《黄帝九鼎神丹经诀》

The Yellow Emperor received from the Mysterious Woman (Xuannü, a maiden of the celestial realm) the supreme Dao (the Way) of the Reverted Elixir. After he had refined and ingested the elixir, he ascended as an immortal and departed. The Mysterious Woman told the Yellow Emperor: “Anyone who seeks long life yet fails to obtain the Divine Elixir and the Golden Liquor labors wholly in vain. Even if one practices breathing and guiding exercises, expelling the old and taking in the new, or takes medicines made from herbs and plants, one can only lengthen one’s years and in the end cannot escape death. One who ingests the Divine Elixir, however, can become an immortal and transcend the world. One’s lifespan will endure as long as Heaven and Earth, and one’s radiance will shine together with the sun and moon. While seated, one can see ten thousand li away and can also command ghosts and spirits. One’s entire family may rise into the void and fly without wings, riding the clouds and driving dragons, ascending and descending through Grand Clarity (Taiqing, the lofty, pure, and rarefied celestial realm). In a moment one can travel throughout the eight directions, neither hindered by rivers nor afraid of any poison.”

The Yellow Emperor transmitted this method to Xuanzi and cautioned him: “This Dao is exceedingly precious and must be passed to a person of worthy virtue. If the recipient is not a suitable person, then even if he possesses gold and silver piled as high as mountains and lands stretching ten thousand li, do not reveal this Dao to him. Obtaining a single elixir is enough to become an immortal; one need not necessarily refine all nine.”

When this Dao is transmitted, one must prepare a golden human figure weighing nine liang and a golden fish weighing three liang, and cast them into eastward-flowing water to swear an oath. Both the golden figure and the golden fish are provided at the expense of the person who receives the teaching of the Dao. Before the transmission, both parties first observe purification and bathe. At an uninhabited place beside the water they set out a seat to honor the Mysterious Woman, burn incense, and announce that the Dao of long life is to be transmitted to so-and-so. They then place the elixir scripture (Jing) on a table and offer it beside the seat. Afterward they face north and prostrate themselves for a time. If the weather is clear and there is no wind, the transmission may be received. Master and disciple together drink the blood of a white chicken to seal the oath, the oral instructions and the essentials of elixir refining are transmitted, and finally the golden figure and the golden fish are cast into the water. If a person lacks the innate capacity to become an immortal, he will in the end never be able to behold this Dao.

The Yellow Emperor said: “One who wishes to refine the Divine Elixir should choose an uninhabited place, such as deep mountains, great marshes, a remote village, or the open wilderness. If it is refined among a crowd of people, then anyone who lacks the innate capacity to become an immortal will in the end still be unable to behold this Dao.”

The Yellow Emperor said: If one wishes to refine the divine elixir (shendan), one should choose a place deep in the mountains or in the great marshes, remote, open, and empty of people. If it must be refined among people, it should still be done within high walls and thick barriers, so that those inside and those outside cannot see. No more than two or three people should take part. First observe a fast and purification for seven days, then bathe with five kinds of aromatics, and the things prepared should also be pure and clean. Do not associate with households in which there is defilement, mourning, or the marrying-off of a daughter.

The Yellow Emperor said: If one wishes to buy the medicinal materials used in refining the elixir, one must likewise first fast and purify for seven days, bathe on a zi day or a chou day, and go to make the purchase on a “zhi day.” One should sit in the auspicious direction known as “yuede” (Virtue of the Month), and should not bargain with others over whether the price is high or low.

The Mysterious Woman (Xuannü) said: For refining the medicine, the best time is the fifth day of the fifth month, and the next best is the seventh day of the seventh month. For opening the furnace and beginning the refinement, jiazi days and dingsi days, together with “kai days” and “chu days,” are favorable; jiashen days, yisi days, and yimao days are also acceptable. There are days to be avoided in refining the medicine: in spring, wuchen and jisi; in summer, dingsi, wushen, renchen, and jiwei; in autumn, wuxu, xinhai, and gengzi; in winter, wuyin, jiwei, guimao, and guiyou. There are further taboo days, including yuesha, zhitian, and those called “ji, si, meng, and zhong.” Among the shou days of the last month of each season, renwu, bingxu, guihai, and xinsi must not be used either. The yuejian day and the first and fifteenth of each month are likewise inauspicious; one must not kindle the fire and refine the medicine on these days.

In refining the divine medicine one must be cautious, neither keeping company with foolish people of the ordinary world nor allowing jealous, loose-tongued people who do not believe in the Dao (the Way) to hear of the matter. If the divine medicine is successfully refined, a person can become a True Person (zhenren), ascend to heaven and enter the abyss, and transform without fixed form; even a whole family may become immortals, and not one person alone. People of the world begrudge their wealth and will not refine the elixir, yet they put their trust in medicines of herbs and trees. Buried in the soil, herbs and trees rot; boiled, they spoil; burned, they char. They cannot even preserve themselves—how, then, could they enable a person to live long? Medicines of herbs and trees can treat illness and replenish primordial Qi (vital energy), but a person ultimately cannot thereby escape death. The Reverted Elixir (huandan) is the key to attaining the Dao, and it is not something that ordinary people usually come to hear of.

The Yellow Emperor said that when one first begins to compound the elixir and kindle the fire, an offering should be set out beside the elixir cauldron. The offerings are five sheng of fine clear wine, three jin each of dried beef and dried mutton, two sheng of yellow-millet rice, three sheng of jujubes, one dou of pears, thirty boiled eggs, and three carp, each weighing three jin. The offerings are divided among three altar tables, with two wine cups placed on each table.

One then burns incense and bows twice, praying: “I, the petty devotee So-and-so (the status and name by which one refers to oneself during the sacrifice), sincerely and reverently present offerings to the Lord of the Great Dao (Dao), Lord Lao, and the Lord of Great Harmony. May you all look with pity upon me, the petty devotee So-and-so. I crave the medicine of long life, and I pray that the Lord of the Dao keep the medicines from flying off and from being lost, so that all of them subdue the fire (endure firing and remain stable). May the medicine, once refined, be of excellent quality and transform readily at one’s hand, and may the yellow and white substances produced all be successfully subdued in the firing. When I take the immortal medicine, may I ascend in flight and become an immortal, attend court in the Purple Palace (the palaces of the heavenly realm), enjoy a lifespan without end, and at last become a zhenren (one who has attained the Dao).”

One then performs the wine rite, rises, and bows again. When the rite is finished, one prays once more: “May all the red medicines subdue the fire and, once refined, be of excellent quality and transform readily at one’s hand, and may the yellow and white substances produced all be successfully subdued in the firing. When I take the immortal medicine, may I ascend in flight and become an immortal, attend court in the Purple Palace, enjoy a lifespan without end, and at last become a zhenren.” One then performs the wine rite, rises, and bows again. When the rite is finished, all the red fruits, together with mandarins, tangerines, and pomelos, are offered. After the sacrifice is concluded, the fire is kindled according to the method.

The Yellow Emperor said that whenever one is to compound the divine elixir, one must first prepare “xuanhuang.”

The Method of Xuanhuang

To prepare xuanhuang, take ten jin of mercury and twenty jin of lead, place them in an iron vessel, and heat them from below with a fierce fire. The lead and mercury will throw off their essence, purple in color and sometimes resembling the color of gold. This essence is received with an iron spoon and is called “xuanhuang” (Mysterious Yellow); it is also called “huangjing” (Yellow Essence), “huangya” (Yellow Sprout), or “huangqing” (Yellow Lightness).

The medicines should then be placed in a bamboo tube and steam-refined one hundred times. They are next fly-refined with water prepared from realgar and cinnabar (the medicines are treated with the aid of a liquid so that their essence separates out). Realgar-cinnabar water is listed among the “Thirty-Six Waters.” The Yellow Emperor said that one should also prepare “six-one mud.”

The Method of Six-One Mud

When preparing the sealing mud, take four materials—alum, Rong salt, brine salt, and yu stone—and first calcine them for twenty days. Then add left-facing oysters from the Eastern Sea, red halloysite, and talc, taking an equal amount of each of the seven materials. The quantity may be set as one chooses. Pound them together ten thousand times, until the ingredients are as fine as powder.

Place the powder in an iron vessel, wrap it, and heat it for nine days and nine nights, with a fierce fire burning underneath. When the ingredients have been fired until they glow red-hot, take them out, pound them another ten thousand times, and sift them through fine silk. Mix in “Hundred-Day Huachi” (a liquid used in elixir refinement) to form a mud.

Use this mud to coat a red-earth cauldron. The earthen cauldron holds about eight or nine sheng, and a larger one may hold one dou. Coat both the inside and the outside to a thickness of about three fen, then dry it in the sun for ten days. Next, calcine lead powder until it turns golden. Then take equal portions of the two materials mentioned earlier, the dark (xuan) and the yellow (huang), blend them with Hundred-Day Huachi, and apply the mixture to the inside and outside of the earthen cauldron, each coat about three fen thick. Dry it in the sun for another ten days. When it is completely dry, it may be used to sublimate the elixir florescence.

Another method is as follows. After the medicinal cauldron and the Six-One Mud have been prepared, place them in a jar, cover the mouth of the jar, and leave it to dry in a shaded place. The jar must be kept three or four chi above the ground and must not be allowed to become damp.

The First Elixir

The first of the divine elixirs is called Danhua (Flower of Cinnabar). It is prepared as follows. Take one jin of genuine cinnabar; two jin, or even ten jin, may also be used, the amount being decided according to whether one is poor or wealthy. Place the genuine cinnabar in a cauldron, cover it with brine salt, and tamp it firm. Then smear “Six-One mud” (liuyi ni, the clay used in alchemy to seal vessels) over the joint at the mouth of the cauldron. The seal must be airtight, with no escape of vapor. Inspect it carefully: there must be no crack even as fine as a hair. If any crack appears, the quintessence of the medicine will fly off and disperse, leaving only the dregs, and taking them will bring no benefit.

After sealing, leave the vessel to air for more than ten days, and heat it only when it is completely dry. First, with a fire of horse dung mixed with chaff, warm it gently for nine days and nine nights at a distance of five cun from the cauldron. Then move the fire close to the rim of the cauldron and heat it for nine days and nine nights. Finally, let the fire surround the body of the cauldron to half its height and heat it for another nine days and nine nights. This comes to thirty-six days of firing in all. Let the fire go out for one day and wait until the cauldron has cooled. The medicine will have sublimed and adhered to the upper part of the cauldron. In form, some of it resembles multicolored langgan (a beautiful stone like jade), some resembles shooting stars or frost and snow, and some is as red as cinnabar or appears blue-green or purple. Sweep it off gently with a feather. After refining, the medicine will have diminished by about four liang.

If the medicine has not yet been refined to the point of withstanding fire, it must be refined once more. Moisten it with Mysterious Water liquid (xuanshui ye) and Dragon Grease (longgao), mixing until it is just slightly damp, and place it in a cauldron of Mysterious Yellow and Red Earth (xuanhuang chitu fu, an alchemical vessel made from the relevant earthen materials). Seal it again by the method already given, and sublime it over a fierce fire for thirty-six days. Only after seventy-two days in all is the elixir reckoned complete.

Before the elixir is taken, one should fast and observe purification, bathe for five to seven days, and burn incense. At dawn, facing east, one performs a ritual salutation and then kneels to ingest a dose the size of a large grain of millet or a small bean. The scripture (jing) says that a person of superior capacity ascends to heaven seven days after taking it, one of middling capacity attains immortality in seventy days, and an ordinary person attains immortality after one year.

The cauldron in which Danhua has been completed may be used to sublime the second elixir, as well as the Nine Elixirs (jiudan) and other divine elixirs. The Mysterious Woman (Xuannü) says that once Danhua is complete, one should test it by using it to refine gold; only if gold can be produced does this show that the medicine has been successfully made. If gold cannot be produced, the medicine has not yet been brought to the point of withstanding fire and must not be taken. The cause may be that the cauldron was not tightly sealed, or that a taboo of elixir-refining was violated. It should be sublimed again by the previous method and then tested once more.

The scripture continues: Danhua may be formed with Dragon Grease into pills the size of small beans, set over a fierce fire, and blown with a bellows; within the time it takes to eat a meal, it can be refined into yellow gold. One may also take twenty-four zhu of Danhua to project upon and transmute one jin of powdered mercury (quicksilver that has been refined) into gold. Once Danhua is complete, it may be placed in a tube and stored. Separately, cast one zhu of Danhua into one jin of mercury or one jin of lead and, using martial fire (wuhuo), gradually increase the blaze while blowing with the bellows; either can likewise be refined into yellow gold. The quantities in jin and zhu must be measured with care: too much makes the gold too hard, too little makes it too soft, and in neither case is it fit for hammering.

The scripture concludes that if one succeeds in refining gold, one may thereby benefit the world; if one does not, even one’s nature and life (xingming) will be hard to preserve. Wealth and goods will have been spent in vain—and what, in the end, will have been gained?

The second kind of Divine Elixir (Shendan) is called the “Divine Talisman” (Shenfu). Take a suitable amount of nontoxic mercury and place it in a cauldron that has been treated with “Six-One Mud” (Liuyi ni), a clay used to seal the alchemical furnace. Seal it and let it dry. The remaining steps are the same as those for preparing the “Elixir Efflorescence” (Danhua): sublime and refine it repeatedly nine times; after it has cooled, open the vessel, sweep up the medicine, mix in carp gall, and seal it again by the original method. Then sublime and refine it nine more times; cool it, open the furnace, sweep up the product, and add “Dragon Grease” (Longgao), a substance used in elixir formulas. The medicine made in this way is called the “Divine Talisman.”

Take ten jin of the yellow efflorescence of lead, place it in a vessel, and heat it over a charcoal fire. Then take seven jin of mercury, cast it into the lead, and refine the mixture with a fierce fire. Before long the refined essences rise together. They look like gold, and also like purple-red shooting stars and flowing pearls, displaying the five colors, including mysterious yellow. Receive them with an iron spoon; about ten jin are obtained. Refine the product once more by the same method. After nine transformations it is called the “Yellow of the Elixir Efflorescence,” also known as the “Liquid of Mysterious Yellow” (Xuanhuang zhi ye) or the “Talisman of Heaven and Earth.” Pound and refine it so that the mercury is transformed into elixir; this is called the “Reverted Elixir” (Huandan). It is said to be a method secretly transmitted by the sages. Ordinary Daoists can hardly know it; only people of exceptional insight can understand it.

The fire used in elixir refining is called “Ziming,” and mercury is also called “Ziming.” The essence of lead has still other names: “Great Yin” (Taiyin), “Metal Sire” (Jingong), “River Chariot” (Heche), “Lovely Maiden” (Chanü), and “Lizhi Stone” (Lizhi shi). The scripture criticizes those who mistakenly take the “Lizhi Stone” found in the mountains for the essence of lead. The Perfected (Zhenren) say that stone gall originally issues from within lead; if, when refining the divine medicine, one instead uses the stone gall produced at Qiangli, one departs from the correct method and the medicine cannot be brought to completion. The scripture holds that the essence of cinnabar should be used to refine medicines of the flowing-pearl and frost-and-snow kinds, and that the essence of lead should be used to refine the Reverted Elixir and substances of yellow and white. If these two materials are not used in the preparation, then even if an elixir is obtained, long life will be hard to attain after it is ingested. Here lead is called “Great Yin,” and the elixir is called “Great Yang” (Taiyang).

Take nine jin of mercury and one jin of lead, place them in a red-earth cauldron, and heat them with a fierce fire from morning until after noon—another account says until sunset. The mercury and the essence of lead rise together and appear the color of gold. This is called “Yellow Essence” (Huangjing), also known as “Yellow Sprout” (Huangya), “Yellow Lightness” (Huangqing), and “Yellow Efflorescence” (Huanghua). When it is further refined with Well-Flower Water (Jinghua shui), well water drawn at dawn, it is called the “Yellow Efflorescence Pool” (Huanghua chi), also known as the “Yellow Dragon,” “Yellow Raiment” (Huangfu), and “Lizhi Stone.”

Take the “Mysterious Yellow” (Xuanhuang), mix it with the “Liquid of Mysterious Water” (Xuanshui ye) into a mud-like paste, and roll it into pellets. Place them in a red-earth cauldron and seal it with Six-One Mud, the inner and outer layers of the seal each about three fen thick. Let it dry for ten days; it must not leak air. Then fire it for eighty days with a horse-dung fire or a bran fire to produce a golden medicine. Take one daogui—an ancient unit of medicinal measure—of Mysterious Yellow, cast it into a fierce fire, and blow with a bellows for as long as it takes to eat a meal. Only if it melts and is refined into gold is the work considered successful. If the medicine is still unfinished, it must not be ingested; seal it again in the red-earth cauldron by the previous method and fire it for another eighty days.

Mysterious Yellow is also called “Subdued Elixir” (Fudan) and “Purple Powder.” The scripture says that, for ingestion, one should choose the early morning of a jiazi day, face east, perform obeisance, and then take the medicine. The pellets are the size of red adzuki beans, one a day. After one hundred days of continuous use, one can become an immortal and be cured of every illness, even epilepsy and leprosy.

The scripture next records another method of preparation. Mix the Hundred-Day Flower Pool (Bairi huachi) with Mysterious Yellow into a mud and coat the inside and outside of two red-earth cauldrons to a thickness of about three fen. Put in one jin of mercury; ten jin may also be used, and the amount of medicine may be adjusted at will. It is said that three jin of the medicine can enable one person to become an immortal. If one wishes to refine ten liang of the essence of Mysterious Yellow, take three jin of mercury, place it in an earthen cauldron, and cover it with Mysterious Yellow about two cun thick. Close it with a second earthen cauldron and seal it tightly with Six-One Mud so that no air can leak. First set it in the sun until it is completely dry, then fire it with horse dung or bran for nine days and nine nights. After it has cooled for one day, open the furnace. If the materials are heated before they are dry, the cauldron will crack.

Once the medicine has risen into the upper cauldron, it resembles frost and snow and shows purple, red, vermilion, green, and other colors, flashing with five-colored radiance, about two fen thick. Sweep up the essence in the upper cauldron with a feather, add yellow-dog gall—a kind of fish gall may also be used; the formula says it is carp gall—and then, by the previous method, roll it into pellets, seal the cauldron, dry it in the sun, and fire it. Another account says the medicine should first be worked into a mud-like paste and only then placed in the earthen cauldron. Fire it again for nine days and nine nights, leave the fire stopped for one day, cool and open the furnace, and sweep up with a feather the essence that has flown upward and condensed in the upper cauldron. If the medicine appears only purple, it is called the “Divine Talisman Reverted Elixir” (Shenfu Huandan).

Add Dragon Grease to the Divine Talisman Reverted Elixir and roll it into pellets the size of red adzuki beans. When taking it, one customarily chooses the early morning of a jiazi day, faces east, bows twice, and swallows it while kneeling. The scripture claims that after a full hundred days one can see immortals and jade maidens and fly in the company of the gods. If one wishes to cross a great expanse of water, the Divine Talisman may be mixed with Dragon Grease or a kind of fish gall and smeared on the soles of the feet; it is said that one can then walk on the water without sinking. If one wishes to enter fire, a single pellet will keep one from feeling the heat. The scripture finally asserts that, after a hundred days of taking the medicine, the Three Corpses and Nine Worms (sanshi jiuchong) all perish of themselves, and the person can live long without dying.

The third kind of elixir is called the “Shendan” (spirit elixir). First, Liuyi mud—the mud used to seal the cauldrons in elixir refining—is applied to both the inside and the outside of two red-clay cauldrons, each coating about three fen thick. Then oyster shell, red halloysite, and magnetite are taken; if magnetite is unavailable, the original text says to “retain the original without alteration,” meaning that this ingredient name is still kept according to the original formula and is not changed. Equal amounts of the three materials are finely ground and worked for ten thousand pestle strokes until they become powder, then moistened with Hundred-Day Huachi (a liquid processed for a hundred days; precisely what it refers to is unclear). Another account says to use this powder to coat the inside of the cauldron.

Next, xuanhuang, hua, and magnetite are taken; the original text likewise says that if magnetite is lacking, this name is still retained according to the original formula. Equal amounts of the three materials are ground for ten thousand pestle strokes into powder and moistened with Hundred-Day Huachi. Another account says to coat the inside of the cauldron with this powder. Xuanhuang and hua are then spread over this layer to a thickness of about one cun.

Two jin of “Dinán” (Imperial Male), that is, realgar, and one jin of “Dinü” (Imperial Female), that is, orpiment, are then taken. They are first moistened with a small amount of Hundred-Day Huachi, placed in an iron mortar, and pounded for ten thousand pestle strokes until they become powder. The powder is spread in the upper cauldron and covered with a layer of yellow powder about one cun thick. The other cauldron is fitted over it and sealed tightly with Liuyi mud so that no vapor escapes, then left to dry for ten days.

Horse dung and chaff are then used as fuel for a firing of nine days and nine nights, with the fire about five cun from the side of the cauldron. The fire is continually pushed forward and banked around the vessel so that the heat is maintained for nine days and nine nights. The fire is next pushed up to the side of the cauldron and kept at an intense heat for nine days and nine nights; afterward a great heap of fire reaching halfway up the body of the cauldron is maintained for another nine days and nine nights, and the fire is then extinguished. From first to last this comes to thirty-six days. After cooling for one day, the “Feijing” (flying essence) adhering to the cauldron is swept up with a feather, blended with longgao (dragon ointment), returned to the cauldron, sealed again with mud, left to dry, and fired for another thirty-six days. Another account says to fire it for twenty-seven days. The fire is extinguished and the vessel cooled for one day, then opened, and the product is swept up with a feather; this is called “Feijing.” After further processing it is called the “Shendan.”

A practitioner of the highest grade takes one daogui (an ancient unit of small dosage) each day and can become an immortal after fifty days; a practitioner of middling attainment takes it for a hundred days; an ordinary person takes it for a year and can then become an immortal. Men and women, children, servants and slaves, and even domestic animals can all, upon taking it, become immortal and never die. Carrying this elixir on one’s person can also avert injury from weapons, because spirits will afford their protection. A hundred days after the elixir is taken, immortals from every quarter will come to welcome the practitioner, and Jade Men, Jade Women, Jade Lads, Mountain Ministers, Marsh Commandants, and others will also come to attend, appearing in human form. As for transcending the secular world, cutting off one’s descendants, and the like, the original text says that these are for each person to decide.

The fourth kind of spirit elixir (Shen dan) is called the “Reverted Elixir” (Huandan). Alum, yu stone (yushi), hematite, Rong salt, oyster, red halloysite, earth-dragon dung, mica, and talc—nine medicinal substances in all—are calcined continuously for a day and a night, then treated with a fierce fire. They are pounded together, ground into powder, mixed with “left flavor” (zuowei; a blending material in the original text whose precise identity is unclear) into a mud-like paste, and spread inside a pot.

One jin of mercury is then placed at the bottom of the pot, after which Imperial Male (Dinan), laminar malachite (cengqing), alum tingzhi (fanshi tingzhi), bittern salt (luxian), the Great Unity’s leftover grain (Taiyi yuyuliang), alum, and yu stone are added in turn. These seven substances are to be prepared in separate vessels and pounded into powder. The mercury is placed alone in the lowest layer, and the other substances are set above it in sequence. The lid is fitted, and the pot is tightly sealed with six-one mud (liuyi ni; the lute used in elixir refining to seal vessels) tempered with left flavor, then left to stand for ten days.

The pot is next set on three iron supports so that its base stands nine cun above the ground. Horse dung and chaff are used as fuel, with the flame kept five cun from the base. It is fired in this way for nine days and nine nights; the fire is then raised to half the height of the pot and kept up for another nine days and nine nights. Throughout, a wet cloth is laid over the pot to prevent the medicines from flying off, and when the cloth dries it is soaked again. Refining continues in this manner for eighty-one days. After cooling for one further day, the pot is opened. It is said that the medicines will all have risen onto the lid, and that five colors will appear inside the pot. These substances, which have flown upward and condensed, are swept down with a chicken feather. This method of refining is called the “flying method.”

The medicines thus obtained are mixed with the flowers of the hundred herbs and taken with well-essence water (jinghua shui; well water drawn at dawn). The scripture (Jing) states that after one hundred days of ingestion, the Vermilion Bird and the phoenix will circle overhead, and spirit beings and jade maidens will descend; after two hundred days one may ascend to heaven and enter the earth, with immortals in attendance; and after one year the Great Unity (Taiyi) will come to receive the adept, driving a cloud chariot and riding a dragon-horse. Taking this elixir is said to free one from hunger and thirst. At the age of one hundred, one drinks only from stony springs and eats twenty pieces of jujube and chestnut together with five cun of dried beef and mutton.

The scripture further says that the Reverted Elixir may be smeared on coins used to buy things, and that the coins will return of themselves the same day; and that if it is inscribed above a person’s eye sockets, the hundred ghosts will all keep away. There is another method of refining: a knife-point measure (daogui; an ancient unit of very small quantity) of Reverted Elixir powder is heated together with one jin of mercury and is said to turn at once into gold. Another account holds that the medicines are blended with dragon fat and heated continuously for nine days and nine nights, and only then become true gold.

The fifth divine elixir is called the “Ingestion Elixir” (erdan). Take one jin of mercury and place it in a Six-One vessel (liuyi fu). Then take one jin of Imperial Male (dinan), pound it into powder, and spread it over the mercury. Next take one jin of Yu’s Leftover Grain (yuyuliang), pound it into powder, and spread it over the Imperial Male. Fit the Six-One vessel together, seal the seam, and coat the seal with Six-One mud. When the mud has dried, heat it for nine days and nine nights over a fire of horse dung mixed with chaff. Then heat it for another nine days and nine nights over charcoal. After the fire is put out, let it cool for one day and then open the vessel. The medicine will have risen onto the upper lid, like frost or snow; sweep it off with a feather.

Mix the collected powder with dragon grease (longgao) and Shaoshi clay into a paste. When it has dried, heat and refine it again by the previous method: first with a fire of horse dung and chaff for nine days and nine nights, then with charcoal for nine days and nine nights. After the fire is stopped and the vessel has cooled for one day, open it. The medicine will again have risen onto the upper lid, like frost or snow; once more sweep it off with a feather.

Mix the powder in equal parts with dragon grease, Shaoshi clay, and tianxiong. The method of ingestion is recorded as “taken with an egg”; another version says it is swallowed with the blood of a chicken egg. Each dose is one daogui (a minute ancient unit for measuring medicines). Taken for thirty days, it is said to enable one to ascend in flight and become an immortal. The host of gods will come to guard one, the Jade Maidens may all be put to service, and the immortals will come to receive one and cause one to rise to Heaven. The hundred ghosts, the gods of the altars of soil and grain (deities who govern land and cereals), the Earl of Wind, and the Master of Rain will also come to welcome one, and all of them may be commanded.

The sixth elixir is called “Liandan” (elixir refining) and is made by refining eight minerals. The so-called “eight stones” are cinnabar of Ba and Yue, the Emperor’s Male, the Emperor’s Female, and Fei (these names seem to refer to different kinds of cinnabar or minerals), together with azurite, alum, yushi, chalcanthite, and magnetite—eight in all, in equal amounts, the exact quantity being left to one’s own choice. Each is pounded separately into powder and then blended with earth-dragon ointment.

Next, take two sheng of earth-dragon droppings (the drug name as given in the original text), and put the liver and gallbladder of a yellow dog together to serve as the cauldron. Take three jin each of oyster shell and red halloysite, pound them to a fine powder, mix them with the materials mentioned above into a paste, coat the inside and outside of the cauldron to a thickness of about three fen, and then let it dry.

There is another procedure: the amounts of the eight materials may be decided for oneself. Blend earth-dragon ointment, one sheng of earth-dragon droppings, and the gallbladder of a yellow dog, then add two sheng of earth-dragon droppings. Grind oyster shell and red halloysite into powder, work them into a paste, coat the inside and outside of the cauldron each to a thickness of three fen, and let it dry.

After the eight minerals have each been ground to a fine powder, place them in the cauldron in order: cinnabar at the very bottom; above it, in sequence, the Emperor’s Male, the Emperor’s Female, azurite, alum, yushi, and chalcanthite; and magnetite alone as the topmost layer. Cover the vessel with a six-one cauldron (an elixir furnace made by the “six-one” method), seal the joints with six-one mud, and let it dry. Then, following the method already described, fire it for thirty-six days with horse dung and chaff as fuel, let the fire die and the vessel cool for one day, and open the furnace. The medicine will have risen to the top and clung there like frost or snow. Sweep it off with a feather, blend it with dragon ointment, and form it into pills the size of small beans. The text says that if one pill is taken each day after meals, one can become an immortal in ten days, and ghosts and spirits will come to attend, protect, and submit to one’s command.

The scripture (jing) further says that this elixir is not for men alone; women too may attain the Dao (the Way) and ascend as flying immortals. If one wishes to practice bigu (abstention from grain), one must cut off sexual relations for the long term, drink only water, and refrain from intercourse. The slag left after the elixir is refined is said to cure every illness. Another method is to combine lead with the elixir and refine them into gold; it is also said that one daogui (an ancient unit of small dosage) of the refined elixir, added to one jin of mercury and calcined, can be made into gold. Elsewhere it is recorded that the Soft Elixir resembles the refined edible elixir: its texture is smooth and moist, and it is easy to ingest.

What is recorded here is the ancient art of elixir refining, together with claims about ingesting the elixir and transmuting gold, involving minerals and metals such as cinnabar, yushi, and mercury. The account follows the original sense of the scripture; these materials are toxic and must not be prepared or taken on this basis.

The seventh elixir is called the “Soft Elixir” (Roudan). Take three jin of mercury, blend it with left flavor (zuowei) and mysterious yellow (xuanhuang), and stir the mixture into a mud-like paste. Then coat both the inside and the outside of an earthen cauldron (tufu, a ceramic vessel used for refining elixirs), applying a layer three fen thick on each surface. Next put in the mercury, fit the other half of the earthen cauldron in place, and seal the joint between the two cauldrons with six-one mud (liuyi ni, a clay preparation used to seal vessels during elixir refining). After it has dried for ten days, apply heat for thirty-six days according to the method for refining the Flower of the Great Elixir (Taidanhua). Once the fire is stopped, let it cool for one day, then open the earthen cauldron. Use a feather to sweep up the elixir substance adhering to the cauldron, mix it with dragon fat (longgao), and take a dose the size of a small bean three times a day.

The scripture (Jing) states that, once ingested, it can make one an immortal who does not die. Blended with the juice of a cracked jar and taken, it will, if a ninety-year-old then continues to take it for twenty days, turn white hair black. It is also said to augment yang Jing (essence) and yin Qi (vital energy), so that after a man and a woman unite they will have countless offspring. If the Soft Elixir is used to draw a human figure on paulownia wood, it is said to have a corresponding efficacy; if it is used to write characters, male and female servants are said not to run away. Women of eighty who take it can all bear children, and officials who take it can be promoted. Heated together with lead, the Soft Elixir is said to be refinable into gold and silver, and for this reason it is also called “Yellow Gold.”

The eighth elixir.

The eighth elixir is called Fu Dan (Subdued Elixir). Its color is a deep black tinged with purple, and at times it shows a multicolored luster.

Take one jin of mercury; the amount may also be increased. Coat both the inside and the outside of an earthenware cauldron with Xuanhuang Hua (Flower of Mysterious Yellow), each coating to a thickness of three fen. Then grind cengqing (laminar malachite) and magnetite into powder, cover the mercury with the Xuanhuang Hua together with the powders of cengqing and magnetite, fit a second cauldron over it, and seal the seam between the two cauldrons with Liuyi Mud (Six-One Mud). After the mud has dried for ten days, heat and refine continuously for nine days and nights with a fire made from horse dung mixed with chaff.

Next, exchange the upper and lower cauldrons and fire for another nine days and nights; then exchange them once more and fire for another nine days and nights. Only after the upper and lower cauldrons have been exchanged nine times in this way is the heating stopped. After cooling for one day, open the cauldrons and gently brush off with a feather the sublimate adhering above. Blend it with Long Gao (Dragon Grease), return it to the cauldron, and continue the firing.

When this round of firing is finished, cool for another day, open the cauldrons and brush off the sublimate adhering above, blend it with Dragon Grease, and place it back in the cauldron to continue firing. Finally, cool for one day, open the cauldrons, brush off the matter that has sublimed upward, grind it into powder, and place it in a gold tube, a silver tube, or a fresh bamboo tube.

Each morning at dawn, face east and bow twice toward the sun, then kneel upright and ingest one daogui (an ancient unit of medicinal dosage) with Jinghua Shui (Well-Flower Water, water drawn from a well in the early morning). The Jing (scripture) says that in this way one can become a divine immortal. Take a portion the size of a jujube stone, hold it in the hand while walking, and the hundred ghosts will disperse. Write with this Rou Dan (Soft Elixir) upon the doors, and the hundred evils, the essence-specters, and the chimei wangliang will not dare approach; thieves can also be avoided, and even tigers and wolves will keep away. If a woman is alone at home and carries on her person a portion the size of a bean, it is said that the hundred ghosts and thieves will all stay far off and dare not come near.

(The original text turns to the next passage at the “ninth elixir.”)

The ninth elixir is called the “Cold Elixir” (Handan). In its preparation a vessel made of red clay is used. Both the inside and the outside of the vessel are coated with “six-one mud” (liuyi ni) to a thickness of three fen and left to dry. The method is the same as that for making the Elixir Flower (Danhua).

Take one jin each of Imperial Male (Dinan), Imperial Female (Dinü), laminated malachite (cengqing), arsenolite (yushi), and magnetite (cishi), and pound each separately into powder. First, following the method for making the Elixir Flower, wrap the materials in Mysterious Yellow (xuanhuang) and seal them into the vessel with six-one mud. Then place in one jin of Flowing Pearls (liuzhu, that is, mercury), and spread the Imperial Male, Imperial Female, laminated malachite, arsenolite, and magnetite in that order over the Flowing Pearls, with the magnetite as the uppermost layer. Cover the vessel with a second vessel, treat it as in the method for the Elixir Flower, and seal the joint between the two vessels tightly with six-one mud to a thickness of three fen.

Next take half a jin each of earth-dragon dung (tulong shi) and yellow earth and mix them into mud. According to another account, the outside is first coated with oyster and red halloysite (chishizhi) to a thickness of three fen, and then with earth-dragon dung to a thickness of three fen. This is dried in the sun for ten days until thoroughly dry. It is then fired first with a gentle fire (wenhuo) and afterward with a fierce fire (wuhuo), continuously for nine days and nine nights. After the fire is stopped and the vessel has cooled for one day, it is opened. The elixir adhering above is swept off with a feather, mixed with dragon fat (longgao) and the gallbladder of a yellow dog, and made into pills the size of small beans.

At dawn, with well water, one faces the sun, performs two bows, and swallows one pill. The scripture says that after it is taken the body becomes light and vigorous, and that within a hundred days every illness is cured. Jade Maidens (Yunü) come to attend the adept. The Director of Destinies (Siming, the deity who governs lifespan) removes the taker’s name from the register of the dead and enters it in the register of immortals (xianlu). Thereafter one can fly up and down and pass in and out without hindrance or restraint; whether sitting or standing, one may leave the dusty world, lighten the body, ride the clouds, and ascend to Heaven.