{"schema_version":1,"access":"public","rights":"Public-domain or compatibly licensed source editions; provenance is retained per record.","work":{"slug":"baopuzi-golden-elixir","title":"The Golden Elixir (Baopuzi, Inner Chapter 4)","author":"Ge Hong","tradition":"alchemy","language":"lzh","genre":"alchemical treatise","period":"Eastern Jin, c. 320 CE","source_url":"https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/抱朴子/卷04","original":{"text":"### Elixir and Liquid Gold as the Summit of the Immortal Arts\n\n1.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。余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。時有知行氣及斷穀服諸草木藥法，所有方書，略為同文，無一人不有道機經，唯以此為至秘，乃云是尹喜所撰。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。余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，其誇誕自譽及欺人，云已久壽。及言曾與仙人共游者將太半矣，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。余從祖仙公，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。余師鄭君者，則余從祖仙公之弟子也，又於從祖受之，而家貧無用買藥。余親事之，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，元放以授余從祖，從祖以授鄭君，鄭君以授余，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，但有長歎耳。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？夫飲玉𥹋則知漿荇之薄味，睹昆侖則覺丘垤之至卑。既覽金丹之道，則使人不欲復視小小方書。然大藥難卒得辦，當須且將禦小者以自支持耳。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，百煉不消，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，沾洽榮衛，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。余今略鈔金丹之都較，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，欲以弊藥必規昇騰者，何異策蹇驢而追迅風，棹藍舟而濟大川乎？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，云丹砂本赤物，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？上古真人湣念將來之可教者，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。余少好方術，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，或躭淪綺紈，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，咸以長生若可得者，古人之富貴者，已當得之，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？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者也。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？\n\n### The Nine Tripod Elixirs and the Taiqing Divine Elixir\n\n2.抱朴子曰：按黃帝九鼎神丹經曰，黃帝服之，遂以昇仙。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，又不令不通道者知之，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？\n\n3.九丹者，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。\n\n4.第一之丹名曰丹華。當先作玄黃，用雄黃水、礬石水、戎鹽、鹵鹽、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。\n\n5.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，三屍九蟲皆即消壞，百病皆愈也。\n\n6.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。又能辟五兵。服百日，仙人玉女，山川鬼神，皆來侍之，見如人形。\n\n7.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。\n\n8.第五之丹名餌丹。服之三十日，仙也。鬼神來侍，玉女至前。\n\n9.第六之丹名煉丹。服之十日，仙也。又以汞合火之，亦成黃金。\n\n10.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。\n\n11.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，又辟盜賊虎狼也。\n\n12.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。\n\n13.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。\n\n14.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，云其上三篇不可教授，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，昇為天官；中士得道，棲集昆侖；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。\n\n15.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。\n\n### Nine-Radiance, Five-Spirit and Transmitted Elixir Methods (I)\n\n16.一轉之丹，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，煌煌煇煇，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。\n\n17.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。\n\n18.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。\n\n19.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。\n\n20.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。\n\n21.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。\n\n22.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，掘取剋其血，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。\n\n23.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。\n\n24.又赤松子丹法，取千歲蔂汁及礬桃汁淹丹，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？\n\n25.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。\n\n26.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。\n\n27.又崔文子丹法，納丹鶩腹中蒸之，服，令人延年，長服不死。\n\n28.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。\n\n29.又樂子長丹法，以曾青鉛丹合汞及丹砂，著銅筩中，乾瓦白滑石封之，於白砂中蒸之，八十日，服如小豆，三年仙矣。\n\n30.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。\n\n31.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。\n\n### Transmitted Elixir Methods (II), the Golden Liquor, and Gold-Eating\n\n32.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。\n\n33.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。\n\n34.又稷丘子丹法，以清酒麻油百華醴龍膏和，封以六一泥，以糠火煴之，十日成，服如小豆一丸，盡劑，得壽五百歲。\n\n35.又墨子丹法，用汞及五石液於銅器中，火熬之，以鐵匕撓之，十日，還為丹，服之一刀圭，萬病去身，長服不死。\n\n36.又張子和丹法，用鉛汞曾青水合封之，蒸之於赤黍米中，八十日成，以棗膏和丸之，服如大豆，百日，壽五百歲。\n\n37.又綺裡丹法，先飛取五石玉塵，合以丹砂汞，內大銅器中煮之，百日，五色，服之不死。以鉛百斤，以藥百刀圭，合火之成白銀，以雄黃水和而火之，百日成黃金，金或太剛者，以豬膏煮之，或太柔者，以白梅煮之。\n\n38.又玉柱丹法，以華池和丹，以曾青硫黃末覆之薦之，內筩中沙中，蒸之五十日，服之百日，玉女六甲六丁神女來侍之，可役使，知天下之事也。\n\n39.又肘後丹法，以金華和丹乾瓦封之，蒸八十日，取如小豆，置盤中，向日和之，其光上與日連，服如小豆，長生矣。以投丹陽銅中，火之成金。\n\n40.又李公丹法，用真丹及五石之水各一升，和令如泥，釜中火之，三十六日出，和以石硫黃液，服之十年，與天地相畢。\n\n41.又劉生丹法，用白菊花汁地楮汁樗汁和丹蒸之，三十日，研合服之，一年，得五百歲，老翁服更少不可識，少年服亦不老。\n\n42.又王君丹法，巴沙及汞內雞子中，漆合之，令雞伏之三枚，以王相日服之，住年不老，小兒不可服，不復長矣，與新生雞犬服之，皆不復大，鳥獸亦皆如此驗。\n\n43.又陳生丹法，用白蜜和丹，內銅器中封之，沈之井中，一期，服之經年，不饑，盡一斤，壽百歲。\n\n44.又韓終丹法，漆蜜和丹煎之，服可延年久視，立日中無影。過此以往，尚數十法，不可具論。\n\n45.抱朴子曰：金液太乙所服而仙者也，不減九丹矣，合之用古秤黃金一斤，並用玄明龍膏、太乙旬首中石、冰石、紫游女、玄水液、金化石、丹砂，封之成水，其經云，金液入口，則其身皆金色。老子受之於元君，元君曰，此道至重，百世一出，藏之石室，合之，皆齋戒百日，不得與俗人相往來，於名山之側，東流水上，別立精舍，百日成，服一兩便仙。若未欲去世，且作地水仙之士者，但齋戒百日矣。若求昇天，皆先斷穀一年，乃服之也。若服半兩，則長生不死，萬害百毒，不能傷之，可以畜妻子，居官秩，任意所欲，無所禁也。若復欲昇天者，乃可齋戒，更服一兩，便飛仙矣。\n\n46.以金液為威喜巨勝之法，取金液及水銀一味合煮之，三十日，出，以黃土甌盛，以六一泥封，置猛火炊之，六十時，皆化為丹，服如小豆大便仙，以此丹一刀圭粉，水銀一斤，即成銀。又取此丹一斤置火上扇之，化為赤金而流，名曰丹金。以塗刀劍，辟兵萬里。以此丹金為盤碗，飲食其中，令人長生。以承日月得液，如方諸之得水也，飲之不死。以金液和黃土，內六一泥甌中，猛火炊之，盡成黃金，中用也，復以火炊之，皆化為丹，服之如小豆、可以入名山大川為地仙。以此丹一刀圭粉水銀立成銀，以銀一兩和鉛一斤，皆成銀。金液經云，投金人八兩於東流水中，飲血為誓，乃告口訣，不如本法，盜其方而作之，終不成也。凡人有至信者，可以藥與之，不可輕傳其書，必兩受其殃，天神鑒人甚近，人不知耳。\n\n47.抱朴子曰：九丹誠為仙藥之上法，然合作之，所用雜藥甚多。若四方清通者，市之可具。若九域分隔，則物不可得也。又當起火晝夜數十日，伺候火力，不可令失其適，勤苦至難，故不及合金液之易也。合金液唯金為難得耳。古秤金一斤於今為二斤，率不過直三十許萬，其所用雜藥差易具。又不起火，但以置華池中，日數足便成矣，都合可用四十萬而得一劑，可足八人仙也。然其中稍少合者，其氣力不足以相化成，如釀數升米酒，必無成也。\n\n48.抱朴子曰：其次有餌黃金法，雖不及金液，亦遠不比他藥也。或以豕負革肪及酒煉之，或以樗皮治之，或以荊酒磁石消之，或有可引為巾，或立令成水服之。或有禁忌，不及金液也。或以雄黃雌黃合餌之，可引之張之如皮，皆地仙法耳。銀及蚌中大珠，皆可化為水服之。然須長服不可缺，故皆不及金液也。\n\n### Mountains for Compounding, Ge Hong's Calling, and Short Recipes\n\n49.抱朴子曰：合此金液九丹，既當用錢，又宜入名山，絕人事，故能為之者少，且亦千萬人中，時當有一人得其經者。故凡作道書者，略無說金丹者也。第一禁，勿令俗人之不通道者，謗訕評毀之，必不成也。鄭君言所以爾者，合此大藥皆當祭，祭則太乙元君老君玄女皆來鑒省。作藥者若不絕跡幽僻之地，令俗閒愚人得經過聞見之，則諸神便責作藥者之不遵承經戒，致令惡人有謗毀之言，則不復佑助人，而邪氣得進，藥不成也。必入名山之中，齋戒百日，不食五辛生魚，不與俗人相見，爾乃可作大藥。作藥須成乃解齋，不但初作時齋也。鄭君云，左君告之，言諸小小山，皆不可於其中作金液神丹也。凡小山皆無正神為主，多是木石之精，千歲老物，血食之鬼，此輩皆邪炁，不念為人作福，但能作禍，善試道士，道士須當以術辟身，及將從弟子，然或能壞人藥也。今之醫家，每合好藥好膏，皆不欲令雞犬小兒婦人見之。若被諸物犯之，用便無驗。又染采者惡惡目者見之，皆失美色。況神仙大藥乎？是以古之道士，合作神藥，必入名山，不止凡山之中，正為此也。又按仙經，可以精思合作仙藥者，有華山泰山霍山恒山嵩山少室山長山太白山終南山女幾山地肺山王屋山抱犢山安丘山潛山青城山娥眉山緌山雲臺山羅浮山陽駕山黃金山鱉祖山大小天台山四望山蓋竹山括蒼山，此皆是正神在其山中，其中或有地仙之人。上皆生芝草，可以避大兵大難，不但於中以合藥也。若有道者登之，則此山神必助之為福，藥必成。若不得登此諸山者，海中大島嶼，亦可合藥。若會稽之東翁洲亶洲紵嶼，及徐州之莘莒洲泰光洲鬱洲，皆其次也。今中國名山不可得至，江東名山之可得住者，有霍山，在晉安；長山太白，在東陽；四望山大小天台山蓋竹山括蒼山，並在會稽。\n\n50.抱朴子曰：予忝大臣之子孫，雖才不足以經國理物，然疇類之好，進趍之業，而所知不能遠餘者，多揮翮雲漢，耀景辰霄者矣。余所以絕慶吊於鄉黨，棄當世之榮華者，必欲遠登名山，成所著子書，次則合神藥，規長生故也。俗人莫不怪予之委桑梓，背清塗，而躬耕林藪，手足胼胝，謂予有狂惑之疾也。然道與世事不並興，若不廢人間之務，何得修如此之志乎？見之誠了，執之必定者，亦何憚於毀譽，豈移於勸沮哉？聊書其心，示將來之同志尚者云。後有斷金之徒，所捐棄者，亦與餘之不異也。\n\n51.小神丹方，用真丹三斤，白蜜六斤攪合，日暴煎之，令可丸，旦服如麻子許十丸，未一年，發白者黑，齒落者生，身體潤澤，長服之，老翁成少年，長生不死矣。\n\n52.小丹法，丹一斤，搗篩，下淳苦酒三升，漆二升，凡三物合，令相得，微火上煎令可丸，服如麻子三丸，日再服，三十日，腹中百病癒，三屍去；服之百日，肌骨強堅；千日，司命削去死籍，與天地相畢，日月相望，改形易容，變化無常，日中無影，乃別有光也。\n\n53.小餌黃金法，煉金內清酒中，約二百過，出入即沸矣，握之出指間令如泥，若不沸，及握之不出指間，即削之，內清酒中無數也。成，服之如彈丸一枚，亦可一丸，分為小丸，服之三十日，無寒溫，神人玉女侍之，銀亦可餌之，與金同法。服此二物，能居名山石室中者，一年即輕舉矣。止人間服亦地仙，勿妄傳也。\n\n54.兩儀子餌黃金法，豬負革脂三斤，淳苦酒一升，取黃金五兩，置器中，煎之土爐，以金置脂中，百入百出，苦酒亦爾。食一斤，壽蔽天地；食半斤，壽二千歲；五兩，壽千二百歲。無多少，便可餌之。當以王相日作，服之神良。勿傳非人，傳示非人，令藥不成不神。欲食去屍藥，當服丹砂也。","download_url":"https://mouseia.org/api/works/baopuzi-golden-elixir/original.txt"},"translations":[{"id":"trn_baopuzi_golden_elixir_mouseia","translator":"Mouseia","kind":"curated","note":"Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the Chinese Wikisource transcription of Baopuzi neipian juan 4 (revision 2401928), cross-checked against the Kanripo KR5f0019 Daozang copy, covering all of Inner Chapter 4 (Jindan), 54 paragraphs, 7,092 characters, for fidelity, clarity, imagery and cadence.","text":"### Elixir and Liquid Gold as the Summit of the Immortal Arts\n\n1. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: I have examined books on nurturing life and gathered methods for long life; the scrolls I have studied number in the thousands, and all hold the Reverted Elixir and Liquid Gold to be of chief importance. These two are the summit of the immortal way. If one takes them without becoming immortal, then no one since antiquity has ever become immortal. When the northern realm fell into disorder, people fled in every direction. I traveled through the provinces of Xu, Yu, Jing, Xiang, Jiang, and Guang, and met hundreds of wandering, displaced Daoists. Some had names I had long heard, exalted beyond the clouds and sun. Yet they were much alike: what they knew or did not know, whether deep or shallow, gave none the advantage over the others. Each had dozens of scrolls, but none could fully explain them; they had merely copied and stored them away. At times they knew methods of circulating breath, abstaining from grain, or taking herbal medicines. Their prescription books were substantially the same, and every one possessed the Scripture of the Mechanism of the Way, treating it as the highest secret and claiming that Yin Xi had written it. I told them, “This was written by Wang Tu, a military superintendent in the Wei era, not by an ancient sage.” Tu knew nothing of the great medicine; he merely wanted to seek immortality through breath circulation and secluded retreat. He wrote this Mechanism of the Way in the belief that the Way ended there: a particularly grievous way of misleading people. When I asked these Daoists about the divine elixir and liquid gold, and about the method in the Inner Texts of the Three Sovereigns for summoning heavenly gods and earthly spirits, not one knew anything of them. Nearly half boasted extravagantly, deceived others with claims of great longevity, or said they had traveled with immortals; those with whom one could discuss the subtlest things were exceedingly few. Some had heard a little of the golden elixir but did not believe anyone could still obtain it: they said only immortals who had ascended in high antiquity knew it. Others possessed extraneous accounts, but not the genuine scripture; others found scattered elixir recipes and assumed that was the whole art.\nLong ago Zuo Yuanfang contemplated deeply on Mount Tianzhu, and a divine being gave him the immortal scripture of the golden elixir. The disorder at the end of the Han left him no time to compound it; he crossed south of the Yangtze to escape the turmoil, intending to enter a celebrated mountain to practice the art. My granduncle, the Immortal Lord, learned it from Yuanfang. He received three scrolls of the Scripture of the Elixir of Great Purity, one of the Nine Tripod Elixir, and one of the Liquid Gold Elixir. My teacher, Master Zheng, was my granduncle’s disciple and likewise received them from him, but his family was too poor to buy the ingredients. I served him personally and swept his floors for a long time, until he erected an altar on Mount Maji and gave them to me under oath, together with oral instructions never written down. These texts had not existed east of the Yangtze before Zuo Yuanfang brought them. Yuanfang gave them to my granduncle, my granduncle to Master Zheng, and Master Zheng to me: that is why the other Daoists knew nothing of them. More than twenty years have passed since I received them; with no more than a pittance to my name, I cannot make the medicines, and can only sigh. Others have chests full of gold and mountains of coins, yet do not know the method for escaping death. Even if they heard of it, not one in ten thousand would believe it. Why? Taste a drink of jade nectar and you recognize how thin the flavor of common gruel; behold Kunlun and you see how low a little mound is. Once one has seen the way of the golden elixir, one no longer wants to look at petty prescription books. But the great medicine is not easily made at once; one must sustain oneself for the time being with lesser protections. Even ten thousand measures of other medicines may do some small good, but they can never give a person lasting life. Thus the secret saying of Laozi declares: “If you cannot obtain the Reverted Elixir and Liquid Gold, you torment yourself in vain.” The five grains can keep people alive: with them one lives, without them one dies. How much more must the divine medicines of the highest grade benefit people—ten thousand times more than grain! The longer a golden elixir is fired, the more wondrous its transformations. Gold survives a hundred firings without melting away; buried in the ground, it remains incorrupt until heaven itself ends. Taking these two substances refines the body, enabling one to escape age and death. One borrows an external substance to fortify oneself: just as fat sustains an unquenchable flame, or verdigris smeared on the feet keeps flesh from rotting in water, borrowing copper’s strength to protect it. The golden elixir enters the body and suffuses the vital and protective currents; it is more than verdigris applied externally.\nMost people in this world disbelieve the highest Way: the heedless multitude are all alike. Even when, once in ten thousand cases, a person with a genuine interest appears, if he never sees the method or meets an enlightened teacher, he cannot hear that such marvels exist. I now copy out an outline of the golden elixir for kindred spirits who come after me and love it. Let them seek it diligently, not cling to shallow, commonplace recipes and imagine these sufficient to transcend the world. If they still cannot encounter it, they must abandon their boundless hopes. Once they have glimpsed its teaching, they will know they have left a muddy puddle to float upon the vast sea, turned from a firefly’s flicker toward sun and moon, heard thunder and recognized the feebleness of a cloth drum, seen a giant whale and understood the smallness of a tiny shellfish. Those chattering people who have learned nothing first and hope unfailingly to soar upward on worthless drugs—how do they differ from riders urging a lame donkey to overtake a swift wind, or rowing a little boat across a great river? There are many recipes for lesser edible elixirs, but their preparation varies in depth and so their powers differ. The superior and inferior cannot approach each other, any more than wine fermented once can compare with the richness of wine fermented nine times. Yet even the lowest lesser elixir far excels the finest herb. Ordinary plants burn to ash, while cinnabar fired becomes mercury and, through successive transformations, becomes cinnabar again. How far it stands above ordinary herbs! Thus it can give long life. Only divine immortals have seen this principle: how immeasurably far beyond common people they are! People know little and find much strange. Some do not know that mercury comes from cinnabar; tell them, and they refuse to believe it: “Cinnabar is red; how can it yield something white? Cinnabar is stone, and all other stones we fire turn to ash. Why should cinnabar alone behave otherwise?” If they cannot grasp this close and simple matter, is it surprising that they hear of the immortal way and laugh aloud? The perfected beings of antiquity, moved by compassion for those yet to come who could be taught, formulated their methods, taking pains to free them from death. Their words are the utmost truth. Yet ordinary people refuse belief and call them empty writings. If they were empty, how could the nine cycles and nine transformations each be completed in precisely the number of days prescribed? How the perfected beings discovered this cannot truly be fathomed by commonplace thought.\nFrom youth I loved the arts of the formulae; I carried my pack on foot to ask questions and did not shrink from dangerous distances. Each unfamiliar teaching I heard was a delight; even when ridiculed, I did not grieve. Who knows whether those yet to come will not be like me? So I write this for people of understanding. Would I merely prize marvels and adorn empty words to spread a book through the world and gain the credence of the vulgar? The brightest sun cannot make dead wood flourish; the wisest person cannot change the lowest fool. A book is passed down for those who understand; a thing is prized by those who recognize it. A farmer given a vermilion bow uses it to scare birds; a southerner given a ceremonial robe carries firewood in it. How can the ignorant be compelled? People of the world eat their fill all day, yet cannot even necessarily devote themselves to Confucian and Mohist learning or the cultivation of virtue. They wander about idly to exhaust their years. All they pursue is honor or profit. Some fly falcons and race hounds over the plains; some linger over wine cups and steaming stews; some lose themselves among beautiful women and strings and flutes; some are consumed by luxurious silks; some wear out their sinews drawing bows; some waste their labor gambling and playing games. When they hear the highest Way they seem drunk; when they see a discourse on the Way, they sleep in broad daylight. Having a body, they will not cultivate it, but set it on the path to death. They will not ask how to nourish life, but seem bent on cutting, scorching, withering, and draining themselves. Those who possess the Way treasure their knowledge in secrecy and seek nothing from others: why should they force their teachings on them? The common saying goes: “If long life could be gained, the rich and noble of old would have gained it. None did; therefore there is no such Way.” They do not realize that the rich and noble of old were just like those of today. Both refused to believe or seek, and treated immediate desires as urgent; how could they have gained it? Even if one cannot decide to believe that life can be prolonged or immortality attained, why begrudge an experiment? If a modest success brought only two or three hundred years, would that not surpass the brief, early deaths of ordinary people? The affairs of the world are myriad, and the arts of the Way are harder to understand than any other. How can a mind of middling ability decide that the world holds no way to long life? If the disbelief of most people proves there is no such way, how extraordinarily wise must most people be! And if someone understands the purpose of the Way and still practices and seeks it, must that person be the very height of stupidity, inferior to everyone else? Or perhaps people fear that if they seek long life but fail, others will laugh at their delusion. But if their own judgment should be wrong, even once in ten thousand times, and a way to escape death truly exists, would not those who gained it laugh at them in turn? Even sun and moon cannot shine everywhere: how can one trust the human mind alone?\n\n### The Nine Tripod Elixirs and the Taiqing Divine Elixir\n\n2. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: According to the Scripture of the Yellow Emperor’s Divine Elixirs of the Nine Tripods, the Yellow Emperor took them and ascended to immortality. It also says: “Breathing exercises, guided movements, and herbal medicines may prolong one’s years but cannot avert death. Taking the divine elixir grants life without end, enduring as long as heaven and earth; one rides clouds and drives dragons up and down through Great Purity.” The Yellow Emperor transmitted it to Master Xuan, warning him: “This way is supremely important: give it only to the worthy. If someone is not worthy, even if he piles up jade as high as a mountain, do not tell him about it.” The recipient throws gold figurines and gold fish into a stream flowing east as a pledge, and makes a blood oath. Nor can someone without the bones of an immortal even behold this way. Compound the elixir in a famous mountain, far from people, with no more than three companions. First fast a hundred days, bathe in five fragrances, and maintain the utmost purity. Keep away from filth and intercourse with common people; do not let anyone uninitiated in the Way know about it. If they slander the divine medicine, it will fail. Once it succeeds, the whole family, not just one person, can become immortal. People do not compound the divine elixir but put their faith in herbs. Herbs rot when buried, turn to mush when boiled, and char when burned. They cannot keep themselves alive: how could they give life to people?\n\n3. The nine elixirs are the key to long life, not something ordinary people should see or hear. Countless multitudes blindly know nothing but the pursuit of wealth and status: are they not walking corpses? When compounding the elixirs one must also offer sacrifice; the diagrams and procedures for the sacrifice occupy a scroll of their own.\n\n4. The first elixir is called Elixir Flower. First prepare Mysterious Yellow, using dozens of pounds each of realgar water, alum water, Rong salt, brine salt, arsenolite, oyster shell, red clay, talc, and white lead to make Six-One Mud. Fire it for thirty-six days until it is ready; take it and become immortal on the seventh day. Alternatively, roll this elixir into pellets with Mysterious Paste and place them over a fierce fire: in a moment they become gold. Or combine two hundred and forty zhu of it with a hundred pounds of mercury and fire it; that too becomes gold. When the gold succeeds, the medicine has succeeded. If the gold does not form, seal the medicine again and fire it for the same number of days; it cannot fail.\n\n5. The second elixir is called Divine Elixir, or Divine Talisman. Take it and become immortal in a hundred days. To cross water and fire, smear this elixir beneath the feet and walk upon the water. Take three knifepoints of it, and the three corpses and nine worms immediately dissolve; every illness is cured.\n\n6. The third elixir is called Divine Elixir. Take one knifepoint and become immortal in a hundred days. Give it to any of the six domestic animals to swallow and it too will never die. It also wards off the five weapons. After a hundred days’ use, immortals, jade maidens, and spirits of mountains and rivers come to attend you, appearing in human form.\n\n7. The fourth elixir is called Reverted Elixir. Take one knifepoint and become immortal in a hundred days. Vermilion birds and phoenixes circle overhead, and jade maidens come to your side. Combine one knifepoint of it with a pound of mercury and fire it: gold forms at once. Smear this elixir on money or goods you spend, and they all return the same day. Write with it above an ordinary person’s eyes, and a hundred ghosts flee.\n\n8. The fifth elixir is called Edible Elixir. Take it and become immortal in thirty days. Spirits come to serve, and jade maidens appear before you.\n\n9. The sixth elixir is called Refined Elixir. Take it and become immortal in ten days. Fire it together with mercury, and it too becomes gold.\n\n10. The seventh elixir is called Supple Elixir. Take one knifepoint and become immortal in a hundred days. Mixed with the juice of quepen and taken, it enables even a ninety-year-old man to father children. Fire it together with Gold Lord, and gold forms at once.\n\n11. The eighth elixir is called Subdued Elixir. Take it and become immortal that very day. Carry a date-pit-sized piece and a hundred ghosts will avoid you. Write with it on your doors and gates: the myriad malign forces and hosts of spirits dare not approach. It also repels robbers, tigers, and wolves.\n\n12. The ninth elixir is called Cold Elixir. Take one knifepoint and become immortal in a hundred days. Immortal youths and maidens come to serve you; you fly aloft without needing wings.\n\n13. Of these nine elixirs, obtaining any one makes one immortal: one need not make them all. Choose whichever you prefer to make. Anyone taking a nine-tripod elixir may ascend to heaven if they wish, or stay for the time being among humankind if they wish. All can pass freely in and out of any place; none can be harmed.\n\n14. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: There is also the Divine Elixir of Great Purity, whose method comes from the Primordial Lady, Laozi’s teacher. The Scripture of Contemplating Heaven in Great Purity has nine chapters. It says the upper three must not be taught, and no one in the world is fit to receive the middle three, which must remain submerged beneath the Three Springs. The lower three are precisely the upper, middle, and lower scrolls of the Elixir Scripture. The Primordial Lady is a great immortal, able to harmonize yin and yang, command ghosts, spirits, wind, and rain, and drive nine dragons and twelve white tigers in harness. All the immortals under heaven are her subjects; yet she herself says her powers arose from learning the Way and taking the elixir, not from nature. How much more is this true for ordinary people? Her scripture says: “The highest adepts gain the Way and rise to become celestial officials; the middle adepts gain it and settle on Kunlun; the lowest adepts gain it and live long in this world.” Foolish people disbelieve and call this empty talk. From morning till night they do nothing but bring death upon themselves and make no effort to seek life. How could heaven force them to live? Ordinary people know only fine food and clothing, music and beauty, wealth and rank. Those who indulge every desire and suddenly perish must never be told of the divine elixir, lest they mock the Way and malign the truth. Transmit the elixir scripture to the wrong person, and disaster will surely befall you. If someone believes sincerely, you may share a completed medicine, but do not lightly transmit its recipe. Why would someone who knows this Way need to be a prince or lord? Once the divine elixir is made, it grants not only longevity but also the power to make gold. When gold has been made, take a hundred pounds of it and first perform the great sacrifice. This sacrifice has its own scroll of procedures and differs from the Nine Tripods sacrifice. Label and set apart the gold allotted to each offering.\n\n15. For Heaven, twenty pounds; for sun and moon, five; for the Northern Dipper, eight; for Great One, eight; for the well, five; for the stove, five; for the River Lord, twelve; for the earth altar, five; and for the gate, doors, neighborhood ghosts and spirits, and Pure Lord, five apiece: eighty-eight pounds in all. Place the remaining twelve pounds in a good leather bag and, on an auspicious day when the city market is busiest, silently leave it among the crowd and go directly away without looking back. Only what exceeds that hundred pounds may you use as you wish. Failing to sacrifice the gold to the gods first will certainly bring calamity. The scripture also says: “The way to long life does not lie in sacrifices or service to ghosts and gods, nor in guided movements and bending and stretching. The key to ascending to immortality lies in the divine elixir. Knowing it is not easy; making it is truly hard. If you can make it, you can live forever.” In recent times, at the end of the Han, Lord Yin of Xinye compounded this Great Purity Elixir and attained immortality. Originally a Confucian scholar, he had literary gifts and wrote poems, praise of the elixir scripture, and a preface recounting in detail how he began studying the Way with his teacher. He listed more than forty people he knew who had attained immortality. This Great Purity Elixir is somewhat harder to compound than the Nine Tripod elixirs, but is a supreme method for ascending to heaven in daylight. To compound it, one must first prepare Flower Pool, Red Salt, Gen Snow, Mysterious White, Flying Talisman, and Three-Five Divine Water; only then can the fire be lit.\n\n### Nine-Radiance, Five-Spirit and Transmitted Elixir Methods (I)\n\n16. Take an elixir of one cycle and attain immortality in three years; one of two cycles, in two years; one of three cycles, in one year; one of four cycles, in half a year; one of five cycles, in a hundred days; one of six cycles, in forty days; one of seven cycles, in thirty days; one of eight cycles, in ten days; one of nine cycles, in three days. Take the Nine-Cycle Elixir and place it in the divine tripod. After the summer solstice, heat it intensely until the vessel is hot, and place a pound of Vermilion Child beneath the lid. Keep watch until the essence of the sun shines on it. Suddenly the contents rise together, blazing and radiant with five-colored divine light, and become Reverted Elixir. Take one knifepoint and ascend to heaven in broad daylight. Alternatively, seal Nine-Cycle Elixir in an earthen pot and fire it over chaff, gently at first and then fiercely. Each of its nine cycles takes its own number of days, longer or shorter, by which the cycle can be identified. With fewer cycles the medicine has less power, so one must take it for more days and attains immortality slowly; with more cycles its power is greater, so one takes it for fewer days and attains immortality sooner.\n\n17. There is also the Nine-Radiance Elixir, different in method from the Nine-Cycle Elixir but generally similar. To make it, combine various ingredients and fire them to cycle the five stones: cinnabar, realgar, white arsenolite, azurite, and magnetite. Cycle each stone five times to produce five colors, twenty-five colors from the five stones; keep an ounce of each color in a separate vessel. To revive someone dead less than three days, mix a knifepoint of blue elixir with water and bathe the body. Open the mouth and put another knifepoint inside: the dead person immediately revives. To summon an invisible kitchen, mix black elixir with water and smear it on your left hand: whatever you request aloud arrives of its own accord; you can summon all things under heaven. For invisibility, foreknowledge of events yet to come, and freedom from aging, take a knifepoint of yellow elixir: you will live long and never grow old. While seated, you will see a thousand miles away and know good and ill as though before your eyes. You will know each person’s fate from birth, flourishing or decline, long or short life, wealth or poverty, high or low rank. All these methods are in the middle scroll of the Great Purity Scripture.\n\n18. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: Next is the one-scroll Scripture of the Five-Spirit Elixir, with five methods. It uses cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, mineral sulfur, azurite, alum, magnetite, Rong salt, and Great One’s Surplus Grain. It is compounded with Six-One Mud and a sacrificial rite in a divine chamber; it is ready in thirty-six days. The talismans of the Five Emperors, written in five colors, also keep a person from dying, but cannot rival the medicines of Great Purity and the Nine Tripods.\n\n19. There is also the Mount Min elixir method, obtained by the Daoist Zhang Gaita while contemplating deeply in a stone chamber on that mountain. Smelt yellow copper and make a moon mirror to collect water from the moon; coat it with mercury, draw the sun’s essence and fire into it, and take it continually to escape death. Alternatively, place this elixir in a realgar-and-copper fire mirror, cover it with mercury, expose it to sunlight, and after twenty days open it and process the medicine. Take a small-bean-sized dose with water freshly drawn from a well: in a hundred days the blind can see, all illnesses heal themselves, white hair turns black again, and lost teeth regrow.\n\n20. Master Wucheng’s elixir method: place Ba sand and mercury in an eight-inch copper pan, fill an earthen furnace with charcoal, and support the pan on three corners over a trench. Pour sulfur water over it and keep it the consistency of mud. Take it for a hundred days and you will never die.\n\n21. Master Xianmen’s elixir method: blend a pound of elixir with three sheng of wine and expose it to the sun for forty days. Take it for one day and the three worms and a hundred illnesses immediately leave the body. Take it for three years and the immortal way is accomplished; two jade maidens will surely come to serve you, and can be ordered to bring a traveling kitchen. This elixir can suppress a hundred ghosts and the baleful influences of the dead from every direction that harm a house, as well as harm caused by breaking ground. Hang it facing them and no trouble will ensue.\n\n22. There is also the Instantly Completed Elixir, with nine chapters like the Nine Tripods, though inferior to it. Another essential text says: take the copper that settles from firing orpiment and realgar, cast it into a vessel, and steep it in pure sour wine three years old. After a hundred days red milk several tenths of an inch long, or five-colored carnelian, grows on the vessel. Collect and prepare it for consumption, and it too gives long life. It can also be combined with dodder: dodder here means the root newly sprouted, shaped like a rabbit. Dig it up, cut it for its blood, and mix it with this elixir. Take it and you are instantly transformed, free to do whatever you wish. Mixed instead with Vermilion Herb, a single dose enables flight through empty space. Vermilion Herb resembles a small jujube tree, growing three or four feet tall; its branches and leaves are all red, and its stem like coral. It favors rocks beneath famous mountains; cut it and its juice runs like blood. Throw jade or any of the eight stones, gold, or silver into the juice: immediately they can be rolled like mud into pellets; with time they turn to liquid. When gold is immersed it is called gold nectar; when jade is immersed, jade wine. Taking either gives long life.\n\n23. Another method for collecting Subdued Elixir says: wherever waters bear the name “cinnabar,” as with Cinnabar River in Nanyang, there are cinnabar fish. Watch the water at night ten days before the summer solstice. The fish will rise near the surface, casting a brilliant red glow like fire. Catch them in a net, but however many you catch, do not take them all. Draw their blood and smear it on the soles of your feet: you can walk on water and dwell long in the depths.\n\n24. Master Red Pine’s elixir method: steep the elixir in juices of thousand-year-old lei vines and alum peach, put it in a vessel that does not leak, seal its mouth with refined honey, and bury it three feet underground. After a hundred days, squeeze the red fruit of the ning tree, mix in the juice and take it: face, eyes, temples, and hair all turn red, and one lives long. Was this not what the red-bearded immortal of Central Yellow took long ago?\n\n25. Master Shi’s elixir method: take unfledged young crows, feed them beef mixed with genuine cinnabar, and when they mature and all their feathers are red, kill them. Dry them in the shade for a hundred days, pound them together with their feathers, and take one knifepoint. After a hundred days you will gain a life of five hundred years.\n\n26. Master Kangfeng’s elixir method: use sheep, crow and crane eggs, sparrow blood, and juice of tianxiong from Mount Shaoshi to mix the elixir. Put it inside a swan’s egg, lacquer it, and immerse it in mica water. After a hundred days it turns into red liquid. A dose of one he adds a hundred years to life; one sheng adds a thousand.\n\n27. Master Cui Wen’s elixir method: place the elixir in a duck’s belly and steam it. Taken, it lengthens life; taken continually, it prevents death.\n\n28. Liu Yuan’s elixir method: immerse cinnabar in Mysterious Water liquid for a hundred days until it is purple and can be held without staining the hand. Mix it with mica water, place it in a tube, seal it with lacquer, and lower it into a well. In a hundred days it turns into red liquid. One he gives a hundred years; continual use gives long life.\n\n29. Master Le Zichang’s elixir method: combine azurite and red lead with mercury and cinnabar, place in a copper tube, seal it with dry tile and white talc, and steam it in white sand for eighty days. Take a small-bean-sized portion; in three years you will become immortal.\n\n30. Master Li Wen’s elixir method: wrap the elixir in plain white silk and boil it in bamboo juice, called Red Spring; then steam it over boiling water. Combine it with Mysterious Water. Take one he and become immortal in a year.\n\n31. Master Yin’s elixir method: blend the elixir with mica water, seal it tightly, and set it in the Golden Flower Pool. Take it out after a year; take a knifepoint at a time until one pound is consumed, and gain five hundred years of life.\n\n### Transmitted Elixir Methods (II), the Golden Liquor, and Gold-Eating\n\n32. Great One’s Elixir for Recalling the Souls uses five stones and a seal of Six-One Mud, much like the Nine Elixirs. Its strength lies in reviving people who died suddenly no more than three days before: break open their teeth, insert a pellet of this elixir and a sulfur pellet, and wash both down with water. As soon as they enter the throat, the person revives; all say they saw an envoy carrying a staff of authority sent to summon them.\n\n33. The Gleaning Maiden’s elixir method: mix the elixir with rabbit blood and honey and steam it for a hundred days. Take a pellet the size of a parasol-tree seed three times a day. After a hundred days two divine maidens come to attend you and may be given commands.\n\n34. Master Jiqiu’s elixir method: blend it with clear wine, sesame oil, Hundred-Flower Wine, and Dragon Paste. Seal it with Six-One Mud and warm it over chaff fire. It is ready in ten days. Take a small-bean-sized pellet until the entire batch is consumed, and gain five hundred years of life.\n\n35. Mozi’s elixir method: place mercury and the liquid of the five stones in a copper vessel, simmer over fire and stir with an iron spoon. After ten days it reverts to elixir. Take a knifepoint: myriad illnesses leave the body. Continual use averts death.\n\n36. Master Zhang Zihe’s elixir method: blend and seal lead, mercury, and azurite water; steam it among red millet for eighty days. Mix it with jujube paste to make pellets. Take a soybean-sized pellet; after a hundred days you will have a life of five hundred years.\n\n37. The Qili elixir method: first sublime the five stones to obtain jade dust. Mix it with cinnabar and mercury and boil it in a large copper vessel for a hundred days; it becomes five-colored. Take it and never die. Fire a hundred pounds of lead with a hundred knifepoints of the medicine and it becomes silver; mix it with realgar water and fire it for a hundred days to make gold. If the gold is too hard, boil it with pig fat; if too soft, with white plums.\n\n38. The Jade Pillar elixir method: mix the elixir with Flower Pool, cover and line it with powdered azurite and sulfur, put it inside a tube in sand, and steam for fifty days. Take it for a hundred days; jade maidens and the divine maidens of the Six Jia and Six Ding come to serve you. They can be commanded, and you will know all that happens under heaven.\n\n39. The Behind-the-Elbow elixir method: blend the elixir with Golden Flower, seal it with dry tile, and steam for eighty days. Take a small-bean-sized piece, place it in a dish facing the sun, and mix it; its radiance joins the sun’s above. Take a small-bean-sized portion and live long. Throw it into Danyang copper and fire it to make gold.\n\n40. Lord Li’s elixir method: use one sheng each of genuine cinnabar and water of the five stones, blend to the consistency of mud, and fire it in a cauldron. Remove it after thirty-six days, mix with liquid mineral sulfur, and take it for ten years to endure as long as heaven and earth.\n\n41. Liu Sheng’s elixir method: blend the elixir with juice of white chrysanthemum, ground paper-mulberry, and tree-of-heaven; steam it for thirty days, grind and blend, then take it. In a year you gain five hundred years of life. An old man who takes it grows so young he cannot be recognized; a young person who takes it never ages.\n\n42. Lord Wang’s elixir method: put Ba sand and mercury in a chicken’s egg, seal it with lacquer, and let a hen brood three such eggs. Take them on a day of waxing power: they arrest the years and prevent aging. Children must not take it or they will never grow. Given to newborn chickens and dogs, it likewise keeps them from growing larger; the same is true of birds and wild beasts, as trials confirm.\n\n43. Chen Sheng’s elixir method: blend the elixir with white honey, seal it in a copper vessel, and submerge it in a well for one full year. Taking it for a year removes hunger; consume a pound in all and live a hundred years.\n\n44. Han Zhong’s elixir method: simmer elixir mixed with lacquer and honey. Taken, it prolongs life, and one casts no shadow while standing in the sun. Beyond these there are dozens more methods, too many to relate in full.\n\n45. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: Liquid Gold is what Great One took to become immortal. It is no less powerful than the Nine Elixirs. To compound it, use one pound of gold by the ancient scale, together with Mysterious Brightness Dragon Paste, Great One’s Ten-Day First Stone, Ice Stone, Purple Wandering Maiden, Mysterious Water liquid, Gold-Transforming Stone, and cinnabar. Seal them and they become liquid. Its scripture says: “When Liquid Gold enters the mouth, the whole body turns golden.” Laozi received it from the Primordial Lady, who said: “This way is supremely important and emerges once in a hundred generations. Hide it in a stone chamber. To compound it, fast and keep the precepts for a hundred days; do not associate with ordinary people. Beside a famous mountain, above a stream flowing east, build a separate pure dwelling. In a hundred days it is ready: take one ounce and become immortal. If you do not yet wish to leave this world, but would become an earthly or aquatic immortal, merely fast and keep the precepts a hundred days. Those seeking ascent to heaven must first abstain from grain for a year before taking it. Take half an ounce and you will live long without dying; myriad dangers and a hundred poisons cannot harm you. You may keep a wife and children, hold official rank, and do whatever you wish without restriction. If later you wish to ascend to heaven, fast again and take another ounce: you will become a flying immortal.”\n\n46. To prepare Liquid Gold by the Weixi and Mighty Victory method, take Liquid Gold and mercury together and boil for thirty days. Remove them, put them in a yellow-clay bowl, seal it with Six-One Mud, and fire it fiercely for sixty hours. All turns to elixir. Take a small-bean-sized dose and become immortal. One knifepoint of this elixir, powdered and mixed with a pound of mercury, immediately makes silver. Set a pound of the elixir above a fire and fan it: it melts into flowing red gold, called Elixir Gold. Coat knives and swords with it to ward off weapons for ten thousand miles. Make plates and bowls of Elixir Gold, and eating and drinking from them brings long life. Set them beneath sun and moon to collect liquid, as a moon mirror collects water; drink it and escape death. Mix Liquid Gold with yellow earth, put it in a bowl of Six-One Mud, and fire it fiercely: it all becomes usable gold. Fire it again and it all turns to elixir; take a small-bean-sized dose and you may enter famous mountains and great rivers as an earthly immortal. One knifepoint of this elixir, powdered with mercury, immediately makes silver; mix an ounce of that silver with a pound of lead and the whole becomes silver. The Liquid Gold Scripture says: “Throw an eight-ounce gold figurine into a stream flowing east, and drink blood to seal the oath; only then disclose the oral instructions. If you steal the recipe and make it contrary to the original procedure, it will never succeed.” Give the medicine to an ordinary person of utmost faith if you wish, but do not lightly transmit its text: both giver and recipient will incur calamity. Heavenly gods observe people very closely, though people do not know it.\n\n47. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: The Nine Elixirs are indeed the finest of immortal medicines, but compounding them requires many additional ingredients. If the four quarters are open and at peace, one can buy all that is needed. If the nine regions are divided, the materials cannot be obtained. One must also keep the fire burning for dozens of days and nights, watching its intensity to keep it exactly right: the labor is extraordinarily difficult. Thus it cannot match the ease of making Liquid Gold. For Liquid Gold, only the gold is hard to obtain. One ancient-scale pound of gold equals two pounds today, costing generally no more than some three hundred thousand coins; the other ingredients are somewhat easier to gather. No fire need be lit: simply set them in Flower Pool, and after the requisite days the medicine is ready. In all, some four hundred thousand coins will make a batch enough for eight people to become immortal. If one compounds a smaller amount, however, its vital force will not suffice for mutual transformation, just as a few sheng of rice cannot be brewed into wine.\n\n48. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: Next is a method of eating gold. Though inferior to Liquid Gold, it is far beyond other medicines. Some refine it with pig-back fat and wine; some treat it with bark of the tree-of-heaven; some dissolve it with thorn-bush wine and magnetite. In some methods it can be drawn out into a cloth; in others it is immediately made liquid to drink. Some involve taboos, and none match Liquid Gold. Sometimes it is eaten combined with realgar and orpiment, and can be stretched and spread like leather: these are all methods for earthly immortality. Silver and large pearls from mussels can also be dissolved into liquid and drunk. But all must be taken continually without interruption, and so none equal Liquid Gold.\n\n### Mountains for Compounding, Ge Hong's Calling, and Short Recipes\n\n49. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: Compounding Liquid Gold and the Nine Elixirs requires money and seclusion in a famous mountain, far from human affairs; hence few can make them, and perhaps only one person in ten million ever obtains their scriptures. For this reason those who write books on the Way almost never discuss the golden elixir. The foremost prohibition is not to allow ordinary people unversed in the Way to scoff at or condemn it: if they do, the medicine will certainly fail. Master Zheng explained why. When compounding these great medicines one must offer sacrifice, and Great One, the Primordial Lady, Lord Lao, and the Mysterious Maiden all come to inspect. If the maker fails to hide in a remote place, allowing idle fools to pass by and hear or see, the gods reproach the maker for disobeying the scripture’s injunctions and exposing the work to wicked people’s slander. They cease their protection and aid; malign energies enter, and the medicine fails. One must enter a famous mountain, fast and keep the precepts for a hundred days, eat no five pungent vegetables or raw fish, and meet no ordinary people; only then can one make the great medicine. The fast must continue until the medicine is complete, not merely when its preparation begins. Master Zheng said that Lord Zuo told him lesser mountains were never suitable for making Liquid Gold or the divine elixir. Lesser mountains have no rightful gods presiding over them; they mostly harbor spirits of trees and stones, thousand-year-old creatures, and ghosts that feed on blood. These beings are malign energies, concerned not with doing good for people but with causing calamity and trying Daoists. A Daoist must guard himself and his disciples with arts of protection, yet they can still spoil the medicine. Even physicians today, when mixing fine medicines and salves, do not want chickens, dogs, children, or women to see them. If these disturb the preparation, it has no effect when used. Dyers likewise dislike being watched by someone with an evil eye: all the beautiful color is lost. How much more must this matter for the great medicines of divine immortality! This is why ancient Daoists always went into famous mountains, not ordinary hills, to compound divine medicine. According to the immortal scriptures, the mountains where one may contemplate intensely and compound immortal medicine are Mount Hua, Mount Tai, Mount Huo, Mount Heng, Mount Song, Mount Shaoshi, Mount Chang, Mount Taibai, Mount Zhongnan, Mount Nüji, Mount Difei, Mount Wangwu, Mount Baodu, Mount Anqiu, Mount Qian, Mount Qingcheng, Mount Emei, Mount Rui, Mount Yuntai, Mount Luofu, Mount Yangjia, Mount Huangjin, Mount Biezu, Greater and Lesser Mount Tiantai, Mount Siwang, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang. Rightful gods reside in all these mountains, and some shelter earthly immortals. All grow numinous mushrooms and offer refuge from great warfare and calamity, as well as places to compound medicine. When a practitioner of the Way ascends one of them, its mountain god will surely aid and bless him, and the medicine will surely succeed. If one cannot ascend these mountains, large islands in the sea are also suitable for compounding medicine. Among these are Wengzhou, Danzhou, and Zhuyu east of Kuaiji, and Xinju Island, Taiguang Island, and Yu Island near Xuzhou; these rank next. Today the famous mountains of the central lands cannot be reached. Among the famous mountains east of the Yangtze where one can live are Mount Huo in Jin’an; Mount Chang and Mount Taibai in Dongyang; and Mount Siwang, Greater and Lesser Mount Tiantai, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang, all in Kuaiji.\n\n50. The Master Who Embraces Simplicity says: I am unworthily the descendant of a high minister. Though I have not the talent to govern the realm and order its affairs, many of my peers, devoted to advancement in their careers and hardly more knowledgeable than I, have spread their wings in the Milky Way and shone in the high heavens. Yet I have abandoned the celebrations and condolences of my neighbors, and rejected the honors of this age, because I mean to climb far into famous mountains and finish the books I am writing, and then compound the divine medicine in pursuit of long life. Everyone finds it strange that I have left my ancestral home, turned my back on the clear road to office, and taken to farming in woods and marshes until my hands and feet are calloused. They think me afflicted with madness and delusion. But the Way and worldly affairs cannot flourish together. Unless I abandon human business, how could I pursue such an aim? When one sees it clearly and holds fast to it, why fear blame or praise, or be swayed by encouragement and discouragement? I write down my heart’s desire to show kindred spirits yet to come. Among those whose resolve is as strong as metal, some will renounce the same things I have.\n\n51. Recipe for the Lesser Divine Elixir: Mix three pounds of genuine cinnabar with six pounds of white honey. Expose to the sun and simmer until the mixture can be rolled into pellets. Each morning take ten pellets the size of hemp seeds. Before a year has passed, white hair turns black, lost teeth regrow, and the body becomes lustrous. Taken continually, it turns an old man young and grants long life without death.\n\n52. Lesser Elixir method: pound and sift one pound of cinnabar, add three sheng of pure sour wine and two sheng of lacquer. Blend these three ingredients thoroughly and simmer over a low fire until they can be rolled into pellets. Take three hemp-seed-sized pellets twice a day. After thirty days, all illnesses in the belly heal and the three corpses depart; after a hundred days, flesh and bones grow strong; after a thousand days, the Arbiter of Fate erases your name from the register of the dead. You endure as long as heaven and earth and face the sun and moon; your form and features change, you transform without limit, and in sunlight you cast no shadow but give off a light of your own.\n\n53. Lesser method for eating gold: Refine gold by repeatedly plunging it into clear wine, about two hundred times, so that it boils whenever the gold enters or leaves. When squeezed, it should ooze between the fingers like mud. If the wine does not boil or the gold does not ooze between the fingers, pare off the gold and plunge it back into clear wine any number of times. Once ready, take one pellet the size of a slingshot ball, or divide a single ball into smaller pellets. Take it for thirty days and you will suffer neither cold nor heat; divine beings and jade maidens will attend you. Silver too can be eaten by the same method as gold. If someone taking these two substances can live in a stone chamber on a famous mountain, within a year they will rise lightly into the air. Even taking them while remaining in the human world makes one an earthly immortal. Do not transmit this recklessly.\n\n54. The Two Principles Master’s method of eating gold: Take three pounds of fat from a pig’s back, one sheng of pure sour wine, and five ounces of gold. Place them in a vessel and simmer over an earthen furnace, immersing the gold in the fat and removing it a hundred times; do the same with the sour wine. Eat one pound and your lifespan will encompass that of heaven and earth; eat half a pound and live two thousand years; eat five ounces and live twelve hundred years. Whatever the quantity, it may be eaten. Prepare it on a day of waxing power; taken then, it works divinely well. Do not transmit it to the unworthy: showing it to the unworthy causes the medicine to fail and lose its divine power. If you wish to eat a medicine that expels the corpses, take cinnabar.","download_url":"https://mouseia.org/api/works/baopuzi-golden-elixir/translations/trn_baopuzi_golden_elixir_mouseia.txt"},{"id":"trn_baopuzi_golden_elixir_plain","translator":"Mouseia","kind":"plain","note":"Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the same original, covering all of Inner Chapter 4 (Jindan), 54 paragraphs, 7,092 characters.","text":"### Elixir and Liquid Gold as the Summit of the Immortal Arts\n\n1. Baopuzi says: I have studied books on caring for one's nature and gathered methods for living long. The volumes I have read number in the thousands, and all treat reverted elixir and liquid gold as the essential things. These two, then, are the highest achievements in the way of becoming immortal. If someone takes them and does not become immortal, there have never been any immortals since ancient times. In the past, when the northern heartland fell into disorder, people fled in every direction. I traveled through several provinces, including Xu, Yu, Jing, Xiang, Jiang, and Guang, and met hundreds of ordinary Daoist practitioners who had been displaced. Some had once had a reputation reaching beyond the clouds and sun. But almost all were alike: what they knew, whether much or little or nothing, was not enough to distinguish one from another. Though each had dozens of scrolls, they could not fully understand them. They had simply copied and collected them. Some knew methods of circulating breath, abstaining from grain, and taking medicines made from plants and trees. The recipe books they owned were almost identical. Every one had the Scripture of the Mechanism of the Way, which they considered their greatest secret, and said that Yin Xi had written it. I told them, “This was written by Wang Tu, a military supervisor in the Wei period, not by anyone from antiquity.” Tu knew nothing at all about the great medicine. He wanted to become immortal simply through breath exercises and seclusion indoors. He wrote this Mechanism of the Way, claiming that it contained the whole way. This is a serious way to mislead people. I asked the Daoists about the divine elixir and liquid gold, and about the method in the Inner Writings of the Three Sovereigns for summoning the gods of heaven and earth. Not a single one knew anything about them. Most boasted, praised themselves, deceived people by claiming they had already lived for ages, or said they had traveled with immortals. Very few were worth discussing subtle matters with. Some had heard a little of the golden elixir but thought nobody alive today could obtain it. They said only immortals who had passed beyond the world in remote antiquity could know it. Some had learned things said about the recipe but did not have its authentic scripture. Others had obtained fragmentary elixir recipes and thought these covered all elixir methods. In the past, Zuo Yuanfang meditated intensely on Mount Tianzhu, and a divine being gave him the Immortality Scripture of the Golden Elixir. Because disorder broke out at the end of the Han, he had no time to make it. He fled across the river to the east, intending to seek a famous mountain and practice this way. My great-uncle, Lord Xian, received it from Yuanfang. Altogether he received three scrolls of the Scripture of the Elixir of Great Purity, one scroll of the Scripture of the Nine Tripod Elixirs, and one scroll of the Scripture of the Liquid-Gold Elixir. My teacher Master Zheng was a disciple of my great-uncle Lord Xian; he received them from him too, but his family was too poor to buy the ingredients. I personally served him and swept for him for a long time. Finally, on Mount Maji, I set up an altar, made a pledge, and received the scriptures, together with oral instructions that had not been written down. These books had not existed in the lands east of the river before. They came from Zuo Yuanfang, who gave them to my great-uncle; my great-uncle gave them to Master Zheng, who gave them to me. That is why the other Daoists know nothing of them. More than twenty years have passed since I received them, but I do not have even a modest supply of money and cannot make the medicines. All I can do is sigh. Others have chests full of gold and money piled like mountains, but they do not know this method for escaping death exists. Even if they heard of it, not one in ten thousand would believe it. Why? Whoever drinks a drink made from jade knows how thin the flavor of ordinary vegetable broth is. Whoever sees Kunlun knows how low a little mound is. After studying the way of the golden elixir, one no longer wishes to read minor recipe books. Still, the great medicine is hard to obtain and prepare at once, so in the meantime we must rely on lesser remedies to sustain ourselves. Taking ten thousand measures of other drugs may do a little good, but can never give a person lasting life. Thus a saying attributed to Laozi goes, “If you cannot obtain reverted elixir and liquid gold, you are only putting yourself through hardship for nothing.” The five grains can already keep people alive: with them people live; without them they die. How much greater must the benefit of the finest divine medicines be—surely ten thousand times that of grain? The longer golden elixir is fired, the more marvelous its transformations become. Gold does not disappear even after a hundred firings; buried, it will not decay until the end of the heavens. Taking these two substances refines the body, allowing a person to avoid aging and death. This means using something from outside to strengthen oneself. It is like oil feeding a fire so it cannot go out, or copper patina applied to the feet to keep them from rotting in water: the strength of copper protects the flesh. Golden elixir enters the body and permeates its vital circulation, unlike copper patina merely applied on the outside. Most people in the world do not believe in the highest way: nearly everyone is like that. Now and then someone takes an interest but cannot find this method or meet an informed teacher, and thus has no chance to hear that such a marvelous thing exists. Here I copy a short overall account of golden elixir to show those who share this interest in the future. Seek it diligently. Do not cling to superficial recipes and think them sufficient to transcend the world. If you never find it, you simply have to give up hope of living forever. Once you encounter its account, you will surely know that it is like leaving a muddy puddle to float on the open sea, turning away from a firefly's glow or a candle toward the sun and moon, hearing thunder and realizing how feeble a cloth drum is, or seeing a great whale and realizing how small a tiny shellfish is. Anyone who chatters on without first gaining access to this knowledge, hoping to rise to heaven with poor medicines, is like someone riding a lame donkey to catch a swift wind, or rowing a small boat across a great river. There are many recipes for lesser elixirs taken by mouth. Their preparation ranges from simple to complex, so their powers differ. Even among these grades, one cannot measure up to the next. Wine fermented once cannot compare to the rich flavor of wine fermented nine times. Yet even the lowest lesser elixir is far better than the best plant medicine. Plants turn to ash when burned, but cinnabar turns into mercury when heated, and with further changes turns back into cinnabar. It is far removed from ordinary plants and trees. That is why it can give people long life. Only the divine immortals understand this principle. How immeasurably far apart they and ordinary people are! People know little and find much strange. Some do not know that mercury comes from cinnabar. Even if told, they will not believe it. They say, “Cinnabar is red; how can it become something white?” Or, “Cinnabar is only a stone. All other stones turn to ash when heated. Why would cinnabar alone do otherwise?” They cannot grasp even this familiar, simple thing. No wonder they laugh loudly when they hear of the way of immortality. The realized people of antiquity took pity on those in future generations who could be taught. They created methods and took great pains to help them escape the disaster of death. Their words could truly be called the best possible guidance. Yet ordinary people refuse to believe and call the writings empty claims. If they were empty claims, how could the nine firings and nine changes, and the number of days required for each, all turn out just as the recipes say? Ordinary thinking cannot explain how realized people came to know this. When I was young I liked the arts of special methods. I carried provisions and went on foot to seek instruction, undeterred by dangerous or distant journeys. Whenever I heard something unusual, I was happy. Even when people insulted and laughed at me, I was not distressed. Who knows whether future people will not be like me? That is why I have written this for people who understand. Would I really prize strange things and dress up empty claims just to circulate a book in the world and win the trust of the crowd? The strongest sunlight cannot make dead wood flourish; the wisest person cannot change a complete fool. A book is passed down for people able to understand it; a practice is valued by those who recognize it. A farmer who receives a red ceremonial bow uses it to drive off birds; a southerner who receives ceremonial robes uses them to carry firewood. How can one force understanding on those who do not have it? People spend entire days eating their fill. They may not even work hard at Confucian or Mohist learning, or pursue the business of improving their character. They just wander about together until their days run out. They seek either status or profit. Some go hunting with hawks and dogs across the plains; some linger over cups of wine while their stew bubbles; some lose themselves among beautiful women and instrumental music; some become absorbed in fine silk clothing; some strain their bodies drawing bows; some waste their time playing board games. Hearing of the highest way leaves them as uncomprehending as a drunk; when they see discussions of it they fall asleep in broad daylight. They have bodies but do not cultivate them. Every action takes them closer to death. They refuse to inquire into methods of caring for life. Instead, they seem bent on cutting their bodies up, cooking them, wearing them out, and draining them dry. Those who know the way, meanwhile, guard their knowledge in secret and want nothing from others. Why would they insist on telling them? People commonly say that if long life could be obtained, the rich and powerful of old would have obtained it. Since none did, they conclude there is no such way. They do not realize that the rich and powerful of old were just like those of today. They neither believed nor sought it; all were concerned with their immediate desires. How could they possibly obtain it? Even if you cannot commit to believing that your allotted life can be extended and immortality achieved, why not try? Suppose the trial has only a small effect and gives you two or three hundred years. Would that not be better than the short lives of ordinary people? There are countless matters in the world, and the methods of the way are especially hard to understand. How can someone of ordinary intelligence decide that no way of lasting life exists in the world? If the disbelief of most people proves there is no such way, are most people really so intelligent? And are people who understand something of the way and still seek to practice it necessarily complete fools, inferior to everybody else? Some people also worry that if they seek long life and do not obtain it, others will laugh at their ignorance and confusion. But if their firm judgment should be wrong, and a way to avoid death really does exist, wouldn't those who obtain it laugh at them? Even the sun and moon cannot shine everywhere. Why trust the human mind alone?\n\n### The Nine Tripod Elixirs and the Taiqing Divine Elixir\n\n2. Baopuzi says: According to the Scripture of the Yellow Emperor's Nine Tripod Divine Elixirs, the Yellow Emperor took the elixir and then rose to become immortal. It also says: “Breath exercises, stretches, and medicines made from plants can prolong life but cannot prevent death. Taking a divine elixir gives endless life, lasting as long as heaven and earth. One rides clouds and drives dragons, traveling through the heavens.” The Yellow Emperor passed it to Master Xuan and warned him: “This way is extremely important. Give it only to someone worthy. If a person is not suitable, do not tell him this way, even if he offers a mountain of jade.” The recipient throws gold human and fish figures into a stream flowing east as a pledge, and makes an oath by tasting blood. Someone not born with the potential to become a divine immortal cannot even see this way. To make the elixir, go to a famous mountain in an uninhabited place. Take no more than three people. First abstain from forbidden foods for a hundred days, bathe with five fragrances, and keep especially clean. Stay away from filth and contact with ordinary people. Do not let people who do not understand the way learn about it. If they slander the divine medicine, it will fail. Once made, it can make the entire household immortal, not just one person. People do not make divine elixir and instead trust herbal medicines. Plant medicines rot when buried, fall apart when boiled, and char when burned. They cannot keep themselves alive; how could they keep people alive?\n\n3. The nine elixirs are essential for long life; ordinary people should not see or hear about them. The teeming millions know only how to seek wealth and status. Aren't they walking corpses? When making the elixirs one must also make offerings. There is a separate scroll with diagrams and directions for the offerings.\n\n4. The first elixir is called Cinnabar Blossom. First make the Dark and Yellow preparation. Use several dozen jin each of liquid realgar, liquid alumstone, Rong salt, brine salt, arsenolite, oyster shell, red clay, talc, and white lead powder to make Six-and-One Clay. Fire it for thirty-six days until it is ready. Take it, and in seven days you will become immortal. Mix this elixir with Dark Paste, make pills, and place them over a fierce fire: they turn into gold in a moment. Or mix 240 zhu of it with 100 jin of mercury and heat it; that also turns into gold. When the gold is ready, the medicine is ready. If no gold forms, reseal the medicine and heat it for the same number of days as before. It will certainly succeed.\n\n5. The second elixir is called Divine Elixir, or Divine Talisman. Take it and you will become immortal in a hundred days. To cross water or fire, apply it to the soles of your feet and walk over the water. If you take three knife-tip measures, the three corpse spirits and nine worms in your body immediately disappear, and all illnesses are cured.\n\n6. The third elixir is called Divine Elixir. Take one knife-tip measure and become immortal in a hundred days. If domestic animals swallow it, they too will never die. It also protects against the five kinds of weapons. After taking it for a hundred days, immortals, jade maidens, and spirits of mountains and rivers come to serve you, appearing in human form.\n\n7. The fourth elixir is called Reverted Elixir. Take one knife-tip measure and become immortal in a hundred days. Red birds and phoenixes circle overhead, and jade maidens come to your side. Combine one knife-tip measure with one jin of mercury and heat it; it immediately becomes gold. If you put this elixir on money or other things you lend out, they all return the same day. If you write with it above an ordinary person's eyes, a hundred ghosts run away.\n\n8. The fifth elixir is called the Edible Elixir. Take it and become immortal in thirty days. Spirits come to serve you, and jade maidens stand before you.\n\n9. The sixth elixir is called the Refined Elixir. Take it and become immortal in ten days. If you mix it with mercury and heat it, it also turns into gold.\n\n10. The seventh elixir is called the Soft Elixir. Take one knife-tip measure and become immortal in a hundred days. If a ninety-year-old man takes it mixed with clematis juice, he can still father a child. Combine it with Gold Lord and heat them, and they become gold.\n\n11. The eighth elixir is called the Subdued Elixir. Take it and become immortal that same day. Carry an amount the size of a date pit and a hundred ghosts will avoid you. Write with the elixir on the doors of your home, and no evil being or spirit will dare approach. It also keeps away thieves, tigers, and wolves.\n\n12. The ninth elixir is called the Cold Elixir. Take one knife-tip measure and become immortal in a hundred days. Immortal boys and girls come to serve you. You rise lightly and fly without wings.\n\n13. Obtaining just one of these nine elixirs makes you immortal. You do not need to prepare all of them; you can make whichever you like. Anyone who takes one of the nine can ascend to heaven if desired or remain in the human world if desired. Such people can pass through any barrier and cannot be harmed.\n\n14. Baopuzi says: There is also a Divine Elixir of Great Purity. Its method comes from the Primordial Lady, Laozi's teacher. The Scripture for Observing Heaven in Great Purity has nine chapters. It says the upper three chapters must not be taught, and that no one in the world is worthy of receiving the middle three; these are always kept deep below three springs. The lower three chapters are the upper, middle, and lower sections of the Elixir Scripture, three scrolls in all. The Primordial Lady is a great divine immortal. She can regulate yin and yang, command ghosts and gods and wind and rain, and drive a chariot drawn by nine dragons and twelve white tigers. All the world's immortals are under her authority. Yet she says she too attained this by studying the way and taking elixir, not naturally. How much more necessary is it for ordinary people! Her scripture says: “The best practitioners who obtain the way ascend to office in heaven. Those in the middle live together on Kunlun. The lowest live long lives in the human world.” Foolish people do not believe it and call it empty talk. From morning to night they do nothing but bring death closer, never trying to prolong life. How could heaven force them to live? Ordinary people care only about tasty food, fine clothes, music, sex, wealth, and status. They follow every desire until they suddenly die. Take care not to tell them of divine elixir: they will ridicule the way and slander the truth. If you transmit the Elixir Scripture to the wrong person, misfortune will surely come to you. If someone firmly believes, you may share the finished medicine with that person, but do not lightly transmit the recipe. If you know this way, why would you need the rank of prince or lord? For once divine elixir is ready, it not only gives long life but also makes gold. When the gold is made, take a hundred jin and first make a great offering. There is a separate scroll of instructions for this offering, which differs from the offering for the Nine Tripods. Label and set aside the gold for each offering separately.\n\n15. Offer twenty jin to Heaven, five to the sun and moon, eight to the Northern Dipper, eight to Taiyi, five to the well, five to the stove, twelve to the River Lord, five to the earth altar, and five each to doors, neighborhood gates, ghosts and spirits, and the Pure Lord: eighty-eight jin altogether. Place the remaining twelve jin in a good leather bag. On a lucky day, when the city market is crowded, silently leave the bag where many people are and walk away without looking back. Only after using a hundred jin this way may you freely use any gold beyond that. If you do not first offer gold to the gods, disaster will surely follow. The scripture also says: “The way to lasting life does not lie in sacrifices or serving ghosts and gods, nor in stretching and bending exercises. The essential means of ascending to immortality is divine elixir. Learning it is not easy; making it is truly hard. If you can make it, you can live on indefinitely.” Toward the end of the Han, Master Yin of Xinye made this Great Purity elixir and became immortal. He had originally been a Confucian student, a talented thinker and a good poet. He wrote a preface and verses praising the Elixir Scripture. He recounted how he first studied the way and followed his teacher, and listed more than forty people he knew who became immortal, very clearly. Making the Great Purity elixir is a little harder than making the Nine Tripod elixirs, but it is a supreme method for rising to heaven in broad daylight. To make it, first prepare Flower Pond, Red Salt, Gen Snow, Dark White, Flying Talisman, and Three-Five Divine Water; only then may you light the fire.\n\n### Nine-Radiance, Five-Spirit and Transmitted Elixir Methods (I)\n\n16. Take a once-refined elixir and become immortal in three years. Take a twice-refined elixir and become immortal in two years. Take an elixir refined three times and become immortal in one year; four times, in half a year; five times, in a hundred days; six times, in forty days; seven times, in thirty days; eight times, in ten days; and nine times, in three days. If you take the nine-times-refined elixir, place it in the divine cauldron after the summer solstice and heat it until the cauldron is hot. Put one jin of Vermilion Child under the lid. Watch closely and wait until the sun's essence shines on it. In a moment both rise together, shining brilliantly with divine light of five colors, and turn into reverted elixir. Take one knife-tip measure of it and you will ascend to heaven in broad daylight. To make the nine-times-refined elixir, seal it with clay in an earthen cauldron and heat it over a bran fire, first gently and then fiercely. Each refinement from the first through the ninth takes its own number of days; that is how you can tell them apart. With fewer refinements, the medicine has less power, so it must be taken for more days and immortality comes slowly. With more refinements, it is stronger, so it must be taken for fewer days and immortality comes quickly.\n\n17. There is also a Nine-Radiance Elixir. Its method differs from the nine refinements, though they are broadly similar. To make it, combine various medicines and fire them to transform the five minerals: cinnabar, realgar, white arsenolite, blue-green copper mineral, and magnetite. Transform each mineral five times to produce five colors each: twenty-five colors from five minerals. Put one liang of each color in a separate container. To revive someone who has been dead less than three days, mix one knife-tip measure of the blue-green elixir with water and wash the body. Then open the mouth and put another knife-tip measure inside. The person comes back to life immediately. To obtain a ready-made meal, mix the black elixir with water and spread it on your left hand. Everything you ask for aloud arrives on its own; you can obtain anything in the world. To become invisible, know events that have yet to occur, and stop aging, take one knife-tip measure of the yellow elixir: you will immediately live indefinitely without aging. You will also be able to see things a thousand li away while sitting down and know whether events there are good or bad as if they happened before your eyes. You will know people's destinies from previous lives, their rises and falls, whether their lives are long or short, and whether they will be rich or poor, powerful or humble. All these methods are in the middle scroll of the Great Purity Scripture.\n\n18. Baopuzi says: Below those is the one-scroll Scripture of the Five-Spirit Elixir, containing five methods. It uses cinnabar, realgar, orpiment, sulfur, blue-green copper mineral, alumstone, magnetite, Rong salt, and Taiyi's Remaining Grain. It also uses Six-and-One Clay, and calls for offerings in the divine chamber when the ingredients are combined. It is ready in thirty-six days. Five Emperor talismans are also written in five colors. This elixir too keeps people from dying, but is not as good as the Great Purity or Nine Tripod medicines.\n\n19. There is also the Mount Min elixir method. The Daoist Zhang Gaita obtained this recipe while meditating intensely in a stone chamber on Mount Min. Smelt yellow copper to make a square moon mirror that catches water from the moon. Cover it with mercury, then bring the sun's essence and fire into it. Taking it continually prevents death. Alternatively, place this elixir in a copper fire-striker containing realgar, cover it with mercury, and expose it to sunlight. After twenty days, open and process it. Take a dose the size of a small bean with fresh well water. After a hundred days, blind people can see, every illness heals by itself, white hair turns black again, and lost teeth grow back.\n\n20. There is also Master Wucheng's elixir method. Put mercury from Ba sand in an eight-inch copper dish. Put charcoal in an earthen furnace, and prop up the dish at three corners of a trench. Pour sulfur water over it, keeping it as wet as mud. Take it for a hundred days and you will not die.\n\n21. There is also Master Xianmen's elixir method. Mix one jin of elixir with three sheng of wine and expose it to the sun for forty days. Take it for one day, and the three worms and a hundred illnesses immediately leave the body. Take it for three years and you achieve immortality. Two jade maidens will come to serve you. You can command them to bring a ready-made meal. This elixir can suppress a hundred ghosts, the harmful influence of corpses from the four directions on a home, and the harm to people from earthworks. Hang it up facing these dangers and there will be no trouble.\n\n22. There is also an Instantly Completed Elixir. It too has nine sections and resembles the Nine Tripods, but is less effective. One version of the main instructions also says to fire orpiment and realgar, use the copper that collects beneath them, and cast it into vessels. Cover the vessels over three-year-old strong sour wine. After a hundred days, a red substance like milk grows on all these vessels, several fen long; sometimes five-colored precious stones appear. Collect and prepare it to take by mouth, and it too gives long life. You can also mix it with dodder. Dodder here means the newly formed root, which resembles a rabbit. Dig it up and cut it to draw out its blood. Mix that with this elixir and take it; you can immediately change shape and do whatever you like. Or mix it with red grass: a single dose lets you travel through the air. Red grass resembles a small jujube tree. It grows three or four feet high, with red branches and leaves and stems like coral. It likes to grow below the rocks of famous mountains. When cut, its juice flows like blood. Put jade or any of the eight minerals, gold, or silver into this juice and they can immediately be rolled into pills like mud. With time they turn to liquid. If gold is added, it is called Gold Broth; if jade, Jade Sweet Wine. Both give long life when taken.\n\n23. Another method for obtaining the Subdued Elixir says: Among the waters of the world are rivers with the word “cinnabar” in their names, such as the Cinnabar River of Nanyang. They all have cinnabar fish. On the tenth night before the summer solstice, watch for them. The fish will certainly float near the riverbank, casting a brilliant red light upward like fire. You can catch them with a net, but however many there are, do not take them all. Cut the fish to get their blood and put it on the soles of your feet: you can walk on water and live for a long time in deep pools.\n\n24. There is also Master Red Pine's elixir method. Soak the elixir in juice from a thousand-year-old vine and from alum peach. Put it in a container that does not leak, close it with purified honey, and bury it three feet deep. After a hundred days, squeeze the red fruit of the ning tree for juice, mix it in, and take it. Your face, eyes, temples, and hair will all turn red, and you will live long. In former times there was a red-bearded man among the immortals of Central Yellow. Could he have taken this?\n\n25. There is also Master Shi's elixir method. Take a young crow that has not yet grown feathers and feed it real cinnabar mixed with beef. Once it is grown, its feathers will all be red. Kill it then, dry it in the shade for a hundred days, and grind it up with its feathers. Take one knife-tip measure. After a hundred days, you will have a life of five hundred years.\n\n26. There is also Master Kangfeng's elixir method. Use a sheep, a crow, crane eggs, and sparrow blood, combined with juice of tianxiong from Mount Shaoshi. Mix it with elixir, put it inside a swan's egg, and coat it with lacquer. Put this into mica water; in a hundred days it turns into red water. Take one ge and add a hundred years to your life each time, or take one sheng for a thousand years.\n\n27. There is also Master Cui Wenzi's elixir method. Put elixir inside a duck and steam it. Taking it extends life; continued use prevents death.\n\n28. There is also Liu Yuan's elixir method. Put cinnabar in Dark Water Liquid; in a hundred days it turns purple and will not stain your hand when held. Mix it with mica water, seal it with lacquer inside a tube, and throw it into a well. In a hundred days it becomes red water. Take one ge to gain a hundred years; keep taking it and live indefinitely.\n\n29. There is also Le Zichang's elixir method. Mix blue-green copper mineral and red lead with mercury and cinnabar, and put them in a copper tube. Seal it with dry roof tiles and white talc, and steam it in white sand for eighty days. Take an amount the size of a small bean; in three years you will become immortal.\n\n30. 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 above the surface of boiling water and mix it with Dark Water. Take one ge and in one year you will become immortal.\n\n31. There is also Master Yin's elixir method. Mix the elixir with mica water and seal it tightly. Put it in a Gold Flower Pond and take it out after a year. Take one knife-tip measure at a time until you have taken one jin, and you will live five hundred years.\n\n### Transmitted Elixir Methods (II), the Golden Liquor, and Gold-Eating\n\n32. There is also the Great One Elixir for Calling Back Souls. Its five minerals and the Six-and-One Clay used to seal it resemble those of the nine elixirs. It is particularly good for reviving someone who died no more than three days ago. Open the person's teeth, put in one pill and a sulfur pill, and wash them both down with water. As soon as they reach the throat, the person comes back to life. All such people say they saw a messenger carrying an official tally summon them.\n\n33. There is also the Gathering Maiden's elixir method. Mix rabbit blood and the elixir with honey, and steam them for a hundred days. Take one pill the size of a parasol-tree seed three times a day. After a hundred days, two divine women will come to serve you; you can command them.\n\n34. There is also Master Jiqiu's elixir method. Combine it with clear wine, sesame oil, hundred-flower sweet wine, and dragon paste; seal it with Six-and-One Clay and heat it gently over a bran fire. It is ready in ten days. Take one pill the size of a small bean at a time until you have finished the batch. You will live five hundred years.\n\n35. There is also Mozi's elixir method. Place mercury and the liquids of the five minerals in a copper vessel and boil them over a fire, stirring with an iron spoon. After ten days they revert to elixir. Take one knife-tip measure and all illnesses leave your body; take it continually and never die.\n\n36. There is also Zhang Zihe's elixir method. Mix lead, mercury, and blue-green copper mineral water, and seal them together. Steam them among red millet grains. After eighty days the medicine is ready. Mix it with date paste to make pills and take an amount the size of a soybean. In a hundred days you will have a life of five hundred years.\n\n37. There is also the Qili elixir method. First heat the five minerals to collect their fine powder, and mix it with cinnabar and mercury. Boil it in a large copper vessel for a hundred days until it has five colors. Take it and you will not die. Fire a hundred jin of lead with a hundred knife-tip measures of the medicine, and it becomes silver. Mix it with realgar water and fire it for a hundred days, and it becomes gold. If the gold is too hard, boil it with pig fat; if too soft, boil it with white plum.\n\n38. There is also the Jade Pillar elixir method. Mix elixir with Flower Pond liquid, cover and layer it with powdered blue-green copper mineral and sulfur, and place it in a tube inside sand. Steam it for fifty days and take it for a hundred days. Jade maidens, the spirits of the six Jia and six Ding days, and divine women will come to serve you. You can command them and learn what is happening anywhere in the world.\n\n39. There is also the Handy Formula elixir method. Mix Gold Flower with elixir, seal it with dry roof tiles, and steam it for eighty days. Put an amount the size of a small bean in a dish and face it toward the sun while stirring. Its light rises and meets the sun. Take an amount the size of a small bean and live indefinitely. Put it into Danyang copper and heat it; the copper becomes gold.\n\n40. There is also Master Li's elixir method. Mix one sheng each of real cinnabar and the liquids of the five minerals until they are like mud. Fire them in a cauldron and take them out after thirty-six days. Mix them with liquid sulfur and take the medicine for ten years; you will last as long as heaven and earth.\n\n41. There is also Liu Sheng's elixir method. Mix the elixir with white chrysanthemum juice, juice from the ground paper-mulberry plant, and juice from the tree of heaven, and steam them for thirty days. Grind and mix the product, and take it for one year to gain a life of five hundred years. An old man who takes it grows so young that he cannot be recognized; a young person who takes it also does not grow old.\n\n42. There is also Master Wang's elixir method. Put Ba sand and mercury inside eggs, seal them with lacquer, and let a hen incubate three of them. Take it on a day when the seasonal forces are at their height, and you will stop aging. Children must not take it: they would never grow. Newly born chicks and puppies given it likewise never get bigger. The same has been tested with birds and animals.\n\n43. There is also Chen Sheng's elixir method. Mix the elixir with white honey, place it in a copper vessel, and seal it. Submerge it in a well for one full year. Take it for a year and you will not be hungry. Finish one jin and you will live a hundred years.\n\n44. There is also Han Zhong's elixir method. Boil the elixir with lacquer and honey. Take it to extend your years and live a long time. Standing in the sun, you will have no shadow. Beyond these there are still dozens of methods, too many to describe fully.\n\n45. Baopuzi says: Liquid gold is what Taiyi took to become immortal. It is no less effective than the nine elixirs. To make it, use one jin of gold by the ancient measure, along with Dark Brightness, Dragon Paste, Taiyi Xunshou Center Stone, Ice Stone, Purple Wandering Maiden, Dark Water Liquid, Gold-Transforming Stone, and cinnabar. Seal them until they turn to liquid. Its scripture says: “When liquid gold enters the mouth, the whole body becomes gold-colored.” Laozi received it from the Primordial Lady, who said, “This way is extremely important and appears once in a hundred generations. Store it in a stone chamber. To make it, abstain from forbidden foods for a hundred days and have no contact with ordinary people. Set up a separate, clean dwelling beside a famous mountain and an east-flowing stream. It is ready in a hundred days. Take one liang and become immortal. If you do not yet want to leave the world and want to be an immortal on earth or in water, you need only complete the hundred days of abstinence. But if you seek to ascend to heaven, you must first abstain from grain for a year before taking it. If you take half a liang, you will live indefinitely without dying, and no harm or poison can injure you. You may keep a wife and children and hold an official position and salary, doing as you like without restrictions. If you later wish to ascend to heaven, you can abstain again and take another liang; you will then fly away as an immortal.”\n\n46. To make the Weixi-Jusheng preparation with liquid gold, take liquid gold and mercury and boil them together for thirty days. Remove the mixture, put it in a yellow earthenware bowl, seal it with Six-and-One Clay, and heat it over a fierce fire for sixty hours. It all changes into elixir. Take an amount the size of a small bean and become immortal. One knife-tip measure of this elixir, ground to powder and added to one jin of mercury, immediately turns it to silver. Put one jin of this elixir on a fire and fan it; it melts and flows as red gold, called Elixir Gold. Coat knives and swords with it and it will ward off weapons from ten thousand li away. Make plates and bowls from Elixir Gold and eat and drink from them to live indefinitely. Catch the liquid of the sun and moon in them as a moon mirror catches water; drink it and you will not die. Mix liquid gold with yellow earth, put it in a Six-and-One Clay bowl, and heat it over a fierce fire. It all turns into gold fit for use. Heat it again and it all changes into elixir. Take an amount the size of a small bean, and you can enter famous mountains and great rivers as an earthly immortal. One knife-tip measure of this elixir, ground into mercury, immediately makes silver. Mix one liang of this silver with one jin of lead, and it all becomes silver. The Liquid Gold Scripture says: “Throw a gold human figure weighing eight liang into an east-flowing stream and drink blood to make an oath. Only then will the oral instructions be given.” If you steal the recipe without following the original procedure, you will never succeed. You may give the medicine to an ordinary person who has complete faith, but must not lightly transmit the book. Otherwise, both of you will certainly meet with disaster. Heavenly gods watch people closely, though people do not know it.\n\n47. Baopuzi says: The nine elixirs are indeed the best immortal medicines, but making them requires many different ingredients. If roads are open in all directions, you can buy them all. If the regions of the empire are cut off from each other, you cannot obtain them. You must also keep a fire going day and night for dozens of days, tending it so it stays at just the right strength. This is extremely hard work, so it is not as easy as making liquid gold. For liquid gold, only the gold itself is hard to obtain. One jin by the ancient measure equals two jin today and usually costs no more than about three hundred thousand coins. The other ingredients are rather easy to collect. No fire is needed: simply put them in Flower Pond and wait the required number of days. For a total of four hundred thousand coins you can make one batch, enough to make eight people immortal. But if you make a smaller batch, its power will not be enough to bring about the transformation. It is like trying to brew wine with only a few sheng of rice: that is certain to fail.\n\n48. Baopuzi says: Next comes a method for taking gold by mouth. Though not as good as liquid gold, it is still far better than other medicines. Some refine it with pig back fat and wine; some process it with bark of the tree of heaven; some dissolve it with thorn-tree wine and magnetite. Some methods make it pliable enough to stretch into a cloth; some make it immediately turn to liquid to drink. Some impose restrictions, unlike liquid gold. Some combine it with realgar and orpiment for eating; it can be pulled and stretched like leather. All of these are methods for becoming an earthly immortal. Silver and large pearls from shellfish can also be liquefied and drunk. But they must be taken continuously without a break, so none is as good as liquid gold.\n\n### Mountains for Compounding, Ge Hong's Calling, and Short Recipes\n\n49. Baopuzi says: Making liquid gold and the nine elixirs requires money and a journey to a famous mountain, away from human affairs. That is why few can make them. Among ten million people there might occasionally be one who obtains their scriptures. So authors of books on the way generally say almost nothing about golden elixir. The first rule forbids letting ordinary people who do not understand the way criticize and slander it. Otherwise the preparation will certainly fail. Master Zheng explained why. Making these great medicines always requires offerings. When the offerings are made, Taiyi, the Primordial Lady, the Old Lord, and the Dark Maiden all come to inspect the work. If the person making the medicine has not withdrawn to an isolated place, so that ignorant ordinary people can pass by and hear or see what is happening, the gods blame that person for not following the scripture's rules and for letting malicious people slander the method. The gods then stop helping, harmful energies enter, and the medicine fails. You must go into a famous mountain, abstain from forbidden foods for a hundred days, eat no five pungent plants or raw fish, and see no ordinary people. Only then can you make the great medicine. Keep observing the restrictions until it is finished, not just when you begin. Master Zheng said that Master Zuo had told him no small mountain is suitable for making liquid gold or divine elixir. No true god rules such mountains. Most are inhabited by spirits of wood and stone, ancient creatures a thousand years old, and ghosts that consume blood offerings. These are all harmful forces. They do not want to help people, but can cause trouble. They often test Daoists. A Daoist should use special methods to protect himself and the disciples traveling with him, yet these beings can still ruin the medicine. Doctors today also keep chickens, dogs, children, and women from seeing them make fine medicines and ointments. If such beings interfere, the preparations are ineffective. Dyers too dislike being watched by people whose gaze brings bad luck: their colors lose their beauty. How much more would this apply to the great medicine of divine immortals? That is why Daoists of old always went to famous mountains, rather than ordinary mountains, to make divine medicines. According to the immortality scriptures, mountains where one can meditate intensely and make immortal medicines include Mount Hua, Mount Tai, Mount Huo, Mount Heng, Mount Song, Mount Shaoshi, Mount Chang, Mount Taibai, Mount Zhongnan, Mount Nüji, Mount Difei, Mount Wangwu, Mount Baodu, Mount Anqiu, Mount Qian, Mount Qingcheng, Mount Emei, Mount Rui, Mount Yuntai, Mount Luofu, Mount Yangjia, Mount Huangjin, Mount Biezu, Mount Tiantai the Great and Little, Mount Siwang, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang. True gods live in all these mountains, and in some there are earthly immortals. All grow numinous mushrooms and offer safety from great wars and disasters as well as a place for making medicine. If someone who knows the way climbs one, the mountain god will surely help that person, and the medicine will succeed. If you cannot climb one of these mountains, large islands at sea also provide places to make medicine. Next best are Wengzhou, Danzhou, and Zhuyu east of Kuaiji, and Xinju Island, Taiguang Island, and Yu Island near Xuzhou. The famous mountains in central China are now inaccessible. Among the famous mountains east of the river where one can live are Mount Huo in Jin'an; Mount Chang and Mount Taibai in Dongyang; and Mount Siwang, Mount Tiantai the Great and Little, Mount Gaizhu, and Mount Kuocang, all in Kuaiji.\n\n50. Baopuzi says: I am fortunate to be descended from a high minister. Although I am not talented enough to govern a state and manage its affairs, many of my peers who share my interests and pursuits, and whose knowledge is not far ahead of mine, have risen high in government and gained distinction at court. I have stopped taking part in celebrations and mourning rites in my community and turned away from the honors of my time because I intend to travel far to a famous mountain, finish the books I have written, and then make divine medicine in the hope of living indefinitely. Ordinary people all think it strange that I have left my home and family behind, turned my back on a clear path to office, and gone to farm in the woods, with calluses on my hands and feet. They think I suffer from a kind of madness. But the way and worldly affairs cannot both prosper at once. If I did not give up human affairs, how could I pursue this goal? If you see something clearly and are firmly committed to it, why fear criticism or praise? Why be swayed by encouragement or opposition? I write these thoughts to show future people who share my interests. Those who later share this unbreakable commitment will give up the same things I have.\n\n51. Recipe for a Lesser Divine Elixir: Mix three jin of genuine cinnabar with six jin of white honey. Expose it to the sun and cook it down until it can be made into pills. Each morning take ten pills the size of hemp seeds. Before a year has passed, white hair will turn black, lost teeth will regrow, and the body will grow smooth and healthy. Taken continually, it makes an old man young and gives life without death.\n\n52. Lesser Elixir Method: Pound and sift one jin of cinnabar, then add three sheng of strong sour wine and two sheng of lacquer. Mix the three ingredients thoroughly and cook over a low fire until they can be shaped into pills. Take three pills the size of hemp seeds, twice a day. After thirty days, all illnesses in the belly will be cured, and the three corpse spirits will leave. After a hundred days, flesh and bones will become strong. After a thousand days, the Controller of Lifespans will remove your name from the register of the dead. You will last as long as heaven and earth and face the sun and moon as their equal. Your form and face will change in unpredictable ways. You will cast no shadow in the sun but instead have a separate light of your own.\n\n53. Lesser Method for Taking Gold: Refine gold by dipping it into clear wine around two hundred times. Each time it enters or leaves, the wine will boil. When you squeeze it, it should come out between your fingers like mud. If it does not boil or come out between your fingers, shave it down and put it into clear wine again as many times as necessary. Once it is ready, take a pill the size of a pellet. You may also divide that pill into smaller pills. After thirty days of taking it, you will feel neither cold nor heat, and divine beings and jade maidens will serve you. Silver can also be taken by the same method as gold. Anyone taking these two substances who can live in a stone chamber on a famous mountain will rise lightly into the air in one year. Taking them while remaining in the human world also makes one an earthly immortal. Do not pass this method on carelessly.\n\n54. The Two Principles Master's Method for Taking Gold: Use three jin of pig back fat and one sheng of strong sour wine. Take five liang of gold and place it in a vessel to cook over an earthen furnace. Put the gold into the fat and take it out a hundred times; do the same with the sour wine. Eat one jin and live as long as heaven and earth; eat half a jin and live two thousand years; eat five liang and live one thousand two hundred years. Whatever amount you have, you can take it. Make it on a favorable day when the seasonal forces are at their height; taken then, it works marvelously well. Do not transmit it to the wrong person. If you show it to the wrong person, the medicine will fail and lose its marvelous power. If you wish to take a medicine that drives out the corpse spirits, you should take cinnabar.","download_url":"https://mouseia.org/api/works/baopuzi-golden-elixir/translations/trn_baopuzi_golden_elixir_plain.txt"}],"retex_markdown_url":"https://mouseia.org/api/works/baopuzi-golden-elixir/retex.md"}}