《太極真人九轉還丹經要訣》

The Essential Instructions on the Nine-Cycle Reverted Elixir Scripture of the Supreme Ultimate Perfected provides detailed records on crafting the necessary vessels and herbal formulas for refining the nine-cycle Reverted Elixir (Jiuzhuan Huandan).

First, it explains how to make the "Divine Cauldron" (Shenfu), the alchemical vessel: Select clay from Xingyang, Changsha, and Yuzhang regions to form an earthen cauldron with a capacity of three and a half dou and walls four fen thick. Six materials are required: left-curving oysters from the East Sea, white quartz powder, mica powder, earthworm castings, talc, and white arsenic. Each ingredient is pounded twenty thousand times separately, mixed together, then pounded another thirty thousand times before being sifted through fine silk. Blend with aged bitter wine fermented for a hundred days to form a paste, then pound ten thousand more times. Apply this paste to coat the cauldron's interior and exterior to a thickness of three fen, first drying it in shade, then applying three additional layers under weak sunlight until the walls reach a total thickness of one inch and three fen.

After the paste dries, mix red lead with bitter wine into a paste and apply a three-fen layer inside the cauldron, allowing five days for drying in shade. Apply another two-fen layer, ensuring no hairline cracks remain. Finally, seal any gaps with a goat-hair brush dipped in the paste. The completed Divine Cauldron must be placed in a secluded area of a famous mountain near an eastward-flowing river.

Next, it describes constructing the "Divine Furnace" (Shenzao): Within a building forty zhang long and twenty zhang wide, raise the foundation four chi high, first excavating three chi deep to check for ancient tombs. The structure should have southern, eastern, and western doors. Build the furnace at the center with its opening facing west, its chamber large enough to hold an iron stand and the earthen cauldron, maintaining a nine-cun gap between furnace and cauldron. Construct it with bricks and fine clay mortar, ensuring no cracks.

Finally, the elixir ingredients are listed:

• Alum: 1 jin
• Azurite: 3 jin (if available, substitute with chrysocolla)
• White quartz: 2 jin
• Cinnabar: 10 jin (must be vibrantly colored without staining paper; the finest comes from Jinzhou)
• Realgar: 4 jin (must be bright red without staining paper)
• Orpiment: 5 jin
• Mercury: 6 jin

These records reflect the stringent requirements of ancient Daoist alchemy (Waidan) regarding vessel construction and ingredient selection, demonstrating both the precision and sacred nature of the elixir-refining process.

This passage details the procedure for creating the "Nine-Cycle Reverted Elixir" (Jiuzhuan Huandan). Seven ingredients are required: mercury (used whole) and six other materials (alum, azurite, white quartz, cinnabar, orpiment, and realgar), each of which must be pounded thirty thousand times.

The process unfolds as follows:

1. Ingredients are layered sequentially in the alchemical furnace (fu): first alum, followed by azurite, white quartz, cinnabar, orpiment, and finally realgar spread evenly as the top layer.

2. Six jin of mercury are poured over the realgar to cover it completely.

3. The furnace lid is sealed: first, the lower furnace’s seams are luted with red lead paste, then the upper furnace is placed atop and similarly sealed to ensure an airtight connection.

4. An additional layer of red lead paste, 1.2 cun thick (~3.6 cm), is applied over the seams. For earthen furnaces, three layers of paste are required, each dried before the next is applied.

The heating protocol involves:

• Placing the furnace on an iron stand (with four legs, 9 cun tall).
• Initial heating with chaff fire, maintained 6 cun (~18 cm) below the furnace for nine days and nights.
• Increasing the fire’s intensity, moving it to 3 cun (~9 cm) below for another nine days and nights.
• Direct contact fire at 3 cun from the furnace base for nine days and nights.
• Shifting the fire to 3 cun from the furnace’s midsection for nine days and nights.
• Raising it to 2 cun from the midsection (totaling 5 cun in height) for nine days and nights.
• Final heating 1 cun below the seams for nine days and nights.
• The full cycle spans ninety days and nights, completing the "Nine-Cycle Reverted Elixir."

After cooling for seven days, the upper furnace is opened to reveal the elixir—glowing in nine colors—adhering to its interior. It is carefully brushed off using feathers from a three-year-old rooster and stored in an airtight container. A dosage of two liang is taken at dawn, facing east with clear water, purportedly granting invisibility, shape-shifting abilities, and ascension to the celestial void.

(Note: This ancient alchemical method involves toxic heavy metals—do not attempt replication.)

This scripture records the methods and miraculous effects of the "Nine-Cycle Reverted Elixir" (Jiuzhuan Huandan) in Daoist alchemy.

The first part describes the effects of ingesting the Golden Elixir (Jindan): After consuming this divine pill, celestial beings will dispatch envoys riding golden elixir chariots to welcome the practitioner. The adept can transform into thousands of white cranes and ascend to the celestial realm (Taiwei refers to the heavenly constellations), attaining an immortal body as enduring as the sun, moon, and stars. The elixir reverses aging, bestowing a jade-like radiance to the face and a luminous glow around the neck—all manifestations of the miraculous power of the Nine-Cycle Reverted Elixir.

The second part details the alchemical method:

1. Boil ten catties of lead in an iron vessel over intense fire, then add one zhu (an ancient weight unit) of "Nine-Cycle Essence" (a refining material). Stirring it will immediately transform the mixture into nine catties of gold.

2. Boil one catty of mercury and seven catties of tin in a cauldron three times, then add one zhu of "Nine-Cycle Essence." Stirring will instantly turn it into silver. If the experiment fails, repeat the refining process for another ninety days using this method.

The third part explains the elixir’s extraordinary effects:

1. Mix the elixir residue with white sand honey and pound it fifty thousand times to form "Supreme Ultimate Life-Restoring Divine Pills" (Taiji Huanming Shenwan), each the size of a phoenix tree seed.

• Can revive those dead for no more than three days
• Can heal disabilities, deafness, blindness, and other ailments (taken internally as two pills or applied externally as powder)
• Taking one pill daily grants immortality
• Applying it to lost objects makes them return on their own

The fourth part outlines precautions for elixir refinement:

1. The earthen crucible (a ceramic alchemical vessel) must remain undamaged and can be reused, but it must be resealed with lead-enriched mud each time.

2. If the fire’s intensity is insufficient, reseal and refine for another thirty-six days.

3. Before refining, observe purification and fasting (zhai) for one hundred days. Begin the process at dawn on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, abstaining from all worldly affairs during this period.

4. Select three (or at least two) sincere Daoist practitioners of upright character to assist in the refinement. All must strictly adhere to fasting practices.

The Essential Instructions on the Ninefold Reverted Elixir Scripture of the Supreme Ultimate Perfected One details precautions and supplementary formulas for cultivating the Ninefold Reverted Divine Elixir:

During practice, one must maintain purity, avoiding contact with corpses or defiled objects, and abstain from taboo animals like chickens and dogs. Most failures in cultivation stem from neglecting these details. This Ninefold Reverted Elixir formula contains oral instructions personally transmitted by Lord Wang (a Daoist transcendent), ensuring smooth operation. With pure medicinal ingredients, strict purification rituals, and practice in secluded, tranquil locations, success is assured.

When commencing purification rites, first pour five hu of clear wine into nearby flowing water. If no flowing water is available, pour it into a good well to harmonize terrestrial Qi. All participants must drink this water. When transmitting the elixir scripture's secret instructions, replace the traditional hair-cutting and blood-oath ceremonies with an eight-ounce golden fish and jade dragon pendant (ritual implements). If unavailable, substitute forty feet of fine blue cloth for the golden fish and forty feet of plain silk for the jade dragon pendant. These fabrics should be offered to the scripture-transmitting master to support impoverished practitioners dwelling in mountain retreats—never for personal use—demonstrating sincerity toward the Heavenly Dao. Violators of this covenant who leak secrets will face retribution.

Two supplementary formulas follow:

1. The Yellow Emperor's Four-Fan Powder (preparation before Ninefold Elixir cultivation):

Composed of pine resin, alisma rhizome, atractylodes, dried ginger, mica, dried rehmannia, acorus gramineus from stone crevices, and cinnamon twigs. Grind finely, pound forty thousand times, and store sealed, protected from women, livestock, or defilement. Take with wine, three to seven square-cun spoonfuls (approx. 1g each); or with water; or form into honey pills the size of soybeans, consuming 20-30 daily. Six months of use clears turbid Qi, cures all ailments, and prepares the body for ingesting the Golden Elixir. This longevity secret was obtained by the Yellow Emperor from Feng Hou (his minister).

2. Queen Mother of the West's Four-Youth Powder (for pre-elixir conditioning):

Contains sesame, asparagus root, poria, atractylodes, and dried polygonatum. This formula expels Yin-pathogenic Qi, preserves Yang Qi, harmonizes blood and Qi, and nourishes the six bowels.

(Note: Original terms: "defilement" refers to ritual impurity; "hu" is an ancient volume measure; "square-cun spoon" is an ancient dosage unit ≈1g)

The Essential Formulas of the Ninefold Reverted Elixir by the Supreme Ultimate Perfected records two important sets of Daoist longevity techniques:

The first section details an "age-reversing" elixir formula:

Take six medicinal ingredients including peach kernels (removing the red skin and using only the white flesh), finely grind them together with roasted sesame seeds, and pound the mixture thirty thousand times. It can be taken with wine for twenty-one consecutive days, or with water, or formed into honey pills—consuming thirty pills each morning. This secret method restores youthful vitality by effectively nourishing Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy).

The second section describes five celestial mushrooms transmitted by Lord Mao (founder of the Maoshan tradition):

On Mount Juqu (modern Maoshan) grow five miraculous fungi. Daoist seekers should ascend the mountain on an auspicious day in the third or ninth lunar month, carrying a pair of metal or jade earrings. After making three reverent prayers as a covenant, they must toss the earrings among the mountain rocks without looking back—an immortal protocol demonstrating sincerity through precious offerings.

The five fungi are:

1. Dragon Mushroom: Resembles a coiling dragon with scale-like leaves. Consuming it elevates one to an immortal official of the Supreme Ultimate (Taiji).

2. Ginseng-Form Mushroom: Glows red throughout, its branches producing metallic chimes when touched. Eating it confers the rank of Supreme Ultimate Grandee.

3. Swallow-Embryo Mushroom: Purple leaves bearing swallow patterns. Ingesting one stalk transforms the practitioner into a Dragon-Tiger Immortal Lord of Great Clarity (Taiqing).

4. Night-Illuminating Cavern Herb: Blue-green plant with white fruits that glow in darkness. Consuming one stalk grants the position of Left Censor in the Taiqing celestial court.

5. Jade Node Mushroom: Eating its core portion elevates one to a Censor of the Three Offices.

The scripture emphasizes these fungi were specially cultivated on Maoshan by the Three Perfected Lords. Only sincere adepts wholly devoted to Daoist practice may encounter the superior varieties; those with inadequate cultivation will only find lesser specimens.

This passage conveys: Those who practice the Dao with laziness and slackness cannot even maintain their original foundation of cultivation—shouldn't this be treated with utmost caution? How can one not be especially vigilant? The Five Sacred Mushrooms (Wuzhi) and Divine Herbs (Shenrong) possess extraordinary efficacious powers, which is why they are specifically mentioned in the concluding section on refining the Reverted Elixir (Huandan, a high-level alchemical substance in Daoist practice).

This excerpt from The Essential Instructions on the Ninefold Reverted Elixir Scripture of the Supreme Ultimate Perfected (Taiji Zhenren Jiuzhuan Huandan Jing Yaojue) emphasizes the proper attitude for cultivation. The "Ninefold Reverted Elixir" (Jiuzhuan Huandan) refers to one of the most advanced elixirs in Daoist alchemy, requiring nine cycles of refinement. "Supreme Ultimate Perfected" (Taiji Zhenren) is an honorific title for high-ranking Daoist adepts. The text particularly warns practitioners: the alchemical pursuit of the Dao demands unwavering diligence—otherwise one risks losing even their existing attainments. It simultaneously highlights the unique role of certain rare medicinal ingredients in the alchemical process.