The Golden Elixir Blog

Zhang Boduan (987?-1082) From the Preface to the Wuzhen pian 悟真篇 (Awakening to Reality) by Zhang Boduan 張伯端 (ca. 1075 CE): "Laozi and the Buddha used the learning of Xing (inner nature) and Ming (existence, destiny) to open the gates of expedient methods ( fangbian ), and taught people to cultivate the seed in order to escape [the cycles of] birth and death. For the Buddha, the source lies in emptiness and silence. If one suddenly awakens and attains complete understanding, one directly transcends to the other shore; but as long as habits and contaminations are not exhausted, one is submitted to rebirth. For Laozi, the truth lies in refining and nourishing oneself. If one obtains what is crucial and essential, one immediately rises to the rank of a saint; but as long as one’s fundamental nature is not comprehended, one is tied to the illusory body." Chinese text: 老釋以性命學，開方便門，教人修種，以逃生死。釋氏以空寂為宗，若頓悟圓通，則直超彼岸。如有習漏未盡，則尚徇于有生。老氏以煉養為真，若得其要樞，則立躋聖位。如其未明本性，則猶滯于幻形。 With its mention of X...

44 books published in less than 4 ½ years (February 2022 - June 2026, or 52 months). Total number of pages: 17,740, equivalent to about 341 pages per month and about 11 pages per day. With few exceptions, each book contains “translations” of and “commentaries” to at least one Neidan text (or a text closely related to Neidan, Internal Alchemy). In a few cases, a large text is “translated” in a multi-volume book. This is the output of Mr. Vitaly Filbert (I assume this is his real name). His books are published by “Daoist Cultivation Press” but at least some of them use the free ISBNs provided by KDP (a company belonging to Amazon). The breakdown by year is as follows: 2022: 7 books, 1812 pages 2023: 6 books, 1346 pages 2024: 1 book, 172 pages 2025: 16 books, 5988 pages 2026: 14 books, 8422 pages (until end of June) 2025 was the most productive year, with 16 books for a total of 5,988 pages, equivalent to about 499 pages per month and about 16.5 pages per day. But that is nothing compared...

These two books bring together a collection of fifteen studies on the doctrines, practices, and history of Taoism and Taoist alchemy. Entirely based on original Taoist sources, the essays support their discussions with a large number of quotations from texts belonging to different schools and historical periods, providing access to the language and ideas of the tradition. The subjects covered in the two books include: a general introduction to Taoist alchemy the history and methods of Waidan (External Alchemy) the relationship between the Daode jing and Neidan (Internal Alchemy) the foundations of Neidan in the Book of Changes the role of meditation practices in the rise of Neidan the main Chinese alchemical text, the Cantong qi (Seal of the Unity of the Three) the teachings of Liu Yiming (1734–1821), one of the greatest Neidan masters the views of ordinary and inner time in the alchemical traditions the Neidan doctrines on human nature and its embodiment the ways of “doing” and “non-...

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 .

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 En...

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 diffe...

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 .

▶ 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 cultiva...

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 i...

▶ 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 rein...