued. Use the amount of charcoal specified in the preceding chapter. Once the sand’s fire has been subdued, there is no need to wrap it in salt and fire it. The method of melting it with bellows is also as described in the preceding chapter. Here, salt is used to guide the molten metal as it flows.

It is said that one jin of this precious sand, after cultivation, yields fifteen liang. Once its fire has been subdued, melting it with bellows yields thirteen liang of yellow-flower silver. This silver is yellow in color, with a bright, lustrous sheen and a smooth texture; it is yellow throughout, inside and out, and is therefore called “yellow-flower silver.” If this sand is to be taken internally, it should be “put into a cold spring and brought out of the fire”—that is, placed in cold water and then taken out of the fire.

Cold Spring Method: Bury the medicinal substance deep in the earth for thirty days. When you take it out, rinse it clean and grind it, then use date flesh to make pills. Make three hundred and sixty pills from every two liang of medicinal powder. Each morning at dawn, face east and take one pill with focused attention. It is said that after taking this Precious Cinnabar Elixir, the mind will naturally become calm and the spirit clear. Turbid Qi within the body will no longer intrude, and the will will remain undisturbed, gradually advancing toward the realm of the immortals.

Third Reversal: English Cinnabar

The Classic of the Materia Medica says: “Through long accumulation and practice, the refined vital essence will naturally unite with true Jing. When true Jing is transformed, the divine elixir can be successfully refined.”

“True Jing” refers to the original essence and Qi in Daoist cultivation. The “divine elixir” refers to an elixir produced through cultivation.

The Classic says: Yang Yuan, a figure in Daoist alchemical arts, accumulated his practice over a long period. His refined Qi naturally joined with true Jing. When true Jing responded and transformed, the divine elixir could be formed. Thus, refining and cultivating true Qi can condense an essence; when true radiance responds to itself, it transforms into mysterious cinnabar made from golden essence.

Method for refining brilliant cinnabar from the white metal in precious cinnabar: Take four liang of yellow-flower silver from the precious cinnabar and hammer it into a pot shape, about the size of the bottom of the bottle described in the previous section. Grind one liang each of Puzhou stone gall, rock salt, and natron with bitter wine into a paste. Coat the pot completely, inside and out, using all the paste. Once it is dry, shape yellow clay into a ball around the pot and fire it over a chaff flame for two cycles of seven days (fourteen days). Then fire it fiercely over white charcoal for one cycle of seven days. Remove the clay shell and place the pot in the oil-through bottle described earlier. Add four liang of true mercury and five ge of clear water, then warm and nurture it over a gentle flame for two cycles of seven days. Add another four liang of true mercury and warm it over a gentle flame for one cycle of seven days. Once dry, seal the apparatus tightly and force-refine it over a fierce flame for one day. Cinnabar will surge out of the precious pot, red and yellow, translucent and shining, with a brilliance beyond words.

Collect the refined cinnabar and add mercury; continue until you have obtained one jin of cinnabar, which is the required amount. Place it in a cauldron and, following the firing schedule described earlier, refine it by sublimation and fixation. Each cycle lasts five days: for two days, use the Kan trigram method and boil it in water; for three days, use the Li trigram method and sublime it over yang fire. When first starting the yang fire, use seven liang of charcoal; increase the charcoal by two liang with each succeeding cycle. After the seventh cycle, about two liang of mercury frost will have sublimed out. It will be deep yellow, gleaming with purple light, and clinging to the underside of the cauldron lid.

Collect the mercury frost in a mortar. Add one qian of Puzhou stone gall, bitter wine, and cinnabar, then gently grind them together repeatedly with a jade pestle until they combine. Put the mixture back in the cauldron and refine it by sublimation and fixation. After eighteen periods (counted according to the wording of the original), a full ninety days, the brilliant cinnabar will be fixed against fire. It will suffer no loss when fired, and can be melted and cast by the method described earlier.

Next, use salt flowers to draw out and stir the medicinal liquid. The precious liquid will flow down, clear, refined, and lustrous; it is called “green gold.” Green gold is the gradual emergence of yang essence: it appears first at the Dui position, then at the Zhen position, and returns from Kun to Li. This marks the beginning and end of the transformations and movements of yang essence.

To ingest this brilliant cinnabar, combine each two liang with half a liang of amadou fruit and two liang of raw licorice. Boil them to extract the liquid, then simmer it in a silver vessel for two cycles of seven days. When it has settled, collect the cinnabar and place it in a tube of pale bamboo. Bury it in the earth, deep…

After burying it for thirty days, take it out and mix it with jujube pulp to form pills, dividing every two liang of medicinal ingredients into 360 pills. Each morning, face east, bow and make an offering to the Three Pure Ones and the high-ranking celestial officials and immortals they revere, then take the medicine. It is said that after taking this Elixir of Essence, one will naturally cease to be troubled by cravings and desires and will no longer eat meat or blood foods. Sitting upright in a clean room, one will feel calm in spirit and light in body, and be able to keep company with the Perfected, those who have attained the Dao.

Section on the Fourth Transformation: Wondrous Cinnabar

The scripture says: “The Qian body’s yang radiance shines; the essence of Li gradually brightens. The snow of Gen is light, pure, and bright white; the yin soul disperses and melts away.” This is the wondrous substance formed when the essence of Blue Gold responds to mercury and generates cinnabar, after the vital energies of their finest essences resonate, gather, and congeal. It is therefore called “Cinnabar of Wondrous Transformation.”

The Instructions for Cinnabar of Wondrous Transformation say: Take four liang of Blue Gold and repeatedly hammer it into the shape of a pot. Then add half a liang each of red salt, stone sulfur, and borax. Use “the north is wondrous” as the key instruction; this is why it is called “Cinnabar of Wondrous Transformation.”

The Miaohua Sha Jue says: Take four liang of qingjin and hammer it repeatedly to make a small pot. Grind these five substances into a paste with bitter wine: half a liang each of red salt, stone sulfur, and large borax; one liang of Beiting sand; and one liang of Puzhou stone gall. Coat all four sides of the qingjin pot with the paste, then heat it over charcoal, raising the temperature gradually until the paste is completely dry. Next, following the method described in the preceding section, make a ball of yellow clay around it. First fire it over a gentle chaff fire for two-seven days (fourteen days), then over fierce charcoal for one-seven days (seven days).

Remove the yellow clay and take out the qingjin pot. Following the preceding method, place it in a vessel and add four liang of true mercury and five ge of clear water, without changing the quantities. After nourishing and refining it for two-seven days, add another four liang of true mercury and continue nourishing it over the fire for seven days. Then dry it, seal it firmly, and drive the refinement with fierce fire for one day. The wondrous sand will then emerge, yielding about four liang; take it out and store it. Add another four liang of true mercury and, as before, nourish and refine it over a gentle fire until it forms sand. As soon as the sand appears, take it out and store it. Continue until you have collected one jin of sand; that amount will suffice.

Place this sand in a ding cauldron and refine it through the processes of volatilization and fixing, following the fire schedule described in the preceding section. Each cycle lasts five days: for two days, use the method of the Kan trigram—that is, cook it in water; for three days, use the method of the Li trigram—that is, volatilize it with yang fire. Follow the fire schedule for volatilizing and fixing exactly as prescribed in the Yingsha Pian, increasing or reducing the amount of charcoal at each stage. After sixteen stages, a total of eighty days, the wondrous sand will have been refined until it is fixed by fire. It will then shine brightly like a star of gold, clear and translucent, with a dazzling red glow, becoming an exceptionally refined cinnabar.

If you wish to cast it into shape, use salt crystals as a flux to make the molten metal flow; it can then be refined into gold. Once solidified, the gold will be a clean, bright yellow and gleam brilliantly. It will have taken on the form and substance of Kun, while the refined essence of Li will gradually become manifest. Hence the scripture says, “Returning from Yin to Yang, from murkiness to clarity.” This means that when Yang Qi undergoes transformation and refinement, harmonizes with the true and wondrous, and naturally reaches the realm of the immortals.

If you wish to prepare it as a medicine for ingestion, for every liang of wondrous sand first take half a liang of yugan fruit, one liang of raw licorice root, and one liang of purple fluorite. Boil them to extract a medicinal liquid, then simmer the mixture in a precious vessel for two-seven days. Afterward, place it in a tube made from pale green bamboo and bury it in a cold spring.

After thirty days, take it out and blend it with jujube flesh to make pills. Divide every two fen into 360 pills. Take one pill each morning, facing east. After taking this wondrous cinnabar, focused contemplation will gradually become clear and penetrating, while turbid, stagnant Qi will disperse. Body and mind will become pure, still, and luminous, in accord with the Way of ultimate truth. One will naturally be able to ascend beyond the world to the Jade Capital, the Daoist realm of immortals, and visit the Golden Palace, the dwelling place of the immortals. If a person of aspiration obtains the method for nurturing the origin and refining the true nature, can attaining immortality still be far off?

○ Chapter Five: Returning to the Elixir of Spiritual Cinnabar

The Basic Classic says: “Yang De, the power of Yang, carries out its transformative work and gives forth light, setting the original Jing, the source of vital essence, in motion. As the original Jing flows, it gives rise to the Flowering Cinnabar, which then transforms and enters the realm of subtlety. When subtle Qi undergoes transformation and refinement, it produces the myriad spirits. Thus we know that the sacred, mysterious Way increases in brilliance layer by layer, attunes itself to true essence, and brings forth wondrous transformations naturally.”

The so-called Spiritual Cinnabar is formed when gold transforms mercury in the wondrous cinnabar described above. It shines a vivid red, gleaming like a golden star. Its color is deep red and clear, so it is called “Spiritual Cinnabar.”

The Jue on Transforming Numinous Cinnabar says: Take eight liang of gold from sand and hammer it into a small, round cauldron with a capacity of about four ge. Make a lid for it from another two liang of gold. First place one liang of stone sulfur, one liang of red salt, and half a liang each of Beiting borax and borax in the cauldron. Grind these four ingredients with bitter wine (vinegar) into a paste, and spread it evenly over the inside walls of the cauldron and over both sides of the lid. Let the paste dry. Next, mix yellow earth with water to make mud and coat the cauldron with it to a thickness of about one cun. Warm it continuously from all four sides over a gentle fire for twenty-one days, until it is too hot to touch. Then gradually raise the heat to a fierce fire and force-bake it for seven days, keeping the fire burning day and night.

After seven days, let the cauldron cool and remove the outer mud. Coat the outside with about two fen of sweet-earth mud, then suspend the cauldron in the furnace. Leave passages beneath it on all sides so the fire can be set. Put four liang of true mercury into the golden cauldron, add two ge of water, and close the lid. Warm it over the fire for seven days, keeping five liang of mature charcoal beneath the cauldron throughout, neither increasing nor reducing the amount. Keep adding water to the cauldron so that it remains at about two ge and does not boil dry. Carefully observe the heat and the condition of the ingredients.

After seven days, add another four liang of true mercury and warm it over a gentle fire as before. After seven more days, let the inside of the cauldron dry, seal its mouth tightly, then force-bake it over a fierce fire for one day. Red numinous cinnabar will appear; it is said that five liang of red cinnabar can be collected. Immediately add five liang of true mercury to the cauldron and maintain eight liang of charcoal fire, neither more nor less. Warm it over a gentle fire in the same way. After seven days, when the inside of the cauldron has dried, seal the numinous cinnabar. It is said that another five liang of red cinnabar can then be collected.

Next, add five more liang of true mercury, keeping eight liang of charcoal in the cauldron. Warm it over a gentle fire for seven days. When the inside has dried, seal it, then force-bake it over a fierce fire for one day. The cinnabar will form; remove it once it has formed. Continue adding true mercury to the cauldron, alternating gentle-fire warming with fierce-fire baking, and remove the cinnabar each time it forms. Once a single cauldron has yielded a total of thirty liang of cinnabar, the quantity is considered sufficient and the process can stop. After the gold has been refined into cinnabar, its essence is exhausted: it becomes dry and brittle and loses its luster, weighing only about four liang.

The essence within them resonates and coalesces with mercury, eventually transforming entirely into numinous sand. Thus the scripture says that genuine mercury is always taken from the material itself: mercury drawn from cinnabar is added to more of the same kind of cinnabar for use. If Bright Cinnabar is used as the lead material—the guiding, foundational substance in the process—the mercury is taken from that Bright Cinnabar and added in. If White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar is used as the lead material, its mercury is added so that the transformation can continue. When Purple Cinnabar is used as the lead material, its mercury must likewise be collected and combined with it. Mercury extracted from stream-earth cinnabar is called “mixed kind”; its nature and color cannot ultimately resonate with those of the other materials.

One jin of top-grade Bright Cinnabar yields fourteen liang of mercury. Its color is lustrous white and it flows smoothly, containing only two liang of “stone Qi.” One jin of White Horse-Tooth Cinnabar yields twelve liang of mercury, containing four liang of stone Qi; one jin of Purple Numinous Cinnabar yields ten liang, containing six liang of stone Qi; and one jin of fine, translucent Cinnabar yields seven liang, containing nine liang of stone Qi. “Stone Qi” here refers to the hollow, insubstantial nature of flint. After the mercury has been drawn off, what remains may be only one liang of bluish-white, ash-like stone matrix. The earlier “Treatise on Precious Cinnabar” touched briefly on this matter, but did not explain the secrets of genuine mercury in detail. The specific procedures for extracting mercury are set out in the section on superior-grade materials in the “Preliminary Chapter on the Golden Elixir.”

Once thirty liang of numinous sand have been extracted and collected in the Golden Tripod, there is no need to continue boiling and refining it over Yin Fire. Instead, follow the Yin-Yang fire cycles described in the preceding chapter to carry out flight and fixation—using different fire cycles to make the substance sublime and then condense. Five days make up one fire cycle: on one day, use the method of the Kan trigram and refine by boiling in water; on the other four, use the method of the Li trigram and sublime it with Yang Fire. At the start of the Yang Fire process, add nine liang of charcoal; with each successive cycle, increase the amount by two liang. After the fifth cycle, increase it by three liang per cycle, and three liang of five-colored, golden-radiance frost will sublime out.

Collect the frost obtained and place it with the sand in a bowl. Add half a portion of Puzhou stone gall and one portion of yellow alum, mix them with bitter wine (vinegar), and grind them carefully for half a day. Then place the mixture in the ding as described earlier and refine it using the firing cycle represented by the Kan and Li trigrams, alternating the heat between rising and falling. After fourteen firing cycles, or seventy days, the frost and sand will have become a substance whose fire has been subdued.

Once the sand’s fire has been subdued, it shines with a golden light. Its color resembles pomegranate blossoms, and its bright, dazzling luster gleams like the sun and moon. It is said that venomous dragons, snakes, spirits, and ghosts all hide when they see it, afraid to raise their heads. Truly, it is an object of extraordinary potency. Though this sand is numinous, it is not easy to melt and cast. To melt it, first make a furnace from pure earth in a clean place, keeping away all filth and impurities. Put salt flowers and numinous sand into the furnace, then work the bellows two thousand times to melt them. The molten gold flows when poured and, once it has solidified, shines brilliantly. This is called “red gold.”

The name red gold means that the Qi of the Yin soul has been transformed, refined, and exhausted, revealing the essence of pure Yang Qi, standing upright and shining forth. This is what is called true gold of Yang’s numinous essence. To ingest it, follow the method in the preceding chapter: boil chebulic myrobalan, raw licorice, and purple fluorite to obtain their liquid, then simmer the red gold in a precious vessel for fourteen days. Use the same firing cycle and quantities of ingredients as in the preceding chapter. When it is ready, place it in a bamboo tube, seal the opening, and bury it deep underground for thirty days. Retrieve it and mix it with jujube flesh to form pills. Make three hundred and sixty pills from each liang, each about the size of a hemp seed.

Each morning, purify the heart and face east. Announce your intention to the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing), the Lord on High, the perfected lords, and the assembled immortal officials; then bow and ingest the pills. The scripture says that afterward the mind and spirit will become clear and expansive, seeing through what is within and without; the body will emit a red radiance, and one will unite with the Dao of the Utmost Truth.

Chapter Six: The Sixth Refinement of Spirit Sand

When cultivation reaches an exceedingly subtle and refined state, spiritual efficacy becomes fully manifest. This opens a connection with the divine; when the divine and oneself unite, the Dao is complete. Once the Dao is complete, the mysterious, true Qi descends. One then ascends to Yuqing, the Clear Subtlety Heaven of Daoist belief, and becomes a high-ranking immortal.

“Divine cinnabar” is the essence formed when the Ninefold Numinous Qi—Daoist terminology for subtle, potent vital energy—joins and condenses. It is further gathered by the treasured wind and formed from mysterious radiance, until at last it becomes divine cinnabar. Its colors are brilliant, and it shines with a dark yellow glow. Its light is bright and dazzling, hence it is called “divine subtlety.”

The Formula for Transforming Divine Cinnabar says: Take nine liang of red gold from the numinous cinnabar mentioned earlier and cast it into a precious cauldron with a capacity of five ge, an ancient unit of volume. The following text also mentions yellow … and says that its light is bright and dazzling, so it is called “divine subtlety.”

The “Instructions for Transforming Spirit Sand” say: Take nine liang of red gold from the spirit sand prepared earlier and cast it into a precious cauldron that can hold five ge of material. Then cast three liang into a lid for the cauldron. First place one liang each of stone sulfur, large borax, red salt, and Beiting sand inside the cauldron. Mix them with bitter wine (vinegar), grind them finely into a paste, and spread it evenly over the inside of the cauldron and all around the lid. Once the coating has dried, put on the lid and seal the vessel with yellow earth clay to a thickness of about two fen.

For the preparation, follow the earlier method: first nurture and refine it over a gentle fire for fourteen days, then drive the refinement with a strong fire for seven days, until both the cauldron and the fire glow red. Remove the yellow clay and seal the outside of the cauldron with fresh earth clay, about three fen thick. Place the cauldron in the furnace, add six liang of true mercury and then three ge of water. Add the water gradually, taking care not to let the inside of the cauldron dry out. After nurturing it over a gentle fire for seven days, add another three liang of mercury and continue nurturing it over a gentle fire for three days. Once it has cooled, seal it tightly again, then drive the refinement with a strong fire for two days and nights. All the mercury will then have turned into luminous red spirit sand; collect the sand.

Next, add mercury in successive amounts of eight, seven, eight, seven, five, and three liang. Each time, follow the method above: nurture it over a gentle fire, then drive the refinement with a strong fire until the mercury turns to sand. Collect the sand as soon as it appears. In all, about thirty-two liang of spirit sand will have been collected; stop once there is enough.

Place this sand in a mortar with four liang of stone sulfur and two liang of Puzhou stone gall (copper sulfate produced in Puzhou). Grind everything carefully for half a day, then put it into the Anbao Golden Cauldron and subject it to yang-fire sublimation and fixation—that is, use a stronger fire to make the substance rise and condense. Yang-fire means refining solely with the fire phase represented by the Li trigram, inspecting it every five days. Begin with nine liang of charcoal, then add two liang of charcoal after each cycle. At the end of each cycle, remove the sand, grind it finely in a mortar, and return it to the cauldron to continue the sublimation and fixation. After completing six cycles, increase the charcoal by three liang for each cycle. If a crimson-gold frost—a red, frostlike product of refinement—rises out, that frost…

Scarlet light shines in every direction, its brilliance dazzling to the eye. Collect the frostlike substance that has condensed in a bowl. Add sand and one portion of Puzhou stone gall (copper sulfate produced in Puzhou), then mix with bitter wine (vinegar) and grind finely for half a day. Place it in a cauldron and follow the prescribed stages of firing, including sublimation and fixation. After twelve cycles and sixty full days of refining, the divine cinnabar will have been fixed against the fire. Its color is vivid, with radiance within; its purple glow shines through and dazzles the eye, beyond the power of words to describe.

If you know the method of melting and casting, follow the procedures set out earlier in the “Chapter on Numinous Cinnabar,” and add salt flowers (a kind of salt used in refining) to intensify the firing. It will flow and congeal like a precious treasure, becoming red gold with a fiery brilliance. Hence it is called “Metal of Li and Ji”—that is, wondrous metal. This cinnabar can be taken internally: divide each liang into 360 pills and form them with jujube pulp. Take it according to the instructions in the previous chapter. After taking this numinous treasure elixir, one is said to become naturally radiant in spirit, light in bone, luminous in body, and able to tread the true realm, attaining the rank of a high immortal.

Chapter on the Seventh Return: Dark Truth and Crimson-Cloud Cinnabar

The scripture says: When the Numinous Treasure moves in accord with the times, it can respond to and bring about transformations, enabling spirits to dwell and return to the true Dao. When essence and Qi accumulate until they naturally generate, substances like dark frost and crimson snow appear, leaping and flowing. Refining these brings one to the realm of the high Perfected and numinous immortals.

So-called Dark Truth and Crimson-Cloud Cinnabar is cinnabar generated by nourishing mercury in a red-gold precious cauldron within the divine cinnabar. It has the hue of purple clouds, with a red glow; all five colors shine together. Hence it is called “Dark Truth and Crimson-Cloud Cinnabar.”

The method recorded in the Instructions for Transforming Treasured Metal into Sand is as follows: Take one jin of the treasured metal mentioned in the previous section, “Spirit Sand,” and cast it into a round cauldron with a capacity of about seven ge. Use another five liang of the treasured metal to make a lid for the cauldron.

First, mix four liang of stone sulfur, two liang of red salt, two liang of Beiting sand, and one liang of large borax with sour wine (vinegar), grinding them into a paste. Apply the paste to the inside of the cauldron until it is all used up. When the coating has dried, put on the lid, then wrap the cauldron in mud made from yellow earth, to a thickness of about one cun. Following the method in the earlier Chapter on Spirit Sand, first nourish and refine it over a gentle fire for fourteen days, then burn-refine it over a fierce fire for seven days. After it cools, remove the yellow earth. Make a paste with sweet earth and seal the outside of the cauldron all around to a thickness of about two and a half fen, then place it in the furnace.

Add twelve liang of true mercury and three ge of water inside the cauldron, taking care not to let the water dry up. As the water gradually decreases, replenish it slowly. Then secure the lid and nourish and refine the contents over a gentle fire for seven days. During this time, touch the top of the cauldron with your hand to keep its temperature moderate. After seven days, once the inside of the cauldron is dry, seal its mouth tightly and gradually switch to a fierce fire, forcing the refinement for three days. When the cauldron is opened for inspection, the mercury is said to have turned entirely into crimson-cloud dark sand. Do not remove the sand. Instead, add another nine liang of mercury to the cauldron and follow the same method, nourishing and refining first over a gentle fire, then forcing the refinement over a fierce fire. When the prescribed number of days has passed, open the cauldron and inspect it: the mercury will again have turned entirely into sand.

Next, add six liang of mercury, seal the cauldron’s mouth, and continue refining in the same sequence of gentle and fierce fires. When the appointed time has passed, open and inspect it; this batch too will have turned into sand. Finally, add five liang of mercury, nourish and refine it over a gentle fire for seven days, then force the refinement over a fierce fire for one day. This is said to produce red-purple sand.

Open the cauldron and inspect it: the material will have turned to sand. Add five liang of mercury, nurture and refine it over a gentle fire for seven days, then heat it fiercely over a strong fire for one day. The refining is then complete. The resulting sand will be reddish purple, with five-colored rosy clouds shimmering inside the cauldron. It should weigh about thirty-two liang, without the slightest discrepancy.

Remove the sand and place it in a mortar. Add seven liang of sulfur and grind it finely with a jade pestle for one day. Return it to this divine-sand, red-gold treasure cauldron and seal the mouth tightly. Refine and subdue it using the fire regimen of pure Yang: seven days make one cycle. At the end of each cycle, open the cauldron and remove the sand. Add one he of bitter wine (vinegar) and grind it carefully, then return it to the cauldron to continue sublimating and refining it into submission. Seven days make one stage.

Begin with thirteen liang of charcoal, adding one liang with each cycle. After the third cycle, add two liang with each cycle. Then two and a half liang of frostlike substance, in five colors and light and bright as crimson rosy clouds, will rise from the cauldron lid. It will form grains about the size of wheat kernels; collect them at once. Put the sand in a mortar, add half a liang of Puzhou stone gall (copper sulfate produced in Puzhou) and two he of bitter wine, and grind them carefully. Then return the mixture to the cauldron to sublime and refine it into submission. Repeat this process for seven cycles. Each time, open the cauldron to inspect it, add stone gall and bitter wine, grind the mixture, and return it to the cauldron. After seven cycles of refinement and subduing, a total of forty-nine days, the sand will be ready.

Next, heat it over a strong fire for one day. Use twenty jin of charcoal, divided among four places, to raise the heat quickly. After one day, open the cauldron and inspect it. The sand of Mysterious Truth and Crimson Rosy Clouds will shimmer with intersecting colors and brilliant light, seeming to outshine the sun and moon. It is a wondrous substance: the sand elixir of utmost Yang and the Mysterious Origin.

If you refine it by the method of melting and casting Mysterious Truth, mix it with salt flowers, then use bellows to make the liquid medicine flow. Once it solidifies, it will glow purple and be called “Crimson Rosy Clouds Purple Gold.” To take it, mix it with jujube flesh and form pills, making three hundred and sixty pills from every liang of powdered medicine. Take one pill each morning while facing east. The text says that after taking this cinnabar elixir, one will soon unite form and spirit, become light enough to ascend, and ride a flying dragon beyond the Ten Heavens and Eight Extremities.

A single pill of this Mysterious Truth cinnabar is said to transform one jin of mercury, as well as lead, tin, copper, and iron, instantly into purple refined gold of unsurpassed brilliance.

The author says that, having received revelations from the divine Dao and protection through Mysterious Compassion, he wrote these seven chapters and two sections out of pity for the worthy and wise people of the world. This section originally comes from “The Wondrous Instructions for Refining Truth in the Hidden Writings of the Nine Grades of the Immortal Lord,” in the Great Cavern Treasure Scripture. It is a secret text forbidden to be passed on freely, to be transmitted only to the worthy and wise. The foolish and rebellious, those like walking corpses, defiled and impure, should not hear it. The author urges readers to be cautious, lest they reveal the wondrous truth of the ancient immortals and sages.

The Golden Liquid Elixir’s Return to the Elixir—a method of alchemy in which the elixir is refined with golden liquid—and the various alchemical scriptures and oral formulas do not surpass the Ancient Text of the Dragon and Tiger Above and Wei Boyang’s The Seal of the Unity of the Three in Accordance with the Book of Changes. These are the most subtle works among the scriptures and formulas for returning to the elixir. All schools of alchemy take lead and fire as their foundation, and the Dragon and Tiger as their source. Some texts discuss lead but not fire; others discuss the Tiger but not the Dragon. Though their accounts differ and their methods appear distinct, they ultimately express the same principle and share the same source.

The alchemical verse Song of the True Man of Venus consists of four lines. Though brief, it is profound: it points directly to the hidden mysteries of the Dragon and Tiger and reveals the essential meaning of Mercury and lead. It says: “By reversing the Five Phases, the Dragon emerges from fire; when the Five Phases do not proceed in their usual order, the Tiger is born from water.” These twenty characters express the key to the interaction of Yin and Yang in Heaven and Earth and explain their repeated transformations. The so-called “Water Tiger” is the root of true Mercury; the so-called “Fire Dragon” is the gateway to true lead. The foundation of returning to the elixir lies entirely here. This truly reveals the secret principles of Heaven and Earth interacting and Yin and Yang moving back and forth—a teaching that does not change.

I therefore composed Treatise on Black Lead and the Water Tiger and Formula for Red Lead and the Fire Dragon, explaining the subtle and profound meaning of the True Man of Venus and showing the way to those seeking the secret formulas. I have accordingly named this book The Golden Key to the Inner Image of Returning to the Elixir: Treatise on the Fire Dragon and Water Tiger, hoping it will guide later practitioners and help those who have not yet understood to dispel their doubts.

Black Lead and the Water Tiger—symbolic names in alchemy—are the source of the mysterious transformations of Heaven and Earth. They have no fixed form or substance, yet possess the refined Qi. They are the essence of the wondrous “True Oneness,” regarded as the matrix of Heaven and Earth, the source of Yin-Yang, the origin of the sun and moon, the foundation of Water and Fire, and the progenitor of the Five Phases. All things depend on them to come into being, and the many kinds of spirits draw from them the power to flourish or decline. From the high heavens and the thick earth, from grotto dwellings and immortal mountains, to wind and rain, darkness and light, and the changing of the seasons, nothing is transformed without the impetus of the Qi of Lead.

Thus the scripture says, “Heaven, having attained the One, became clear; Earth, having attained the One, became settled; spirits, having attained the One, became efficacious; valleys, having attained the One, became full; and all things, having attained the One, grew.” It also says, “The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of all things.” The “nameless” and the “mother of all things” mentioned here both refer to the essence of True Oneness. The sages gave it another name, “True Lead,” and regarded it as the root of Heaven and Earth and the mother of all things.

True Lead is neither ordinary lead produced in Jiazhou nor such substances as sulfur, sal ammoniac, green salt, white snow, realgar, orpiment, saltpeter, copper, iron, gold, silver, scale from water, crystal, ordinary cinnabar, or mercury. Frost from mulberry trees, paper mulberry sap, pine nuts, cypress resin, white stones, alum minerals, plants, and trees are not the True Lead meant here either. To use these miscellaneous substances as True Lead is a mistake.

Someone asked, “What exactly is True Lead? Please identify it clearly, so that those who do not yet understand may know.” The reply was, “Black Lead is no ordinary thing, but the divine water of the mysterious Heaven. It came into being before Heaven and Earth and is the mother of all things. It is the refined Qi of True Oneness and the very foundation of Heaven and Earth.” Heaven and Earth, the Five Phases, and all things arise from this refined Qi. Therefore, the various substances that appeared after Heaven and Earth came into being cannot be called True Lead.

Above, this refined Qi appears as the stars; below, it is what is called the essence of True Lead. It is constantly joined with the sun and nourishes all things. The furthest point it reaches from the sun is no more than twenty-six degrees. The true masters of antiquity gathered this Yin essence and, following the corresponding symbolic patterns, joined it with the sun’s Qi so that it would congeal into a divine elixir. The scripture says, “The solar Flowing Pearl is fierce in nature and swift in its coming, difficult to control. Unless the proper methods and symbolic patterns are used to hold it and gather its essence, how could it remain upon miscellaneous substances? Only by forging a vessel from the pure Qi of the north and refining it through the regulation of the fire can one witness the Dragon and Tiger devouring one another and husband and wife joining as one, ultimately refining a numinous substance.” “The Dragon and Tiger devouring one another” and “husband and wife joining as one” are symbolic expressions in Neidan (internal alchemy), referring to the confluence of Yin and Yang and their congealing into an elixir.

If Red Lead and the Fire Dragon were merely a mixture of assorted substances, they would not be the pure Qi that comes from the north, nor the unadulterated essence of Heaven and Earth. Such materials would be difficult to cast into a cauldron, and harder still to refine through careful practice until the Dragon and Tiger—the two forces of Yin and Yang—swallow and merge with one another, and the husband and wife—symbols of Yin and Yang in union—become one, ultimately forming a wondrous substance.

The Red Lead and Fire Dragon Method

Red Lead and the Fire Dragon are the wondrous Qi through which Heaven and Earth transform and bring forth the myriad things. They promote the growth of all things, yet have Qi without form or substance. In cultivation, the cycle of three hundred and sixty days in a year must be compressed to correspond to the three hundred and sixty shichen in a month. Then the changes across the thirty days and three hundred and sixty shichen of a month are assigned one hexagram for the morning and another for the evening.

Next, the changes of these sixty hexagrams and three hundred and sixty lines are further brought within five days, or sixty shichen, so that they correspond to the cycle of a month. Two and a half days, or thirty shichen, can likewise correspond to thirty days and symbolize a month. Assigning one hexagram to the morning and another to the evening gives sixty hexagrams and three hundred and sixty lines in all, which can in turn correspond to the three hundred and sixty days of a year.

Within these two and a half days, or thirty shichen, fifteen shichen are further set apart to correspond to the course of half a month; the changes of that half-month are then matched to the number of lines to symbolize the three hundred and sixty days of a year. The text goes on to say that, within two and a half days, or thirty shichen, fifteen shichen are set apart to correspond to the course of half a month, and the changes from the first to the fifteenth day of each month are then fitted into the system of the twelve double-hours.

The six shichen after Zi and before Si are assigned thirty hexagrams and one hundred and eighty lines, symbolizing the one hundred and eighty days from after the winter solstice to before the summer solstice. The period from the sixteenth to the thirtieth day is assigned the six shichen after Wu and before Hai, likewise with thirty hexagrams and one hundred and eighty lines, symbolizing the one hundred and eighty days from after the summer solstice to before the winter solstice. The spring and autumn equinoxes, as well as the winter and summer solstices, are also matched to the changes across the twelve double-hours of a day, together corresponding to the movement of Qi through the three hundred and sixty days of a year.

The text also uses the hexagrams Fu, Qian, Gou, and Kun, together with the twelve double-hours, seasonal markers, the Yin-Yang tallies, and the movement of the Yang Fire, to explain the cyclical circulation of the Qi dynamic of Heaven and Earth. Its numbers accord with celestial patterns and serve to represent the changes of the moon’s phases, the waxing and waning of Yin and Yang, the convergence of punishment and virtue, the transformations of Heaven and Earth, and the patterns by which the myriad things come into being. The cultivator keeps time with a water clock and masters the changes of the seasonal markers, gathering these movements of Qi into the divine cauldron. There, true Lead, the “mother of Heaven and Earth,” undergoes refinement and gives rise to divine essence.

The Book of Changes says, “The number of the Qian hexagram’s counting rods suffices to correspond to three hundred and sixty days.” Yin and Yang wax and wane in a cyclical course; the year returns to its beginning, and the transformations of the myriad things follow this great number. Counting a year as three hundred and sixty days gives a total of four thousand three hundred and twenty shichen. One hexagram is assigned to the morning and another to the evening of each day, making sixty hexagrams in a year, with six lines in each hexagram, for a total of three hundred and sixty lines. The text also says that by borrowing the number of three hundred and sixty days in a year, one may symbolize within the spirit chamber the acquisition of four thousand three hundred and twenty years of true Qi. Five days make one cycle of sixty shichen, corresponding to the course of sixty hexagrams in a month. These sixty shichen are arranged as three hundred and sixty lines, and thus correspond once more to…

Three years of cultivation comprise 360 days. By this method of calculation, one can draw upon 4,320 years’ worth of upright Qi and gather it within the spirit chamber, the inner space where essence and Qi are refined and nurtured.

Each five-day period is counted as one cycle, totaling sixty double-hours and corresponding to the sixty hexagrams used over a month. Matched with the hexagrams, the sixty double-hours make 360 lines, symbolizing the 360 days of a year. Another method of calculation takes the upright Qi of 4,320 years during two and a half days within a month.

Suppose a month has 360 double-hours, taken to symbolize the 360 days of a year. The sixty hexagrams are applied across these 360 double-hours, then the climatic changes represented by the hexagrams are gathered into five days, or sixty double-hours. Matching the sixty hexagrams with the sixty double-hours of those five days forms one cycle, which likewise symbolizes a year. The five days are then divided in half, and the 360 lines within two and a half days are counted; these, too, symbolize a year.

The thirty hexagrams and 180 lines are also mapped onto half a month, or fifteen days: one hexagram is used each morning and evening, making thirty in all. Mapping these fifteen days into six double-hours of half a day yields thirty hexagrams and 180 lines, symbolizing half a year, or 180 days.

Each double-hour also corresponds to two of the twenty-four seasonal nodes and six of the seventy-two pentads. The “climatic Qi” described here is the Yang Fire Qi during the six double-hours after Zi hour and before Wu hour, gathered into the spirit chamber. Changes in cold and warmth each have their corresponding signs, and together they bring about transformation. These six double-hours correspond to the half-year from after the winter solstice to before the summer solstice, or 180 days. Circulating the Fire in this way accords with the timing of Heaven. The movement of the firing cycle varies between activity and stillness, fullness and ebbing, symbolizing the patterns by which the myriad things are created and transformed.

The sages gather the seasonal Qi of 180 days into six double-hours of half a day. By this reckoning, one can draw upon the upright Qi of 2,160 years and take it into the spirit chamber to nurture the myriad spirits. If one also includes the six double-hours after Wu hour, completing the firing cycle across a full day and night, then within that day and night one can draw upon the upright Qi of 4,320 years.

The subtle key to the Way of Reverting the Elixir—the path of cultivation through which essence and Qi congeal and return to their original state—lies in the Zhen and Xun trigrams: transformation begins where Yin and Yang meet, and advance and retreat are guided by the signs of timing shown by hexagrams such as Fu and Gou. The twelve hexagrams circulate, filling out the Qi of the year. Then the Kan and Li trigrams are used to bring forth the Dragon and Tiger. Once the circuit of the heavens is complete, Shen, Jing, Water, and Fire interact; Qi surges forth, and what is formed is no ordinary medicine.

During the six double-hours from midday until before the Hai hour, the Yin tallies assign the stages of Qi according to the seasons. The seasonal tallies correspond to the same hours as the preceding six double-hours. This also symbolizes the 180 days from after the summer solstice to before the winter solstice. The signs of Yin and Yang advancing and retreating represented by the hexagrams Zhen and Xun, and the changes in which punishment and De oppose one another, waxing and waning alternate, things enter and leave as they are withdrawn and added, and rise and fall through adversity and prosperity, differ from one another only slightly.

These are the rules for following the timing of Heaven to calculate the advance and retreat of Yin and Yang, the stars’ cycles and changes, the generation of the myriad things, and their hidden workings. For this reason, the accomplished people of antiquity who had attained the Dao transmitted these teachings only through oral formulas, strictly forbidding their casual disclosure, lest those unsuited to them learn of them and presume to use their subtle mechanisms.

Various scriptures and oral formulas say that the moon contains a “Record of the Fire,” which explains the relevant principles through six hundred sections of hexagrams and line statements and has been passed down to the world. I will not copy them out here. (The so-called six-hundred-section Record of the Fire is probably a work by Wei Boyang discussing the numbers governing the circuit of Heaven, with similar content in each section. Those versed in the Way need only reflect on it carefully to grasp its principles quickly.)

The point here is that, within a single day and night, the Yin-Yang tallies and stages of the fire cycle operate within the cauldron. According to the hexagrams, the six from Zhen and Fu through Qian belong to Yang Fire; the six from Xun and Gou through Kun belong to the Yin tallies. In a single day and night, practitioners can gather a force equivalent to 4,320 years of Heaven and Earth’s vital essence and store it in the spirit chamber—the place symbolizing the refinement and cultivation of Jing and Qi in Neidan—to generate spirit and essence. This day and night is measured entirely by an inner count of one hundred intervals.

In each double-hour, one can appropriate 360 years’ worth of vital energy; in one day and night, 4,320 years’ worth; in one month, 129,600 years’ worth; and in one year, 1,555,200 years’ worth. Thus the scripture says: “A person who takes the Golden Liquid Restored Elixir”—the pill produced through Golden Elixir alchemy—needs only a grain-of-rice-sized dose. Once the three kinds of Qi spoken of in cultivation have fully accumulated, that person will surely be able to ascend to the heavens. Three years after the elixir is completed, the person who takes it will have acquired within themselves 4,665,600 years’ worth of vital energy, corresponding to that many years of life.

With long-term consumption, the lifespan has no limit. One can pass beyond Heaven and Earth and the Three Realms, becoming a body of pure Yang, true essence, possessing life without death. Heaven and Earth undergo calamities such as the Yang Nine, as well as changes between good and ill fortune, movement and stillness. Those who regularly take the Golden Elixir, however, can escape the transformations of Yin-Yang and transcend the realm of the Nine Yangs; their lifespan is therefore infinite. The worthy and discerning should consider this carefully: this is the supreme, wondrous true Dao. Those who encounter it must cherish and preserve it. They should not reveal it lightly, but keep it deep within their hearts and reserve it for those worthy and capable.

A month is reckoned as 360 double-hours, and twelve months in a year total 4,320 double-hours, corresponding to 4,320 years. During the periods represented by the Mao and You trigrams, Qi and the tally signs run their course for a year, from which a total of sixty days must be subtracted. Together these amount to 720 double-hours, corresponding to 720 years. The inner-womb tally fire associated with Mercury actually runs for ten months, amounting to 3,600 years. This accords with the celestial tally and with the 360 degrees, in keeping with the methods of the 600 chapters of the “Fire Record” in the Cantong qi. The remaining 720 years are the period in which Metal undergoes bathing and nourishes its Jing and Qi. How subtle this method is! This is the union of red lead and black lead, of Dragon and Tiger, within the Great Elixir—the Elixir-body sought through Neidan cultivation—which generates the Qian tally, accords with the 360 degrees, and follows the methods of the 600 chapters of the “Fire Record” in the Cantong qi. The remaining 720 years are the period in which Metal bathes and nourishes its Jing and Qi. How subtle this method is! This is the supreme Daoist method of joining red lead and black lead, Dragon and Tiger, within the Great Elixir to generate the pure essence of Qian and the refined substance of Kun, the true cinnabar of unmixed subtlety. It is also the secret of using the firing times and the method for nourishing the soul of the Red Dragon.

These are hidden words treasured in the hearts of the perfected beings and sages of earlier generations. They express the profound, subtle Great Dao, not a method for guarding against or regulating shallow, ordinary affairs. Thus the scripture says, “Having obtained true lead, one must still obtain true mercury.” This is precisely what it means. (The scripture also says, “What is obtained lies in receiving Qi, in drawing it out and adding to it.”) The numbers governing the turning of the seasonal markers and the tally fire must all be set precisely according to the clepsydra. Day and night are divided into one hundred marks, and the cycles proceed according to the four seasons, the Five Phases, the twenty-four solar terms, and the seventy-two seasonal pentads, without the slightest error. If the seasons fall out of balance or the five planets stray from their proper courses, true cinnabar and true mercury will not arise, and Dragon and Tiger cannot unite. Thus the scripture says, “If even the slightest thing is not upright, regret and calamity will become instruments of harm.”

Wise and worthy gentlemen should ponder this repeatedly and not act rashly. If one’s actions do not accord with the Dao of Heaven, by what could the subtle Qi moving between Heaven and Earth follow the seasonal markers, undergo transformation, and bring forth the myriad things? The Yinfu jing says, “Heaven has five thieves; those who see them prosper.” Those who understand them and cultivate them are called sages.

A man who practiced ordinary methods of the Dao lived in the house of my neighbor to the east. After hearing me speak of these things, he suddenly knocked at my door and came in. Laughing loudly, he said to me, “I have heard that the sages of earlier generations said that life and death are fated, and that the length of one’s life is arranged by Heaven. The Western Regions Scripture also says that when Heaven, Earth, the sun, and the moon reach their end, they will all perish; even after many kalpas, things as hard as stone will be worn away, with not the slightest trace remaining. Since all things between Heaven and Earth arose from this, could it be that…”

Can humans truly live forever beyond what common sense allows? When one’s allotted years come to an end, everything returns to emptiness. This so-called “emptiness” is “nonbeing.” I have also heard this account: human life is like an arrow shot into the sky; when its force runs out, it falls. Yet now you claim only that those who ingest the Golden Liquid Reverted Elixir—a Daoist elixir produced through alchemical practice—have unlimited lifespans. You also say, “My life depends on me, not on Heaven,” meaning that a person’s fate lies in their own hands and is not determined by Heaven. In saying this, are you not influenced by prejudice, indulging your likes and dislikes and inventing standards out of thin air?

I replied: “Alas, this is merely a shallow and stubborn view. How could it be an understanding that reaches the teachings of the ancient sages and saints? How can the shallow and stubborn investigate the beginnings of the Primordial Chaos, from which all things took shape, or analyze how Yin and Yang formed within the vast, undifferentiated chaos? And how can they infer the profound mysteries of the boundless cosmos from what they see before them?

The Qi of Heaven and Earth gives rise to all things, and things come into being by different paths. In the beginning, primordial Qi divided, differentiating into Yin and Yang. From this came the myriad principles and forms, as well as things such as springs and stones. The Yang numbers are odd, and nine is one of them. Yin and Yang Qi depend on each other and move in alternation between Heaven and Earth. Their numbers therefore interact; no kind of thing is entirely without effect.

Below the nine layers of Earth there is no Yang essence, only pure Yin turbid Qi. Above the nine layers of Heaven there is no Yin essence, only pure Yang clear Qi. Those who cultivate and accumulate Yin Qi abandon the hun and shen, refining subtle being from within “nonbeing.” They abide in meditative stillness and quiet their nature, and so after death become dark, Yin spirits. Those who cultivate pure Yang essence preserve and nourish spirit and Qi, refining a wondrous state from within “being.” Their bodily form enters the realm of the formless intact; thus they live forever without dying and become celestial immortals.”

Ghosts and spirits receive and accumulate Yin energy, following a Yin path. They prize the formless, so they cast aside Yang energy and devote themselves to refining and cultivating Yin energy. When Yin energy accumulates, life ceases; when breath ceases, one returns to Yin, and returning to Yin leads toward death. In this way, one can reach a state of deathlike stillness, hence the term “still extinction.” “Stillness” means settled quietude; “extinction” means emptiness. The way of ghosts honors the formless and, in general, rests in empty stillness, refining “wondrous being” from “true nonbeing.” Its practitioners become ghosts and spirits who are clear, pure, good, and bright within the Yin energy of the lower realm—not beings in the ordinary sense. In Yin stillness, ghosts and spirits take this as empty stillness and as the wondrous Dao; they have wondrous gates within Yin and wondrous methods for refining Yin. These methods come in greater and lesser forms, so there are different approaches.

The celestial immortals receive pure Yang essence. The way of cultivating immortality prizes form, so they cast aside Yin energy and devote themselves to refining and cultivating Yang energy. When Yang energy accumulates, it stirs; stirring returns it to Yang, and returning to Yang leads to life. Through this, one can become an immortal and escape death, hence the term “ascending.” “Above” suggests rising lightly and flying upward; “immortal” suggests soaring and being lifted up. The Immortal Way honors form and, in general, circulates breath and refines “wondrous nonbeing” within “true being.” Its practitioners become immortals in the heavens’ nine Yangs, clear, upright, mysterious, and numinous—in other words, formless beings beyond the ordinary. As Yang energy stirs, immortals take this as the wondrous Dao; they have wondrous gates within Yang and wondrous methods for dispelling Yin energy. The methods of refining Yang, too, have greater and lesser approaches; there is more than one.

When Yin essence accumulates, it attaches to the earth; when Yang form accumulates, it rises toward heaven. This is the natural course of Heaven and Earth, not something contrived by human effort. Thus the Classic of Changes says, “Things of the same kind gather together, while things of different kinds form their own groups.” What comes from Heaven draws near to what is above; what comes from Earth draws near to what is below. Each follows its kind and returns to it. For this reason, practitioners of the Elixir cultivate pure Yang, bringing Yang essence to light.

After taking this elixir, the body is transformed into a pure Yang body. One can therefore ascend to the celestial realm and join the ranks of the pure Yang, which is why this is called “ascending to the Ninth Heaven.” The celestial realm has no Yin energy: it is a realm of pure Yang, beyond the scope of Yin and Yang in Heaven and Earth. Its lifespan is therefore without limit.

“True Mercury” is not an actual thing, so it differs from things in Heaven and Earth that have a fixed measure. Ascending to Heaven is not for the sake of pleasure; nor can one attain realization by taking an elixir while clinging only to an empty, quiescent body. Thus, in the Yin teaching there are no pure Yang immortals. The ghosts of extinction sought by lesser practitioners are clearly inferior to pure Yang immortals and do not belong to the same category. The truth of pure Yang has no fixed measure of death, while the spirit formed from accumulated Yin has no fixed measure of life. True Yin and true Yang both lie beyond Heaven and Earth, and so are not governed by ordinary limits. Within Heaven and Earth, there are two paths for refining the true form, Yin and Yang; there is no other principle.

Someone asked, “Are the methods for refining the true form through the two gates of Yin and Yang the methods of Gautama of the Western Regions—the name used in the Buddhist tradition for Shakyamuni—or of the venerable Lao of China?” The answer was: “At first, I was simply explaining that within Heaven and Earth there are paths by which people can cultivate themselves from the ordinary to the holy and transcend the mundane through the two gates of Yin and Yang. I did not say these were the methods of the venerable Lao or Gautama. If these two perfected ones created such methods, then how many other perfected ones might there be in Heaven and Earth? Both could draw upon Heaven and Earth and grasp the pivotal workings of Yin and Yang, cultivate the Way of the pure essences of Yin and Yang, and reach a state beyond the limits of life and death. That is why later generations honored them as exemplars of refining the truth through Yin and Yang and established corresponding teachings.

“Both perfected ones spoke of cultivating the Dao. The word ‘Dao’ is a general term for the many wondrous methods of the two gates of Yin and Yang. It is a name provisionally established, and an honorific for what is supremely mysterious; hence all these methods are collectively called the Dao. Laozi and Gautama each mastered one gate within the Dao. Thus both transcended the bounds of Yin and Yang and were no longer subject to the limits of life and death.”

Someone asked: “People who cultivate the Dao today preserve the spirit and nourish Qi, then refine and take Golden Liquid Yang Elixirs (Daoist elixirs), eventually attaining the state of a perfected being of pure Yang. Can those who cultivate the method of Yin Quiescence take elixirs?”

The answer: “Those who cultivate the Yang Dao nurture the Yang soul and retain warmth, so they take elixirs to help themselves refine a body of pure Yang. Those who cultivate the method of Yin Quiescence relinquish the Yang soul and return instead to the Yin po-soul. The body of Yin Quiescence is empty and cold, unable to withstand a Yang Elixir. If one takes a Yang Elixir, how could a Yin body become the wondrously transformed body of pure Yin? In that case, the state of Yin Quiescence could not be firmly established, and it would be impossible for ‘wondrous emptiness’ to give rise to ‘wondrous existence,’ and for ‘wondrous existence’ then to return to emptiness.”

Someone else asked: “Are there different elixirs for Yin and Yang, lead and mercury—metaphors in Neidan cultivation for Yin-Yang essence and Qi?”

The answer: “The method of Yin Quiescence changes the Yin body so that emptiness returns to emptiness and existence is not grasped as existence, forming a body at ease in empty stillness. For this reason, one cannot take elixirs; the Yin teaching has no elixirs. The principle is clear, and all the wise and discerning can understand it. But in terms of the principles of one’s nature, gathering the spirit and entering stillness, cutting off forms and leaving words behind, is true emptiness, which is also wondrous existence. Those who cultivate Yin need only take these words to heart as a mind-seal—a standard by which to verify their inner cultivation. Beyond this, there are no other principles.”

Someone else asked: “I have heard that some eminent monks could come and go freely and master life and death. Such accounts have appeared again and again in people’s experience, too numerous to count, and are also recorded in the scriptures and treatises—often in the hundreds. Here I will give one or two examples to explain the general point. For instance, the account of the monk Fotucheng’s mastery over life and death is recorded in the History of the Ming. He wrote the Essentials of the Golden Liquid, which appears in the alchemical scriptures. The monk Master Tanluan also wrote a Treatise on Qi Techniques, which has been passed down to the present day.”

This situation resembles accounts of Daoist cultivation: some people suddenly die and then come back to life, while others walk through the air. Do such things not also occur in Buddhist practices? What I mean is that the Daoist Yang method is said to lead to ascent into the higher realms, while the Yin teaching returns to emptiness and stillness. Those two monks could preserve their bodies and endure in the world, appearing and vanishing with ease. Is this not the Way of emptiness and stillness?

Someone asked, “What is so difficult to understand about this?” I replied, “Both of those men cultivated the Yang method inwardly, while outwardly they were monks. Can outward appearance determine one’s method of cultivation? Monks, too, are simply people—a kind of life among Heaven and Earth. What difference is there between appearing as a monk while practicing the Yang method inwardly, and wearing a yellow cap outwardly as a Daoist? The Way of Yin and Yang changes according to circumstances; how could it favor one side over the other? Only Master Bodhidharma’s Qi Formula, which teaches that within and without there is neither coming nor going, and that the spirit should be gathered and settled in emptiness and stillness, cultivates the subtle reality within. This is the Yin Truth within the method of emptiness and stillness.”

Someone else asked, “Today people say that refining Yang enables one to ascend above the Nine Heavens, while refining Yin enables one to enter beyond the Nine Earths. Could both methods be taught to everyone in the world?” I replied, “No. In governing the world, nothing is more suitable than civil instruction. These two methods of Yin and Yang belong to the Way beyond the world. They cannot be used to govern the world, nor are they suitable for universal instruction.”

The questioner said, “I have always studied only books on governing the world and winning fame. I know nothing of the principles for extending life and transcending the mundane, nor do I understand the aims of the Two Lords or the relations among the Three Teachings. Now that I have heard your instruction, I feel as though I have been steeped in a mysterious breeze and immersed in the true meaning. In the past, I was truly as narrow-minded as a frog at the bottom of a well or a gnat in a vinegar jar!” With that, he repeatedly assented and withdrew.

I have written a brief account of the essential principles of the Yin and Yang methods for refining the True Way, in the hope that readers of superior wisdom will understand them; nothing more need be said to them. The ignorant and unenlightened, even if these principles are explained at length, will find them hard to grasp. Those of middling ability often hesitate inwardly, yet cling to old teachings and refuse to turn back. They commonly say, “Life and death are ordained by fate; wealth and rank are determined by Heaven,” and also, “In time, Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, will all perish.” Few people in the world refrain from saying such things. Thus they wait in fearful anxiety for death, turn away from what is true and lose the right Way, remain trapped in distress, and willingly proceed toward this end.

How could the shallow and frivolous, whose understanding drifts on the surface, perceive the original nature of Heaven and Earth or the work by which Heaven and Earth bring forth and transform the myriad things? How could they understand the mutual interaction and transformation of Yin and Yang, or the way their Qi draws upon one another and flows in and out? I have seen that books discussing the Returning Elixir speak of “limitless longevity,” so I have offered this brief discussion for those who share these aspirations. This is not an indulgence in desire or an invention of absurd claims, nor is it meant to invite ridicule from worthy and discerning people. I hope those who share these aspirations will examine it carefully.

The song says: The Great Dao, the fundamental pattern of the universe, gives rise to my true nature, while the transformations of Yin and Yang move through my body. I dwell between Heaven and Earth, passing through the cycles of life and death. In the end, life and death each return to their own destination, and the two paths diverge. One is the path of Yin and stillness, cultivated amid silence and emptiness to form the “spirit within Yin”—a method belonging to the Xihu lineage, an ancient name for the western regions. The other is the path of Yang, whose secret formula is recorded in the registers of the immortals, Daoist lists of perfected beings and texts on attaining immortality.

Point to the source of Heaven and Earth: this source is called the “True One,” the origin from which all things in Heaven and Earth had yet to differentiate. The True One precedes Heaven and Earth; from it, Heaven and Earth first opened into being. The practitioner gathers the refined Qi obtained through cultivation and smelts it into “Geng-Xin stone,” a product of transformation named using Five Phases terminology. Then the practitioner takes the “dragon within Wood,” a term from alchemy for the Qi of Wood, and joins it closely with the stone. The two become like husband and wife and gradually give birth to male and female. After ten months, they take form and transform into liquid gold. Smelted further, this liquid gold becomes the divine elixir. By taking it, one can transcend the bounds of life and death in Heaven and Earth.

I have written down these insights to share with fellow practitioners: why not seek out the “dragon within Wood” and smelt it together with the other substance? The sun and moon race by like the wind; thirty-six thousand days—about a hundred years—pass in the blink of an eye.

Three Essays on the Art of Returning to Gold (including the preface), by Tao Zhi.

I once read the Jingbi Qiantong Jing. In it, Master Wei says, “Three and Five with One are the most subtle principles between Heaven and Earth.” I spent ten years pondering these words again and again before grasping their wondrous meaning. The “One” spoken of here refers to water’s number among the Five Phases. Water is the beginning of the Five Phases. It belongs to the color of the north, yet contains all five colors, and in the end accords with the Dao and conforms to the principles of nature. For this reason, it can bring forth Heaven and Earth, forming Yin and Yang, female and male. It then draws the essence of the sun back to the moon’s cavern and gathers its quintessence within the Qi of balanced harmony. Its wondrous workings are hidden yet responsive, and accord with the true Dao. This is beyond the understanding of worldly practitioners of alchemy.

I have observed in private that people studying the Dao today all believe that mercury can be refined into the Golden Elixir and cinnabar into the river chariot, a technical term in alchemy. They do not know that mercury comes from lead, and lead in turn comes from gold. Unable to discern the true principle, they pass off other substances in its place. This is like stitching flowers together and calling them fruit, or wounding the body to feign pregnancy. Once the damage is done, Jing and Qi can no longer remain whole. The people of the world have all been led astray: this kind of lead is not a naturally complete substance, untouched by human interference. Many people of aspiration are at a loss and do not know where to turn. Some say that what the ancients taught was nothing but fiction, and that no such principle exists. This view is truly foolish, and I do not agree with it. Therefore, drawing on the meaning of the classics, I have written the three parts of The Art—Upper, Middle, and Lower—to discuss with those who share my aims.

The Art, Upper Part

The ancients used the images and numbers of the Yijing to write the classics because the highest Dao corresponds to Heaven and Earth. For example, at the beginning, the Great High One divided the One Qi into the two modes, Yin and Yang. Only after the two modes were distinguished did the Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and humanity—come into being. Qian and Kun, which symbolize Heaven and Earth, then set things in motion, and each of the myriad things found its proper place. Kan and Li, which symbolize water and fire, Yin and Yang, then worked in concert, bringing Metal and Water together. This is the pivot of the Dao.

When a man undergoes the capping ceremony and a woman the hairpin ceremony, Yin and Yang, female and male, unite; their breaths respond to each other and their forms join. Their transformations have no fixed limit: this is the action of the Dao. The sun and moon move, cold and heat alternate in their proper seasons, fluids moisten, and the work of transformation and nurture flows freely: this is the manifestation of the Dao. When Yin unfolds, Yang gathers in; when Yang takes effect, Yin lies hidden. Coming and going, shifting and changing in accord with their nature: this is the return of the Dao.

These principles show that what comes from the division of the One Qi, and follows the laws of Heaven and Earth, naturally accords with the Dao of Wuwei. Why, then, should one need to use anything else to refine it? Now, drawing on the words of Shennong in the Huangbai Neijing, I respectfully present: “To know…”

“White guarding Black; one seeks death but cannot attain it” means that when something white remains within something black and the two unite, they form the foundation of long life. Here, “white” refers to the essence of metal in alchemical practice, not to ordinary gold; “black” refers to mercury, not to the silver commonly meant by that word.

The Jing of the Dragon and Tiger says, “Lead is black on the outside, yet contains golden radiance within.” “Golden radiance” is a symbolic alchemical term representing the Azure Dragon, Yellow, and Qian. It occupies the Wood position and has the number three. The text also says, “He wears coarse cloth, yet keeps jade hidden in his breast; one who looks wild on the outside may contain something precious within.” Here, jade represents the White Tiger, cinnabar, mercury, and Kun. It occupies the Earth position and has the number five. Thus, “when three and five unite, they become harmonious; the eight minerals can then be blended and brought into order.” Three and five correspond respectively to the Earth and Wood positions, and together they make eight.

The scripture also says, “Metal is the mother of Water, and the mother lies hidden in the womb; Water is the son of Metal, and the son is concealed in his mother’s belly.” This means that Metal and Water contain one another and are stored within the maternal body; they must await the movement of transformation before they can be generated. It also says, “The eldest son inherits his father’s form and relies on his mother to establish his foundation.” This means that cinnabar arises from metal, and mercury flows forth from it like a son. Metal nourishes mercury, allowing it to inherit a form, grow, and flourish. These are subtle transformations that follow the Dao of nature, and they deserve careful reflection.

The Secret Communication Formula says, “Mysterious white gives birth to the Metal Lord, who stands tall and establishes the beginning of all things.” This explains that cinnabar is generated from lead. The Song of the Golden and Jade Tablets says, “Red Water flows and changes into mercury; mercury is like a shining jade pendant.” This explains that mercury is not added from outside, but arises through an inner transformation. When Qian and Kun unite and receive Qi, generation becomes possible. Although something is poised to be born but has not yet come into being, its brilliance and pattern are already apparent.

Thus, the scripture says, “A sage does not appear from nowhere, but looks up to observe the celestial signs and makes Heaven’s tokens clear.” “Heaven’s token” is proof of Heaven’s intention: the Qi of Heaven descends, the Qi of Earth responds, and Yin and Yang meet; then the Flowing Pearl is born. The “Flowing Pearl” is also called “Flowing Mercury.”

The scripture further says, “Flowing Sand is the father of Vermilion Mercury; Wu and Ji are the mother of gold.” These expressions explain how lead and mercury accord with the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity and correspond to the Five Phases. They do not refer to ordinary substances in daily life. The Token of the Three in Accordance says, “To sow grain, use millet seed; to hatch a chicken, use a chicken egg.” This means that to generate something new, one must take something of the same kind as its foundation.

Once the relationship between nature and emotion is understood, one sees that “nature” is the pivot of emotion. Nature and emotion depend on each other, and their return to their natural state is transformation. It is like lead and mercury: unless they belong to corresponding categories, they cannot work together.

Even after emotion and nature separate, they remain linked in sequence, forming relationships such as Heaven and Earth, female and male, Metal and Water, and Wood and Earth—that is, the relationships of emotion and nature, and of the Dragon and Tiger. Though they arise from one source and bear different names, only things of the same kind can unite. The slightest mismatch prevents them from blending. Hence it is said: “When things of the same kind follow one another but their principles diverge, no treasure can be refined.”

Water is controlled by Earth, while Wood grows because of Earth. Restraint and generation alternate, and each becomes the other’s root. Mercury does not occupy a proper position among the Five Phases, and cinnabar is not the pairing of Dragon and Tiger. Hence it is said: “How can things of different kinds be brought together?”

An ancient song says: “Do not damage my lead, and my nature and life can be preserved; do not break my cart, or I will be unable to return home.” It also says: “When the lead is severed, the River Cart—the metaphor for circulating essence and Qi in Neidan cultivation—ceases to function; when the lead is broken, the River Cart is cut off, and all one’s efforts come to nothing.”

The Five Chapters also says: “There is gold within the lead, and return within the gold. Recognize the treasure, cultivate the mind and spirit, and refine the body; then the worthy can attain the Dao.” It also says: “Better to refine the gold within the lead than the treasure within the gold.” These sayings are all parables through which the sages guide later students, explaining the point repeatedly for fear they will not understand. The two things represented by the Dragon and Tiger are, in essence, one and the same. Those who understand the principle find it as easy as turning over a hand; those who lose the way find it as difficult as climbing to heaven. Because people of the world have not grasped this, later students abandon the easy path of return and instead pursue what is beyond reach. The more urgently they strive, the farther they stray from the true Dao.

Understanding its principle is as easy as turning over one’s palm. Those who do not know the way, however, compare it to climbing to Heaven. Since people in the world have failed to grasp it, later students have abandoned the straightforward path, easy as turning a palm, and instead pursued a method as difficult as climbing to Heaven. The harder they study, the farther they stray from the true principle. Opinions proliferate, making the matter hard to assess, while truth and falsehood become hopelessly mixed.

Some say lead must be used; others say mercury. If mercury is used in the refining, can Qian and Kun (Heaven and Earth, or Yin and Yang) still be established? Can firmness and yielding still be distinguished? If lead must be added, how then are the “metal and water” (a technical term for the key substances in alchemical practice) generated? How does the process of returning the elixir to its origin and restoring its true state take place? And how can one say that transformation arises from the true principle? Moreover, the old verses praise only the efficacy of lead; they do not discuss the subtle workings of mercury. Is it because lead and mercury must be used together that both are praised? If mercury is the principal substance in alchemical practice, and lead’s Qi is borrowed only to generate the River Chariot (a Neidan term for a method or function that circulates essence and Qi), why abandon the root and chase after the branches?

Although the author’s intent is clear, later students are like people trying to grow rice on stone or catch fish by climbing a tree; it is hardly likely that they will gain anything. What is passed down through written words, moreover, does not convey the most subtle and mysterious teachings. Secret instructions passed on privately may not come from someone who has truly attained the Dao, either. The difference between understanding and not understanding is like the distance between a thousand miles away and something close at hand. If one is not a realized person, how can one discern the true principle?

I now speak about this matter with everyone because people often say, “Those who speak do not know; those who know do not speak.” So how can we know whether the Great Dao is concealed in words or in silence?

○ “Section on Methods” (a chapter title meaning a discussion of techniques)

Anyone who says that a Golden Elixir can be made by refining mercury is talking nonsense. Anyone who says cinnabar can make a person live forever does not understand the principle. Taking the absurd words of people who do not understand as truth will only lead one farther and farther from the right path. Mercury is also called the “Maiden”; cinnabar is the most precious part of lead. This is what the alchemical scriptures mean by “cinnabar and mercury.”

Lead contains cinnabar and mercury, just as a person has emotion and nature. Emotion and nature are inherent in a person; cinnabar and mercury, too, arise from lead rather than coming from external things. The so-called Way of the Three Ones—cultivating and harmonizing the interrelated elements of body and mind—requires nurturing one’s nature and harmonizing one’s emotions so as to return to the source. This is the true essential method.

If external things are taken for emotion or nature, they cannot be brought into harmony. If mercury from outside is used in place of the mercury within lead, lead cannot form an affinity with it. If nature cannot be brought into harmony, how can the Three Palaces—the important places within the body spoken of in Daoism—be made secure? If lead cannot form an affinity, how can the so-called Eight Minerals, the various mineral substances used in alchemy, work their wonders?

Thus the Cantong qi says, “When the white is joined, the treasure appears, making gold.” These words do not refer to making gold by refining ordinary cinnabar and mercury. Anything made that way would soon dissolve into white smoke. How could it then “disperse and dissolve into water, with the horse’s teeth standing firm”? A discerning person need only reflect a little to distinguish truth from falsehood in a single sentence.

When practitioners understand these principles, they can set their nature straight and remain free of delusion. With nature set straight, they draw ever closer to the Dao, and their foundation naturally returns to the right. Why would they need to rely on outward renown, abandon their wives and leave home, or fast and withdraw to the mountains in the hope of encountering the Dao? Therefore, the author again explains emotion and nature and investigates the meaning of cinnabar and mercury, restating the intent behind the sages’ use of images and metaphors to teach later worthies, so that they may draw ever closer to the Dao and set their foundation straight.

○ Lower Chapter on Techniques

The scripture says that white represents the vital essence of Metal, while black represents the foundation of Water. Water is the pivot in the movement of the Great Dao, and its number is called “One.” It also says: “Understand the principle of white, yet hold to the Dao of black, and the spirits will naturally come.” From this we can see that the essence of the Great Mystery—the profound and subtle Dao—is the root of the Great Dao. It dwells at the pivot, harmonizes Heaven and Earth, tempers Yin and Yang, accords with the principles of nature, and has a potency equal to that of creation itself.

Thus, establish the numbers of the two cords, joining “two and eight” above and below, and the forms of Qian and Kun take shape. Examine the sixty-four hexagrams and use their images to derive the numerical patterns of Heaven and Earth. It is also said that, by analyzing each line, all three hundred and eighty-four spirit positions are contained within them. The number of counting rods for the Qian hexagram is two hundred and sixteen, and that for Kun is one hundred and forty-four. Extend and infer from these numbers, and their total is twelve thousand five hundred and twenty, corresponding to the number of the myriad things and encompassing both firm and yielding forms. The number of Heaven is twenty-five, and that of Earth is thirty; together, the numbers of Heaven and Earth make fifty-five. From these, change is brought about, and change returns to its source.

When Yang Qi accumulates, it becomes Heaven; when Yin Qi gathers, it becomes Earth. When Heaven and Earth are sealed off, the spirits appear. Though the primordial act of creation takes place only once, its subtle workings are inexhaustible. The world also matches the Five Phases—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—with cold and heat, waxing and waning, flourishing and withering, as in the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the alternation of day and night. Yang moves according to the sequence Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, and Earth generates Metal; Yin moves in a corresponding way. If one can hold the principles of Heaven and Earth in one’s palm and make creation turn according to oneself, one can rise from the ordinary world to the realm of the sages, have one’s name entered in the Golden Register—the roll of the names of immortals and perfected beings—and stand alongside the Yellow Emperor and Laozi. There is no other shortcut to practicing this Dao.

For all those who share this aspiration and wish to practice this Dao, the key is to seek the true oral instructions carefully and receive them from a teacher. One must not rely on shallow, vague explanations, nor expect to succeed by saying a few more words or happening upon a correct idea. Alas, people today do not understand the intent of the spirits or the principles of Heaven and Earth. They pursue only the surface meaning of the written words, then speculate according to their own ideas, unaware that some things in antiquity were never meant to be transmitted lightly. People discuss only the branches and leaves and never reach the root; they mislead one another and point one another in the wrong direction. How could they ever return to the right path? I am merely a shallow scholar from the countryside; how would I dare claim to know before others? I only served often at the side of my elders and overheard these teachings. So I believe that without understanding the principles of Qian and Kun, one cannot refine sand and mercury, the materials used in alchemy; and apart from the Metal Lord, the symbolic name for Metal, the Dragon and Tiger, terms often used in Neidan to symbolize Yin and Yang or the alchemical substances, cannot be put to use. At times I have set out the general outline of these teachings for others to consider and to help avoid error.

The song says:

When an immortal claps their hands, snow gathers into a ball. The yellow flower wishes to enter the Purple River, but cannot manage it. Mother and child alike dissolve into water, and their transformation resembles the Nine-Turn Elixir.

Preface to the Essential Instructions of the Scripture of the Great Clarity on Elixirs: I have surveyed the alchemical recipes of antiquity. They all say that immortals who grow wings upon their bodies and can fly aloft owe these abilities to taking elixirs. Whenever I read such words, I feel a deep longing. Yet the Way of the immortals is distant and hard to reach, and accounts of their traces and deeds are few and far between. I can only gaze up at the blue sky, without knowing how to ascend.

Later, I began to investigate the methods of returning the elixir and subduing fire—that is, refining elixirs by subjecting their ingredients to fire—as well as the recipes for Jade Sweet Dew and Golden Liquid, Daoist medicines of immortality. But I found them profound and difficult to understand, remote and hard to fathom. Without accumulated hidden virtue, how could one sense their secrets? The methods concerning the medicines of the Five Spirits and Three Emissaries, and the elixirs of the Nine Lights and Seven Luminaries, are comparatively easier to approach.

From then on, I devoted myself to study; the longer I persisted, the firmer my resolve became. However difficult or distant the road, I would reach its end; even if a method seemed minor, I would seek to understand it. I did not fear the labor from beginning to end, nor shrink from weariness day and night. I studied without letup, hoping to hear insights never heard before. The Way of Heaven is impartial: if one seeks with sincerity, it opens a path. Heaven did not thwart my hopes or alter my resolve, and bestowed the fruits of cultivation upon me—how swiftly they came!

Was I doing this to show off my skill and seek profit in the world? My purpose was to cure illness and aid those in distress. So I wrote several sets of essential instructions for elixirs and tested their preparation myself. Not a single detail was mistaken; I recorded each step clearly, and anyone who follows the methods can succeed.

Yet nothing matters more to people than life and nature. Human life is brief as spring dew and fragile as autumn frost; in an instant, it seems to have slipped away. Splendor and poverty are both fleeting conditions; sorrow, grief, and joy are all things that cannot be held on to. Seen in this light, one cannot help but sigh deeply.

I have read many alchemical recipes in the past and found that most of their contents are obscure. The more closely one studies them, the more confused one becomes; the more people explain them, the more bewildering they may be. As a result, practitioners often cannot see a path to success. Were the ancients wrong, then? Or have those who study the Dao failed to examine the true meaning of these teachings?

The essential points of the alchemical recipes I have written down are as clear as the palm of one’s hand. Simply leaf through them and investigate, and you will understand. To my fellow Daoists…

The names of the famous figures cited for identifying and verifying alchemical recipes vary. Because the intentions behind the evidence differ, they are set out in three sections. Written by the recluse Sun Simiao.

Three Grades of Elixirs

First Category: Thirty-Four Alternative Names for the Great Elixir of the Immortals

Taiyi Jade Powder Elixir, Taiyi Soul-Summoning Elixir, Soul-Restoring Elixir, Rebirth Elixir, Complete Life and Return to Destiny Elixir, Four Spirits Elixir, Taiyi Spirit Essence Elixir, Spirit Transformation Elixir, Spirit Liquid Elixir, Elixir for Summoning Spirits at Will, Five Spirits Elixir, Rising into the Rosy Clouds Elixir, Spiritual Transformation Elixir, Three Messengers Elixir, Incense-Bearing Elixir, Taiyi Elixir, Messenger Elixir, Ben…