《雲笈七籤》Vol. 78

This fascicle comes from the Yunji Qiqian, the large Daoist encyclopedic collection compiled by Zhang Junfang in the Northern Song, juan 77, in the “Prescriptions and Medicines” section, and was submitted by Zhang Junfang, Collator of the Jixian Academy.

Method of the Golden Elixir of the Immortal Mother of the Jade Hall of Western Florescence of the Great Cavern (“Dadong” refers to the Dadong Zhenjing, a core scripture of the Shangqing school; “Xihua” refers to the immortal lineage of the Queen Mother of the West)

Preparation: take three dou of congealed white honey, three jin of true cinnabar with a lustrous color and white flecks, and two jin of finely prepared mica fragments. Mix the three evenly and put them into a copper vessel. Cover the copper vessel, then place it in a large pot of boiling water so that the vessel floats on the water, and simmer over a low fire of mulberry wood until the honey and medicines are completely dried through. Remove the copper vessel, let it cool for three days, then sun-dry it until dry, pound it into powder, return it to the copper vessel, and seal it tightly.

Next, put the copper vessel into a zeng (steamer) on the stove and steam it with the best mulberry firewood for thirty days. Note that fire should be used only during the daytime, all day long; at night no fire is lit. When the number of days is complete, take out the elixir, sun-dry it on a high rack, pound it thirty thousand pestle strokes, sieve it into a fine powder, put it back into the copper vessel, cover it as in the initial method, and place it in a large pot of water to boil while floating for three days and three nights. When finished, it is called the “Immortal Mother Golden Elixir,” also named the “Queen Mother of the West’s Flying Elixir That Arrests the Years and Stops White Hair.”

Then let it cool for another three days, sun-dry it, pound it another thirty thousand pestle strokes, sieve it into a fine powder, and knead it with congealed white honey into pills the size of small beans.

Dosage and effects: take twenty pills each morning. Long-term use can bring unending life, with a face as youthful as a maiden’s. If, while taking the elixir, one recites the Dadong Zhenjing ten thousand times, one can immediately ride the clouds and ascend to heaven, no longer lingering in the human world to play amid the dust. Those who take this elixir without reciting the Dadong Zhenjing can roam the world for a long time. There are no dietary taboos when taking the elixir; one may eat and drink freely. Such a person can constantly move among ordinary people in the world without being noticed. This is what is meant by a true immortal blending with the mundane world and concealing his transformations throughout the eight directions.

Timing requirements: fast and observe ritual purity for thirty-nine days beforehand, and compound this elixir at noon on the seventh day of the seventh month.

Numinous Pills of the Seventy-Four Methods for Anchoring the Hun-Soul, Securing the Po-Soul, and Soaring Aloft (meaning a pill medicine that stabilizes the hun and po souls and enables one to travel through the four quarters)

The ingredients and amounts listed in the prescription are as follows: mica, four liang; realgar, four liang; zhengui (the name of a medicinal substance), four liang; saltpeter, four liang; xuanshen, four liang; sophora seed kernels, four liang; dragon bone, five liang; zhuling (a drug of the Polyporus type), four liang; Qingqiu frost, four liang.

Take four liang of Hu Zhang (Japanese knotweed) flowers (shade-dried), two liang of cloves, two liang of Qingmuxiang, two liang of agarwood, four liang of frankincense, two liang of Zhankang, three liang of Rong salt, eight liang of azurite, eight liang of cinnabar, four liang of mineral black, two liang of white quartz, two liang of Sun Infant Feather Robe, two liang of Moon Essence Supreme White Flower, and four liang of peach blossoms.

There are another three drugs: one sheng and two ge of Bijie Yin Essence Flowing Flower, to be collected on a jian day in the ninth month and stored separately; one sheng and two ge of Qi-Binding Essence-Coagulating White Flower Elixir, to be collected on a jian day in the twelfth month and stored separately; and one sheng and two ge of Divine Flower Yin Essence Flowing Pearl, to be collected on the winter solstice and also stored separately.

The above makes twenty-seven drugs in total; the original text states that twenty-six had been listed earlier, and that Bai Hancheng was added later, making twenty-seven. The twenty-four drugs above are modeled on the twenty-four deities; the other three correspond to the essential Qi of the Three Primes. Above, they resonate with the Nine Dawns and coagulate the hun and po souls. Five-colored sulfur can transform forms and alter appearances, and its transformations have no fixed shape. Therefore, when a person takes this medicine, it can settle the Shen and make the Qi peaceful.

The drugs should be compounded on a jian day in the third month, and the pills taken on a ren day in the fifth month. When compounding begins, start with mica; in order, pound each drug separately three thousand pestle-strokes. The peach blossoms are combined with the other twenty-four drugs and pounded together seventy-two thousand pestle-strokes. After pounding, place them separately on twenty-four trays.

Before pounding the drugs, one must fast and purify for thirty days. After the ritual is completed, have virgin girls who tend the incense watch over them nearby; they must speak little, be careful in speech, and conduct themselves uprightly. The scripture also requires that those who tend the medicine have fragrant flesh and bones with fragrant Qi. The drugs are placed on the twenty-four trays and set in the center of the courtyard to be exposed to dew for three nights, without letting chickens, dogs, or outsiders see them, and without letting the drugs hear the sound of weeping.

After the dew exposure is finished, place the drugs into the cauldron in order: first mica, then realgar, and finally peach blossoms; the remaining twenty-four are also added in order, layer covering layer, until the cauldron is full. Then, in order, add one sheng and two ge each of Bijie Yin Essence Flowing Flower, Qi-Binding Essence-Coagulating White Flower Elixir, and Divine Flower Yin Essence Flowing Pearl, collected in the north. Finally, pour one dou and two sheng of clear millet □ over the drugs, then put the lid on the cauldron.

First seal the bottom of the vessel and all around it, inside and out, with a tight layer of mud about seven-tenths of an inch thick. Then place the mica underneath. The medicinal vapors rise upward, so the peach blossoms are placed above. The ingredients follow this order according to their colors and positions.

First prepare “Six-in-One Mud” to seal two earthenware cauldrons. Take equal portions, six parts each, of East Sea left-looking oyster shells, Rong salt, red stone fat, red lead, talc, earth from an earthworm mound, and yellow earth. Mix and pound them finely, sift them, then blend them with rice vinegar aged for a hundred days. Pound repeatedly until smooth to make Six-in-One Mud.

Apply the mud gradually in thin layers to the inside and outside of both earthenware cauldrons, then leave them in the sun to dry. Once dry, apply another layer, repeating and gradually thickening the coating until the mud is about two and a half inches thick inside and out. When this is done, build a furnace facing south and set the cauldron in its center, with the bottom one foot and two inches above the ground. Use rice chaff for fuel.

For the first nine days and nights of refining, keep the fire nine inches from the cauldron. For the next nine days and nights, increase the heat and bring the fire to within six inches. For the final nine days and nights, continue increasing the heat until the fire is three inches from the bottom of the cauldron. After refining for twenty-seven days in total, extinguish the fire and let the cauldron cool for three days before opening it to inspect. If the essence of the medicine has risen and adhered to the inner wall of the upper cauldron, the “divine medicine” is considered complete. If it has not risen, seal the cauldrons again with mud in the same way, then heat them for another twenty-seven days as before and let them cool for three days. The text says that this process will eventually produce the medicine.

Use the feathers of a three-year-old rooster to sweep up the medicinal powder that has risen. The text calls this divine medicine “Flying Elixir,” “Purple Brush Blossom,” or “Flowing Essence.” It says that its color changes in many ways, and that its black radiance glitters and gleams, undergoing seventy-four transformations. Taking one zhu is said to make the whole body shine with flowing radiance. Spit to the left, and the Three Soul youths will appear; spit to the right, and the Seven Po youths will transform into seven youths. They wear feathered gowns of flying gauze and ride in divine carriages and jade chariots, arriving before you in an instant.

If the medicine solidifies at the bottom of the cauldron, it becomes a paste called “Jade Embryo and Jade Nectar.” Mix it with white honey, place it in a mortar, and, facing east, pound it seventy thousand times. Take one zhu at a time and form it into a pill. Once the pills are made, seal them and leave them outdoors in the center of a courtyard for three days and three nights. Then take one pill at dawn for three consecutive days, three pills in all. The text says that this enables one to ride through the air and tread the void, entering and leaving what is and what is not. If one takes a total of seven pills by the seventh day, one is said to be able to fly through the air, the body appearing in five colors, with fifty thousand divine officials of the Five Peaks guarding and accompanying one.

Facing east, take nine pills, and it is said that a Green Cloud Chariot will arrive, drawn by a Green Dragon, together with ninety Green Yang Jade Youths, ninety Green Waist Jade Maidens, and nine… officials of the Eastern Peak Immortal Court.

Taking eight pills will summon a thousand people to welcome you.

Facing south and taking eight pills, crimson clouds and a carriage will appear, with red dragons drawing the carriage and holding the reins. From the Crimson Palace (the southern immortal realm), eighty Jade Youths, eighty Taiyi Chigui Jade Maidens, and eight thousand immortal officials of the Southern Marchmount will come to welcome you.

Facing west and taking six pills, white clouds and a jade carriage will appear, driven by six dragons. Sixty Jade Youths of the Yaoling Palace, sixty Suling Jade Maidens, and six thousand immortal officials of the Western Marchmount will come to welcome you.

Facing north and taking five pills, black clouds and a flying carriage will appear, with dark dragons holding the reins. Fifty Jade Youths of the Taiji (Supreme Ultimate) Palace, fifty Taixuan Jade Maidens, and five thousand immortal officials of the Northern Marchmount will come to welcome you.

Facing the Wu and Ji positions and taking three pills, yellow clouds and a jade carriage will appear, driven by twelve flying dragons. Twelve Jade Youths of the Central Yellow Mechanism, twelve Huangsu Jade Maidens, and one thousand two hundred immortal officials of the Central Marchmount will come to welcome you. If you take five pills, then immortal officials of the Five Marchmounts will present jade tablets and phoenix documents, inviting you to the Golden Tower of the Nine Offices to receive an appointment and obtain the title of a True Immortal. These are the wondrous effects of the numinous pills. They also have seventy-four transformations, able to produce gold, silver, precious treasures, and jade, to make red trees bear crimson fruit, and to cause water and fire to manifest wondrous transformations. These effects surpass such numinous substances as Langgan, the Eight Radiances, and the Four-Stamen Crimson-Born Divine Elixir; they cannot be described one by one. Here I have only briefly cited their main and subtle transformations.

If you merely wish to roam the Five Marchmounts and travel throughout the eight directions, do not wish to assume the duties of an immortal official, do not wish to be constrained by the bureaus (immortal-world posts and affairs), and have no intention of ascending to heaven, then you need not take the Five-Direction Numinous Pills. If you simply take three or seven pills regularly, you can stabilize the hun and po souls, make the body light and vigorous, roam the seventy-four directions and the Five Marchmounts, and have a lifespan equal to the sun, moon, and stars. The remaining procedures can follow the pill quantities of the five directions. If you take the Five-Direction Numinous Pills, you will become an immortal official of the Five Marchmounts; since you hold office in the Five Marchmounts, you will have duties and cannot act at will.

The Perfected of the Southern Marchmount, Zheng Piyun, Transmits the Formula for the Five-Phases Seven-Flavor Pill

The Supreme Sovereign’s Elixir Formula for Protecting Life and Securing Jing (essence): This method combines medicinal substances, causing them to accord with Yin-Yang, Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy), and the essences of the Five Phases, and arranges them according to sovereign and minister. Its effects are to secure Jing and protect life, nourish Qi and calm Shen (spirit), regulate the Five Viscera and supplement the Six Bowels; it causes the weak and failing to gradually become full, the aged and withered to recover moisture, and the blood vessels to become strong...

It can strengthen sinews and bones, turn white hair black again, and even make the hair of infancy grow anew, with wondrous effects.

Records of this kind cannot be exhausted one by one. If elixir pills do not accord with the Dao (the Way) and its methods, they cannot be used to prolong life; if Dao methods lack medicine, by what means can one nourish the body? When Dao and medicine support each other, why worry that chronic and stubborn illnesses (long-standing diseases difficult to cure) cannot be healed?

(A certain person) loved studying medical prescriptions from childhood. He crossed mountains and ridges, threaded through cliffs and valleys, climbed mountains and forded rivers, seeking teachers and inquiring into the Dao, for more than twenty years altogether. By the age of fifty, his body was still very weak. He had long sought the Dao with bitter effort and had always longed to investigate the mysterious Dao. Later he came to Mount Lingyan of the Southern Marchmount and met a person of resolve. The other transmitted this set of methods to him and solemnly admonished him about the methods of preparation and ingestion: one must avoid chickens and dogs, filth, rank odors, and meat and blood, and devote oneself to preparing it in a clean place.

(A certain person) then prepared and took it according to the prescription. Over three months, he distinctly felt that his spirit was different from before, his five viscera were harmonious and comfortable, and his physical strength naturally increased. After taking another half dose, the effects were beyond description: with one dose, he seemed to become a man of thirty; with two doses, he was like a youth of fifteen. This numinous medicine is truly wondrous. The prescription is as follows:

Sulfur, two liang (the essence of the sun); white dragon bone, two liang (the essence of the moon); benzoin, half a liang (the essence of Fire); arborvitae seed, two liang (the essence of Wood); dodder seed, two liang (the essence of Earth); schisandra fruit, two liang (the essence of Metal); cistanche, two liang (the essence of Water).

Among the seven ingredients above, the benzoin and walnut kernel should be pounded separately; the remaining ingredients should be pounded together, sifted into a fine powder, and then mixed. Choose a Kuigang day (a Daoist term for date selection, referring to particular days), and use jujube flesh to form pills the size of small beans. Each day, take thirty pills on an empty stomach with ash-free wine. Avoid chicken, pork, fish, and garlic.

For preparation and taking the medicine, choose bingyin days, bingwu days, or “honey days” (a term from the original text whose exact meaning is unclear). When blending the ingredients, a person of Fire fate should perform the operation facing east. Filial sons, monks, women, chickens, and dogs must not see it. While taking the medicine, one should live in a clean room. After half a year, even if one approaches sexual pleasures with women, the grain Qi transformed from food and drink will continuously drain away, while Jing (essence) and Qi (vital energy) can be firmly retained without leaking. Its wondrous effects cannot be fully described.

“Four Guardian Pills” from the Central Scripture of the Nine Perfected

The Taiyi divine immortal medicine can generate and nourish the five viscera, fill the six bowels, nourish the seven orifices, harmonize the nine gates, and be refined and cultivated as well…

This is a pill formula known as the “Four Stabilizing Pills of the Three Souls Illuminating the Two Children, Preserving the One Body, Long Life, and Ten Thousand Years,” intended to settle the hun (soul-aspects), harmonize the body, and support longevity. The ingredients are divided into four groups. In each group one herb is primary and four others assist; for each group the main ingredient is pounded one hundred times, then the remaining herbs are added and the mixture is made into a powder.

The first group takes Taiyi yiyuli (a mineral name in Daoist materia medica), four liang, as the chief drug, to stabilize the six fu viscera and fill the five zang organs. Authentic angelica, one liang, harmonizes the yiyuli and is said to ease joint discomfort and various ailments. Styrax benzoin, one liang, works with the angelica and is said to fumigate and nourish the five zang. Ginseng, two liang, supplements the fluids of the six fu and strengthens the action of the yiyuli. Clove, one liang, clears stagnant heat in the stomach and relieves copious phlegm and chest oppression.

The second group takes cinnabar, four large liang, as the chief drug, to gather and hold the hun, settle the three shen (body spirits), and regulate qi. Licorice, one liang, harmonizes the cinnabar and moistens the skin; it is also said to reduce white hair. Aristolochia root (qing muxiang), one liang, assists the licorice and is said to expel the three worms and suppress corpse worms (shichong). Rehmannia root, one liang, harmonizes the marrow throughout the body and nourishes qi and blood in the brain. Zhan tang xiang, one liang, is said to supplement and brighten the pupils of the eyes and to perfume and nourish the lower pass (xiaguan).

The third group takes poria, four large liang, as the chief drug, to fill the seven orifices, tonify long-standing deficiency, and harmonize the lingguan (spirit passes in the body). Atractylodes, one liang, pairs with the poria to moisten spirit and brighten the eyes. Dried ginger, one liang, helps the atractylodes, transforms hot phlegm, opens the three passes, and removes alternating chills and fever. Saposhnikovia, one liang, treats damp impediment, clears foul residues, and eases hunger and thirst. Mica powder, one liang, is said to moisten the physical form, give the complexion luster, and nourish bone and blood.

The fourth group takes ophiopogon root, four liang, with the pith removed, as the chief drug, to fill and nourish spirit essence, nourish the spiritual fluids, and strengthen the bones of the whole body. Dried jujube paste, one liang, assists the ophiopogon, congeals and nourishes blood vessels, and clears foulness from the heart. Processed aconite, one liang, supplements qi in the brain, warms the zang-fu organs, and transforms phlegm and fluid retention. Stir-fried sesame, one liang, moistens the fluids of throat and tongue, fills the lower pass, and nourishes the three shen. Dragon bone, one liang, moistens the six fluids, cares for the intestines, and is said to blacken the hair and reduce white hair.

These four groups together are called the “Four Stabilizing Spirit Pills,” twenty ingredients in all; the text also notes that five especially fine ingredients from among them should be selected at the end.

This passage discusses the preparation and taking of a pill medicine, as well as the effects of taking it over the long term.

For the preparation method, each portion of the medicinal ingredients must first be pounded into powder. First take one portion of Yuyuliang (a mineral medicine) and pound it three thousand pestle strokes; then add one portion of cinnabar and pound it four thousand strokes; then add one portion of Poria and pound it five thousand strokes; then add one portion of Ophiopogon and pound it six thousand strokes; next add four sheng of white honey and pound it seven thousand strokes; then add twelve liang of white wax and pound it eight thousand strokes. After that, add refined honey so that the medicinal mass can be rolled into pills; if it is too hard, add more honey to soften it, and then pound it thirty thousand more strokes. The pills are made the size of an egg yolk and then divided into small pills for taking.

As for the time of compounding the medicine, one should choose the upper jian day in the first, ninth, and eleventh lunar months to compound the medicine, and begin taking it on the full day.

For the method of taking it, during the first one hundred days, take five pills each time as appropriate. On the day before taking the medicine, first abstain from food; on the next morning, take the medicine on an empty stomach, and after taking it, resume normal eating and drinking. After one thousand days, for two hundred days take seven pills each time; after two thousand days, for three hundred days take twenty pills each time; after three thousand days, for four hundred days take thirty pills each time, and this is the fixed rule. Taking the medicine can guard the Shen and Qi and stabilize the Middle Palace, and one’s lifespan will last as long as heaven and earth. This medicine will not spoil for ten thousand years. While taking this medicine, one must not take other miscellaneous medicines at the same time.

As for the prohibitions in compounding the medicine, one who wishes to compound it must first observe a seven-day fast and purification, and must absolutely abstain from sexual intercourse; moreover, chickens, dogs, children, and women must not be allowed to see the compounding process. When compounding the medicine, burn incense and set up a divine seat on the east as the seat of the Taiyi Emperor Lord, the Taiyi Lord, and the Taiyi Shangyuan Lord (the Taiyi deities worshipped in Daoism), constantly visualizing them in the mind and silently reciting prayers. When taking the medicine, likewise visualize them and face the moon. These are the so-called Four Great Ones, used to stabilize the spirits of the four directions, eliminate the hundred diseases, keep one from aging, enable the eyesight to see ten thousand li away, turn white hair black, cause lost teeth to grow again, and make the complexion moist and the skin radiant.

As for the changes from long-term taking, after one year of taking the medicine, old illnesses all disappear; after two years, the breath changes; after three years, the primal Qi changes; after four years, the meridians change; after five years, the body changes; after six years, the sinews change; after seven years, the bones change; after eight years, the teeth change; after nine years, the appearance changes; after ten years, one can command ghosts and spirits, and one’s power is sufficient to subdue tigers and wolves, while poisonous insects and toxic creatures dare not come near.

The Huangdi Four-Fan Powder formula (said to have been transmitted by the Great Lord Mao to the Middle Lord Mao, both immortal perfected ones in the Maoshan Daoist tradition) uses eight ingredients—pine resin, Alisma, dried ginger, dried Rehmannia, mica, cinnamon heart, Atractylodes, and stone-growing calamus—each processed finely, taken in equal parts and combined, pounded forty thousand pestle strokes, and then stored in a sealed container.

Do not let women, the six domestic animals, or any impure substances see it. Each morning take three fangcunbi (an ancient medicine-measuring implement, roughly three spoonfuls of powder) with wine; it may also be taken with water, or made with honey into pills the size of soybeans, taking twenty to thirty pills each time.

This is the “Sishan Shenfang” (Four-Fan Divine Formula) that the Yellow Emperor obtained from Feng Hou; it is said to be a method for delaying aging and restoring youth. I once received this formula from Mr. Gaoqiu, who instructed me to pass it on.

Wangmu Sitong San: Queen Mother’s Four-Children Powder Formula

Sesame (Hu ma), four large liang (steamed nine times and sun-dried nine times; choose black, plump seeds, remove the skin, and roast until fragrant and yellow); Tianmen dong (Asparagus root), four liang (choose thick, rich, and sweet roots growing in high ground; sun-dry); white Fuling (Poria), five liang (choose white and firm pieces; boil first, then sun-dry); Zhu (Atractylodes), three liang (harvest plump roots in season); peach kernel, four liang (choose superior, fully mature kernels; remove the kernels from peach pits, soak in hot water, and remove the skin and tips); dried Huangjing (Polygonatum), five liang (choose roots growing in high ground that are older; sun-dry).

For the above six ingredients, prepare them carefully. First roast the sesame, then add the other medicines and pound them together thirty thousand times; pass through a fine sieve to make a powder. Each morning take three qian with wine, and take it again in the evening, gradually increasing the dose; it may also be taken with water. If making pills, blend with refined honey, pound another ten thousand times, and form pills the size of wutong seeds; begin with twenty pills each time and gradually increase to forty.

Palm Record of Dinv Xuanshuang (Imperial Maiden’s Mysterious Frost)

This medicine has seven names: first, Dinv Xuanshuang (Imperial Maiden’s Mysterious Frost); second, Qiongjiang (Jade Nectar); third, Yuye (Jade Liquid); fourth, Earth Mother’s Milk; fifth, Ganlu Jiang (Sweet Dew Nectar); sixth, Nine-Times Refined Yindan (Yin Elixir); seventh, Tihu Su (Ghee). In ancient times, even immortals who took the Golden Elixir did not fail to cultivate this “Yindan.” For example, black lead belongs to water, and the number of water is one; one generates two, two generates three, and three generates the myriad things—is this not because Yin-Yang come together?

The so-called Great Elixir (Dadan) is what is called “True Yang” after the medicines of Yin-Yang, dragon, and tiger have been refined; but in this way it becomes solitary Yang. Solitary Yang cannot stand alone, so one must rely on Yindan to make Yin and Yang support each other, as one relies on stairs and boats when climbing mountains or crossing water. The number of Yindan follows the Yang number and uses nine.

As for its effects of moistening the five viscera, irrigating the Huagai (a Daoist term for internal regions associated with the lungs), supplementing the Niwan (a Neidan term for the cultivation site in the head) above, and supplementing Jingyuan (essence-primary) below, then even the great medicine, without the aid of Xuanshuang, would be hard-pressed to show results even after long use. The instructions for the Great Elixir are found in the Cantong qi; those for Yinyuan Xuanshuang come from a secret record, and therefore practitioners of the arts find them difficult to know. Now the method for cultivating Yindan is recorded in detail.

Baixue Xuanshuang Method

Take two jin of high-grade black lead (processed lead) and half a jin of raw mercury (that is, quicksilver). First heat the lead in a pot until it melts and remove the ash and dross, then pour the mercury into the lead and stir thoroughly. Make the lead pot whatever size is required in practice.

Take a porcelain bottle coated inside and outside with oil and fill it with five sheng of high-grade vinegar. Carry out the operation in a stable, bright, clean room that faces the sun. When refining the so-called “false yang extreme” (jia yangji), one should coordinate it with “Daoqi” (the breath and psychophysical regulation spoken of in cultivation). Bury the bottle in an earthen pit with its mouth level with the ground; set the lead pot containing the lead and mercury over the mouth of the bottle, cover it with three or four layers of paper, and place a porcelain bowl over the paper.

At every “yang extreme” (yangji) period, take out the lead pot once every seven days. If a deposit like hanging snowflakes has formed on the pot, leave it in a ventilated place for a time; when it hardens, brush it off and collect it. When the vinegar in the bottle decreases, replace it promptly. Repeat the collection until one jin of this frost-like substance is obtained.

Then put it into a porcelain bowl, add sweet slurry water, and pound and grind it with a willow-wood mallet, gradually adding water until it becomes a paste. Place the porcelain bowl in a rice steamer and steam it; after steaming, grind it again, wash it with clear water, let it settle, and drain it dry. Next grind it again with clear water, put it back into the steamer and steam it, then grind and wash it again. In this way, steam it five times in a rice steamer and four times in an earthenware steamer; when steaming in the earthenware steamer, use another bowl to cover its mouth. After completing nine cycles of transmutation in this manner, put the medicine into a bag of scoured silk and rinse it by swishing it in clear water in a silver vessel; after a day and a night pour off the clear water, cover the mouth of the vessel with cotton cloth, dry it in sunlight, then brush it off and grind it fine with a willow-wood mallet.

When finished, its color is like spring snow or flour, and its taste is mild and sweet. Pinch a little and put it in the mouth: it feels cool, like spring ice. The scripture says that if someone refines this substance and makes honey pills the size of wutong seeds, taking five pills a day, after a full year he will not be troubled by the hundred diseases, and will not be thirsty throughout the summer; after washing the head, mix raw oil evenly and smear it on the crown of the head, and it is said that in a moment the coolness will reach the soles of the feet—its effects are hard to describe fully. If it is used to catalyze the refining of the “Great Return Elixir” (Da Huan Dan, an elixir in Daoist alchemy), causing people to return from old age to youth, the scripture holds that this is because the fluids are made to circulate.

Master Sun’s verse says:

“Mysterious White Frost (Xuanbai Shuang), Mysterious White Frost;

Dragon and Tiger—among them the lord stands as chief.

If the ten thousand things were not born from Yin,

Whence would solitary Yang receive its nourishment?”

Formula for the Firefly Pill

Liu Zinan was a Champion General and Administrator of Wuwei in the Han dynasty. He once followed a Daoist...

Shi Gong once passed on to others the Firefly Pill that Wuchengzi had made. This pill was said to prevent illness, drive away all ghosts, and guard against tigers, wolves, snakes, lions, bees and scorpions, all kinds of poisons, wounds from weapons, and harm from robbers and other dangers.

The formula used realgar and orpiment, two liang each; fireflies, guijian, and tribulus, one liang each; and charred, blackened iron hammer handle, furnace ash, and ram’s horn, one fen each. These nine ingredients were ground separately into fine powder, then mixed with egg yolk and blood from a rooster’s comb and rolled into pills the size of apricot kernels. Five pills were put into a red triangular cloth pouch and worn on the left arm. Those going on campaigns with the army tied it at the waist; at home, people hung it on the door. It was said to ward off robbers and all kinds of poison and harm.

Liu Zinan made and wore these pills. In the twelfth year of Yongping, while on campaign north of Wuwei, he encountered enemy troops. After the defeat his ranks scattered, and only he was surrounded by the enemy. Arrows came like rain, but they fell to the ground several feet from him and could never wound him. The enemy thought he was a divine being and withdrew. Liu Zinan passed this secret formula to his sons and brothers; when they served in the army, they too were unharmed. They considered this proof of the formula’s efficacy and treasured it for generations. By the late Han, the Daoist of the Green Ox, Feng Junda, passed it to Huangfu Long of Anding, and Huangfu Long passed it to Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei; only afterward did it gradually spread among the common people. This pill was also called the Champion Pill or the Wuwei Pill, and it is also recorded in the Qianjin Yifang.

The Four-Ingredient Immortal Formula of Huang Qing Obtained by the Yellow Emperor

Huang Qing said that these four drugs were named Hongguang, Qianqiu, Wansui, and Cimo. The Yellow Emperor asked what forms they had and whether he could explain them. Huang Qing replied: Hongguang is mica; Qianqiu is selaginella, which grows among famous mountains; Wansui is alisma; Cimo is amaranth seed. Another account says that Cimo is dodder seed.

Pound the above drugs and sift them into a fine powder, mix with white pine resin, and make pills the size of parasol-tree seeds. Take thirty pills on an empty stomach with warm wine each day. The original text says that after seven years of use the effects will appear, and one may live to a thousand years; taken over the long term, one may abide with the Heavenly Emperor. The Yellow Emperor respectfully bowed in thanks to Huang Qing.

The Perfected One’s Lotus Flower Formula for Preserving Youth

Only one medicinal substance is used. On the seventh day of the seventh month gather seven fen of lotus flowers; on the eighth day of the eighth month gather eight fen of lotus root; on the ninth day of the ninth month gather nine fen of lotus seeds. When all have been gathered, this preparation method is complete.

…Take the medicinal powder in doses of one fangcunbi (ancient spoon measure for powdered medicine) seven times, and transmit it to Liu Changsheng of Nanyang. Liu Changsheng lived in the north-central area of Qingyuan Marsh; after taking the medicine for more than seventy years, his body neither declined in vigor nor aged.

Long-term use of Immortal Lotus-seed (Shenxian Oushi). Immortal Lotus-seed is also called Water Elixir Ganoderma, Jiashi, Qianshi (Euryale seed), Lianhua (lotus flower), and Furong; its leaf is called he (lotus), its small root qian, its large root ou (lotus root), and the first root it produces ling. Ling is paired with chicken-head fruit; this is a Yin-Yang pairing.

On the first wu-stem day of the eighth month, gather lotus seeds; on the first wu-stem day of the ninth month, gather chicken-head fruit; on the first wu-branch day of the tenth month, gather lotus root. Take equal amounts of the three drugs, shade-dry them for one hundred days, and grind them into powder. At dawn on the first yin day of the first month, take one fangcunbi with well-flower water (jinghua shui, fresh well water drawn at dawn), four or five times daily, after meals; after one hundred consecutive days, stop. The formula says that this medicine tonifies central Qi, increases physical strength, nourishes Shen, prevents hunger, and eliminates the hundred diseases; long-term use makes the body light and agile, prolongs life, prevents aging, and leads to immortality.

Chicken-head fruit is also called Yanshi, Tianmenjing, Tianyu, and Yao; it is sweet. It treats damp bi (painful obstruction caused by dampness) and disorders of the lower back and knees, supplements Qi and strength, strengthens resolve, and sharpens hearing and eyesight. Long-term use makes the body light and agile, removes hunger, and ultimately brings immortality.

Lord Lao’s Life-Extending Powder (Laozun Yishou San)

Five liang of Tianmendong (Asparagus root; remove core, roast dry); four liang of Baizhu (Atractylodes macrocephala); one liang of Fangfeng (Saposhnikovia; remove reed head); two liang of Shudihuang (prepared Rehmannia); three fen of Xixin (Asarum); one liang of Ganjiang (dried ginger; roast until split, then chop); one liang of Jiegeng (Platycodon; remove reed head); half a liang of Tianxiong (Aconitum; roast until split, remove skin and umbilicus); half a liang of Guixin (cinnamon heart); one liang of Yuanzhi (Polygala; remove core); one liang of Roucongrong (Cistanche; soak in wine, remove wrinkled skin); one liang of Zexie (Alisma); half a liang of Shihu (Dendrobium; remove roots, chop); half a liang of Baishi (cypress seed); half a liang of mica powder; half a liang of Shiwei (Pyrrosia; remove hairs); half a liang of Duzhong (Eucommia; remove coarse bark, chop); half a liang of Niuxi (Achyranthes; remove sprouts); half a liang of Bai Fuling (white Poria); half a liang of Changpu (Acorus); half a liang of Wuweizi (Schisandra); half a liang of Shechuangzi (Cnidium); half a liang of Gan Juhua (sweet chrysanthemum flower); half a liang of Shanzhuyu (Cornus); and one and a half liang of Fuzi (aconite; roast until split, remove skin and umbilicus).

Pound the above drugs, sift them, and make them into a powder. In the early morning, take three qian with wine. In winter take it three times daily; in summer take it once in the early morning; in spring and autumn take it once in the morning and once in the evening. After taking the medicine….

After ten days, the effects can be seen; after twenty days, the pain one originally felt will disappear; after thirty days, Qi and physical strength will be abundant; after forty days, all kinds of illnesses will be eliminated; after sixty days, the body will be so light that it seems one could fly; after seventy days, the complexion will become radiant; after eighty days, one will attain supernatural powers; after ninety days, one’s mental state will be extraordinary; after one hundred days, one will no longer age. If one can cut off sexual intercourse, one may attain long life.

Lishan Laomu’s Grain-Avoidance and Wheat-Meal Method

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

Wash the black beans clean in clear water, steam them once, sun-dry them and remove their skins, steam them once more, and then sun-dry them again. Soak the hemp seeds in water and remove their skins; put them together with the jujubes into a zeng (a vessel for steaming food) and steam until cooked. Take out the jujubes and remove their pits; pound the three ingredients together into a paste, steam once more; then knead into fist-sized balls and steam once again. Steam from early evening until midnight; when they are fragrant and thoroughly cooked, remove the fire, cover them tightly, and leave them overnight. The next day, sun-dry them, pound them, and sift them into powder. Eat freely, taking satiety as the measure. When thirsty, one may drink freshly drawn well water, hemp-seed soup, or cypress decoction.

On the first taking, it is said that after seven days one can reach three hundred days without hunger; on the second taking, it is said that after taking it for four days one can reach about two thousand days without hunger. If people take it according to this method, they can become immortals; if extraordinary people take it, they can attain long life. This formula is exceedingly wondrous, and under no circumstances should it be transmitted carelessly. If one violates dietary prohibitions, the medicine will harm the person; if one wishes to eat, grind mallow seeds into powder, decoct them, and take the decoction, and the medicine will be expelled with the stool, colored like gold. This is the sign of the medicine’s efficacy.

Master Wenshi’s Grain-Avoidance Formula

Half a liang of realgar (finely ground), one liang of Yuyuliang (Limonite), one and a half liang of Ophiopogon tuber (remove the core and roast dry), one liang of alum (burned to ash), and one liang of mica powder.

Pound these medicines and sift them into powder; mix with refined honey, pound a thousand times, and form into pills the size of wutong seeds. Before taking the medicine, first eat one’s fill of beef or mutton soup and rice; the next morning take thirty pills, swallowed with morning well water (well water freshly drawn at dawn). It is said that one can go a month without feeling hunger.

The Taiqing Method of Flying Immortality

The recipe books say: take twelve jin each of pine resin and Poria. First soak the Poria in water for seven days, changing the water every morning; after seven days take it out and sun-dry it. Then soak the Poria in two dou of pure wine for seven days, take it out, and sun-dry it. Eat one jin each month. If one wishes to “not…”

The method of taking it is as follows: take pine resin (resin from pine trees), refine it, remove its bitter, astringent, and foul-tasting juices, then warm it over fire and add Poria (fuling, a Chinese medicinal herb). Blend these medicinal ingredients, then add white honey and take them together.

According to the text, one jin of each is taken every month. After one hundred days of taking it, the body becomes light and robust; after two hundred days, cold-heat ailments recede; after three hundred days, head wind and eye diseases disappear; after four hundred days, the five strains and seven injuries (a general term for various deficiency disorders) are eliminated; after five hundred days, abdominal cold accumulations, fluid accumulations, and Qi (vital energy) disorders recede. It further states that after six hundred days the countenance can be preserved, after seven hundred days facial spots recede, after eight hundred days black hair grows again, and after nine hundred days moxibustion scars and skin blemish marks disappear; after one thousand days the eyes are bright, after two thousand days the appearance changes, after three thousand days one walks without leaving traces, after four thousand days all scars disappear, after five thousand days one can see light at night, after six thousand days the flesh is renewed, after seven thousand days the skin and vessels become invisible, after eight thousand days the spirit is strong, after nine thousand days one returns to a childlike state, after ten thousand days the body is naturally healthy, after twenty thousand days one communicates with the divine, after thirty thousand days one casts no shadow in daylight, and after forty thousand days one can vanish instantly while seated.

After taking it, one must carefully persist and not forget it. The text also says that after more than ten thousand days, the one who takes it can still freely transform appearance, change names, and ultimately ascend to heaven.

Formula of the Great White Star Deity for Washing the Eyes

After Zhang Pingshi, prefect of Jiazhou, reached middle age, both he and his wife suffered from eye diseases and were nearly blind. They sought out masters of methods and formulas everywhere but found no remedy. Zhang Pingshi then withdrew to a villa, shut himself in and reproached himself, and for a long time held jiao rituals to worship the stars, praying for divine protection. After a long time, his family fortune gradually depleted, but he still prayed sincerely.

On the seventeenth day of the eighth month in the seventh year of Yuanhe (812 CE), a scholar came to the gate seeking an audience. The household said that the master and his wife had been ill for a long time and no longer received guests. The scholar said, “Although I am a scholar, I also understand medicine. I heard that the prefect is ill, so I came specially.” The household went in to report. Zhang Pingshi was delighted to hear this and said, “I have been ill for a long time and do not see guests. Since you have a formula and medicine, I beg you to instruct me.”

The scholar said, “This illness does not require medicine. Tomorrow please have ten strong men bring spades, shovels, and similar tools, and dig a well; then you will naturally recover.” Zhang Pingshi made preparations as told. The scholar then selected an auspicious site with excellent feng shui, and they dug the well from morning until evening, finally reaching water. He had Zhang Pingshi fast and purify his body, burn incense, and then concentrate on drawing well water to wash his eyes. Zhang Pingshi’s eye ailment immediately lessened, and his eyes quickly recovered their brightness and clarity as before. His eye disease of many years was thus cured.

Suddenly the husband and wife were so moved that they thanked the scholar and offered him many gifts of gold and silk. The scholar declined, saying, “What need is there for such gold and silk? I am not a man of this world, but the Venus Star Official. You have been ill for many years, yet you never forgot to cultivate the Dao and sincerely performed Zhaijiao (purification ritual), moving the stars of heaven. The star lords of the Five Emperors therefore commanded me to descend to the mortal world and transmit this method, to remove your grave illness and to answer your sincere devotion in cultivating and serving the Dao. The gold and silk you offer are not what I need.”

Thereupon the scholar left this method behind, saying, “Now I transmit it to the world so that it may be used to relieve suffering and illness, and thereby accumulate hidden virtue.” This method specifies: in Zi and Wu years, the You and Xu days of the fifth month and the Mao and Chen days of the eleventh month; in Chou and Wei years, the Xu and Hai days of the sixth month and the Chen and Si days of the twelfth month; in Yin and Shen years, the Hai and Zi days of the seventh month and the Si and Wu days of the first month; in Mao and You years, the Zi and Chou days of the eighth month and the Wu and Wei days of the second month; in Chen and Xu years, the Yin and Chou days of the third month and the Wei and Shen days of the ninth month; in Si and Hai years, the Shen and You days of the tenth month and the Yin and Mao days of the fourth month. By selecting the time according to the directional correspondences of these years, months, and days, one may obtain an auspicious site. Dig a well there until spring water is seen; it is said that this will certainly produce good results.

Pingshi bowed again and accepted this teaching. As soon as the words were finished, the scholar ascended to heaven and departed. This was the response manifested when sincere devotion moved the divine.

Zhang Shaozhen’s Method for Refining Pills and Transforming Lead Essence

Take two jin of green lead. (The original note states: lead with much impurity is called “Bei lead,” and the moist, pure variety is called “Tang”; neither is suitable. Only the purplish lead produced in Yiyang and Persia is best.)

Place the green lead into a suitably sized crescent-moon-shaped iron cauldron and roast it over fierce fire. After the lead melts, stir continuously from the bottom of the vessel; after a while, the lead will naturally turn into green sand. Stir evenly without stopping until all the lead has transformed. If one wishes to make it further become “lead yellow flower,” continue to heat the green sand over fierce fire and stir without stopping; after some time, lead yellow flower will form.

Then take out the green sand and put it in a basin; add bitter wine little by little, gradually adding it while grinding. Bitter wine is bran vinegar; do not use vinegar that is too strong. Clarify and filter the vinegar, taking the fine, clean portion. Afterward dry it over fire, then use a gentle fire to slowly drive out the liquid; blend the liquid with “left flavor” (Zuowei) to form a paste. (The original says that “left flavor” is magnetic powder.) Without this method, the paste will not take shape.

After air-drying, place the material into an iron pot with a casting channel, and use a pair of leather bellows above and below to blow the fire vigorously. The green sand will soon turn back into lead, flow out from the casting channel, and fall into a... below. The lead refining, bellows blowing, and casting described here belong to records of ancient refining operations; the end of the original text is incomplete, and the term “left flavor” has been retained as in the original.

Place it in an iron vessel and use it until exhausted. When its color becomes bright and white, it is called “Lead Descendant Eight Returns” (Qiansun Bafan).

After ninefold transmutation, its color turns purple. For every jin of lead refined, fifteen liang are lost, and in the end a little more than one liang remains; this is called “Golden Duke Elixir” (Jingong Dan), also known as “Purple River Chariot” (Ziheche), “Golden Dog” (Jingouzi), or “Ninefold Transmuted Lead Essence” (Jiuzhuan Qianjing), and it is then ready for use. (For related scriptures, see the Shangqing Ling Scripture and the Dragon-Tiger Orthodox Register.)

Formula for Poria Roasted-Grain Powder

Take three large jin of Poria (Fuling), scrape off the black skin, and cut into pieces the size of wild jujubes; take two small liang of licorice (Gancao) and chop finely.

Put the licorice into six large sheng of water and boil down to three sheng; strain out the dregs, let it stand to clarify, and discard the cloudy portion. Then add three large sheng of white honey and nine large sheng of cow’s milk, and simmer together with the Poria until the liquid is completely reduced. While hot, remove and rub it apart, picking out the thin red skin; then knead it evenly until it is like chao (roasted grain ground into flour), and dry it in a cool, shaded place.

Take it three or four times a day. At first take two square-inch spoonfuls plus seven fen each time (an ancient dose measured with a square-inch spoon), then gradually increase according to the individual’s condition. Particularly avoid pine vegetables, rice, and vinegar. When making it in spring or autumn, there is no need to add cow’s milk; simply add the milk before taking it.