Bao Pu Zi Nei Pian (抱朴子內篇) · Volume 7

抱朴子曰：“設有死罪，而人能救之者，必不為之吝勞辱而憚卑辭也，必獲生生之功也。今雜猥道士之輩，不得金丹大法，必不得長生可知也。雖治病有起死之效，絕谷則積年不飢，役使鬼神，坐在立亡，瞻視千里，知人盛衰，發沈祟於幽翳，知禍福於未萌，猶無益於年命也，尚羞行請求，恥事先達，是惜一日之屈，而甘罔極之痛，是不見事類者也。古人有言曰，生之於我，利亦大焉。論其貴賤，雖爵為帝王，不足以此法比焉。論其輕重，雖富有天下，不足以此術易焉。故有死王樂為生鼠之喻也。夫治國而國平，治身而身生，非自至也，皆有以致之也。惜短乏之虛名，恥師授之暫勞，雖日不愚，吾不信也。今使人免必死而就戮刑者，猶欣然喜於去重而即輕，脫炙爛而保視息，甘其苦痛，過於更生矣。人但莫知當死之日，故不暫憂耳。若誠知之，而刖劓之事，可得延期者，必將為之。況但躬親灑掃，執巾竭力於勝己者，可以見教之不死之道，亦何足為苦，而蔽者憚焉。假令有人，恥迅走而待野火之燒爇，羞逃風而致沈溺於重淵者，世必呼之為不曉事也，而鹹知笑其不避災危，而莫怪其不畏實禍，何哉？”

Baopuzi said: 'Suppose a man under sentence of death could be rescued—he would never begrudge the toil and indignity, nor fear humble words; he would surely gain the merit of life upon life. Now one can see that the motley sort of Taoists, not obtaining the great method of the golden elixir, certainly cannot obtain long life. Yet though curing illness can raise the dead, abstaining from grain can keep hunger off for years, commanding ghosts and spirits, sitting down and instantly vanishing, seeing a thousand li, knowing men's rise and decline, bringing hidden baleful things to light in the dark, knowing fortune and misfortune before they sprout—none of this profits one's allotted years—and still they are ashamed to make requests and ashamed to serve those who have gone before. This is begrudging one day's bending while willingly accepting endless pain; it is failing to see the analogy of things. The ancients had a saying: life, for me, is the greatest profit. Speak of noble and base: even the rank of emperor is not worth comparing with this method. Speak of light and heavy: even possession of all under heaven is not worth trading for this art. Hence the parable of the dead king glad to be a living rat. Governing a state, the state is at peace; governing the body, the body lives. None of this comes of itself; everything has that whereby it is brought about. To begrudge an empty name for being in want, to be ashamed of a teacher's brief toil of transmission—though such a one says daily he is no fool, I do not believe him. Now let a man escape certain death and the executioner's blade—he is still delighted to leave the heavy for the light; to escape being burnt to pulp and keep sight and breath, he endures the bitter pain, happier than being born again. It is only that men do not know which day they must die, so they do not fret for a while. If they truly knew, and amputation of foot and nose could buy them a reprieve, they would surely do it. How much more when merely sweeping the floors themselves, holding the towel and straining their strength for one who surpasses them, they could receive the teaching of the way that does not die—where is the hardship? Yet the benighted fear it. Suppose there were a man ashamed to run fast who waited for a prairie fire to burn him, or one ashamed to flee the wind until he sank in the deep abyss—the world would surely call him senseless, and all would laugh at him for not avoiding disaster and danger, yet no one faults the man who does not fear real calamity. Why is that?'

抱朴子曰：“昔者之著道書多矣，莫不務廣浮巧之言，以崇玄虛之旨，未有究論長生之階徑，箴砭為道之病痛，如吾之勤勤者也。實欲令迷者知反，失之東隅，收之桑榆，墜井引綆，愈於遂沒。但惜美疢而距惡石者，不可如何耳。人誰無過，過而能改，日月之蝕，睎顏氏之子也。又欲使將來之好生道者，審於所託，故竭其忠告之良謀，而不飾淫麗之言，言發則指切，筆下則辭痛，惜在於長生而折抑邪耳，何所索哉？”

Baopuzi said: 'Of old, many wrote books on the Way, and all of them strove for broad, floating, artful words to exalt dark and empty themes; none inquired into the steps and paths of long life or lanced the ailments of practicing the Way, laboring as earnestly as I do. Truly I want the lost to know the way back—to lose in the east at sunrise but gather in the west at sunset; having fallen into a well, to be hauled out by the rope is better than sinking where one fell. Only for those who love a fine-sounding ailment and refuse the bitter stone is there nothing to be done. Who among men has no faults? To have faults and be able to change, like the eclipses of sun and moon—that is to look up to Master Yan. And I want those in times to come who love the way of life to be careful about whom they entrust themselves to; therefore I have poured out the good counsel of loyal warning rather than adorn wanton and lovely words. When my words issue, they point and cut; when my brush descends, the phrasing is bitter—my bitter concern is for long life and for breaking down what is perverse; what else do I seek?'

抱朴子曰：“深念學道藝養生者，隨師不得其人，竟無所成，而使後之有志者，見彼之不得長生，因雲天下之果無仙法也。凡自度生，必不能苦身約己以修玄妙者，亦徒進失干祿之業，退無難老之功，內誤其身，外沮將來也。仙之可學致，如黍稷之可播種得，甚炳然耳。然未有不耕而獲嘉禾，未有不勤而獲長生度世也。”

Baopuzi said: 'I have long reflected that those who study the arts of the Way and nourish life often follow a teacher who is not the right man, accomplish nothing in the end, and cause later aspirants, seeing that they did not obtain long life, to conclude that the world truly has no arts of the immortals. Whoever would cross over this life for himself must be able to make his body suffer and keep himself strict to cultivate the dark and wondrous; otherwise it is useless—advancing, he loses the work of seeking emolument; retreating, he has not the merit that resists old age; within he misleads himself, without he discourages those to come. That immortality can be attained by study is as plain as that millet can be had by sowing. But there is no gaining a fine harvest without plowing, and no gaining long life and world-transcendence without toil.'

或曰：“敢問斷穀人可以長生乎？凡有幾法，何者最善與？”抱朴子答曰：“斷穀人止可息餚糧之費，不能獨令人長生也。問諸曾斷谷積久者云，差少病痛，勝於食谷時。其服術及餌黃精，又禹餘糧丸，日再服，三日，令人多氣力，堪負擔遠行，身輕不極。其服諸石藥，一服守中十年五年者及吞氣服符飲神水輩，但為不飢耳，體力不任勞也。道書雖言欲得長生，腸中當清；欲得不死，腸中無滓。又云，食草者善走而愚，食肉者多力而悍，食谷者智而不壽，食氣者神明不死。此乃行氣者一家之偏說耳，不可便孤用也。若欲服金丹大藥，先不食百許日為快。若不能者，正爾服之，但得仙小遲耳，無大妨也。若遭世荒，隱竄山林，知此法者，則可以不餓死。其不然也，則無急斷，急既無可大益。又止人中斷肉，聞肥鮮之氣，皆不能不有欲於中心。若未便絕俗委家，巖棲岫處者，固不成遂休五味，無致自苦，不如莫斷谷而節量飢飽。近有一百許法，或服守中石藥數十丸，便辟四五十日不飢，練松柏及術，亦可以守中，但不及大藥，久不過十年以還。或闢一百二百日，或須日日服之，乃不飢者。或先作美食極飽，乃服藥以養所食之物，令不消化，可闢三年。欲還食谷，當以葵子豬膏下之，則所作美食皆下，不壞如故也。洛陽有道士董威輦，常止白社中，了不食，陳子敘共守事之，從學道積久，乃得其方，雲以甘草、防風、莧實之屬十許種搗為散，先服方寸匕，乃吞石子大如雀卵十二枚，足闢百日，輒更服散，氣力顏色如故也。欲還食谷者，當服葵子湯下石子，乃可食耳。又赤龍血青龍膏作之，用丹砂曾青水，以石內其中，復須臾，石柔而可食也。若不即取，便消爛盡也。食此石以口取飽，令人丁壯。又有引石散，以方寸匕投一斗白石子中，以水合煮之，亦立熟如芋子，可食以當谷也。

Someone asked: 'May I ask whether those who abstain from grain can live forever? How many methods are there in all, and which is best?' Baopuzi replied: 'Those who abstain from grain can only save the cost of meat and grain; they cannot by this alone make a man live forever. I have questioned people who abstained for many years; all said their ailments were somewhat fewer than when they ate grain. Taking atractylis and eating Solomon's seal, plus taking Yu's-Surplus-Grain pills twice a day—after three days these give a man more strength, able to bear burdens on long marches, the body light and unwearied. Taking the various mineral drugs, and in one dose guarding the center for ten years or five, together with swallowing qi, swallowing talismans, drinking spirit water and the like—these merely prevent hunger; the strength cannot bear labor. The Taoist books say: to obtain long life the bowels should be clear; to obtain undying, there should be no dregs in the bowels. They also say: grass-eaters run well but are stupid; meat-eaters are strong but savage; grain-eaters are wise but not long-lived; qi-eaters are spirit-bright and do not die. This is only the one-sided saying of the qi-circulation school; it cannot be used alone. If one wishes to take the great drug of the golden elixir, it is best to eat nothing for a hundred-odd days first. If one cannot, one may take it while eating as usual—attaining immortality is merely a little later, with no great harm. If one meets a year of famine and hides in the mountains and forests, knowing this method one can avoid starving to death. If not for such a case, there is no need to hasten abstention; haste brings no great gain anyway. Moreover, staying among men and merely abstaining from meat, one smells the savor of fat and fresh things and cannot keep desire out of the heart. If one has not yet left the world and abandoned home to roost on cliffs and dwell in caves, one certainly cannot then be rid of the five flavors—no need to seek hardship for oneself; better not to abstain from grain but to moderate hunger and satiety. There are nearly a hundred methods: some take several dozen pills of center-guarding mineral drugs and are cut off from hunger for forty or fifty days; refining pine and cypress with atractylis can also guard the center, only not equal to the great drug—at longest within ten years. Some are cut off for a hundred or two hundred days; some must take it daily to keep hunger off. Some first make fine food and eat to utmost fullness, then take a drug to nourish what was eaten, keeping it undigested—this can cut off grain for three years. To return to eating grain one should purge with mallow seed and lard; then the fine food all comes down, undamaged as when made. In Luoyang the Taoist Dong Weinian long stayed at Baishe, eating nothing at all. Chen Zixu attended him with others and studied the Way with him for years before obtaining his method: he said to take licorice, fangfeng, amaranth seed, and some ten such things, pounded to powder; first take a square-inch spoonful, then swallow twelve stones the size of sparrow eggs—this suffices to cut off grain for a hundred days; then take the powder again, and strength and complexion stay as before. To return to eating grain, one should take mallow-seed broth to purge the stones down before one may eat. Again, Red Dragon's Blood and Blue Dragon's Grease are made by putting stones into cinnabar and azurite water; after a moment the stones soften and can be eaten; if not taken out at once, they rot away entirely. Eating these stones fills the mouth and makes a man sturdy. There is also the stone-inducing powder: cast a square-inch spoonful into a peck of white stones and boil with water; they too are cooked at once like taro and can be eaten in place of grain.'

張太元舉家及弟子數十人，隱居林慮山中，以此法食石十餘年，皆肥健。但為須得白石，不如赤龍血青龍膏，取得石便可用，又當煮之，有薪火之煩耳。或用符，或用水，或符水兼用。或用乾棗，日九枚，酒一二升者。或食十二時氣，從夜半始，從九九至八八七七六六五五而止。或春向東食歲星青氣，使入肝；夏服熒惑赤氣，使入心；四季之月食鎮星黃氣，使入脾；秋食太白白氣，使入肺；冬服辰星黑氣，使入腎。又中嶽道士郗元節食六戊之精，亦大有效。假令甲子之旬，有戊辰之精，則竟其旬十日，常向辰地而吞氣，到後甲復向其旬之戊也。甘始法，召六甲六丁玉女，各有名字，因以祝水而飲之，亦可令牛馬皆不飢也。或思脾中神名，名黃裳子，但合口食內氣，此皆有真效。餘數見斷穀人三年二年者多，皆身輕色好，堪風寒暑溼，大都無肥者耳。雖未見數十歲不食者，然人絕谷不過十許日皆死，而此等已積載而自若，亦何疑於不可大久乎？若令諸絕谷者專羸，極常慮之，恐不可久耳。而問諸為之者，無不初時少氣力，而後稍丁健，月勝一月，歲勝一歲，正爾，可久無嫌也。夫長生得道者，莫不皆由服藥吞氣，而達之者而不妄也。夫服藥斷谷者，略無不先極也。但用符水及單服氣者，皆作四十日中疲瘦，過此乃健耳。鄭君云：本性飲酒不多，昔在銅山中，絕谷二年許，飲酒數鬥不醉。以此推之，是為不食更令人耐毒，耐毒則是難病之候也。餘因此問山中那得酒？鄭君言，先釀好雲液勿壓漉，因以桂附子甘草五六種末合丸之，曝乾，以一丸如雞子許，投一斗水中，立成美酒。又有黃帝雲液泉法，以糵米及七八種藥合之，取一升，輒內一升水投中，如千歲苦酒之內水也。無知盡時，而味常好不變，飲之大益人。又符水斷谷，雖先令人羸，然宜兼知者，倘卒遇荒年，不及合作藥物，則符水為上矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) Zhang Taiyuan with his whole household and several dozen disciples lived in hiding on Mount Linlü, eating stone by this method for more than ten years, all plump and hale. Only one must get white stone—it is not as good as Red Dragon's Blood or Blue Dragon's Grease, which are ready to use as soon as the stone is got; besides, it must be boiled, with the bother of firewood and fire. Some use talismans, some use water, some use talisman and water together. Some use dried jujubes, nine a day, with one or two sheng of wine. Some eat the qi of the twelve double-hours, beginning at midnight, counting down from nine-nines to eight-eights, seven-sevens, six-sixes, and five-fives, then stopping. Some in spring face east and eat the green qi of the Year Star, letting it enter the liver; in summer take the red qi of Yinghuo, letting it enter the heart; in the months between the four seasons eat the yellow qi of the Quelling Star, letting it enter the spleen; in autumn eat the white qi of Taibai, letting it enter the lungs; in winter take the black qi of the Chronometer Star, letting it enter the kidneys. Also the Taoist Xi Yuanjie of the Central Marchmount ate the essence of the six wu days, with much effect: if in a given jiazi decade the essence falls on wuchen, then throughout the ten days of that decade one always swallows qi toward the chen direction, and at the next jia day one turns to that decade's wu. Gan Shi's method summons the Jade Maidens of the Six Jia and Six Ding, each having her name; water is thus invoked and drunk—it can even keep oxen and horses from hunger. Some contemplate the name of the spirit within the spleen, called Huangshangzi, and merely with closed mouth eat the inner qi. All these have real effect. I have often seen many who had abstained from grain for two or three years: all were light-bodied with fine complexion, able to endure wind, cold, heat, and damp—only almost none of them were fat. Though I have not seen anyone go dozens of years without eating, yet ordinary men who cut off grain die in ten days or so, while these have gone on for years at ease—why then doubt it cannot last very long? If all who cut off grain were invariably gaunt and ever anxious, I would fear they could not last; but ask those who do it, and all say they are short of strength at first, then gradually grow strong and hale, each month better than the last, each year better than the last—being thus, they can go on without misgiving. Those who have obtained long life and the Way have all without exception taken drugs and swallowed qi; those who understand are not speaking idly. Those who take drugs and cut off grain nearly all begin with extreme fatigue. Those who use only talisman-water or qi alone all grow worn and thin within forty days, and grow strong only after that has passed. Master Zheng said: 'By nature I drank little wine; formerly on Tong Mountain I abstained from grain for about two years and could drink several dou without getting drunk.' From this it may be inferred that not eating makes a man better able to endure poison, and enduring poison is the sign of being hard to sicken. I therefore asked him where wine could be got in the mountains. Master Zheng said: first brew the cloud-liquid and do not press and strain it; then take five or six things such as cinnamon, aconite, and licorice, grind them, make pills, and dry them; take one pill the size of a chicken egg, cast it into a dou of water, and at once it becomes fine wine. There is also the Yellow Emperor's cloud-liquid-spring method, using malted rice and seven or eight drugs blended with it: take one sheng of it, put it into a sheng of water and cast it in, as when water is added into thousand-year vinegar—it never comes to an end, and the taste stays good and unchanging; drinking it greatly benefits a man. Also, cutting off grain by talisman-water, though it first makes a man gaunt, should also be kept in mind: if a famine year should come suddenly and there is no time to compound drugs, then talisman-water is best.

有馮生者，但單吞炁，斷谷已三年，觀其步陟登山，擔一斛許重，終日不倦。又時時引弓，而略不言語，言語又不肯大聲。問之云，斷谷亡精費氣，最大忌也。餘亦屢見淺薄道士輩，為欲虛曜奇怪，招不食之名，而實不知其道，但虛為不啖羹飯耳。至於飲酒，日中鬥餘，脯臘臺甫棗栗雞子之屬，不絕其口。或大食肉而咽其汁，吐其滓，終日經口者數十斤，此直是更作美食矣。凡酒客但飲酒食脯而不食谷，皆自堪半歲一歲而不蹙頓矣，未名絕谷耳。吳有道士石春，每行氣為人治病，輒不食，以須病者之愈，或百日，或一月乃食。吳景帝聞之曰，此但不久，必當飢死也。乃召取鎖閉，令人備守之。春但求三二升水，如此一年餘，春顏色更鮮悅，氣力如故。景帝問之，可復堪幾時？春言無限，可數十年，但恐老死耳，不憂飢也。乃罷遣之。按如春言，是為斷谷不能延年可知也。今時亦有得春之法者。”

'There was a man named Feng who merely swallowed qi and had abstained from grain for three years; watching him climb step by step into the mountains carrying a load of about a hu, he was unwearied all day. He also drew a bow from time to time, and scarcely spoke; when he did speak he would not raise his voice. Asked about it, he said: abstaining from grain diminishes the essence and spends the qi—it is the greatest taboo. I have also often seen the shallow sort of Taoists who, to make a vain show of the marvellous and claim the name of not eating, do not actually know that Way, but merely make a pretense of not eating soup and rice—while as for wine, they take more than a dou in a day, and dried meat, malt sugar, jujubes and chestnuts, eggs and the like never leave their mouths. Some eat meat in quantity and swallow its juice and spit out the dregs, dozens of pounds passing their lips in a day—this is simply making fine food by another name. All wine-bibbers who only drink wine and eat dried meat without grain naturally hold out half a year or a year without collapsing; that cannot be called cutting off grain. In Wu there was a Taoist, Shi Chun, who whenever he circulated qi to heal people did not eat, waiting until the sick man was cured—sometimes a hundred days, sometimes a month—before eating. Emperor Jing of Wu heard of it and said this could not last; he would surely starve to death. He had him summoned and locked up under guard. Chun asked only for two or three sheng of water; so it went on for more than a year, while Chun's complexion grew ever fresher and his strength stayed as before. Emperor Jing asked him how much longer he could hold out. Chun said: without limit—it could go on for ten of years; I only fear dying of old age, not of hunger. Only then was he released. Judging by what Chun said, one can know that cutting off grain cannot extend the years. There are also people today who have obtained Chun's method.'

或問不寒之道。抱朴子曰：“或以立冬之日，服六丙六丁之符，或閉口行五火之炁千二百遍，則十二月中不寒也。或服太陽酒，或服紫石英朱漆散，或服雄丸一，後服雌丸二，亦可堪一日一夕不寒也。雌丸用雌黃、曾青、礬石、磁石也。雄丸用雄黃、丹砂、石膽也。然此無益於延年之事也。”

Someone asked about the way of not being cold. Baopuzi said: 'Either on the day of winter's onset take the talismans of the six bing and six ding, or with closed mouth circulate the qi of the five fires one thousand two hundred times—then in the twelfth month one will not be cold. Or take sun wine, or take the powder of purple quartz and vermilion lacquer, or first take one male pill then two female pills—this too can hold off cold for a day and a night. The female pill uses orpiment, azurite, alum, and magnetite; the male pill uses realgar, cinnabar, and blue vitriol. But these do nothing for the matter of extending the years.'

或問不熱之道。抱朴子曰：“或以立夏日，服六壬六癸之符，或行六癸之炁，或服玄冰之丸，或服飛霜之散。然此用蕭丘上木皮，及五月五日中時北行黑蛇血，故少有得合之者也。唯幼伯子王仲都，此二人衣以重裘，曝之於夏日之中，周以十爐之火，口不稱熱，身不流汗，蓋用此方者也。”

Someone asked about the way of not being hot. Baopuzi said: 'Either on the day summer begins take the talismans of the six ren and six gui, or circulate the qi of the six gui, or take dark-ice pills, or take flying-frost powder. But these require the bark of trees from Xiaoqiu and the blood of a northward-crawling black snake taken at noon on the fifth day of the fifth month, so few can compound them successfully. Only Youbozi and Wang Zhongdu—those two men wore layered furs under the summer sun with ten braziers of fire around them, and their mouths never said hot and their bodies never sweated; presumably they used this method.'

或問闢五兵之道。抱朴子答曰：“吾聞吳大皇帝曾從介先生受要道云，但知書北斗字及日月字，便不畏白刃。帝以試左右數十人，常為先登鋒陷陣，皆終身不傷也。鄭君云，但誦五兵名亦有驗。刀名大房，虛星主之；弓名曲張，氐星主之；矢名彷徨，熒惑星主之；劍名失傷，角星主之；弩名遠望，張星主之；戟名大將，參星主之也。臨戰時，常細祝之。或以五月五日作赤靈符，著心前。或丙午日日中時，作燕君龍虎三囊符。歲符歲易之，月符月易之，日符日易之。或佩西王母兵信之符，或佩熒惑朱雀之符，或佩南極鑠金之符，或戴卻刃之符，祝融之符。或傅玉札散，或浴禁蔥湯，或取牡荊以作六陰神將符，符指敵人。或以月蝕時刻，三歲蟾蜍喉下有八字者血，以書所持之刀劍。或帶武威符熒火丸。或交鋒刃之際，乘魁履罡刂，呼四方之長，亦有明效。今世之人，亦有得禁闢五兵之道，往往有之。”

Someone asked about the way of warding off the five weapons. Baopuzi replied: 'I have heard that the Great Emperor of Wu once received essential teachings from Master Jie, who said that one need only know how to write the characters of the Northern Dipper and the characters for sun and moon to have no fear of naked blades. The emperor tested it on several dozen of his attendants, having them always go first to mount the ramparts and break the line, and all their lives they were unharmed. Master Zheng said that merely reciting the names of the five weapons also has effect. The sword is named Dafang and the star Xu governs it; the bow is named Quzhang and the star Di governs it; the arrow is named Panghuang and the star Yinghuo governs it; the longsword is named Shishang and the star Jue governs it; the crossbow is named Yuanwang and the star Zhang governs it; the halberd is named Dajiang and the star Shen governs it. At the moment of battle one constantly recites them in detail. Or on the fifth day of the fifth month make the Red Spirit talisman and place it before the heart. Or at noon on a bingwu day make Lord Yan's dragon-tiger three-pouch talisman. Year talismans are changed yearly, month talismans monthly, day talismans daily. Or wear the Queen Mother of the West's soldier-credential talisman, or wear the Yinghuo Vermilion-Bird talisman, or wear the South Pole metal-melting talisman, or carry the blade-turning talisman or the Zhurong talisman. Or apply jade-slip powder to the body, or bathe in charmed scallion broth, or take Vitex twigs to make the six-yin divine-generals talisman and point it at the enemy. Or at the moment of a lunar eclipse take the blood of a three-year-old toad that has the character "eight" beneath its throat, and write on the sword one carries. Or carry the martial-majesty talisman or the Firefly pill. Or in the clash of blades ride Kui and tread Gang, calling on the chiefs of the four quarters—this too has clear effect. There are people in the world today who have obtained the way of warding off the five weapons; they occur often enough.'

或問隱淪之道。抱朴子曰：“神道有五，坐在立亡其數焉。然無益於年命之事，但在人閒無故而為此，則致詭怪之聲，不足妄行也。可以備兵亂危急，不得已而用之，可以免難也。鄭君云，服大隱符十日，欲隱則左轉，欲見則右回也。或以玉臺丸塗人身中；或以蛇足散，或懷離母之草，或折青龍之草，以伏六丁之下；或入竹田之中，而執天樞之壤；或造河龍石室，而隱雲蓋之陰；或伏清泠之淵，以過幽闕之徑；或乘天一馬以遊紫房；或登天一之明堂；或入玉女之金匱；或背輔向官，立三蓋之下；或投巾解履、膽煎及兒衣符，子居蒙人，青液桂梗，六甲父母，僻側之膠，駁馬泥丸，木鬼之子，金商之艾，或可為小兒，或可為老翁，或可為鳥，或可為獸，或可為草，或可為木，或可為六畜，或依木成木，或依石成石，依水成水，依火成火，此所謂移形易貌，不能都隱者也。”

Someone asked about the way of concealment. Baopuzi said: 'The divine ways are five, and sitting down to vanish instantly is one of them. But it does not profit one's allotted years, and to do it among men without cause only invites a name for weirdness—it is not to be practiced wantonly. It may be kept for military disorder and mortal peril; used when there is no choice, it can deliver one from calamity. Master Zheng said: take the great-concealment talisman for ten days; to hide, turn left; to be seen, turn right. Or anoint the body with jade-terrace pills; or use snake-foot powder; or carry the herb Lilimu; or break off the herb Qinglong and crouch beneath the six ding; or enter a bamboo field grasping soil of the Pivot of Heaven; or go to the river-dragon's stone chamber and hide beneath the shadow of the cloud-canopy; or crouch in the Clear-Cold Abyss and pass along the Hidden Gate's path; or ride the Heaven-One horse to roam the Purple Chamber; or ascend Heaven-One's Luminous Hall; or enter the Jade Maiden's golden coffer; or stand with one's back to Fu facing Guan, beneath the three canopies; or cast off the cap and slip off the shoes—the gall-fried and the child-robe talismans, Ziju the veiled man, green-fluid cassia stalk, the six-jia father and mother, the glue of the secluded nook, the piebald-horse mud-pellet, the wood-ghost's son, the mugwort of metal-shang. Some can become a little child, some can become an old man, some can become a bird, some can become a beast, some can become a herb, some can become a tree, some can become one of the six domestic animals; or resting on wood become wood, resting on stone become stone, resting on water become water, resting on fire become fire. This is what is called shifting the form and changing the look—it cannot wholly hide one away.'

或問：“魏武帝曾收左元放而桎梏之，而得自然解脫，以何法乎？”抱朴子曰：“吾不能正知左君所施用之事。然歷覽諸方書，有月三服薏苡子，和用三五陰丹，或以偶牙陽胞，或以七月七日東行跳脫蟲，或以五月五日石上龍子單衣，或以夏至日霹靂楔，或以天文二十一字符，或以自解去父血，或以玉子餘糧，或合山君目，河伯餘糧，浮雲滓以塗之，皆自解。然左君之變化無方，未必由此也。自用六甲變化，其真形不可得執也。”

Someone asked: 'When Emperor Wu of Wei had Zuo Yuanfang arrested and put in fetters, he freed himself with no one doing it—what method did he use?' Baopuzi said: 'I cannot know for certain what Master Zuo employed. But surveying all the books of methods: there is taking Job's-tears seeds three times a month; or the three-five yin elixir; or the paired-teeth yang-cell; or the eastward-hopping tiaotuo insect found on the seventh day of the seventh month; or the single coat of the stone dragon-child found on the fifth day of the fifth month; or a thunder-split wedge from the summer solstice; or the twenty-one-character celestial script talisman; or self-loosing father's blood; or jade-son surplus-grain; or blending mountain-lord's eye, river-earl's surplus-grain, and floating-cloud dregs to smear on—any of these can make one free oneself. But Master Zuo's transformations had no fixed method; it need not have been because of these. By his own six-jia transformations, his true form could not be seized.'

或問曰：“為道者可以不病乎？”抱朴子曰：“養生之盡理者，既將服神藥，又行氣不懈，朝夕導引，以宣動榮衛，使無輟閡，加之以房中之術，節量飲食，不犯風溼，不患所不能，如此可以不病。但患居人閒者，志不得專，所修無恆，又苦懈怠不勤，故不得不有疹疾耳。苦徒有信道之心，而無益己之業，年命在孤虛之下，體有損傷之危，則三尸因其衰月危日，入絕命病鄉之時，招呼邪氣，妄延鬼魅，來作殃害。其六厄並會，三刑同方者，其災必大。其尚盛者，則生諸疾病，先有疹患者，則令發動。是故古之初為道者，莫不兼修醫術，以救近禍焉。凡庸道士，不識此理，恃其所聞者，大至不關治病之方。又不能絕俗幽居，專行內事，以卻病痛，病痛及己，無以攻療，乃更不如凡人之專湯藥者。所謂進不得邯鄲之步，退又失壽陵之義者也。餘見戴霸華他所集金匱綠囊崔中書黃素方及百家雜方五百許卷。甘胡呂傅周始甘唐通阮南河等，各撰集暴卒備急方，或一百十，或九十四，或八十五，或四十六，世人皆為精悉，不可加也。餘究而觀之，殊多不備，諸急病甚尚未盡，又渾漫雜錯，無其條貫，有所尋按，不即可得。而治卒暴之候，皆用貴藥，動數十種，自非富室而居京都者，不能素儲，不可卒辦也。又多令人以針治病，其灸法又不明處所分寸，而但說身中孔穴榮輸之名。自非舊醫備覽明堂流注偃側圖者，安能曉之哉？餘所撰百卷，名曰玉函方，皆分別病名，以類相續，不相雜錯，其救卒參卷，皆單行徑易，約而易驗，籬陌之閒，顧眄皆藥，眾急之病，無不畢備，家有此方，可不用醫。醫多承襲世業，有名無實，但養虛聲，以圖財利。寒白退士，所不得使，使之者乃多誤人，未若自閒其要，勝於所迎無知之醫。醫又不可卒得，得又不肯即為人使，使腠理之微疾，成膏肓之深禍，乃至不救。

Someone asked: 'Can one who practices the Way avoid illness?' Baopuzi said: 'One who exhausts the principles of nourishing life, who both takes the divine drugs and circulates qi without ceasing, who does daoyin exercises morning and evening to move the nutritive and defensive qi so that nothing is blocked, who adds the art of the bedchamber, measures food and drink, does not offend wind and damp, and does not vex himself over what he cannot do—such a one can be free of illness. Only those living among men cannot fix their will, their practice lacks constancy, they suffer from laziness and are not diligent—so they cannot help having ailments. Ailing that they have the heart to believe in the Way but no work that profits the self, with their destined years beneath the orphaned and empty and their bodies in peril of injury—then the Three Corpses take advantage of their declining months and perilous days, when they enter the land of cut-off fate and the village of sickness, summon evil qi, and wantonly invite ghosts and goblins to do them harm. When the six calamities coincide and the three punishments are in one quarter, the disaster is certain to be great. If one is still flourishing, illnesses of every kind arise; if one already has ailments, they are set in motion. Therefore the men of old who practiced the Way all also cultivated the physician's art, to rescue themselves from near calamity. The mediocre Taoists do not know this; they rely on what they have heard, which at most has nothing to do with prescriptions for curing disease. Unable to quit the world and dwell in seclusion, unable to practice the inner work exclusively to repel illness, when illness reaches their own bodies they have no means of attack or cure—worse off than ordinary men devoted to decoctions and drugs. This is called: advancing, one fails to gain the gait of Handan; retreating, one loses the meaning of Shouling. I have seen the Jingui Lünang compiled by Dai Ba and Hua Tuo, the Huangsu Prescriptions of Palace Writer Cui, and five hundred-odd scrolls of miscellaneous prescriptions by a hundred authors. Gan Hu, Lü Fu, Zhou Shi, Gan Tangtong, Ruan Nanhe, and others each compiled emergency prescriptions for sudden collapse—one hundred and ten, or ninety-four, or eighty-five, or forty-six items—which the world all regarded as exact and exhaustive, beyond improvement. I examined them thoroughly and found much incompleteness: the urgent illnesses are far from all covered; they are tangled and jumbled without order, so that what one seeks cannot be found at once. And in treating sudden and violent conditions they all use costly drugs, often dozens of kinds, which none but a rich householder living in the capital can keep in store—they cannot be got in haste. They also often have people treat disease with needles, while their moxa method does not state the place or measure, giving only the names of the body's points and channels. Unless one is an old physician who has thoroughly studied the Mingtang flow-and-pour charts for the recumbent and side postures, how could he understand? The hundred scrolls I have compiled, called the Yuhan Prescriptions, distinguish the names of diseases and follow one another by kind, without jumbling; its three scrolls of emergency relief are all single-ingredient and easy, compact and easy to verify—between fence and field-path, look where you will and it is all medicine; every urgent illness is completely covered; a household with this book can do without a physician. Physicians mostly inherit a family trade, have name without substance, and are merely nourished by empty fame to scheme for gain. The poor recluse and retired scholar cannot command their services, and those they can get mostly mislead a man—better to be thoroughly versed in the essentials oneself than to receive a physician who knows nothing. Nor can a physician be got in haste; got, he will not come at once for another's sake—so a subtle illness of the pores becomes the deep calamity of the gaohuang, even to the point of no rescue.'

且暴急之病，而遠行借問，率多枉死矣。”

(Baopuzi continued:) 'Moreover, when a sudden and violent illness strikes, to go far afield borrowing and asking—most die in vain.'

或問：“將來吉凶，安危去就，知之可全身，為有道乎？”

Someone asked: 'As for the fortune or misfortune to come, safety or peril, whether to go or to stay—knowing it could preserve one's whole life. Is there such a way?'

抱朴子曰：“仰觀天文，俯察地理，占風氣，布籌算，推三棋，步九宮，檢八卦，考飛伏之所集，診訞訛於物類，占休咎於龜策，皆下術常伎，疲勞而難恃。若乃不出帷幕而見天下，乃為入神矣。或以三皇天文，召司命司危五嶽之君，阡陌亭長六丁之靈，皆使人見之，而對問以諸事，則吉凶昭然，若存諸掌，無遠近幽深，鹹可先知也。或召六陰玉女，其法六十日而成，成則長可役使。或祭致八史，八史者，八卦之精也，亦足以預識未形矣。或服葛花及秋芒麻勃刀圭方寸匕，忽然如欲臥，而聞人語之以所不決之事，吉凶立定也。或用明鏡九寸以上自照，有所思存，七日七夕則見神仙，或男或女，或老或少，一示之後，心中自知千里之外，方來之事也。明鏡或用一，或用二，謂之日月鏡。或用四，謂之四規鏡。四規者，照之時，前後左右各施一也。用四規所見來神甚多。或縱目，或乘龍駕虎，冠服彩色，不與世同，皆有經圖。欲修其道，當先闇誦所當致見諸神姓名位號，識其衣冠。不爾，則卒至而忘其神，或能驚懼，則害人也。為之，率欲得靜漠幽閒林麓之中，外形不經目，外聲不入耳，其道必成也。三童九女節壽君，九首蛇軀百二十官，雖來勿得熟視也。或有問之者，或有訶怒之者，亦勿答也。或有侍從煒曄，力士甲卒，乘龍駕虎，簫鼓嘈嘈，勿舉目與言也。但諦念老君真形，老君真形見，則起再拜也。老君真形者，思之，姓李名聃，字伯陽，身長九尺，黃色，鳥喙，隆鼻，秀眉長五寸，耳長七寸，額有三理上下徹，足有八卦，以神龜為床，金樓玉堂，白銀為階，五色云為衣，重疊之冠，鋒鋋之劍，從黃童百二十人，左有十二青龍，右有二十六白虎，前有二十四朱雀，後有七十二玄武，前道十二窮奇，後從三十六辟邪，雷電在上，晃晃昱昱，此事出於仙經中也。見老君則年命延長，心如日月，無事不知也。”

Baopuzi said: 'To look up and view the patterns of heaven, look down and discern the patterns of earth, divine by wind and vapor, lay out counting rods, push the three boards, pace the nine palaces, check the eight trigrams, examine where the flying and the hidden gather, diagnose portents among the kinds of things, and divine good and ill fortune on tortoise and milfoil—these are all lesser arts, common skill: laborious and hard to rely on. To see all under heaven without leaving one's curtain—only that is entering the spirit. Or use the celestial script of the Three August Ones to summon the Director of Destiny, the Director of Peril, the lords of the Five Marchmounts, the wardens of field-path and post-station, and the spirits of the six ding; make them all visible and ask them face to face about every matter—then fortune and misfortune are as plain as if held in the palm; far or near, dark or deep, all can be known beforehand. Or summon the Jade Maidens of the six yin—that method takes sixty days to complete, and once complete they may be commanded forever. Or sacrifice to call in the eight scribes, who are the essences of the eight trigrams, and are likewise enough to know the unformed beforehand. Or take kudzu flowers, autumn awns, and hemp flowers, a daogui's square-inch spoonful; suddenly as though about to sleep, one hears men telling him the matters he cannot decide, and fortune and misfortune are settled at once. Or use a bright mirror nine inches or more to gaze upon oneself; with something held in mind, after seven days and seven nights one sees gods and immortals—now men, now women, now old, now young—and once shown, one knows in the heart what is a thousand li away and what is yet to come. For the bright mirror one may use one, or two—called the sun-and-moon mirror; or four—called the four-rule mirror. In the four-rule, when gazing, one mirror is set before, behind, left, and right. With the four-rule the spirits that come to be seen are many. Some are vertical-eyed, some ride dragons and drive tigers, their caps and robes colored and not like the world's; all have diagrams in the scriptures. To cultivate that Way one must first recite silently the names and titles of the gods one is to summon and see, and know their robes and caps. Otherwise, if they arrive abruptly and one forgets that god, it may cause fright and do harm. To do this, one generally wants to be amid still, silent, secluded forests and foothills, where no outer shape passes the eyes and no outer sound enters the ears—then the Way is sure to be achieved. The three lads and nine maids, the Lord Jieshou, the nine-headed snake-bodied hundred and twenty officials—though they come, do not stare at them. If any ask questions, if any rage and scold, do not answer either. If attendants come blazing bright, strongmen and armored soldiers riding dragons and driving tigers with pipes and drums in din, do not lift your eyes to speak with them. Only fix your thought on Lord Lao's true form; when Lord Lao's true form appears, rise and bow twice. When contemplating Lord Lao's true form: surname Li, given name Dan, courtesy name Boyang; body nine chi tall; yellow of hue; a bird's beak; a high nose; fine brows five cun long; ears seven cun long; on the forehead three furrows running through from top to bottom; the eight trigrams upon his feet; a divine tortoise for his bed; halls of gold and chambers of jade, stairs of white silver, five-colored clouds for clothing; a many-layered cap and a sharp sword; attended by a hundred and twenty yellow lads; on his left twelve blue dragons, on his right twenty-six white tigers, before him twenty-four vermilion birds, behind him seventy-two dark warriors; twelve qiongqi as forerunners, thirty-six bixie following after; thunder and lightning above, gleaming and glowing. This account comes from the scriptures of the immortals. To see Lord Lao lengthens one's allotted years; the heart becomes like sun and moon, and there is nothing it does not know.'

或問堅齒之道。抱朴子曰：“能養以華池，浸以醴液，清晨建齒三百過者，永不搖動。其次則含地黃煎，或含玄膽湯，及蛇脂丸、礬石丸、九棘散。則已動者更牢，有蟲者即愈。又服靈飛散者，則可令既脫者更生也。”

Someone asked about the way of hardening the teeth. Baopuzi said: 'One who can nourish them with the Flower Pool and steep them in sweet fluid, and in the clear morning clacks the teeth three hundred times—they will never loosen. Next best is to hold rehmannia decoction in the mouth, or dark-gall broth, or snake-fat pills, alum pills, and nine-thorn powder. Then teeth already loose grow firmer, and worm-eaten ones are healed at once. Also, those who take spirit-flight powder can make teeth already fallen grow again.'

或問聰耳之道。抱朴子曰：“能龍導虎引，熊經龜咽，燕飛蛇屈鳥伸，天俛地仰，令赤黃之景，不去洞房，猿據兔驚，千二百至，則聰不損也。其既聾者，以玄龜燻之，或以棘頭、羊糞、桂毛、雀桂成裹塞之；或以狼毒冶葛，或以附子蔥涕，合內耳中，或以蒸鯉魚腦灌之，皆愈也。”

Someone asked about the way of sharpening the hearing. Baopuzi said: 'If one can lead like the dragon, draw like the tiger, stretch like the bear, swallow like the tortoise; the swallow's flight, the snake's bend, the bird's stretch; bending to heaven, lifting to earth; keeping the red-yellow rays never leaving the Cavern Chamber; the ape's crouch and the hare's start—doing these one thousand two hundred times, the keenness of hearing is not lost. For those already deaf: fumigate with dark tortoise, or plug the ears with jujube-stone, sheep dung, cinnamon hairs, and sparrow-cinnamon wrapped together; or use wolfsbane and gelsemium; or blend aconite and scallion juice and put it into the ear; or pour in steamed carp brain—all are cured.'

或問明目之道。抱朴子曰：“能引三焦之升景，召大火於南離，洗之以明石，慰之以陽光，及燒丙丁洞視符，以酒和洗之，古人曾以夜書也。或以苦酒煮蕪菁子令熟，曝乾，末服方寸匕，日三，盡一斗，能夜視有所見矣。或以犬膽煎青羊、班鳩、石決明、充蔚百華散，或以雞舌香、黃連、乳汁煎注之。諸有百疾之在目者皆愈，而更加精明倍常也。”

Someone asked about the way of brightening the eyes. Baopuzi said: 'If one can draw up the rising light of the three burners, summon the great fire in the southern li trigram, wash with bright-stone water and soothe with sunlight, and also burn the bing-ding cave-vision talisman, steep it in wine and wash with that—the ancients used it to write at night. Or boil turnip seeds in bitter wine until done, dry them in the sun, grind to powder, and take a square-inch spoonful three times a day; on finishing a dou, one can see at night. Or use dog's bile to decoct blue-goat, turtledove, abalone shell, and motherwort hundred-flowers powder; or decoct clove, coptis, and milk to drip in. All the hundred diseases of the eye are cured, and sight becomes twice as keen as normal.'

或問登峻涉險、遠行不極之道。抱朴子曰：“惟服食大藥，則身輕力勁，勞而不疲矣。若初入山林，體未全實者，宜以雲珠粉、百華醴、玄子湯洗腳，及虎膽丸、朱明酒、天雄鶴脂丸、飛廉煎秋芒、車前、澤瀉散，用之旬日，不但涉遠不極，乃更令人行疾，可三倍於常也。若能乘蹻者，可以周流天下，不拘山河。凡乘蹻道有三法：一曰龍蹻，二曰虎蹻，三曰鹿盧蹻。或服符精思，若欲行千里，則以一時思之。若晝夜十二時思之，則可以一日一夕行萬二千里，亦不能過此，過此當更思之，如前法。或用棗心木為飛車，以牛革結環劍以引其機，或存念作五蛇六龍三牛交罡而乘之，上升四十里，名為太清。太清之中，其氣甚罡刂，能勝人也。師言鳶飛轉高，則但直舒兩翅，了不復扇搖之而自進者，漸乘罡刂炁故也。龍初升階云，其上行至四十里，則自行矣。此言出於仙人，而留傳於世俗耳，實非凡人所知也。又乘蹻須長齋，絕葷菜，斷血食，一年之後，乃可乘此三蹻耳。雖復服符，思五龍蹻行最遠，其餘者不過千里也。其高下去留，皆自有法，勿得任意耳。若不奉其禁，則不可妄乘蹻，有傾墜之禍也。”

Someone asked about the way of climbing the steep, crossing the perilous, and travelling far without fatigue. Baopuzi said: 'Only by taking the great drug does the body grow light and strong, toiling without weariness. If one has just entered the mountain forests and the body is not yet wholly firm, one should use cloud-pearl powder, hundred-flower sweet wine, and dark-seed broth to wash the feet, as well as tiger-gall pills, vermilion-brightness wine, aconite-and-crane-fat pills, feilian decoction, autumn awns, plantain, and water-plantain powder—using these for a ten-day week, not only does one travel far unwearied, one is even made faster, up to three times the usual. If one can ride the jiao-stilts, one can stream round all under heaven, unhindered by mountains and rivers. The way of riding the jiao has three methods: the first called dragon-jiao, the second called tiger-jiao, the third called windlass-jiao. Or take talismans and fix the thought: if you wish to go a thousand li, contemplate it for one double-hour. If you contemplate through the twelve double-hours of day and night, you can go twelve thousand li in a day and a night; it cannot exceed this—beyond this you must contemplate again as before. Or make a flying carriage of jujube-heart wood, using ox-leather knot-rings and a sword to work its mechanism; or fix the thought as five snakes, six dragons, and three oxen joined at the Dipper's handle and ride it—rising forty li, this is called Grand Clarity. Within Grand Clarity the qi is exceedingly strong and can overcome a man. My teacher said: when the kite flies wheeling ever higher, it merely spreads its two wings level and, wholly without flapping, advances of itself—this is because it gradually rides the gang qi. When the dragon first ascends the stairs of cloud, it climbs to forty li and then goes on its own. This saying comes from the immortals and has been handed down to the common world; truly it is not something ordinary men know. Also, riding the jiao requires long fasting, giving up pungent vegetables and cutting off blood-food; only after a year may one ride these three jiao. Though one may also take talismans, contemplating the five-dragon jiao goes farthest; the rest do not exceed a thousand li. The rising and descending, going and staying all have their own method—one cannot do as one pleases. If one does not keep those prohibitions, one must not ride the jiao recklessly; there is the calamity of a fall.'

或曰：“老子篇中記及龜文經，皆言藥兵之後，金木之年，必有大疫，萬人餘一，敢問闢之道。”抱朴子曰：“仙人入瘟疫秘禁法，思其身為五玉。五玉者，隨四時之色，春色青，夏赤，四季月黃，秋白，冬黑。又思冠金巾，思心如炎火，大如鬥，則無所畏也。又一法，思其發散以被身，一發端，輒有一大星綴之。又思作七星北斗，以魁覆其頭，以罡指前。又思五臟之氣，從兩目出，周身如雲霧，肝青氣，肺白氣，脾黃氣，腎黑氣，心赤氣，五色紛錯，則可與疫病者同床也。或禹步呼直日玉女，或閉氣思力士，操千斤金錘，百二十人以自衛。或用射鬼丸、赤車使者丸、冠軍丸、徐長卿散、玉函精粉、青年道士燻身丸、崔文黃散、草玉酒、黃庭丸、皇符、老子領中符、赤鬚子桃花符，皆有良效者也。”

Someone said: "In the chapters of Laozi the Tortoise-Writing Classic is cited, saying that after warfare and pestilence, in the years of metal and wood, there will surely be a great epidemic leaving one survivor in ten thousand. May I ask the way to ward it off?" Baopuzi said: "The immortals' secret method of interdiction for entering a plague: imagine your own body as the five jades. The five jades follow the colors of the four seasons — azure in spring, red in summer, yellow in the seasonal months, white in autumn, black in winter. Then imagine wearing a cap of golden kerchief, and imagine your heart as a blazing fire the size of a bushel — then there is nothing to fear. Another method: imagine your hair loosened and spread over your body, each tip of hair bearing a great star hung upon it. Or imagine forming the seven stars of the Northern Dipper, covering your head with the bowl and pointing forward with the handle. Or imagine the qi of the five viscera issuing from your two eyes and wrapping your whole body like cloud-mist — azure qi from the liver, white qi from the lungs, yellow qi from the spleen, black qi from the kidneys, red qi from the heart, the five colors interweaving — then you may even share a bed with a plague victim. Or pace the Pace of Yu and call on the Jade Maiden of the day; or hold your breath and imagine strongmen wielding thousand-jin golden hammers, a hundred and twenty of them coming to guard you. Or use the Pellet for Shooting Specters, the Red-Chariot Envoy Pellet, the Champion Pellet, the Xu Changqing Powder, the Jade-Casket Essence Powder, the Young Daoist's Body-Fumigating Pellet, the Cuiwen Yellow Powder, the Herb-Jade Wine, the Yellow Court Pellet, the August Talisman, Laozi's Neck-Worn Talisman, or Red-Whiskers' Peach-Blossom Talisman — all have excellent effect."

抱朴子曰：神仙經黃白之方二十五卷，千有餘首。黃者，金也。白者，銀也。古人秘重其道，不欲指斥，故隱之云爾。或題篇雲庚辛，庚辛亦金也。然率多深微難知，其可解分明者少許爾。世人多疑此事為虛誕，與不信神仙者正同也。餘昔從鄭公受九丹及金銀液經，因復求受黃白中經五卷。鄭君言，曾與左君於廬江銅山中試作，皆成也。然而齋潔禁忌之勤苦，與金丹神仙藥無異也。俗人多譏餘好攻異端，謂予為趣欲強通天下之不可通者。餘亦何為然哉！餘若欲以此輩事，騁辭章於來世，則餘所著外篇及雜文二百餘卷，足以寄意於後代，不復須此。且此內篇，皆直語耳，無藻飾也。餘又知論此曹事，世人莫不呼為迂闊不急，未若論俗間切近之理，可以合眾心也。然餘所以不能已於斯事，知其不入世人之聽，而猶論著之者，誠見其效驗，又所承授之師非妄言者。而餘貧苦無財力，又遭多難之運，有不已之無賴，兼以道路梗塞，藥物不可得，竟不遑合作之。餘今告人言，我曉作金銀，而躬自飢寒，何異自不能行，而賣治躄之藥，求人信之，誠不可得。然理有不如意，亦不可以一概斷也。所以勤勤綴之於翰墨者，欲令將來好奇賞真之士，見餘書而具論道之意耳。夫變化之術，何所不為。蓋人身本見，而有隱之之法。鬼神本隱，而有見之之方。能為之者往往多焉。水火在天，而取之以諸燧。鉛性白也，而赤之以為丹。丹性赤也，而白之而為鉛。雲雨霜雪，皆天地之氣也，而以藥作之，與真無異也。至於飛走之屬，蠕動之類，稟形造化，既有定矣。及其倏忽而易舊體，改更而為異物者，千端萬品，不可勝論。人之為物，貴性最靈，而男女易形，為鶴為石，為虎為猿，為沙為黿，又不少焉。至於高山為淵，深谷為陵，此亦大物之變化。變化者，乃天地之自然，何為嫌金銀之不可以異物作乎？

Baopuzi said: In the scriptures of gods and immortals there are twenty-five juan of recipes for the yellow-and-white, over a thousand in all. Yellow is gold; white is silver. The ancients treasured that art and kept it secret; unwilling to point at it and name it outright, they concealed it under such terms. Some title the chapter 'Gengxin', and geng and xin are also metal. But it is all deeply subtle and hard to know; only a little of it can be clearly explained. People of the world mostly doubt that this is empty fantasy — exactly like their disbelief in gods and immortals. Formerly I received from Lord Zheng the Nine Elixirs and the Classic of the Liquor of Gold and Silver, and on that account sought and received also the five juan of the Middle Classic of the Yellow and White. Lord Zheng said that he once tried making them with Lord Zuo in the copper mountains of Lujiang, and both succeeded. Yet the toil of fasting, purity and taboos is no different from that of the golden elixir, the medicine of divine immortals. Worldly men mostly ridicule me for fondly attacking heterodoxies, saying I am one who strains to force a passage where all under Heaven cannot pass. Yet why else should I do this? If I wished to spread fine writing on such things for later ages, the Outer Chapters and miscellaneous writings I have composed, over two hundred juan, would suffice to convey my meaning to posterity — this would not be needed. Moreover, this Inner Chapters is all plain speech, without ornament. I also know that in discussing such matters, everyone in the world calls them pedantic and impractical — not like discussing the near-at-hand principles of common life, which can win the crowd's assent. Yet the reason I cannot let this matter rest — knowing it will not enter the ears of the world, yet writing it down all the same — is truly that I have seen its effects, and the teacher from whom I received it was not a man of false words. But I am poor and without means, met a fate of many hardships, had endless want, and besides the roads were blocked and the drugs unobtainable, so that in the end I had no leisure to compound it. If I now told people 'I know how to make gold and silver' while I myself hunger and freeze, it would be no different from a man who cannot walk selling medicine for lameness and seeking to be believed — truly impossible. Yet principles sometimes run counter to our wishes, and one cannot decide everything by a single rule. So I diligently string these things into writing, wishing only that men of later times who delight in the strange and prize the true may see my book and thereby see fully the meaning of the discourse on the Way. As for the arts of transformation — what can they not accomplish? The human body is originally visible, yet there are methods to hide it; ghosts and spirits are originally hidden, yet there are recipes to make them visible. The things that can be done are often many. Water and fire are in the heavens, yet we fetch them down with mirrors and drills. Lead's nature is white, yet it can be reddened into cinnabar; cinnabar's nature is red, yet it can be whitened into lead. Clouds, rain, frost and snow are all the qi of heaven and earth, yet they can be made with drugs, and differ not at all from the real. As for the kinds that fly and run, the sorts that crawl and squirm — the forms they receive from creation are already fixed. Yet in a flash they change their old bodies and become different creatures — thousands upon thousands of kinds, too many to recount. Among creatures, man is the most intelligent in nature, yet men and women change their forms to become cranes, stones, tigers, apes, sand or softshell turtles — these too are not few. And when high mountains turn into abysses and deep valleys into mounds, these too are the transformations of great things. Transformation is the nature of heaven and earth — why balk at the thought that gold and silver can be made from other substances?

譬諸陽燧所得之火，方諸所得之水，與常水火，豈有別哉？蛇之成龍，茅糝為膏，亦與自生者無異也。然其根源之所緣由，皆自然之感致，非窮理盡性者，不能知其指歸，非原始見終者，不能得其情狀也。狹觀近識，桎梏巢穴，揣淵妙於不測，推神化於虛誕，以周孔不說，墳籍不載，一切謂為不然，不亦陋哉？又俗人以劉向作金不成，便雲天下果無此道，是見田家或遭水旱不收，便謂五穀不可播殖得也。成都內史吳大文，博達多知，亦自說昔事道士李根，見根煎鉛錫，以少許藥如大豆者投鼎中，以鐵匙攪之，冷即成銀。大文得其秘方，但欲自作，百日齋便為之，而留連在官，竟不能得，恆嘆息言人閒不足處也。又桓君山言漢黃門郎程偉，好黃白朮，娶妻得知方家女。偉常從駕出而無時衣，甚憂。妻曰，請致兩端縑。縑即無故而至前。偉按枕中鴻寶，作金不成。妻乃往視偉，偉方扇炭燒筒，筒中有水銀。妻曰，吾欲試相視一事。乃出其囊中藥，少少投之，食頃發之，已成銀。偉大驚曰，道近在汝處，而不早告我，何也？妻曰，得之須有命者。於是偉日夜說誘之，賣田宅以供美食衣服，猶不肯告偉。偉乃與伴謀撾笞伏之。妻輒知之，告偉言，道必當傳其人，得其人，道路相遇輒教之；如非其人，口是而心非者，雖寸斷支解，而道猶不出也。偉逼之不止，妻乃發狂，裸而走，以泥自塗，遂卒。近者前廬江太守華令思，高才達學，洽聞之士也，而事之不經者，多所不信。後有道士說黃白之方，乃試令作之，雲以鐵器銷鉛，以散藥投中，即成銀。又銷此銀，以他藥投之，乃作黃金。又從此道士學徹視之方，行之未百日，夜臥即便見天文及四鄰了了，不覺復有屋舍籬障。又妾名瑤華者已死，乃見形，與之言語如平生。又祭廟，聞廟神答其拜，床似動有聲。令思乃嘆曰，世閒乃定無所不有，五經雖不載，不可便以意斷也。

(Continuing from above:) Take the fire obtained from a burning-mirror and the water obtained from a moon-mirror — how do they differ from ordinary fire and water? A snake turning into a dragon, or grass chaff turning into grease, are no different from what is born so of itself. Yet the root from which these arise is a natural response; one who does not exhaust principle and fathom nature cannot know where it points, and one who does not trace things to their origin and see them to their end cannot grasp their true state. Men of narrow view and near sight, shackled in their burrows, try to sound the abyssal mystery in unfathomable places; they dismiss divine transformation as empty fantasy, and because the Duke of Zhou and Confucius did not speak of it and the ancient texts do not record it, they declare it all to be otherwise — is that not philistine? Again, because Liu Xiang tried to make gold and failed, the vulgar say that this Way assuredly does not exist under Heaven — which is like seeing a farmer's fields fail from flood or drought and declaring that the five grains cannot be got by sowing. Wu Dawen, chamberlain of the capital at Chengdu, broadly learned and much knowing, himself said that formerly he served the Daoist Li Gen and saw Gen boil lead and tin, cast a bit of drug like a soybean into the cauldron, and stir with an iron spoon — when it cooled it became silver. Dawen obtained the secret recipe and wanted only to perform it himself; he kept the hundred-day fast and set to work, but lingering in office he never obtained it, and ever sighed over what is lacking among men. Again, Huan Junshan tells of Cheng Wei, a Gentleman of the Yellow Gates under the Han, who loved the art of the yellow-and-white and married the daughter of a family versed in recipes. Wei often followed the imperial carriage out but had no clothes fit for the season, and was much distressed. His wife said, 'Let me fetch two lengths of silk' — and the silk came before him unaccountably. Wei, following the Pillow-Kept Grand Treasure, tried to make gold and failed. His wife then went to see Wei; Wei was fanning charcoal to heat a tube in which there was quicksilver. His wife said, 'Let me try showing you something.' She took the drug from a pouch and cast a little in; in the space of a meal, when it was opened, it had already become silver. Wei was amazed and said, 'The Way was near at hand in you, yet you did not tell me sooner — why?' His wife said, 'To obtain it one must be a man of the right destiny.' Wei then cajoled her day and night, sold his fields and house to supply her with fine food and clothes, but still she would not tell Wei. Wei then plotted with a companion to beat her into submission. His wife always knew of it, and told Wei: 'The Way must be passed to the right kind of man; having found such a man, one teaches him on meeting him by the road. If he is not such a man — correct in speech but false at heart — though you cut me to pieces inch by inch, the Way will still not come out.' Wei pressed her without cease; his wife went mad, went about naked, smeared herself with mud, and so died. More recently Hua Lingsi, the former governor of Lujiang, was a man of high talent, accomplished learning and wide information, yet did not believe many things that lie outside the canon. Later a Daoist told him a recipe of the yellow-and-white; he merely tried it out — melting lead in an iron vessel and casting in the powdered drug — and it became silver. Melting this silver again and casting in another drug, he then made yellow gold. Again he learned from that Daoist the method of penetrating sight; before he had practiced it a hundred days, lying in bed at night he could see the patterns of the sky and the four neighbors clearly, no longer aware of house or fence between. Again, his dead concubine named Yaohua appeared in form and spoke with him as in life. Again, when he sacrificed at the temple, he heard the temple god answer his bow, and his bed seemed to stir with a sound. Lingsi then sighed and said that in the world there is truly nothing that does not exist; that though the Five Classics do not record it, one must not decide it by one's own notions.

然不聞方伎者，卒聞此，亦焉能不驚怪邪？又黃白朮亦如合神丹，皆須齋潔百日已上，又當得閒解方書，意合者乃可為之，非濁穢之人，及不聰明人，希涉術數者所辨作也。其中或有須口訣者，皆宜師授。又宜入於深山之中，清潔之地，不欲令凡俗愚人知之。而劉向止宮中作之，使宮人供給其事，必非齋潔者，又不能斷絕人事，使不來往也，如此安可得成哉？桓譚新論曰：史子心見署為丞相史，官架屋，發吏卒及官奴婢以給之，作金不成。丞相自以力不足，又白傅太后。太后不復利於金也，聞金成可以作延年藥，又甘心焉，乃除之為郎，舍之北宮中，使者待遇。寧有作此神方可於宮中，而令凡人雜錯共為之者哉？俗閒染繒練，尚不欲使雜人見之，見之即壞，況黃白之變化乎？凡事無鉅細，皆宜得要。若不得其法，妄作酒醬醋羹臛猶不成，況大事乎？餘曾諮於鄭君曰：“老君云，不貴難得之貨。而至治之世，皆投金於山，捐玉於谷，不審古人何用金銀為貴而遺其方也？”鄭君答餘曰：“老君所云，謂夫披沙剖石，傾山漉淵，不遠萬里，不慮壓溺，以求珍玩，以妨民時，不知止足，以飾無用。及欲為道，志求長生者，復兼商賈，不敦信讓，浮深越險，乾沒逐利，不吝軀命，不修寡慾者耳。至於真人作金，自欲餌服之致神仙，不以致富也。故經曰，金可作也，世可度也，銀亦可餌服，但不及金耳。”餘難曰：“何不餌世閒金銀而化作之，作之則非真，非真則詐偽也。”鄭君答餘曰：“世閒金銀皆善，然道士率皆貧。故諺云，無有肥仙人富道士也。師徒或十人或五人，亦安得金銀以供之乎？又不能遠行採取，故宜作也。又化作之金，乃是諸藥之精，勝於自然者也。仙經云，丹精生金。此是以丹作金之說也。故山中有丹砂，其下多有金。且夫作金成則為真物，中表如一，百鍊不減。故其方曰，可以為釘。明其堅勁也。

(Continuing from above:) But when one who has never heard of methods and arts suddenly hears this, how can he not be startled and think it strange? Moreover the art of the yellow-and-white, like the compounding of the divine elixirs, requires a fast of purity for a hundred days and more, and must be done by one who has leisure, understands recipe-books and whose intent accords — it cannot be accomplished by the foul and impure, by the unintelligent, or by those who have seldom dipped into the arts of number. Among the recipes some require oral formulae; all should be received from a teacher. One should also go deep into the mountains, to a clean place, not wanting ordinary foolish men to know. But Liu Xiang worked only within the palace, and had palace people supply the work — surely that was not fasting purity, and he could not cut off human comings and goings; how could it succeed that way? Huan Tan's New Discourses says: Shi Zixin was appointed secretary to the chancellor; the office built him a shed, and clerks, soldiers and official slaves were mobilized to supply him — he failed to make gold. The chancellor thought the effort insufficient and reported to the Dowager Fu. The Dowager no longer profited from gold, but hearing that once gold is made it can serve as a life-prolonging medicine, she was won over, and so appointed him a gentleman and lodged him in the Northern Palace with the treatment of an envoy. How could one work this divine recipe within a palace, letting ordinary people mix in and do it together? In common life, when dyeing silks one does not even want outsiders to see it — if they see it, it spoils — how much more the transformations of the yellow and white! In all affairs, great or small, one must get the essentials. Without the method, even making wine, sauce, vinegar or stew at random fails — how much more a great affair? I once asked Lord Zheng: 'The Old Lord says, do not prize goods that are hard to obtain, and in an age of perfect order gold was cast into the mountains and jade thrown into the valleys. I do not understand why the ancients prized gold and silver and left behind that recipe.' Lord Zheng answered me: 'What the Old Lord spoke of was men who comb the sands and split rocks, overturn mountains and drain deeps, going ten thousand li, heedless of burial and drowning, to seek precious baubles, hindering the people's seasons, knowing no satiety, adorning what is useless — and those who wish to practice the Way and seek long life yet also engage in trade, not honoring faith and deference, floating the deeps and crossing the passes, dashing after profit, grudging not their lives, and not cultivating fewness of desires. As for a True Man's making gold, he wishes himself to take it as food to attain godhood and immortality — not to grow rich. Thus the scripture says: gold can be made, the world can be transcended, and silver too can be eaten — only it does not equal gold.' I objected: 'Why not eat the world's gold and silver rather than transform it? If it is made it is not true, and if not true it is a cheat.' Lord Zheng answered me: 'The world's gold and silver are all fine, but Daoists are mostly poor. Thus the proverb says: there are no fat immortals or rich Daoists. With master and disciples of perhaps ten or five, where would they get gold and silver for provision? Nor can they travel far to gather it; therefore it is fitting to make it. Moreover, transformed gold is the essence of all the drugs, and surpasses the natural. The immortal scripture says: the essence of cinnabar breeds gold — this is the saying that cinnabar makes gold. Thus where there is cinnabar in a mountain, beneath it there is much gold. And once gold is made it is true stuff, within and without the same; a hundred smeltings do not diminish it. Thus the recipe says it can serve for nails — to show that it is hard and firm.

此則得夫自然之道也。故其能之，何謂詐乎？詐者謂以曾青塗鐵，鐵赤色如銅；以雞子白化銀，銀黃如金，而皆外變而內不化也。夫芝菌者，自然而生，而仙經有以五石五木種芝，芝生，取而服之，亦與自然芝無異，俱令人長生，此亦作金之類也。雉化為蜃，雀化為蛤，與自然者正同。故仙經曰，流珠九轉，父不語子，化為黃白，自然相使。又曰，硃砂為金，服之昇仙者，上士也；茹芝導引，嚥氣長生者，中士也；餐食草木，千歲以還者，下士也。又曰，金銀可自作，自然之性也，長生可學得者也。玉牒記云：天下悠悠，皆可長生也，患於猶豫，故不成耳。凝水銀為金，可中釘也。銅柱經曰：丹沙可為金，河車可作銀，立則可成，成則為真，子得其道，可以仙身。黃山子曰：天地有金，我能作之，二黃一赤，立成不疑。龜甲文曰：我命在我不在天，還丹成金億萬年。古人豈欺我哉？但患知此道者多貧，而藥或至賤而生遠方，非亂世所得也。若戎鹽滷鹹皆賤物，清平時了不直錢，今時不限價直而買之無也。羌裡石膽，千萬求一斤，亦不可得。徒知其方，而與不知者正同，可為長嘆者也。有其法者，則或飢寒無以合之，而富貴者復不知其法也。就令知之，亦無一信者。假令頗信之，亦已自多金銀，豈肯費見財以市其藥物，恐有棄系逐飛之悔，故莫肯為也。又計買藥之價，以成所得之物，尤有大利，而更當齋戒辛苦，故莫克為也。且夫不得明師口訣，誠不可輕作也。”夫醫家之藥，淺露之甚，而其常用效方，便復秘之。故方有用後宮遊女，僻側之膠，封君泥丸，木鬼子，金商芝，飛君根，伏龍肝，白馬汗，浮雲滓，龍子丹衣，夜光骨，百花醴，冬鄒齋之屬，皆近物耳，而不得口訣，猶不可知，況於黃白之術乎？今能為之者，非徒以其價貴而秘之矣，此道一成，則可以長生。長生之道，道之至也，故古人重之也。

(Lord Zheng went on:) This means it has obtained the Way of nature. That he can do so — how is it cheating? Cheating means coating iron with malachite so the iron turns red like copper, or transforming silver with egg white so the silver turns yellow like gold — in both the outside changes but the inside does not transform. Mushrooms grow of themselves, yet in the immortal scriptures mushrooms are planted with the five minerals and five woods; when the mushrooms grow and are gathered and eaten, they differ not at all from natural mushrooms — both give long life. This too is the same sort of thing as making gold. The pheasant turning into the great clam and the sparrow into the clam are exactly like the natural. Thus the immortal scripture says: the flowing pearl, nine times revolved — a father does not tell his son; transformed into the yellow and white, they work of themselves. It also says: he who makes gold of cinnabar and takes it to rise immortal is the highest officer; he who eats mushrooms, practices guiding exercises and swallows qi to long life is the middle officer; he who feeds on herbs and trees, within a thousand years, is the lowest officer. It also says: gold and silver can be made by oneself — such is nature; long life can be learned. The Jade Slips Record says: all under the distant heavens may live long; the trouble lies in hesitation — that is all that keeps it from succeeding. Congealing quicksilver into gold can serve for nails. The Copper Pillar Classic says: cinnabar can make gold, the river-chariot can make silver — it is accomplished at once, and once accomplished it is true; get that Way and you can make your body immortal. Huangshanzi said: heaven and earth have gold; I can make it — two yellows and one red, accomplished at once beyond doubt. The Tortoise-Shell Text says: my destiny is in me, not in Heaven; the reverted cinnabar makes gold for a hundred million years. How could the ancients have cheated me? Only, those who know this Way are mostly poor, and the drugs, though most cheap, may grow in distant places, not to be obtained in a disordered age. Things like Rong salt and brine salt are cheap goods — in clear and peaceful times they are worth nothing at all, yet today they cannot be bought at any price. As for Qiangli vitriol, one could offer ten thousand coins for a jin and not obtain it. To know the recipe in vain is exactly like not knowing it — worth a long sigh. Those who have the method may starve and freeze with no means to compound it, while the rich and honored do not know the method; and even if they knew, not one would believe it. Even should they somewhat believe, they already have much gold and silver of their own — would they spend present wealth to buy those drugs, fearing the regret of dropping the secured to chase the flown? So none is willing to do it. Also, reckoning the price of buying the drugs against what is obtained when made, the profit is especially great, yet one must fast and toil — so none can manage to finish it. And without an enlightened teacher's oral formulae, one truly must not lightly attempt it.' The medicines of physicians are very plain and open, yet their commonly used efficacious recipes they keep secret. Thus recipes use such names as Palace Roaming Maiden, Beside-the-Path Glue, Fief-Lord Mud-Pellet, Tree-Ghost Seed, Gold-Merchant Mushroom, Flying-Lord Root, Crouching-Dragon Liver, White-Horse Sweat, Floating-Cloud Dregs, Dragon-Son Cinnabar-Cloth, Night-Shine Bone, Hundred-Flower Sweet Wine and Winter-Mourning Fast — all near-at-hand things, but without the oral formula one cannot know them — how much more the art of the yellow and white! Those who can do it today keep it secret not merely for its price; once this Way is accomplished, one can live forever. The Way of long life is the utmost of the Way — that is why the ancients prized it.

凡方書所名藥物，又或與常藥物同而實非者，如河上奼女，非婦人也；陵陽子明，非男子也；禹餘糧，非米也；堯漿，非水也。而俗人見方用龍膽虎掌、雞頭鴨蹠、馬蹄犬血、鼠尾牛膝，皆謂之血氣之物也；見用缺盆覆盆、釜釒歷大戟、鬼箭天鉤，則謂之鐵瓦之器也；見用胡王使者、倚姑新婦、野丈人、守田公、戴文浴、徐長卿，則謂人之姓名也。近易之草，或有不知，玄秘之方，孰能悉解？劉向作金不成，無可怪之也。及得其要，則復不煩聖賢大才而後作也，凡人可為耳。劉向豈頑人哉，直坐不得口訣耳。今將載其約而效之者，以貽將來之同志焉。當先取武都雄黃，丹色如雞冠，而光明無夾石者，多少任意，不可令減五斤也。搗之如粉，以牛膽和之，煮之令燥。以赤土釜容一斗者，先以戎鹽石膽末薦釜中，令厚三分，乃內雄黃末，令厚五分，復加戎鹽於上。如此，相似至盡。又加碎炭火如棗核者，令厚二寸。以蚓螻土及戎鹽為泥，泥釜外，以一釜覆之，皆泥令厚三寸，勿洩。陰乾一月，乃以馬糞火熅之，三日三夜，寒，發出，鼓下其銅，銅流如冶銅鐵也。乃令鑄此銅以為筒，筒成以盛丹砂水。又以馬屎火熅之，三十日發爐，鼓之得其金，即以為筒，又以盛丹砂水。又以馬通火熅三十日，發取搗治之。取其二分生丹砂，一分並汞，汞者，水銀也，立凝成黃金矣。光明美色，可中釘也。

All the drugs named in recipe-books may share names with ordinary drugs yet not be the same in fact — such as 'the maiden on the river', which is not a woman (this is a hidden name of outer alchemy, referring to actual things like quicksilver, not the inner-alchemical borrowing of it for the yin qi within the body); 'Ziming of Lingyang', which is not a man; 'Yu's leftover grain', which is not rice; and 'Yao's broth', which is not water. The vulgar see recipes calling for dragon gall, tiger palm, chicken head, duck's foot, horse hoof, dog blood, rat tail and ox knee, and say they are things of blood and breath; seeing empty basin, overturned basin, cauldron-pot (the base text writes li 鬲 as 钅历), great euphorbia, ghost arrow and heaven hook, they say they are vessels of iron and tile; seeing envoy of the Hu king, leaning-aunt new bride, wild old man, field-keeping lord, pattern-wearing bather and Xu Changqing, they say they are men's names. Even the near and easy herbs may still go unknown — who can fully understand the dark and secret recipes? That Liu Xiang failed to make gold is nothing to marvel at. Once one obtains the essentials, it does not require the great talent of sages and worthies to work — ordinary men can do it. Was Liu Xiang a dullard? It was only that he did not get the oral formulae. I will now set down the simplest and most effective, to leave for like-minded men of times to come. First take Wudu realgar, cinnabar-red like a cock's comb, bright and unmixed with stone — any amount, but not less than five jin. Pound it to powder and blend it with ox bile; boil it until dry. In a red-clay cauldron holding a dou, first spread powdered Rong salt and vitriol in the bottom three-tenths of a cun thick, then put in realgar powder five-tenths of a cun thick, then lay Rong salt on top; continue alternating until all is used. Add broken charcoal the size of jujube pits two cun deep. Make clay of worm-and-ant soil with Rong salt and plaster it outside the cauldron; cover with another cauldron and plaster it all three cun thick so that nothing leaks. Dry in the shade for a month, then heat it with a horse-dung fire for three days and nights; when it has cooled, open it and blow out the copper, which flows like smelted copper or iron. Then cast this copper to make a tube; when the tube is done use it to hold cinnabar water. Again heat it with a horse-dung fire for thirty days, open the furnace, blow it and obtain that gold — make it into a tube, again to hold cinnabar water. Again heat it with a horse-dung fire for thirty days, take it out, pound and treat it. Take two parts of it with one part crude cinnabar and one part mercury — mercury is quicksilver — and it congeals at once into yellow gold. Bright and fine in color, it can serve for nails.

△作丹砂水法

The method for making cinnabar water.

治丹砂一斤，內生竹筒中，加石膽消石各二兩，覆薦上下，閉塞筒口，以漆骨丸封之，須乾，以內醇苦酒中，埋之地中，深三尺，三十日成水，色赤味苦也。

Treat one jin of cinnabar, put it into a tube of fresh bamboo, add two liang each of vitriol and saltpeter bedded and covered above and below, close the mouth of the tube, seal it with a lacquer-bone pellet, wait until dry, put it in mature strong vinegar, bury it three chi deep in the ground; in thirty days it becomes a water, red in color and bitter in taste.

△金樓先生所從青林子受作黃金法

Master Jinlou's method of making yellow gold, received from Master Qinglin.

先鍛錫，方廣六寸，厚一寸二分，以赤鹽和灰汁，令如泥，以塗錫上，令通厚一分，累置於赤土釜中。率錫十斤，用赤鹽四斤，合封固其際，以馬通火熅之，三十日，發火視之，錫中悉如灰狀，中有累累如豆者，即黃金也。合治內土甌中，以炭鼓之，十煉之併成也。率十斤錫，得金二十兩。唯長沙桂陽豫章南海土釜可用耳。彼鄉土之人，作土釜以炊食，自多也。

First forge tin into a slab six cun square and 1.2 cun thick; blend red salt with ash liquor into a paste and spread it over the tin to a thickness of one-tenth cun all over; pile it in a red-clay cauldron. For roughly ten jin of tin use four jin of red salt. Seal up the seams together and heat it with a horse-dung fire for thirty days; open the fire and look — the inside of the tin is all like ash, with little bean-like lumps: that is the yellow gold. Treat them together, put them in an earthen crucible, blow them with charcoal, and after ten meltings all is done. Roughly from ten jin of tin you get twenty liang of gold. Only the earthen cauldrons of Changsha, Guiyang, Yuzhang and Nanhai can be used. The folk of those regions make earthen cauldrons to cook their food, so they are naturally plentiful.

△治作赤鹽法

The method for making red salt.

用寒鹽一斤，又作寒水石一斤，又作寒羽涅一斤，又作白礬一斤，合內鐵器中，以炭火火之，皆消而色赤，乃出之可用也。

Take one jin of cold salt, one jin of prepared cold-water stone, one jin of prepared cold-feather nie, and one jin of white alum; put them together in an iron vessel and burn them over charcoal fire; when all have melted and turned red, take it out and it can be used.

△角里先生從稷丘子所授化黃金法

Master Jueli's method of transforming yellow gold, received from Master Jichiu.

先以礬水石二分，內鐵器中，加炭火令沸，乃內汞多少自在，攪令相得，六七沸，注地上成白銀。乃取丹砂水曾青水各一分，雄黃水二分，於釒歷中加微火上令沸，數攪之，令相得，復加炭火上令沸，以此白銀內其中，多少自在，可六七沸，注地上凝，則成上色紫磨金也。

First put two parts of alum-water stone into an iron vessel, add charcoal fire to bring it to a boil, then add mercury — as much as you please — stir to blend, boil six or seven times, pour it on the ground and it becomes white silver. Then take one part each of cinnabar water and malachite water and two parts of realgar water; put them in a li cauldron (the base text writes li 鬲 as 钅历) over a gentle fire to boil, stir several times to blend, then set it again on charcoal fire to boil, put this white silver into it — as much as you please — boil six or seven times, pour it on the ground to congeal, and it becomes top-grade purple-burnished gold.

△治作雄黃水法

The method for making realgar water.