The Golden Elixir Blog

The Book of the Hidden Agreement (Yinfu jing)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 22:22:00 +0000

The Yellow Emperor (Huangdi),
traditionally ascribed with the authorship
of the Book of the Hidden Agreement

Despite its brevity, the Yinfu jing (Book of the Hidden Agreement) is one of the most obscure and difficult Taoist texts. Within Neidan (Internal Alchemy), this work is especially well-known for its idea of "stealing the mechanism", which Neidan adepts understand as meaning inverting of the process that leads from the precelestial to the postcelestial domains.

Read three sections of the Yinfu jing on the Golden Elixir website.

A complete translation of the text, with the commentary by Yu Yan (1258-1314), is found in a chapter or Taoist Internal Alchemy: An Anthology of Neidan texts (Golden Elixir Press, paperback), and in a Kindle ebook, entitled The Book of the Hidden Agreement: A Taoist Text on the Harmony between Heaven and Humanity.

Taoist Internal Alchemy: An Anthology of Neidan Texts

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 21:09:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of a new book:

Taoist Internal Alchemy: An Anthology of Neidan Texts

Translated from the Chinese, introduced, and annotated by Fabrizio Pregadio

Paperback, US$ 24.95 ● € 24.00 (incl. VAT) ● GB£ 20 ● JP¥ 5000 (list prices)

ISBN 978-0-9855475-5-4

This anthology presents complete or partial translations of sixteen major works belonging to the Taoist tradition of Neidan, or Internal Alchemy. While the selections are far from covering the whole field of Neidan — a virtually impossible task, given its width and variety — they are representative of its main lineages and branches. Texts have been selected in this perspective and are arranged chronologically, in order to provide an overview not only of Neidan, but also of the history of its discourses and practices. Four of the sixteen texts are integrally translated. Six texts and two commentaries are translated here (entirely or partially) for the first time into English. The book is concluded by several tables and by an index of the main terms.

See a preview of this book (PDF).

For more details, visit the page on this book in the Golden Elixir Press website. It contains:

• A detailed table of contents (click the "Contents" tab)

• A list of new pages in the Golden Elixir website with short selections from this book (click the "Samples" tab)

• A link to a free PDF with the Chinese texts translated in this book

A Translation of the Longmen "Lineage Poem"

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:28:00 +0000

Many Taoist lineages bestow "ordination names" or "lineage names" using the characters found in a specially-written poem. Each generation of disciples receives their names using in sequence one character of the poem. Thus the name of a first-generation master includes the first character; the name of a second-generation master includes the second character; and so forth. These poems are known in general as "lineage poems" (paishi).

The most famous "lineage poem" in Taoism is the one of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage. Known as the "Longmen Lineage Poem" (Longmen paishi), the "Hundred-Character Lineage of Ancestor Qiu" (Qiuzu baizi pai), or in other similar ways, it is made of 20 verses of 5 characters. The 100 different characters of the poem should suffice to assign lineage names for about two and a half millennia, and perhaps even longer.

Below is a translation of the poem. Each word is translated with a different English word, and the translation retains the sequence of the words in each verse. While this results in a definitely not elegant (and possibily ungrammatical) translation, it gives a better idea of the nature and purpose of the poem.

Translation

The Dao and its Virtue pervade the mysterious quiescence,
true constancy guards the grand clarity.
The One Yang comes and returns to the root:
the united teaching is unendingly whole and bright.

The perfect principle is at the origins of sincerity and truthfulness:
venerable and lofty, it transmits the doctrine’s prosperity.
The world’s appearance is flourishing and thoroughly luxuriant,
the inaudible and imperceptible spreads and of-its-own is peaceful.

Dwell in cultivating the correct humanity and righteousness:
transcending and rising to the clouds, you will be able to ascend.
In the great subtlety the central yellow is honored:
the saintly body entirely performs its function.

In emptiness and vacuity, Qian and Kun are splendid:
Metal and Wood in their natures reciprocally meet.
In mountains and seas, Dragon and Tiger conjoin:
the lotus opens and manifests the treasure anew.

When the practice is complete, the red writ is proclaimed,
from the moon’s fullness an auspicious radiance is born.
For ten-thousand ages shall continue the immortals’ names,
and the three realms will all be akin.

Chinese Text

道德通玄靜，真常守太清。一陽來復本，合教永圓明。
至理宗誠信，崇高嗣法興。世景榮惟懋，希微衍自寧。
住修正仁義，超升雲會登。大妙中黃貴，聖體全用功。
虛空乾坤秀，金木性相逢。山海龍虎交，蓮開現寶新。
行滿丹書詔，月盈祥光生。萬古續仙號，三界都是亲。

Related Materials

For a version containing a longer introduction and short notes to the poem, please download this PDF from the Golden Elixir website:

• The Longmen "Lineage Poem": A Translation (PDF, 4 pages)

See also the free PDF: "The Longmen Lineage: Historical Notes" (Golden Elixir Press, Occasional Papers no. 4, free download)

The Longmen Lineage: Historical Notes (Free PDF)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 23:54:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of a new occasional paper:

The Longmen Lineage: Historical Notes

(PDF, 25 pp., free download)

This essay contains a short history of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage, to which many masters of Neidan (Taoist Internal Alchemy) claim affiliation. It presents the main stages of development of Longmen, and briefly describes its main branches and its main masters.

The essay is translated from the chapter "Longmen pai" (The Longmen Lineage) in Zhongguo daojiao (Chinese Taoism), ed. by Qing Xitai (4 vols; Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1994), vol. 1.

• Click the picture or here for the download page in the Golden Elixir website.

Liu Yiming on the Internal Companions

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 18:27:00 +0000

▶ Quoted from Cultivating the Tao: Taoism and Internal Alchemy, by Liu Yiming, page 155 — Read more about this book

. . . Therefore being connected with companions who have the same mind is the most important thing in the cultivation of the Tao. However, companions who share the same mind are very difficult to discern. They have no form and no image, no sound and no color, no front and no back. Facing evil, they transform themselves into yakshas; facing goodness, they transform themselves into bodhisattvas.(1) Their transformations have no limit: they conceal or manifest themselves in unfathomable ways. Everyone has them in front of their eyes, but misses them. If you are unwilling to discern the true, day after day they increasingly separate from you.

When all of a sudden an intimate friend appears, you become of one mind with him: walking, standing, sitting, or lying, neither of you separates from the other for a single instant. . . . Those who intend to cultivate Reality might be without external companions, but should never be without internal companions.

(1) In Buddhism, a yaksha is a minor deity who protects from evil, and a bodhisattva operates for the liberation of all beings. Liu Yiming seems to say here that the “internal companions” protect one in unfavorable circumstances, as do the yakshas, and support one when the circumstances are favorable, as do the bodhisattvas.

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Wu Shouyang on the Alchemical Embryo

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 01:23:00 +0000

The stage of "refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit" constitutes an advanced stage of the alchemical work, in which one's practice progresses from "doing" to "non-doing." The Great Medicine is called Embryo of Sainthood (shengtai) or Infant (ying'er). Both terms are actually metaphors for Spirit and Breath coagulating and coalescing with one another. Wu Shouyang explains the meaning of these terms saying:

"Metaphorically it is called 'embryo,' as if there is truly an embryo. In fact, however, there is no embryo. Why is it so? Because according to the principle of giving birth, one generates the embryo of a child in the womb; and according to the principle of cultivating immortality, one generates an embryo of Spirit in the Heart. The worldly people hear the word 'embryo' and say that within the womb there is truly an embryo, which then leaves and becomes 'a body outside the body' (shen wai shen). This is truly risible. Essentially, the human nature is perfectly empty and perfectly numinous; it is devoid of a form and a body." (1)

(1) Wu Shouyang (1574-1644), Xian Fo hezong yulu (Recorded Sayings on the Common Origin of the Immortals and the Buddhas), with minor omissions and changes

▶ Quoted from Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan, by Wang Mu, page 107— Read more on and from this book

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Qian and Kun, Kan and Li

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 18:04:00 +0000

▶ Quoted from The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir, by Fabrizio Pregadio, pages 78-79— Read more on and from this book

Qian ☰ the firm and Kun ☷ the yielding

join and embrace one another;
Yang endows, Yin receives,
the masculine and the feminine attend
one to the other.
Attending, they create and transform,
unfolding their Essence and Breath.

Kan ☵ and Li ☲ are at the fore:
their radiance and glow come down
and spread out.
Mysterious and obscure, this can hardly
be fathomed
and cannot be pictured or charted.
The sages gauged its depth;
one with it, they set forth its foundation.

These four, in indistinction,
are right within Empty Non-Being.
Sixty hexagrams revolve around them,
outspread like a chariot.
Harnessing a dragon and a mare,
the bright noble man holds the reins of time.

In harmony there are following and compliance:
the path is level and begets no evil.
Evil ways obstruct and hamper:
they endanger the kingdom.

20% discount on the paperback edition
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20% discount on the abridged PDF edition
Buy from the Golden Elixir website — Use Discount Code january2014 at checkout

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The Principles of Alchemy

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 12:03:00 +0000

"Know the white, keep to the black," (*)
and the Numinous Light will come of its own.

White is the essence of Metal,
Black the foundation of Water.
Water is the axis of the Dao:
its number is 1.

At the beginning of Yin and Yang,
Mystery holds the Yellow Sprout;
it is the ruler of the five metals,
the River Chariot of the northern direction.

That is why lead is black on the outside
but cherishes the Golden Flower within,
like the man who "wears rough-hewn clothes but
cherishes a piece of jade in his bosom," (**)
and outwardly behaves like a fool.

(*) This sentence is quoted from the Daode jing, sec. 28
(**) This sentence is quoted from the Daode jing, sec. 70

▶ Quoted from The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir, by Fabrizio Pregadio, pages 78-79— Read more on and from this book

Subscribe to the free Golden Elixir Quote of the Week — Short quotes on Internal Alchemy (Neidan) from books published by Golden Elixir Press - See samples and the subscription form — See a complete index of the Quotes published until present.

The One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 00:43:00 +0000

▶ Quoted from Cultivating the Tao: Taoism and Internal Alchemy, by Liu Yiming, pages 78-79— Read more about this book

Now I will not hesitate to speak, and I will give a true reflection of the spirit our ancestral masters, bringing forth what they did not bring forth and disclosing what they did not disclose. Joining them by means of my Spirit, being one with them by means of my Intention, I say to my companions:

This Opening has a shape similar to Penglai:
outside it is small, inside it is large,
and its depth cannot be fathomed.
It is not round and it is not square;
within it, "the black and the white tally with each other," (1)
and darkness and light pervade one another.
Its gate is fifty feet high and four feet wide,
and has two panels:
once they open, once they close.
On its left coils a green dragon,
on its right is couched a white tiger,
above flies a vermilion sparrow,
below rests a black turtle.
Vague and indistinct! Dim and obscure! (2)
A True Man lives inside it:
his name is Spirit of the Valley,
his appellation is Living a Long Life.
At daytime, he eats a broth of millet; (3)
at night, he drinks the liquor of the boundless.
Sometimes he sings, clear and peaceful;
sometimes he is motionless, and keeps his mouth closed.
When he exhales, the gate of the Opening is wide open,
when he inhales, the gate of the Opening is firmly shut.

(1) Cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three), 56:2; trans. Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three, p. 102.
(2) The expressions "vague and indistinct" and "dim and obscure" derive from the Daode jing (Book of the Way and Its Virtue), sec. 21: "Vague and indistinct! Within there is something. Dim and obscure! Within there is an essence".
(3) This alludes to the Elixir, one of whose appellations is "pearl sized as a grain of millet."

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New Book: "Cultivating the Tao", by Liu Yiming (1734–1821)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 20:31:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of Cultivating the Tao: Taoism and Internal Alchemy, by Liu Yiming.

Cultivating the Tao is a complete translation of one of the main works by the renowned Taoist master Liu Yiming (1734-1821). Divided into 26 short chapters, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the basic principles of Taoism and an introduction to Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan, written by one of the greatest representatives of this tradition.

Liu Yiming was an 11th-generation master of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage. Having recovered from severe illness in his youth, he undertook extended traveling that led him to meet his two main masters. In 1780, he settled in the Qiyun mountains, in the present-day Gansu province, and devoted the second half of his life to teaching and writing. His works mainly consist of writings on Neidan and of commentaries on major Neidan scriptures.

Liu Yiming grafts Internal Alchemy onto the teachings of the Book of the Way and Its Virtue (Daode jing) and of the later Taoist tradition. Few other masters have illustrated the relation between Taoism and Internal Alchemy as clearly as he does in this book.

• Visit the Web page on this book and read a PDF sample
• See below for a New Publication 20% Discount.

Publication Data:

Liu Yiming
Cultivating the Tao: Taoism and Internal Alchemy
The Xiuzhen houbian (ca. 1798),
translated with Introduction and Notes by Fabrizio Pregadio

Golden Elixir Press, 2013
Paperback, 180 pages
ISBN 978-0-985547516
List price: US$ 17.95 - € 13.95 - GBP 11.95

New Publication 20% Discount:

US$ 14.35, or equivalent in Euros or GBP
Buy from CreateSpace (an Amazon.com company): https://www.createspace.com/4504338
Enter discount code RRPBJYPY at checkout
Offer valid until December 31, 2013

Wang Jie on the Precelestial and the Postcelestial Breaths

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 11:54:00 +0000

The precelestial Breath is the original and initial Ancestral Breath. This Ancestral Breath is in the real center of Heaven and Earth within the human body. [Placed between] the Secret Door and the Gate of Life, hanging in the middle, it is the Heart of Heaven. The self-cultivation of the divine Immortals only consists in collecting the precelestial One Breath and using it as the Mother of the Elixir.

The postcelestial Breath is the Breath that circulates internally: one exhalation, one inhalation, once coming, once going. "Exhaling touches onto the root of Heaven, inhaling touches onto the root of Earth. On exhaling, 'the dragon howls and the clouds rise'; on inhaling, 'the tiger roars and the wind blows.'"

When [the postcelestial Breath] is "unceasing and continuous," it returns to the Ancestral Breath. The internal and the external inchoately merge, and coalesce to form the Reverted Elixir (huandan).

▶ Quoted from Commentary on the Mirror for Compounding the Medicine: A Fourteenth-Century Work on Taoist Internal Alchemy, by Wang Jie, page 7— Read more on and from this book

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Liu Yiming on "Doing" and "Non-Doing"

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 16:31:00 +0000

Continue to advance in your practice, passing from "doing" into "non-doing." Nourish [the Embryo] warmly for ten months, keeping it tightly closed [within the womb]. Lessen the excess of strong emotions, and augment the insufficiency of compliant nature. Using the celestial True Fire, and relying on the hexagrams Zhun ䷂ in the morning and Meng ䷃ at night, smelt away the postcelestial Yin breaths. Generate the immaterial from the material, passing from the subtle to the apparent. When Breath is complete and Spirit is whole, "with a peal of thunder the golden cicada sheds its shell," and you have a body outside your body.

When the work is completed and your name is recorded, (*) you will have audience at the Northern Portal and will ride a soaring phoenix. You will fly and rise in the broad daylight, and will become a Celestial Immortal of Pure Yang, free from death. Wouldn’t that be pleasant?

(*) That is, one's name is entered in the "registers of immortality," according to the classical Taoist image for the achievement of transcendence.

▶ Quoted from Awakening to Reality: The "Regulated Verses" of the Wuzhen pian, a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy , by Fabrizio Pregadio, pages 87-88— Read more on and from this book

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A Graphic Summary of Neidan

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 16:22:00 +0000

[Click to enlarge the picture]

In his Zhonghe ji (The Harmony of the Center: An Anthology), Li Daochun (late 13th century) makes an important distinction between two Elixirs, which correspond to different degrees of realization. The first Elixir is the Internal Medicine (neiyao), and the second one is the External Medicine (waiyao). Li Daochun says:

The External Medicine allows you to cure illnesses, and to prolong life and have lasting presence. The Internal Medicine allows you to transcend the world, and to exit from Being and enter Non-Being.

The chart reproduced above contains a graphic summary of the two Medicines.

Reading from right to left, the first lines of the chart show the ingredients of the Internal Medicine: Precelestial Perfect Essence, Void Breath (Qi) of Empty Non-Being, and Indestructible Original Spirit. These are the precelestial Essence, Breath, and Spirit, which are already perfected of their own.

The next lines show the ingredients of the External Medicine, which Li Daochun calls Essence of the intercourse, Breath of breathing, and Spirit of the thinking mind. These are the coarse, postcelestial Essence, Breath, and Spirit, which are refined through the Neidan practice.

Then the chart shows the three stages of the Neidan practice, which Li Daochun calls the "three barriers", and which lead from "doing" to "non-doing":

(1) Refining Essence to transmute it into Breath. This stage is characterized by "doing". When it is represented by the trigrams of the Book of Changes, its purpose consists in taking the inner line of Kan ☵ (this line represents True Yang) and returning it to Li ☲, to which it originally belongs.

(2) Refining Breath to transmute it into Spirit. This stage is characterized by the "merging of doing and non-doing". Its purpose is conjoining Qian ☰ and Kun ☷, which represent True Yang and True Yin, respectively.

(3) Refining Spirit to return to Emptiness. This stage is characterized by "non-doing". Its purpose is reverting from Pure Yang to Emptiness. Pure Yang, also represented by Qian ☰, is the state of Unity, before the division of the Great Ultimate (taiji) into Yin and Yang.

Attaining the Internal and the External Medicines, says Li Daochun, depends on one’s individual qualities:

In general, those who study the Dao should begin from the External Medicine; then they will know the Internal Medicine by themselves. Superior persons have already planted the root of virtue, and know it by birth; therefore they do not refine the External Medicine, and directly refine the Internal Medicine.

Therefore, according to Li Daochun, "superior persons" innately possess the Internal Medicine and are immediately able to "transcend the world". Everyone else should begin from the External Medicine, through which they can reach the point in which they “will know the Internal Medicine by themselves,” and attain the same degree of realization as those who innately possess it. This gradual process is the purpose of Neidan.

Commentary on the Mirror for Compounding the Elixir

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of

Commentary on the Mirror for Compounding the Elixir:

A Fourteenth-Century Work on Taoist Internal Alchemy

The Ruyao jing (Mirror for Compounding the Medicine) is one of the most famous texts of Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. Written in the 10th century, it describes the foundations of Internal Alchemy in twenty short poems of four verses. Because of its symbolic and cryptic language, it has been subjected to different and sometimes conflicting interpretations.

This book contains the first complete translation of the Ruyao jing and of the commentary by Wang Jie, who lived in the 14th century. Wang Jie was a second-generation disciple of the great Neidan master, Li Daochun. His commentary is characterized by a strong connection between the doctrinal and the practical aspects of Neidan.

The translator's notes provide details on the main technical terms and on the relation of this work to other important texts of Internal Alchemy, in particular the Cantong qi (Seal of the Unity of the Three) and the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality).

The book is offered with a 15% New Publication Discount until March 15, 2013. See below for this offer.

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Publication Data:

Wang Jie
Commentary on the Mirror for Compounding the Medicine:
A Fourteenth-Century Work on Taoist Internal Alchemy
Translated by Fabrizio Pregadio

Golden Elixir Press, 2013
ISBN 978-0-9855475-0-9
104 pp., Paperback
US$ 14.95 • € 10.95 (list price)

New Publication Discount: US$ 12.70, or equivalent in Euros (15% discount)
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Enter discount code H7QDR322 at checkout
This offer is valid until March 15, 2013

Golden Elixir Quote of the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 01:09:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is starting a new series entitled Golden Elixir Quote of the Week. Each quote consists of a short passage on Neidan (Internal Alchemy) selected from one of the books published by the Press. To view a sample, click the link below.

• Sample Quote of the Week

The Quote of the Week is sent by email to subscribers at no cost. To subscribe, enter your email address in the box below, and click Subscribe.

(If you have troubles seeing or using the subscription form above, use the form available on the Sample Quote of the Week web page. — You can unsubscribe at any time. Golden Elixir Press will never sell or share your email address with anyone.)

The Original Stele of the "Neijing tu", a Taoist Chart of the Human Body

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:15:00 +0000

Fig. 1. Entrance to the Baiyun guan
(Click to enlarge this and the other pictures)

The Baiyun guan (Abbey of the White Clouds, fig. 1) in Beijing is one of the most important Taoist monasteries in China. A Taoist temple already existed here in the mid-8th century, but the present site originally dates from around 1200. From the 17th century, the abbey has been the seat of Quanzhen (Complete Reality), the main Taoist lineage in northern China.

Fig. 2. The Neijing tu stele

While Quanzhen allows for different forms of individual practice — especially meditation — and also includes forms of Taoist communal ritual, its methods incorporate a brand of Neidan (Internal Alchemy) that emphasizes the cultivation of one’s inner nature.

The Neidan view of the human body has often been represented in charts and other illustrations. The Neijing tu, or Chart of the Inner Warp, is the most famous of these charts. It depicts the body as a landscape and shows its main loci according to Neidan, but also draws on the earlier Taoist traditions based on meditation on the inner gods. [See a small or a large reproduction of the Neijing tu].

The Baiyun guan preserves the original stele of the Neijing tu (fig. 2). The stele, dating from 1886, is encased in the outer walls of one of the buildings of the abbey. It measures about 120cm in height and 50cm in width.

Fig. 3. Lower Cinnabar Field

The chart highlights the three Cinnabar Fields (dantian), which distinguish the Neidan view of the body. Each of them is inhabited by a pair of human figures. At the bottom of the picture (fig. 3) is shown a couple formed by a boy and a girl. Working on a treadmill, they invert the course of the essence (jing) to avoid that it flows downwards and becomes lost. A fiery furnace to their right heats the lower Cinnabar Field, located in the region of the abdomen and here placed near four Yin-Yang symbols. Next to it, on the left, is the "iron buffalo ploughing the earth and planting the golden coin".

Fig. 4. Middle Cinnabar Field

At the center of the picture (fig. 4) is the middle Cinnabar Field, located in the region of the heart and shaped as a spiral. Above it is the Herd Boy; he holds the constellation of the Northern Dipper, a symbol of the Center of the cosmos. According to a famous Chinese story, the Herd Boy can meet only once a year the Weaving Girl, pictured below him near the kidneys. The Herd Boy and the Weaving Girls are symbols of the alchemical conjunction of Yin and Yang.

Fig. 5. Upper Cinnabar Field

At the top (fig. 5), the picture shows the upper Cinnabar Field, located among the mountains above the head. To the left of the mountains starts the Control vessel (dumai), which runs along the back of the body. Below the Control Vessel begins the Function Vessel (renmai), which runs along the front of the body. (Both vessels are represented by five parallel lines.) During the first stage of the Neidan practice, the essence is circulated along the circuit formed by the two vessels by means of breathing. Next to the Function Vessel sits an old man, who is Laozi. Next to Control Vessel stands a monk with raised arms, who is Bodhidharma. The two dots represent the Sun and Moon.

The three main sections of the Neijing tu represent the three main stages of the Neidan practice. The Internal Elixir is generated in the lower Cinnabar Field, is nourished in the middle Cinnabar Field, and is achieved in the upper Cinnabar Field.

Pictures taken at the Baiyun guan in Beijing on September 22, 2012.

"Being by Oneself": A Visit to the Residence of Neidan Master Liu Yiming (1734-1821)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 11:27:00 +0000

Fig. 1. Entrance
to Mount Qiyun

Liu Yiming 劉一明 (1734-1821) was one of the greatest masters of Neidan (Internal Alchemy). Born in Quwo (present-day Shanxi province), he spent the first half of his life traveling extensively to various towns and mountains in northwestern China and to Beijing, in order to search for teachings. His main teachers were a master whom he calls Kangu laoren (Old Man of the Kan Valley, first met around 1755), who gave him teachings on the Book of Changes, cosmology, and Neidan; and another master whom he calls Xianliu zhangren (Great Man Resting in Immortality, first met in 1768), who gave him further teachings on Neidan.

Fig. 2. First level
of the Zizai wo

In 1779, Liu Yiming visited Qiyun shan (Mount Resting on the Clouds). He decided to settle there and built his residence, called Zizai wo (meaning Nest of Being by Oneself, but also Nest of Freedom, as well as Comfortable Nest...). Since then, his main activities were teaching, writing, and building or restoring a large number of temples and shrines on the mountain. Liu Yiming's best-known works consist of commentaries on major Neidan texts, such as the Cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three) and the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality); independent works on Neidan, both in prose and poetry; and commentaries on the Book of Changes. In addition, he wrote works still virtually unknown to Western readers, including a commentary to the Daode jing (Book of the Way and Its Virtue) and one to the Buddhist Heart Sutra.

Fig. 3. Liu Yiming's
own room

Mount Qiyun is located near Yuzhong (present-day Gansu province). After one crosses the gate that formally marks the entrance to the mountain (fig. 1), it takes almost one hour to climb the steps that lead to Liu Yiming's residence. A recently-built shrine devoted to Liu Yiming is found near the foot of the mountain. Continuing the climb, one at last reaches the Zizai wo. Arranged into three levels, the residence is built around a natural cave and for this reason it is still remarkably well preserved. Most other temples and shrines on the mountain, instead, have been destroyed during the past century due to political turmoils, although a few new sites have been built in the meantime.

Fig. 4. The ceiling

The lower and main level of the Zizai wo is a shrine (fig. 2). The front wall is now covered by several wallboards containing Liu Yiming's life chronology, photographs of earlier Taoist masters, and other materials. On the left side is found Liu Yiming's own room, which is built directly inside the cave (fig. 3). The ceiling of the room, instead, is covered by tiles that form a octagonal shape, to represent the eight trigrams of the Book of Changes and their center (fig. 4). The terrace facing the shrine offers a spectacular view of the mountain.

Fig. 5. Second level
of the Zizai wo

The second, intermediate level of the Zizai wo is where Liu Yiming wrote his books and prepared medicines. Although he was a Neidan master, he was often visited by people who knew him for his medical skills. In the first part of his life, his peregrinations led him to study medicine in Henan from around 1762 to 1765, and later he wrote four little-known works on ophthalmology. Healing was only one of Liu Yiming's charitable activities. His biographies mention that he bought farming land on the mountain, which he then leased in order to fund restoration or construction of temples and shrines. He also bought land to be used as burial ground by those who could not afford buying a tomb. Part of the terrace at the second level of the Zizai wo is now occupied by a simple but effective solar-energy device used for boiling water (fig. 5).

Fig. 6. Third level
of the Zizai wo

The upper level of Liu Yiming's residence is the Cangjing dong (Cave for Storing the Scriptures, fig. 6); here Liu Yiming kept his books. None of them is found in this room: the former "library" now contains an altar devoted to Liu Yiming. Considering the breadth of subjects covered in his works, nevertheless, it is easy to imagine that the Cangjing dong hosted texts on Taoism, Neidan, Confucianism, Buddhism, as well as medical books.

Fig. 7. Master Zhang Xincheng

Master Zhang Xincheng 張信誠 (fig. 7) takes care of Liu Yiming's residence. He is a 25th-generation master of Longmen (Dragon's Gate), the lineage to which Liu Yiming also belonged. This lineage claims direct descent from Qiu Chuji (1148-1227), one of the disciples of Wang Chongyang, the founder of Quanzhen Taoism. Longmen became formally acknowledged in the 17th century, and since then has been the main Taoist lineage in northern China.

We are grateful to Master Zhang for allowing us to visit the Zizai wo, for answering our questions on Liu Yiming and Neidan, and for offering us a delicious tea.

Text and pictures by Fabrizio Pregadio and Song Xiaokun 宋晓堃. — See also a Facebook album on the Zizai wo.

"The Essential Cantong qi" (PDF)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:41:00 +0000

An abridged translation of the Cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three), the main text of Taoist Internal Alchemy, is now available in PDF format.

This version is based on the complete translation published in The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir (Golden Elixir Press, 2011), available in both a paperback and a hardcover edition.

The PDF contains 32 of the 88 poems of the original text. Each poem is translated in full, and the explications and line notes are the same as those found in the complete version. The Introduction, the tables, the glossary of Chinese characters, and the list of works quoted are reproduced entirely. The textual notes, the appendixes, and the final index of subjects are omitted.

▶ See the web page on this PDF
▶ Download a sample (PDF, based on the unabridged version)
▶ Other materials on the Cantong qi in the Golden Elixir website

"Who Wrote the Cantong qi?" (Slideshow Presentation)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:01:00 +0000

The Golden Elixir website now contains an online slideshow presentation entitled "Who Wrote the Cantong qi?", on the author(s) of The Seal of the Unity of the Three.

Click the picture above to visit the Golden Elixir web page where you can watch the presentation.

A Japanese Alchemical Chart of the Body

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:39:00 +0000

The Japanese alchemical chart of the body reproduced above is entitled Shūshin kyūten tandō zu 修真九轉丹道圖, or Chart of the Way of the Elixir in Nine Cycles for the Cultivation of Reality (the Chinese reading of the title is Xiuzhen jiuzhuan dandao tu). Although no precisely corresponding picture seems to be found in Chinese texts, it is likely that this chart is either copied from, or based on, an earlier Chinese exemplar that may now be lost.

The Chart, which is undated, is now kept in the library of Tenri University in Japan. It is reproduced here from the book by Katō Chie 加藤千恵, Furō fushi no shintai: Dōkyō to “tai” no shisō 不老不死の身体 — 道教と「胎」の思想 (The Ageless and Deathless Body: Taoism and the Idea of the “Embryo”; Tokyo: Taishūkan shoten, 2002), p. 121. Dr. Katō is one the main Japanese scholars of Taoist Internal Alchemy. She has published extensively in particular on the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) and on the Taoist views of the “embryo.”

From top to bottom along the vertical axis, the Chart shows: the upper Cinnabar Field; the eyes; the tongue; the trachea; the middle Cinnabar Field; the lower Cinnabar Field; and the Caudal Funnel.

Like most similar Chinese pictures, the Chart contains short captions. Below are translations of the captions, with short notes:

1. “Palace of the Muddy Pellet” (niwan gong). The upper Cinnabar Field, commonly called Muddy Pellet.

2. “On the left the Great Yang”. This and the next captions refer to the eyes. The left eye represents Great Yang.

3. “On the right the Great Yin”. The right eye represents Great Yin.

4. “The tongue is the Red Lotus” (honglian).

5. “Under the tongue, on each [side], there are two openings”. These openings are the Cinnabar Cavities (danxue), which should be kept closed by the tongue so that the True Breath (zhenqi) does not escape.

6. “The throat is the Twelve-Storied Pavilion” (shi'er lou). This is a common name of the trachea in Neidan and meditation texts.

7. “Through two [of the four] openings, Breath (qi) flows and pervades the body”.

8. “The heart is the Crimson Palace” (jianggong). The middle Cinnabar Field, commonly called Crimson Palace, is shown at the center of the picture.

9. “Cinnabar Field” (dantian). The lower Cinnabar Field is the dantian proper.

10. “At its first descent, the Elixir is similar to a Luminous Pearl.” This sentence refers to the first stage in the formation of the Elixir, i.e., the first of the nine cycles mentioned in the title of the Chart.

11. “Caudal Funnel” (weilü). Located near the coccyx, this is the first of the “three barriers” or “three passes” (sanguan) in the back of the body. (See an essay by Wang Mu on the “three barriers”.)

12. “As I sit and forget my form (xing), all the mountains, the rivers, and the ten thousand things are within my body”. The word used here for “body” is shen 身, which denotes not only the physical body, but the whole person.

13. “The Breath (qi) of the gallbladder rises above”.

Although its origins and transmission deserve more study, the Japanese Chart appears to be closely related to a work attributed to Chen Nan (?-1213), a Neidan master belonging to the Southern Lineage (Nanzong) of Internal Alchemy. His Cuixu pian (The Emerald Emptiness), which is part of the Xiuzhen shishu (Ten Books on the Cultivation of Reality), contains these verses:

一轉之功似寶珠，山河宇宙透靈軀。紅蓮葉下藏丹穴，赤水流通九候珠。

The result (gong) of the first cycle is similar to
     a Precious Pearl;
mountains, rivers, and the whole cosmos pervade
     the Numinous Body.
Under the petals of the Red Lotus are stored
     the Cinnabar Cavities;
the Vermilion River flows and pervades the Pearl
     of the Nine Times.

The Precious Pearl in Chen Nan's first verse is equivalent to the Luminous Pearl of the Chart (no. 10 above). The second verse is matched by one of the captions in the Chart (no. 12). The term Red Lotus in the third verse is found in the Chart (no. 4), which also mentions the two pairs of “openings”, i.e., the Cinnabar Cavities (no. 5). The expression “flow and pervade” in the fourth verse is used in the Chart (no. 7).

(According to Chen Nan's own explications, the “nine times” in the fourth verse refer to a form of breathing in nine stages performed after the Pearl of the Elixir descends into the Cinnabar Field.)

In his work, Chen Nan also writes:

天一真水藏於膽，陰陽和合降而成丹，初降之狀，如露一顆明珠。

The True Water [generated] by [number] 1 of Heaven is stored in the gallbladder. When Yin and Yang conjoin, they descend [into the lower Cinnabar Field] and form the Elixir. At its first descent, its shape is similar to a Luminous Pearl made of one drop of dew.

Besides including the term Luminous Pearl, one of captions in the Chart (no. 10) consists of sentence that alludes to the final part of this passage. Finally, another caption in the Chart (no. 13) mentions the gallbladder.

(The words “The True Water [generated] by [number] 1 of Heaven” allude to Water, the first of the five agents, which is given birth by Heaven and is associated with number 1.)

Considering these multiple analogies, it is significant that the Cuixu pian is concerned with a Neidan process in nine cycles, which are also mentioned in the title of the Japanese Chart of the Way of the Elixir in Nine Cycles for the Cultivation of Reality. As for the words Cultivation of Reality, they may be a direct reference to the above-mentioned work that now contains the Cuixu pian.

The Daode jing on the Taoist Saint

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:57:00 +0000

Of old, those who excelled in doing the Dao
were subtle, marvelous, mysterious, and penetrating:
their depth cannot be understood.

It is only because it cannot be understood
that, if I am forced, I would describe them as —
hesitant, like one fording a stream in winter;
tentative, like one concerned by the four neighborhoods;
respectful, like a guest;
dispersed, like melting ice;
genuine, like an uncarved block;
vast, like a valley;
murky, like muddy water.

(Daode jing, 25)

In generating and feeding things
generate but do not own,
do but do not be dependent,
let grow but to not manage.
This is called Mysterious Virtue.

(Daode jing, 10, part.)

Those who intend to take over the world and do something to it—

I see that they will never succeed.

The world is a divine vessel:

you cannot do anything to it,

you cannot hold it.

If you do something to it, you damage it;

if you hold it, you lose it.

Thus the Saint does not do,

and therefore nothing is damaged,

he holds nothing,

and therefore nothing is lost.

(Daode jing, 29, part.)

He does not make himself seen,

therefore he is bright;

he does not deem himself to be right,

therefore he is illustrious;

he does not brag,

therefore he has merit;

he does not boast,

therefore he lasts long.

It is only because he does not contend

that no one in the world contends with him.

(Daode jing, 22, part.)

Read more on the Daode jing (Book of the Way and Its Virtue) on these pages of the Golden Elixir website:

Daode jing (from The Encyclopedia of Taoism)
"The Roots of Taoism"

Vol. 2 of The Seal of the Unity of the Three Just Published

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:49:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of Vol. 2 of The Seal of the Unity of the Three, subtitled Bibliographic Studies on the Cantong qi: Commentaries, Essays, and Related Works, by Fabrizio Pregadio.

The Cantong qi is the main text of Taoist Internal Alchemy (Neidan). In addition to Taoist masters and adepts, it has also attracted the attention of philosophers, cosmologists, poets, literati, calligraphers, philologists, and bibliophiles. Thirty-eight traditional commentaries written through the end of the nineteenth century are extant, and dozens of texts found in the Taoist Canon and elsewhere are related to it. The present book is the most complete guide to this vast literature available in any language.

The book is divided into two main parts. Part 1 contains a catalogue of extant and lost commentaries, essays, and related texts, listing altogether about 150 works with details on their authors, editions, reprints, and bibliographic records. Part 2 contains a survey of the textual tradition originated by the Cantong qi, focused on the composition and contents of about 40 major texts. A final index of authors, editors, titles, and editions facilitates the use of the book.

The book is offered with a 20% early publication discount until April 30, 2012. Please see below for this offer.

• Visit the Web page on this book

• Download a free PDF sample

Note: This book is a companion to the complete translation found in Vol. 1, subtitled A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir (see the web page). The two volumes can be purchased separately.

Publication Data

Fabrizio Pregadio

The Seal of the Unity of the Three

Vol. 2. Bibliographic Studies on the Cantong qi:

Commentaries, Essays, and Related Works

Golden Elixir Press, 2012

ISBN 978-0-9843082-9-3

Paperback, 278 pp., US$ 23.95 (list price)

Early Publication Discount: US$ 19.16 (20% discount)

Buy from CreateSpace.com — Enter discount code XK73HZN5 at checkout

This offer is valid until April 30, 2012 (*)

(*) By the time your read this post, Amazon.com and other online bookstores may sell this book with a discount even higher than 20%. Golden Elixir Press does not activate or influence any discount offered by online bookstores.

Interview with Fabrizio Pregadio

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:08:00 +0000

An Introduction to the Classics
of Taoist Alchemy.
Available for free download from TCCII.

These excerpts are reproduced from the post entiled Interview with Fabrizio Pregadio, accessible from the Silent Tao website. Shawn Cartwright, who conducted the interview, is a co-founder of the Traditional Chinese Culture Institute International (TCCII), and a teacher of several Chinese internal arts. His website contains many materials of interest on Neidan (Internal Alchemy). The full interview is available in a PDF edited by Shawn, entitled Interpreting the Ancient Codes of Taoist Alchemy.

Interview with Fabrizio Pregadio
By Shawn Cartwright

Fabrizio Pregadio, one of the foremost translators of Taoist Alchemy classics, answers several questions about his work translating some of the most important texts of Nei Dan. Here is a selection of questions and his answers from the interview. The full interview can be found in the paper Interpreting the Ancient Codes available as a free download from TCCII.

Q: How did you become interested in Taoism and Taoist alchemy?

A: I was, and I still am, delighted by how Taoism represents the relation between the absolute principle (the Dao) and its manifestation in the world in which we live, and by how clearly it formulates several ways to realize the "return to the Dao." The essential features of these teachings are found in the Dao De Jing and are elaborated on (with some differences in emphasis) in the Zhuang Zi. Taoist Internal Alchemy (Nei Dan) is the main tradition that applies those teachings to the human being and offers a way to comprehend and realize them at the individual level.

Q: What benefit can internal alchemy practitioners derive from studying the classic texts?

A: What you call "classical texts" are signposts in the history of a tradition. By studying those texts, one can study the history of a tradition and how it has been transmitted and adapted to different circumstances.

Texts, moreover, are often the only sources we have to reconstruct the history of a tradition, and this is especially important with regard to Nei Dan. We often think of Nei Dan as a "school" of Taoism, but this is by no means correct. Nei Dan is best described as a tradition with Taoism, with its own branches, schools (or rather, lineages), and individual representatives. There are often major differences among the different Nei Dan lineages. Studying texts is virtually the only way to identify those differences.

There’s one more important thing. I can hardly imagine a Chinese — or Indian, Japanese, Tibetan, Persian, etc. — adept of a tradition who does not know, study, and often memorize the main texts of his or her tradition. Knowledge of the written records of a tradition should also be important for a Western follower. Without that knowledge, a Western follower could easily end up twisting and distorting the tradition that he or she claims to belong to, according to his or her own particular perspective. Any Eastern tradition teaches exactly the opposite attitude: until one reaches a truly advanced stage, one should follow the tradition "as is," with no attempt to reinterpret it or adapt it to any contingent circumstance. The re-adaptation (or rather, re-codification) of a teaching to different historical or social circumstances is a very important and interesting phenomenon in the history of any traditional teaching.

Q: Who is the intended audience of your translation of the Can Tong Qi?

A: The intended audience is, generally, everyone who is interested for any reason in the doctrines of the Way of the Golden Elixir, as they are presented by the main textual source of this tradition.

Q: You mention in your translation of the Can Tong Qi that you began your work on it back in 1990. Why is this text so interesting to you?

A: Why is the Can Tong Qi so interesting to me? Well, first of all because, in 1990, after I finished my dissertation on Wai Dan, I told myself, "I’d like to work on the main text in Taoist alchemy" and less than one second later I thought, "This means I should translate the Can Tong Qi." Second, because this text is crucial to understand Taoist alchemy in virtually all of its aspects. One important point here is that the Can Tong Qi talks almost exclusively of doctrine, but we (in the 21st century) should not think that the "doctrine" of a traditional teaching is equivalent to a "theory" in the modern sense of the term. A theory is something that requires proof, and is subject to change in the course of time. A doctrine is something from which a whole tradition develops, and from which the practices are devised. The concepts of "theory" and "proof" are entirely alien to traditional thought; you have, instead, a doctrine that requires personal comprehension and verification. This is why the Can Tong Qi is so important: it has provided the basic doctrine for virtually the entirely history of Chinese alchemy, in all of its forms, with the only exception of the Wai Dan texts written before it was composed, and of some later Wai Dan texts that are not related to it.

Download the full interview now.

The Lovely Maid and the Yellow Sprout (from the Cantong qi)

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 10:15:00 +0000

This passage of the Cantong qi is reproduced from Fabrizio Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Way of the Golden Elixir (Golden Elixir Press, 2011).

The Golden Elixir website contains an extended collection of of free translations, essays, and other materials on the Cantong qi reproduced from this book.

Book 2, Section 68: The Lovely Maid and the Yellow Sprout

1-4	The Lovely Maid of the River
	is numinous and supremely divine:
	when she finds Fire she flies away,
	leaving behind not a speck of dust.

5-8	Like a demon she hides, like a dragon she conceals:
	nobody knows her whereabouts.
	If you want to control her,
	the Yellow Sprout is the root.

Notes

The Lovely Maid of the River (heshang chanü) is True Mercury; she is the Yin line within Li , referred to as the "second daughter" in the terminology of the Book of Changes. Aroused by fire, she escapes and flies away. Only the Yellow Sprout (huangya), which is True Lead, can hold her. When they meet, they join and generate the Elixir.

The argument poetically expressed in these verses resounds at different levels and can be understood in different ways. From the perspective of the Cantong qi, all of them are instances of one and the same principle. In a material sense, the Lovely Maid of the River can be mercury, which escapes (volatilizes) when it is heated by fire. In a spiritual sense, referred to the human being, the Lovely Maid can refer to sentiments and passions. When one's own Fire is used to stimulate those sentiments and passions, they escape and run uncontrolled. When they are presided over by one's own True Nature (Lead, the Yellow Sprout), they turn into qualities — instincts, intuitions, propensities — that express one's Nature.

© Fabrizio Pregadio and Golden Elixir Press

New Translation of the Main Text of Taoist Alchemy

noreply@blogger.com (Golden Elixir Press) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 07:19:00 +0000

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of The Seal of the Unity of the Three, by Fabrizio Pregadio.

"The Cantong qi is the forefather of the scriptures on the Elixir of all times. Its words are ancient and profound, arcane and subtle. No one can fathom their meaning." Thus begins a preface found in one of the commentaries to the Cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three). These words express several significant features of the work translated in the present book: the charm of its verses, the depth of its discourse, its enigmatic language, and its intimate relation to the Taoist alchemical traditions.

Under an allusive poetical language and thick layers of images and symbols, the Cantong qi hides the exposition of a doctrine that inspired a large number of commentaries and other works, and attracted the attention not only of Taoist masters and adepts, but also of philosophers, cosmologists, poets, literati, calligraphers, philologists, and bibliophiles.

As shown by its title, the Cantong qi is concerned with three major subjects, namely Cosmology (the relation of the world to the Dao), Taoism (the way of "non-doing"), and Alchemy, and joins them to one another into a unique doctrine, known as the Way of the Golden Elixir. In addition to a complete translation of the text, this book contains explanations of each of its sections, notes on many of its verses, and a detailed introduction to its history and doctrines.

The book is offered with a 20% early publication discount until October 23, 2011. Please see below for this offer.

Visit the Web page on this book.

Publication Data

Fabrizio Pregadio
The Seal of the Unity of the Three:
A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi,
the Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir

Golden Elixir Press, 2011
ISBN 978-0-9843082-8-6
324 pp., paperback, US$ 24.95 (list price)

Early publication price: US$ 19.96 (20% discount)
Buy from CreateSpace.com — Enter discount code XK73HZN5 at checkout
This offer is valid until October 23, 2011 (*)

Preview and Samples

For a preview of the book (PDF, 28 pp.) and other online samples, see this page.

(*) By the time your read this, Amazon.com and other online bookstores may sell this book with a discount even higher than 20%. Except for CreateSpace — the online shop of the company that prints this book — Golden Elixir Press has no way to activate or influence any discount offered by online bookstores. You may want to check your favorite online bookstore's price before using this offer.