《云笈七签》Vol. 30

Take the medicine after grinding it into powder. If you feel cold, add a warming medicine. Only after the movement of Qi (vital energy) has become free-flowing and the internal organs are in harmony should you take this powder by itself. At first, take a smaller dose, but take it regularly without interruption.

When you first begin taking the powder, take one sheng of jusheng (also called sesame), steam it, dry it in the sun, and grind it. Rinse it with water and collect the liquid, then cook the liquid with non-glutinous rice into a porridge of moderate thickness. When your abdomen feels warm, take the powder together with the sesame porridge. The powder is rather oily, and the porridge lubricates the intestines and helps it pass downward. Most people tend to have excess heat in the upper body and relative cold in the lower body, so this method can be used over a long period.

The Scripture of the Nine Immortals says: “Mica is formed from the essence of twelve hundred substances and the finest of seventy-two kinds of cloud Qi. Its substance is pure and lustrous; water cannot damage it, nor can fire scorch it. It endures alongside Heaven and Earth and shines with the sun and moon.” When gathering mica, that from the sun-facing side of a mountain is best.

Mr. Jiong’s Mica Formula (Two Formulas)

Shave a bamboo tube thin, fill it with half a sheng of white salt, cover it with a wooden basin, and seal it with lacquer. Bury it five chi deep in damp earth beside a well. After more than ten days, the salt will have turned to liquid. Add one sheng of saltpeter and let it dissolve, then add two jin of powdered mica. Seal it tightly with lacquer again and bury it for ten days. Take it out and steam it in an iron vessel with an equal amount of white honey until it sets.

It can be taken directly in small amounts, or made into pills the size of parasol-tree seeds and taken three times a day. The text says that taking it this way gives the body a lustrous appearance and enables one to withstand cold and heat.

The Jade Clarity Method for Taking Mica

Take one jin of mica powder prepared by pounding as described above, and add half a jin each of powdered ophiopogon root and white honey. Mix them together, put the mixture in a fresh bamboo tube, and seal the opening with honey. Place it beneath three dou of non-glutinous rice and steam it for about half a day. When removed, it should have the consistency of syrup. Usually, take one pellet the size of a marble three times a day. The text says that taking it devotedly in this way enables one to live forever and never die.

Cui Wenzi’s Mica Formula

Take the mica powder prepared earlier by soaking it in the ash of garden burnet root, and place it in a green bamboo tube, each section of which is one chi and five cun long. The text that follows is damaged; all that can be made out is that it was steamed for about a day and should have the consistency of syrup when removed. Usually, take one pellet the size of a marble three times a day. The text says that taking it devotedly enables one to live forever and never die.

Cui Wenzi’s recipe for taking mica: Take the mica powder prepared earlier by soaking it in elm-root ash, and divide it among green bamboo tubes with their outer skins shaved off. Each tube should be one chi and five cun long. Fill it with powder to about five cun below the opening, seal the opening with fine silk, and place the tubes in a steaming vessel. Bury them in fine sand, leaving only the top five cun of each tube exposed above the sand, and steam for one day. When steaming is complete, remove the tubes and put everything into a new porcelain jar. Stopper the jar with fine silk and seal it tightly with lacquer. At the spring equinox, place the jar at the bottom of a well; at the autumn equinox, take it out.

First put one sheng of white honey, two sheng of refined beef fat, and half a jin of wax in a bronze vessel. Simmer over a low flame, and once they are blended, add the mica powder. Continue simmering until the mixture can be rolled into pills. Take three pills each time, each about the size of a parasol-tree seed, three times a day. The recipe claims that after three years of taking them, one will feel neither hunger nor thirst, withstand cold and heat, and be immune to wind and dampness. After five years, white hair will turn black and the body will become light and strong; continued use will enable one to become an immortal.

Yue Fashi’s recipe for taking mica: Take the mica powder prepared earlier by soaking it in bitter wine, an acidic liquid used in antiquity, and add fresh bamboo juice. Simmer over a low flame for three days and three nights. Then repeatedly wash and refine it in clean water, and dry it in the sun. After thirty days, mix it with scallion juice into a paste and steam it in an earthenware vessel for half a day. Remove it and dry it in the sun, then mix it with white honey. Take three pills each time, each about the size of a parasol-tree seed, three times a day. The recipe claims that this will enable one to become an immortal and transcend the world.

The nine recipes for the Yue woman Yuanming to take mica: Take ten jin of mica powder and first steam it in a bamboo vessel for half a day. Remove it and dry it in the sun, then mix it with white honey. Take three pills each time, each about the size of a parasol-tree seed, three times a day. The recipe claims that this will enable one to become an immortal and transcend the world.

Another recipe for the Yue woman Yuanming to take mica: Take ten jin of mica powder. First put one jin of bamboo juice in a vessel, then add half a jin of cinnamon bark, without grinding it into powder. Steam them together for five days and five nights, until all the moisture has evaporated. Remove the mixture, put it in a bronze vessel, add two jin of true cinnabar, a mineral medicine of the cinnabar type, and three jin of white honey, and stir well. Steam it for another day, until it has a syrup-like consistency. Put it into bamboo tubes and form pills the size of Chinese dates. Take one pill each day. The recipe claims that after one month one will regain youth, and after a full year one will become a child.

Another method of preparation is to pound the white part and flower of scallions, squeeze out two sheng of juice, and add one jin each of ground cinnamon and mica. Put the mixture in a fresh bamboo tube and steam it beneath a shi of rice until it liquefies. Then remove it, dry it in the sun, and grind it finely. Take one daogui—a very small ancient unit of measure—three times a day. After twenty days, it is said to restore ten years of youth and give the complexion of a child; after forty days, one’s appearance is said to resemble an infant’s. After one hundred days, it is said that one can enter fire without feeling heat and enter water without feeling cold.

Another method is to steam one sheng of ground cinnamon until it liquefies, then add honey and mica and continue steaming until the mixture becomes a paste. Take it with fine wine; it is said to take effect after a month.

Another method is to take ten jin of cinnamon, shave away the heartwood to obtain three jin, then pound and sift it. Pound forty jin of the white part and flower of scallions and squeeze out the juice. Mix it with the ground cinnamon, put it in a fresh bamboo tube, close it tightly, and seal the opening. Hang the tube and steam it over five dou of millet. Once cooked, the contents will liquefy. Add one jin of powdered mica and steam for a day; the mixture will liquefy again. Take one xiangdou three times a day. After twenty days, it is said that one’s appearance will resemble a child’s.

Another method is to soak scallion juice and ground cinnamon together for three days, then squeeze out the dregs and mix the liquid with powdered mica. Put the mixture in a thin bamboo tube and seal the opening. Place it in strong kujiu, an ancient term for a fermented drink made from vinegar; after twenty days, it will liquefy. Take one xiangdou three times a day. It is said that one’s lifespan can then be limitless.

Another method is to take three sheng of scallion juice, two jin of ground cinnamon, and five jin of powdered mica, and pound them together. Put the mixture in a fresh bamboo tube and bury it in a shady place, three chi underground. After one hundred and twenty days, it will have liquefied completely. Take one xiangdou three times a day. It is said to confer long life.

Another method is to mix five sheng of scallion juice with half a jin of ground cinnamon and steam the mixture in a bronze vessel. Add one jin of mica, knead it together, and continue steaming. After ten days, it will have liquefied completely. Take one xiangdou three times a day. It is said to confer long life.

Another recipe: Take five sheng of scallion juice and half a jin of cinnamon bark powder. Mix them together and steam the mixture in a copper vessel. Then add one jin of mica and knead until evenly combined. Bury the vessel in the earth, with its opening level with the ground, and seal it for three days, until the medicine has completely melted into liquid. Take one spoonful three times a day. It is said that this will bring long life and freedom from aging.

Another recipe: Take one jin of mica powder and three sheng of white honey. Put them in a copper vessel, seal its opening tightly with lacquer, and bury it beneath the north wall. After thirty days, take it out; the medicine in the vessel will have turned into a syrupy liquid. Take as much as you like. It is said that after twenty days of taking it, the body will glow; after thirty days, it will be immune to wind-dampness; and after a hundred days, youth will be restored.

Another recipe: Take mica in all five colors, break it carefully into small pieces, and boil it in a saltpeter decoction. Immediately plunge it into cold water, and repeat this process nine times. Then dry it in the sun, put it in an iron vessel, and heat it until it glows the same color as the fire. Remove it and pour it into white honey, stirring until it blends into a paste. Then strain it through silk cloth to remove the residue, keeping the liquid. Once cooled, it will solidify into an ointment. Take it before meals, one pill about the size of a pellet, three times a day. It is said that this can make one an immortal and grant life without death.

○ Lord Lao’s Recipes for Taking Mica (six recipes in all)

Take one jin of mica powder and one jin of white saltpeter. Pound and sift them finely, add three sheng of white honey, and mix until they form a porridge-like paste. Put it in a fresh bamboo tube, seal the opening tightly with lacquer, and bury it beneath the north wall. After thirty days, take it out and pour it into a copper vessel; the medicine will gradually become like water or wine. After twenty days of taking it, the body will glow; after thirty days, dew will no longer settle on the body; after fifty days, one can enter the mountains and avoid tigers and wolves, and suffer no harm from water or fire. After a hundred days, one can enter and leave dark, hidden realms and travel freely, becoming an immortal.

There is another method: Take one jin of powdered mica, a globule of toad oil the size of a pellet, and globules of white saltpeter and cold-water stone, each the size of a pellet. Put them together in a bamboo tube gathered and prepared in spring. Seal the mouth of the tube tightly and bury it four chi deep in damp ground. After nine days, take it out and apply the medicine to your hands. You will not feel the heat when holding a fire. If it still feels hot, bury it for another seven days, until it is ready. This medicine can also be taken internally: one sheng at a time, twice daily. It is said to eliminate all illnesses and make the body and complexion lustrous. After taking it for two hundred days, one can communicate with the Way of Heaven.

Method for Dissolving Jade and Stone: Take one jin of fine jade and grind it into a powder. Put it in mica water, and it will dissolve in ten days. Half a jin may be taken. Powders of other kinds of stone will also dissolve when added; the method works for more than jade alone. This method is called a secret and wondrous recipe and should not be passed on.

There is another method: Take two jin of powdered mica and one jin of saltpeter. Mix and pound them into a paste, then put the mixture into a vessel. Seal the vessel’s mouth with lacquer and bury it three chi deep in damp ground. Alternatively, suspend it in a well, three chi below the water’s surface. After ten days, it will turn to water. Take one xiangdou measure at a time, three times daily, gradually increasing the amount. It is said to restore youth and make the body lustrous.

There is another method: Put one jin of powdered mica into a thin-walled tube of fresh bamboo and add refined saltpeter. After twenty days, it will turn to water. Take one xiangdou measure at a time, three times daily, gradually increasing the amount. It is said to restore youth and make the body lustrous.

There is another method: Put one jin of powdered mica into a thin-walled tube of fresh bamboo, and place two liang of refined saltpeter on top. Seal the mouth of the tube tightly and bury it in silkworm droppings. After seven days, it will turn to water. Take it out and let it solidify, then steam it, packing it in yellow earth. Leave it for three nights, or four to five days, until the medicine melts. Wrap it tightly in three layers of yellow silk, then place it in a flower bed on the shaded side of the house. After seven days, it will turn to water again. Take it out and leave it on the roof in the sun for three days, then place it in a well five or six zhang deep, without letting it sink to the bottom. After ten days, it will be ready as a lustrous medicinal preparation called “Cloud Essence.” Take one daogui measure at a time, three times daily. It is said that after taking it, one can see a thousand li into the distance and attain immortality in a hundred days.

There is another method: Take three jin each of powdered mica, powdered asparagus root, and powdered poria. Mix them into white honey and form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Take twenty-one pills at a time, gradually increasing to thirty. After ten days, take them twice daily, for twenty…

Take one dose of this pill each day. Gradually increase the amount to thirty pills. After ten days, take it twice a day; after another twenty days, take it once a day. If you wish to take mica, a mineral used as medicine, first take this pill according to the method described above. Only afterward may you take mica by itself. While taking mica, abstain from sexual relations, avoid stepping on anything unclean, and do not eat the Five Pungent Foods (commonly used spicy and stimulating foods) or anything bloody.

An Immortal’s Method for Preparing Mica as Food

This method does not follow an ancient formula. It is said that a recluse living on Mount Meng obtained it from a woman from the Eastern Sea who was selling salt there. The method says: When taking mica powder, first cook a bowl of polished rice porridge until it is neither too thick nor too thin. Add a spoonful of mica powder, stir it well, cook it through, and then take it.

The Immortals’ Scripture says this medicine has many benefits, too numerous to describe one by one. Before preparing it, first make an offering to the Kitchen God. Set out various incense, flowers, five kinds of fruit, wine, fermented drinks, butter, honey, oil, and other offerings, and keep everything clean. Once the medicine has been prepared, it is said to be free of further restrictions.

The medicine must be prepared on a day when the deities descend. According to the scriptures, the days called Accomplishment, Removal, Receiving, Opening, Establishing, and Full are suitable, because the deities descend on these days and the medicine may then display miraculous effects. The days called Holding, Destruction, and Closure are unsuitable: the medicine will otherwise be poor, and taking it will bring no results.

It is best to prepare the medicine in spring or summer; early autumn, in the seventh month, is also acceptable. After the middle of the eighth month, the weather turns cold, and even if the medicine is prepared, it will not work well. Keep the medicine away from fire, and do not soak it in hot water, or it will lose its effect. It is best to store and take the medicine in a porcelain vessel. Another account says that grinding it in a jade bowl is more beneficial, and that the water used to soak the mica should be nourishing.

All of the above are called secret methods of the immortals. When passing them on, do not give them to unsuitable people; keep them carefully. I, Minister Fancang, said: “I was born into poverty and fell seriously ill in my early years. I therefore entered the mountain valleys in search of a good physician, and began taking medicines. Year after year…”

A Recipe for the Regular Use of Mica by a Perfected Person

Pound white scallion stalks and extract two sheng of juice. Take half a jin of cinnamon heart, then mix the scallion juice with one jin of mica and half a jin of honey. Put the mixture into a fresh bamboo tube and steam it in the rice used to prepare one dan of cooked rice. Once the medicine is ready, form it into pills. Take thirty pills twice a day. It is said that long-term use can bring the effects of becoming an immortal. Mica is the principal ingredient and is said to treat various illnesses; its effects are described in detail earlier.

While taking the medicine, avoid blood, coriander, raw carp, and yukuai—raw fish sliced thinly. According to the saying “welcome three, send off seven,” these foods may be eaten again after the period of abstinence has passed. The original text also says that after taking mica powder for twenty-one days, older people will have fuller marrow, a clearer voice, and greater physical strength; these are regarded as signs of the medicine’s effects. Young people who eat yukuai should likewise abstain for the period prescribed by “welcome three, send off seven,” after which they may resume eating it.

Another account says that older people will see results after taking mica powder for twenty-one days, while younger people will see results after fourteen days. The earlier instructions explain how to take it but do not say whether the medicine is cooling or warming in nature. If the bowels are constipated, take it with water. If it feels too cold and causes loose stools, take it with wine. This is more suitable.

After collecting the mica, gently tap it with a wooden mallet so the thin sheets separate layer by layer, then remove any sand and stones. Place the mica in a cloth bag and put it in an earthenware jar to soak in water flowing eastward, changing the water every five days. After about twenty days, take out the mica and rinse it repeatedly in a large wooden basin until it is clean. Put it back in the cloth bag and boil it in a pot as before for ten to twenty days. Add water when the level falls, and replace the old water in the pot every five days. Discard the water from the first change; let the water from the second change settle, then keep it for use. Take out the mica powder, put it back in the bag, and continue boiling until the mica in the pot feels as fine and soft as flour when rubbed between the fingers. Then the boiling can stop.

Next, return the mica to the wooden basin and rinse it. After drying it in the sun, pound it into powder with a wooden pestle and stone mortar. Do this inside an enclosed space made by hanging paper curtains, to keep wind and dust from getting in. When finished, place it in a silk bag as before and suspend the bag inside an earthenware jar for storage.

When boiling mica, first boil the five-calyx plant and the herbaceous plant called diyu, then pour the concentrated liquid into a large earthenware jar. Gradually add this liquid to the pot and boil the mica as before. The text says that the process can be done without saltpeter, though the mica will be harder to soften. For every pound of five-calyx plant, use two pounds of diyu; adjust the amounts in other cases by the same proportion.

When selecting mica, discard any pieces that are black, hard, or flawed. Choose only the pieces that look bright and translucent in sunlight and are bluish white; the highest quality is best.

There are three methods for turning mica into water.

Take onion juice. If none is available, boil onions and grind them as a substitute. Rub the inner bark of cinnamon, then pound it into powder. Grind the saltpeter finely, then mix it with the onion juice and mica powder. Bury the mixture in the ground beside a shaded wall for a full month, and the mica will turn into water. Lady Li says that the mica can also be mixed with only onion juice and honey and left to turn into water. She considers this method better, and says that saltpeter damages the bones. For either method, put the ingredients in a green-skinned bamboo tube and seal its opening tightly.

Another method is to take two jin of powdered mica and one jin of niter, pound them together into a paste, then mix the paste with mica until the mica turns to liquid. This method is better than using niter alone. The book says that niter damages the bones. For both methods, the substances should be placed in a tube of green bamboo, with its opening sealed tightly.

Another method is to take two jin of powdered mica and one jin of niter, pound them together into a paste, and put the mixture into a vessel. Seal the opening with lacquer and bury it three chi underground. After fourteen days, take it out and suspend it in a well for seven days; the mica will then turn to liquid.

There is yet another method: take one jin of mica and three jin of white honey, mix them in a copper vessel, and heat gently until boiling. Place another vessel over it as a lid and seal it tightly with lacquer. Bury the copper vessel three chi beneath the north wall. After forty days, the contents will turn to liquid, called “Mica Syrup.” Take it with a decoction of polished rice.

Physician Li’s Method for Liquefying Powdered Mica

Take mica and tap it open from the side so that it separates into thin layers. Put it in a copper vessel and boil it more than ten times, until the warmth has penetrated it. Then sew a fine, double-layered cloth bag and put the mica inside.

Add warm water to a basin and repeatedly knead the mica in the bag. When a white liquid appears, pour it little by little into another basin. Continue kneading with warm water, and when the liquid thickens, pour that into another basin as well. Repeat this process until all the liquid has been kneaded out of the mica. Gather the liquid from the basins together, then wash and knead it with warm water as before, collecting the thick white liquid until no more mica liquid remains.

Next, gather the liquid in one basin, put it into a double-layered cloth bag, and press it to extract the liquid, collecting it as before until no more mica liquid remains. Then put the mica into a double-layered silk bag and knead it in the same way, pressing out the liquid until none remains. Treating it twice with the double-layered silk bag produces a fine mica powder. Finally, place the powder in the double-layered silk bag and hang it up to drain. Store it in a porcelain bowl.

A Daoist’s Method for Refining Mica (Pure white, bright, translucent mica is considered the finest grade.)

Mica should not be processed with iron tools; it is best boiled and refined in a sand basin. Take one jin of mica and four liang of alumen. Grind them to a fine powder, then mix with boiling water to make a paste. First, mix the mica only with the alumen paste and steam it in a cloth bag for seven days. Then add more alumen paste and soak it for a month, until the mica turns to powder. Filter it through three layers of silk, then rinse it with water and let it settle to make a powder. Put it in a bag and steam it for seven days in yellow stream sand, again mixing it with alumen paste.

Take one jin of the powdered mica and mix it with two sheng of refined, clarified white honey. Place it in a bamboo tube, seal the opening with lacquer, and bury it three chi underground for a month, until it becomes a slurry. If it remains cloudy and has not turned to slurry, bury it for another half month. In cold weather, one month is enough. To take it, each day on an empty stomach, mix one ge of mica slurry with two ge of well-water drawn at dawn and drink it. A small amount of alcohol is permitted; avoid eating sheep’s blood.

Method for Boiling Mica (Two Formulas)

Take fifty jin of mica and half a jin of saltpeter. Strike the mica from the side and peel it into thin sheets. Put these in a coarse cloth bag and swish them in clean water, removing all impurities. Then place them in a pot, add the saltpeter, and boil for six or seven days, until the mica breaks down into powder.

In the other formula, first strike the mica from the side and peel it into thin sheets. Put them in a coarse cloth bag and swish them clean in water. Then place them in a pot and boil them with saltpeter for six or seven days, until they break down into powder.

Mica can also be boiled with five-jia bark and scallion juice. One day and night of boiling is enough for it to break down into powder. Put the powdered mica in a silk bag and sift it as finely as possible.

Method for the Perfected Ones to Take Water-Processed Mica (Three Formulas)

Extract the juice from scallion stalks. Grind and sift one jin of cassia, then grind one jin of mica into powder. Place them together in a bamboo tube and steam them over a fire using the heat equivalent to cooking one shi of rice. After a while, lower the heat so the ingredients congeal, then dry them. Take one square-inch spoonful each time, three times a day. The scripture says that after thirty days, the complexion will become smooth and lustrous like jade; after one hundred days, one may enter water without drowning or enter fire without being burned.

Mica comes in five colors, which most people at the time could not distinguish. To identify them, hold the mica facing the sun and examine it closely; viewed with the light behind it, its mixed colors cannot be seen. Mica with more green is called “Cloud Hero” (Yunying) and is suited to spring, though other colors may still be visible. Mica with more white is called “Cloud Liquid” (Yunye) and is suited to autumn. Mica with more black is called “Mica” (Yunmu) and is suited to winter. Mica with more mixed colors is called “Cloud Sand” (Yunsha) and is suited to the intercalary months between the four seasons. Crystalline, bright mica with a greater proportion of pure white is called “Phosphorescent Stone” (Linshi) and is suited to all four seasons. Mica that is yellowish and hard is called “Cloud Essence” (Yunjing) and is suitable for regular use throughout the year.

There are several methods for processing the five kinds of mica. Some call for combining cassia, scallion, and jade stone with water. In another method, mica is placed in an iron vessel and soaked in dark water until it dissolves. In another, saltpeter and mica are placed together in a bamboo tube and buried until they dissolve. Other methods use honey and fermented milk for soaking, soak the mica in autumn dew for one hundred days before grinding it to powder in a leather pouch, or mix it with the juice of the grass called “Heartless Grass” (Wuxincao). The scripture says that one year of taking it can cure illness; after three years, an old person will become a child; after five years, one can command ghosts and spirits, enter fire without being burned, enter water without drowning, and remain unharmed by brambles, as well as meet the immortals. The scripture also compares mica with other substances: other things decay when buried in the earth and char when placed over a fire, but mica is not destroyed by fire and does not decay underground. For this reason, it is believed to enable people to live forever.

Another account says that after ten years of taking it, the Qi of mica will constantly surround and protect the person who takes it. If a pure black patch appears on the surface of the mica, it must not be taken; otherwise, it may cause dribbling urination and skin sores. Before taking mica, soak it for one hundred days in rainwater collected from a thatched roof, east-flowing water, or dew. Then rinse it to remove soil and stone fragments; only after this may it be used.

Another formula: Pound scallion stalks and squeeze out two sheng of juice. Pound and sift one jin of cassia, then grind one jin of mica into a fine powder. Mix the three ingredients and place them in a bamboo tube to steam. Steam them for as long as it takes to cook one shi of rice; the medicine will then dissolve into liquid. Remove it and let it set, then dry it in the sun and grind it finely. Take one square-inch spoonful each time (an ancient measure for medicine). It is said that after fifty days of taking it, one will become like a child; after one hundred days, one will not sink when entering water and will feel no cold when walking on ice.

○ Formula for immortals to take mica (a formula for immortals to take mica)

Take ten jin of mica (a layered mineral used in Daoist methods of alchemical cultivation), in which all five colors are present. Carefully break it apart and remove the blackened portions, keeping only the pure, bright, clean pieces. When dew forms in the eighth month, grind the mica with the dew into powder, making sure it is fine and evenly ground. Hold it up to the sun: it is ready only when no needle-like glints can be seen.

Take two sheng of the prepared mica powder, put it into a green bamboo tube, and seal the opening tightly. Place the tube in a steaming vessel and cover it with white sand. After steaming for one day and one night, remove the sand and replace it with one hu of millet. Steam for another day and night. Remove the millet, cover the tube with rice, and steam for one more day and night. Then take out the mica and put it in a copper vessel. Add one sheng of mica powder and mix it in. Suspend the vessel over the boiling water in a large cauldron and heat it for half a day, until the mica has melted completely and can be rolled into pills. Make each pill about the size of a small bean.

When the stars appear, take three pills, three times a day. After fifteen days, the body will feel light. At cockcrow, take three pills; after another fifteen days, increase the dose to four pills each time, three times a day. After a further fifteen days, the body will feel light and the eyes will be clear. After fifty days, the intestines will turn into sinews. After seventy days, the “Three Worms” and “Hidden Corpse”—Daoist terms for impure, disease-causing things within the body—will be expelled. After eighty days, the body will become radiant and smooth. After ninety days, one can enter water without drowning and fire without being burned. After one hundred days, the skin will be renewed. After two hundred days, the sinews, bones, and hair will all be transformed. After three hundred days, one will move like a flying dragon and run faster than a swift horse. After one year, the Dao of the Immortals will be attained.

Those aged twenty to forty can become immortals after taking it for three hundred days; those aged fifty to seventy, after three hundred and sixty days; and those over eighty, after four hundred days, becoming divine immortals. The scripture calls mica the “essence of the Five Stones,” a divine medicine formed from the vital energies of Heaven and Earth and the brilliance of the sun and moon. It also says that this method must not be passed on to the unworthy.

○ The Perfected Ones’ Method for Taking Mica (four methods for Perfected Ones to ingest mica)

Take five catties of mica, twelve catties of pine resin, ten catties of poria, forty-five aconite tubers, and ten catties of honeyed scorpions. Pound the five ingredients together thirty thousand times, grind them into a fine powder, and dry the powder in the sun. Then take three dou of pure bitter wine (a brewed wine with a bitter taste), pour it over the powder, seal it, and leave it undisturbed. Once the mixture has settled and cleared, take one dou and five sheng. Put it in a watertight vessel and stir it together until the ingredients are evenly mixed. Then bury it underground. After a full thousand days, take it out; the medicine is ready. When it is finished, its fragrance can travel three li.

Taking one jin is said to expel the three worms and hidden corpses—disease-causing evils said in Daoist writings and ancient medical texts to inhabit the body—and to eliminate every illness. Taking five jin is said to make the body light and insubstantial and the complexion exceptionally beautiful. Taking six jin enables one to fly and reach out to touch the sun and moon. Taking seven jin makes one capable of anything: one may come and go freely, manifest one’s form wherever one pleases, attain the Dao, teach and transform living beings, and keep one’s traces hidden in the human world. Anyone facing disaster or hardship can be rescued and brought to safety. One can also lead and establish the affairs of the immortals, spread the Great Dao, and teach and transform living beings as circumstances allow. This prescription is deeply secret and must not be passed on to anyone who is not worthy and wise.

Another prescription: Soak ground cinnamon bark in scallion juice for three months, then strain out the solids. Use the liquid to mix the medicinal powder and place it in a bamboo tube. Shave off the tube’s outer layer to make its walls thin, then seal it and put it in a brewing vessel containing floating fermented milk. After twenty days, it will have turned to liquid. Taking it is said to make one divine and prevent aging.

Another prescription: Take one dou of mica powder and two sheng of barley, and cook them together. Use the liquid to mix the powder, then place it in a bamboo tube. Shave the tube’s outer layer thin, seal it, and put it in a brewing vessel containing floating fermented milk. After twenty days, it will have turned to liquid. Taking it is said to make one divine and prevent aging.

There is also another prescription: Take one dou of mica powder and two sheng of barley, cook them together, and strain out the solids. Drinking the resulting liquid is said to make the body shine with light, prolong life, and prevent aging.

Another formula: Take ten jin of cassia bark and shave off the outer layer, keeping only three jin of the inner layer. Pound it and sift it finely. Pound forty jin of scallion whites and squeeze out the juice through cloth. Put the cassia powder into a bamboo tube, cover it, and seal its opening. Suspend the tube above five dou of millet and steam it until the millet is cooked and the medicine inside the tube has melted into liquid. Then add one jin of powdered mica and leave it for a day, until it melts into liquid again. Take one cup each day for forty days; it is said that your appearance will become as youthful as a child’s.

The Cloud Syrup Method (two formulas)

Take one jin of powdered mica, four liang of saltpeter, two liang of mirabilite, and five sheng of white honey. Boil the honey until it is evenly blended with the medicinal ingredients, then stir in the mica powder until the mixture has the consistency of pancake batter. Put it into a bamboo tube, cover it, and seal the tube all around with clay so that no vapor can escape. Bury the tube about one or two chi underground. The preparation is complete after 150 days. It is said that taking it will make the skin smooth and lustrous and the face as youthful as a child’s.

Another formula: Take one large jin of powdered mica, four liang of alisma, and five sheng of white honey, boiled down by two sheng so that three sheng remain; also take four liang of mirabilite, four liang of saltpeter, and three liang of cassia heartwood. Blend these ingredients with the mica powder until the mixture has the consistency of pancake batter, then put it into a bamboo tube. Shave off the tube’s green outer skin, lacquer it, and seal its opening tightly. After the lacquer dries, bury the tube seven or eight chi underground, north of a well and three chi and five cun from it. Press the earth firmly down by hand. Retrieve it after 150 days. When prepared, it is blue-green and crystalline, and it is said to cure all illnesses swiftly when taken; long-term use is said to bring long life.

The Divine Mica Powder Formula Taught by Master Red Pine

I once saw transcendent beings and perfected ones studying the Dao while traveling beneath a mountain… It is said to cure all illnesses when taken, and that long-term use brings long life.

The Divine Mica Powder Formula Taught by Master Red Pine.

When I saw an immortal master studying the Dao, I once went traveling at the foot of a mountain and spent time by the sea. There I met a man bathing. His body was brilliantly white and exceptionally radiant. I asked him why, and he said, “I have taken Spirit Powder, which has made my body so smooth and luminous.” He then passed its recipe on to me: each day, take mica powder and, at dawn, mix it with well water and swallow one square-inch spoonful (an ancient measure for medicines). In time, the body will grow radiant and luminous.

Method for steaming mica

Build the stove in the southeast and heat the pot with mulberry wood for nine days and nine nights. For every bushel of mica, add two pints of salt crystals and mix them in.

Recipe for taking mica powder, recorded in the plain text found in a jade casket beneath a cypress and cassia tree by Wei Shuqing of Mount Zhongnan

Take one pound of mica powder and one pint of white honey. Put them in a bronze vessel and cook them using a water bath until the mixture can be rolled into pills the size of hemp seeds. At daybreak, when the Morning Star appears, take three pills; at cockcrow, take seven.

The recipe states that after taking the pills for thirty days, the body will become light and nimble and the eyes bright. After taking five liang, the abdomen will grow firm; after seven liang, the “three worms” (internal parasites in ancient medical belief) will be expelled; after eight liang, the skin will become lustrous. After ninety days, one may enter water without getting wet and enter fire without being burned; after one hundred days, the bones will be transformed; after two hundred days, one will run faster than a galloping horse. After a year, one will be able to fly freely and ascend to immortality. The original text then repeats the directions for the size of the pills and the times at which to take them.

Take three jin of cloud powder and two sheng of white honey. Put them in a bronze vessel and heat them in a water bath. Slowly add three sheng of light bamboo sap until it is all used. As the mixture cooks, stir it continuously from side to side with a bamboo sieve; do not stop. Once the bamboo sap has all been added, the preparation is complete. Keep everything clean while making it, and do not let chickens, dogs, or women see it.

Before taking the medicine, eat a hearty meal, choosing whatever foods you like, until you are full. At dawn the next day, while fasting, take one pill about the size of an egg, facing the direction of Shengqi. If you are thirsty, you may drink water freely. Choose light foods, such as wheat cakes, and goji berries, turnips, alfalfa, or black nightshade. After taking two doses, it is said that all kinds of illness will be expelled from the body. Do not be alarmed even if your teeth fall out: within a month, they will certainly grow back and return to normal. When eating wheat foods, you may also mix in two or three spoonfuls of cloud powder; it will make no noticeable difference to the taste.

Method for Making Cloud Elixir

Take one jin of mica powder and three jin of white honey. Mix them in a bronze vessel and heat until boiling. Let the mixture cool, then put it in a new porcelain vessel, seal it, cover it with a wooden board, and bury it three chi deep in the earth beneath the north wall. After forty days, it will turn into liquid, which is called “Cloud Elixir.”

First observe a thirty-day purification fast. At dawn on a Wangxiang day, take one sheng of well-flower water (water drawn from a well at dawn) and one ge of Cloud Elixir. Mix them together and drink the mixture three times a day. It is said that this will give the body a radiant luster, keep you dry even while dwelling in the clouds, and summon Jade Maidens and bring you into communion with the immortals.

Dietary Taboos When Taking Mica

Celery, cilantro, pork, eel, hemp seeds, catfish, and various stale or foul-smelling foods are said not to directly counteract the medicine, but may weaken the effects of mica powder. Yellow-coated rice vinegar should also be avoided, as it is said to hinder the medicine’s efficacy; bran vinegar may be consumed in small amounts.

If the aim is simply to treat illness, nourish the body, and extend life, it is not necessary to abstain entirely from pungent foods and meat. For those cultivating the Immortal Way, it is best to observe these taboos strictly.

Master Han Cang’s Method for Treating Illness

For the treatment of the five forms of exhaustion, the seven injuries, bodily weakness, and sweating, the medicinal powder may be applied over the whole body, then massaged in by hand until it is absorbed into the skin and can no longer be seen. Sweating after eating is also a sign of bodily weakness; the powder may be applied and massaged in repeatedly. To dispel wind evil lodged in the skin, apply a generous amount until the skin becomes moist.

To treat damp sores and ringworm, mix the powder into rice porridge made with polished non-glutinous rice and take it by mouth. Stop once the condition has healed. To treat metal wounds—injuries caused by knives, swords, and similar weapons—put a small amount of powder into the wound and mix some into rice porridge. It should take effect after two doses; the wound is said to heal without leaving a scar. For an illness of the lower body that has persisted for many years, even fifty years without healing, take the powder twice a day; twenty doses are said to bring a cure. During the more than ten days of treatment, avoid the five pungent foods, such as scallions and garlic, coriander, pork, and raw or cold foods.

To treat epidemic toxins, high fever with headache, fullness and distension in the chest and abdomen, and jaundice, take three liang of the powder and mix it with half a bowl of porridge until it is neither too thin nor too thick. Let it cool or warm until it is close to body temperature, then take it three times a day. It is said to work quickly.

To treat adverse reactions to mineral medicines, headache, and high fever, mix one qi of the powder with two he of cold water and take it three times a day, stopping once the symptoms have subsided. To treat wind conditions affecting one side of the body, hemiplegia, a crooked mouth and eyes, and mental confusion, mix two qi of the powder into a drink and take it daily until cured. Massaging the whole body with the powder at the same time is said to improve the results.

To treat cold and heat disorders caused by the seven forms of wind, as well as fullness and distension in the chest and abdomen, pain extending into the chest and back, shifting pain, and rebellious Qi in the chest, mix one qi of the powder with three he of wine, porridge, or another suitable liquid. Take it three times a day until cured. The text describes its effects as remarkable.

To treat steaming-bone deficiency heat—a term for heat arising internally—along with dry lips and mouth, emaciation and weakness of the limbs, and inability to eat, take the powder as described above. The total amount should not exceed three jin; all such cases are said to be curable.

The twelve kinds of heart pain and feishi—a category in ancient medical texts for sudden illnesses of unknown cause—can also be cured by taking the medicine as described above.

Chronic dysentery that does not improve for years may be treated by taking powdered sanqi mixed into rice porridge. Improvement is said to occur after fourteen doses. Avoid eating blood foods. For persistent vaginal discharge that does not respond to various medicines, the powder may be placed in the vagina and taken internally as described above; this is said to cure the condition, and the method has reportedly been tried.

For prickling wind, in which the body feels as though it is being pierced by needles, take the medicine as described above and rub the powder over the body. In particular, avoid sexual intercourse and the five pungent foods: scallions, garlic, Chinese chives, Chinese onions, and asafoetida, among others.

For persistent bloody stools caused by worm toxins, as well as the three worms, hemorrhoids, and anal fistulas, take the medicine as described above; it is said to be effective.

When food cannot be digested because the abdomen has been chilled, rub the powder over the body, then take one square-inch measure of the powder, mix it with cold wine, and drink it. It is said that this never fails to cure the condition.

For cold disorders, abdominal masses known as xianpi, and abdominal lumps known as zhengjia, take the medicine with clear wine as described above. The condition can be eradicated by taking no more than three jin of the medicine. For worm toxins, the three worms, hemorrhoids, and anal fistulas, take the medicine as described above; it is said to be effective.

When food cannot be digested because the abdomen has been chilled, rub the powder over the body, then take one square-inch measure, mix it with cold wine, and drink it. It is said that this never fails to cure the condition.

For cold disorders, xianpi, and zhengjia, take the medicine with clear wine as described above; the condition can be eradicated with no more than three jin. One person was bitten on the ankle by a snake. His whole body swelled, the pain was unbearable, and he could not bend or stretch the limb. A needle was used to pierce the wound and release the poison. He then took three liang-spoonfuls of the powder mixed with wine and applied a little of it to the wound. Before long, poisonous fluid drained out, and the swelling and pain subsided.

Another person became delirious after drinking and was stabbed in three places with a knife. All the wounds were deep, and blood flowed from his abdomen. None of the medicines tried could save him. The coagulated powder was therefore divided into two doses, totaling three-sevenths of a fen, and taken. Afterward, the clotted blood inside his body dispersed. About the time it takes to eat a meal, clots and fresh blood passed from his anus; then the pain disappeared, and he felt relieved as though ice had melted away. This suggests that the powder is said to disperse stagnant blood.

Fascicle Seventy-Six: Formulas and Medicines, Part Three

Lingbao Soul-Restoring Elixir Formula (with preface)

Human beings receive life from the Qi of the Five Phases and are also bound by the ethical principles of the Five Constants. As a result, they are vulnerable to the Five Flavors—sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty—and the Eight Winds, which blow from the eight directions. From infancy, when they are nourished by milk, through old age, people’s deaths are often linked to pathogenic wind.

Some people overeat, while others go too long without food. Some drink too much water, while others suffer from thirst and dehydration. Some eat salty, bitter foods; others drink sour, pungent beverages. Some, afraid of heat, stand in the wind; others, afraid of cold, draw close to a fire. Some gaze at the moon in a courtyard or seek shade beneath a tree. Others injure their skin or limbs, take drying, hot medicines, drink many cold beverages, abstain from sex for a long time, or indulge in it excessively. Any of these conditions may allow pathogenic wind to enter different parts of the body. The toxic influence then gathers in one place, making it difficult to move the hands and feet freely or speak clearly.

Some feel pain deep in the bones; others lose sensation in the skin, itch as if insects were crawling over them, or become as stiff as iron or stone. Some produce abundant phlegm and saliva, become forgetful and irritable, suffer impaired circulation of the blood vessels, and waste away. Some remain bedridden for a long time and can barely sit up even briefly. Their speech grows muddled and their complexion weak; though still alive, they seem as if dead. Others appear to have no illness, then suddenly die. Men are often said to have their Qi drawn along by pathogenic wind, while in women the wind is said to travel with the blood. The scripture holds that no one dies without the influence of pathogenic wind.

People in the world do not understand how to treat pathogenic wind. They simply leave the sick person to rest in bed, yet the illness may progress until even sitting up briefly brings exhaustion, speech becomes unclear, and the complexion grows weak. The person remains alive, but seems as if dead; sometimes, with no obvious suffering, death comes suddenly. In men, Qi is drawn along by pathogenic wind; in women, the wind travels with the blood. Once pathogenic wind has penetrated deep into the five organs and six bowels, the limbs, and the network of vessels, how could medicines that work only from within drive it out? Even if a doctor can examine the illness, the wrong choice of medicine will make it difficult to cure a chronic, lingering condition—even for someone well versed in medical texts such as the Nanjing and the Suwen.

I lived on Mount Taibai for many years and suffered from illness for a long time. I tried all kinds of medicines, but almost none of them helped. Later, an old man gave me this medicine. After taking five pills, I recovered completely. I bowed and thanked Heaven, then asked him to teach me how to make it. He agreed, but swore that the method must not be disclosed lightly. I therefore wrote it down above and stored it in the room where the spirits are worshipped. Whoever later comes upon these words should treat them with reverence and not take them lightly, or disaster may follow. If you practice according to the prescribed method, why worry that its miraculous effects will fail to appear?

Charred medicines—that is, medicines processed over fire—restrain fired medicines; fired medicines restrain boiled medicines; and boiled medicines restrain raw medicines. Raw medicines, in turn, can support boiled medicines; boiled medicines can support fired medicines; and fired medicines can support charred medicines. They restrain and complement one another, like ruler and ministers each fulfilling their role, or father and son helping one another to flourish. In this way, Yin and Yang each find their proper order. Medicines with Yang properties restrain those with Yin properties, thereby guiding Yin Qi; medicines with Yin properties restrain those with Yang properties, thereby guiding Yang Qi.

Although this medicine cannot enable a person to attain the Dao and become an immortal, taking a quantity about the size of a soybean is said to prevent further illness for the rest of one’s life. Those suffering from wind disorders—here meaning illnesses caused by pathogenic wind, often involving limb paralysis or difficulty moving—or from falls, blows, or joint injuries that have left them unable to move for years, are said to respond after taking one pill as directed. Even severe cases require no more than ten pills.

If someone suddenly faints and dies, as long as the area around the heart has not yet grown cold, take one pill and mix it with vinegar. Then take another pill and rub it on the navel more than a thousand times. As the area around the navel gradually warms and the eyes open, give the person a pill with hot vinegar; it is said that they will revive as soon as it enters the mouth. The medicine is said to work with remarkable efficacy against wind disorders of any duration, with results too numerous to recount. Each pill is about the size of a mustard seed. Dry the pills in the sun before storing them.

Whatever the duration of the illness, first give the patient half a pill with tea, using Red Snow or Tongzhong Powder, both names of ancient prescriptions. If the wind disorder is severe and the limbs are stiff and difficult to move, give one pill. After a little while, have the patient drink hot tea so that they have diarrhea two or three times. Then, as directed, give one pill with ginger-and-bean decoction, while someone else takes turns massaging the affected area with warm hands. After massaging for some time, once the warmth has penetrated, the patient will feel, it is said, as though something in the flesh is flowing like fire toward the painful area; the pain then disappears.

Those who have had a wind disorder for one or two hundred days, or whose condition has become so severe within a year that they cannot get out of bed, are said to be able to walk at once after taking one pill, as though they had never been ill. In especially severe cases, give one pill after each episode of diarrhea, wait three to five days, then follow the same method: first give Red Snow to induce diarrhea, and then administer the elixir. Give no more than one or two pills a day, continuing until the patient has recovered as before. For old injuries from falls or blows that ache and restrict movement whenever the weather is overcast, taking one or two pills is said to be especially effective.

For those who take a larger amount, after recovery the medicine’s power is said to lie dormant in the soles of the feet: in men, the left foot; in women, the right. If discomfort arises later, simply think of the medicine, and its power will come wherever it is directed. This medicine is said to have miraculous effects, beyond the understanding of ordinary people. Its preparation is as follows:

Use 1 liang and 1 fen of Bright Cinnabar. Use 3 da liang each of the following seven substances: Yangqi Stone, Magnetic Hair Stone, Purple Quartz, Natural Copper, Changli Stone, Shiting Fat, and Realgar.

Take 24 gold leaves. Grind the Bright Cinnabar into a fine powder, boil it for three days in water made from buckwheat ash, then rinse and weigh it. Grind the Realgar into a fine powder, boil it for three days in vinegar, then rinse and weigh it. Grind the Shiting Fat into a fine powder, boil it for three days in wine, then rinse and weigh it.

Grind the above medicines into fine powders, boil them for three days in water made from buckwheat ash, then rinse and weigh them. Grind the Realgar into a fine powder, boil it for three days in vinegar, then rinse and weigh it. Grind the Shiting Fat into a fine powder, boil it for three days in wine, then rinse and weigh it.

Use 5 da fen of each of the following five substances:

Polygala root, Morinda root, Scrophularia root, black snake, and Epimedium.

Use 6 da fen of each of the following four substances:

Aucklandia root, nutmeg, deer antler (select pieces shaped like dried persimmons), and cinnamon bark.

Use 3 fen of each of the following three substances:

Corydalis tuber and Muhutong vine.

Place the following four substances—sulfur, Realgar, Cinnabar, and Natural Copper—in the same bottle. Line and cover them with gold leaf, but do not seal the bottle tightly. Heat and refine them for three days, keeping the fire three cun from the bottle throughout. Do not let it become too hot.

Place the following four substances—Yangqi Stone, Magnetic Hair Stone, Purple Quartz, and Changli Stone—in the same bottle. Cover them with gold leaf, then bury the bottle halfway in ash, leaving a gap at its mouth. Heat and refine them for three days. On the first day, keep the fire two cun from the bottle; on the second, one cun away. On the third day, bring the fire close to the bottle and heat it until the bottle glows red at night, so that no fire toxicity remains inside. These are records from ancient alchemical arts describing the processing of mineral medicines and the control of heating.

Take ten liang of stalactite and grind it with a jade pestle for seven days, until it is as fine as flour. Put it into a double-layered silk bag that has been boiled and woven, tie the opening tightly, and fasten the bag to the side of a pot so that it hangs inside. Add two dou of water to the pot and boil it down to one dou. Take three he of the stalactite liquid and grind a thousand strokes of fresh rhinoceros horn in it. Set this aside, then grind it together with the soapberry kernels when they are added.

Use the remaining stalactite liquid to boil the five ingredients, including polygala. Add five dafen (a unit of medicinal weight) of turnip seeds, crush them, and boil them together. When the liquid has reduced to seven sheng, strain out the dregs and keep the liquid. Then boil the four ingredients, including green woody-fragrance root, in this liquid. When it has reduced to four sheng, strain out the dregs. Next, boil one large liang each of pinellia and Chinese angelica in the liquid. Wash the pinellia ten times in hot water only, then crush it; pound the Chinese angelica finely. When the liquid has reduced to three sheng, strain out the dregs and clarify it.

Separately take one sheng of rehmannia juice, one sheng of ash-free wine (wine that has not been treated with lime), and one sheng of a young boy’s urine. Combine these with the three sheng of medicinal liquid, making six sheng in all. Place the mixture in a clean vessel and boil it over alternating low and high heat until it has concentrated to one sheng. Then add the various mineral ingredients, stirring constantly. When the mixture has thickened to the consistency of thin porridge, remove it from the heat and add the powdered forms of five raw ingredients, including realgar. Mix thoroughly.

Next, add six dafen of soapberry kernels. To prepare them, roast the soapberry seeds, remove the kernels, pound them into powder, and weigh them. Add two fen of borneol. Grind the mixture finely in a basin until it resembles flour, then add it to the medicine. Put in the rhinoceros-horn liquid ground earlier as well, and have a strong man grind the mixture in a mortar three thousand strokes. Once the medicine is firm enough to shape, roll it into pills the size of mustard seeds; do not make them too large.

The scripture says that this medicine’s efficacy rivals the transformations of Heaven and Earth. When it is prepared, divide it into three large portions and arrange them in the shape of the character pin. Take one portion each time, that is, one of the three.

Then add one large liang of refined mirabilite, and call the result “Coffin-Breaking Elixir.” Here, mirabilite refers to the finest grade produced in Shu…

Once the medicine’s cutting edge—its crystal-sharp form—appears, its efficacy is no different from the work of nature. When prepared, divide the medicine into three large portions and arrange them like the character pin. Each portion is one dose.

Next, refine one liang of mangxiao, a medicinal sulfate called in this text the finest grade from Shu, and name it “Coffin-Breaking Elixir.” Choose mangxiao with sharp edges. Heat it in a tiao, a small medicinal pot, until the liquid is gone and it has become powder, then add it to the medicine.

If someone suddenly dies, whatever the illness, as long as the limbs have not yet changed color or begun to decay, pry open the mouth, tap the teeth apart, and administer one pill mixed with hot vinegar. If the pill can be swallowed, the person will revive. It is said to save eight or nine people out of ten. Each pill should be the size of a mung bean; prepare the other mineral medicines as directed in the verse.

“Song of the Returning Soul Elixir”

Place sulfur, realgar, and cinnabar on the upper tier, separated by copper sheets. Place magnetite, qiyang stone, feldspar, and pai stone in order on the very top tier. Divide the gold foil into upper, middle, and lower layers: place three pieces in each of the upper and lower layers, and two pieces in the middle. Sandwich the medicinal minerals between the gold foil.

Following the method, fire one bottle and roast another continuously for three days. Then boil water with stalactite: combine four parts and five parts to make twenty parts in all, and boil until two dou of water have been reduced to one dou. Use this one dou of stalactite water to decoct eleven kinds of herbs until the liquid has been reduced to three sheng. Then add rehmannia, wine, and a child’s urine, and mix them together. After removing the mixture from the fire, place the fire-refined mineral medicines in a quiet room and leave them until they become sticky like flesh. Then add raw bezoar and four other medicines. Separately, pour three ge of stalactite water into a vessel and grind rhinoceros horn in it a thousand times.

Method for cultivating the Golden and Blue Cinnabar into Golden Millet Pellets (According to the original, these are said to treat wind disorders, prolong life and preserve one’s appearance, cure illnesses, and refine treasures.)

First make a clay ball. Mix yellow lead, white clay, powdered tile, salt, and vinegar for the clay, and use wax to make an inner mold, leaving no tiny gaps. After it has dried in the shade, make a hole at the side, remove the wax mold, and fire the ball. Then grind the finest bright cinnabar into a fine powder, roll it in paper, and pour it into the clay ball. Next make a larger clay ball, using the same mixture of yellow lead, white clay, powdered tile, salt, and vinegar, with wax for the inner mold…

The body of the vessel must not have even the slightest crack. Place it in a shaded spot to dry, with a hole opened at the side. After removing the wax, fire it once more. Then take the finest bright cinnabar, a mineral substance used in Daoist alchemy, and grind it into powder. Roll paper into a tube and pour the powder inside. Next, pound a large earthworm together with qiuzi clay, seal the small hole with the clay, and wait for it to dry completely.

Take an iron rod and place it in an iron cauldron. Pour in molten lead until the surface rises about two inches above the rod. Then heat it slowly over a fire of rice husks, keeping the lead soft throughout. After heating it this way for 120 days, take it out and refine it once more over a fire on the ground. When it has cooled, remove it. The finished medicine will look like small, blue-purple luozi. Pick out the black powder, which cannot be used. Divide the medicine in half and put one half into a green bamboo tube. Steam it five times in cow’s milk, changing the milk after the third steaming. The condensed milk skin can be used to treat dark facial discoloration.

Remove the steamed medicine and bury it in a pit in the ground for three nights. Then grind it finely and use millet rice to make pills, each the size of a millet grain. A person aged forty should take one pill each day; at fifty, two pills a day; at sixty, three pills a day. This medicine has unusual potency and must not be taken in excess. The scripture says it can treat various wind disorders, prolong life, preserve youthful looks, and give the complexion a healthy flush.

Grind the remaining medicine into a fine powder and place it in a gan pot, an alchemical crucible. Add one liang of the finest yellow alum, cover the contents above and below with powdered cinnabar, and seal the mouth of the pot. Once the sealing clay has dried completely, keep it warm in an ash fire for forty-nine days, then refine it over a strong fire. When it has cooled, open the pot: the medicine will all have turned into golden millet-like grains. Take a portion shaped like a mouse’s tail, add three liang of brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, then add half a fen of true geng. First melt the brass in a gan pot to serve as a catalyst. Then add three or four of the millet-shaped grains, and it will transform into what is called “true Western metal.”

◎ The method for cultivating the feathered transformation of the River Chariot

Take four liang of Bright Cinnabar, a lustrous variety of cinnabar, and select grains about the size of soapberry seeds. Then take half a liang of Zhangzhou yellow vitriol. Mix them with rice vinegar aged for three years, stirring until they form a fine paste. Coat each grain of cinnabar separately, then let them dry. Take another half liang of fine Western silver, hammer it into thin sheets, cut these into small pieces, and wrap them around the cinnabar. Let them dry.

Next, take one liang each of fine Wudu realgar and cengqing, a blue-green mineral. Grind them into a fine powder and boil it with the “left-flavor” mentioned in the text, then mix it with glue. Knead the realgar and cengqing powders into small cakes and wrap them around the grains coated earlier. Let them dry. Then pound salt and vinegar into a clay-like paste and apply a layer around them. Once all the grains are coated, leave them until completely dry.

Next, make an outer casing from pure lead to contain the ingredients; the method for preparing the lead is given elsewhere. Roast the contents three times, then remove them and let them cool. Pound and sieve them according to the prescribed method. Then take six liang of lead-silver and hammer it into a fitted container with a top and bottom. Make it to the specified dimensions so that the opening closes tightly: it should be two cun and four fen deep, with the upper section one cun and two fen deep and wide. Finally, spread pure lead across the bottom of the container to a thickness of about two fen.

First arrange the sand in the shape of lotus seeds, cover it with a layer of True Lead, and spread on more sand. Continue layering in this way until it is all used. Then cover it with True Lead, fill the lidded container, and bind it tightly first with a silver hoop. Seal it with Liuyi clay and wait until the sealing clay is completely dry.

Take five jin of salt. Refine it twice with saltpeter, then pound it thoroughly and sift it. Choose an iron cauldron slightly wider than the container used earlier. Put the salt inside and press out a hollow large enough to hold the container; this will serve as the outer cabinet. Pack salt around it and cover it, then secure everything by threading iron rods through it. Seal it and wait for the clay to dry. Dig an earthen furnace one chi six cun deep and one chi four cun wide. Heat it for forty-nine days with a fire of horse manure and rice husks. Open the iron cauldron and use the iron rods to loosen the salt cabinet and inspect it. If the silver container has turned gold-colored, remove the fire and take it out. If it has not changed, fire it for another seven days before taking it out. Once it has cooled, open the container and peel off the yellow alum, as well as the two medicines called Xiong and Qing, and set them aside. Take one pill of the medicine and grind it carefully. Put two liang of mercury in a pot and warm it over a low flame, then sprinkle on medicine powder about half the size of a bean. Once the medicine has dried, refine it into a treasure. Store it away for now; do not use it.

Next, take twelve liang of Bright Luminous Cinnabar, a kind of cinnabar, and grind it. Carefully mix and grind it with the medicine powder refined by fire in the previous step. Put two liang of mercury in a pot and warm it over a low flame, then sprinkle on medicine powder about half the size of a bean. Once the medicine has dried, refine it into a treasure. Store it away for now; do not use it.

Then take another twelve liang of Bright Luminous Cinnabar and grind it together with the cinnabar medicine refined by fire in the previous step. Following the earlier method, boil it in rice vinegar and knead it into a ball. Pound and sift the inner cabinet from the previous step, and use it to build a cabinet-shaped mold. Then grind finely the Xiong and Qing medicines peeled off earlier and spread them across the bottom. Put the cinnabar ball inside, cover it, and place it in the cabinet. If the cabinet is not yet full, seal it as before. After the sealing clay has dried completely, put it in the cauldron. Build a separate earthen furnace, add half a jin of grass ash, and warm it over a fire for 120 days before refining it with a strong fire. Take the medicine out of the furnace and process it as before; it should yield a superior “Western” substance. This refining method is called “The Second Turning of the Purple-Gold River Cart.”

If this medicine is to be taken to expel toxic vapors, first soak it in a cold spring for one month. Then steam it with milk and form it into pills using paper mulberry juice, each the size of a millet grain. It is said that taking it can prolong life and cure various illnesses. Take no more than one pill a day. If you take it with wholehearted sincerity until you have consumed one or two liang, your life can be extended by three hundred years. This is a secret method: it must not be revealed casually or passed on to those who are not worthy of the Dao, or calamity will follow.

◎ The Method of the Spirit Chamber and River Cart

Take one jin of bright cinnabar, a mineral used in alchemy, and grind it carefully, then mix it with left-flavored liquid. Take a porcelain cauldron large enough to hold the ingredients and pack the mixture of cinnabar into it in the shape of a cabinet. Grind the cinnabar that has undergone the subduing process finely, mix it with vinegar into a paste, and coat the inside of the cabinet. When the paste is dry, add eight liang of mercury and refine it in a furnace with a fire of two liang for one hundred and twenty days; this will produce purple gold. Then deposit it in a famous mountain and do not use it. You must also report to the High Mystery, a supreme deity, and have your name entered in the registers of the immortals. Keep the Spirit Chamber, the sealed vessel used for alchemy, in storage. When it is needed, set it in ashes, add six liang of mercury, and refine it with a fire of two liang for one day and one night. This will produce the true, superior substance of the West. The Outer Alchemy section of the Cantong qi also says that the method of the dragon and tiger—the secret of Yin-Yang union in alchemy—is a secret technique of the kind represented by Golden Flower and Yellow Sprout.

◎ The Method of Ninefold Refining of Lead

Take ten jin of lead and one jin of mercury. Place them in a vessel and melt them over a gentle flame, then scrape away the black crust on the surface with an iron spoon until it is completely removed. Each time you finish scraping, pour the molten material onto the ground, then return it to the vessel to be melted again. Repeat this process nine times.

After the ninth time, add more mercury and heat the mixture over a strong flame until it turns the color of blue sand. If the material will not disperse, sprinkle it with vinegar mixed with bran; the black crust will then appear. Continue scraping away the crust, pouring the material onto the ground, and returning it to the vessel to be melted. Repeat this process nine more times. Then add mercury and heat the mixture over a strong flame until it turns the color of blue sand. If it still will not disperse, sprinkle it with vinegar mixed with bran; it will eventually become blue sand.

Take another iron vessel, fill it with vinegar, and pour in the blue sand. Grind it thoroughly with an iron spoon, then boil and refine it in the vinegar. Place the lead yellow on a roof tile to dry. Mix the liquid made from yellow ox dung with barley flour, then combine this mixture with the boiled and refined blue sand. Roll it into balls the size of eggs, or shape it into cakes, and leave it in the sun to dry. Another version says it should be dried in the shade.

Place the dried material on a brazier and use bellows to fan the fire, extracting its lead essence. This is called “Lead Elixir.” The Lead Elixir is rather soft, so it must be heated further in a vessel until it is mature and entirely red. Remove it and grind it in vinegar until it is thoroughly reduced to a fine powder and settles. Place it on a roof tile to dry, then heat it in a vessel until it turns purple.

Take another vessel and pour in one sheng of good wine. Add two liang of red salt and mix well, then pour the purple Lead Elixir into the wine all at once. Let it cool, then remove it. This is called “Ninefold-Returned Lead.” Shape it into pills, which are named “Nine-Cycle Purple Lead Elixir.”

Golden Elixir Method

Take one jin of sulfur, selecting pieces that are clear and translucent, and grind them finely into powder. Take two liang of mountain-pool rock salt and grind it as finely as flour. Take three liang of fire-neutralized Beiting solution.

Mix the three ingredients mentioned earlier thoroughly. Take an iron box and grind fine incense ink with rice vinegar. Coat the inside of the box thickly with the ink, applying three layers, and let it dry completely. Place the three ingredients in the box and heat them slowly over a gentle fire until they melt into liquid and all the Yin Qi within Beiting has been driven out. Then extinguish the fire. Once the liquid has cooled and solidified, grind four liang of saltpeter into a fine powder. Put it in the bottom of the box, tamp it down, and seal the bottom with adhesive paper. Let it dry completely.

Next, place the iron box inside a cauldron and seal it firmly with ritual clay. The clay is made from three ingredients: chicken-comb-red daizheshi from Yanmen, oysters that grow facing left, and red ochre. Pound each ingredient separately into a fine powder, then mix them with Beiting liquid that has undergone fire processing. Pound the mixture in a mortar more than a thousand times before using it. Seal the join between the iron box and the cauldron, as well as all around the bottom of the box, making sure the seal is tight. Lock the cauldron lid in place with an iron fastener, also ensuring it is secure.

When the sealing clay has dried in the shade, put three jin of lead in a small cooking pot and melt it. Use a small iron ladle to pour the molten lead around the bottom of the box and spread it evenly. Continue melting lead, then slowly pour it into the cauldron until the lead stands about two cun above the lid of the box. Choose an auspicious day and begin heating at the Zi hour (midnight). Start with six liang of fuel, then add one liang each day, refining continuously for sixty days. After the cauldron has cooled, chisel away the black lead with a small iron chisel and open the box to take out the substance. It should be gold in color. Put it in a mortar and grind it into a fine powder.

◎ The Method of Fire-Processed Beiting (heating and refining Beiting to transform its properties)

Take three liang of Beiting sand (meaning Beiting sand that is bright in color) and add one and a half fen of yellow wax. Melt them into a liquid, stir in the Beiting sand until evenly mixed, and shape the mixture into a ball. Wrap it in paper. Take one dou of weathered lime and divide it in half. Pack one half firmly into a ceramic jar, make a small hollow in the middle, and place the wrapped Beiting inside. Cover it with the other half of the lime and pack that down in the same way.

First fire it with three jin of fuel, then gradually increase to five and seven jin. After three shichen, remove ten jin of the material. Pack it firmly with half the weathered lime, place the Beiting in a hollow you have made, cover it with the other half of the lime, and pack it down. Begin with three jin of fuel, gradually increase to five and seven jin, and after three shichen, fire it with ten jin of fuel until it glows red. Once the fire has gone out, wait for it to cool. Remove the Beiting and put it in a bag made of raw silk.

Next, dig a hollow large enough to hold five to seven sheng of water and fill it with water. When the water has seeped away, place a fine ceramic bowl in the hollow and lay a staff across its top. Suspend the bag containing the Beiting above the bowl. Turn a basin upside down over it and seal the edges tightly with damp earth to prevent air from escaping. After three shichen, the Beiting will have liquefied into water. Mix this water with the two medicinal ingredients mentioned earlier.

Method for Transforming Geng Powder

First take ten taels of high-grade geng (a metallic ingredient used in mercury-amalgam alchemy) and fifty taels of mercury. Place them in a pot and keep them warm over a steady fire. Heat the geng until it glows red, then drop it into the mercury and stir with a willow-wood comb until it has completely dissolved. Next, take three catties of salt flowers and grind them together with the gold paste, as finely as possible. Put the mixture over a steady fire to keep it warm, then heat the geng until it glows red and drop it into the mercury. Stir with the willow comb until it has completely dissolved. Take another three catties of salt flowers and grind them finely with the gold paste. Spread the mixture evenly in a large pan and cover it with a suitably sized basin. Seal the edges tightly with clay, then roast it over a low fire so that the mercury rises and collects above. Once all the mercury has evaporated, rinse the salt flowers with water in which ingredients have been boiled, until their salty taste is gone. Dry the remaining geng powder in a dish in the sun, grind it finely, and add it to the medicinal ingredients.

Take eight taels of realgar, choosing a bright red, cockscomb-colored kind, and grind it into a fine powder. Take eight taels of orpiment, choosing transparent, leaf-shaped pieces, and grind them into a fine powder. Grind four taels of rong salt into a fine powder, then take ten taels of gold powder. Once all five ingredients have been finely ground, transfer them to another crucible and cover, a vessel used to seal and refine substances. Following the method described earlier, grind the ingredients with strong rice vinegar and coat the inside of the cover evenly with fragrant ink. Then heat them gently until the ingredients melt into a liquid.

Next, following the same method, finely grind four taels of saltpeter and pack it firmly into the foot of the cover. Seal the foot with flour paste and paper, then seal the cover tightly with clay. Place it inside the crucible and seal the foot with clay as before. Secure the cover with iron clasps, then leave it to dry in the shade.

Again following the same method, take three catties of lead and melt it in a small pot. Use a ladle to pour the molten lead around the foot of the cover, then gradually fill the crucible until the lead rises about two inches above the cover. Seal the foot with clay as before, secure the cover with iron clasps, and leave it to dry in the shade.

Choose an auspicious day for the sealed refining and start the fire at midnight, during the Zi hour. Follow the heating method described earlier, beginning with a fire strength of six taels and increasing it by one tael each day, continuing the refining for sixty days. When the crucible and cover have cooled, chisel away the black lead with an iron chisel and remove the cover. The medicine inside should be a purplish gold color. Grind each portion finely in a mortar, and it can refine one catty of mercury, which will immediately turn into pure purple gold. The scripture says that this substance is not found in the human world, but is a secret transmission of the immortals; it also admonishes cultivators of the Dao to know contentment.

The Method for Making Mercury Stable with an Auxiliary Substance, and Producing Geng Metal

Take one jin of mercury and one fen of the auxiliary substance. Put them in a new iron pan used for boiling, spread the substance over the mercury, then cover the pan with a tea bowl and seal it. Place the pan over a fire and refine it according to the prescribed method. Listen carefully for a steady series of ticking sounds from inside, then immediately plunge the bottom of the pan into water to cool it. Repeat this process more than ten times, and the mercury will be considered refined and stabilized. Grind it into a fine powder like grains of black lead sand, then place it in a separate fireproof crucible used for alchemical refining and melt it to produce purple refined gold. The other transformations cannot all be recorded here.

The Method for Cinnabar in a Four-Walled Cabinet

The method of “Cinnabar in a Four-Walled Cabinet” is said to dispel wind-cold, warm and comfort the bones and body, and give the complexion a healthy glow. Taken over a long period, it is said to help ward off illness and prolong life.

The ingredients are: one jin of iron filings, four liang of sulfur, three liang of cinnabar, four liang of alum, and one liang of salt.

First take one dou and five sheng of strong vinegar. Boil the two ingredients, needle filings and sulfur, until dry, then calcine them over a fire. When the flames stop rising, let the material cool and grind it into a fine powder. Add another liang of sulfur and boil it once more in one dou and five sheng of vinegar. When dry, calcine it as before until the flames disappear. Let it cool, then wash it with water. Keep the purple liquid and remove the needle filings. Allow the purple liquid to settle, pour off the water above it, and dry the sediment thoroughly in a cool place.

Next add alum and salt and grind them together. Put the mixture in a porcelain jar and heat it with fire from all sides. Stop heating once the boiling inside the jar subsides. After it cools, take it out and grind it finely, then mix it with vinegar to form a mass. Put half the material into a lead vessel and tamp it down firmly. Place two layers of gold leaf and some cinnabar on top, then cover them with the remaining mass and tamp it down. Warm it over a fire of four liang for twenty-one days. Then transfer it to a copper vessel and seal it tightly; warm it over a fire of six liang for another twenty-one days. When that period is over, calcine it with a fire of ten jin and let it melt naturally. Once the furnace has cooled, take out the material. At this point, the cinnabar is said to have been “subdued”—refined until stable.

Spread the material in a damp place, cover it with an inverted basin, and leave it for a full day and night to disperse the fire toxins. Then grind it finely and form pills with jujube flesh, each about the size of a hemp seed. Take five pills every day on an empty stomach, swallowing them with warm water. The lead vessel weighs two jin, and the copper vessel weighs three jin. Avoid eating sheep’s blood.

The “Method for the Golden Elixir of the Immortal Mother of the Jade Hall in the Great Cavern of Western Florescence” (Da Dong Xihua Yutang Xianmu Jindan Fa): “Great Cavern,” “Western Florescence,” “Jade Hall,” and “Immortal Mother” are terms from Daoist scriptures and immortal lore; here they form the name of a recipe.

Take three dou of pure white honey, three jin of the finest cinnabar essence, whose surface gleams white, and two jin of finely ground mica. Mix the three ingredients thoroughly and place them in a copper vessel, then seal it. Set the vessel in hot water in a large pot, letting it float on the surface, and simmer it over a low fire of mulberry wood. When the honey and medicines inside the vessel have dried, remove the vessel and let it cool for three days. Then dry the contents in the sun and pound them into powder.

Put the powder back into the copper vessel and seal its mouth tightly. Place it in a steamer over the hearth and steam it for thirty days using the finest mulberry wood. Keep the fire burning throughout the day, but let it go out at night. After thirty days, remove the medicine and dry it in the sun on a raised rack. Then pound it thirty thousand times and sift it into a fine powder. Return it to the copper vessel and seal it. Following the original method, place the vessel in hot water in a large pot and let it float there for three days and three nights.

When the entire process is complete, this elixir is called the “Golden Elixir of the Immortal Mother,” also known as the “Western Queen Mother’s Elixir for Halting the Years, Stopping White Hair, and Flying.” Let it cool for three days, dry it in the sun, pound it thirty thousand times, and sift it into a fine powder. Use pure white honey to form pills the size of small beans.

Take twenty pills each morning at dawn and continue taking them: you will live forever and never die, and your face will remain youthful like a woman’s. If you recite the Great Cavern True Scripture (Dadong Zhenjing), an important Daoist classic, while taking the elixir, then after reciting it ten thousand times you will at once ride the clouds and ascend to Heaven, unable to remain in the human world and look upon the mortal realm. If you do not recite the Great Cavern Scripture, taking the elixir will still let you live forever and never die, wandering in the world for a long time. There are no dietary restrictions when taking this elixir; you may eat and drink as you please. You may come and go among people, and ordinary folk will not notice you. This is what is called “a true immortal blending in”: becoming invisible, transforming, and traveling throughout the eight directions.

Before preparing the elixir, observe purification for thirty-nine days. Begin combining its ingredients at noon on the seventh day of the seventh month.

“Seventy-Fourfold Elixir for Calming the Hun and Anchoring the Po, and Soaring Aloft” is the name of a spirit elixir formula intended to settle the hun and po souls and make the body light enough to rise and fly.

The formula lists mica, realgar, true rose-colored mineral, saltpeter, scrophularia root, the kernel of the locust tree seed, dragon bone, polyporus, Qingqiu frost, and Japanese knotweed flowers, among other ingredients, to be gathered in the stated quantities. The Japanese knotweed flowers must be dried in the shade. The formula also adds clove, Aucklandia root, agarwood, frankincense, zhan-tang resin, Rong salt, azurite, cinnabar, stone black pigment, white quartz, and substances or formula-specific names such as “the Sun’s Infant’s Feathered Robe,” “the Great Yin Essence’s Upper Plain Radiance,” and “Peach Blossoms.”

Three kinds of numinous liquid must also be collected separately: one sheng and two ge of Northern Congealed Yin Essence’s Flowing Radiance, gathered on a jian day in the ninth month and stored in a separate vessel; one sheng and two ge of Congealed Qi and Condensed Essence’s Plain Radiance Elixir, gathered on a jian day in the twelfth month and stored in a separate vessel; and one sheng and two ge of Spirit Radiance, Yin Essence’s Flowing Pearl, gathered on the winter solstice and stored in a separate vessel. A jian day is one of the twelve designated days in the traditional calendar; gathering ingredients requires choosing a specific date.

The complete formula contains twenty-seven ingredients. The source says that twenty-six have already been listed, then adds “White Cold” to make twenty-seven. The first twenty-four correspond to the twenty-four spirits, while the three numinous liquids are each kept in their own vessel.

Twenty-seven ingredients are used in all. Twenty-six have been listed so far; adding white Han completes the set of twenty-seven. The twenty-four ingredients mentioned above correspond individually to the twenty-four divine powers. The remaining three should correspond to the vital essences and Qi of the Three Origins, and align above with the Nine Mornings—the celestial stars and spirits—in order to bind the po-soul and congeal the hun-soul. Five-colored sulfur can transform the body and alter appearances, taking no fixed form. It is therefore said that after taking this medicine, a person can calm the spirit and Qi and steady the breath.

The medicine should be compounded on a Jian day in the third lunar month, and the pills taken on a Ren day in the fifth month. Compound the ingredients in sequence, beginning with mica; pound each ingredient separately three thousand times. Enclose them with peach blossoms, then combine the twenty-four ingredients and pound them seventy-two thousand times. When finished, divide the mixture in half and set each portion aside. Before beginning to pound the medicine, observe a thirty-day purification retreat.

Once the ritual is complete, young maidens attend to the incense. They should speak little, choose their words carefully, be gentle in temperament, and conduct themselves properly. They are also required to possess the qualities described in the scripture as “fragrant flesh and perfumed bones,” among others. Place the medicine on twenty-four trays and leave them uncovered in the middle of the courtyard for three nights. Keep them from the sight of chickens, dogs, and outsiders, and do not let the medicine hear the sound of crying.

After exposure, place the ingredients in a cauldron in sequence: mica first, then realgar, and peach blossoms last. Once all twenty-four ingredients have been added, cover them layer by layer in order until the cauldron is full. Next, add one sheng and two he of “Northern Congealed Yin Essence, Flowing Radiance,” then one sheng and two he of “Essence-Congealing Qi, Pure Radiance Elixir,” and finally one sheng and two he of “Spirit Radiance, Yin Essence, Flowing Pearls.” When this is done, pour one dou and two sheng of clear millet malt liquor—a fermented liquid made from millet—over the medicine. Then cover the cauldron and seal it tightly above and below, on all four sides, and inside and out, to a thickness of about seven fen.

Mica is placed at the bottom because its Qi rises; peach blossoms are placed on top because their color covers the ingredients beneath. Thus, each ingredient has a fixed place in the sequence.

First prepare Six-in-One mud: take two earthen crucibles (ceramic vessels for refining medicines). Use equal amounts of six ingredients: oysters that turn to look back toward the left in the Eastern Sea, Rong salt, red stone fat, yellow lead, talc, and yellow earth from a worm mound. Grind them finely and sift them, then mix them with rice vinegar aged for a hundred days. After blending them thoroughly, knead and pound the mixture repeatedly until the mud is uniform. This makes Six-in-One mud.

Coat the inside and outside of both crucibles with the mud, applying a thin layer at first, then leaving them in the sun to dry. Once dry, apply another layer. Repeat until the coating on both the inside and outside is two and a half inches thick. When this is done, build a stove on the south side and set the crucible in its center, with its base one foot and two inches above the ground. Burn rice husks for nine days and nights, keeping the fire nine inches from the crucible. Then burn for another nine days and nights, moving the fire closer, to six inches away. Finally, burn for nine more days and nights, keeping the fire three inches from the base of the crucible. The total firing time is twenty-seven days. Afterward, let it cool for three days, then open it and inspect the medicine. If the medicine has risen and congealed into an essence, adhering to the inner wall of the upper crucible, the divine medicine is complete.

If the medicine has not risen and congealed, apply the mud again and fire it for another twenty-seven days in the same way as before, then let it cool for three days. This time, it is certain to be successfully refined. Sweep the medicine down with the feathers of a three-year-old rooster. Since it adheres to the inner wall of the upper crucible, it is called “Flying Elixir, Purple Brush, Blossoming Flowing Essence.” It appears in many colors, its mysterious radiance shining in every direction. It is said that taking one zhu makes the body emit seventy-four kinds of flowing light.

The scripture also says that exhaling to the left causes the Three Hun Soul Children to appear, while exhaling to the right causes the Seven Po Souls to transform into seven kinds of childlike beings. Wearing feathered skirts of flying gauze and riding divine carriages and jade chariots, they arrive at once before you. Place the medicine in a golden dish. If its essence congeals at the bottom of the crucible, it becomes the “paste of jade embryo and jade nectar.” Mix it with white honey, put it in a mortar, and pound it seventy thousand times while facing east. Make each pill from one zhu of the mixture. Once the pills are made, seal them and leave them outdoors in the center of the courtyard for three days and nights.

At dawn, take one pill each day for three days, for a total of three pills. It is said that you will then be able to ride through the air and walk across the void, entering and leaving the formless realm. After taking pills through the seventh day, for a total of seven pills, you will soar among the clouds and rosy mists. Your body will display five colors, and divine officials of the Five Sacred Peaks will accompany and protect you with a retinue of fifty thousand.

Facing east, swallow nine pills, and you will summon a cloud chariot wreathed in azure mists. A Green Dragon will draw it, while ninety Jade Youths of the Azure Yang, ninety Jade Maidens of the Azure Waist, and nine thousand immortal officials of the Eastern Peak come to welcome the cultivator.

Facing south, swallow eight pills, and you will summon a cloud chariot wreathed in crimson mists. A Red Dragon will draw it, while eighty Jade Youths of the Crimson Palace, eighty Jade Maidens of the Great Unity and Red Jade Tablets, and eight thousand immortal officials of the Southern Peak come to welcome the cultivator.

Facing west, swallow six pills, and you will summon a jade chariot wreathed in pure-white mists, drawn by six dragons. Sixty Jade Youths of Shining Spirit, eighty Jade Maidens of the Pure Jade Tablet, and eight thousand immortal officials of the Southern Peak come to welcome the cultivator.

Facing west, swallow six pills, and it is also said that you will summon a jade chariot wreathed in pure-white mists, drawn by six dragons. Sixty Jade Youths of Shining Spirit, sixty Jade Maidens of Pure Spirit, and six thousand immortal officials of the Western Peak come to welcome the cultivator.

Facing north, swallow five pills, and you will summon a flying chariot adorned with black clouds. A Dark Dragon will draw it, while fifty Jade Youths of the Great Ultimate, fifty Jade Maidens of the Great Mystery, and five thousand immortal officials of the Northern Peak come to welcome the cultivator.

Facing the WujI and Ji positions—the central direction—swallow three pills, and you will summon a jade chariot wreathed in yellow mists, drawn by twelve flying dragons. Twelve Jade Youths of the Central Yellow Pivot, twelve Jade Maidens of Yellow Purity, and twelve hundred immortal officials of the Central Peak come to welcome the cultivator. If you swallow five pills, immortal officials of the Five Peaks will arrive bearing jade tablets and phoenix-shaped documents. They will invite the cultivator to the foot of the Nine Golden Towers, the palaces of the immortals, to receive an immortal title. The efficacy of these numinous pills is truly vast!

They can bring about seventy-four kinds of transformation, including treasures of gold, silver, and jade, and red trees bearing crimson fruit. The wonders of transformations involving water, fire, and the like surpass the powers of langgan—a beautiful stone resembling jade—as well as the Eight Radiances and the Four-Budded Crimson-Born Divine Elixir. They cannot all be described here; only the more significant transformations are briefly mentioned.

If you wish to travel freely among the Five Sacred Mountains and journey through the eight directions, but do not want to take up the duties of an immortal official or be bound by responsibilities such as managing scriptures, and have no plans to ascend to Heaven, you may forgo taking the pills of the Five Directions and take only three or seven pills regularly. The scripture says this will stabilize the hun and po souls and enable you to fly to seventy-four directions and roam the Five Sacred Mountains, with a lifespan as long as that of the sun, moon, and stars. For the remaining procedures, follow the numbers associated with the Five Directions.

Taking the pills of the Five Directions will make you a divine official in charge of one of the Five Sacred Mountains. This office entails corresponding duties, so you will not be free to act as you please.

◎ A recipe for the Five Phases Seven-Flavor Pills, transmitted by the Perfected of the Southern Sacred Mountain, Zheng Piyun.

The Formula for the Supreme Sovereign’s Life-Preserving, Essence-Firming Elixir describes a method of preparing medicines according to the Yin-Yang arrangement of Jing and Qi. It uses the essences of the Five Phases, combining primary and supporting ingredients. The text claims that the formula can secure and protect Jing and Qi, preserve nature and life, regulate the breath, settle the mind and spirit, harmonize the five viscera, and nourish the six bowels. It is also said to restore fullness to a weak and depleted body, bring moisture back to an aged and withered one, strengthen the blood vessels, firm the sinews and bones, turn white hair black, and even cause infant hair to grow again. The scripture calls its effects wondrous and too numerous to describe one by one.

The scripture holds that cultivating the Dao without medicines makes it difficult to prolong life, while taking medicines without the Dao makes it difficult to nourish the body. When the Dao and medicines support one another, there is no need to worry about longstanding illnesses that resist treatment. The author says that he studied medical prescriptions from childhood and spent more than twenty years crossing mountains and rivers in search of teachers and the Dao, yet still felt frail at the age of fifty. Devoted to pursuing the mysterious Dao, he later met a man of resolve on Mount Lingyan in the Southern Marchmount and received this method from him. After the two swore solemn oaths, the man taught him how to prepare and take the medicine.

During preparation, one must avoid chickens and dogs, filth, fishy or rank odors, and meat and blood. The surroundings must be kept clean, and the work done with full concentration. The author says that after preparing and taking the formula as instructed for three months, his vitality improved markedly, his five viscera became balanced and at ease, and his strength naturally increased. After taking another half dose, he found the effects beyond description, as though he had returned to the age of thirty. After finishing a full dose, he felt like a fifteen-year-old boy.

The prescription is as follows: two liang of sulfur, called “the essence of the sun”; two liang of white dragon bone, called “the essence of the moon”; half a liang of benzoin, called “the essence of Fire”; two liang of arborvitae seeds, called “the essence of Wood”; two liang of dodder seeds, called “the essence of Earth”; two liang of schisandra berries, called “the essence of Metal”; and two liang of cistanche, called “the essence of Water.” These names reflect the claimed correspondences between the ingredients and the sun, moon, and Five Phases.

To prepare these seven ingredients, first place the walnut kernels by themselves in a mortar and pound them. Pound the remaining ingredients together, then sift them into a fine powder and mix well. On a Kui-Gang day, an auspicious-date term matched to the stems and branches of the constellations, make the powder into pills the size of small beans using jujube pulp. Take thirty pills each day on an empty stomach, washed down with ash-free wine, meaning wine with no plant or wood ash added. Avoid chicken, pork, fish, and garlic.

Prepare and take this medicine on a Bingyin day, a Bingwu day, or a “honey day,” an auspicious-date term, and blend the ingredients over a fire. The person preparing the medicine should face east. No filial sons, monks, nuns, women, chickens, or dogs may be present or watch during its preparation. Take the medicine on a Wangxiang day, an auspicious-date term, in a clean room. After taking it for six months, even if one comes near women, one will ordinarily still discharge Gu Qi, the energy formed from food, while Jing Qi remains firmly held and does not leak away. The medicine’s effects are miraculous and cannot be fully described.

The Four Guardians Pill from the Central Scripture of the Nine Truths

The divine immortal Taiyi can bring forth and nourish the five viscera, fill the six bowels, nourish the seven apertures, harmonize the nine gates, refine and nurture the three souls, illuminate the two children, and protect the whole body, enabling one to live for ten thousand years. The formula for the Four Guardians Pill:

Four liang of Taiyi Yuyuliang (stabilizes the six bowels and fills the five viscera); one liang of genuine danggui (harmonizes Yuyuliang and stops the various pains between the joints); one liang of frankincense (works with danggui to send its fragrance into and nourish the interiors of the five viscera); one liang of ginseng (replenishes fluids in the six bowels and strengthens the medicinal power of Yuyuliang); one liang of clove (clears stagnant heat in the stomach and relieves phlegm and oppression).

Yuyuliang is the chief ingredient, and the other four are its assistants. First add the Yuyuliang and pound it one hundred times. Then add the other four ingredients, pound them together until evenly blended, and prepare the mixture as a powder.

Four large liang of cinnabar (red mercuric sulfide) are used to gather and settle the hun and po souls, calm the Three Spirits, and regulate the breath. One liang of licorice is used to harmonize the cinnabar, moisten the skin, and reduce gray hair. One liang of green aucklandia root is used to support the licorice and drive out the so-called “Three Worms” and “Hidden Corpse”—disease-causing entities and concealed evil influences in Daoist health practices. One liang of dried rehmannia root is used to harmonize and gather the hun and po souls, calm the Three Spirits, and regulate the breath. One liang of licorice is used to harmonize the cinnabar, moisten the skin, and reduce gray hair. One liang of green aucklandia root is used to support the licorice and drive out the Three Worms and Hidden Corpse. One liang of dried rehmannia root is used to harmonize the marrow throughout the body and nourish the blood and Qi in the brain. One liang of zhan-tang incense, a kind of aromatic, is used to nourish the pupils and fumigate and nourish the lower gate, an aperture in the lower part of the body.

Of these five ingredients, cinnabar is the principal one, and the other four accompany it. First pound the cinnabar one hundred times, then add the remaining four ingredients and grind them into powder.

Four large liang of poria are used to nourish the seven orifices, replenish longstanding depletion, and harmonize the numinous gates—apertures within the body associated with the movement of spirit and Qi. One liang of white atractylodes is used to harmonize the poria, nourish spirit and Qi, and brighten the pupils. One liang of dried ginger is used to strengthen the effects of the white atractylodes, dispel phlegm-heat, open the Three Gates—apertures through which Qi moves within the body—and regulate cold and heat. One liang of saposhnikovia root is used to relieve damp impediment, numbness and pain in the limbs caused by dampness, clear away filth and residue, and relieve hunger and thirst. One liang of powdered mica is used to moisten the body, lend radiance to the face, and nourish the bones and blood.

Of these five ingredients, poria is the principal one, and the other four accompany it. First pound the poria one hundred times, then add the remaining four ingredients and prepare them as a powder.

Ophiopogon is used to relieve damp impediment, clear away filth and residue, and relieve hunger and thirst. One liang of powdered mica is used to moisten the body, lend radiance to the face, and nourish the bones and blood.

Of these five ingredients, poria is the principal one, and the other four accompany it. First pound the poria one hundred times, then add the remaining four ingredients and prepare them as a powder.

Four liang of Ophiopogon are used to dispel distracting thoughts from the heart, nourish the spirit, replenish the numinous fluid—the body’s vital fluids in Daoist terminology—and strengthen the bones throughout the body. One liang of jujube paste is used to support the Ophiopogon, nourish and consolidate the blood vessels, and remove impurity from the heart. One liang of aconite, prepared by roasting before use, is used to replenish Qi in the brain, warm the organs, and dispel phlegm. One liang of sesame, used after roasting, is used to regulate the fluids of the throat and tongue, nourish the lower gate, and moisten the Three Spirits. One liang of dragon bone is used to moisten the Six Fluids, nourish the intestines, darken the hair, and reduce gray hair.

The “Four Guardian Spirit Pill” is prepared from twenty medicinal ingredients, divided into five groups and ground separately into powder. First take the group containing Yu Yuliang and pound it three thousand times. Add the group containing cinnabar and pound it four thousand times; then add the group containing poria and pound it five thousand times; then add the group containing Ophiopogon and pound it six thousand times. Next add four sheng of white honey and pound seven thousand times, then add twelve liang of white wax and pound eight thousand times. Finally, add refined honey until the mixture is firm enough to form into pills. If it is too hard, soften it with more honey and continue pounding for another three to five thousand strokes.

Then add the group containing Ophiopogon and pound six thousand times; add four sheng of white honey and pound seven thousand times; add twelve liang of white wax and pound eight thousand times; then add refined honey until the mixture is firm enough to form into pills. If it is too hard, soften it with more honey and pound it for another thirty thousand strokes. The medicine is then ready. First roll it into a pill about the size of an egg yolk, then divide it into smaller pills for taking.

Prepare the medicine on an Upper-Building day in the first, ninth, or eleventh month, and begin taking it on a Full day. Take five pills a day for one hundred days, adjusting the amount as appropriate. Fast on the day before taking the medicine, take it at dawn the following day, and then resume eating as usual. After one thousand days, take seven pills daily for two hundred consecutive days. After two thousand days, take twenty pills daily for three hundred consecutive days. After three thousand days, take thirty pills daily for four hundred consecutive days, following this schedule thereafter. The scripture says that this can calm the mind and spirit, guard the central Qi, and prolong life; the medicine itself will not spoil.

The scripture also says that while regularly taking this medicine, one should not take other medicines at the same time. Before preparing it, observe a seven-day purification retreat. During this time, abstain from sexual relations, and do not let chickens, dogs, children, or women see the medicine. Burn incense while preparing it, and set a mat on the eastern side as an altar for the Deities Taiyi Dijun, Taiyi Jun, and Taiyi Shangyuan Jun. Visualize the deities inwardly and silently recite the incantation. When taking the medicine, visualize them in the same way and face the Moon King.

The scripture calls this medicine the “Four Greats.” It is used to guard the Four Spirits and drive away all illnesses, keep a person from aging, and enable far sight, turn white hair black, regrow lost teeth, and give the face and skin a healthy, radiant appearance. After one year of taking it, all old illnesses will be eliminated; after two years, the body’s breath will change; after three years, the Qi will change; after four years, the channels and vessels will change; after five years, the body will change; after six years, the sinews will change; after seven years, …

In the seventh year, the sinews in the body change; in the eighth year, the bones change; in the ninth year, the teeth change; in the tenth year, one can command ghosts and spirits. After one year, all old illnesses can be eliminated; after two years, the breathing changes; after three years, the breath changes; after four years, the channels change; after five years, the body changes; after six years, the sinews change; after seven years, the bones change; after eight years, the teeth change; after nine years, the bodily form changes; after ten years, one can command ghosts and spirits, cow tigers and wolves, and even venomous creatures dare not approach.

The Yellow Emperor’s Four-Fan Powder Formula (a formula transmitted by Lord Mao of the Great Mao to Lord Mao of the Middle Mao)

Pine resin, Alisma, dried ginger, dried Rehmannia root, mica, cinnamon bark, Atractylodes (a medicinal herb commonly identified as either Atractylodes lancea or Atractylodes macrocephala), and stone-growing sweet flag: eight ingredients in all. Process them carefully, using equal amounts of each, then pound them together forty thousand times and place them in a sealed container. Do not let women, domestic animals, or anything else considered impure touch or see them.

Each morning, take three and one-seventh square-inch spoonfuls with wine. You may also take it with water, or mix it with honey into pills the size of soybeans and take twenty to thirty at a time. This is the “Divine Four-Fan Formula” that the Yellow Emperor received from Fenghou. It is said to slow aging and restore youth. I once received this formula from Master Gaoqiu, who instructed me to pass it on.

Queen Mother’s Four-Youth Powder Formula

Four large liang of sesame (steam and sun-dry it nine times; choose black, plump seeds, remove the hulls, then stir-fry until golden and fragrant); four liang of asparagus root (choose thick, tender, and sweet roots grown in high places, then sun-dry them); five liang of white Poria (choose firm, white pieces, boil them first, then sun-dry them); three liang of Atractylodes (harvest large roots in season); four liang of peach kernels (choose ripe, high-quality peaches, remove the kernels from the pits, soak them in hot water, then remove the skins and tips); and five liang of dried Polygonatum (choose old roots that have grown for many years in high places, then sun-dry them).

Carefully process these six ingredients. First stir-fry the sesame, then add the other herbs and pound everything together thirty thousand times. Sift into a fine powder. Each morning, take three qian with wine, then take another dose in the evening; the amount may be increased gradually. It may also be taken with water. To make pills, mix with refined honey and pound another ten thousand times, then form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Begin with twenty pills and gradually increase to forty.

The Record of the Lady of the Emperor’s Daughters’ Mysterious Frost in the Palm

This Yin Elixir, an internally refined elixir paired with the Yang Elixir, has seven names: Imperial Maiden’s Dark Frost, Jade Nectar, Jade Liquid, Earth Mother’s Milk, Sweet Dew Syrup, Ninefold-Reverted Yin Elixir, and Cream of Elixir. Since ancient times, even immortals who took the Golden Elixir cultivated this Yin Elixir.

For example, black lead belongs to Water and is numbered one. One gives birth to two, two to three, and three then transforms to produce the myriad things. Is this not the principle of Yin and Yang interacting? The so-called Great Elixir is formed by refining Yin and Yang, the Dragon and Tiger, and is called True Yang. If there is Yang alone without Yin, it becomes solitary Yang and cannot function independently. It must therefore be paired with the Yin Elixir, which serves as an aid to cultivation. Its number follows the Yang number, with nine as its operative number.

The Yin Elixir can moisten the five organs, nourish the Flower Canopy above—that is, the lungs—and replenish the Mud Ball above—that is, the brain—as well as restore the essence below. If the Great Medicine lacks Dark Frost, even prolonged use will scarcely produce results. The method for refining the Great Elixir appears in the Qie, while the method for refining the Yin Essence, Dark Frost, comes from a secret record and is therefore difficult for practitioners to learn. The method for refining White Snow Dark Frost is now set out below:

Take two jin of top-grade black lead (it must be lead that has not been repeatedly refined) and half a jin of mercury. First melt the lead in a small pot, stirring until it is smooth and free of dross. Then pour the mercury into the lead and mix thoroughly, shaping the lead into a small crucible.

Prepare a porcelain bottle coated with oil inside and out, and fill it with five sheng of top-grade vinegar. Choose a room that is peaceful, clean, bright, and faces the sun. Begin at the time when Yang energy is at its strongest, which is said to be when it accords with “Dao energy.” Bury the bottle in a pit so that its mouth is level with the ground. Set the lead crucible over the bottle’s mouth, cover it with three or four layers of paper, then place a porcelain bowl upside down on top.

At the time when Yang energy is strongest, take it out once every seven days. A substance like snow hanging upside down will have condensed on the lead crucible. Leave it in the wind for a while until it hardens, then scrape it off and collect it. Replace the vinegar promptly as it diminishes. Repeat this process of collecting until you have obtained one jin of “frost.”

Next, put the “frost” into a porcelain bowl and add sweet syrup water. Grind it with a willowwood pestle, adding the syrup water gradually until it becomes a paste. Spread the paste around the sides of the bowl, then place it in the steamer used for cooking rice. After steaming, grind it again, wash it with clean water, and let it settle. Collect the sediment and dry it. Then grind it with clean water into a fine powder, put it in a bowl, and steam it in an earthenware steamer. Grind and wash it again. Following this method, steam it five times in the rice steamer, then four times in the earthenware steamer. When using the earthenware steamer, place another bowl upside down over the mouth of the first bowl.

After these nine rounds of steaming and refining, put the product into a boiled silk bag and rinse it in clean water in a silver vessel. After a day and a night, pour off the water, cover the vessel’s mouth with cotton, and leave it in the sunlight to dry. Then scrape the product off and grind it finely with a willowwood pestle. Its color should now resemble spring snow and flour.

Then put the product into a boiled silk bag again and rinse it in clean water in a silver vessel. After a day and a night, pour off the water, cover the vessel’s mouth with cotton, and leave it in the sunlight to dry…

Dry the ingredients in the sun and sweep them clean. Then grind them into powder with a willowwood mallet. At first the powder is the color of spring snow, like fine white flour. Its taste is mild and sweet. Held in the mouth, it feels cool as spring ice.

It is said that anyone who succeeds in preparing it can make the powder into pills the size of a parasol tree seed, using honey as a binder. Taking five pills a day for a year is said to protect against all kinds of illness and prevent thirst throughout the summer. Simply washing the hair with it, then mixing it with raw oil and applying it to the crown of the head, is said to bring a cool sensation from the crown down to the soles of the feet in an instant. Its effects are difficult to describe fully. If used to guide the “Great Return Elixir” (a Daoist alchemical term for a kind of elixir), it is said to restore the old to youth. This is attributed to the movement of bodily fluids.

The Song of Master Sun says:

“Dark White Frost, Dark White Frost: among the two Qi of the Dragon and Tiger, it is supreme. Nothing in the world fails to arise from Yin. If so, where can solitary Yang find nourishment?”

Firefly Pill Formula

Liu Zinan was a General of the Champion Army and Governor of Wuwei during the Han dynasty. He followed the Daoist Master Shi Gong and received the “Firefly Pill” of Wuchengzi. It is said that this pill could ward off illness and repel all ghosts, as well as protect against tigers and wolves, poisonous snakes, lions, wasps and scorpions, and other harmful creatures. It could also withstand weapons and blades, thieves, and other dangers.

The formula is as follows: two liang each of realgar and orpiment; one liang each of fireflies, ghost arrow, and tribulus; and one fen each of a hammer handle burned until charred, ash from a forge, and male goat horn. Grind each of the nine ingredients separately into a fine powder. Mix them with egg yolk and the blood of a rooster’s comb, then form pills the size of an almond. Put five pills in a red triangular cloth pouch and wear it on the left arm. Those going to war should tie it at the waist; those staying at home should hang it on the door. It is said to ward off thieves and all kinds of harmful creatures.

Liu Zinan made and wore this pill. In the twelfth year of Yongping, as he traveled north to Wuwei, he suddenly encountered enemy forces.

Liu Zinan prepared this medicine and wore it on his person. In the twelfth year of the Yongping era, he traveled north to Wuwei, where he suddenly encountered enemy forces. The two sides fought fiercely, and the Han army was defeated and scattered. Liu Zinan alone was surrounded by the enemy. Arrows rained down, but before they came within a few feet of his horse, they all fell to the ground and never harmed him. The enemy took him for a divine being, withdrew, and left.

Liu Zinan passed this Daoist miraculous prescription on to his son and brothers. Later, soldiers who took it suffered no injuries, and the prescription’s efficacy was confirmed. It was treasured and handed down through the generations. Near the end of the Han dynasty, the Daoist called Lord Feng, the Green Ox, passed the prescription to Huangfu Long of Anding. Huangfu Long then passed it to Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, after which it gradually became known among the people. The prescription was also called “Champion Pills” or “Wuwei Pills,” and is now included in the Qianjin Yi.

The Four Immortal Medicines the Yellow Emperor Received from Huang Qing

The first was called “Hongguang,” the second “Qianqiu,” the third “Wansui,” and the fourth “Cimoshi.” The Yellow Emperor asked, “What do these four substances look like? Can you tell me?” Huang Qing replied, “Hongguang is mica; Qianqiu is club moss, which grows among famous mountains; Wansui is marshmallow; and Cimo is the seed of amaranth. Some say it is dodder seed.”

Pound the four ingredients and sift them into a fine powder. Then mix them with white pine resin and form pills the size of parasol tree seeds. Each morning, on an empty stomach, take thirty pills with warm wine. It is said that after seven years of taking them, one can extend one’s life by a thousand years; with prolonged use, one can accompany the Heavenly Emperor. The Yellow Emperor respectfully bowed to Huang Qing.

The True Person’s Lotus-Root Flower Prescription for Preserving Youth

Gather the lotus flower, lotus root, and lotus seed on the seventh day of the seventh month, the eighth day of the eighth month, and the ninth day of the ninth month, respectively. Measure them out in proportions of seven, eight, and nine parts, and prepare the mixture. Take one square-inch spoonful each time (an ancient small medicinal spoon, indicating one spoonful of medicine). This formula was passed down to Liu Changsheng of Nanyang. Liu lived north of Qingyuan Marsh and took the medicine for more than seventy years, remaining youthful and showing no signs of aging. Taken over a long period, it can enable one to become an immortal.

The lotus seed is also called Water Elixir Fungus, Jia seed, fox nut, lotus flower, and hibiscus. Its leaves are called he; its small root, qian; its large root, ou; and its first sprouting root, ling. The lotus seed and the chicken-head seed (also called fox nut, the seed of an aquatic plant) are collectively known as Yin-Yang.

On the first Wu day of the eighth month, collect lotus seeds; on the first Wu day of the ninth month, collect chicken-head seeds; and on a morning day in the tenth month, collect lotus roots. Take equal quantities, dry them in the shade for one hundred days, then grind them into a preparation. At dawn on the first Yin day of the first month, take one square-inch spoonful with Well-Bloom Water (water drawn from a well at dawn). Take it four or five times a day, after meals, for one hundred days. This formula replenishes central Qi, strengthens the body, nourishes Shen (spirit), makes one less prone to hunger, and can dispel all illnesses. Taken over a long period, it can make the body lighter, prolong life, prevent signs of aging, and ultimately enable one to become an immortal.

The chicken-head seed is also called goose seed, Heavenly Gate Essence, Tianyu, and Yao. It tastes sweet and can treat damp impediment (joint pain, numbness, and related conditions caused by pathogenic dampness), as well as disorders of the lower back, spine, and knees. It also replenishes Qi, strengthens resolve, and sharpens hearing and vision. Taken over a long period, it can make the body light and strong, lessen hunger, and ultimately enable one to become an immortal.

◎ Formula for the Lord Lao’s Longevity Powder

Five liang of Asparagus cochinchinensis (remove the core, then dry by roasting), four liang of white atractylodes, one liang of fangfeng (remove the reed-like stems), two liang of prepared rehmannia root, three fen of asarum, one liang of dried ginger (roast until split, then chop), one liang of platycodon root (remove the reed-like stems), half a liang of tianxiong (roast until split, then dry by roasting; remove the core, or remove the skin and root end), half a liang of cinnamon heart, one liang of polygala root (remove the core), one liang of cistanche (soak in wine and remove the wrinkled skin), one liang of oriental water plantain, half a liang of dendrobium (remove the roots, then chop), half a liang of arborvitae seeds, half a liang of mica powder, half a liang of pyrrosia leaves (remove the hairs), half a liang of eucommia bark (remove the coarse outer bark, then chop), half a liang of achyranthes root (remove the shoots), half a liang of white poria, half a liang of sweetflag, half a liang of schisandra berries, half a liang of cnidium seeds, half a liang of chrysanthemum flowers, half a liang of dogwood fruit, and one and a half liang of aconite (roast until split, then remove the skin and root end).

Pound the ingredients and sift them into a powder. Each morning, take three qian with wine. In winter, take it three times a day; in summer, take it once in the morning; in spring and autumn, take it once in the morning and once in the evening. The original text claims that after ten days the effects can be felt; after twenty days, the discomfort being treated will ease; after thirty days, strength will increase; after forty days, all illnesses will disappear; after sixty days, the body will feel light, as if able to fly; after seventy days, the complexion will glow; after eighty days, one will gain spiritual powers; and after ninety days, one’s vitality will be unlike that of ordinary people. After taking it for more than a hundred days, one will not grow old. If one can also abstain from sexual relations, one can attain longevity.

The Li Mountain Old Mother’s Method for Sustaining Life Without Grain

Five dou of black beans, one dou and five sheng of hemp seeds, and one dou of Qingzhou dates.

Rinse black beans in clean water, steam them once, dry them in the sun, and remove their skins. Steam them once more and dry them in the sun. Soak hemp seeds in water and remove their skins. Put them with dates in a steamer and cook until done; then take them out and remove the date pits.

Pound these three ingredients together until smooth. Steam the mixture once more, shape it into balls about the size of a fist, and steam them again. Steam from early evening until midnight, until fragrant and thoroughly cooked. Then remove the heat, cover the vessel tightly, and leave it overnight. The next day, dry the mixture in the sun, pound it, and sift it into a powder. Take it as desired, eating until full. When thirsty, drink freshly drawn well water, hemp-seed soup, or cypress soup.

The text claims that taking it for the first time for seven days can keep a person from feeling hunger for three hundred days; taking it a second time for four days can supposedly prevent hunger for about two thousand days. It says that following the method enables one to become an immortal, while a “remarkable person” who takes it can live forever. This method is extraordinarily powerful and should not be passed on indiscriminately. Taking the wrong ingredients or using the method improperly can harm the body. To expel the medicine, grind the seeds of winter mallow into a powder, boil them in water, and drink the decoction. The text says the medicine will be expelled in a golden color, which serves as proof of its efficacy.

Wenshi Master’s Formula for Fasting

Half a liang of realgar, ground very fine; one liang of limonite; one and a half liang of Ophiopogon root, with the inner core removed and the root baked dry; one liang of alum, burned to ash; and one liang of powdered mica.

Pound these ingredients, sift them into a powder, mix with refined honey, and pound the mixture a thousand times. Form pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Before taking them, first eat your fill of beef or mutton soup and rice. The next morning, take thirty pills with well water. The text claims that this can keep a person from feeling hungry for a month.

The Supreme Clarity Method of Flying Immortals

The practitioner of occult arts says: Take twelve jin each of pine resin (a resin secreted by pine trees) and fuling (the dried sclerotium of a fungus in the Polyporaceae family). First soak the fuling in water for seven days, changing the water each morning. After seven days, take it out and dry it in the sun. Then soak it for seven days in two dou of pure wine, and take it out and dry it in the sun. Eat one jin of fuling prepared this way each month.

If you wish to take the pine resin and fuling together, first refine the pine resin to remove its bitter taste and foul-smelling liquid. Warm it over a fire, mix it into the fuling, and add white honey. Take all three together, eating one jin of each per month.

The scripture claims that continuous use produces the following effects in succession: after one hundred days, the body becomes light and vigorous; after two hundred days, alternating fever and chills subside; after three hundred days, symptoms such as wind-related headaches and dizziness disappear; after four hundred days, the “five labors and seven injuries” (a general term for various forms of strain and debility) are eliminated; after five hundred days, pathogenic accumulations of cold and fluid in the abdomen recede; after six hundred days, one’s youthful appearance is preserved; after seven hundred days, the face…; after eight hundred days, black hair grows; after nine hundred days, moxibustion marks (spots on the skin) disappear; after one thousand days, the eyes become bright; after two thousand days, one’s appearance changes; after three thousand days, one walks without leaving footprints; after four thousand days, all traces disappear; after five thousand days, one can see by night as if by light; after six thousand days, the muscles change; after seven thousand days, the skin and blood vessels become hidden; after eight thousand days, the spirit grows strong; after nine thousand days, the “thinness of a young boy”; after ten thousand days, the body is naturally healthy; after twenty thousand days, the divine intelligence becomes fully connected; after thirty thousand days, one walks in daylight without casting a shadow; after forty thousand days, one can vanish instantly simply by sitting down.

Take it every day without interruption. After more than ten thousand days, one can transform freely, change one’s name and surname, and ascend to Heaven.

◎ Eye-Washing Formula of the Star Official Tai Bai

After reaching middle age, Zhang Pingshi, governor of Jiazhou, and his wife both suffered from “sudden death.”

◎ Eye-Washing Formula of the Star Official Tai Bai

Zhang Pingshi, governor of Jiazhou, became blind in both eyes in middle age, as did his wife. The couple searched everywhere for people skilled in occult arts, but found no one. Later, Zhang retired to a country villa and shut himself away for quiet self-reflection. He did nothing but perform purification rites and offer prayers to the stars, seeking the protection of the gods. As the years passed, his household gradually fell into decline, yet his devotion never wavered.

On the seventeenth day of the eighth month in the seventh year of the Yuanhe era under Emperor Xianzong of the Tang dynasty (812), a scholar came to call. The household servants said, “Our master and his wife are ill, and have not received guests for a long time.” The scholar replied, “Though I am a scholar, I also know medicine. I heard that the governor is ill, so I have come especially to see him.”

After the servants went in to announce him, Zhang Pingshi said gladly, “I have been ill for a long time without recovering, and have not received guests in ages. Since our visitor has a remedy, please share it with me.” The scholar said, “Once I see you, I will have a good medicine for you.” Zhang Pingshi went to meet him despite his illness.

The scholar told him, “This illness needs no medicine. Tomorrow, gather ten strong men and prepare tools such as shovels and picks to dig a well. Your eyes will then recover on their own.” Zhang Pingshi made all the preparations as instructed. The scholar chose a suitable place, and they began digging in the morning. By evening, they had reached water. He told Zhang Pingshi to fast and purify himself, burn incense, and pray with devotion, then wash his eyes with the well water.

Zhang Pingshi’s eye condition immediately eased, and his sight soon became clear again, just as before. The ailment that had plagued him for years was suddenly gone. The couple were deeply grateful and offered the scholar a generous gift of gold and silk. The scholar declined. “What need have I for gold and silk? I am not of this world, but an official of the planet Venus. Though you have been ill for many years, you have never forgotten the cultivation of the Dao. Your sincere rites and offerings moved the stars and the Five Emperor Star Lords, deities who govern the stars in the heavens. They sent me down to teach you this method, remove your grave illness, and answer your devoted practice. Gold and silk are not what I seek. I leave this method to pass on to the people, relieve the suffering of the sick, and accumulate hidden virtue—good deeds done without seeking reward. The method is as follows:”

In a Zi or Wu year, choose a You or Xu day in the fifth month, or a Mao or Chen day in the eleventh month. In a Chou or Wei year, choose a Xu or Hai day in the sixth month, or a Chen or Si day in the twelfth month. In a Yin or Shen year, choose a Hai or Zi day in the seventh month, or a Si or Wu day in the first month. In a Mao or You year, choose a Zi or Chou day in the eighth month, or a Wu or Wei day in the second month. In a Chen or Xu year, choose a Yin or Chou day in the third month, or a Wei or Shen day in the ninth month. In a Si or Hai year, choose a Shen or You day in the tenth month, or a Yin or Mao day in the fourth month. Then choose the day according to the corresponding direction. Once the year, month, day, and hour have been selected in this way, the place and time will be auspicious. Dig a well then, and continue until spring water appears; the results will surely be good.

The scholar bowed once more to Master Ping and received his instruction. When he had finished speaking, the scholar ascended to heaven and departed. This was a response made manifest through the resonance of utmost sincerity.

Zhang Shaozhen’s Method for Refining Ninefold-Turn Lead Essence

Two jin of green lead (lead with many impurities is called “cup lead,” while lead with a murky color is called “Tang”; neither is suitable. Only the purple lead produced in Yiyang and Persia is of the finest quality).

Place lead, in an amount suited to the size of the pot, into an iron pot with a crescent-shaped rim, and roast it over a fierce flame. Once the lead has completely melted, stir it evenly, starting from the bottom of the pot. After a while, the lead will turn into green sand. Keep stirring until the transformation is complete.

To make lead yellow blossoms, heat the green sand over a fierce flame and stir constantly. After some time, it will turn into lead yellow blossoms. Transfer the green sand to a basin, add a little bitter wine—a kind of vinegar—and gradually add more as you grind it. Use bran vinegar for the bitter wine, not vinegar that is too strong. After letting it settle and filtering it, dry it over a fire, then use a low flame to draw out a little of the liquid. Mix the liquid that flows out with “left flavor” and knead it into a mass; “magnetic powder” is also classed as “left flavor.” Without this method, the mass cannot be made into lead.

Once it is dry, put the mass into an iron casting pot and use two leather bellows, one above and one below, to blow air while firing it over a fierce flame. The green sand will quickly turn into lead and flow out through the casting channel into an iron vessel beneath it. Continue until it has all flowed out. The resulting lead is bright in color and is called “lead grandson.” After eight reversals and nine transformations, it turns purple. For every pound of lead refined, nine transformations consume fifteen taels, leaving just one tael. This is barely called the “Golden Lord Elixir,” also known as the “Purple River Cart,” “Golden Puppy,” or “Ninefold Refined Lead Essence,” and is said to be usable. Related passages can be found in the Shangqing Ling Shu and the Longhu Zheng Lu.

Fuling Rock Formula

Three large jin of Fuling, with the black skin removed and cut into pieces the size of sour jujubes; two small liang of licorice, chopped.

Take six large sheng of water (an ancient unit of volume). Add the licorice and boil until three sheng remain. Strain the liquid and discard the dregs. Let it stand, then pour off the cloudy portion. Add three large sheng of white honey and nine large sheng of cow’s milk, then simmer with the poria until all the liquid has evaporated. Remove it while hot and knead it apart. Pick out the red membranes, then knead thoroughly until it is as fine as flour. Leave it to dry in a cool place.

Take it three or four times a day. At first, take two square-inch spoonfuls (an ancient measure for medicinal doses) each time, then gradually increase the amount as appropriate for your constitution. While taking it, avoid pine greens and rice vinegar above all. If preparing the medicine in spring or autumn, there is no need to add milk during preparation; add milk when taking it.

Scroll Seventy-Eight · Medicines, Part Five

Preface to the Formula for the Three Grades of the Spirit-Nourishing, Life-Preserving Divine Elixir

The term “yin” refers to the finest Qi among the Five Phases—the five basic elements that make up all things—and to the pure essence condensed from the Yin and Yang Qi of Heaven and Earth. As fluids circulate, the bodily form takes shape. The three grades each have their distinctions, and hardness and softness each play their part. Their effects are remarkable and cannot be attained without a hundred refinements. Thus one can conceal the sharp edge, the swallow chart, the white rainbow…

The substance called Yin is formed from the refined essence of the Five Phases and the pure Yin-Yang essence of Heaven and Earth. Its fluid flows and its form differentiates along with it, dividing into three kinds, each with its own effects of hardness and softness. Its efficacy is especially remarkable, as though it had taken shape through a hundred refinings.

It can conceal its sharp edge, lying hidden like the pattern of a swallow; white rainbow-like Qi rises proudly and pierces the sun. It can also hide its radiance in a richly furnished casket, as purple clouds emerge and shoot straight toward the stars. Among all things, its numinous power is the most outstanding. Though its name is assigned on the surface to the Dui direction (the west), its actual efficacy is drawn from the Li direction (the south).

Thus the sages of antiquity tasted every kind of flavor and found that it was sweet, nontoxic, and nourishing to Shen (spirit). They therefore transformed weakness into strength and the coarse into the refined. At times they fashioned it into a compass for tracing round jade discs; at others they made it into a square carpenter’s rule, to model the square “zhu.” Its radiance was as bright as the full moon, yet it remained concealed within “Xi Kan,” a place or condition symbolizing water and the Kan trigram. When Metal and Water combine, the pattern of generation appears naturally. The mysterious terrace draws it in, using it to summon the essence of the sun. Since it arises from nature, it is named “Yin” after its own form.

When wheat combines with the virtue of You—a symbol associated with the west, autumn, and wine—it brews into a liquor that is hot in nature and promotes circulation. Jujubes gather Qi in the Zhen Palace, a symbol of the east and spring; as medicine, they are warm and moistening. Mix the wine with jujubes and take it, then take another dose morning and evening. There are no restrictions. This can strengthen the marrow and turn a frail body robust; it can also moisten the skin and make an aged face young again.

As for sexual union and the arts of the bedchamber, even with several hundred concubines, one can soon be fit to attend to them. It can also ward off ghosts, dispel evil, and eliminate illness. Those suffering from wind-related consumption or deficient palpitations, as well as people with contracted limbs, a limp, sores, leprosy, and other such afflictions, will improve after one dose and be cured altogether after three courses. The body can return to its original condition, and the face can regain something of its former appearance.

One need not fear even when leaning against a pillar in the Zhen direction; why be afraid when facing a window in the Li direction? If one follows the eight seasonal nodes, aligns with the four seasons, gathers materials at the moment all things first sprout, and combines them with various medicines to make them the principal ingredient, the preparation can be made as a dry or moist remedy, in powder or pill form. Its medicinal properties should be balanced according to heat and cold, while the body is regulated through the methods of daoyin. After taking it, one can seem to set everything aside, with a mind like dead ash and a body like withered wood. Impurities gradually recede, while clear, tranquil, luminous Qi gradually increases. One can then penetrate the depths, discern the hidden darkness, and command spirits and ghosts. Even after drinking pure liquid, one remains wholly unaware.

As the Jing and Qi gradually become clear and pure, one no longer feels hunger even after giving up food. The intestines gradually transform into sinews, and the bone marrow into bones; wings grow from the body, which becomes almost like empty space. Riding cranes and dragons, one flies far away amid mist and rosy clouds, living forever, with a lifespan equal to that of Heaven and Earth. This is the highest rank among the celestial immortals.

If one does not seek to transcend the world and only wishes to live securely among people, then, when first taking the elixir, one should restrain one’s desires and avoid indulgence. Only after a year or two, or three, may one begin to regulate and practice a little. It is not until reaching one’s eighties or nineties that one may begin to use it freely. By then, hearing and sight are exceptionally keen, and the spirit is clearer still. One’s appearance grows ever more renewed, and wisdom deepens with age. One has the strength to pull up mountains and lift cauldrons, and to drag nine oxen. In a single day, one can recite ten thousand words and take in five lines at a glance. Walking brings no fatigue, and one can act as one pleases, at ease between Heaven and Earth, with one’s gaze reaching hundreds of years into the future.

Though one still cannot witness with one’s own eyes the Eastern Sea turning into mulberry fields, nor go to the Queen Mother of the West to pick immortal peaches, one can nonetheless wander freely and at ease. This is perhaps a level second only to that of the earthly immortals. An ancient saying goes: “The highest grade of medicine nourishes…”