The Golden Elixir Blog

"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...

▶ 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 Tr...