《铜符铁卷》

The Copper Talisman and Iron Scroll records the transmission and cultivation of the Divine Elixir of the Three Primordials. The scripture says that Yuqing (Jade Clarity, the celestial realm in which the exalted deities of Daoism dwell) conferred immortal offices and charged the deity who governs the Southern Bureau with presiding over teaching and transformation. This hidden method was preserved at places such as Peng Yifang and transmitted according to the calendrical system of the Celestial Talismans and the Fire Records. In the year of Geng-Jia, the turbid Qi (vital energy) dispersed; the immortals of all the heavens assembled, and the host of sages together paid silent homage to the Dao (the Way).

The Great Dao circulated through the celestial realm, and the immortals rejoiced. After the kalpas of Longhan, Yankang, and the others had ended, the Mysterious Palace (the palaces of the heavens) widely issued its edicts. The Primordial Lords (Yuanjun) of Donghua, Xihua, and Taiyi, together with Mother Chen (Chenmu, a female immortal of Daoism), transmitted the method, and disciples personally received the mysterious mechanism of two and eight handed down by the August Person (Huangren). Profound and subtle, this method enables people in the world to refine the Jade Liquor and journey to the Jasper Pool (Yaochi, the immortal realm of legend). The Copper Talisman scroll was issued from the celestial realm, commanding the Primordial Lords and Mother Chen to transmit it.

The Perfected Hongdao set forth the orthodox teaching and described the course of cultivation in alchemical terms such as “mercury” and “lead”: lead and mercury are refined together; True Earth receives the Qi of the Celestial Talisman and produces emerald leaves, golden flowers, and purple mist, which then ascend to the celestial palaces. The light of the sun and moon shines throughout heaven and earth, and the Xun wind (the southeast wind of the Bagua, the Eight Trigrams) lifts the golden flowers. The scripture repeatedly stresses that key medicines such as the Flowing Pearl and True Lead are indispensable, and that in cultivation one must also gather Jing (essence) and Qi and carefully guard against danger.

The solar hun (the essential Qi of the sun, counterpart to the lunar po) shifts its place, the lunar spirit comes to fullness, sunlight turns into roseate radiance, and the True Lead of the four directions converges. True Lead contains the five colors, yet it is hard to discern; without the bloom of Geng Metal, it cannot be brought to completion. After Xin Metal has been gathered, it must still be placed in the ash pool for further refining, and the medicines must be made to rise and sink and to invert and transform, so that the flower of Ren Water is not disturbed by turbid Qi like dark clouds. Once the Celestial Hun has been refined, it is as though one has returned to the Crystal Palace; when the Golden Liquor returns to the sacred body, there is no need to seek it far off at the ends of the earth.

The scripture further describes the transformations of the elixir method in the words “when mercury dies it becomes lead, and when lead is transformed it becomes earth,” and it calls the white-gold cauldron the foundation of the elixir method. The union of the Celestial Hun and the Earthly Po is called the Elixir Mother. Through accumulated refinement over the number of nine times nine, mercury returns and becomes cinnabar; the dragon emerges from the east, and the tiger joins toward the west. The cultivator must also keep filial piety in the heart, subdue malevolent demons by methods such as incantation and ritually commanded water, and relieve all living beings through manifest merit and hidden De (Virtue/Power).

The Heavenly King issues his command by means of the Iron Scroll, while the Copper Talisman is transmitted orally, in careful detail, by the teacher. Yuqing wishes to see those whose merit and practice are outstanding, and at that time the celestial realm will bestow titles and rewards. The scripture then depicts calamity: an evil dragon spews forth the waters of the Three Rivers, and poisonous Qi fills the human world. If one does not, in obedience to the decree, give aid amid distress, there will appear the misery of bones covering the ground and a sea of blood turning into disaster. One must therefore refine and obtain, in the cauldron, the pool, and the furnace, the Jing of heaven, earth, sun, and moon. The scripture calls this method incomparably exalted and describes the steps of refining under such names as the Twelve Divine Talismans and the Nine White Snows; after many cycles of return and refinement, the result is called “Celestial Azure.”

The scripture says that each time one pellet of the elixir medicine is taken, after three periods (the stages or spans of time passed through in cultivation), the nine orifices of the whole body shine. When the White Snow enters the mouth, the body seems to grow feathered wings; when the divine talisman is swallowed, clouds seem to arise beneath the feet. The cultivator gradually comes to the day when the Three Yangs open in renewal, and a life in decline revives like grass in spring. When merit and practice are complete, the celestial court confers rank and emolument, and even an entire family may ascend and become immortals. The scripture also depicts an audience with the Supreme Thearch, the receipt of an edict bearing a golden seal, and a welcome by the Five Sacred Peaks.

Finally, the method is called the celestial mechanism of nine and six. It must be personally transmitted by one who possesses the Dao and carefully treasured. The scripture warns that if it is transmitted improperly, one will suffer the punishment of thunder and fire. It specifically explains that this method of the Golden Elixir (Jindan) is not “the swallow calling the Three-in-One,” nor turning the head to swallow saliva, nor the bedchamber practice of gathering and replenishing, nor an elixir medicine refined from arsenic and minerals. What the text calls “lead” refers to the Original Shen (primordial spirit), and “silver” refers to the bodily form; only the union of form and Shen (spirit) is true cultivation. After the Original Shen meets the true bodily form, one must in the end employ the Original Shen to contemplatively illuminate Taiqing (Great Clarity, a celestial realm of Daoism).

The old method of constructing the pagoda furnace set it at nine tiers. Because the space inside the furnace was too deep, the Qi (vital energy) of the medicinal substances could hardly reach the upper levels. One may now, as circumstances warrant, change it to seven tiers or five. Each tier is six cun high. At the bottom one places the penghu (the vessel inside the furnace that holds the medicines) and fits male-and-female mouths (interlocking joints that mate with one another). Every tier is provided with ingenious apertures, so that the Qi of Dragon and Tiger (an alchemical term for the two kinds of Qi, those of Yin and Yang) may rise, and so that the parts may be set in place, tightly joined, and securely sealed.

The body of the furnace is set upon the pool-cauldron. Outside, iron rings suspend it from the roof beams so that the furnace stands firm; fire is then kindled within the furnace frame. The fire is brought close to the penghu. Below the waist of the penghu an iron stand gives support, and the heat is allowed to bake and fumigate all around the furnace body, lest the secondary fire (auxiliary heating) disturb the pagoda, and so that the Vermilion Bird (Zhuque; an alchemical term symbolizing the furnace fire, or the fiery Qi of the south) may rest secure.

Above the gate for admitting lead, one makes a joint half a cun high and joins it to the foot of the vessel. On each of three sides one sets a three-legged support; the supports must be stout, about as thick as a finger joint, so that they can bear the force of the fire. The method handed down by the ancients was to regulate the controlled fire with a bellows; later practitioners instead opened a draft gate. How it is to be used should be handled flexibly according to actual conditions; one need not copy the old pattern in every particular. The transformations of Yin and Yang have their own Dao (the Way); flexible adjustment is itself the method. When the draft gate is opened or closed, one must not let a sudden gust stir the pool-cauldron; it should be inspected often, so as to prevent mishap.

In the refining one must, as usual, work with careful attention. Although it is said that this consumes a hundred days of effort, it is nonetheless the foundation for ascending to Heaven.

The Formula for Firing and Obtaining True Lead

First take several hundred jin of mountain lead-sand and pound it into powder. Using gully-earth from the ore mountain, mix four liang of common salt with each jin and pound the mixture again and again for ten thousand strokes of the pestle. Weigh out one jin of powdered lead-sand, wrap it in several layers of paper, and coat the outside with salt-mud five or six fen thick; dry it in the sun until it is completely dry. Make three to five hundred such pieces in this way and place them in the furnace to be fired.

The furnace is shaped like a great steamer, six or seven chi high and one zhang in circumference, with a bellows fitted below so that the force of the fire rises from the bottom of the furnace. First spread charcoal one chi thick on the furnace floor, then lay the lead-sand balls on the charcoal, one layer of charcoal and one layer of balls. Fire them with a great blaze until they are red-hot inside and out, then stop the fire, let the furnace cool, and cover it with yin-earth. The lead will congeal into a single mass in the lower part. Break open the shells and take it out. What is obtained resembles unrefined mineral silver; this is called the “Qian Father.”

Only by using the “Qian Father” to extract “flowing gold” will the medicine possess numinous efficacy. If flowing lead and gully-earth are taken for flowing gold, the medicine’s numinous efficacy will scatter and vanish without a trace. To proceed rashly without a teacher’s transmission will in the end only spoil the undertaking. The so-called supreme medicine of the divine elixir is, in the final analysis, nothing but the single ingredient “lead Jing” (essence); once this treasure is obtained, the refining may be counted a great success.

This is the “Water of Primordial True Unity.” In preparing it, several times the quantity should be made ready, to be used together with the method of “laying the foundation with sacred ash.” In gathering and refining the earth-water, a single fen of the genuine substance surpasses a jin of gold. At this point, the key to the refining is left to be explained in the greater method that follows.

The Great Method of Cultivating the Divine Elixir of Ancient Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor

The opening procedure of the method of Earthly Origin lies in setting up the golden cauldron and the divine chamber—the vessels and the place used for refining the elixir. Within the cauldron the upper and lower parts are divided into two arcs, and the total weight is fixed at one jin. It may also be made to the measure of nine cauldrons, seven cauldrons, five cauldrons, or three cauldrons; the precise amounts taken must follow the numbers prescribed by the great method. For example, eight liang of white metal are paired with thirty-six jin of black lead in which Qi (vital energy) has been subdued. In all there are only eight times nine, seventy-two liang, to be drawn according to the rule of the nine pools. If the Qi of the lead is insufficient and divine Jing (essence) descends only sparingly, it is hard to accord with the tallies of Heaven and Earth, and hard to reach the matched measures of half a jin and eight liang. Therefore one now refines nine liang into one liang, to serve for the release of Qi.

First one seeks the earthly po, the corporeal soul; the earthly po is white metal. Then one takes the heavenly hun, the ethereal soul; the heavenly hun is yellow gold. Yellow gold can produce cinnabar, and this is the Jing of the sun; white metal can give rise to the flowing pearl, and this is the florescence of the moon. When hun and po unite as one, the refined essence comes into being of itself. This draws fully upon the efficacy of Heaven and Earth, sun and moon, and it is also the mysterious working of the Holy Ancestor Xuanyuan, the Daoist honorific for Laozi.

The sage, knowing that the numinous substance lies hidden in the north, takes it as the head of the elixir. The yellow gold spoken of here is not the yellow gold of the world. Worldly yellow gold, though a thing of pure Yang, cannot bear transformation by Qi even when smelted again and again. As for copper and tin, their nature is too dry and fierce, and they can scarcely manifest the Metal Duke, the symbol of the metal nature in elixir methods. Even should it appear, the bodily form is sure to be harmed. Only white metal, joined with it, can draw near, open freely, and blend in harmony. From this the golden flower issues forth, the flowing pearl appears, and the precious pearl suddenly emerges within as well. True Yin and true Yang shine upon one another and unite as one.

Skillfully taking the degrees of the celestial circuit, one causes them to fill the central yellow among the five colors, and Yang Qi then arises of itself from true earth. When earth Qi flourishes, metal is able to be generated. Then, through the gestation of the Water Tiger—the symbol of the water nature in elixir methods—the Zhen Dragon, the symbol of the wood nature in elixir methods, is brought forth. Five-colored scales of sunset cloud, a body of golden paste and blue-green, bright and long enduring, become the root of the medicine of ascent to Heaven. The more it is refined, the more numinous it becomes; the more it is warmly nurtured, the more subtle and wondrous it grows. One therefore sets up the Yin pool and the Yang cauldron. Because lead cannot directly undergo refining, symbolic vessels are established so as to fix the nature of its floating and sinking: the Yang cauldron is made so that the Yang hun rises of itself to Heaven, and the Yin pool is fashioned so that the Yin po sinks into the earth.

The efficacy of one nine lies in the lead; the efficacy of two nines lies in the mother, the matrix that gestates the elixir in elixir methods. If the elixir formulas of the various schools do not employ the mother, cultivation in the elixir gate is toil in vain; and how could ren and gui, the heavenly stems belonging to water among the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), distinguish the strong from the weak? What is old and brittle transforms into Yin earth, and in the use of lead there is a secret transmission. Only by first refining lead with metal can floating and sinking be truly determined. As for the pre-celestial and the post-celestial, once the subtlety within them is discerned, one can become an immortal of the cavern. The infant seeks the nursing mother and, turn after turn, enters the mysterious pass. The medicine is true mercury; the Golden Elixir is the divine elixir.

One mother gives birth to nine children, each transmitting its own branches and leaves. Those whose virtue is shallow have no affinity by which to meet it, and those whose destined connection is insufficient have no affinity by which to hear of it. This is a true formula, profound and hard to fathom; you should keep it firmly in mind.

The Essentials of Setting the Furnace and Establishing the Cauldron

When the rite is performed, one first makes offerings to the Directors of Fate of the Nine Heavens and the Five Earths, the Perfected Lords of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, and the orthodox deities of the elixir chamber’s furnace and stove, together with the Stellar Lords of the Five Virtues—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Incense, lamps and candles, and fruit are set out, and the matter is reverently announced to the Supreme Perfected (the exalted perfected deities venerated in Daoism).

Tongs, spoons, and other implements should be prepared in advance, and spare pieces such as the Black Tiger iron basin and the precious pagoda should be kept in quantity, so that they may be replaced if damaged. The wind aperture inside the furnace (the opening that regulates ventilation of the furnace fire) should be opened about the size of an egg, and must not be too wide. If the opening is too wide, the force of the wind is weak; if the wind is weak, true Qi (vital energy) cannot rise.

Three feet are to be set beneath the basin. The feet are not made of iron, but fired from ceramic clay, arranged in the shape of the character pin (品), and fixed on the outside with salt-mud, so that they are firm and will not fail. The basin is placed above, and the tiered tower (the stacked furnace frame) is erected; iron rings on both sides hang the furnace frame high from the heavenly beam. The fire cover inside the furnace must be closed tightly, so that the force of the fire does not draw near the cauldron (ding). A separate path for the fire to enter and leave is opened, making it easy to regulate the heat while the work is carried out.

The Secret Formula of the Nine Basins of Earthly Origin (Diyuan)

Copper Talismans and Iron Scrolls

In pairs they stand upon the Pengluo Terrace, and the Eight Treasures fill the Zhaoyang Hall. The myriad sages stand guard about the venerable deity at the center, and the Celestial King of Primordial Beginning appears. The Celestial King gives a long cry upon the vermilion steps (the steps before the hall), and only then does the Metal Sire (an alchemical term, often standing for metal or for the elixir) begin to be brought to completion. All the Perfected chant together, and golden light then shines throughout the world. One respectfully awaits the arrival of the Beifeng demon; after it has been washed clean, it is escorted into the Chaotian Garden. The one who cultivates with strenuous effort is the elixir adept (the practitioner of alchemy); one must cast off the old and welcome the new, renewing and transforming. Qian Metal (an alchemical material or symbol belonging to Metal) seizes the gaze, and dark clouds must not be allowed to throw it into disorder. A night-shining pearl is refined forth, its radiance displaying the five colors. Above and below, the draft must pass freely, and the golden jujube that is refined forth has the countenance of an infant. When the turbid Yin Qi within the realm of Xiyi (the subtle state scarcely to be seen) arrives, release the Beifeng demon; after washing it clean, escort it into the Chaotian Garden. The one who cultivates with strenuous effort is the elixir adept; one must cast off the old and welcome the new, renewing and transforming. Qian Metal seizes the gaze, and dark clouds must not be allowed to throw it into disorder. A night-shining pearl is refined forth, its radiance displaying the five colors. Above and below, the draft must pass freely, and the golden jujube that is refined forth has the countenance of an infant. When the turbid Yin Qi within the realm of Xiyi arrives, release the River Chariot (a metaphor in Daoist Neidan, internal alchemy, for the circulation of Jing, essence, and Qi) and set it in motion. Purple Qi enters the tiered tower, and child and mother cannot see one another. When it has just been refined to completion, although it has the power to lengthen life, it easily causes Jing (essence) and Shen (spirit) to scatter.

The text in the case to which one is directly pointed is named “Qing’ai.”

The method of refining lead in the first pool: Take one jin of gold gathered from the mountains, pure as snow, and break it into sixteen pieces. Choose a time when the sun and moon are in conjunction and the five planets stand in a row, and also a Shen or You day (a day when the Qi of Metal is abundant). Set the pool-cauldron securely in place, open the wind gate, and advance the fire in the order of gentle fire and fierce fire. First warm the pool-cauldron with gentle fire, then add half a jin of lead. After it is refined to ash and congeals into a precious substance, the foundation of the furnace pool is made firm and loss is avoided.

When the pool-cauldron has been heated to a faint red, take separately nine hu of pure lead that has undergone treatment by subdued Qi. Add each hu in three portions, sixty-five zhu at a time; reckon each zhu as one pool. The nine pools together use eighty-one jin of lead, corresponding to the number of the nine-times-nine circuits of heaven. Place the pieces of gold into the pool one by one and melt them with fierce fire into liquid gold. When the black impurities have completely withdrawn, a scene of rising and sinking will appear: two revolving shafts of red light flicker in midair, and purple auspicious Qi ascends. Then add the lead in sequence, and whenever the molten lead in the furnace diminishes, add more. Visualize the constellations sinking, floating, and revolving, until the precious moon and golden flowers appear before you; continue adding lead, and do not depart from concentrated mindfulness.

Only when Gui Water (an alchemical term for yin water-Qi) is exhausted will the “sea-gold crab” appear. At this point quickly advance the lead fire, and Ren Water (an alchemical term for yang water-Qi) will surge upward. A gentle wind scatters the golden flowers; after they disperse, Geng Metal becomes full and abundant, and the “Child of You” appears. Three strong persons must then take turns at the work, and food, rest, and the opening and closing of the eight gates must be properly arranged. Add the lead and charcoal, firing fiercely and forging rapidly, so that the fire of the Vermilion Bird soars aloft, purple Shen (spirit) Qi and auspicious Qi appear, and flames like golden jujube blossoms glow a thorough red, flashing like lightning.

The lead must not be added too hastily; if it is too hasty, the Golden Crow (the divine bird symbolizing yang Qi) cannot emerge from the sea. Nor may it be too slow; if it is too slow, the Jade Rabbit (the divine rabbit symbolizing yin Qi) may be harmed. When water and fire have been refined together a sufficient number of times and the Qi of Yin-Yang has fused into one, it congeals and takes form. Once Ren Water receives the Qi of Metal, it naturally rises to the crown of the Niwan (the Neidan, or internal alchemy, site at the top of the head) and congeals into the “Bright-Sun Flowing Pearl.”

After all the lead has been added, withdraw the fire and seal the furnace door. Supplement and benefit with gold, nourish with water, and then add another three qian and four fen of lead. Thereafter preserve Jing (essence) and Shen and keep the bodily form stable; do not shake the pool-cauldron. When the furnace-cauldron has cooled, remove the Ren Water within it; this is called “blue-green dust.” Seal it in a gold or porcelain box so that no Qi escapes, and keep it for later combination and use according to the original formula.

Invite two or three like-minded companions to keep vigil together at Ziyang Palace. Match black with white to refine the elixir, and match red with black to refine the weng. Harmonizing the Jing (essence), the very marrow of Heaven and Earth, is the foundation of elixir refinement. Three times the waves surge at Yumen, Yu’s Gate; when the water in the clepsydra has dripped away, the pool stands empty. On the hall, flowing pearls roll and turn, red as purple gold; in the pool the jade liquor churns, stirred by the wind of Xun (the southeast wind, which also refers to the working of wind and fire in elixir refinement). The Jade Rabbit dwells in the you position, and the Golden Crow rises in the east; dragon and tiger gaze at each other from afar, and at last they meet in Jingyang Palace. Draw out the pure essence within the lead; the firing must not be rushed. Calcination brings forth golden pearls that roll about, and the Qi (vital energy) of pearl after pearl rushes upward. When red and yellow appear before the eyes, tightly seal the huagai (the covering piece on the furnace). Louyang Palace. Draw out the pure essence within the lead; the firing must not be rushed. Calcination brings forth golden pearls that roll, and the Qi of each pearl surges upward. When red and yellow show before the eyes, tightly seal the huagai. When the turbid matter in the pool has drained away, the clear Qi rises and descends through the place that resembles a flower’s stamens.

The written account of this method of refinement is called “Huangqing.”

The firing for refining lead in the second pool is the same as in the first. One must still change to a new pool and a new cauldron, and seal them firmly according to the method. Keep the “Holy Mother” (Shengmu—an alchemical term for the substance that, in the course of refinement, bears or nurtures the medicines) unmoved; if there is any loss, make it good. Following the steps, apply civil fire and martial fire, put in half a jin of water-lead, and first secure the base of the furnace. After the lead has melted and dried down by half, place the Holy Mother within it and, with a great fire, bring it to melt. The golden liquor grows clear and transparent, and the Vermilion Bird (the divine bird that symbolizes fire) seems to appear from the southern garden. Cast in the lead pearls quickly, yet do not hurry so far as to overfire. Last night the infant had only just parted from its mother; today the second son, following the former method, is again put in as lead pearls, and the amount must be fitting. Do not suppose that all is already safe merely because the black tortoise has just emerged from the sea; one must also guard against wind and waves that disturb the mind. The measure of lead cast in cannot be in error, and the firing must be kept even. Frost and snow congeal upon the Purple-Gold Terrace; before the White Jade Hall, the mother has but a single eye. The fire of Bing and Ding (a term for fire) rises slowly, and the lead seeps into it drop by drop. When all the lead has been cast in and the furnace is like a bright mirror free of dust, withdraw the fire and seal the furnace. The gold-refining lead put in amounts to two qian and three fen. Leave it in the cold furnace for one night, then lightly tap free the flowing pearls congealed upon the cauldron; these are called “Huangqing.” After taking them down, seal and store them separately, and again change the pool and the cauldron.

The great Dao (the Way) is not, in itself, cumbersome; what matters are the two medicines, lead and mercury. When lead meets mercury, it extends humaneness; when mercury meets lead, it extends righteousness.

The transformative working of the Great Dao (Dao, the Way) is always simple rather than elaborate, and the key lies in the two materials lead and mercury. When lead meets mercury, it brings into play the function of benevolence (ren); when mercury meets lead, it brings into play the function of righteousness (yi). In refining the divine elixir, lead is primary, and within it is stored primordial Qi (vital energy). Lord Bingding—a personified name for the fires of the stems bing and ding—serves as the intermediary, while the Yellow Dame (Huangpo, an alchemical term for the medium that harmonizes lead and mercury) is charged with regulating the transformations. Circulation depends entirely on the River Cart (Heche, a term of Neidan, or internal alchemy, for the means of driving the movement of Qi), and mercury draws in the quintessence of lead. Between rising and sinking, floating and settling, the cycle turns again and again. The canopy (Huagai) is renewed day by day, and the Flowing Pearl (Liuzhu, the name in elixir methods for mercury or the elixir fluid) is called “As One Wishes.” Yellow cranes fly until they fill the sky, and thunder resounds across the blue heavens. The metal of Qian (the metal-Qi symbolized by the Qian trigram) displays a purple radiance; do not let the transformation of lead fall behind. Now the four gates have all been opened, yet the mysterious aperture (Xuanqiao, the subtle pass) must be kept closed. At the slightest movement the Qi of lead courses freely, and the golden pool (Jinchi, the vessel used in elixir refining) should be kept firm and tightly sealed. Refined by fire in this way, what is obtained has neither form nor substance.

The text of direct instruction is entitled Golden Liquid (Jinye).

The rules of the fire phases (huohou) for refining lead in the third pool are entirely the same as those given above. Seal the pool fast, set up the three feet, then place the cauldron, and after sealing it do not allow it to move. The sacred body suffers no loss; if anything is consumed, make it up. Place it in the foundation-building pool (zhuji) and, with a great fire, set wind and fire in motion. Three times with civil fire (wenhuo) and three times with martial fire (wuhuo), the yellow sprout (Huangya, in elixir methods the newly born elixir-Qi or elixir substance) then grows; rising again and descending again, one brings to completion the efficacy of black lead. The fire phases must be fully unfolded, and not one of the lines (yao, the stages through which the fire phases change) may be in error.

Black lead is taken up for refining from within the cauldron; once it is sealed tight, do not let it move. The sacred body suffers no loss; if anything is consumed, make it up. Place it in the foundation-building pool and, with a great fire, set wind and fire in motion. Three times with civil fire and three times with martial fire, the yellow sprout grows; rising again and descending again, one refines forth the efficacy of black lead. The fire phases are carried fully through, and none of the lines may be altered. Black lead brings being forth from non-being, while white metal (the metallic elixir substance produced by refining) returns through transformation to its original source. Charge the lead material according to the measured degrees; the closer one comes to this point, the more caution is required. The Azure Dragon sheds its bones and is turned three times over; the White Tiger rolls its body and then lies subdued in its former place. The fire phases of lead advance step by step, and so it is throughout. In the western pool, sun and moon meet for the first time; once the clear fragrance has been obtained, each returns to its own place. The dragon clouds glow red as fire; the true fire rises and casts back the light of the dragon clouds.

When the charging of the lead is finished, reduce the fire and stop the furnace. Add one qian and two fen of safe lead. The first three pools belong to the stage of “the eldest son completing the image” (the elixir image formed by the Qi of the eldest son, symbolized by the Zhen trigram). Following the method of Zhen and geng receiving the tally, seven qian of safe lead are used in all, so as to correspond to the saying that the celestial tally returns in seven days; the six pools thereafter no longer use this method. Withdraw the fire and let the furnace cool, then take out the ren-water from atop the cauldron—here meaning the liquid obtained in the course of refining—call it Golden Liquid, mark it and seal it for keeping, and then change to a new pool and continue the refining.

The sun rises in the east, and its radiance illuminates the Ren water upon the cauldron—the liquid named for the heavenly stem “Ren.” This liquid is called the “Golden Liquid.” Seal it and mark it carefully, then change to a new pool-furnace and continue the refining.

The sun rises in the east, resplendent and bright, shining over all the world, while dew falls into the City of Azure Waves. Sun and moon turn through day and night; after sinking in the west, the sun rises again from the east. The Solar Mother—the power symbolizing the sun’s course and the gestation of the myriad things—opens and closes in transformation, and all things receive its light. The Jing (essence) of Qian and Kun, of heaven and earth, is the root of the divine elixir and of the great Dao (the Way).

When the Kun-Yi lunar general—a term related to the changing phases of the moon—reaches the dark day at the end of the month, the moonlight grows dim, as if entering Taiyin, the shadowed phase of the moon. Looking toward the southwest, a single star faintly appears; the sun moves to the east, and the moon gradually advances toward the south. On the seventh and eighth days, moonlight emerges and slowly grows full, as if it weighed a whole hu. Half the moon’s face is black and half is white, and the white portion is Metal Jing—an alchemical term for the pure Qi (vital energy) of metal. Without the strength of the three legs, the power of cauldron and furnace required in the refining, the Jade Rabbit, symbol of the moon, cannot bring forth radiance. On the fifteenth, when the moon travels to the place of Jia, the elixir’s light fills the Jade Capital, a name for the realm of the immortals.

The name of this passage is stated outright: it is called “Crimson Aurora.”

The fire control for refining lead in the fourth pool is the same as before. Do not disturb the Sacred Embryo—in alchemy, an image of the elixir body now being gestated. Wait until the “mother” enters the pool, then rouse the furnace with a great fire. Continue to add lead by the previous method, without the slightest error. Only after three times and three unions is true lead produced; without the harmony of Yin-Yang, true lead will not form. Then go on adding lead according to the fire control, so that each yao—each alchemical step or stage—follows in succession upon the one before.

The Golden Elixir depends entirely on the power of Geng and Xin, heavenly stems standing for the Qi of metal. Ren does not become Geng, and Gui cannot be clearly distinguished either; one need only watch lead and Ren water regulating one another, and white metal can be refined. When metal and water unite, they give birth to the ordinary child and the sacred grandchild—a figure for the successive levels at which the elixir continues to be generated and transformed. When the Mother of the Flower Pool—the fundamental substance in the alchemical pool that gestates the elixir—melts, every transformation must be clearly distinguished. Red light interplays into the five colors, and layer upon layer of auroral glow appears from this. The scene is at every moment as beautiful as gold and azure, and the golden flowers of each day differ from one another.

When one sets to work, only silver and lead are used, so that lead and mercury disperse. Earth-type auxiliary materials are added in due measure, and the empty furnace is left to stand cold overnight. The Ren water is then taken from atop the cauldron; it is called “Crimson Aurora.” Store it and mark it well, then change pools and refine it separately.

Black lead is the quintessence of Heaven, and white metal is the seminal fluid of Earth. Black conceals the Yang Qi (vital energy) within water, while white holds the breath of fire. Black and white turn and exchange with one another, restoring each to its proper place. When the natures of the two substances accord, the elixir classics (Jing) call them “of the same kind.” To take black as the principal and white as its match is to pair Yin with Yang (Yin-Yang). When Yin and Yang mingle, clusters of golden flowers and kingfisher-green hues appear. In the Dantian (energy center)—the place in the body where essence and Qi are refined and nurtured—the precious moon comes to fullness, and one then calcines it with fierce fire to the utmost. Do not close the aperture that opens to Heaven (the pass through which the breath travels); let it breathe back and forth. Amid the seething transformations, the tortoise withdraws of itself. The subtlety of the oral instructions and the methods lies in discerning the advance and retreat, the waxing and waning, of the fire timing. Within an ordinary person a sacred embryo is conceived; of all the myriad methods, this is held most precious. Each day a son is born, and each son so born dwells in a chamber of his own.

The Zhizhi document calls this “flowing metal” (liujin).

The fire timing for refining lead in the fifth pool, and the method of gathering and refining with pool and cauldron, are the same as before. The Holy Mother (in alchemical terms, the Yin medicinal substance, or a symbol of the furnace and cauldron) enters the pool, and wind and fire melt the metallic juice. Lead is added according to the method given above, and charcoal is supplied without cease. When the Metal Sire (an alchemical name for the metallic medicinal substance) has been refined a hundred times, Jing (essence) and Qi increase; the sons that are born each dwell in a chamber of his own.

The Zhizhi document calls this “flowing metal.”

The fire timing for refining lead in the fifth pool, and the method of gathering and refining with pool and cauldron, are the same as before. The Holy Mother enters the pool, and wind and fire melt the metallic juice. Lead is added according to the method given above, and charcoal is supplied without cease. When the Metal Sire has been refined a hundred times, Jing and Qi increase, and only true lead flies up and down. Lead pellets are then added, so that yellow and white mingle together. One cooks them with tally-fire, setting the Qi of the three Yangs in motion; after the count of nine times nine, the flowing pearl separates from the Yin substance of the mother. Recognize this lead-metal: it is neither yellow nor purple. The solar soul (the essential brilliance of the sun, symbol of Yang Qi) suddenly enters the mansion of Chang’e (symbol of the Yin furnace and cauldron, or of the place of the Yin medicinal substance) and finds the pistil-fragrance of the Mid-Autumn season. When the lead has been refined away, Ren water rises and Xin metal appears of itself. Take it from the cold pool, call it “flowing metal,” store it away, and change to another pool to refine it anew.

After the pure and unitary true medicine has been obtained through gathering and refining, the mother of the elixir embryo readily transforms from Yin. One mother gives birth to six children, and the sun upon the Fusang—the mythical divine tree where the sun rises—has already risen. Each medicinal pool seems to begin all over again, and new changes appear within the furnace and cauldron as well. The elixir rises to the Hongluo Jing, the red vision that appears in the course of elixir refinement, and clear Qi (vital energy) ascends little by little. Do not let lead bury the mercury and then mistakenly suppose that true Qi still remains within. The Xun wind—the wind of Xun in the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), referring to the wind-and-fire transformations used in elixir refinement—blows fiercely; the golden liquid flows and sends forth a bright radiance. It is not a hard, congealed substance, and from this the Huangyu, the realm within the cauldron that bears and gestates the elixir, comes into being.

Gui water takes Ren water as its principal, and Ren water takes Gui water as its auxiliary. Everything accords with the law of the great Dao (the Way), and the two waters of Ren and Gui are used to regulate the floating and sinking of the medicines. Discard the turbid matter of the lower layer, and let the light, pure, and subtle portion return to numinous clarity. Such a method of floating and sinking is rarely heard of in the world. Once the fire timing has steamed and suffused to sufficiency, each grain of the elixir shows a blue-green hue like that of the Heavenly Valley.

This passage is titled Ren Hua. Its content directly explains the fire timing and the standards of dosage for refining lead in the sixth pool, which are broadly the same as those of the preceding pools. The quantity of lead need not be bound to the old method; it should be varied flexibly according to actual practice. After two or three pools have been refined, one will naturally grasp the knack of the process. If the flowing pearls congeal too scantily, the spiritual fire cannot burn strong; if one’s own cultivation is insufficient, divine illumination will not appear either.

Employ the fire timing of embryo formation so that yellow clouds fill the medicinal pool. When Yin Qi reaches its extreme, Yang Qi arises, and the passages above and below open accordingly. A fine light flickers, and medicinal liquid like dewdrops falls into the Yellow Court (Huangting), a Neidan (internal alchemy) term for the central site of cultivation within the body. The infant—an image in Neidan symbolizing the elixir embryo—manifests its form, and radiance is born together with Shen (spirit) and Qi.

Form the lead to the size of a fingertip and arrange it in a square so that it may be applied. The medicines should first be made sufficient, and only then should one approach the furnace fire; in this way, deviant Qi does not easily intrude. When the lead has been fully refined, withdraw the fire timing and take out the Ren water atop the cauldron. This is called “Ren Hua.” Store it away, change to another medicinal pool, and continue the refining.

The Mysterious Primordial Dao (the Way) is the root of all things. Yuqing—the pure and supreme realm spoken of in Daoism—has only one proper gate. Apart from this One Vehicle method, the sole path of cultivation, nothing else is the true teaching. One refines and takes the treasure within lead and draws forth the Jing (essence) within silver; if the water floods and overflows, the chariot is hard to turn, and there is fear that the metal may also be harmed.

The flowing pearl rolls without ceasing, and auspicious Qi (vital energy) rises vast and hazy. Child and mother answer one another; yellow and white mingle and swallow each other. Amid what is elusive and indistinct, the subtle wonder of firing and refining appears, layer upon layer like a ninefold city. Washed and refined until pure white, the treasure can show itself; as the blue-green gradually recedes, the Yin Qi (Yin-Yang) disappears along with it. Once the impurities of lead and mercury are washed clean, essence condenses of itself. In foul water the lotus grows; the current spreads far and the waves surge. Apart from true lead and mercury, do not heed side-paths and miscellaneous talk. The essential purport set down in the bronze tallies and iron scrolls must be carefully grasped by those of the elixir gate.

The text that points directly to it is named “Ren Flower.”

The fire-timing for feeding lead into the seventh pool is the same. In foul water the lotus grows; the current spreads far and the waves surge. Apart from true lead and mercury, do not heed side-paths and miscellaneous talk. The essential purport set down in the bronze tallies and iron scrolls must be carefully grasped by those of the elixir gate.

The text that points directly to it is named “Ren Flower.”

The fire-timing for feeding lead into the seventh pool is the same. Use martial fire—a relatively vigorous degree of heat—to melt open the Holy Mother, an alchemical term for the matrix or core medicinal substance in the furnace and tripod; only when red light envelops the Precious Moon, a metaphor in elixir methods for a scene within the furnace, does one cast in the lead zhu, a small quantity of lead. When the whole body is like red glazed glass, pure white inside and out, this is the scene of metal being generated after the lead and of Yang Qi being brought forth within the lead.

A fire that burns too strongly will cause the metal to be digested, and metal can in turn restrain the generative growth of wood. The colors blue-green, red, black, and white ultimately return to central yellow. According with the waxing and waning of the fire-timing, one observes the scenes that appear in the course of refining. From every pool purple powder flies up, and in every round of fire-timing a radiance appears; luminous Qi surges upward to the canopy, and the chamber fills with bright dust-light. It is as if for ten thousand li there were no clouds and heaven and earth were of one color, so that throughout the twelve double-hours the sun can be seen. The Yellow Carriage and the purple powder arise from this; white snow and blue-green dust—when these scenes are seen, flourishing may be foretold.

At root there is only one kind of lead Jing; one then uses white metal to separate the Yin earth. Metal is the foundation of water, and water is the pivot of the Dao. These two things are true sand and true mercury, both generated from silver and lead. They are elusive and without form, yet within the hidden depths an image appears. After the lead has been refined away, the furnace turns cold; one then gathers the Ren water upon the tripod, called “Ren Flower,” and moves it to another pool to continue the refining.

Let the Qi (vital energy) spread and disperse, and from this the numinous fluid of life arises. It holds light within itself and exists before Heaven and Earth. Its roots are set in the soil of Fuli (the immortal land of Daoist myth), and its shoots grow in the Great Scarlet Heaven (the celestial realm spoken of in Daoism). The Eight Treasures all come from this, and the key to what is numinous, subtle, bright, and pure is black lead alone. Now that the secrets between Heaven and Earth are understood, refining it is like tilling good farmland. When the six Yin are refined into a sacred body, even withered bones can leave the mundane and return to the Yellow Springs. The method is transmitted from mind to mind; one must carefully study its inner mechanism.

Without luminous, numinous black lead, the secrets of Heaven and Earth cannot be known; refining it is like cultivating a fertile field. The six Yin are refined into a sacred body, and even withered bones can depart from the ordinary and return to the Yellow Springs. The art is passed from mind to mind; one must examine its pivotal workings in detail. If a true transmission is not received, then even with a firm will, and with mind and strength exhausted, the effort is wasted. If one rashly commits it to the fire that reaches Heaven (the fierce fire used in elixir refining), how can something fragile endure for long? The firm and the yielding each have their outer and inner aspects, and Yin-Yang follow the natural order. Within the cauldron there is Heaven, and within Heaven there is Earth; within the pool there is Earth, and within Earth there is Heaven. It is pure white like the Jade Terrace (the jade platform of the immortal realm), and its plain substance is like silk floss. The mother body carries seven or eight children, yet its Shen (spirit) is more abundant than before. The Perfected Person (the lofty adept who has attained the Dao) receives the teacher’s transmission and obtains the true method because of an affinity from a former life. If you can understand the method of renewing the bones, you may come and go freely to Nanchang.

This text of direct instruction is called Purple-Gold Sulfur (Zijin Liu).

For the eighth pool, the firing schedule, the pool, and the cauldron must all be replaced with new ones. Take nine jin of yao-lead and eight liang of foundation-building material; the method of refining is the same as before. By this stage the technique is already proficient, and one knows how the medicines rise and descend, the amounts following a rule of their own. If the flowing pearls congeal too little, seek them from the Qian Father (the paternal body symbolizing yang and the Qian trigram). The Xin metal that has been diminished must be restored to its full amount. Golden flowers are originally the medicine in the pool; once the golden florescence has been gathered, nothing more need be said.

On the one hand, distinguish the Ren and Gui within the lead; on the other, wash away the turbid Yin upon the metal. Lead is continually added as the medicine, and to extract the medicine is to extract the lead. Once the principle of using lead is understood, one knows that the divine elixir is not the same as lead. It is like the sun and moon shining upon each other: one takes only their Shen, not their form. By employing their Shen and setting aside their form, long life can be gained. When the measure of lead is used up, take the Ren water upon the cauldron, called “the turbid Yin of metal.” Then add lead again as the medicine; extracting the medicine is likewise extracting the lead. Once the principle of using lead is understood, one knows that the divine elixir is not identical with lead. It is like the sun and moon casting light upon one another: take only their Shen and not their form; use their Shen and abandon their form, and only then can longevity be obtained. When the portion of lead is exhausted, take the Ren water on the cauldron, which is called “Purple-Gold Sulfur,” change to another pool, and refine it separately.

From the black, take the essence of black things; from the white, take the grease of white things. When the black and white materials are joined, the grease and the essence naturally grow thick. The Infant enters the Purple Prefecture—the place where, in Daoist teaching, Shen (spirit) and Qi (vital energy) gather—and the Fair Maiden, the alchemical name for mercury or a yin medicine, descends into the Layered Tower, the throat or airway within the body. With a coal fire one smelts the Central Yellow Treasure until it becomes purple-gold sulfur. One then arrays a long-snake formation and rides a phoenix above Biyou. After the medicine is bathed for the first time in the Jasper Pool, Weiji, the still unfinished stage of the firing, warms and nourishes it for three cycles. Seize the Vermilion Bird of the south, the divine beast that symbolizes fire, and with True Earth bury it into a mound. The firing follows the order of one and then two, and the rule remains as previously stated. Three portions of ren-gui water amount in all to one liang; when the Qi of the Nine Yang is sufficient, it may be gathered. A firing of nine times nine, eighty-one, is still not enough, and one must go on extracting by the former method. When the numbers of nine and six have been fully seized, even the ghosts and spirits of the Western Mountains grow fearful. The principle of Yin-Yang advancing or reversing, and of before and after turned upside down, makes the end into the beginning once more.

The Zhizhi Hanwen calls it the “Marvelous Numinous Cinnabar.”

The firing rule of the ninth pool is the same for refining lead. Place the Holy Mother—the alchemical name for the matrix of the medicine—inside to melt, so that a red radiance envelops the treasure; eleven parts are still too few, and one must continue extracting by the former method. When the numbers of nine and six have been fully seized, even the ghosts and spirits of the Western Mountains grow fearful. The principle of Yin-Yang advancing or reversing, and of before and after turned upside down, makes the end into the beginning once more.

The Zhizhi Hanwen calls it the “Marvelous Numinous Cinnabar.”

The firing rule of the ninth pool is the same for refining lead. Set the Holy Mother within to melt until a red radiance envelops the Precious Moon, then place it in the lead bowl. Bringing mercury to the proper degree is a secret essential transmitted by the immortals. To summon and gather dragon Jing (essence), one must rely on tiger marrow. Here the solid body of lead is not used; only lead Qi is taken. To obtain lead Qi, one must first seek what is of the same kind, and that same kind is metal. The work in the ash pool must be mastered with care. At every bout of the fire-work, the tripod vessel is to be wrapped from the outside.

Once the Flowing Pearl, the alchemical name for mercury, receives the metallic component, it separates out, unlike ordinary lead in the world. Meeting fire, it displays its changes; meeting metal, it comes to rest again. From one to nine is called “refining the self,” that is, the work of refining Jing and transforming it into Qi. From the first pool to the ninth, the ren water of each is sealed and stored apart. Prepare ample holy water for later use.

What is called “obtaining the medicine and forgetting the years” means that, once the medicine is refined, one no longer clings to years and months. Refining lead has no fixed, rigid method; it must be handled flexibly according to actual conditions. Open the cooled furnace and inspect it: only when the matrix is as white as flakes of snow is it acceptable, and it is then called the “Marvelous Numinous Cinnabar.” If it appears greenish yellow, it is not the true Qi of lead, but a sign that the gui water has not yet been fully refined away. It must be calcined again and again with a fierce fire until the furnace surges like waves; only then can true Qi be brought forth. There remain afterward the secret of warming and nourishing the crimson script, and the method of returning the soul and exchanging the bones; these are set out in detail below.

The Secret Formula of the Nine Tripods of the Human Origin

The First Tripod

The Renyuan (Human Primal) one-cauldron elixir passes through nine refinings, and the true Qi (vital energy) employed must likewise be tempered again and again. Still to come are the secret of warming and nurturing the Crimson Script, and the method of returning the soul and exchanging the bones. The details follow.

Secret of the Nine Cauldrons of the Renyuan

The First Cauldron

The Renyuan one-cauldron elixir must undergo nine refinings, and the medicinal substances must pass repeatedly through the “Lead Pass” (the alchemical name for a critical juncture in the refining). One then uses the substance of the Azure Capital and sets it circulating back and forth. Xin Metal (an alchemical term) is refined until it is as white as snow, and Ren Water (an alchemical term) turns to vapor. The child and mother substances unite peacefully; after repeated nurturing they take on a hue that seems formed by Heaven. Refined for three cycles with thunderbolt fire, the medicine separates into upper and lower layers within the cauldron. The work of refining allows no stray thoughts; one must be concentrated and resolute. On the day when “the first Yang returns,” Shen (spirit) and soul become bound to the medicine. After the Scroll of the Lead Talisman has been personally transmitted, lead and mercury are able to congeal with one another.

The secret method is this. Crush one jin of Xin Metal, after its nine refinings, down to the size of rice grains, and take one jin of “blue-green dust of the head pool”; mix the two together. Place them in a Yin-Yang cauldron, seal it tightly with divine glue, bind it crosswise with iron wire, and encase the outside firmly in clay. Set the cauldron in a Weiji furnace, resting it steadily upon its three feet; it must neither tilt nor be inverted. Cover the sides and the top alike with clean ash.

First add four liang of fire at the top of the cauldron and nurture the refining for seven days; in the second seven days add six liang of fire; in the third seven days add half a jin of fire, warming and nurturing for twenty-five days. Then remove it and place it in a bright furnace, using first gentle fire and afterward fierce fire, and calcine it for thirty-six double-hours. When the color of the fire inside the cauldron is uniform and the proper phase of the fire has been reached, extinguish the fire and let it cool.

Open the cauldron and inspect it. The medicine has changed into a form like red sunset clouds, congealed in the upper layer and resembling crimson jade and purple powder, while the Xin Metal has formed a single cake in the lower layer, white outside and yellow within. After the fire is again extinguished and the vessel has cooled, open the cauldron and inspect it; the form obtained remains as described above.

When the refining continues, one cauldron is completed each month. At this stage the “Ancestral Qi” (the fundamental primordial Qi) has only just been imparted. The medicine is as if it had only just left the mother’s body: its spirit-Qi is still turbid and its hun and po are unsteady, so it cannot yet be used for transmutation. One must go on seeking the “wet nurse” (a figure for the conditions required in the nurturing that follows) and maintain a concentration and will beyond those of ordinary people. Only a divine talisman refined in this way truly stands apart; it is said to possess the power of raising the dead and restoring them to life.

The Second Cauldron

In the Human-Origin Two-Cauldron Elixir—the stage of the human-origin elixir method in which two cauldrons are paired for refining—radiance appears from Yu’s Gate Pass. The method of Xiyi is also used: it descends at night and returns at dawn. The hun of the sun shows itself amid the rose-colored clouds, while the po of the moon fills the autumn sky. The two brothers enter the cauldron steadily, and the crimson talismanic characters of the five-times-five number are complete, with nothing lacking.

Thirty-six double-hours make one cycle of fire-phasing, divided into the first, second, and third stages. The first offspring is restless and insubstantial; the second offspring is firm in purpose. After the two yang return, the elixir substance takes on a form like an egg. The master personally transmits the Copper Talisman Scroll, which speaks of the utensils of elixir refining: silver, lead, the cauldron, charcoal, and tongs.

The oral formula says: the gold refined by the sages of former ages weighs one jin; at this stage not the slightest fraction may be lost, still less may the embryonic root—the foundation of the elixir substance when it first takes form—be injured. Take one cauldron of blue-green mercury (an alchemical term for the mercury-type substance used in refining), match it with two pools of flowing pearls (an alchemical term for the mercury-type substance that flows like pearls), two jin in all, mix them evenly, place them above and below the embryonic substance, spread them as a covering, and seal them fast. Fire-phasing follows the previous method: nurture and refine with gentle warmth until the time is sufficient.

Then use martial fire (the stronger degree of fire-phasing) to refine the embryonic substance in its separate parts, so that the Three Powers—Heaven, Earth, and the Human—each take their proper place. The blue-green mercury of the first offspring is refined to an ash-like state, insubstantial and without Shen (spirit) or Qi (vital energy). The second offspring is a yellow sprout clear as crystal; it gradually grows, sheds worldly dross, and is called true lead. This is taken as the Casket of Longevity (the case-vessel for storing the elixir substance). Blue-green mercury is then combined with subdued luminous cinnabar (a substance used in elixir refining), and Bing fire is applied for three days of refining. Once the vapors of the substances are spent and their form and color have turned yellow, take one qian of the cinnabar and add it to one liang of dry mercury; one qian of mercury can be transformed into ten liang of copper. A transformation so marvelous is hard to fathom. This is the preliminary work of the ancestral masters’ elixir refining.

Three Cauldrons

In the Human-Origin Three-Cauldron Elixir—the stage of the human-origin elixir method in which three cauldrons are paired for refining—one flies across the Pass of Dou and Niu. The method of Hundun (primordial chaos) is also used, drawing the white ox back to return. The golden goose flies out from the cavern, and the crimson phoenix lies hidden in the Dantian (energy center), the place within the body where Jing (essence) and Qi are refined and nourished. Raw and matured substances enter the refining steadily, and the elixir of the ancestral masters emerges from the Yellow Springs. What follows is the mastery of fire-phasing within the six-times-six double-hours.

The river flows on without cease, murmuring as it goes. The first and second substances are emerald green like jade, yet the power of neither is easily made stable. After the return of the three yang—the season when yang Qi (vital energy) is restored—the furnace and cauldron are opened, and one sees blue-green angelica and lotus blossoms. The essentials recorded on the copper talisman and the iron scroll are like a phoenix dwelling upon the wutong tree.

The formula says: Take one jin of the gold of the former sages, combine it with the flowing pearl in the second cauldron, then add the golden liquor of the three pools, two jin in all, and mix them evenly. Cover the medicines above and below with the Holy Mother—an alchemical term for the part of the furnace that bears or gestates the medicines—and seal the furnace and cauldron firmly, proceeding as before. With civil fire, the gentler phase of heat, slowly warm and nourish them, so that the medicines in the furnace fumigate one another; then calcine them with martial fire, the fiercer phase of heat, so that the medicines return the soul and exchange the bones. When the fire phases have reached their full count and the refining is complete, carry out in turn one introduction and one withdrawal. Retain the lesser and remove the old; neither of the two “children” is used.

If cinnabar is to coagulate, black lead must first be made to coagulate. For the single ingredient of lead essence, the method is as before: warm and nourish with civil fire so that the medicines fumigate one another, then calcine with martial fire so that they return the soul and exchange the bones. When the fire is sufficient and the refining complete, there is one introduction and one withdrawal; retain the lesser, remove the old, and use neither of the two “children.” If cinnabar is to coagulate, black lead must coagulate first. With this single ingredient of lead essence alone, the sand can be made to sink and settle, and the mercury to flow.

Take three qian of the “two children” and combine them with one liang of male medicine that has already been properly refined and subdued. After three days of refining, when the fire phases are sufficient, the male medicine coagulates completely. One qian of dead male medicine can cause one liang of dry mercury to coagulate; one qian of dead mercury can then be transformed into ten liang of copper. In this way a treasure of lasting preciousness can be refined, to aid the world and meet urgent need. The merit and virtue are without measure, and the nurturing and refining may be continued layer upon layer, so that the medicines are endlessly transformed and brought into being.

Four cauldrons.

The fourth-cauldron elixir of the human yuan—the fourth-cauldron elixir established by the human-yuan method of refining the elixir—is prepared according to the number of nine times nine, and the relevant passes and apertures are attended to. By mental intention one guides the blue-green vapor, causing the Vermilion Bird (an image in the elixir arts symbolizing fire or yang Qi, vital energy) to travel to the west. The Purple Palace (the divine mansion within the body, as Daoists speak of it) and the Flower Pool (commonly the saliva in the mouth, or the place of the fluids in internal refinement) are filled, and the Yellow Sprout (the essence symbolizing the elixir at its first arising) spreads throughout the Jade Field (referring to the Dantian, energy center, within the body).

The elixir method advances and withdraws steadily and gradually enters the stage of warm nurturing, so that the young infant (symbolizing the newly formed elixir, or Neidan, internal alchemy) is warmly nurtured. When it has grown, its bones are strong and its spirit full, and it can withstand severe cold. The father is young, yet the son is old; this is a manifestation of the Dao (the Way) of Heaven cycling and returning. After the return of the four yang—the season or stage in which yang Qi grows anew—the elixir shows a radiance like central yellow and white jade. When the Copper Talisman Scroll is transmitted in person, divine light shines like the full moon.

The formula text says: what was referred to above as “gold, one, withdraws and enters on a level course,” together with warmly nurturing the young infant so that its bones grow sturdy and its Shen (spirit) strong and it can resist the withering, killing cold, all belongs to the process of the elixir method. The reversal of the ages of father and son embodies the cycling of the Dao of Heaven. After the return of the four yang, the elixir takes on the colors of central yellow and white jade. When the Copper Talisman Scroll is personally conferred, the spirit light shines so as to fill the form of the waxing half-moon.

The method transmitted by the former sages uses one jin of gold. The golden liquid refined in the three preceding cauldrons is matched with the red auroral vapor of the four pools; lead and mercury, three jin in all, are mixed together, the elixir furnace is sealed fast, and the firing is still controlled according to the previous method, so that the medicines temper one another between raw and cooked. After twenty-five days of warm nurturing they are taken out. A bright fire is then used to separate the embryo; the cauldron is carefully handled, and the contents are removed once the furnace has cooled. The “three sons” are discarded and used to nourish sulfur; to smell their vapor is fatal. Of sulfur use one fen, and of dry mercury one liang; then take one qian of mercury and melt ten liang of iron. The utmost caution is required.

The Fifth Cauldron

The Renyuan Five-Cauldron Elixir (a method of elixir-making grounded in the human body and refined through five cauldrons) is carried out in each cycle exactly as before. After one leaves the Spirit Chamber (Shenfang; the place where the furnace and cauldron are set during elixir-making), clouds and mist spread over the mountains and streams. The Water Tiger (a medicinal substance symbolizing the nature of water) and the Fire Dragon (a medicinal substance symbolizing the nature of fire) do not respond to one another—how, then, can fire be drawn forth from the spring? Proceed in due order and with steady calm, so that the Qi (vital energy) of emptiness and stillness assists the flood-like Qi. The mercury takes on the color of red glaze, while the lead withers and loses its luster. The method of drawing off the lead and adding the mercury is not transmitted even between father and son. After the Five Yang return, the moon-soul (the lunar phase symbolizing yin essence, Jing) comes to fullness in the Southern Garden. The Copper Talisman Scroll is transmitted in person; cultivate for one hundred days, and the blessings are without limit.

The mnemonic text says: one jin of the gold of former sages. As refinement proceeds, the Jing and Qi of the medicinal substances gradually increase and are no longer as they were; each cauldron has its own distinction. Mix the Ren-water of the fourth cauldron (an elixir material belonging to water) with the flowing metal of the fifth pool, then spread and cover the medicines separately according to whether they are mature or tender. Warm and nourish them with sacred gold according to the fire timing; the rule for dividing the embryo is the same as that stated in the scroll. When the number of days is sufficient, open the furnace and take the contents out, then remove the impurities in the fourth cauldron. Match three qian of subdued orpiment (the orpiment mineral used in elixir-making) to one liang; once the medicines release their Qi, they lose their efficacy. Take one qian of orpiment so that one liang of lead is transformed into silver. Melt the silver again and project into it seven fen of numinous orpiment, producing gold of the highest grade. With this gold fashion the Spirit Chamber (Shenshi; the vessel in which the elixir is placed and warmly nurtured), subdue and nurture the medicines of the eight minerals, and let each of them bring forth its own transformation.

Six Cauldrons

The Six-Cauldron Elixir of Renyuan (the Human Prime) must pass through one barrier after another. In the Bright Hall (Mingtang, the central-palace position where the cauldron and furnace are placed during elixir refining), the medicines are scattered down and the granules are then gathered one by one. Even if azure mercury has passed through eight hundred years, it must still be paired with half a jin of lead. The medicines circulate back and forth and enter the furnace-cauldron steadily; the Golden Crow (an image symbolizing Yang Qi, vital energy, or the timing of the fire) rises into the Great Abyss. The Yin Talisman (Yinfu, the tally of timing that represents the Yin phase of the fire in elixir refining) must not be pressed too hastily, while the Yang fire burns at full strength. Martial fire is brief and civil fire is long; once the work is complete, radiance shines throughout heaven and earth. After the Six Yang (the stage in which Yang Qi gradually returns to fullness) comes back, the elixir gives off a fragrant, sweet scent. When the Copper Talisman Scroll is transmitted in person, the immortal Dao (the Way) can be attained.

The mnemonic text says: Take one jin of the gold of the former sages and transfer it into a new cauldron. Use the flowing gold of the five cauldrons and the Renhua of the six pools (medicines or liquids used in elixir refining), three jin in all, mix them together, and nurture them until they are fragrant and sweet. When the Copper Talisman Scroll is transmitted in person, the immortal Dao can be attained. The mnemonic text says further: Take one jin of the gold of the former sages, transfer it into a new cauldron, and use the flowing gold of the five cauldrons together with the Renhua of the six pools, three jin in all, mixing them and nurturing them together. Warm and nurture them according to the timing of the fire, so that each of the separated embryos is uniform. When martial fire is used, one must be especially cautious, for fear of injuring or scattering Shen (spirit) and Qi; were that to happen, all the work done before would be entirely wasted. The cauldron must be sturdy and its opening tightly sealed, so that the Yang light (the Yang essence of the elixir-refining process) can enter the golden casket. After the True Father and True Mother (the mutually paired Yin-Yang medicines of elixir refining) unite and transmit Jing (essence) and Qi, one must still follow the fire timing of the Celestial Talisman, replenishing and restoring the original source. Metal gives birth to a watery liquid, which is then compounded layer upon layer. When the fire timing reaches its term, remove it and draw out the Celestial Soul (Tianhun, the essence so named within the elixir). Refining and subduing blue vitriol must be as intent as a cat catching a mouse; transforming and refining iron and tin must be as swift as the wind sweeping clouds. In this way one can refine sacred gold and sacred silver rarely seen through all ages; when they meet fire again, a red light shoots straight upward, and dark places become as bright as daylight, unlike the ordinary treasures of the world.

Seven Cauldrons

In the Seven-Cauldron Elixir of Renyuan, the Golden Crow enters Guanghan (Broad Cold, symbolizing a place that is Yin, cold, and still). Refining and subduing blue vitriol must be as intent as a cat catching a mouse; transforming and refining iron and tin must be as swift as the wind sweeping clouds. In this way one can refine sacred gold and sacred silver rarely seen through all ages; when they meet fire again, a red light shoots straight upward, and dark places become as bright as daylight, unlike the ordinary treasures of the world.

Seven Cauldrons

After the seventh-cauldron elixir of Renyuan (human origin) has been refined, the Golden Crow—symbolizing true Yang, the positive principle—enters Guanghan, the realm that symbolizes Yin. The Qi (vital energy) of Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate) turns in dense, circling masses and is sealed still more tightly. The Qi of Qian gives rise to Xun, Gen, and Kun, and the Qi of Kun in turn gives rise to Zhen, Dui, and Qian. The fire of Shen (spirit) enters the furnace and cauldron steadily, and the fire timing must be regulated with complete care. At last an elixir like the hibiscus takes form, and pellet by pellet it settles into the golden platter. Its light shines through the human world and the celestial realm, as a lunar eclipse veiling the sun. After the return of the seven Yangs, one enters a state mysterious and still more mysterious. This is the personally transmitted secret of the Tongfu Juan (Scroll of the Copper Talisman), as if yet another heaven and earth had been opened in the sky.

The formula says: Take one jin of the gold refined earlier, match the Ren bloom of the sixth cauldron with the Ren flower of the seventh pool, mix them, place them in the cauldron, seal them fast, and nurture them with gentle warmth, following the previous method for the fire timing. Withdraw the child of the sixth cauldron and use it to subdue arsenic; once the furnace is opened and the contents are taken out, the medicinal substance loses its former state. At this point the eight minerals return to the true origin, each undergoing its own change: the bloom of lead subdues the bloom of mercury, and gold and silver can be refined before one’s eyes. This formula must be kept secret and treated with caution.

The Eighth Cauldron

When the eighth-cauldron elixir of Renyuan is refined, the moonlight is bright and the elixir seems to drift lightly. Nurtured as an old oyster holds its pearl, it rests on a furnace tray clear as a bright mirror or as crystal. Clouds of Qi scatter beyond the horizon, and the infant—symbolizing the newly born body of the elixir—appears between the vast heaven and earth. A substance green as jadeite enters the furnace steadily, and the fire timing is advanced by the measure of four and seven. “Without substance” is true mercury; “possessing true substance” is true lead. The two materials together make one jin, exactly at midday. After the return of the eight Yangs, the red fruit of the elixir appears, and the green branches and leaves grow in reverse. If one truly sets to work by this rule, the elixir leaps beyond sea and sky.

The formula says: The one jin of gold refined earlier has already become the Geng body. Match the Ren flower of the seventh cauldron with the purple-gold sulfur in the pool, mix them and seal them fast, and, following the previous method, control the fire timing, the lute-sealing, and the separation of the embryo. When the fire timing is complete, take down the child of the seventh cauldron and use it to nurture the mineral sand and refine mercury. Its wondrous use is inexhaustible: it can transmute seventy-two kinds of minerals, freeing them from mundane substance so that they become sacred. This is the essence of the fire of Shen, able to make good the originally dull and stubborn nature of the five metals and eight stones.

The Human-Origin Nine-Cauldron Elixir—an elixir refined with the human body as its foundation and by the method of the nine cauldrons—has a lofty and imposing character, as if it had existed even before the Celestial Emperor. Only after ten months is the elixir embryo fully gestated; after a further count of nine times nine, it returns to Qian-yang, the realm of pure Yang. Once the vessels for compounding the medicine of longevity have been prepared, the cinnabar and the mercury still retain a cold nature. Cinnabar can turn the ordinary into the sacred, and mercury can return the sacred to Shen (spirit). Each month the elixir embryo undergoes one change; after each stage is passed, the cauldron is replaced and refining continues. It is smelted again and again in lead, and when the work is accomplished lead is no longer needed. The practitioner must also accumulate hidden merit early, live in seclusion and do good, and leave no trace.

The essential teaching of the Iron Scroll and Bronze Talisman is secret and cannot be discussed at length. The oral formula says: take one jin of the gold of the former sages, then the purple-gold sulfur of the eight cauldrons and the numinous, wondrous cinnabar of the nine pools, three jin in all; mix them together and set them in the human world to be warmed and nurtured. The firing times and the rules of refining are the same as those already given and need not be spelled out one by one. The subtlety within the elixir embryo and the elixir casket—the vessel that holds and warms the elixir—is hard to put into words. Through pouring and infusion, elixirs such as the golden bamboo shoots and the yellow sprouts branch out from here and are cultivated in succession. After three transformations, even metal and iron, tile and rubble, can be changed into treasures.

Once the sacred embryo has passed through the number of the nine Yang, Yang Qi (vital energy) is abundant and the elixir mother, the root that gestates the elixir, is restored to wholeness. Yin Qi is exhausted and Yang Qi is pure and unified; the elixir embryo sloughs away its form and transforms into Shen. When it is opened and examined, it is pure yellow inside and out. It is as transparent as crystal, like the newly risen sun, with golden stars flashing, divine water brimming, and a radiance that dazzles the eyes. It gives rise to five-colored auspicious clouds and releases a strange fragrance. The elixir shows the hues of red glass and deep-red amber. This is the “seven returns and nine reversions,” describing repeated return-refining and restoration, and it is the refining of Qi into Shen. Black metal is refined into white metal, and white metal is refined again into yellow gold; yellow gold is the principal medicine. It is cinnabar that has truly transcended the world, the ancestral source of the medicine of ascent to Heaven.

If it is to be ingested, the elixir should be suspended in a well for seven days to remove its fire-toxin, then cooked and refined into golden grains. One then reports to the Lord on High and the exalted Perfected, the deities venerated in Daoism, chooses an auspicious day and bathes, faces east morning and evening, and swallows it with clear water, one pellet a day. After a full hundred days, it is said, one can change form and replace the bones; Shen and Qi come naturally into harmony, and the hun and po souls gather and unite. After three further periods, the nine orifices of the whole body—the apertures of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and the rest—all become bright. When elixir cultivation reaches this point, the work may be counted complete.

From the first cycle to the ninth, eighty-one porcelain boxes in all, nine times nine, are used to seal it firmly, and flowing pearls of Ren-water, an alchemical material named for Ren-water, are spread above and below as an outer covering. Warmed and nurtured further in a Yin furnace, it yields numinous medicines of three colors and four distinct kinds. Each pool differs, and each cauldron likewise shows clear characteristics.

One then seeks like-minded companions, chooses a celebrated mountain, and establishes an altar ground and a spirit chamber, the special place used for refining the elixir. The upper and lower cauldrons, together with arrangements such as the Bright Hall and Upright Virtue, are all constructed according to the secret method of the divine elixir. While Emperor Wu of the Eastern Jin was cultivating the Dao (the Way), Mother Chen appeared. The Perfected Lord transmitted the secret method to Wu Meng, and Wu Meng in turn transmitted it to Xie Qiansheng. Now they ride jade carriages and dragon chariots, wear golden crowns and star-patterned robes, and forever serve as ministers of the Golden Portal, the celestial palace. The divine formula remains in the world. It should be transmitted to the worthy and virtuous and must not be divulged lightly.

The immortals endure countless hardships, yet in the end what they refine is still none other than lead and gold.

Secret Instructions of the Celestial Origin

The great medicine of the Divine Elixir must be refined within “Metal-Earth.” “Metal-Earth” is a technical term in the art of elixir-making, referring to the substances and conditions required for preparing the elixir. Though dust is fine, it vanishes in the turn of an eye, and the transformations of all things follow the “Li Fulu” (talismanic formulas associated with the Li trigram and the methods of fire; Fulu are talismans and registers).

Wondrous arts remain in the human world and should be transmitted to those who are worthy, wise, and virtuous; they must not be divulged rashly. Immortals, after enduring every hardship, in the end do nothing more than refine lead and refine gold.

The great medicine of the Divine Elixir must be refined within Metal-Earth. Dust passes in an instant, and the transformations of all things follow the Li Fulu. The lines of the Qian trigram number nine, and the counting-stalks of the Kun trigram number six; eight liang of water and eight liang of metal are taken, and the measures of metal and water must not fall short. The clear and the turbid each make up half, and thus they unite of themselves like cloud and mist. Take one drop of golden liquid and make it clear and bright; apply one fire Fulu and make it pure and limpid. The oral formula must be mastered with single-minded thoroughness, and the hand that sets to work must be exact and without error.

By the balancing power of the “one tiger,” one subdues the rule of the “nine dragons.” In this way the symbols of Qian and Kun are embodied, and the radiance of sun and moon is displayed. Yin-Yang opens and closes; though seeming deep, hidden, and without form, it can bring the myriad images into appearance. Substances are drawn off and added according to the standard, and every least measure must be handled according to the method. First prepare the ritual implements in the altar, then set basins, bowls, and other vessels on either side. Companions who assist in the work should be loyal and upright, gentle and kind. Before the divine chamber has been built and the golden cauldron set in place, first seek out worthy friends and together lay the foundation of cultivation. Dragon and tiger encircle and face the center; turtle and snake crouch in guard and support.

Acting according to the Mysterious Regulations (the secretly transmitted Keyi (liturgy) and rules of Daoism) ensures that nothing goes amiss; utmost sincerity must be maintained from beginning to end and must not be altered. Why trouble the golden crow of heaven (a symbol of the sun) to descend? One need only seize and bring back the jade rabbit of the human world (a symbol of the moon). When “Fuli True Earth” (an alchemical term for the true earth obtained through refinement) is completed, a wish-fulfilling precious pearl is produced. Swallow one pellet, and one shoots straight up into the clouds like the glow of roseate light.

Before cultivation succeeds, one should broadly accumulate hidden virtue; when working at the furnace, the mind need not be wearied and thrown into disorder. I set forth the essentials of the three stages of the work and, in a few words, transmit them without reserve to Jiangjun. If the root of the Dao (the Way) has already been planted, the methods of the Dao will come of themselves without being sought. Do not lightly tell others the secrets of Heaven; if they are transmitted to an unsuitable person, one will only bring harm upon oneself.

The Direct Meaning of Water and Fire

To compound the Great Elixir—Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy) or an elixir medicine—one must use the true fire of the “Five Assemblies” (wuhui), and not ordinary fire. True fire is taken from the sun. The Yellow Emperor once obtained fire with a yangsui, an ancient instrument that concentrates light to kindle flame. A yinsui is hard to procure, and red gold turned toward the sun may also be used to obtain fire. The sun is itself the true fire of heaven. Its Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) exist of themselves, and its radiance appears of itself, the same from day to day and unchanging from month to month. Fire struck by rubbing wood against stone is dry and fierce in nature, and does not accord with the natural Dao (the Way). Better, at noon, when the fire is at its strongest, to take fire with a fire-mirror facing the sun. Fire born by borrowing the power of the sun is likewise called true fire. It is named the “solar hun” (rihun) and is used to symbolize true mercury, a term of the alchemical art; it is also the true seed that the elixir requires. One therefore need not insist that a yangsui be used.

Water must be obtained by means of the fangzhu, a vessel of legend said to condense the lunar florescence (yuehua) into beads of water. The fangzhu takes form as the lunar florescence rises and coagulates, and its nature is pure Yin. Each year, on the night of the fifteenth of the eighth month, in the hours of hai and zi—roughly from nine in the evening until one in the morning—the lunar florescence is at its fullest, and water may be gathered then. Apart from the night of the full moon at Mid-Autumn, it cannot be gathered in any other month. If a practitioner’s De (Virtue/Power) is not yet complete, if hidden merit has not been sufficiently accumulated, and if one has not cultivated the perfect sincerity that resonates with Heaven and Earth, one will often meet with dark, rainy, and overcast weather. How, then, could such water be obtained? And even if it is obtained, how much can a single night yield?

When the divine medicine of emptiness is being nurtured, the fire stands below and the water is steadily consumed. A set quantity must be added through each day and night. As the text states, more than two thousand five hundred jin (catties) are required in a year. Yet each Mid-Autumn offers only the two hours of hai and zi for collecting water. How could more than two thousand five hundred jin possibly be gathered? Without this water, one cannot refine according to the proper measure: the matching of solar hun and lunar po (yuepo)—the Yin-Yang Qi symbolized by the essences of sun and moon—and the union of heavenly water with heavenly fire. If ordinary water is used instead, it is not the true medicinal seed, and the practitioner has no path forward. Would this not cost people their chance? A further expedient method is therefore opened here, indicating a way that can actually be followed.

Water is the Yin Jing of the lunar florescence, and it is also the “divine water of Heavenly One” (tianyi shenshui). Tradition holds that this numinous liquid all issues from the divine dragon. Each year the fourth month, when the Qi of pure Yang is vigorous, is precisely the time of the divine dragon’s transformations, and the rainwater of that season carries a numinous quality. When a heavy rain falls, one should catch the water in many porcelain vessels, cover them so that no dust enters, and keep it for use through the year. No month passes entirely without rain. This, too, is the subtle method by which accomplished adepts adapt with flexibility. Why insist that water must be taken with the fangzhu?

The Direct Meaning of the Veins of the Earth

In cultivating the Golden Elixir (Jindan), one should choose renowned mountains and blessed lands suited to practice. The terrain should be high, broad, and majestic, with mountain forms embracing the site in front and behind. The place of cultivation should sit to the north and face south (“sitting in zi and facing wu”), so that the sun and moon rise and set along the east–west line, as if the Golden Crow (emblem of the sun) rises in the east and the Jade Rabbit (emblem of the moon) sets in the west, while Yin and Yang (Yin-Yang) move back and forth in continuous alternation. Nearby there should be fine waters and elegant bamboo and trees. The Azure Dragon (Qinglong, the protective quarter on the left) should enfold the palace layer upon layer; the White Tiger (Baihu, the protective quarter on the right) should encircle the spirit chamber; the Dark Warrior (Xuanwu, the protective sacred beast of the north) should show faintly behind mountains that stand like a screen; and the Vermilion Bird (Zhuque, the protective sacred bird of the south) should be arrayed in front.

One should avoid the coming and going of worldly crowds and cut off ordinary visits and social ties. Establish a dwelling as pure and still as a jasper isle, and do not settle near corpses, dung, or other filth. Look upward to observe the celestial patterns and the course of the waters, and look downward to examine the landforms and geography. Only when strange birds call, unusual beasts pass by, and there are hidden scriptures (Jing) and historical records, guests who appear, and lingzhi is it fitting to establish an elixir palace (the place for refining the elixir and for cultivation). In this way transcendent sages will naturally descend and the deities of the earth will offer protection; from beginning to end there will be peace without mishap, and auspicious blessings will be many.

The Direct Meaning of the Halls and Chambers

The cauldron should be placed according to the medicines employed, and the cultivation chamber built to suit the cauldron. One chamber holds one cauldron; three cauldrons require three rooms. Each room should be one zhang and six chi high and one zhang and four chi wide. Open space is left at the four corners, and a surrounding corridor is provided for passage all around. The buildings need not tower into the clouds as if one might pluck the stars, nor need they have carved beams and painted rafters in pursuit of splendor. Windows are set on all four sides, able to be opened or closed. An opening is made in the roof to let air through and to receive what is auspicious. The floor should be as level as the palm of the hand, neither sloping nor uneven. Seams in the walls should also be sealed tight, so that no malign impurity can enter.

The number and size of the cauldron chambers should be weighed and arranged according to actual circumstances. The work of cultivation at each cauldron should correspond to Heaven and Earth, the sun and moon, the Three Powers (Sancai: Heaven, Earth, and human beings), the four seasons, the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water), the Seven Governors (the seven luminaries), the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), the Nine Palaces, the ten heavenly stems, the twelve earthly branches, the twenty-four solar terms, the seventy-two pentads, and the twenty-eight lunar lodges, thereby embodying the order by which the myriad things are generated and proceed. The door opens due south. The kitchen and the bathhouse should be built separately, a little farther off. Solemn reverence should be strictly maintained, as if one were in the presence of a ruler or a sage.

From the Wangfang—the quarter whose force is then at its height—take superior yellow earth, steam and refine it, and ram it solid. A clay-modeler then forms the work, which must be made thoroughly firm. Let it dry naturally, and do not press for quick results.

The altar is divided into three tiers, symbolizing the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and humanity. The lower tier is one chi and two cun high (chi, cun, and zhang are traditional Chinese measures) and is opened with eight gates, each eight cun high and three cun wide. Every gate is made of earth so that it can open and close, and a passage is cut for each. At the center of the platform a hollow five cun in diameter is left, divided into eight angles, inscribed with the symbols of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams), and marked in order as Water one, Fire two, Wood three, Metal four, and Earth five.

The upper tier is one chi and three cun high, with a hollow of five cun left in the middle, and its form is made round to symbolize the roundness of Heaven. Its circumference is one zhang and six chi, and its transverse diameter five chi and three cun. The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions are depicted—in ancient Chinese astronomy the stellar regions near the ecliptic are divided into twenty-eight mansions. The face of the diagram has an actual diameter of five cun; it is divided into eight angles, inscribed with Bagua symbols, and marked Water one, Fire two, Wood three, Metal four, and Earth five. The upper tier must also bear the images of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions, together with the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter and the seventy-two hou, the seventy-two seasonal signs into which the ancients divided the solar terms. Upon the platform is installed the deity Taiyi, a divinity venerated in Daoism.

The body of the divine furnace is one chi and six cun high, and its sides and base are each six cun thick. The Mingtang within the furnace—the space for enshrining a deity or carrying out the rite—has a transverse diameter of seven cun and a height of four cun. The furnace body together with its feet stands two chi high in all. From the feet at the base to the cover, a hollow of five cun is left in the middle, the same as the hollow at the center of the platform. Inside the furnace, earth is used to partition the space, and the middle is used to hold the fire. The base is three cun thick, and the thickness of the body along its diameter is six cun. Half the furnace is exposed outside, and half is concealed within the altar.

On the platform are painted the Four Symbols—the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Dark Tiger—the divine beasts that represent the four directions—and the Twelve Monthly Generals, the divine generals paired with the twelve months, are set out in order. On the eastern and western sides of the eaves the sun and moon are painted, symbolizing the radiance of the Golden Crow and the Jade Rabbit.

To make the divine furnace, choose an auspicious day such as a Huangdao, Tiande, or Yuede day. From the Wangfang take pure yellow earth, wash it until it is extremely fine, then steam it, dry it in the sun, and moisten it; mix it with paper fiber, pound it until well worked, and model it. Afterward add baishan earth, fine sand, hematite (daizheshi), and magnetite, and begin the work in concert with the “Four Transformations” and an auspicious hour of the lodges and luminaries. When it is finished, set it aside to dry in the shade, then fire and refine it, and finally seal it in place upon the altar.

The Direct Meaning of the Tripod Vessel

The body of the tripod stands one chi and two cun high, with an overall thickness of one cun and one fen, and is divided into three tiers; from the lip of the tripod to its base is likewise divided into three tiers. The Mingtang inside the tripod, the central space within it, has a transverse diameter of one cun and six fen. The mouth of the tripod has a transverse diameter of seven cun, and beneath it are supports three fen high, shaped like the feet of the ao, the great sea turtle.

One method is to make it of clay, but there is concern that it will not be firm enough, so iron that has been refined through a nine-times-nine smelting, clean and fully matured, is used for the casting instead. If leaking holes are found, or if the molten iron is impure, it must not be used. The casting should be done on a day when the five stars form a string of pearls, an auspicious day on which the five planets align in a single line, or on a day when the sun and moon join as paired discs, an auspicious day on which the sun and moon display a special conjunction. Several vessels should be prepared so that they may replace one another; the work must not be done carelessly. After the casting is complete, one memorializes and announces it to the ancestral masters and divine perfected ones whom one reveres, and places the vessel in the furnace for one year.

A single tripod cannot be used a second time. The upper Kan tripod, the tripod symbolizing water and belonging to the Kan trigram, is placed inside the lower Li tripod, the tripod symbolizing fire and belonging to the Li trigram, and water is held to a depth of eight cun and four fen. Its circumference is one chi and five cun, its diameter five cun, and the lip of the tripod one cun and two fen; from the belly to the navel the measure is one cun and two fen, and it is cast in red gold. The Kan and Li tripods must fit into one another. The structures for supporting them and for drawing them out must all be finely made, so that the two tripods seat together evenly, without the slightest gap. Only when this requirement has been met does one use clay that is extremely fine, thoroughly worked, and evenly blended, and have a modeler work it further until it is formed tight and exact. When the clay body has dried, the turbid liquid is baked away, and only then is molten gold poured for the casting.

The Direct Meaning of the Tan Guo

The Tan Guo, the outer enclosure in which the tripod vessel is set, is used to hold the tripod secure. On an Earth day, a day suited to the taking of soil, one takes fine earth from the five directions, washes it with water, and mixes it with paper-mulberry sap, the viscous liquid made from the bark of the paper-mulberry tree, working it into a mass. It is pounded and refined again and again until it is solid and fully matured, and formed in the shape of a pot or cauldron. The outer enclosure is nine cun high and nine fen thick. The Li tripod is one cun and nine fen wide, its mouth slightly open, and its form round. Soil is taken on an Earth day, and the making is done on a Fire day, a day suited to the use of fire. Eight pillars are modeled underneath so that the whole is firm. It is also called the Elixir Turtle, and it serves to draw the Qi (vital energy) of Kan and Li back so that it gathers within the layers.

The Direct Meaning of the Spirit Chamber

The refining of the Great Medicine depends entirely on the Divine Chamber (shenshi, the special vessel used in alchemy). If the vessel is off by even the slightest amount, the transformation can hardly succeed. One must therefore first make a model: knead the clay until it is thoroughly worked, shape it, and, after it has dried completely, use it to calibrate the thickness, width, size, and length of the proper cauldron. The vessel is employed according to the laws of the Dao (the Way).

The concrete method of the Divine Chamber

The refining of the Great Medicine relies wholly on a special vessel of the Divine Chamber type; if the measurements are even slightly wrong, the transformation will be difficult to accomplish. First make a dianshi (the model used for making the vessel): knead the clay until it is thoroughly worked, form it into shape, and, once it has dried through, use it to calibrate the dimensions of the proper cauldron. The thickness, width, size, and length of the vessel are all to be fixed on this basis.

Following the method of the Great Dao, one uses Mysterious Water (xuanshui, the special liquid employed in the refining) and decocts it for a long time. An opening is left at the side of the vessel; after it has been properly sealed, fire is applied so that the materials melt into a clear liquid. An iron rod is then used to clear the passage, and the molten liquid is poured into the model. Two cauldrons are cast separately, and the two must fit together tightly. The upper cauldron belongs to Qian and the lower cauldron to Kun; joined together they are called the Central Yellow (zhonghuang), and by this means Yin-Yang is harmonized. In the middle of the vessel a space of a little more than one cun is left, in which spirit mercury is generated. When spirit mercury arises on its own it is called Xuanpin (the root from which Yin and Yang transform and give birth); when Yin and Yang unite it is called Taiji (the Supreme Ultimate).

In casting the vessel chamber, one should choose a month and day when the Qi (vital energy) of Metal is abundant. On a geng day in the third month, the lower mold is made and refined. Only the nine pools and nine cauldrons are used, and the casting is carried out only after the Mother of Metal has been refined. Cast from one jin of pure gold, the finished piece weighs only fifteen liang. After casting, a great deal of true Qi dissipates. If it is placed in the furnace at once, there is reason to fear that Metal Jing (essence) will not gather sufficiently and that the jade liquor will form too slowly, so that no transformation can occur and the work already done will have been wasted.

One must therefore use the Ren Water previously obtained (renshui, water taken according to spatiotemporal notions such as the ren day and the ren direction) to fill the vessel inside and out, fully nurturing its Qi, and then place it in a porcelain cauldron and seal it. It is warmly nurtured with a gentle fire-phase for one hundred days, changed once each month, receiving Qi three times in all, so that Jing and Shen (spirit) are ample and the hun and po souls are stable.

Only after the hundred days does one seal the seams at the mouth of the vessel with Six-One mud, gypsum, calcined alum (kufan, alum that has been calcined), hematite, danchi, stone fat, and finely resifted ash powder, and then bind them crosswise with silver wire. On the outside, an enclosing casing made of sacred gold and sacred silver is wrapped around it layer upon layer, so that there is no error. The joint of the female and male parts unites into a single body, shaped like an egg, round outside and square inside. Only then can it receive the numinous essences of Heaven and Earth and accept the nourishment of water and fire.

When the model is made, it should be rounded so that it turns freely, and the work should be done on an Earth day (a day belonging to Earth, selected by the day-choosing method of the Five Phases). The model is four cun high, and all measurements are reckoned according to the Zhou foot.

Placement of the Mirrors and Swords

Bronze mirrors are hung in the eight directions, each one chi and two cun in diameter. The mirrors are set close to the roof, the cauldron is placed upon the roof, and a sword is suspended at each of the four corners. Both the mirrors and the swords must be fully cast, and the casting and the removal from the furnace must follow the prescribed times. On the jihai day, three ke after noon, the officiants enter in advance. All maintain a solemn stillness, as if in the presence of the deities. The mirrors and swords are wrapped in clean yellow cloth, placed before the seats of the holy perfected spirits, and invocations and prayers are recited morning and evening.

One then waits for the days when Earth Qi (vital energy) stands at Linguan and Diwang—that is, the season when Earth Qi is at its height—and, at the moment when the first Yang is born, the mirrors and swords are set in their respective positions. Everyone must still keep a solemn stillness, as if facing the deities. Wrapped in clean yellow cloth, they are offered before the seats of the holy perfected spirits, with invocations morning and evening. When Earth Qi reaches Linguan and Diwang and the first Yang is born, they are then installed in the elixir chamber (the room for refining the elixir and for cultivation).

Arrangement of the Elixir Chamber

On both sides of the golden cauldron, forms should rise facing one another like the Five Sacred Peaks (five famous mountains, which also represent the peaks of the five directions). Five-colored earth is first refined, then modeled into the shapes and divine images of the Five Sacred Peaks. After they have dried, they are placed at the bottom of the cauldron and pressed down evenly, so that they remain as stable as mountain peaks. The seams of the cauldron are sealed fast, and sacrificial announcements are made every day. When water and fire circulate and each comes into play, each fulfills its own duty.

When building the elixir chamber—the house in which the elixir is refined—setting out the altar ground, raising an enclosing wall, and installing the cauldron and furnace, one must choose a day and hour when Earth is flourishing. The precious mirrors of the Three Origins, corresponding to the three origins of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity, are hung to drive off demons and malign spirits, and swords are planted at the four corners to suppress ghosts and spirits. What are called “precious mirrors” are simply mirrors.

The Heaven Mirror is cast on a jiazi day. Jiazi is known as the “six-six day, foremost of yang.” For the casting one chooses an auspicious day of the Yellow Path, together with a day on which metal and stone are in accord, and then fixes an auspicious hour; this is the most suitable course. The Earth Mirror is cast on a renzi day, at the hour when the sun reaches the zenith; the Human Mirror is cast on a bingzi day, likewise at the hour when the sun stands directly overhead. Each mirror must be more than two chi and four cun in diameter. The swords are made on the day of Frost’s Descent, and precious swords of the ancient pattern are especially fitting.

There are four talisman tablets in all. They may be cast at the hour when Taiyi descends upon its palace, or else on a day when metal and stone are in accord. The talismanic inscriptions of the four quarters and the colored banners each have fixed specifications. The banners are colored according to the five directions; each is two chi long and is hung close beneath the mirrors and at the top of the upper story. The talismans of the Twelve Yuanchen, corresponding to the twelve earthly branches, the iron-tablet talismans, the talismans of the four walls, the Santai talismans, the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) talismans, Lord Lao’s talisman for securing the altar, the talismans of the Twenty-Eight Lodges, and the diagrams of the Golden Crow, the Jade Rabbit, and the Four Images—pictures of the sun, the moon, and the stellar configurations of the four quarters—all have their established forms. These talismanic inscriptions are recorded in the various Jing (scriptures/classics) and in the historical sources.

In every chamber one must enshrine the Elixir Lord, the Perfected of Wondrous Transformation throughout the Zhou Heaven; the Perfected of Ninefold Yang and Majestic De (Virtue/Power), Who Saves the Living and Delivers the Dead; the Star Lord of Solar Fire De of the Sun Palace; the Star Lord of Great Yin Water De of the Moon Palace; the Yuanjun, High and Supreme Imperial Preceptor, sovereign of Taiyi; the natal Star Lords of the Twelve Yuanchen; Celestial Lord Zhao of the Dragon-and-Tiger Mysterious Altar of Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity); the various celestial envoys of swift response and retribution; the immortal masters of successive generations who transmitted the Jing and expounded the teaching; the attendants of the elixir chamber; and the orthodox gods of the soil. Offerings are made facing the cauldron and furnace, according to the established rules. Through the twelve double-hours of each day the incense trays are changed in turn, and the lamps and candles must never be allowed to go out.

The fire basin is placed in the northeast corner. It is made of copper, and its size and weight must be in due proportion, so that the phases of the fire can be controlled. The fuel should be charcoal burned fully through, lest it suddenly crack and burst. The water basin is placed in the southwest corner and is provided with eight ladles for adding water. The drawing vessel holds water already used; the replenishing vessel holds water not yet used.

Each chamber uses two copper vessels, one of water and one of fire, to mark the hours. Both drawing water and adding water must be arranged according to the dun methods of the Eight Gates and the Three Wonders. Reckoning begins at the Tianqin hour, and from it one derives the Yin and the Yang dun. After the position of Jiutian has been calculated, if it lies in the Zhen palace one hangs the eastern talisman and suspends a mirror on the east side of the building, with silk threads hanging beneath the mirror; if Jiutian is in the Xun palace, one hangs the talisman and suspends the mirror at the southeast corner. The remaining six directions are handled in the same way.

The yellow hanging at the center is suspended from the middle of the roof at the first quarter-hour of the zi hour proper, on a day when Heavenly Virtue, the Yellow Path, and Lunar Virtue coincide. The talismanic inscriptions of the four directions are installed on a day when the four-and-seven lodges conjoin. One should also present a memorial to the Yuanjun and invite the celestial envoys to witness the oath.

Cultivating the Great Elixir—that is, Daoist Neidan (internal alchemy), or the cultivation of the Golden Elixir—requires first that one restrain sensual desire, refrain from killing, do good and accumulate De (Virtue/Power), and observe fasting and bathing so that body and mind are made pure. Only then may one ascend the altar, install the spirit tablets of the ancestral masters, burn incense and light the lamps, set out the offerings, and pray with a sincere heart, seeking the protection of the deities. Around the winter solstice, when the first Yang is newly born, cultivation is then begun in accordance with the proper method.

During cultivation one must avoid the defiling things named in the scriptures, such as monks and nuns, women, chickens and dogs, and the like. If these are violated, it is held that the deities will be offended and the completion of the Dao (the Way) of the elixir will be hindered. Each day companions in the practice take turns offering sacrifice and examining one another’s merits and faults. Each attends to an assigned duty: guarding the doors and windows and watching the bronze water clock to keep the time; managing money and meals and taking charge of the water and related affairs; tending the incense fire, reading aloud the memorials, and, according to the ritual method, performing the pacing of the guideline and the stepping of the Dipper (a rite in which the steps imitate the positions of the stars). The diligence or negligence of each person is also to be judged. Throughout the cultivation, conduct must be cautious, and all should remain harmonious and unhurried with one another.

The company binds itself by covenant through such means as cutting the hair, breaking teeth, and smearing blood, and swears an oath before the altar of the Thunder Generals, jointly cultivating the elixir method that transcends the dusty world and forming a gathering of Dao companions who wander free and at ease. When in time the cultivation is accomplished, they will together ascend to the Biluo (the lofty immortal realm spoken of in Daoism).

The Direct Meaning of the Hexagram Images

The transformations between Heaven and Earth are rooted in Yin-Yang (yinyang). The changes and coupling of Yin and Yang begin, in turn, with the two hexagrams Qian and Kun. The six lines of Qian take the number nine, and the six lines of Kun take the number six: Qian totals fifty-four stalks, and Kun totals thirty-six. Reckoned further in concert with the four seasons and by a doubled calculation, the Yijing (Classic of Changes) says that the stalks of Qian number two hundred sixteen and those of Kun one hundred forty-four, together three hundred sixty, corresponding exactly to the number of days in a year. The rising and falling of Yin and Yang produce the new moon and the full moon (the changes of lunar phase around the first and the fifteenth of each month), and this is likewise the great pattern governing the transformation of the myriad things.

The sage condenses a year into a month, a month into a day, and a day into a single double-hour (shichen). A double-hour may in turn be divided, after the twenty-four solar terms, into two seasonal qi, and after the seventy-two pentads, into six hou. From the double-hour of zi to that of si symbolizes the period after the winter solstice and before the summer solstice; from the double-hour of wu to that of hai symbolizes the period after the summer solstice and before the winter solstice.

In cultivating the Great Medicine—in Neidan (internal alchemy), the Jing (essence), Qi (vital energy), and the like—one must, according to the twelve double-hours, employ the advancing and retreating Yang fire and Yin tally (yinfu), answering to the shifts of cold and heat and of the solar terms, and then convey them into the spirit chamber of the Central Palace (zhonggong shenshi), the inner site in Neidan where the medicinal substances are condensed and refined, so that they interact and transform and give rise to true Jing. Two hexagrams stand on duty in each day and night; a year thus holds seven hundred twenty hexagrams, four thousand three hundred twenty lines in all, corresponding to four thousand three hundred twenty years of climatic change. From this one sees that, by applying the advance and retreat of the tally-fire within a single double-hour, one can gather the correct Qi of long ages and draw it back into the spirit cauldron (shending), the inner vessel in which the medicine is refined in Neidan.

Broadly speaking, the numerical order of the fire timing (huohou) takes the four hexagrams Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li as its foundation, while the line images of the remaining sixty hexagrams are the method of its use. The sixty hexagrams comprise three hundred sixty lines; each line stands for one star (xing), and one star is reckoned as one zhu. At the double-hour of zi one applies thirty-six zhu of Yang fire; twenty-four zhu make one liang, so this equals one and a half liang. Reckoning onward, the first six double-hours belong to Yang, the Yang number is nine, and the Yang fire advances by degrees, amounting altogether to two hundred sixteen zhu. The amounts for the five days of such stages as lesser Yang (shaoyang) and lesser Yin (shaoyin) are not entered into this principal calculation.

The Yin tally is used from the double-hour of wu to that of hai, and all six double-hours belong to Yin. The Yin lines decrease according to number, totaling one hundred forty-four zhu; the Yin number is six, which is the stalk-count of old Yin. From the double-hour of wu one begins the retreating movement of the Yin tally: twenty-four lines each correspond to one zhu, and twenty-four zhu make one liang, so the six Yin double-hours total six liang, or one hundred forty-four zhu. The first six Yang double-hours take nine, and the latter six Yin double-hours take six; the pattern of Yang nine and Yin six lies here. Yang and Yin fire timing together come to three hundred sixty zhu, answering to the use of the spirit chamber as a whole at one jin.

It is further said here that nine and six together amount to only fifteen liang. The hexagrams Qian and Kun serve as the cauldron-vessel, and Kan and Li serve as the medicine; together they make twenty-four lines, reckoned as one liang. Those who later cultivate the Great Elixir should follow the guidance of an enlightened teacher: fire is the parent of the medicine, and the medicine is the offspring of the fire. This must pass by oral transmission and heart-to-heart instruction between master and disciple, and one must give whole attention to mastering the fire timing.

Xun then asked: “The measure of the spirit chamber is one jin, and the number of the fire timing ought likewise to be one jin; neither may be neglected. Why, then, does the fire timing now come to only fifteen liang?” Yuanjun (the Primordial Lord) replied: “When one cultivates within the cauldron, the advance and retreat of the tally-fire must follow the moon in heaven as it turns from waning to waxing and from waxing to waning. A day has twelve double-hours, and a year has twelve months; one double-hour corresponds to one month. Reckoned by the half-month, in the first half the opening seven and a half days are spring, and the middle together with the latter stretch of seven and a half days is summer, symbolizing generation and growth; in the second half the middle seven and a half days are autumn, and the final seven and a half days are winter, symbolizing gathering-in and austere decline. The fire timing therefore takes only fifteen liang, so as to match the proper number of the moon at fullness. Were one liang more added, one would pass the limit of Taiyin (the Great Yin) traversing the Central Palace, enter a Yin position, and injure the hun and po souls. The medicine may be transmitted, but the fire timing must not be transmitted lightly. The whole crux of the fire timing lies in the numbers nine and six, and the cultivator should carefully come to realize it in a quiet place.”

The whole process of refining the elixir takes about one year, yet the elixir medicine can already be completed in ten months. Why is this? Because the second month and the eighth month each contain a period in which the fire must be stopped and the breath regulated.

The second month belongs to the Rabbit. Yang Qi (vital energy) is at its height, while Yin Qi is only just beginning to arise, precisely when the elm pods first fall. At this time one must stop the fire of Mao Wood, so as to nourish Water Qi and keep the elixir furnace steady and secure. The eighth month belongs to the Rooster. Yin Qi is at its height, while Yang Qi is only just beginning to arise, precisely when shepherd’s purse and wheat gradually grow. At this time one must stop the water of You Metal, increase the force of the fire, and keep the elixir embryo secure.

Cultivating the Great Elixir requires fire. The days and the measure of the fire phases must be fixed according to the standard of the hexagram lines; otherwise, if the fire phases are excessive or insufficient, the count of days will also be in error. The force of the fire is gradually raised to fifteen liang. Only after one hundred days do signs appear in the golden cauldron: a form takes shape faintly, and the Golden Liquid is brought to gestation.

Another cauldron is used to carry out the refining externally. After one hundred days it is opened, and the condition of the Golden Liquid is examined. If it resembles lamp-flowers and clouds, and all five signs are complete, one must report this to the Supreme Thearch and the Exalted Perfected (the celestial deities and perfected beings revered in Daoism), and then take one portion and ingest it. Taken for one hundred days, it can gather Jing (essence) and Qi and prolong life.

Thereafter it must still be warmed and nurtured until the number of revolutions of the celestial circuit is sufficient. When the work of ten months is complete, the formless gives rise to the formed and condenses into the Taimi Mysterious Pearl (the subtle elixir body so called in elixir methods). Only then does it become a numinous medicine. Once one cauldron of numinous mercury has been refined, ingesting it can make the body enduringly firm.

Fellow practitioners should cultivate still more diligently, until in three years the divine elixir is refined, in nine years the White Snow is refined, and in twelve years the divine talisman is refined. At that time rubble can be transformed into gold, and withered bones can be changed into human beings. Bodily form and Shen (spirit) alike reach a wondrous realm, and every kind of De (Virtue/Power) comes to fulfillment. Just as when flowers bloom and fruit ripens, one may roam and behold the Grand Clarity (the pure and empty celestial realm spoken of in Daoism). You should treasure these three scrolls of numinous writings. All that was to be said has been said. I shall return to the Jade Capital (the celestial capital of the immortals spoken of in Daoism).