Bao Pu Zi Nei Pian (抱朴子內篇) · Volume 2

抱朴子曰：餘考覽養性之書，鳩集久視之方，曾所披涉篇卷，以千計矣，莫不皆以還丹金液為大要者焉。然則此二事，蓋仙道之極也。服此而不仙，則古來無仙矣。往者上國喪亂，莫不奔播四出。餘周旋徐豫荊襄江廣數州之間，閱見流移俗道士數百人矣。或有素聞其名，乃在雲日之表者。然率相似如一，其所知見，深淺有無，不足以相傾也。雖各有數十卷書，亦未能悉解之也，為寫蓄之耳。時有知行氣及斷谷服諸草木藥法，所有方書，略為同文，無一人不有道機經，唯以此為至秘，乃雲是君喜所撰。餘告之曰，此是魏世軍督王圖所撰耳，非古人也。圖了不知大藥，正欲以行氣入室求仙，作此道機，謂道畢於此，此復是誤人之甚者也。餘問諸道士以神丹金液之事，及三皇內文召天神地祇之法，了無一人知之者，其夸誕自譽及欺人，雲己久壽。及言曾與仙人共遊者將太半矣，足以與盡微者甚鮮矣。或有頗聞金丹，而不謂今世復有得之者，皆言唯上古已度仙人，乃當曉之。或有得方外說，不得其真經。或得雜碎丹方，便謂丹法盡於此也。昔左元放於天柱山中精思，而神人授之金丹仙經，會漢末亂，不遑合作，而避地來渡江東，志欲投名山以修斯道。餘從祖仙公，又從元放受之。凡受太清丹經三卷及九鼎丹經一卷金液丹經一卷。餘師鄭君者，則餘從祖仙公之弟子也，又於從祖受之，而家貧無用買藥。餘親事之，灑掃積久，乃於馬跡山中立壇盟受之，並諸口訣訣之不書者。江東先無此書，書出於左元放，元放以授餘從祖，從祖以授鄭君，鄭君以授餘，故他道士了無知者也。然餘受之已二十餘年矣，資無擔石，無以為之，但有長嘆耳。有積金盈櫃，聚錢如山者，復不知有此不死之法。就令聞之，亦萬無一信，如何？夫飲玉臺則知漿荇之薄味，睹崑崙則覺丘垤之至卑。既覽金丹之道，則使人不欲複視小小方書。

Baopuzi said: In examining the books that nurture the inborn nature and gathering the recipes for lasting life, the scrolls I have unrolled run into the thousands, and there is none that does not take the Returned Elixir and the Golden Liquor as its main thread. These two things are the utmost of the Way of immortals; if a man could take them and not become an immortal, then there would never have been immortals at all. In former days when the Central Plain lay in ruin there was none who did not flee and scatter abroad. In my wanderings among the provinces of Xu, Yu, Jing, Xiang, Jiang and Guang I saw several hundred itinerant lay Daoists. Some I had long heard by name, their fame up among the clouds and sun; yet they were mostly all alike, and what they knew and had seen, in depth or in substance, was not enough to sway one another. Though each possessed several dozen scrolls of books, they could not comprehend them entirely — they merely copied them out and stored them away. Now and then one knew the methods of circulating qi, of abstaining from grain, of taking the various herbs and plants; all their recipe-books were more or less alike in wording, and there was not a man without the Daoji Jing (Classic of the Way's Mechanism), which they held to be the ultimate secret, even claiming it was written by Yin Xi. I told them it was merely written by Wang Tu, a military governor of the Wei era — not by a man of antiquity. Wang Tu knew nothing at all of the Great Medicine and wished only to seek immortality by circulating qi and retiring to the chamber; he made this Daoji believing the Way ended there — a work that misleads men badly indeed. When I asked the various Daoists about the Divine Elixir and Golden Liquor, and about the method in the Inner Text of the Three Sovereigns for summoning celestial spirits and earthly powers, there was not one who knew; they boasted and praised themselves and deceived others, saying they had already attained long life — and those claiming they had once roamed in company with immortals came to nearly half. Men fit to join in fathoming the subtle essence were very few. Some had heard somewhat of the Golden Elixir but did not believe anyone in the present age could obtain it, saying only the immortals of high antiquity who had already crossed beyond the world could know it. Some obtained stray sayings from beyond the recipes but not the genuine classic; some got hold of scattered fragmentary elixir recipes and fancied the elixir methods ended there. In former days Zuo Yuanfang was in deep meditation on Mount Tianzhu when a divine man bestowed on him the golden-elixir scripture of the immortals; overtaken by the disorders at the end of Han he had no time to compound and fire it, so he fled south across the Yangzi, his intent being to retire to a famed mountain and cultivate that Way. My granduncle the Immortal Lord received it from Yuanfang — altogether he received the Taiqing Elixir Classic in three scrolls, the Nine Tripods Elixir Classic in one scroll and the Golden Liquor Elixir Classic in one scroll. My teacher Master Zheng was a disciple of my granduncle the Immortal Lord and received them from him; his family was poor and had no money to buy the drugs. I attended him in person, sprinkling and sweeping for a long time, before he raised an altar on Mount Maji and, under sworn covenant, imparted them to me, together with the oral formulas that are never written down. East of the river these books did not exist before; the books came from Zuo Yuanfang, who transmitted them to my granduncle, my granduncle to Master Zheng, and Master Zheng to me — which is why no other Daoists know them at all. Yet I have held them now for more than twenty years, without so much as a dan of goods, and have had no means to carry them out — I can only heave long sighs. There are men whose chests overflow with heaped gold and whose cash is piled like mountains, who on the contrary do not know that this undying method exists; and even were they to hear of it, not one in ten thousand would believe — what is to be done? One who has drunk at the Jade Terrace knows how thin is the taste of broth and mallows; one who has seen Kunlun feels a little mound is lowly indeed. Having once beheld the Way of the Golden Elixir, a man no longer wishes to look at the petty recipe-books.

然大藥難卒得辦，當須且將御小者以自支持耳。然服他藥萬斛，為能有小益，而終不能使人遂長生也。故老子之訣言云，子不得還丹金液，虛自苦耳。夫五穀猶能活人，人得之則生，絕之則死，又況於上品之神藥，其益人豈不萬倍於五穀耶？夫金丹之為物，燒之愈久，變化愈妙。黃金入火，百鍊不消，埋之，畢天不朽。服此二物，煉人身體，故能令人不老不死。此蓋假求於外物以自堅固，有如脂之養火而不可滅，銅青塗腳，入水不腐，此是借銅之勁以扞其肉也。金丹入身中，霑洽榮衛，非但銅青之外傅矣。世間多不信至道者，則悠悠者皆是耳。然萬一時偶有好事者，而復不見此法，不值明師，無由聞天下之有斯妙事也。餘今略鈔金丹之都較，以示後之同志好之者。其勤求之，求之不可守淺近之方，而謂之足以度世也。遂不遇之者，直當息意於無窮之冀耳。想見其說，必自知出潢汙而浮滄海，背螢燭而向日月，聞雷霆而覺布鼓之陋，見巨鯨而知寸介之細也。如其嘍嘍，無所先入，欲以弊藥必規升騰者，何異策蹇驢而追迅風，棹藍舟而濟大川乎？

Yet the Great Medicine is hard to have ready at short notice, and one should meanwhile sustain oneself with the lesser. But though one took ten thousand hu of other drugs they can only give small benefit — in the end they cannot make a man live forever. So Laozi's formula says: if you cannot obtain the Returned Elixir and Golden Liquor, you are toiling yourself in vain. Even the five grains can keep a man alive — obtain them and he lives, cut them off and he dies; how much more so the divine medicine of the highest grade, whose benefit to man is surely ten-thousandfold that of the grains. The longer the Golden Elixir substance is fired, the subtler its transformations. Gold put in the fire does not diminish through a hundred meltings; buried, it does not decay until heaven itself ends. Taking these two substances refines a man's body, and so can make him neither age nor die. This is borrowing from an outer thing to make oneself firm — as grease feeds a fire that cannot then be quenched, and verdigris smeared on the feet enters water without rotting, borrowing the strength of copper to protect that flesh. When the Golden Elixir enters the body it soaks through the nutritive and defensive humours — more than the mere outward dressing of verdigris. In the world many do not believe in the ultimate Way; vague and vast, they are all like this. Yet if by one chance in ten thousand there is a man who loves the matter, he again does not see this method, meets no enlightened teacher, and has no way to hear that such a marvel exists under heaven. I now roughly copy out the general outline of the Golden Elixir to show to later men of like mind who love it. Seek diligently; in seeking, do not cling to shallow near-at-hand recipes and fancy them enough to cross beyond the world; and if in the end you never meet it, you need only lay down a hope that had no end. If you would see those sayings for what they are, know that it is as one who leaves a muddy pool and floats upon the grey sea, turns his back on a firefly to face the sun and moon, hears thunder and only then finds a cloth drum crude, sees the great whale and only then knows how tiny is the inch-long shell-insect. If you still prattle in fragments with nothing first lodged in your heart, hoping by mean drugs to contrive an ascent — how does that differ from whipping a lame donkey to catch the swift wind, or rowing a little skiff to cross a great river?

又諸小餌丹方甚多，然作之有淺深，故力勢不同，雖有優劣，轉不相及，猶一酘之酒，不可以方九醞之醇耳。然小丹之下者，猶自遠勝草木之上者也。凡草木燒之即燼，而丹砂燒之成水銀，積變又還成丹砂，其去凡草木亦遠矣。故能令人長生，神仙獨見此理矣，其去俗人，亦何緬邈之無限乎？世人少所識，多所怪，或不知水銀出於丹砂，告之終不肯信，雲丹砂本赤物，從何得成此白物。又云丹砂是石耳，今燒諸石皆成灰，而丹砂何獨得爾。此近易之事，猶不可喻，其聞仙道，大而笑之，不亦宜乎？上古真人愍念將來之可教者，為作方法，委曲欲使其脫死亡之禍耳，可謂至言矣。然而俗人終不肯信，謂為虛文。若是虛文者，安得九轉九變，日數所成，皆如方耶？真人所以知此者，誠不可以庸近思求也。餘少好方術，負步請問，不憚險遠。每有異聞，則以為喜。雖見毀笑，不以為戚。焉知來者之不如今，是以著此以示識者。豈苟尚奇怪，而崇飾空言，欲令書行於世，信結流俗哉？盛陽不能榮枯朽，上智不能移下愚，書為曉者傳，事為識者貴。農夫得彤弓以驅鳥，南夷得袞衣以負薪，夫不知者，何可強哉？世人飽食終日，復未必能勤儒墨之業，治進德之務，但共逍遙遨遊，以盡年月。其所營也，非榮則利。或飛蒼走黃於中原，或留連杯觴以羹沸，或以美女荒沈絲竹，或耽淪綺紈，或控弦以弊筋骨，或博弈以棄功夫。聞至道之言而如醉，睹道論而晝睡。有身不修，動之死地，不肯求問養生之法，自欲割削之，煎熬之，憔悴之，漉汔之。而有道者自寶秘其所知，無求於人，亦安肯強行語之乎？世人之常言，鹹以長生若可得者，古人之富貴者，己當得之，而無得之者，是無此道也。而不知古之富貴者，亦如今之富貴者耳。俱不信不求之，而皆以目前之所欲者為急，亦安能得之耶？

Moreover the recipes for the various minor edible elixirs are many, but their making is shallow or deep, so their potency differs; though some are better and some worse, one cannot be compared with the next — like an ale brewed once, which cannot be set beside a wine nine times fermented. Yet the very lowest of the minor elixirs still far surpasses the very best of herbs and plants. Any herb or wood burns to ashes, but cinnabar fired becomes mercury; accumulated and transformed again, it returns to cinnabar (in this chapter such names as cinnabar, mercury, lead, quicksilver, gold, the Returned Elixir, the Golden Liquor, tripod and furnace are used by the outer-alchemy school for actual mineral drugs and furnace firing — not, as in inner alchemy, borrowed names for the essence, qi and spirit within the body). It is indeed far removed from common herbs and trees. That it can give a man long life is a truth immortals alone perceive — how remote and boundless is their distance from ordinary men! Men of the world recognise little and marvel at much: some do not even know that mercury comes from cinnabar; tell them and they will not believe, saying that cinnabar is by nature a red substance — whence could this white substance be made? And they say cinnabar is merely a stone, and since all stones fired today turn to ash, why should cinnabar alone be able to do so? When even what lies near at hand and easy to see cannot be made plain to them, is it not fitting that, hearing of the Way of immortals, they find it grandiose and laugh at it? The Perfected of high antiquity took pity on the teachable men of the future and made methods for them, setting them out fully and in detail so as to free them from the calamity of death — these may truly be called ultimate words. Yet ordinary men will not believe them after all and call them empty writing. If they were empty writing, how could there be nine cyclical transformations and nine changes, so that what is accomplished in its count of days is exactly as the recipes declare? That the Perfected know these things truly cannot be sought with a mediocre and shallow mind. In my youth I loved the recipe-arts; I shouldered my pack and went about asking, fearing no peril or distance; every strange report I counted a joy, and though slandered and laughed at I did not take it to heart. Who knows that men to come will be less than those of today? So I write this down to show to those who would understand. Could it be that I idly exalt the strange, dress up empty words, and wish my book to circulate in the world and win credit among the vulgar? High noon cannot make the withered bloom again, nor the highest wisdom change the lowest fool; books are transmitted for men who comprehend affairs, deeds are prized by those who recognise them. A farmer who gets a vermilion bow uses it to drive off birds; a southern tribesman who gets a ducal robe uses it to carry firewood — how can those who do not know be pressed? Men of the world eat their fill all day, yet cannot even bestir themselves to the tasks of Confucians and Mohists, the governance of conduct and the advance of virtue — they merely wander free together to pass the months and years. What they pursue is nothing but glory and profit: now flying grey hawks and running yellow hounds on the plain, now lingering over cups till the broth boils over, now drowning among song-girls in strings and pipes, now sunk in patterned silks, now wrecking sinew and bone at the drawn bow, now throwing away their days on draughts and dice. They hear the words of the ultimate Way as men hear when drunk; they see a discourse on the Way and fall asleep in broad daylight. Possessed of a body they do not cultivate it, and every move leads toward the land of death; unwilling to ask after the method of nourishing life, they themselves cut it, scorch it, harrow it and squeeze it dry. And those who possess the Way treasure and keep secret what they know and ask nothing of men — why would they force it upon them? The common saying of the world is this: if long life could be had, then the rich and honoured among the ancients would have had it already — and since they did not, the Way does not exist. They do not know that the rich and honoured of old were but as the rich and honoured of today: none believe, none seek, all make what lies desired before their eyes the urgent task — how then could they obtain it?

假令不能決意，信命之可延，仙之可得，亦何惜於試之。試之小效，但使得二三百歲，不猶愈於凡人之少夭乎？天下之事萬端，而道術尤難明於他事也。何可以中才之心，而斷世間必無長生之道哉？若正以世人皆不信之，便謂為無，則世人之智者，又何太多乎？今若有識道意而猶修求之者，詎必便是至愚，而皆不及世人耶？又或慮於求長生，儻其不得，恐人笑之，以為暗惑。若心所斷，萬有一失，而天下果自有此不死之道者，不亦當復為得之者所笑乎？日月有所不能周照，人心安足孤信哉？抱朴子曰：按黃帝九鼎神丹經曰，黃帝服之，遂以昇仙。

Suppose a man cannot resolve upon it, cannot believe that the allotted span may be lengthened and immortality attained — why should he still begrudge a trial? If the trial shows a small effect and grants him but two or three hundred years, is that not still better than the brief span and early death of common men? The affairs of the world are ten-thousandfold, and the arts of the Way are harder to fathom than all the rest. How can one take the mind of middling talent and pronounce that there is surely no Way of long life in the world? And if, merely because the world does not believe, one takes it that there is none, then how very many the 'clever' among men would be! If there are now men who recognise the meaning of the Way and still cultivate and seek it, are they necessarily the utmost fools, every one of them unequal to the men of the world? Or perhaps a man hesitates to seek long life for fear that, should he fail, others will laugh and take him for deluded. But if among his inward reckonings there is one miss in ten thousand — and the world does indeed possess this undying Way — should he not in turn be laughed at by those who obtain it? Even the sun and moon have places their light cannot reach; how can the human heart be trusted alone? Baopuzi said: According to the Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Divine Elixir of the Nine Tripods, the Yellow Emperor took it and thereupon ascended as an immortal.

又云，雖呼吸道引，及服草木之藥，可得延年，不免於死也；服神丹令人壽無窮已，與天地相畢，乘雲駕龍，上下太清。黃帝以傳玄子，戒之曰，此道至重，必以授賢，苟非其人，雖積玉如山，勿以此道告之也。受之者以金人金魚投於東流水中以為約，唼血為盟，無神仙之骨，亦不可得見此道也。合丹當於名山之中，無人之地，結伴不過三人，先齋百日，沐浴五香，致加精潔，勿近穢汙，及與俗人往來，又不令不信道者知之，謗毀神藥，藥不成矣。成則可以舉家皆仙，不但一身耳。世人不合神丹，反信草木之藥。草木之藥，埋之即腐，煮之即爛，燒之即焦，不能自生，何能生人乎？

(The classic continues:) It also says that although breathing exercises and daoyin, and taking the medicines of herbs and trees, may bring lengthened years, they do not spare one death; taking the Divine Elixir gives a man a span without end, to finish only when heaven and earth finish, mounting clouds and driving dragons, rising and descending through the Grand Clarity. The Yellow Emperor transmitted it to Xuanzi the Dark Master, admonishing him: this Way is of the utmost gravity and must be given only to a worthy man; if he is not the man, then though his piled jade stand mountain-high, do not speak of it. The receiver casts a golden man and a golden fish into eastward-flowing water as his pledge and smears blood to seal the covenant; one who lacks the bone of immortals cannot even be allowed to see it. Compounding the elixir must be done within a famed mountain, in a place without people; one's companions number no more than three. First fast for a hundred days, bathe in the five aromatics, and take pains to be ever purer; do not approach what is foul, keep no traffic with ordinary men, and let no unbeliever in the Way know of it — if the divine medicine is slandered, it will not form. Once formed, it can make the whole household immortal — not one person alone. Men of the world do not compound the Divine Elixir, yet believe instead in the medicines of herbs and trees. The medicines of herbs and trees rot when buried, fall apart when boiled, char when burned — unable even to keep themselves alive, how could they keep a man alive?

九丹者，長生之要，非凡人所當見聞也，萬兆蠢蠢，唯知貪富貴而已，豈非行屍者乎？合時又當祭，祭自有圖法一卷也。第一之丹名曰丹華。當先作玄黃，用雄黃水、礬石水、戎鹽、滷鹽、礜石、牡蠣、赤石脂、滑石、胡粉各數十斤，以為六一泥，火之三十六日成，服七之日仙。又以玄膏丸此丹，置猛火上，須臾成黃金。又以二百四十銖合水銀百斤火之，亦成黃金。金成者藥成也。金不成，更封藥而火之，日數如前，無不成也。

The Nine Elixirs are the essential method of long life — not for the eyes or ears of ordinary men; the teeming myriads, dull as they are, know only to crave wealth and honour — are they not walking corpses? At the compounding there must also be a sacrifice, for which there is a separate scroll of diagrams and method. The first elixir is called Elixir Florescence (Danhua). First make the Dark-and-Yellow (Xuanhuang): with realgar water, alum-stone water, rock salt, brine salt, arsenopyrite, oyster shell, red halloysite, talc and lead white, several dozen jin of each, make the six-and-one lute; fire it thirty-six days and it is complete. Take it for seven days and you become immortal. Or make this elixir into pills with the Dark Ointment and set them on a fierce fire — in a moment they become yellow gold. Or take two hundred and forty zhu of it with a hundred jin of mercury and fire-refine them — again it becomes yellow gold. When the gold forms, the medicine is formed; if the gold does not form, seal up the medicine and fire it again for the same count of days, and it never fails to form.

第二之丹名曰神丹，亦曰神符。服之百日仙也。行度水火，以此丹塗足下，步行水上。服之三刀圭，三尸九蟲皆即消壞，百病皆愈也。

The second elixir is called the Divine Elixir (Shendan), also called the Divine Talisman. Take it a hundred days and you become immortal. You walk through water and fire; smear this elixir beneath your feet and you walk upon the water. Take three spatula-measures (daogui) and the Three Corpses and Nine Worms perish at once, and the hundred diseases are all cured.

第三之丹名曰神丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。以與六畜吞之，亦終不死。又能闢五兵。服百日，仙人玉女，山川鬼神，皆來侍之，見如人形。

The third elixir is likewise called the Divine Elixir. Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal. Give it to the six domestic beasts to swallow and they too will never die; it can also ward off the five weapons. Take it a hundred days and immortal men, jade maidens, and the ghosts and spirits of mountains and rivers all come to serve you, appearing in human form.

第四之丹名曰還丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。朱鳥鳳凰，翔覆其上，玉女至傍。以一刀圭合水銀一斤火之，立成黃金。以此丹塗錢物用之，即日皆還。以此丹書凡人目上，百鬼走避。

The fourth elixir is called the Returned Elixir (Huandan). Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal; the Vermilion Bird and phoenixes soar and spread their wings above you, and jade maidens come to your side. Take one spatula-measure with a jin of mercury and fire-refine them — it becomes yellow gold at once. Smear this elixir on the coins you spend and that very day they all come back. Write with this elixir upon the eyes of ordinary men and the hundred ghosts flee and hide.

第五之丹名餌丹。服之三十日，仙也。鬼神來侍，玉女至前。

The fifth elixir is called the Edible Elixir (Erdan). Take it thirty days and you become immortal; ghosts and spirits come to serve you, and jade maidens come before you.

第六之丹名煉丹。服之十日，仙也。又以汞合火之，亦成黃金。

The sixth elixir is called the Refined Elixir (Liandan). Take it ten days and you become immortal. Or combine it with quicksilver and fire-refine them — again it becomes yellow gold.

第七之丹名柔丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。以缺盆汁和服之，九十老翁，亦能有子，與金公合火之，即成黃金。

The seventh elixir is called the Supple Elixir (Roudan). Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal. Take it mixed with quepen juice and even an old man of ninety can beget a son. Combine it with Lord Metal (lead) and fire-refine them — it becomes yellow gold.

第八之丹名伏丹。服之即日仙也。以此丹如棗核許持之，百鬼避之。以丹書門戶上，萬邪眾精不敢前，又闢盜賊虎狼也。

The eighth elixir is called the Subdued Elixir (Fudan). Take it and that very day you become immortal. Hold a piece of this elixir the size of a date-stone in your hand and the hundred ghosts keep away. Write with this elixir upon door and gate and the myriad evils and swarming essences dare not approach; it can also ward off robbers, tigers and wolves.

第九之丹名寒丹。服一刀圭，百日仙也。仙童仙女來侍，飛行輕舉，不用羽翼。

The ninth elixir is called the Cold Elixir (Handan). Take one spatula-measure for a hundred days and you become immortal. Immortal lads and lasses come to serve you, and you fly and rise aloft without need of feathered wings.

凡此九丹，但得一丹便仙，不在悉作之，作之在人所好者耳。凡服九丹，欲昇天則去，欲且止人間亦任意，皆能出入無間，不可得之害矣。

Of all these Nine Elixirs, obtaining a single one makes you an immortal — you need not make them all; which one to make rests with each man's liking. All who take the Nine Elixirs may ascend to heaven if they wish or tarry a while among men as they please; all can go in and out where there is no gap, and none can be harmed.

抱朴子曰：復有太清神丹，其法出於元君。元君者，老子之師也。太清觀天經有九篇，雲其上三篇不可教授，其中三篇世無足傳，常沈之三泉之下，下三篇者，正是丹經上中下，凡三卷也。元君者，大神仙之人也，能調和陰陽，役使鬼神風雨，驂駕九龍十二白虎，天下眾仙皆隸焉，猶自言亦本學道服丹之所致也，非自然也。況凡人乎？其經曰：上士得道，升為天官；中士得道，棲集崑崙；下士得道，長生世間。愚民不信，謂為虛言，從朝至暮，但作求死之事，了不求生，而天豈能強生之乎？凡人唯知美食好衣，聲色富貴而已，恣心盡欲，奄忽終歿之徒，慎無以神丹告之，令其笑道謗真。傳丹經不得其人，身必不吉。若有篤信者，可將合藥成以分之，莫輕以其方傳之也。知此道者，何用王侯？為神丹既成，不但長生，又可以作黃金。金成，取百斤先設大祭。祭自有別法一卷，不與九鼎祭同也。祭當別稱金各檢署之。

Baopuzi said: There is also the Divine Elixir of Grand Clarity (Taiqing), whose method comes from the Primordial Lord (Yuanjun). The Primordial Lord was Laozi's teacher. The Taiqing Scripture on Observing Heaven has nine chapters: it says the upper three may not be taught, and of the middle three the world holds none fit to receive them, so they are often sunk beneath the Three Springs; the lower three are precisely the upper, middle and lower of the elixir classics — three scrolls in all. The Primordial Lord is a great divine immortal who can harmonise yin and yang, command ghosts, spirits, wind and rain, and yokes nine dragons and twelve white tigers to his team; all the immortals under heaven are subject to him. Yet even he says he himself came to it through studying the Way and taking the elixir — it was not his by nature. How much less ordinary men? That classic says: the highest scholar who gains the Way ascends to a celestial office; the middling scholar who gains the Way roosts upon Kunlun; the lowest scholar who gains the Way lives long in the world. Foolish folk do not believe it and call it empty talk; from dawn to dusk they do only the things that court death and never once seek life — how could heaven force them to live? Ordinary men know only fine food, good clothes, song and sex, wealth and honour; those who give their hearts licence and exhaust their desires and are suddenly gone and finished — never speak to them of the Divine Elixir, letting them laugh at the Way and slander the true. To transmit the elixir classics to the wrong man is sure to bring no good upon yourself. If there is a man of deep faith, you may divide with him the medicine already compounded and finished, but do not lightly pass him the recipe. One who knows this Way — what use has he for kings and lords? For once the Divine Elixir is formed, it gives not only long life but can also be made into yellow gold. When the gold is made, take a hundred jin of it and first perform the Great Sacrifice. The sacrifice has its own separate method in one scroll, not the same as the sacrifice of the Nine Tripods. At the sacrifice the gold should be weighed out in separate amounts, each portion checked and inscribed.

禮天二十斤，日月五斤，北斗八斤，太乙八斤，井五斤，灶五斤，河伯十二斤，社五斤，門戶閭鬼神清君各五斤，凡八十八斤。餘一十二斤，以好韋囊盛之，良日於都市中市盛之時，嘿聲放棄之於多人處，徑去無復顧。凡用百斤外，乃得自恣用之耳。不先以金祀神，必被殃咎。又曰，長生之道，不在祭祀事鬼神也，不在道引與屈伸也，昇仙之要，在神丹也。知之不易，為之實難也。子能作之，可長存也。近代漢末新野陰君，合此太清丹得仙。其人本儒生，有才思，善著詩及丹經贊並序，述初學道隨師本末，列己所知識之得仙者四十餘人，甚分明也。作此太清丹，小為難合於九鼎，然是白日昇天之上法也。合之當先作華池赤鹽艮雪玄白飛符三五神水，乃可起火耳。

(He continues:) To heaven twenty jin; to the sun and moon five jin; to the Northern Dipper eight jin; to the Grand One (Taiyi) eight jin; to the Well five jin; to the Hearth five jin; to the Earl of the River (Hebo) twelve jin; to the God of the Soil five jin; to the spirits of gate, door and lane and to Lord Qing, five jin each — eighty-eight jin in all. The remaining twelve jin put in a fine leather bag; on a chosen day, when the city market is at its fullest, silently abandon it amid the crowd and walk straight off without looking back. Only beyond the hundred jin so used may you dispose of the rest as you please. If you do not first offer the gold to the spirits, calamity is sure to follow. It is further said that the Way of long life lies not in sacrifice and service of ghosts and spirits, nor in daoyin and bending-and-stretching; the essential of ascending as an immortal lies in the Divine Elixir. To know it is not easy, and to do it is truly hard; yet if you can make it, you may endure forever. In recent times Lord Yin of Xinye, at the end of Han, compounded this Taiqing elixir and gained immortality. The man was by origin a Confucian scholar of gifts and thought, skilled at writing verse and at the encomia and preface of the elixir classics, in which he recounted the whole course of his beginnings in the Way and his following of the master, and distinctly listed more than forty men of his own acquaintance who had gained immortality. This Taiqing elixir is somewhat harder to compound than that of the Nine Tripods, yet it is the supreme method for ascending to heaven in broad daylight. In compounding it one must first make the Flowery Pool, the Red Salt, the Gen-Snow, the Dark-and-White, the Flying Talisman and the Three-Five Divine Water — only then may the fire be lit.

一轉之丹，服之三年得仙。二轉之丹，服之二年得仙。三轉之丹，服之一年得仙。四轉之丹，服之半年得仙。五轉之丹，服之百日得仙。六轉之丹，服之四十日得仙。七轉之丹，服之三十日得仙。八轉之丹，服之十日得仙。九轉之丹，服之三日得仙。若取九轉之丹，內神鼎中，夏至之後，爆之鼎熱，內朱兒一斤於蓋下。伏伺之，候日精照之。須臾翕然俱起，煌煌輝輝，神光五色，即化為還丹。取而服之一刀圭，即白日昇天。又九轉之丹者，封塗之於土釜中，糠火，先文後武，其一轉至九轉，遲速各有日數多少，以此知之耳。其轉數少，其藥力不足，故服之用日多，得仙遲也。其轉數多，藥力盛，故服之用日少，而得仙速也。

An elixir of the first transformation, taken for three years, makes an immortal; of the second transformation, two years; of the third, one year; of the fourth, half a year; of the fifth, a hundred days; of the sixth, forty days; of the seventh, thirty days; of the eighth, ten days; and an elixir of the ninth transformation, taken three days, makes an immortal. Or take an elixir of the ninth transformation, place it in a divine tripod, and after the summer solstice blaze it in the sun until the tripod is hot, then put one jin of the Vermilion Lad beneath the lid; crouch in hiding and wait until the sun's essence shines upon it — in a moment it all rises with a flare, blazing bright, a divine light of five colours, and becomes the Returned Elixir; take one spatula-measure of it and you ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Again, an elixir of the ninth transformation sealed in an earthen cauldron is fired over chaff — first a gentle fire, then a fierce one — and from first transformation to ninth, slower or quicker, each has its own count of days, and thereby it is known: with fewer transformations the medicine's force is insufficient, so the days of taking are many and immortality comes late; with more transformations the medicine's force is strong, so the days of taking are few and immortality comes quickly.

又有九光丹，與九轉異法，大都相似耳。作之法，當以諸藥合火之，以轉五石。五石者，丹砂、雄黃、白礜、曾青、慈石也。一石輒五轉而各成五色，五石而二十五色，色各一兩，而異器盛之。欲起死人，未滿三日者，取青丹一刀圭和水，以浴死人，又以一刀圭發其口內之，死人立生也。欲致行廚，取黑丹和水，以塗左手，其所求如口所道皆自至，可致天下萬物也。欲隱形及先知未然方來之事，及住年不老，服黃丹一刀圭，即便長生不老矣。及坐見千里之外，吉凶皆知，如在目前也。人生宿命，盛衰壽夭，富貴貧賤，皆知之也，其法俱在太清經中卷耳。

There is also the Nine-Radiance Elixir (Jiuguang Dan), whose method differs from the Nine Transformations, though much the same in outline. To make it, take the various drugs together and fire-refine them so as to transform the five stones. The five stones are cinnabar, realgar, white arsenopyrite, azurite and magnetite. Each stone is transformed five times, each producing five colours — the five stones thus make twenty-five colours, one liang of each colour, each kept in a separate vessel. If you would raise the dead — one dead no more than three days — take one spatula-measure of the blue elixir with water and bathe the corpse, then take another spatula-measure, pry open his mouth and put it in; the dead man lives at once. If you would summon the travelling kitchen (a conjured feast), take the black elixir with water, smear it on your left hand, and whatever you ask for comes of itself as your mouth declares — it can summon the myriad things under heaven. If you would become invisible, foreknow what has not yet come to pass, and stay your years unaging, take one spatula-measure of the yellow elixir and you will be long-lived and unaging. You may sit and see a thousand li away, knowing fortune and misfortune as though before your eyes; a man's destined fate — flourish or decline, long-lived or cut off, rich and honoured or poor and lowly — is all known to you. These methods are all in the middle scroll of the Taiqing Jing (Scripture of Grand Clarity).

抱朴子曰：其次有五靈丹經一卷，有五法也。用丹砂、雄黃、雌黃、石硫黃、曾青、礬石、慈石、戎鹽、太乙餘糧，亦用六一泥，及神室祭醮合之，三十六日成。又用五帝符，以五色書之，亦令人不死，但不及太清及九鼎丹藥耳。

Baopuzi said: Next there is the Scripture of the Five Numinous Elixirs (Wuling Danjing), in one scroll, containing five methods. They use cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, sulphur, azurite, alum, magnetite, rock salt, and 'the Great One's leftover grain', together with Six-One mud, and are compounded with sacrifices and libations in the divine chamber; it is complete in thirty-six days. Talismans of the Five Emperors are also used, written in the five colors; this too keeps one from dying, only it is inferior to the elixirs of Taiqing and the Nine Tripods.

又有岷山丹法，道士張蓋蹋精思於岷山石室中，得此方也。其法鼓冶黃銅，以作方諸，以承取月中水，以水銀覆之，致日精火其中，長服之不死。又取此丹置雄黃銅燧中，覆以汞曝之，二十日發而治之，以井華水服如小豆，百日，盲者皆能視之，百病自愈，發白還黑，齒落更生。

There is also the Minshan elixir method: the Daoist Zhang Gaita meditated intently in a stone chamber on Mount Min and obtained this recipe. The method is to smelt yellow bronze and cast it into a fangzhu mirror, use it to collect the water of the moon, cover it with quicksilver, and add the fire of the sun's essence into it; taken long-term, it prevents death. Or take this elixir, place it in a realgar-bronze burning-mirror, cover it with mercury, and expose it to the sun; after twenty days open it and grind it fine, then take a dose the size of a small bean with dawn-drawn well water. In one hundred days even the blind can see, all diseases heal of themselves, white hair turns black again, and teeth that have fallen out grow back.

又務成子丹法，用巴沙汞置八寸銅盤中以土爐盛炭，倚三隅塹以枝盤，以硫黃水灌之，常令如泥，百日服之不死。

There is also Wuchengzi's elixir method: put cinnabar from Ba together with mercury on an eight-inch copper plate; set charcoal in an earthen furnace, prop the plate against trenches on three sides, and pour sulphur water over it, keeping it always like mud. Taking it for one hundred days prevents death.

又羨門子丹法，以酒和丹一斤，用酒三升和，曝之四十日，服之一日，則三蟲百病立下；服之三年，仙道乃成，必有玉女二人來侍之，可役使致行廚，此丹可以厭百鬼，及四方死人殃注害人宅，及起土功妨人者，懸以向之，則無患矣。

There is also Xianmenzi's elixir method: blend one jin of elixir with wine, using three sheng of wine, and expose it to the sun for forty days. Take it for one day and the Three Worms and all diseases are purged out at once; take it for three years and the Way of immortality is achieved. Two Jade Maidens are sure to come and serve you, whom you can command and employ to summon a traveling kitchen. This elixir can also subdue the hundred ghosts, as well as the baleful contagion of the dead of the four quarters that infects dwellings and harms people, and earthworks that trouble people: hang it up facing them, and there will be no harm.

又有立成丹，亦有九首，似九鼎而不及也。其要一本更云，取雌黃雄黃燒下其中銅，鑄以為器，覆之三歲淳苦酒上，百日，此器皆生赤乳，長數分，或有五色琅玕，取理而服之，亦令人長生。又可以和菟絲，菟絲是初生之根，其形似菟，掘取克其血，以和此丹，服之立變化，任意所作也。又和以朱草，一服之，能乘虛而行云，朱草狀似小棗，栽長三四尺，枝葉皆赤，莖如珊瑚，喜生名山岩石之下，刻之汁流如血，以玉及八石金銀投其中，立便可丸如泥，久則成水，以金投之，名為金漿，以玉投之，名為玉醴，服之皆長生。

There is also the Immediately-Completed Elixir, which likewise has nine varieties, like those of the Nine Tripods though not their equal. One essential text says further: take orpiment and realgar, smelt down the copper they contain, and cast it into a vessel; place it over three-year-old strong bitter wine for one hundred days, and the vessel sprouts red nipples several fen long, sometimes of five-colored langgan stone. Gather, prepare, and eat them, and this too gives long life. It can also be blended with cuscuta: cuscuta is a firstborn root shaped like a rabbit; dig it up and score it to draw out its juice-blood, mix it with this elixir, and upon taking it you transform at once and may do whatever you wish. It can also be mixed with the vermilion herb: one dose, and you can ride the void and walk upon the clouds. The vermilion herb is shaped like a small jujube, only three or four chi tall, with branches and leaves all red and a stem like coral, and it loves to grow beneath the rocks of famous mountains. Score it and its sap flows like blood; cast in jade, the eight minerals, gold, and silver, and it can be rolled into pills like mud at once, while left longer it turns into water. Cast gold into it and it is called 'metal liquor'; cast jade into it and it is called 'jade wine'. Taking either gives long life.

又有取伏丹法云，天下諸水，有名丹者，有南陽之丹水之屬也，其中皆有丹魚，當先夏至十日夜伺之，丹魚必浮於水側，赤光上照，赫然如火也，網而取之可得之，得之雖多，勿盡取也，割其血，塗足下，則可步行水上，長居淵中矣。

There is also a method for obtaining the fu-elixir, which says: among the waters of the world there are some named 'cinnabar', such as the Cinnabar River of Nanyang and the like, and in all of them live cinnabar fish. You should keep watch on the night ten days before the summer solstice; the cinnabar fish are sure to float near the edge of the water, their red light shining upward, blazing like fire, and they can be caught with a net. Even if you catch many, do not take them all. Cut them and take their blood, smear it on the soles of your feet, and you can then walk on water and dwell long among deep pools.

又赤松子丹法，取千歲虆汁及礬桃汁淹丹，著不津器中，練蜜蓋其口，埋之入地三尺，百日，絞檸木赤實，取汁和而服之，令人面目鬢髮皆赤，長生也。昔中黃仙人有赤鬚子者，豈非服此乎？

There is also Master Red Pine's elixir method: take the juice of the thousand-year-old lei creeper and the juice of the alum-peach to steep the elixir; put it in a non-porous vessel, cover the mouth with refined honey, and bury it three chi in the ground. After one hundred days, squeeze the red berries of the ning tree, take the juice, blend it in, and drink; it makes a man's face, temples, and hair all red, and gives long life. In antiquity, among the immortals of the Central Yellow there was Red-Whiskers (Chixuzi) — was it not from taking this?

又石先生丹法，取烏鷇之未生毛羽者，以真丹和牛肉以吞之，至長，其毛羽皆赤，乃煞之，陰乾百日，並毛羽搗服一刀圭，百日得壽五百歲。

There is also Master Shi's elixir method: take crow chicks that have not yet grown feathers and make them swallow genuine cinnabar mixed with beef; when they have grown up and their plumage is all red, kill them, dry them in the shade for one hundred days, pound them feathers and all, and take one knife-point (daogui) of it. In one hundred days you gain a lifespan of five hundred years.

又康風子丹法，用羊烏鶴卵雀血，合少室天雄汁，和丹內鵠卵中漆之，內雲母水中，百日化為赤水，服一合，輒益壽百歲，服一升千歲也。

There is also Kang Fengzi's elixir method: take sheep, crow, crane's egg, and sparrow's blood, combine them with the juice of Shaoshi aconite, mix them with the elixir, put it inside a swan's egg and seal it with lacquer, then set it in mica water. After one hundred days it turns into red water: take one ge and your lifespan increases by a hundred years; take one sheng and it is a thousand.

又崔文子丹法，納丹鶩腹中蒸之，服，令人延年，長服不死。

There is also Cui Wenzi's elixir method: insert the elixir into a duck's belly and steam it. Taking it lengthens one's years; taken long-term, it prevents death.

又劉元丹法，以丹砂內玄水液中，百日紫色，握之不汙手，又和以雲母水，內管中漆之，投井中，百日化為赤水，服一合，得百歲，久服長生也。

There is also Liu Yuan's elixir method: put cinnabar into Dark Water fluid; after one hundred days it turns purple and can be held in the hand without staining it. Then mix it with mica water, put it in a tube, seal it with lacquer, and cast it into a well. After one hundred days it turns into red water: take one ge and gain a hundred years, and long use gives long life.

又樂子長丹法，以曾青鉛丹合汞及丹砂，著銅筒中，乾瓦白滑石封之，於白砂中蒸之，八十日，服如小豆，三年仙矣。

There is also Le Zichang's elixir method: take azurite and red lead, combine them with mercury and cinnabar, put them in a copper tube, seal the mouth with dry tile mixed with white talc, and steam it amid white sand for eighty days. Take a dose the size of a small bean, and in three years you become an immortal.

又李文丹法，以白素裹丹，以竹汁煮之，名紅泉，乃浮湯上蒸之，合以玄水，服之一合，一年仙矣。

There is also Li Wen's elixir method: wrap the elixir in plain white silk and boil it in bamboo juice — this is called 'red spring'; then steam it floating above hot water, blend in Dark Water, and take one ge: in one year you become an immortal.

又尹子丹法，以雲母水和丹密封，致金華池中，一年出，服一刀圭，盡一斤，得五百歲。

There is also Yinzi's elixir method: seal the elixir with mica water and place it in the Pool of Golden Florescence; remove it after one year and take one knife-point. Consuming a full jin of it gains five hundred years.

又太乙招魂魄丹法，所用五石，及封之以六一泥，皆似九丹也，長於起卒死三日以還者，折齒內一丸，與硫黃丸，俱以水送之，令入喉即活，皆言見使者持節召之。

There is also Taiyi's elixir method for summoning back the hun and po souls: the five minerals it uses, and the sealing with Six-One mud, are all as with the nine elixirs. It excels at raising people who have died suddenly within three days: pry open the teeth, insert one pill together with a sulphur pill, and wash both down with water; as soon as it enters the throat the person revives. They all say they saw a messenger bearing credentials who had come to summon them.

又采女丹法，以兔血和丹與蜜蒸之，百日，服之如梧桐子者大一丸，日三，至百日，有神女二人來侍之，可役使。

There is also Cainü's elixir method: steam the elixir blended with rabbit's blood and honey for one hundred days; take one pill the size of a parasol-tree seed three times a day, and when a hundred days are reached, two divine maidens come to serve you and can be commanded.