The Golden Elixir Blog

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-...