Mica, Realgar, Jade, Silver, Pearl and the Common Herbs

8 Mica comes in five varieties, though most people cannot tell them apart. The way to identify one is to hold it against the sun and examine its colors closely; in the shade its mixed colors cannot be seen. Mica containing all five colors but mostly blue-green is called Cloud Blossom and should be taken in spring. If mostly red, it is Cloud Pearl, for summer; if mostly white, Cloud Liquid, for autumn; if mostly black, Cloud Mother, for winter. Mica of only blue-green and yellow is Cloud Sand, for the last month of summer. Pure, gleaming white is called Phosphorescent Stone and may be taken throughout all four seasons. To prepare the five clouds, one may dissolve them into liquid with cassia, scallions, and water jade; expose them in an iron vessel and boil them with dark water into a liquid; seal them in a tube with saltpeter and bury them until they turn liquid; mix them with honey into a curd; soak them in autumn dew for a hundred days, then knead them in a leather bag into powder; or combine them with wudian grass and blood of the tree of heaven. After a year of taking them all illnesses vanish; after three years, an old man becomes a child again; after five years without interruption, one can command ghosts and spirits, enter fire without burning, enter water without getting wet, walk on thorns without injuring the skin, and meet immortals. Other substances rot when buried and char when placed in fire; the five clouds do not burn even after a long time in a fierce fire, nor ever decay underground. Thus they can bring long life. It is also said that after ten years of taking them, cloud vapor constantly covers one’s head: taking the mother draws forth her children, as is natural. If, held toward the sun, they give off a dim, pure black color, they are unfit to take, for they cause painful urination and sores. Even when taking them as a liquid, one must first soak them for a hundred days in runoff from a thatched roof, east-flowing water, or dew, washing away the earth and stones before use. Wei Shuqing of Zhongshan took them for so long that he could ride clouds. He sealed his recipe in a jade casket; after he departed as an immortal, his son Shi and the Han envoy Liang Bo obtained it, followed its instructions in preparing and taking them, and both attained immortality.

9 Realgar must come from Mount Wudu: only a pure, unmixed specimen, red as a rooster’s comb and splendidly luminous, may be used. That which is merely yellow like realgar, without a red glow, is unsuitable as a drug of immortality, though it may be compounded into medicine for illness. To take it, one may steam or boil it, consume it with wine, first liquefy it with saltpeter and then let it congeal, wrap it in dark intestines and steam it beneath red earth, blend it with pine resin, or refine it with three ingredients and draw it out like cloth, white as ice. Taken in these ways, it gives long life, dispels all illnesses, expels the Three Corpses, removes scars, blackens white hair, and restores fallen teeth. After a thousand days jade maidens come to attend; one may command them to summon a traveling kitchen. A true jade maiden always bears a yellow-jade mark the size of a millet grain upon her nose. One without this mark is a ghost testing people.

10 Jade too is a drug of immortality, but hard to obtain. The Classic of Jade says: “Whoever takes gold lives as long as gold; whoever takes jade lives as long as jade.” It also says: “Whoever takes Dark Perfection has a life without end.” Dark Perfection is another name for jade. It makes the body fly and rise weightlessly, not merely become an earthly immortal. Its effects, however, come slowly: only after taking one or two hundred jin does one know them. Jade can be dissolved into liquid with black-rice wine or burnet wine; it can be melted into paste with scallion juice; it can be taken as pills or fired into powder. Take it for more than a year and water will not wet you, fire will not burn you, blades will not wound you, and none of the hundred poisons will harm you. Do not use finished jade implements: they injure a person and do no good. Obtain unworked jade; white jade from the kingdom of Khotan is especially good. Next comes jade from the Xushanting district of Nanyang, and jade from the Lu Rong River in Rinan is good too. Chi Songzi steeped jade in the blood of dark insects until it became liquid, then drank it; thus he could ride smoke up and down. Jade powder, whether taken dry or in liquid, makes one deathless. It is inferior to gold because it repeatedly causes fever, like the effects of Cold Food Powder. Those who take jade powder should take a knife-tip measure each of realgar and cinnabar every ten days, let down their hair, bathe in cold water, and walk facing the wind; then they will not grow feverish. Dong Junyi once gave jade nectar to a blind man, whose eyes recovered within ten days. Wu Yanzhi wished to take jade, but acquired an incomplete recipe from the Classic of Jade and understood nothing of its quantities or prohibitions. He assembled jade tablets, ritual scepters, rings and disks, and many jade sword fittings, intending to prepare and take them. Later I explained to him that these were unsuitable. He sighed: “One must master a practice thoroughly. Not only would they have done no good, but they might have brought disaster.”

11 Silver falls short only of gold and jade; it can make one an earthly immortal. To take it, dissolve it with wheat liquor, or take it with wine of vermilion herb, or refine it with dragon unguent. But each of the three doses requires a piece as large as a pellet, and that is beyond the means of a poor Daoist adept.

12 True pearls an inch or more across can be taken, bringing long life. Soaked in curd or fermented liquid they dissolve like mercury. They can also be dissolved with pumice water and honeycomb, enclosed with red snake yellow and blended until they stretch three or four feet long; form them into pills and take them while abstaining from grain, and one will live long without dying. Undiluted lacquer to which nothing sticks grants communion with the spirits and long life when taken. To prepare it, one may cast into it ten great ‘gutless gentlemen,’ also called great crabs; or take it mixed with mica liquid or jade liquid. All nine worms descend, foul blood flows from the nose, and after a year the traveling kitchen of the Six Jia arrives.

13 Cassia can be steamed with scallion sap until it turns liquid, or taken mixed with bamboo juice, or combined with the brain of the Lord of Foresight—some say a tortoise—and taken. After seven years one can walk upon water and live long without dying.

14 Jusheng, also called sesame, when taken as a preparation wards off old age, resists wind and dampness, and restores the aged and infirm. Soak peach gum in an infusion of mulberry ash and take it: every illness is cured. Taken for a long time, it makes the body light and luminous, like a rising moon in the dark of night. Taken in quantity, it allows one to forgo grain.

15 Take the red fruit of the ning tree for one year: the aged become young again and can see clearly through things and behold ghosts. In former times the Daoist Liang Xu began taking it at seventy and grew younger. At a hundred and forty he could write at night and run as fast as a galloping horse; later he entered Mount Qinglong and departed. Seal scholar-tree seeds in a new earthenware jar plastered with clay. After twenty days or more their outer skins will all decay; wash them until they are like soybeans and take them daily. They nourish the brain and, taken for a long time, keep hair from turning white and bring long life. The Dark-Center Vine recipe, Chu feilian, water plantain, rehmannia, goldthread, and some three hundred other substances can all prolong life and may be taken singly. Numinous-Flight Powder, Weijue Pills, Life-Governing Pills, and Sheep’s-Blood Pills all preserve youth and drive away old age.

8 There are five types of mica, but most people cannot tell them apart. Hold a piece up toward the sun and look closely at its color; only then can you identify it. If you simply look at it in the shade, its mixed colors will not show. The kind with all five colors but mostly blue-green is called cloud-flower; take it in spring. The one with all five but mostly red is cloud-pearl; take it in summer. The one with all five but mostly white is cloud-liquid; take it in autumn. The one with all five but mostly black is cloud-mother; take it in winter. The one with only blue-green and yellow is cloud-sand; take it in late summer. Bright pure white mica is called phosphor stone; it can be taken regularly in all four seasons. To prepare the five micas, you can dissolve them into liquid with cinnamon, scallion, and water jade. Or expose them in an iron vessel, then boil them into liquid with dark water. Or seal them with saltpeter in a tube and bury them until they liquefy. Or knead them with honey into a creamy mixture. Or steep them in autumn dew for a hundred days, then work them in a leather bag to make powder. Or mix them with wudian grass and tree-of-heaven sap to eat. Take them for one year and every illness goes away. Take them regularly for three years and an old man becomes a boy again. Continue without interruption for five years and you can command ghosts and spirits, enter fire without burning, enter water without getting wet, step on thorns without hurting your skin, and meet immortals. Other things decay if buried and char if set on fire. But the five micas do not burn even after time in a fierce fire and never rot when buried. That is why they let people live long. It is also said that after ten years of taking them, clouds always cover the user from above: taking the mother brings her children, as the natural order requires. If, however, a piece held up to the sun shows a dull, solid black color, it is not fit to take. It causes painful urination and sores. Even if taking mica in liquid, first steep it for a hundred days in rainwater from the eaves of a thatched house, east-flowing water, or dew. Wash away the earth and stone before using it. Wei Shuqing of Zhongshan took it for so long that he could travel on clouds. He sealed his formula in a jade box. After he departed as an immortal, his son Shi and the Han envoy Liang Bo found it, followed the recipe, took the drug, and both became immortals and departed.

9 Realgar should come from the mountains of Wudu, pure and unmixed, red as a rooster's comb and brightly shining. Only this kind can be used. The kind that is merely a plain yellow, with no red shine, is not suitable for an immortality drug, though it can be used to prepare medicine for illness. Ways of taking it include steaming or boiling it, taking it with wine, first dissolving it with saltpeter into liquid and then letting it solidify, wrapping it in dark dongchang and steaming it beneath red earth, combining it with pine resin, or refining it with three substances until it can be drawn out like cloth and is white as ice. Taking any of these preparations brings long life and cures all illnesses. The three corpse spirits leave the body, scars disappear, white hair turns black, and lost teeth grow back. After a thousand days jade maidens come to serve you; you can command them and obtain the traveling kitchen. A true jade maiden always has a yellow-jade mark as big as a millet seed on her nose. One without that mark is a ghost testing you.

10 Jade too is an immortality drug, but hard to obtain. The Jade Classic says, “Take gold and your life will last as long as gold; take jade and your life will last as long as jade.” It also says, “Whoever takes dark perfection will have no end to life.” Dark perfection is another name for jade. Jade makes the body light enough to fly upward: it does more than make one an earthly immortal. But this method is slow. Only after consuming one or two hundred jin can you see its effect. You can dissolve jade into liquid with black-rice wine or burnet wine; dissolve it into a paste with scallion juice; take it as pills; or roast it into powder. After taking it for more than a year, you can enter water without getting wet, enter fire without burning, and face blades and every poison without harm. Do not use jade already made into an object: it harms rather than helps. You must get uncut jade. White jade from Khotan is best; next comes jade from the Xushanting district of Nanyang or from the Lu Rong River in Rinan. Chi Songzi soaked jade in dark-insect blood until it became liquid and drank it; that is why he could ride smoke up and down. Jade powder and jade taken in liquid both prevent death. But jade is inferior to gold because it repeatedly causes fever, like the effects of Cold Food Powder. Anyone taking jade powder should, every ten days, take a knife-tip measure each of realgar and cinnabar, loosen the hair, wash in cold water, and walk facing the wind. This prevents fever. Dong Junyi once gave jade elixir to a blind person, whose sight returned after ten days. A man named Wu Yanzhi wanted to take jade, but the Jade Classic formula he obtained was incomplete. He had no idea of the required measures and prohibitions, and collected many jade tablets, scepters, rings, disks, and sword fittings to prepare and take. When I later told him that these were unfit for use, he sighed, “You have to know exactly what you are doing. It would not just have been useless; it could almost have brought disaster.”

11 Silver falls short of gold and jade, but it can make one an earthly immortal. To take it, dissolve it with wheat liquor; or take it with vermilion-grass wine; or refine it with dragon fat. Yet each of the three doses must be as big as a pellet. Even that is beyond the means of a poor Daoist.

12 Pearls at least one cun across can be taken to extend life. Soak them in fermented milk or rice liquor and they turn into liquid like mercury. They can also be dissolved with pumice water and a beehive, combined with bao-tong snake yellow, and drawn out three or four chi long. Make them into pills and take them while abstaining from grain, and you will not die but live long. Pure lacquer that does not stick to things lets a person communicate with spirits and live long. To take it, either put ten large “gutless gentlemen,” also called large crabs, into it, or combine it with mica liquid or jade liquid. All nine worms will leave the body, bad blood will come out through the nose, and within a year the traveling kitchen of the six jia will arrive.

13 Cinnamon can be steamed with scallion juice into liquid, combined with bamboo sap and taken, or taken mixed with the brain of the “foreknowing gentleman,” also said to mean a tortoise. After seven years, one can walk on water and live forever.

14 Sesame is also called foreign hemp. Taking it as food prevents aging, gives resistance to wind and dampness, and restores the strength lost with age. Soak peach-tree resin in lye made from mulberry ash and take it: all illnesses heal. Taken over a long time, it makes the body light and luminous, like the moon rising in a dark place. Taking a great deal makes it possible to give up grain.

15 Eat the red fruit of the ning tree for a year and an old person becomes young again, gains penetrating vision, and sees ghosts. Long ago, the Daoist Liang Xu began taking it at seventy and grew younger. At a hundred and forty, he could write at night and run alongside a galloping horse. He later entered Mount Qinglong and disappeared. Seal pagoda-tree seeds with mud in a new jar for more than twenty days. When their outer skins have rotted, wash them until they are like soybeans, then take them every day. This substance strengthens the brain. Taken long-term, it keeps hair from turning white and extends life. The formula for the dark-centered vine, Chu feilian, water plantain, rehmannia, goldthread, and more than three hundred other plants can all extend life, and each can be taken by itself. The Spirit-Flying Powder, Weijue Pills, Life-Control Pills, and Sheep's-Blood Pills all preserve youth and hold back aging.