《雲笈七籤》Vol. 71

Having read the ancient formulary books exhaustively, I found them all saying that after taking elixirs, the body grows wings and one can fly and ascend. Whenever I read such accounts, I was always filled with longing, regretting only that the way of immortals and transcendents is high and far and hard to reach, and that the traces of immortals are sparse and hard to find; I could only look up at the blue sky without knowing how to ascend.

Later, I began to investigate the techniques for refining the Reverted Elixir (Huandan) and subduing fire (fuhuo), as well as elixir formulas such as Jade Nectar (Yuli) and Golden Liquid (Jinye). These methods appear plain and simple, yet it is hard to glimpse their gate; they are so profound that one cannot fathom them. If one has not accumulated hidden virtue (yinde—doing good in secret and accumulating merit), how could one resonate with these secret methods? Ingredients such as the Five Numinous (Wuling) and Three Envoys (Sanshi), and formulas such as the Nine Radiances (Jiuguang) and Seven Luminaries (Qiyao), are relatively closer to the goal of seeking the Dao (the Way). I studied these methods over a long time, and my interest grew firmer. Though the road is difficult and far, I am determined to undertake it; even if it is a lesser art, I will strive to seek it, not fearing labor from beginning to end, nor declining fatigue morning and evening. I kept delving into it, hoping to hear extraordinary views. I believe that the Dao of Heaven is impartial and responds according to what people do. As long as one does not violate one's own aspirations or waver in one's resolve, how could efficacy and recompense come too soon?

Was I doing this to show off my skills and pursue worldly gain? My intention was to cure illness and aid those in danger. Therefore I compiled two or three essential formulas for elixir methods, tested and refined them myself; in the minutest details I sought to leave no error, and I recorded the methods one by one, so that by following them all can succeed.

What people value most is life, yet life is precarious and fragile, like spring dew and autumn frost. In the space of a glance upward and downward, people seem to lose one another. Glory and lowliness are not lasting states, and sorrow, grief, joy, and pleasure are all hard to retain for long. Seen in this way, it truly makes one sigh.

Recently I have read many elixir formulas and seen a great deal, but most are written obscurely. Readers become even more confused, and expounders make people even more lost, so that cultivators cannot see the path to success. Were the ancients' words all delusive? Or is it that students of the Dao have not examined the purport within them? The essentials of elixir methods I discuss are as clear in the written records as the palm of one's hand; if one only tries to read and seek them, all can be understood. Because confidants, the penetratingly discerning, and the renowned each have different ways of verifying matters, I have divided the content into three sections.

This chapter was written by the recluse Sun Simiao.

The Catalogue of Elixirs Is Divided into Three Categories

Category One: Alternative Names of the Great Elixirs of Immortals, Thirty-Four in Total

Taiyi Jade Powder Elixir, Taiyi Soul-Summoning Elixir, Soul-Returning Elixir, Rebirth Elixir, Life-Preserving Destiny-Returning Elixir, Four Spirits Elixir, Taiyi Spirit-Essence Elixir, Divine Transformation Elixir, Divine Liquid Elixir, Borrowed Envoy Spirit-Communicating Elixir, Five Numinous Elixir, Ascending Rosy Cloud Elixir, Numinous Transformation Elixir, Three Envoys Elixir, Incense-Offering Elixir, Taiyi Elixir, Envoy Elixir, Racing Cloud Elixir, Controlling Crane Elixir, Eight Minerals Elixir, Bright Sun Elixir, White Moon Elixir, Deliverance from Calamity Elixir, Holding the Staff Elixir, Crimson Purple Wandering Elixir, Realgar Red Elixir, Red Snow Flowing Pearl Elixir, Red Radiance Elixir, Red Luminary Elixir, Double Radiance Elixir, Red and Purple Intermingled Elixir, Gen Snow Elixir, Moon Flowing Light Elixir, and Mercury White Frost Elixir. Although some people at the time claimed to use these minor elixir methods listed above, not everyone necessarily knew the various alternative names of the elixirs, so they are all listed together here.

Category Two: Alternative Names of the Great Elixirs by Which Immortals Transcend the World, Thirteen in Total

Yellow Emperor’s Nine-Cauldron Elixir, Nine-Turn Elixir, Great Return Elixir, Lesser Return Elixir, Ninefold Completion Elixir, Pure Child Immortal Youth Elixir, Nine-Transformation Elixir, Great Immortal Rosy Cloud Elixir, Great Harmony Dragon Embryo Elixir, Zhang Dafu’s Numinous Flight Elixir, Ascension to Immortality Elixir, Divine Dragon Elixir, and Immortal Ma’s Daylight Ascension Elixir. These great elixirs are not something ordinary people in the world can understand. Their names are marked out now and recorded in this chapter, but to encounter and obtain them in a short time is ultimately very difficult. Therefore, the book does not append methods for refining these elixirs. This is done only so that those who are interested may know their general names.

Category Three: Names of Elixirs Not for Use by People of the World, Twenty in Total

Eight-Scene Elixir, Golden Flower Elixir, Jade-Flavored Disaster-Dispelling Elixir, Divine Light Diffusing Fragrance Elixir, Condensed Frost and Accumulated Snow Elixir, Rushing Star Halting Moon Elixir, Falling Moon Startling Heart Elixir, Golden Liquid Jade Flower Elixir, Lord Mao’s White Snow Elixir, White Snow and Red Snow Elixir, Crimson Hanging Jade Disk Elixir, Seven Stars Evil-Repelling Elixir, Seven Luminaries Numinous Perfection Elixir, Flowing Stone Fresh Emerald Elixir, Golden Radiance Emitting Brilliance Elixir, Great Clarity Five-Colored Elixir, Northern Emperor Mysterious Pearl Elixir, Numinous Response Descending Perfection Elixir, All Ghosts Ascending Clouds Elixir, and Great White Essence Elixir. According to relevant records, although these elixirs have corresponding formulas, the ingredients required for their preparation are difficult to assemble completely, and they are not easy to make. Therefore only their names are listed here, and the methods of refining them are not described in detail; those who are interested may use this to learn a little more about the names of elixirs.

In refining gold and transmuting stone, the key lies in the “Six-One” (liuyi), a class of drugs or a method used in Daoist Waidan (external alchemy). Since ancient times, worthies engaged in refining have mostly kept this secret and refused to speak of it. The methods that have come down often use alum (fanshi), halloysite (chishizhi), left-looking oyster shell (zuogu muli), talc (huashi), Rong salt (rongyan), and bittern salt (luxian), and some arbitrarily add earthworm castings. Each of these drugs has its own method of preparation, but they differ greatly, and many practices are not clearly explained. The famous ancient arts and essential formulas seem to have been recorded completely, yet when one actually tries them, one always feels that the principle has not been fully explained and that the product does not match the records. I have often felt angry and sighed over this, and have even suspected that the ancients deliberately concealed this technique and deceived later students.

Later, when I consulted ancient formulas, I saw it said that alum should be sealed and wrapped with alum and yellow-earth mud, and after burning for one night it would naturally become a fine powder. I burned it according to this method for two or three days, but could see no change. In my leisure, I continued burning it according to the ancient formula, and after about ten days in all, I discovered that when I lightly rubbed and pressed it with my fingers, the alum had already turned into a loose powder, with a lustrous and moist surface and a fine texture, which was quite extraordinary. Later I took fresh alum and burned it for more than twenty days, until it was dry and hard as stone, yet the same change did not appear. Only then did I understand that the various refining methods cannot be copied at random; if one does not operate according to the ancient methods, one will say the method is ineffective. Such situations can be seen everywhere.

Alum also has different varieties and comes from different places. That produced in Bingzhou and Songyue is of better quality; alum from other places is not suitable for refining.

The method for refining alum is as follows: make a vessel from yellow earth, shaped like a bamboo tube, about five or six cun long and three or four cun wide. Put in the alum, filling it to within two or three fen of the opening, then cover it with a tile as a lid. Separately mix fine sand and yellow earth in equal parts into a mud, and evenly coat the body of the tube all around, with the mud layer about one or two fen thick. First dry it with a gentle fire, then smear on another layer of mud and continue drying until the mud layer is dry and heated; afterward place it in the furnace to burn. As long as it is controlled properly and carefully watched, mistakes can be avoided.

The furnace for burning alum is made thus: build the furnace body about two chi high, with the furnace chamber about one chi wide; at the lower part, open a small door on each of the four sides for ventilation and adding fire.

Remove the accumulated ash, then take another iron cauldron matching the size of the medicine tube, about three or four cun high. Place the iron cauldron in the furnace, put the medicine tube on top of the cauldron, and heat it with a charcoal fire for seven days and seven nights, keeping the firing continuous day and night. When the time arrives, take it out; there is no need to burn it for several more days. Take out the medicinal material and grind it extremely fine. Separately, coarsely pound red halloysite (chishizhi, a mineral drug) and sift it; mix it with the medicine powder into a paste, form cakes about half a cun thick and four cun wide, and dry them in the sun.

Put the medicine cakes into an alum-stone furnace (a furnace made with alum stone as its material) and heat for one day. Take them out, then pound, sift, and grind them finely again. Separately take raw red halloysite, pound and sift it finely, and mix it in equal amount with the already refined medicine powder. Then make a paste with two parts each of alum stone and red halloysite, adjust it to a suitable consistency, stir it thoroughly, and use it. Use this paste to seal and secure the iron cauldron. After sealing with the paste, when taking the medicine use only one hand to operate; do not repeatedly inspect it. In this way there is no danger that the medicinal qi will disperse. I have used this method many times and have found it simply very effective; there is nothing better.

Alum stone should be chosen from what is produced in Dunhuang. Lightly pound it, sift it through a sieve made of horsehair, put it into an iron pot, and boil it over a fierce fire until the liquid is exhausted; then pound and sift it fine. Each time after mixing red halloysite and alum stone in a 2:1 ratio, for every five liang of the powder one may add one liang of Rong salt (rongyan, a mineral salt) and two liang of bittern salt (luxian); adding them is acceptable, and not adding them is also acceptable. The making of “Six-One mud” (Liuyi ni, the mud used in alchemy to seal furnaces and vessels) was originally only for making the seal firm. Now, if one makes the mud with two medicinal materials and then adds one or two more, it may instead spoil it; why use so many kinds? The name “Six-One” is an obscure saying of the ancients: adding “one” to “six” makes “seven”; because seven medicinal materials were used to make the mud, it was called “Six-One.” People of the world do not understand the reason, and so they do not know why it is called “Six-One.”

The source of talc was originally Donghua Prefecture. People today do not investigate its origin, but use talc produced in Kunlun to make Six-One mud. The so-called “mapping north and facing south” is, by principle, not appropriate. Talc has several natures; the hard variety, after being finely pounded, sifted, and ground to smoothness, is more beneficial when used.

Method of “Left-Looking Oyster Shell” (Zuogu Muli): The so-called “left-looking oyster shell” originally was valued for its fine texture. After comparison and testing two or three times, some were used after being refined by fire, and some were used without fire refining...

None of those who use it have a clear understanding; therefore one knows that this substance is actually useless.

If there is another method that can make it effective, that is beyond my knowledge.

Method for Rong Salt (rongyan): The original formula also does not specify the origin of rong salt. Since one does not know where it is produced, one also does not know which region’s rong salt is best. I have seen people all claim to recognize rong salt, but in fact they cannot determine which kind is correct. As for salt produced in the south: because the south has no such salt, it is only what is produced in Guanzhong that is rong salt. I now set out this shallow view; I do not know whether it is correct, so I ask those who know to examine it carefully before using it. Although this salt is very expensive, its effect in use is about the same. I hope gentlemen with interest will understand this point.

Method for Luxian (bittern salt): This substance is originally produced in the northeastern corner of Tongzhou, about seven or eight li from the city, and grows in lakes and marshes. It looks like the fine-grained salt produced in rivers; its taste is bitter, but it is not salty. The original formula also does not state its place of origin. People search on flat saline-alkali ground and believe that what is produced where the soil is white and fine is this substance. Now, investigating its origin, I find this account entirely unreasonable, and in use it also has no effect. Therefore I especially point out: luxian produced in Tongzhou, when added to Liuyi mud (liuyi ni, six-one mud; the mud material used in alchemy), has an excellent binding effect. However, as long as alum (fanshi), red halloysite (chishizhi), and the like are carefully used according to the stated method, this substance is no longer needed. Those who are minded to study this need not hesitate further. The original formula also says that earthworm castings can be used to make mud; some have done so, but the result is no different from ordinary mud, and by reason it is also unsuitable for use.

As for all the various medicinal ingredients listed in the Liuyi mud formula, many users cannot accurately clarify the details; even if someone occasionally understands the ingredients, they are not necessarily familiar with the specific usage. Therefore, in seeking the subtle principles of furnace-fire elixir refining, it is truly difficult to understand every item clearly. Now I set out the relevant essentials: although the ingredients used in Liuyi mud are not many, their effect is very good; merely speaking of using “divine glue to secure the seams” is already enough to be considered first-rate—why must one invariably use Liuyi mud? Examining ancient formulas, elixir refining often did not succeed. The ancients perhaps worried that the text would be too cumbersome, so they did not record all the details; later authors therefore had no single method that could truly succeed. If one does not deeply understand the ins and outs of the matter, who can distinguish the sources and uses of these ingredients?

Methods for Making the Upper and Lower Vessels

The lower vessel referred to below is to be cast from iron: three cun deep, eight cun in inner diameter, with a bottom thickness of six...

Make a rim around the circumference four fen thick; the opening is half a cun wide and three fen thick, made level and stable.

During construction, do not let the vessel be uneven. The upper cauldron (the vessel placed above) is made one chi high and eight cun wide, about three fen thick. Only when refining flying realgar (fei xionghuang) is the upper cauldron made five cun high; apart from this, the upper cauldron need not be made uneven. The lower cauldrons (the vessels placed below) are all made circular.

Anyone who wishes to test and refine personally should make the upper and lower cauldrons according to this pattern; the general form need not go beyond this method. As long as the upper and lower cauldrons can be used properly, they will remain undamaged for a long time.

Since I took up the love of Daoist arts, nearly twenty years have passed. I tried many methods and consulted various old books, repeatedly comparing and investigating; there was almost nothing I did not do, yet I never found a reliable method. My money was exhausted, and I could not avoid falling into hardship. Only now, with this set of upper and lower cauldrons, have I escaped those difficulties.

The upper and lower cauldrons should be coated with Liuyi mud (liuyi ni, a refractory clay used to seal vessels). Adjust the mud to a suitable consistency, apply it evenly all over with a palm brush, and dry it in the sun; after it dries, apply and dry it again in the same way. Do this three or four times, until it amounts to about three fen in thickness; then it will certainly not be easily damaged. The upper cauldron may be coated once or twice, or not coated at all. The reason for coating the upper and lower cauldrons with Liuyi mud is to make them durable; why must one use ordinary clay to coat the cauldron? Mixing the mud with sugar is an old method, but in practice it has no effect. Since it is ineffective, what use is it even if it is an old method? If there are points one does not understand, one should not judge merely by ancient and modern names. The ancients were certainly wise, but in this matter there were often those who did not understand its principles.

Method for Constructing the Furnace

The furnace door is six cun high and five cun wide, made of iron. The flue should not open upward; it is better to open it downward, about three and a half cun high and two and a half cun wide. If the flue opens upward, the force of the fire will be blocked; opening it downward is better.

Method for Sealing the Upper and Lower Cauldrons with Liuyi Mud

Set aside some of the previously prepared mud and apply it evenly with a small iron spoon to a thickness of about three fen. After coating, fit the upper cauldron onto the lower cauldron and press lightly; do not use excessive force. Then use Liuyi mud to coat the joint tightly all around.

After the mud dries, dry it little by little with gentle fire (wenhuo) so that it gradually dries thoroughly. If cracks appear, take mud with the iron spoon, repair them, and seal them carefully. Until the elixir is fully refined, there is no need to inspect it again. This method is both simple and crucial.

Method of the Taiyi Jade-Powder Elixir

The preceding list gives one jin of cinnabar, one jin of realgar, and ten liang of jade powder. Jade powder is extremely hard and not easy to pound; it must be pounded in a mortar made of raw iron and then sifted twice through a coarse silk sieve. The fine powder that passes through is collected for use. Ten liang of magnetite powder is also very hard; it is prepared by the same method used for jade powder and then precipitated with water, and the fine powder is used. It may also simply be sifted and used directly.

Next take five liang each of purple quartz, white quartz, and silver powder, ten liang of kongqing (azurite), and one jin of “Liugen snow” (Liugen xue; the original notes to use silver snow). Beat these materials into thin flakes and grind them together with Hedong salt until fine, then sift through fine silk. The portion that does not pass through is, as before, ground again with added salt and sifted until all has been processed.

Mix the powdered ingredients, moisten them slightly with concentrated vinegar, blend evenly, and sun-dry; repeat this more than ten times. Then first spread white salt as a base, spread the powdered ingredients over it, and finally cover with a layer of white salt. Join the upper and lower cauldrons (the vessels used for refining) and seal them with Liuyi mud (liuyi ni, a mud used to seal alchemical furnaces). Heat with alternating gentle and fierce fire for nine days and nine nights. After stopping the fire, let it cool for one day and one night, then open and inspect. The product is said to be lustrous and bright, like cold frost and white snow, and also like the hanging tassels of stalactites, displaying many colors and difficult to compare to ordinary things.

Afterward take out the medicine again and mix it with vinegar as before, doing this three times in all; each time use white salt powder as the base and covering layer, with the same refining method. After repeating this for four or five rounds, continue refining according to the Jinying Elixir method; only after completion may it be ingested. Its potency is inferior to that of the Jinying Elixir; both elixirs are said to prolong life and cure illness. Apart from a small amount of material used to neutralize the toxicity of old elixirs, the remaining explanations are profound and difficult to understand; without mastering the oral secrets, it is hard to grasp them hastily. The method is now set out without concealment, in the hope that interested readers need not be puzzled by it.

Method of the Taiyi Three Envoys Elixir

Take one jin of mercury frost, ten liang of cinnabar, ten liang of shitingzhi, and ten liang of realgar. After separately pounding the three ingredients cinnabar, shitingzhi, and realgar, mix and arrange them as in the preceding method; then spread the silver frost over the various ingredients, cover with silk cloth, join the upper and lower cauldrons, and seal them for flying refinement (feilian, a refining method in which substances are heated in a closed vessel so that they sublime and condense). The pig fat used is the fat from near the backbone of a sow.

Method for Making the Ziyou Elixir

Five liang each of cinnabar, realgar, Luqing, and Shitingzhi. Crush and grind each of these medicinals separately into fine powder; ten liang of mercury, separately ground and prepared; three liang of chalcanthite, separately crushed and sifted.

White quartz is heated separately until its melting and boiling cease, then three liang are taken. The original text specifically notes: “This ingredient is probably an error.” Some also believe that what is meant may be sun-alum quartz (ri-fan shiying); however, alum quartz does not boil when heated. Three liang of actinolite, separately crushed; six liang of chalcanthite, separately crushed and sifted, and the kind produced in the Eastern Marchmount (Dongyue) should be selected. Five liang of alum, sifted directly and used raw. Six liang of mirabilite, separately ground fine and sifted; three liang of magnetite, separately crushed and sifted; separately take three liang of mirabilite and blend it with the remaining drugs. The remaining three liang are used to cover the drugs.

All the ingredients used for the outermost layer are processed according to the preceding method. As stated earlier, mix them with vinegar and repeat the operation ten times as prescribed. The placement of the drugs, the number of days for fei-refining (refining drugs by heating, sublimation, and similar methods), and the method of further cyclical refining are all the same as before, with no difference.

All drugs that have been fei-refined according to the preceding text must, after the refining is complete, still undergo two or three more cyclical refinings before they may be used. I have seen elixirs made by people that had no efficacy and seemed only toxic; the reason is probably that the number of cyclical refinings was insufficient, and hence they had no efficacy. The situation is exactly the same with drugs whose fei-refining is incomplete and which have not yet undergone further cyclical refining: the medicinal properties of the miscellaneous minerals still remain in the preparation; how could its toxicity not be strong?

The ancient sages established these methods with the original intent of rescuing the urgent and relieving distress. But among the world’s mediocre and foolish people, some seek only fame and profit; they neither understand medicinal principles nor study formularies. Some have seen only shallow prescriptions, and some have only heard rumors, yet they act rashly, believing that what they have learned is unmatched. There are also those who are shallow in knowledge and narrow in what they have heard; when afflicted by illness, they refuse to seek help from others. They merely put on a haughty air, are single-mindedly set on acquiring wealth, and are unwilling to appear ashamed outwardly. I do not wish to discuss such people at length here.

Nevertheless, matters concerning life and death are by no means trivial. Even if preparations from miscellaneous minerals can barely be taken, they are difficult to sustain over the long term. I hope those who understand Daoist arts will examine them carefully. If any subtle detail has been handled improperly, please correct it and bring it back to the proper course.

Method for Making the Xiaohuan Elixir

One jin of mercury; four liang of sulfur, fei-refined by the method for the Great Elixir (Dadan) until it is vermilion red and its toxicity has been removed, then ground into powder; three liang of Guangming cinnabar, separately crushed and ground fine; four liang of rhinoceros horn powder, separately crushed and ground fine; two liang of musk, separately ground fine.

Blend the five medicines on the right evenly, then knead them with date flesh to make pills the size of hemp seeds. Take one pill after each meal. It is said to treat palpitations with fright, hot wind, ghost qi, xiezhu (illness attributed to invasion by pathogenic qi), insect poison, seasonal epidemics, and malaria; it is also claimed to calm the heart and shen, tonify the five viscera, free the joints, eliminate distention, fullness, and heart pain, improve the complexion after zhong’e (sudden malignant attack), brighten the ears and eyes, and treat heat-toxin wind.

For plague and malaria, take five hundred pills; for seasonal epidemics, take ten pills in liquid; for insect poison, the method is the same as above; for palpitations, take twenty pills. Ordinarily, take only two or three pills after meals and do not take more. With long-term use, the above effects are said to be gradually obtained. Other effects cannot be enumerated one by one; only one or two are briefly noted here, and the rest may be consulted in the Bencao (Materia Medica).

Another Preparation Method

Shitingzhi four liang, mercury one jin, qianhuanghua three liang, and gold one liang (which must be made into thin sheets).

Put the mercury, gold, qianhuanghua, and other medicines into a large iron bottle and grind them finely. Take sulfur three liang and first spread it on the bottom of the bottle as a cushion; then add the previous three medicines; afterward spread the remaining one liang of sulfur powder on top to cover them. After placing them, cover the bottle tightly and seal it firmly with Liuyi mud (a mud used to seal alchemical furnaces and vessels). First use gentle fire, then strong fire, and heat for seven days and seven nights; then stop the fire, let it cool for half a day, and open the bottle. All the substances in the bottle are said to have been completely transformed into an elixir, with bright colors and dazzling luster.

Take one liang of this elixir, add cow bezoar and musk each half a qian, grind them extremely fine in a Hongzhou earthen bowl with a jade pestle, then make them into pills the size of wutong seeds with date pulp. Every day after meals, wrap three pills in a date and eat them. This method is claimed to treat wind epilepsy, epileptic seizures, insanity, and illnesses caused by ghosts, specters, and demons; with long-term use it is said to make the bone marrow firm, increase the blood vessels, moisten the skin, improve the complexion, stabilize the hun and po souls, and open the way to the Dao of immortals.

Method for Gengxue Dan

Mercury one jin, after refining becomes thirteen liang. Tin must first be broken up, then calculated by proportion: for immediate combined refining, use mercury six and a half liang and tin eight liang. The other medicines to be used are as follows, carefully recorded here:

Wu white alum six liang: place in a pot and heat over fire until it boils and the moisture is completely dried off; then pound and sieve into a fine powder. This is the method for refining white alum: if six liang are refined now, after weighing one obtains five liang. Yellow alum four liang: grind into powder, heat dry in a pot, then pound and sieve into a fine powder. Taiyin Xuanjing two liang: pound and sieve into a fine powder. Puxiao two liang: pound, then heat until all water qi is gone, and make into a fine powder. Fulonggan four liang: grind into a fine powder, take one— the original text breaks off here.

Mix the salt with the various medicinal ingredients; add six liang of salt, pound and sift into powder, place in a pot, and boil dry. First refine tin three times, then melt it and plunge it into superior vinegar to remove the tin’s toxicity. Then return the tin to the pot and melt it, add mercury, and stir with an iron rod so the two combine.

Place the pot on the ground; beside it dig a shallow pit and lay down a sheet of paper. When collecting the medicine, be careful not to let the liquid flow onto the ground; the portion that falls on the paper is the mixture of mercury and silver. Spray it with good vinegar and cover it at once. Next boil the salt until dry.

Take two liang each of yellow alum, white alum, and fulonggan (stove-center earth) and pound them together; do not leave them in the stone mortar after pounding—take them out and grind into powder, then sift through a coarse sieve. Add a little vinegar and mix evenly, just enough to make it slightly moist. Take two liang of fulonggan and spread it over the bottom of the pot, pressing it flat and firm with an iron spoon; then spread two spoonfuls of dry salt powder and press it flat and firm in the same way; then spread puxiao (a nitre-type mineral) and level and press it with a spoon. Then add the medicinal ingredients; only level them, without pressing them firm. Smooth them lightly with a spoon, cover with a basin, seal tightly, and heat with fire for three days and two nights. Open the seal and take out the medicine.

If you fear the medicine has not been fully refined, put all the medicinal ingredients and the residue in the pot together into a small basin, spray with a little vinegar, and grind finely. After grinding, take one spoonful and place it at the bottom, cover it with salt, seal it according to the previous feilian (sublimation-refining) method, and heat with fire for two days and one night. Open and inspect; the mercury should have been completely refined away. Then take out the medicine.

The book says that this medicine can calm the spirit and settle the viscera, dispel pathogenic qi, miasma, and noxious qi, as well as illnesses such as zhuwu, wind-madness, and wind-epilepsy. After three or more feilian cycles, the drug can be ground extremely fine and mixed with date pulp to form pills the size of hemp seeds. Take four pills each morning; if no abnormality is felt, gradually increase to six or seven. It also says that usually two or three pills a day are sufficient. This medicine is slightly cold in nature, so those suffering from cold diseases should not take it. The book also claims that it can treat chuanshi, malaria, miasmatic pestilence, seasonal epidemics, and various heat diseases, and that it is used externally in facial ointments to treat facial spots.

Taiyin Xuanjing is produced in the salt ponds around Xie County in Hedong and is obtained from the pond water. Its color and grain are like jade, its texture is also similar to jade, and its shape resembles a turtle shell; the very black and heavy kind is inferior, while the yellow and bright kind is best.

Method for Making the Red Snow Flowing Cinnabar Elixir (Chixue Liuzhu Dan)

The preceding passage describes a method for preparing a realgar (xionghuang) preparation: first crush and sift realgar, blend it with bitter wine and dry it, repeat this treatment, then mix it with white salt powder and seal it firmly in a cauldron, heating it first over a gentle fire and then over a fierce fire. After cooling, remove the upper layer of the medicine’s essence and grind it fine; the lower residue is also ground and mixed with the medicinal essence and rice, then processed again by the previous method. The original text says that after refining, the medicine gives off a bright light and takes the form of interwoven pearl-like threads, like an opened net.

The original text also claims that this medicine can be used for people who are suddenly stricken, whose breathing is about to cease or has already stopped; it can also treat malevolent influences and mild malaria, and it records methods for administering it by pouring and for handling those who have fainted. These are statements from ancient formula texts and must not be used on that basis for emergency rescue or treatment.

Method for Refining “Taiyang Powder”

The original text then lists materials such as Shitingzhi, salt flowers (yanhua), Fulonggan, and “Zuowei,” and describes the process of mixing, boiling and refining, placing them in a cauldron, sealing, and heating. It then cites the Bencao, saying that Shitingzhi is sour in flavor, warm in nature, and toxic, and can be used to treat women’s illnesses; the scriptural text is incomplete at this point.

These involve toxic minerals and methods of internal administration; the above is only an interpretation of ancient text content and should not be used to prepare or ingest medicine according to the formula.

It can treat genital erosion, carbuncles and hemorrhoids, congealed bad blood, hardening of the sinews and bones, hair loss, and accumulations in the chest and abdomen; it can also treat pathogenic qi, cold masses retained below the ribs, vomiting, upward rushing qi, cold feet, pain and weakness, nosebleed, malignant sores, and fistulous sores of the lower body; it also stops bleeding, kills scabies mites, and treats beriberi. Men suffering from impotence and weakening of the yang pathway, and women with coldness of the body, disharmony of blood and qi, and rumbling in the abdomen, may also take it. For any cold syndrome that cannot be cured by all kinds of medicines, recovery will occur within three to five days after taking it.

The method of taking it is as follows: grind the medicine into an extremely fine powder, mix it with cooked rice to form pills the size of wutong seeds. Take five or six pills on an empty stomach each day, swallowed with wine. If it is further combined with other herbs and made into pills, the effect is even better.

Method for Preparing the Golden Elixir

Eight liang of gold, filed into pieces and ground into powder.

Eight liang of mercury: place the foregoing gold powder together with the mercury, soak overnight, and it transforms into a mud-like substance.

One jin of realgar and one jin of orpiment.

Grind the two ingredients, realgar and orpiment, finely into powder, mix them thoroughly, and place them in a “liuyi earthen cauldron” (a ceramic vessel used in alchemical refining). After sealing, calcine over a charcoal fire for nine days and nine nights, then cool for two days, and scrape off the sublimated essence that has condensed within.

First make another tube; prepare a mud from mellow “left-flavor” lead-chai elixir, coat the inside of the tube with it, and let it dry completely. Then blend the “left-flavor flying essence” into a soft paste, pack it tightly into the tube, cover it with a copper lid, and seal it. Suspend the tube with an iron hook so that its bottom is two or three cun above the ground; heat it slowly with horse-dung fire, keeping the bottom of the tube continuously slightly warm, and refine it for sixty or seventy days. After cooling, take out the medicine; if it is cinnabar red, it is considered successfully made.

Then grind the medicine finely and mix it with date pulp to form pills the size of small beans. At dawn, facing the sun, take one pill with freshly drawn well water. After seven days, it is said that the Jade Maiden will come to serve; after two hundred days, one can perform the “traveling kitchen” (the legendary ability to obtain food without cooking it oneself); after three hundred days, one’s lifespan will be as long as heaven and earth.

This formula appears similar to the “Golden Liquid” but differs slightly. If horse dung is difficult to obtain, chaff fire may also be used.

Method for Preparing Lead Elixir

Used to treat various heat syndromes, as well as ghost qi, epilepsy, and malaria.

Four jin of lead, refined until thoroughly molten; one jin of mercury, ground with salt until clean.

Take two dou of broomcorn millet, steam it until the grains split and are cooked, then pour vinegar slurry water over the grain, cover it tightly for five or six days, and let it ferment into vinegar. Then take earth from cart ruts, sift it…

Stir the medicine in a dish until it is blended like pancake batter. Take lead, melt it, and pour it into mud; stir evenly. When it is half congealed, put the lead into a good pot and melt it again; while the lead is still hot, pour mercury into one jin of lead. After the medicinal liquid has been poured off and solidified, tie it with rope and suspend it in a pot for fourteen days. The essence within the medicine will sink by itself into the vinegar. Collect it, wash it clean, and mix it with one liang each of puxiao (crude mirabilite) and nitre; perform flying refinement three times in the manner of refining the “Flying Elixir,” each flying refinement lasting three days. After each round, collect the essence from the medicine. Finally, use cooked rice and the medicine to roll pills the size of hemp seeds. It can be used to treat all kinds of febrile diseases.

Method for Refining the Purple Essence Elixir (Zijing Dan)

One jin of mercury, half a jin of Shitingzhi.

Put the two medicines above into a bottle and seal it tightly. Mix yellow earth with paper fibers into mud and coat the body of the bottle three times, to a thickness of about one cun or more. Then cover the mouth of the bottle with a porcelain cup and seal it firmly with Liuyi mud (Liuyi ni), about half a cun thick. Heat it over fire for three days and three nights: use gentle fire (wenhuo) for the first day and first night, and fierce fire (wuhuo) for the second day and second night. When the time is complete, take out the medicine, crush it, put it into a fresh green bamboo tube, and blend it with vinegar; then place the bamboo tube in a large pot and boil it in a water bath for three days and three nights, always keeping the water at a simmer with fish-eye-sized bubbles on the surface. After the full boiling period, wash it with cold water to remove the vinegar smell and sun-dry it for one day.

Put the medicine back into the bamboo tube, add clear water and puxiao, and boil it following the previous method for one shichen (two hours). Take out the medicine, wash it clean, dry it in the sun, and pound it into an extremely fine powder. Mix it with jujube flesh and a little musk to form pills. When rolling the pills, add a little butter and oil the hands; otherwise the medicine will stick to the hands. Make the pills the size of wutong seeds.

Dosage: take five pills daily before breakfast. The text says it can treat various wind ailments, brighten the eyes, and nourish the heart; taking more than two jin can also turn white hair black. Its effects are numerous and difficult to describe one by one in detail. Contraindications are the same as those for the “Flowing Pearl Formula”; in addition, one qian of musk is used, and it must be weighed out. The “Flowing Pearl Formula” is given below.

Method for Refining the Flowing Pearl Elixir (Liuzhu Dan)

Take one jin of sulfur and cook it in a pot with a small amount of sesame oil until it turns black. Then cook it in ash lye; after the oil has been removed, grind salt finely, put it into the pot, and cook it together with the medicine. Seal the mouth of the pot with Liuyi mud and heat it with gentle fire for one day and two nights; then gradually increase the fire until the pot is red-hot. Remove the fire, wait for the pot to cool, take out the medicine, and wash it with clear water to remove the salty taste.

Take seven sheng of wine and half a sheng of honey; another account holds that one sheng of honey is used...

As in the preparation method for “Purple Essence Elixir,” boil it for three days and three nights, take out the medicine, rinse it with clean water to remove the smell of wine, then sun-dry it, crush it, sift it, and make pills with jujube pulp. Continue pounding five or six thousand times; if you can pound ten thousand times, so much the better. Make the pills the size of wutong seeds and take them on an empty stomach, thirty pills a day; if you feel heat, reduce the dose to fifteen pills. For long-term use, take only five pills a day. The original text says that ailments such as cold-wind can all be cured. While taking the medicine, avoid garlic, rice, and vinegar.

Method for Sevenfold Return of Cinnabar

Take one large jin of mercury, put it into an axe-shaped flask, cover it with an axe-shaped bowl, and seal it tightly with “Liuyi mud” (a kind of clay used in alchemy for sealing). First heat it gradually with gentle fire for six or seven days, then heat it with strong fire for one day; this counts as one turn. Repeat for seven turns, and then it can be taken. With each turn the fire must be reduced; if the fire is not reduced, the original text says the medicine may not refine properly.

Recipe for Preparing Jade Spring Eye Medicine

Take two liang of crystal, grind it into a fine powder, add half a ge of milk, put it into an axe-shaped flask, and seal it tightly with honey so that Qi does not leak out. Bury it underground for one hundred days, then take it out, fumigate it in a stove hole for one day, and then open it; the medicine should be blue-white, like jade. Take two jin of already refined lead and tin, melt them, then make the medicine into pills the size of wutong seeds, throw them in, and stir; the original text says that in this way it can be refined into true white metal.

If the eyes cannot see or are red, but the eyeball itself is undamaged, take one pill the size of a millet grain and apply it to the corner of the eye; the original text says the effect is very good.

Zhang He of Mount Tai’s Method for Boiling Stones

Six jin of zhangliu root, five sheng of apricot kernels, five sheng of sour jujube kernels, and one sheng of sophora seeds (pound separately).

First pound the sophora seeds, add water, stir, and strain off the residue; take the liquid and mix it with the other medicinal ingredients, then put everything into a watertight container. Bury the container in a shady place north of the house, one chi deep, cover it with earth, and leave it buried for one hundred days. When removed, it is called “Taiyi Divine Water.”

Separately take five sheng of blue-white river stones the size of peaches or plums, add nine sheng of water flowing from the north, and bring to a boil; add two ge of “Taiyi Divine Water” and bring to a boil once more. When the stones are cooked, they can be eaten. The original text says that after eating them for five days all illnesses are cured and one’s lifespan is extended; taken long-term, one can ascend to heaven in broad daylight. It also says that if two sheng of “Taiyi Divine Water” are used to soak two jin of raw iron, after ten days the iron will transform into silver.

Method of Adding Li and Using Dui (four methods in all)

For Li, take one liang; for Dui, take half a liang.

First place the stone into a crucible (a vessel used for smelting), then put in “Li,” then “Dui,” and stir evenly with willow wood. Next add one portion of yellow vitriol and stir evenly as before, then pour it out and form it into an ingot. Take yellow earth and zuo wei (a term from the original text whose exact referent is unclear) and mix them into a mud; make a crucible and let it dry. Then take one liang each of yellow vitriol, sal ammoniac, and hutonglü, and one sheng of red earth; also mix with zuo wei into a paste, wrap it around the outside of the ingot, place it in the crucible, and seal it tightly. Heat it with a fierce fire more than ten times, and after each heating wipe it with felt until the black vapor is completely gone. If the black vapor is difficult to remove completely, mix red salt with zuo wei into a paste, wrap it around, then bind it with tangled hair and put it into the fire to heat; after the red salt makes a sound, repeat this many times until the black color disappears. Afterward, the sal ammoniac can be made into a slurry and calcined over a cow-dung fire; it is said that the effect is quite good.

In another method, take one liang of “Li,” seven qian of “Dui,” and one qian of refined copper; melt them together and cast them into an ingot. After it cools, heat it in fire until extremely hot, quench it in a chamber pot to cool it, then forge it with a hammer. Repeat the heating and forging until the ingot sheet is as thin as paper, then cut it into finger-sized pieces. Take one sheng of yellow vitriol, grind it into powder, and pound it together with three fen of hutonglü and two fen of sal ammoniac into a fine powder. Use yellow earth mixed into mud to make a small crucible with a lid; lay the “Li” pieces inside, then wrap the powder layer by layer around the pieces, and seal the mouth of the crucible tightly. Heat it in a cow-dung fire for one day and one night, keeping the crucible red-hot throughout; this is considered to be fully refined.

In another method, melt “Li” and “Dui” together, then take Persian salt, green vitriol, red earth, hutonglü, and sal ammoniac in equal amounts, mix them with zuo wei into a paste, coat it thickly, and heat it with a fierce fire. Repeat this more than fifty times. Then grind one liang of golden teeth (jinya) into powder, put it into three sheng of jiang water, and boil it from morning to evening. Then wrap the “Li” in cloth, lay it horizontally on a piece of wood and suspend it, and do not let it touch the vessel.

In another method, take one liang each of sal ammoniac and zi mao, one fen of stone gall, and one liang of hutonglü; mix them with pig fat into a paste and spread it at the bottom of the crucible. Melt “Li” and take it out; its color will be like cinnabar and it will be glossy. After melting, make it into thin sheets. Then take ten liang of red earth, three liang of weathered ash, three liang of sal ammoniac, five liang of red salt, five liang of red halloysite, and three liang of rock salt. All the above medicines must be carefully processed, then mixed with zuo wei into a paste, and one can…

Spread Jiangliting (suspected to be a drug name) on paper to a thickness of one or two fen, then wrap it up. Use a three-cun-long fire (the text here is suspected to contain an error) to smoke and burn it with red smoke until the red smoke disperses completely. Open it, wash it with “left flavor” (a term in the original whose exact referent is unclear), wrap it as before, and burn it again; afterward wash it thirty times with jiang water. In this way, both inside and outside will emit a red glow, and it becomes the Brahma-Heaven Treasure.

Essential Method for Subduing Mercury

As soon as mercury meets fire it scatters, and it cannot be made to stay. Although there are many methods for handling mercury, without another substance to subdue it, it cannot be worked. Now, by subduing it with medicinal substances, if one follows this method there is no risk of failure.

Ingredients: tou (the drug name is unclear in the original), red halloysite, rock salt, white salt, pepper, realgar, long pepper, yellow alum stone, yellow sal ammoniac, and black salt.

Pound the above ingredients into powder, blend them with “left flavor” into a paste, form it into the shape of a pot, place mercury in the middle, wrap it well in cloth, and then pass a crossbar through it. Put it into a cauldron and boil it with “left flavor” for three days and nights. After taking it out, place it in a frost bowl; then mix equal parts of aconite, sal ammoniac, and mica with “left flavor” and grind for seven days, during which change the medicine three times and wash it. Then take a little oil, salt, and sal ammoniac, put them into a cauldron, and boil for one day and night; it is then ready for use.

Suzhen’s Method for Removing Halo Spots with Tin

Take white tin, any amount, and hammer it until it is as thin as paper, each piece two cun square. At least more than ten jin is needed before one can begin making it; if the amount is large, the heat can steam and fumigate one another, while if the amount is small it will not be enough. Take a container and fill it according to the required amount: starting from the bottom, spread a layer of garlic and Chinese chives, then alternate layers in this way until it is full. Cover the container with a suitably sized lid, seal it tightly with lacquer, and bury it in the ground for a full hundred days before taking it out; not one day less. Place the container beneath a horse-manure shed, and take it out when the time is up.

Melt one jin of tin and add one liang of top-grade toushi (a copper-zinc alloy); if the product is too soft, add more toushi; if too hard, add more white tin. Red-skinned garlic is best; the “left flavor” must be one that has been aged for three years before it can be used, and add a little salt as in ordinary seasoning.

Suzhen’s Method for Adding Toushi to White Copper

One jin of white copper, one liang of tin.

Melt them and pour them into wine; take them out and break them into pieces. Take one liang of subdued mercury, two liang of hutonglü, and one sheng of oil/fat, and boil them together until the oil/fat is exhausted; when the hufen (lead white) turns red, the fiery nature is considered subdued. Then melt the aforementioned toushi alloy and throw it into water. Next take white alum, black alum, hutonglü, sal ammoniac, and white salt, two liang each; after mixing and melting them, pour them into the Anchanchi (a vessel name; details unclear in the original)… The original text ends here.

Refining to a medium degree is sufficient. If the product is brittle and unusable, heat it until red-hot and plunge it into beef tallow; repeat this ten times, and it will become soft and flexible.

Method for Removing the Black Tarnish from Red Copper

Take refined copper and hammer it into thin sheets three cun long and three cun wide. Boil oxhide glue to a porridge-like consistency, put the copper sheets into it, then seal them well with salt and place them in a furnace, heating until the smoke is gone and the copper sheets are red-hot. Take them out, let them cool, and beat them on an anvil (an iron block used for forging metal); the black surface layer will fall off. Repeating this more than ten times is sufficient.

Then bring vinegar brine to a boil; heat the copper sheets red-hot and plunge them into the brine, take them out, and scrub them. Next, put them into a crucible and melt them, pour the melt into ash lye, and let it scatter into granules. When the granules are yellow-white, repeating the process ten times is sufficient; there is no need to continue pouring it into ash lye. Every ten liang of raw material can yield three liang of “dui” (a term in the original; the alloy or material indicated is unknown). Finally, wash it in plum syrup to whiten it.

Persian Method for Adding Ingredients to Brass Using Chinaberry Fruit

Materials: one dan of black plums, one dan of chinaberry fruit, one jin of sal ammoniac (naosha; a mineral drug, often referring to ammonium chloride-type substances), two jin of Persian brass (a copper alloy introduced from Persia), one sheng of sparrow droppings, one jin of Hezhou la (a tin-type alloy produced in Hezhou), and five liang of dui.

Take two sheng of chinaberry fruit and grind it with matured wine; then take two sheng of fresh vinegar and half a sheng of sparrow droppings, grind them together, add one ge of salt, and mix thoroughly. Make a mulberry-wood trough eight cun long, three cun wide, and seven cun deep, and put the above medicinal liquid into the trough. Melt one jin of Persian brass, add a small amount of sal ammoniac, and stir thoroughly; after the molten metal becomes clear, pour it into the medicinal liquid in the trough. After it cools, take it out, wipe it clean with felt, then dry it by heat; it can be used the next day. Avoid iron utensils when stirring. Repeat this ten times; pouring the molten metal into the medicinal trough for treatment gives better results.

Take ten liang of white dui, four liang of Persian brass, and one liang of refined tin. First melt the dui, then add the Persian brass and tin in order, then add sal ammoniac and stir; pour out and cast into ingots, and the result is very good. If the product is brittle, boil it in beef tallow to soften it; if the color is not bright, wash it with plum syrup.

Suzhen’s Essential Method for Using Brass

Take two liang of refined Persian brass, two liang of dui, a little sal ammoniac (about the size of three beans), and three finger-pinches of salt. Put them into a crucible, mix and melt them, wait a moment, then heat until red-hot and pour into salt water. Repeat four or five times, and finally wash clean with plum syrup.

Calcine the medicinal substance repeatedly six or seven times, until it turns white. Before placing it into plum syrup (a liquid prepared from plums), first heat it until red, then plunge it into the syrup. The syrup should also be held in a porcelain vessel and heated until warm.

Essential Method for Using Realgar in Suzhen (Suzhen: here it denotes the name of an alchemical technique; this method seems also to require orpiment. A marginal note in the original says, “see the later method for subduing the two yellows”):

One liang of realgar (xionghuang) and one liang of orpiment (cihuang). Boil them in pig fat for three hundred boilings; then, while hot, take ten liang of copper, blend in three liang, and stir to melt it. Then add powdered black alum (heifan); the effect is good.

Suzhen Method for Using Iron:

Take ten liang of raw iron, pound it, sift it fine, and grind it. Beat tin into thin sheets and form them into a cup shape; wrap the iron powder inside. Burn Liemu wood (a kind of wood named in the original) to ash, grind it thoroughly until it is glossy, and then set the tin cup in place. Place it in a crucible and heat it in a wind furnace. When the iron is about to melt but has not completely melted, take it out; do not let it crack apart. Wrap it in paper and place it above the iron in the furnace; the iron will then boil. After the tin has set, place it properly and blend in the medicinal ingredients; when it boils, place the blended material on the iron. If the two cannot fuse, add some more. At this point the original text has “Wulangteng,” which is suspected to be either a drug name or an operational instruction. After the blended material fuses with the iron, grind the blended material with an iron piece and scrape away the unclean parts. When it is no longer active, put it into the furnace and cover it with hot ash. After some time, use an iron piece to remove the remaining heat, and with a bamboo splint dipped in water dot the blended material, sprinkling it two or three times; after that it can be used as needed.

The original also describes Wulangteng: its stem is as thick as a finger, and its fruit can also be eaten and is slightly sweet. It grows in the mountains and sometimes on level ground, twining around grasses and trees; the stem has thorns, which grow in pairs; the leaves are like goose teeth, about the size of a finger, and are paired opposite one another. When collecting it, do not disturb the plant; take it out with the root, and it must be dried in the shade, not in the sun. The fruit ripens in the seventh and eighth months and is red. For smelting iron, plowshare iron is best; choose the white kind, for other irons are all unsuitable.

Method for Subduing Realgar and Orpiment with Tin (using tin to process realgar and orpiment; judging from the recipe, orpiment should be included, but the extant base text is missing the relevant content):

Ten liang of realgar, ground into powder; three liang of tin. Melt them together in a pot, pour into a leather bag, and knead into pieces; then put into a crucible and heat. After the medicinal substances are put into the crucible, cover it tightly and seal it; place it in a wind furnace and heat it with bellows until the crucible is red-hot. Open it after cooling; if the color is like gold, it is suitable for subduing fire (fuhuo). The proportions of the two medicinal substances are found in other records.

Method for Making a Naosha Paste Bath

Five liang of naosha (an ancient drug name, often referring to an ammonium-salt-bearing mineral), half a sheng of black plum (pounded), and one sheng of Zuowei (left-flavor liquid). Put the above materials into an earthenware cauldron and boil until the original liquid has reduced by two-fifths; it is then ready for use.

Method for Making Plum Slurry

Two sheng of plums, pitted and pounded. Put the plums, one sheng of water, and half a sheng of salt into an earthenware cauldron and boil. After boiling until red, wash and process them.

Method for Making the Combined Ghost-Killing Pill during Alchemical Refining

Cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, veratrum, gui bimu, peach kernel, aconite, aconite root, pinellia, sulfur, croton, rhinoceros horn, gui jiu, musk, white and red Atractylodes, gui jian, centipede, wild kudzu, and cow bezoar. Take two fen of each of the above, pound and sift into powder, and blend with yincao juice into pills, each the size of a chicken egg. Burn one pill, and it is said that a hundred ghosts will immediately flee in terror. Ge Hong’s Baopuzi uses this medicine to flying-refine the Sanqi Elixir (Three Marvels Elixir).

Method for Refining Alum and Subduing and Storing Mercury

Ten jin of Bingzhou alum. Pound into powder, mix thirty times with Guazhou alum and Zuowei, then place in a cauldron and sublime-refine. Open it once every twenty-one days, add another one-third raw alum, mix again with the original material, and sublime-refine again. Raw alum has a stronger medicinal potency; once they have bonded with one another, stop the operation. After refining for more than thirty days, the product will take on an ant-like shape, lustrous and lovely; refining for a full hundred days is even better.

After taking it out, wrap it in silk cloth, place it in a tube, and steam for three days and three nights; then grind it into powder. Each liang of this powder can be used to subdue one jin of mercury. If you wish to make the mercury turn red, boil it with Zuowei until dry; when the color is purple-red, it is ready. Leave it in the cauldron without letting it rise; refine it by the corresponding method, then wrap it in a chijin (red jade) mass, place it in a wind furnace, and burn for a hundred days, whereupon it will weather into ash.

Another method: three jin of alum with one jin of fat, stir-fried in an iron vessel until the fat is exhausted. Take ten jin of mercury and heat it with alum in an iron vessel over a fierce fire, stirring until the smoke/qi has entered it; this is considered complete. Then seal the mercury refined earlier tightly in a mud ball, place it in a cauldron, and burn for nine days and nine nights; it is then ready for use. If it is first thoroughly boiled with fat and then burned in a crucible for a hundred days, the result is even better. It may also be boiled in a pot with alum powder added: after one refining the product resembles tin; after two, it resembles stone.

Method for Making White Jade

Take large gelou, pound into fine powder, take one jin and put it into a bamboo tube; add saltpeter, seal tightly, and place in Zuowei for twenty days, whereupon it will transform into water.

Take another half a jin of white quartz, pound it into powder, and put it into a tube. Heat it with a strong charcoal fire until it turns red; when removed, it will congeal into white jade, and it can also be taken orally.

Method for Making Pearls

Take lustrous mussel shells, pare away the surface layer, and boil them until cooked in vinegar. Remove them, cut them into thin strips, then roll them into beads of any size desired. Slit open the belly of a carp, put the beads inside, close the belly again, and steam until thoroughly cooked. The beads should be drilled with holes before steaming and threaded through the holes with pig bristles.

Take mica, boil it several times in white sheep’s milk, remove it and let it cool until warm, then soak the beads in it. After one night, wash them, and they are finished.

Another Method

Use fish maw glue and mussel-shell powder to make beads of any size, and drill holes in them. Bake them over a gentle fire, then roast them until dry. Support a pottery jar on two bricks, place the beads on a tile on top of the jar, cover with another tile, seal the gaps between the bricks with mud, and make it look like a stove. Burn grass fire until it turns red, then remove the beads.

Then put mussel-shell powder into a tube; place the beads four at a time in a vessel and soak them for ten days in what the original text calls “left flavor.” When the beads change color, they are considered finished. The term “left flavor” here is from the original text, and what it specifically refers to is unclear.

Method for Making Stone Green

Mix one jin of copper green, half a jin of stone black, five liang of orpiment, and one jin of cypress juice, then sun-dry. The original says “ru jin yong zhi,” whose meaning is not very clear; according to the sense of the text, once it is made it can be used.

Method for Making Stone Black

Take half a jin of sappanwood, cut it up, add two dou of water, and boil it; take eight sheng of the juice. Then add two fen of lime, stir until thick, and continue boiling until the liquid is exhausted. After removing it, soak it in indigo juice for five days, and it is ready for use.