9 Taoist Books On The Elixir

Golden Elixir Occasional Papers
No. 1
9 Taoist Books
on the Elixir
A short bibliography compiled by
Fabrizio Pregadio
“There’s never been a Divine Immortal

who hasn’t read a book”
未有神仙不讀書
(Taoist saying)
Golden Elixir Press, Mountain View, CA

www.goldenelixir.com • [email protected]
This work may be freely distributed, provided that no charge is collected for the
distribution. Licensed under the
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9 Taoist Books on the Elixir
Introduction
This bibliography contains the main data on nine important original texts of
Taoist alchemy. I have included two texts on Waidan 外丹 (External Al-
chemy) and seven texts on Neidan 內丹 (Internal Alchemy). In addition to
their importance and renown, I have chosen texts for which at least one
translation in a Western language is available.
An appendix contains the titles of nine selected Western-language works on

Taoist alchemy, with short notes on their content.
Each entry contains:

•
Title in Chinese, and translation

•
Information on author and date

•
A synthetic description

•
References to print editions of the Chinese text

•
Links to online versions of the Chinese text

•
Translations into Western languages (with links to relevant Web
pages, if available)

•
Main reference materials, both in print and online
Please note the following details:
Taoist Canon. References to volumes of the Zhengtong Daozang (Taoist

Canon of the Zhengtong Reign-Period, 1445) are to the Xinwenfeng reprint
(Taipei, 1977). The corresponding PDF files derive from the Wenwu chuban-
she reprint (Beijing, 1987). The texts are the same, but the volumes are ar-
ranged in a different way.
Online Chinese texts. The texts available from the website of the Minglong
gong in Taipei (www.ctcwri.idv.tw) are said to be based on the Zhengtong
Daozang (1445), but in fact derive from scans of the Zhonghua Daozang
(Taoist Canon of China, 2003). They contain some errors.
Translations. These data are provided for information only. I do not particu-
larly endorse or recommend any of the translations listed here.
1
Google previews. Links to the Google previews of printed books are given for
reference only. I cannot guarantee that the specific pages referred to in the
bibliography will be available for viewing.
Reference works (in print). In addition to those mentioned here, the nine texts
are discussed in many other Western-language works. I have selected three
main reference works in print, and have given references (where available)
only to those three works.
Reference works (online). When available and known to me, I have added links
to online reference works. Not all of these online materials are entirely reli-
able. The English translations found in the Daoist Culture Centre Database
are often problematic.
All links to web pages provided in this bibliography were working in early
April 2011.
Finally, for larger bibliographies of works on Taoist alchemy in Western lan-

guages, please refer to:

•
Komjathy, Louis, “Daoist Texts in Translation.” [PDF]

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio, Chinese Alchemy: An Annotated Bibliography of Works in
Western Languages (Golden Elixir Press, 2009), available in print and
PDF. [Web page]
Fabrizio Pregadio
April 2011
2
1. Jiudan jing
Jiudan jing 九丹經 (Scripture of the Nine Elixirs).
Anonymous, originally 2nd century CE. Now found in the first chapter of
the Huangdi jiuding shendan jingjue 黃帝九鼎神丹經訣 (Instructions on the
Scripture of the Divine Elixirs of the Nine Tripods by the Yellow Emperor),
with a commentary dating from the 7th century.
The earliest Waidan (External Alchemy) text to be entirely extant. De-

scribes the methods for making nine elixirs, paying much attention to the
ritual background (purification rules, ceremonies, invocations to the deities,
etc.). Important to understand the context from which the later Waidan and
Neidan traditions evolved.
Chinese text

•
Zhengtong Daozang 正统道藏:Vol. 31 [PDF — HTML]

•
Zhonghua Daozang 中華道藏:Vol. 18 [DJVU — HTML]
Translation

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio, Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval
China, pp. 159-87 (Stanford University Press, 2006). [Web page (1) —
Web page (2) — Google Preview — Online selections: On rituals —
On methods — On the benefits of the elixirs]
Reference materials

•
Kohn, Livia, ed., Daoism Handbook, p. 173 (Brill, 2000). [Google Pre-
view]

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed., The Encyclopedia of Taoism, pp. 588-90 (Rout-
ledge, 2008). [Google Preview]

•
Schipper, Kristofer M., and Franciscus Verellen, eds., The Taoist Canon: A
Historical Companion to the Daozang, pp. 378-79 (Chicago University
Press, 2004).

•
Daoist Culture Centre Database: Chinese — English
3
When you want to compound the Divine Elixirs you should dwell in
the depths of a mountain, in a wide moorland, or in a place deserted
and uninhabited for endless miles. If you compound them among
other people you should stay behind thick, high walls, so that nothing
can be seen between the inside and the outside. Your companions
should not number more than two or three. First undertake the purifi-
cation practices for seven days, and increase your purity with ablu-
tions and the five fragrances. Do not pass by filth and dirt, or by
houses where mourning is being observed, or by houses inhabited by
women of the age of marriage. . . . When you compound the Divine
Medicines, beware of intercourse with common and dull people. Do
not let the envious, those who talk too much, and those who do not
have faith in this Way hear or know about it. If they do, the com-
pounding of the Divine Medicines would not be successful.
***
Place the crucible over a fire of horse manure or chaff for nine days
and nine nights. Extinguish the fire, and place the crucible over a fire
of charcoal for nine days and nine nights. Extinguish the fire, let the
crucible cool for one day, and open it. The Medicine will have entirely
sublimated, and will adhere to the upper part of the crucible. It will be
similar to frost and snow. Brushing with a feather, collect it, and add
to it equal quantities of Grease of Dragons, and of Celestial Male
(aconite) from Mount Shaoshi.
After ingesting a speck of this elixir for thirty days, a chick will grow
wings and become a flying immortal. The ten thousand gods will be-
come your attendants and offer protection, and the Jade Women will
be at your service. The divine immortals will welcome you, and you
will rise to Heaven.
Translations by F.P., quoted from Great Clarity:

Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China
4
2. Baopu zi
Baopu zi neipian 抱朴子內 (Inner Chapters of the Master Who Em-
braces Spontaneous Nature).
Ge Hong 洪 (283-343), ca. 320.
An overview of Taoist teachings, popular beliefs, and miscellaneous methods

and practices current in the 3rd-4th centuries. Written by a member of the
aristocracy who had been initiated into Waidan (External Alchemy) and was
sympathetic toward this and many of the subjects he discusses, but was not
a master of any of them. His descriptions include many quotations from
now-lost texts; they are unsystematic, but valuable. Chapters 4 and 16 are
especially concerned with Waidan. Note that Ge Hong is often called “the
greatest Chinese alchemist” both in China and elsewhere, but he states
twice in his work that he had never performed the methods he had re-
ceived.
Chinese text

• Zhengtong Daozang 正统道藏:Vol. 47 [PDF — HTML]

• Zhonghua Daozang 中華道藏:Vol. 25 [DJVU — HTML]
Translations

•
Che, Philippe, La voie des Divins Immortels: Les chapitres discoursifs du
Baopuzi neipian (Gallimard, 1999). Includes chapters 1-3, 5, 7-10, 12,
and 20.

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio, Ko Hung: Le Medicine della Grande Purezza. Dal “Pao-
p’u tzu nei-p’ien” (Edizioni Mediterranee, 1987). Includes chapters 1, 4,
11, and 16-19. [Google Preview]

•
Ware, James. 1966. Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D.
320: The Nei P’ien of Ko Hung (Pao-p’u tzu) (M.I.T. Press, 1966; repr. Do-
ver Publications, 1981). Complete translation, very useful but not al-
ways reliable.

•
Online selections translated by F.P.
5
Reference materials

•
Kohn, Livia, ed., Daoism Handbook, pp. 166-68 (Brill, 2000). [Google
Preview]

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed., The Encyclopedia of Taoism, pp. 215-17 and 442-
43 (Routledge, 2008). [Google Preview]

•
Press, 2004).

•
Daoist Culture Centre Database: Chinese

•
Wikipedia (Baopu zi): Chinese — English

•
Wikipedia (Ge Hong): Chinese — English — French
In everything pertaining to Nourishing Life, one should listen much

but incorporate the essential, look wide but choose the best. One
cannot rely on one's bias to a single practice. Moreover, the danger is
that those who devote themselves to one of these practices trust only
their discipline of choice. Those who know the arts of the Mysterious
Woman and the Pure Woman say that one can transcend the world
only through the arts of the bedchamber. Those who are expert in
breathing say that one can extend the number of years only through
circulation of breath. Those who know the methods for bending and
stretching [their body] say that one can avoid aging only through
daoyin. Those who know the methods based on herbs and plants say
that one can surpass any limit only through medicines and pills. When
the study of the Dao does not bear fruit, it is because of biases like
these.
***
It is clear that if the present-day coarse and rustic practitioners do not
obtain the great methods of the Golden Elixir, they will not obtain a
long life. They may be able to heal illnesses and bring a dead person
to life again, to abstain from cereals and be free from hunger for
many years, to summon gods and demons, to be sitting at one mo-
ment and then rise up and disappear, to see one thousand miles
away, to reveal the rise and fall of what is obscure and hidden, and to
know the fortunes and calamities awaiting what has not yet sprouted.
All this, however, will be of no advantage to increase the length of
their life.
Translations by F.P., quoted from Great Clarity:

Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China
6
3. Cantong qi
Zhouyi cantong qi 周易參同契 (Token for the Agreement of the Three
According to the Book of Changes), often abbreviated into Cantong qi 參同
契.
Traditionally attributed to Wei Boyang 魏伯陽 (2nd century CE); actually

written—or at least, completed in its present form—by anonymous authors
a few centuries later.
The most important source of Taoist alchemy, both Waidan (External) and
Neidan (Internal). A beautiful, fascinating, and difficult text, almost entirely
written in poetry. Its three main subjects are: (1) The relation of the cosmos
to the Dao; (2) The way of “non-doing” (wuwei); (3) The way of alchemy. The
whole text, however, lends itself to be read in the light of Neidan, and most
commentaries interpret it from this perspective, even though Neidan did
not yet exist at the time it was written.
Chinese text

•

•
Translations

•
Bertschinger, Richard, The Secret of Everlasting Life: The First Translation
of the Ancient Chinese Text of Immortality (Element, 1994). A translation
of the “Ancient Text” (guwen) version, with selections from several
commentaries. (The “Ancient Text” consists in a rearrangement of the
standard version, and—despite the name—dates from the 16th cen-
tury.)

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio. The Seal of the Unity of the Three: A Study and Transla-
tion of the Cantong qi, the Source of the Way of the Golden Elixir (Golden
Elixir Press, forthcoming). [Online samples]

•
Wu Lu-ch’iang and Tenney L. Davis, “An Ancient Chinese Treatise on
Alchemy Entitled Ts’an T’ung Ch’i.” Isis 18 (1932): 210-89. An early and
truly pioneering translation, followed by notes that quote comparable
passages from the literature of Western alchemy.

•
Zhou Shiyi, The Kinship of the Three (Hunan jiaoyu chubanshe, 1988).
Includes a glossary and an index.
7
Reference materials

•
Kohn, Livia, ed., Daoism Handbook, pp. 466-68 and passim (Brill, 2000).
[Google Preview]

•
ledge, 2008). [Google Preview — Online version]

•
Press, 2004).

•

•
Wikipedia: Chinese — English (entirely pointless) — French
“Qian ☰ and Kun ☷ are the door and the gate of change,”
the father and the mother of all hexagrams.
Kan ☵ and Li ☲ are the inner and the outer walls,
they spin the hub and align the axle.
Female and male, these four trigrams
function as a bellows and its nozzles.
***
Enfolding and encompassing the Way of Yin and Yang

is like being an artisan and a charioteer
who level the marking-cord and the plumb-line,
hold the bit and the bridle,
align the compass and the square,
and follow the tracks and the ruts.
***
Innerly nourish yourself,

serene and quiescent in Empty Non-Being.
Going back to the fundament conceal your light,
and innerly illuminate your body.
“Shut the openings”
and raise and strengthen the Numinous Trunk;
8
as the three luminaries sink into the ground,

warmly nourish the Pearl.
“Watching, you do not see it” —
it is nearby and easy to seek.
***
“Superior virtue has no doing”:

it does not use examining and seeking.
“Inferior virtue does”:
its operation does not rest.
***
This is not the method of passing through the viscera, of inner con-
templation and having a point of concentration;
of treading the Dipper and pacing the asterisms, using the six jia as
markers of time;
of sating yourself with the nine-and-one in the Way of Yin, meddling
and tampering with the original womb;
of ingesting breath till it chirps in your stomach, exhaling the pure
and inhaling the evil without.
***
Mysterious and obscure! Subtle and remote!

Separate are they, and yet they are bound.
In due measure they nurture the seed
that is the origin of Yin and Yang.
Vast and broad! Vague and indistinct!
No one knows its beginnings.
“Going ahead of it brings on delusion” and you lose your track,
“go behind it,” and you are a ruler and a lord.
Translations by F.P., quoted from a forthcoming

translation of the Cantong qi
9
4. Longhu jing
Longhu jing 龍虎經 (Scripture of the Dragon and Tiger).
Anonymous. Traditionally deemed to be the celestial scripture that inspired

the composition of the Cantong qi. The present text that bears this title
dates from the Tang period (7th/8th century). It consists of a paraphrase of
about one third of the Cantong qi, and rephrases its verses into alchemical
language.
Chinese text

•
Zhengtong Daozang 正统道藏:Vol. 34 [PDF]

•
Translation

•
Wong, Eva, Harmonizing Yin and Yang: The Dragon-Tiger Classic (Shamb-
hala, 1997). [Google Preview] Often inaccurate, to be used with much
caution.
Reference materials

•

•
Press, 2004).

•
10
5. Zhong-Lü chuandao ji
Zhong-Lü chuandao ji 鍾呂傳道集 (Anthology of Zhongli Quan’s
Transmission of the Dao to Lü Dongbin).
Traditionally attributed to Shi Jianwu 施肩吾 (fl. 820-35), probably written in

the tenth century. An exposition of the doctrines of the Zhong-Lü tradition
of Neidan, immediately prior to the Southern Lineage (Nanzong). Very influ-
ential, also due to the renown of the two immortals featured in this work,
who later were placed at the origins of both the Southern Lineage and
Quanzhen Taoism.
Chinese text

•
Zhengtong Daozang 正统道藏: In Xiuzhen shishu 修真十書 (Ten
Books on the Cultivation of the True, chapters 14-16), vol. 7 [PDF —
HTML]

•
Zhonghua Daozang 中華道藏: Id., vol. 19 [DJVU — HTML]
Translation

•
Wong, Eva, The Tao of Health, Longevity, and Immortality: The Teachings of
Immortals Chung and Lü (Shambhala, 2000).
Reference materials

•

•
Historical Companion to the Daozang, pp. 801 (Chicago University
Press, 2004).

•
Lü Dongbin said: Longevity depends on refining and achieving the

Golden Elixir. To refine the Golden Elixir, one should first collect the
Yellow Sprout; and to collect the Yellow Sprout, one should first ob-
tain the Dragon and the Tiger. It is said, "The True Dragon emerges
from the palace of Li ☲, and the True Tiger emerges from the position
11
Zhongli Quan (right) and Lü Dongbin (left).

Source: Wikipedia.
of Kan ☵; within Li and Kan there are Water and Fire." What are Water
and Fire?
Zhongli Quan said: The places within the human body that have
names based on water are so many that I cannot list all of them: Four
Seas, Five Lakes, Nine Rivers, Three Islands, Flowery Pond, Torquise
Pond, Windy Pond, Celestial Pond, Jade Pond, Inchoate Pond, Original
Pool, Lofty Garden, Divine Water, Golden Waves, Jasper Liquor, Jade
Source, Yang Milk, and White Snow. The places within the human
body that have names based on fire, instead, are only Sovereign Fire,
Minister Fire, and Subject Fire. These three fires have their foundation
in Original Yang, and generate the True Breath. When the True Breath
accumulates, one obtains tranquility. When the True Breath weakens,
one develops illnesses. If the True Breath disperses, the Original Yang
is lost; and when the Original Yang is exhausted, the True Yin is
formed and the Original Spirit leaves the body. This is called death.
Translation by F.P. (unpublished)
12
6. Wuzhen pian
Wuzhen pian 悟真 (Awakening to Reality).
Zhang Boduan 張伯端 (987?-1082).
The second most important source in Taoist alchemy after the Cantong qi,
and the most important text entirely composed from the perspective of
Neidan. Written in poetry, and containing several references and allusions to
the Cantong qi. Its author was placed at the origins of the Southern Lineage
(Nanzong) of Neidan more than one century after his death. Several Neidan
lineages in the Ming, Qing, and modern periods claim direct descent from
the teachings of this work.
Chinese text

•
Zhengtong Daozang 正统道藏:Vol. 4 [PDF 1 and PDF 2 — HTML]

•
Translations

•
Cleary, Thomas, Understanding Reality: A Taoist Alchemical Classic (Uni-
versity of Hawaii Press, 1987). Complete translation, with Liu Yiming’s
commentary.

•
Crowe, Paul, “Chapters on Awakening to the Real: A Song Dynasty Clas-
sic of Inner Alchemy Attributed to Zhang Boduan (ca. 983-1081).”
British Columbia Asian Review 12 (2000): 1-40. Translation of the “Regu-
lated Verses.” [Online version]

•
Davis, Tenney L., and Chao Yün-ts’ung, “Chang Po-tuan of T’ien-t’ai, his
Wu Chên P’ien, Essay on the Understanding of the Truth: A Contribu-
tion to the Study of Chinese Alchemy.” Proceedings of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences 73 (1939): 97-117. Complete translation.

•
Pregadio, Fabrizio, Awakening to Reality: The "Regulated Verses" of the
Wuzhen pian, a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy (Golden Elixir Press,
2009). Translation of the “Regulated Verses.” [Web page — Online
selections: Introduction — Poem 3 — Poem 7]
13

•
Robinet, Isabelle, Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste: De l’unité et
de la multiplicité. Avec une traduction commentée des Versets de l’éveil à la
Vérité, pp. 205-54 (Éditions du Cerf, 1995). Complete translation.
Reference materials

•
Kohn, Livia, ed., Daoism Handbook, pp. 476-77 and passim (Brill, 2000).
[Google Preview]

•

•
Press, 2004).

•
Wikipedia: Chinese — English — French (Zhang Boduan)
If you study immortality,

you should study celestial immortality:
only the Golden Elixir
is the highest principle.
When the two things meet,
emotions and nature join one another;
where the five agents are whole,
Dragon and Tiger coil.
Rely in the first place on wu and ji

that act as go-betweens,
then let husband and wife
join together and rejoice.
Just wait until your work is achieved
to have audience at the Northern Portal,
and in the radiance of a ninefold mist
you will ride a soaring phoenix.
***
14
You should know that the source of the stream,

the place where the Medicine is born,
is just at the southwest —
that is its native village.
When Lead meets the birth of gui,
quickly you should collect it:
if Metal goes past the full moon,
it is not fit to be savored.
Send it back to the earthenware crucible,

seal it tightly,
then add the Flowing Pearl,
so that they are match for one another.
For the Medicine to weigh one pound
the Two Eights are needed;
regulate the fire times
relying on Yin and Yang.
***
Three, Five, One —
all is in these three words;
but truly rare are those who understand them
in past and present times.
East is 3, South is 2,
together they make 5;
North is 1, West is 4,
they are the same.
Wu and ji dwell on their own,

their birth number is 5;
when the three families see one another,
the Infant coalesces.
The Infant is the One
holding True Breath;
in ten months the embryo is complete —
this is the foundation for entering sainthood.
Translations by F.P., quoted from Awakening to

Reality: The "Regulated Verses" of the Wuzhen
pian, a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy
15
7. Zhonghe ji
Zhonghe ji 中和集 (Anthology of Central Harmony).
Li Daochun (fl. ca. 1290).
A compendium of writings in prose and poetry, edited by Li Daochun’s dis-

ciples. One of the most important and most accessible overviews of Neidan
among those that consist of original teachings (as distinguished from an-
thologies of writings by different authors). Li Daochun is often deemed to
be one of the masters who grafted the teachings of the Nanzong (the
Southern Lineage of Neidan) into those of Quanzhen (the Northern Line-
age, or Beizong).
Chinese text

•

•
Translation

•
Cleary, Thomas, The Book of Balance and Harmony (North Point Press,
1989; repr. Shambhala, 2003). Partial translation. Skips Chinese sen-
tences found in the text, and adds English sentences not found in the
text.
Reference materials

•

•
Press, 2004).

•
Kohn, Livia, ed., Daoism Handbook, p. 480 (Brill, 2000). [Google Pre-
view]

•
16
Ding’an asked: When the Golden Elixir is achieved, can it be seen?

Li Daochun replied: Yes, it can be seen.
Ding’an asked: Does it have a form?
Li Daochun replied: No, it has no form.
Ding’an asked: If it has no form, how can it be seen?
Li Daochun replied: “Golden Elixir” is only a name used out of ne-
cessity: how can it have a form? When I say, “it can be seen,” it cannot
be seen with the eyes.
***
The Mysterious Barrier is the utterly mysterious and utterly essential

mechanism. Many present-day students get stuck to the physical
body. They say that it is between the eyebrows, or in the wheel of the
navel, or in the space between the kidneys, or “before the kidneys and
behind the navel,” or in the gallbladder, or in the Cinnabar Field.
Sometimes they point to the Gate of Birth (the vagina) as “the place
where one is generated,” or to the mouth and the nose as the
Mysterious-Female. This is all wrong.
If it is only located in the physical body, it is entirely incorrect. How-

ever, it cannot be separate from one’s own person and searched out-
side it. Why does no scripture on the Elixir say where it is found? [Be-
cause] it is difficult to be expressed by writing or speaking; this is
why it is called Mysterious Barrier. Therefore the sages showed it only
by the single character zhong 中 (“center”), since only this character
elucidates the Mysterious Barrier. This Center it is not the center of
“internal and external”; it is not the center of “the four directions and
above and below”; and it is not the center that is within.
***
Refining Essence lies in knowing the time. “Time” does not mean the
time of the hours; if you are attached to that time, it is wrong. But if
I said, “There is no time”, how could you set to practice? At the end,
what would you do? The ancients said: “When the time comes, Spirit
knows”. And our Patriarch said: “When Lead meets the birth of gui,
quickly you should collect it”. These words say all that needs to be
said.
Translations by F.P. (unpublished)
17
8. Taiyi jinhua zongzhi

Taiyi jinhua zongzhi 太一金華宗旨 (The Ultimate Teachings on the
Golden Flower of the Great One; known in the West as The Secret of the
Golden Flower)
Anonymous (often attributed to Lü Dongbin). An important and influential

text, best known for its description of the practice of “circulating the light”
(huiguang 回光).
Chinese text

•
Zangwai Daoshu 藏外道書:Vol. 7 [PDF — HTML]
Translations

•
Cleary, Thomas, The Secret of the Golden Flower: The Classic Chinese
Book of Life (Harper, 1992).

•
Wilhelm, Richard, and Carl Gustav Jung, The Secret of the Golden
Flower: A Chinese Book of Life (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962; many
reprints).
Reference materials

•

•
Wikipedia: Chinese — English
The Circulation of Light is the coagulation of all the Breaths of Heaven

and Earth, of Yin and Yang. This is what we call "clear thought," "pure
breath," and "pure idea." When you begin to practice these instruc-
tions, it will seem as if Non-Being is within Being. When in due time
your work comes to achievement, you will have a body outside your
body, and it will seem as if Being is within Non-Being. Through one
hundred days of concentrated work, the Light will finally become true,
and will become the Fire of Spirit. After one hundred days, within the
Light there will be, of its own, a particle of True Yang, and this will
suddenly generate a pearl sized as a grain of millet. It will be like
when a man and woman have intercourse and generate an embryo.
Then you must attend to it in quiescence. The Circulation of Light is
the same as the Fire Times.
18
9. Writings by Liu Yiming

Daoshu shi’er zhong 道書十二種 (Twelve Books on the Dao)
A collection of works by Liu Yiming 劉一明 (1734-1821), containing original
works and commentaries to earlier texts. Liu Yiming’s writings are charac-
terized by a focus on the spiritual dimension of Neidan and a clear language.
His works can be one of the best starting points for the study of Neidan.
Chinese text

•
Daoshu shi’er zhong (Huguo an 護國庵, Changde 常德, 1819). Several
later editions.

•
Online texts
Translations
Several works by Liu Yiming have been translated by Thomas Cleary, who
deserves credit for bringing this master to the attention of Western read-
ers. The only safe way to read his translations, however, is by checking them
against the Chinese texts.

•
Awakening to the Tao (Shambhala, 1988). Translation of the Wudao lu 悟
道錄 (Records of the Awakening to the Dao), a collection of jottings
some of which directly concern neidan.

•
Energy, Vitality, Spirit: A Taoist Sourcebook (Shambhala, 1991). Includes Liu
Yiming’s commentary to the Yinfu jing 陰符經 (Scripture of the Hid-
den Accordance) and two other short works.

•
The Inner Teachings of Taoism (Shambhala, 1986). Translation of the Jin-
dan sibai zi 金丹四百字 (Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir,
attributed to Zhang Boduan) with Liu Yiming’s commentary, and an-
other work by Liu Yiming, the Xiangyan poyi 象言破疑 (Smashing
Doubts on Symbolic Language).

•
The Taoist I Ching (Shambhala, 1986). Translation of Liu Yiming’s com-
mentary to the Yijing 易經 (Book of Changes).

•
Understanding Reality. A Taoist Alchemical Classic (University of Hawaii
Press, 1987). Translation of the Wuzhen pian 悟真 (Awakening to
Reality), with Liu Yiming’s commentary.
Reference materials

• Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed., The Encyclopedia of Taoism, pp. 331-33 and 690-
91 (Routledge, 2008). [Google Preview]
19
He asked: What is the Dao?
I replied: The Dao is Ancestral Breath prior to Heaven that generates all
things. Look at it, and you do not see it; listen to it, and you do not
hear it; grasp it, and you do not get it. It envelops and enwraps Heaven
and Earth and gives life and nourishment to the ten thousand things. It
is so great that there is nothing outside it, so small that there is noth-
ing inside it. Confucians call it Great Ultimate; Taoists call it Golden
Elixir; Buddhists call it Complete Awareness. Fundamentally it has no
name, but if we are forced to call, it we say Dao. If it is determined,
one is in error; if it is discussed, one loses it. It has no shape and no
image; it is not form and not emptiness; it is not Being and not Non-
being. If it is attributed the images of form and emptiness, of Being
and Non-being, it is not the Dao.
He asked: If the Dao has no shape and no image and if it is the One
inchoate Breath, why does the Book of Changes say: “One Yin, one
Yang, this is the Dao”?
I replied: The words “one Yin, one Yang, this is the Dao” express the
operation of the Dao. The words “it has no shape and no image” ex-
press the substance of the Dao. Before the Great Ultimate divides itself
[into Yin and Yang], the Dao envelops Yin and Yang. After the Great
Ultimate divides itself, it is Yin and Yang that give life to the Dao.
Without Yin and Yang, the Breath of the Dao would not be visible. It is
only in the alternation of Yin and Yang that the Breath of the Dao can
grow and maintain itself for innumerable eons without being dam-
aged. In the state prior to Heaven, [this Breath] is the Dao; in the state
posterior to Heaven, it is Yin and Yang.
The Dao is the root of Yin and Yang; Yin and Yang are what is born of
the Dao. When we say that the Great Ultimate divides itself and be-
comes Yin and Yang, and that Yin and Yang join to each other and
form the Great Ultimate, we mean that it is One, but they are Two; and
they are Two, but it is One.
20
Appendix
9 Western-Language Works on Taoist Alchemy
BALDRIAN-HUSSEIN, Farzeen. 1984. Procédés Secrets du Joyau Magique:

Traité d’Alchimie Taoïste du XIe siècle. Paris: Les Deux Océans.

Annotated translation of the Lingbao bifa 靈寶畢法 (Complete Meth-
ods of the Numinous Treasure), with an introduction on Neidan, and
a detailed study of the system exposed in the text. This was the first
substantial work on a Neidan text written by a Western scholar.
DESPEUX, Catherine. 1994. Taoïsme et corps humain: Le Xiuzhentu. Paris: Guy

Trédaniel (Éditions de la Maisnie).

A detailed analysis of the Xiuzhen tu 修真圖 (Chart for the Cultiva-
tion of the Truth) engraved at the Baiyun Guan in Beijing, and other
similar representations of the inner body. Includes a chapter on the
relation between Neidan and the Thunder Rituals (leifa 雷法), prac-
ticed in some traditions of Song-dynasty Taoism.
KOHN, Livia, and Robin R. WANG, eds. 2009. Internal Alchemy: Self, Society,
and the Quest for Immortality. Magdalena (New Mexico): Three Pines Press.
[Web page]

A collection of studies by Chinese and Western authors, somewhat
unequal in quality and value.
KOMJATHY, Louis. 2007. Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-

Transformation in Quanzhen Daoism. Leiden: E. J. Brill. [Web page]

A translation of the Chongyang zhenren jinguan yusuo jue 重陽真人金
關玉鎖訣 (Instructions on the Gold Pass and Jade Lock by the True
Man Wang Chongyang), with a study of Neidan in the Quanzhen tra-
dition.
21
NEEDHAM, Joseph, and LU Gwei-Djen. 1983. Science and Civilisation in China,

vol. V: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 5: Spagyrical Discovery and Inven-
tion: Physiological Alchemy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Web
page]

Almost entirely concerned with Neidan, defined as “physiological al-
chemy.” This is the last of four volumes devoted to Chinese alchemy
in Needham’s series. Parts 2, 3, and 4 of volume 5 are devoted to
Waidan.
PREGADIO, Fabrizio. 2006. Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval
China. Stanford: Stanford University Press. [Web page]

A study of the earliest corpus of Waidan texts. The final chapter ex-
amines the transition from Waidan to Neidan.
ROBINET, Isabelle. 1995. Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste: De l’unité et

de la multiplicité. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf. [Web page]

The author was one of the most important scholars of Taoism in the
Western world. This book includes some of her earlier studies as well
as several new writings on Neidan. Contains an annotated translation
of the Wuzhen pian 悟真 (Awakening to Reality).
SIVIN, Nathan. 1980. “The Theoretical Background of Elixir Alchemy.” In Jo-

seph Needham, Ho Ping-Yü, Lu Gwei-Djen, and Nathan Sivin, Science and
Civilisation in China, vol. V: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 4: Apparatus,
Theories and Gifts, 210-305. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Online
version]

The main study of the cosmological tradition of Waidan, which shares
some of its foundations with Neidan. Especially concerned with the
role of time in the alchemical work, and with the cosmic correspon-
dences embodied in the alchemical apparatus.
WANG Mu. 2011. Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan.
Mountain View, CA: Golden Elixir Press. [Web page]

A clear description of the Taoist practice of Neidan. The author out-
lines the stages of the alchemical practice and clarifies several rele-
vant terms and notions.
22
GOLDEN ELIXIR PRESS
From the Catalogue

Wang Mu
Foundations of Internal Alchemy

The Taoist Practice of Neidan
viii + 144 pp.

Golden Elixir Press, 2011
ISBN 978-0984308255
Paperback, US$ 16.95 — PDF, US$ 9.95
Isabelle Robinet
The World Upside Down

Essays on Taoist Internal Alchemy
viii + 129 pp.

ISBN 9780984308262
Fabrizio Pregadio
Awakening to Reality
The “Regulated Verses” of the Wuzhen pian,
a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy
viii + 102 pp.

ISBN 978-0984308217
23
GOLDEN ELIXIR PRESS
From the Catalogue

The Book of the Nine Elixirs

An Early Chinese Alchemical Text
Translated by Fabrizio Pregadio
36 pp.
PDF, US$ 4.95
Fabrizio Pregadio
Chinese Alchemy
An Annotated Bibliography of Works in
Western Languages
50 pp.
ISBN 978-0984308255
Paperback, US$ 8.50 — PDF, US$ 5.00 —
Kindle, USS 5.00
24

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Golden Elixir Occasional Papers

“There’s never been a Divine Immortal

Golden Elixir Press, Mountain View, CA

An appendix contains the titles of nine selected Western-language works on

Each entry contains:

Please note the following details:

Taoist Canon. References to volumes of the Zhengtong Daozang (Taoist

Finally, for larger bibliographies of works on Taoist alchemy in Western lan-

The earliest Waidan (External Alchemy) text to be entirely extant. De-

Translations by F.P., quoted from Great Clarity:

Ge Hong 洪 (283-343), ca. 320.

An overview of Taoist teachings, popular beliefs, and miscellaneous methods

In everything pertaining to Nourishing Life, one should listen much

Translations by F.P., quoted from Great Clarity:

Traditionally attributed to Wei Boyang 魏伯陽 (2nd century CE); actually

Enfolding and encompassing the Way of Yin and Yang

Innerly nourish yourself,

as the three luminaries sink into the ground,

“Superior virtue has no doing”:

Mysterious and obscure! Subtle and remote!

Translations by F.P., quoted from a forthcoming

Anonymous. Traditionally deemed to be the celestial scripture that inspired

Traditionally attributed to Shi Jianwu 施肩吾 (fl. 820-35), probably written in

Lü Dongbin said: Longevity depends on refining and achieving the

Zhongli Quan (right) and Lü Dongbin (left).

Translation by F.P. (unpublished)

Zhang Boduan 張伯端 (987?-1082).

If you study immortality,

Rely in the first place on wu and ji

You should know that the source of the stream,

Send it back to the earthenware crucible,

Wu and ji dwell on their own,

Translations by F.P., quoted from Awakening to

Li Daochun (fl. ca. 1290).

A compendium of writings in prose and poetry, edited by Li Daochun’s dis-

Ding’an asked: When the Golden Elixir is achieved, can it be seen?

The Mysterious Barrier is the utterly mysterious and utterly essential

If it is only located in the physical body, it is entirely incorrect. How-

Translations by F.P. (unpublished)

8. Taiyi jinhua zongzhi

Anonymous (often attributed to Lü Dongbin). An important and influential

The Circulation of Light is the coagulation of all the Breaths of Heaven

Translation by F.P. (unpublished)

9. Writings by Liu Yiming

He asked: What is the Dao?

Translation by F.P. (unpublished)

BALDRIAN-HUSSEIN, Farzeen. 1984. Procédés Secrets du Joyau Magique:

DESPEUX, Catherine. 1994. Taoïsme et corps humain: Le Xiuzhentu. Paris: Guy

KOMJATHY, Louis. 2007. Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-

NEEDHAM, Joseph, and LU Gwei-Djen. 1983. Science and Civilisation in China,

ROBINET, Isabelle. 1995. Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste: De l’unité et

SIVIN, Nathan. 1980. “The Theoretical Background of Elixir Alchemy.” In Jo-

From the Catalogue

Foundations of Internal Alchemy

viii + 144 pp.

The World Upside Down

viii + 129 pp.

viii + 102 pp.

From the Catalogue