The Golden Elixir Blog

The Book of the Nine Elixirs ( Jiudan jing ) is the main extant text of the Great Clarity (Taiqing), the earliest identifiable tradition in the history of Chinese alchemy. In its original form, this work dates from about 200 CE. It describes the preparation of nine elixirs, paying particular attention to the ritual context of the alchemical practice. The main stages of the process are the ceremony of transmission from master to disciple, the establishment of the ritual area, the choice of an auspicious time, the compounding of the elixir, its offering to the gods, and its ingestion. It is this entire process, and not only the actual compounding of the elixirs, that constitutes the alchemical practice. On the other hand, neither the Book of the Nine Elixirs , nor any other Great Clarity source, describes the alchemical process using the patterns, imagery, and language of Chinese cosmology and its system of correspondences. These features of the cosmological system become important ...

In the Western world, those who are interested in Neidan (Internal Alchemy) sometimes claim that the  Daode jing  (Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue) is a Neidan text. This view deserves attention, because it is in some respects similar to the traditional view held by Neidan masters and adepts in China. However, it also requires some comments. While Neidan needs the  Daode jing , the  Daode jing  does not need Neidan. The  Daode jing  is an integral statement of Taoist doctrine. Being complete and self-contained, it does not demand or await anything outside itself. Its doctrine, however, can be applied, to varying extents, to different practices, arts, and sciences. The  Daode jing  itself pays much attention to one particular application of its own doctrine: the art of government. Since some fundamental principles of Neidan are based on the doctrine of the  Daode jing , a Neidan practitioner might claim that the  Daode jing ...

Golden Elixir Press has started the Occasional Papers series. This series will contain short articles, translations, reference works, or similar publications, distributed either for free or at a very low price. The Occasional Papers will be available only in PDF format. The first publication in the series is: Fabrizio Pregadio 9 Taoist Books on the Elixir: A Short Bibliography 23 pp., Golden Elixir Press, 2011 Web page Please visit the Web page to download the bibliography for free. This bibliography contains the main data on nine important original texts of Taoist alchemy. It includes two texts on Waidan (External Alchemy) and seven texts on Neidan (Internal Alchemy). In addition to their importance and renown, the selections concern texts for which at least one translation in a Western language is available. Each entry contains: Title in Chinese, and translation; Information on author and date; A synthetic description; References to print editions of the Chinese text; L...