Introduction to Taoist Alchemy

[Slim]

Fabrizio Pregadio has revised and expanded his article "The Way of the Golden Elixir: An Introduction to Taoist Alchemy."

 

It's a 72 page long historical overview of neidan. It's nicely formatted and pretty to look at and free.

 

Here's the link:

 

http://www.goldenelixir.com/files/The_Way_of_the_Golden_Elixir.pdf

 

Merry Christmas!

[soaring crane]

Woot!

[dawei]

This is in the Group Study sub-forum... but I'd rather see multiple posts instead of none !

 

http://thetaobums.com/topic/37116-the-way-of-the-golden-elixir-2nd-ed-free-d/

 

 

BTW: I spent the last few days moving such / similar posts to the Group Study... if you are aware of some older posts about printed material or discussions on them, pass the links along to me.

[ChiDragon]

In your own words, can anyone demystify with a short and simple summary, 500 words or less, in describing what internal alchemy was all about without citing someone else's saying....???

Edited December 24, 2014 by ChiDragon

[dawei]

In your own words, can anyone demystify with a short and simple summary, 500 words or less, in describing what internal alchemy was all about without citing someone else's saying....???

 

Inner alchemy is one of a few paths* to the re-discovery and re-establishment of the real self as a soul/spirit within the One.

 

The methods have varied over several thousands of years so the only way to talk about any particular one is to state which lineage/method/practice is of interest.

 

* Ergo, there are other paths and methods to achieve this but they simply do not fall under inner alchemy.

[Daeluin]

Not sure how many words, but this might do.

[nestentrie]

Narf.

[Andrei]

It's about changing and manipulating your own hormones. In 9 words.

Everything else is bullshit . 4 words.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Andrei

[TaoMaster]

Haha , thanks for the link......Slim hahahahahaha.

 

Have a nice day !!

 

TM

[opendao]

It's about changing and manipulating your own hormones. In 9 words.

Everything else is bullshit . 4 words.

 

funny. But doesn't work: spirit-shen has no hormones, and at least half of neidan works solely with yangshen... Hormones are really peripheral even at the beginning: there is a change, but it's like the reflection and there are many other, more important systems of the body, that are changing.

 

------------------------------------------

 

ChiDragon, why do you need such definitions? Just to prove for yourself that any qigong can lead to immortality? It's not serious... But ok, let's play such a nice (and really new, of course) game. My words:

 

Neidan is an ancient science about the life force - Qi, how it works inside the human body, outside in the world, and between them. This science is used to practically transform the human body of flesh into an immortal body of light, capable to ascend to the higher realms. It's done through exercises, and this is the only difference between waidan (external alchemy works with minerals) and pair cultivation (sexual intercourse is used instead of exercises). But the method is really just one. Same stages. Same results. Same theory.

 

Everything else is qigong (yangshengong, soft, hard, medical, modern, ancient - any) Did any qigong make anybody an immortal-xian? No, the history knows nothing about it.

[ChiDragon]

funny. But doesn't work: spirit-shen has no hormones, and at least half of neidan works solely with yangshen... Hormones are really peripheral even at the beginning: there is a change, but it's like the reflection and there are many other, more important systems of the body, that are changing.

I cannot speak for the traditional way is because it has no basis.

 

 

ChiDragon, why do you need such definitions? Just to prove for yourself that any qigong can lead to immortality? It's not serious... But ok, let's play such a nice (and really new, of course) game. My words:

 

Everything else is qigong (yangshengong, soft, hard, medical, modern, ancient - any) Did any qigong make anybody an immortal-xian? No, the history knows nothing about it.

When one performs Qigong, the body will produce its hormones as required for its normal function. I've said that Qiging can lead to longevity rather than to become an immortal.

 

I am saying that Qigong is the Ultimate Method of Breathing which is the basic requirement for all martial arts. Practicing Qigong alone will improve one's health. The ultimate goal for Qigong is to enable someone to perform abdominal breathing which was known as "sink chi to the dantian(氣沈丹田)". As soon one is able to perform this special breathing technique, then, one is ready to practice any method as one desires. Otherwise, don't even think about learning any form of Wu Gong(武功) at all. Perhaps, one may have to start with Qigong to begin with.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2014 by ChiDragon

[SpiralTrance]

It's done through exercises, and this is the only difference between waidan (external alchemy works with minerals) and pair cultivation (sexual intercourse is used instead of exercises). But the method is really just one. Same stages. Same results. Same theory.

Are you of the opinion that the immortal light body can only be achieved with external props, IE a sexual partner (tantra) or the mixing and ingestion of magical potions (waiden,)?

 

Or is waiden internal meditation?

[MooNiNite]

Everything else is qigong (yangshengong, soft, hard, medical, modern, ancient - any) Did any qigong make anybody an immortal-xian? No, the history knows nothing about it.

 

you can become enlightened doing qi gong. no doubt. heck, you can become enlightened on a jetski

[MooNiNite]

Just some training tips from Bodhidharma

 

"If someone is committed to seeking the Buddha's Way, what methods for training should he give heed to?"

Bodhidharma replied, "since meditation embraces all methods and practices, I call it the essential one."

Eka asked, "How can one single method Embrace all practices?"

Bodhidharma replied, "it is the root and source of all methods, all methods are simply products of the mind so, if you are able to thoroughly comprehend what 'real mind' is, then your myriad practices will be fully equipped."

Edited December 26, 2014 by MooNiNite

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

-----

"It's about changing and manipulating your own hormones. In 9 words.
Everything else is bullshit . 4 words."

-----

and:
-----

"funny. But doesn't work: spirit-shen has no hormones, and at least half of neidan works solely with yangshen... Hormones are really peripheral even at the beginning: there is a change, but it's like the reflection and there are many other, more important systems of the body, that are changing."

-----

 

I try to write this in terms of modern ideas and not so much anything specific to any given practice or tradition, with the exception of using Taoist symbolism for illustration:

 

Hormones are primary to one's interaction with the overall environment (IE: Themselves). Environmental "stimuli" trigger hormonal responses that literally cause thinking (neurotransmitters, brain) movement (corisol, adrenal hormones) and so forth.

 

Without hormones - no response to the environment in the physicalized being (IE: where we are now). The very first response, a "yes" or "no" response, is a hormonal response.

 

The "overall environment" we are responding with is equal to what we are made of ("food"), which equals a range from the iron/metal core of the planet, and goes through salts, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, water, oxygen and other gases, and all the way to vibration like heat, light, cosmic radiation, "spirit", and to the Infinite.

 

Essentially, this is what we are a condensation of, and Life is our un-condensing or "return".

 

To gain conscious control of hormonal functions is human function. Animals do not attain such control. Thus, the human being is the first species to have conscious control of evolution.

 

Cultivation involves gaining full, normal human control, consciously.

 

Our hormonal responses determine the scope of our responses in the environment.

 

If we do not have control over emotions, which is the function of the organs, then our response is abstract and complex, and reality is hidden. Our response is more horizontal - more about what's "next to" us.

 

If we gain control of this, the response simplifies. We are "letting go" when this happens, which changes our scope of consciousness within the range that is ultimately (by function and destiny) going from the core of the planet to "Infinite Space".

 

We can get to a points where all we see is change, transformation (IChing, 5 phases). This is part of a map of the coming and going of The Infinite (One, God, etc).

 

We can get to a point where all we see is the interplay of complimentary opposites (YinYang).

 

The TaiChi symbol is the map of this last "ultimate" stage of consciousness, where we reconcile all dualities and become like the hollow circle at the outer edge of the TaiChi symbol, or "One", or some say "God".

 

These symbols and understandings are a map of the "coming and going" of "God".

 

Cultivation is how we "travel" the territory shown by these maps. This includes qigong and various meditation practices which aim to correct hardnesses and imbalances ("gaps") of functioning that are impairments due to loss of good connection with/in the environment (our "larger self") due to a variety of factors.

 

One obstacle to the cultivation of "Immortality" (the full return to "God") in the old days (actually, fairly recent, by evolutionary standards) was the behavior of other humans who weren't making this travel smoothly - people who increasingly attacked and opposed and tried to control others. So becoming impervious to this, first by protecting, then by immunity, then by being something and somewhere else, has been part of various practices that have developed. This is "martial arts", etc.

 

The most effective parts of ancient cultivation are right now extremely obscure. What I see people discussing and practicing is just a very small part of total cultivation. The true and basic methods of cultivation follow the Way of all coming and going directly - our interaction, and thus consciousness, with the overall environment (the Universe), whereas specific cultivation like I see being discussed is to maintain our coming and going destiny with various obstacles and leading to the resolution of all antagonisms. This means "harmony" must be achieved, and this is the goal of the Manifested Universe. We play this out between Heaven and Earth as Mankind.

 

True cultivation is the living of normal human life.

 

When this cannot be done smoothly, when "normal" human life is not easy to attain at any given time due to environmental factors and extreme conditions, then deliberate practice technique emerges, guided by reality, to solve specific issues.

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[soaring crane]

you can become enlightened doing qi gong. no doubt. heck, you can become enlightened on a jetski

 

enlightened and immortal aren't the same thing. Neigong isn't zen. It isn't Buddhist, either, and it's not going to happen on a jetski.

[MooNiNite]

enlightened and immortal aren't the same thing. Neigong isn't zen. It isn't Buddhist, either, and it's not going to happen on a jetski.

 

it actually is the same thing, just depends on your perspective. when someone becomes immortal they are creating a light inside themselves. this is how they can stay warm

Edited December 27, 2014 by MooNiNite

[MooNiNite]

enlightened and immortal aren't the same thing. Neigong isn't zen. It isn't Buddhist, either, and it's not going to happen on a jetski.

 

the goal of buddhism and zen are both enlightenment. to be a buddha is to be an enlightened one which is an immortal.

neigong is nothing special, just a different path up the same mountain.

[allinone]

where is your body? here

[Wells]

.

Edited February 11, 2015 by ZOOM

[dawei]

 

 

"In superior virtue, there is no need to cultivate Ming and one just cultivates Xing:

when Xing is fulfilled, Ming is also fulfilled.

In inferior virtue, one must first cultivate Ming and then cultivate Xing:

after Ming is fulfilled, one must also fulfill Xing.

Fulfilling Ming is “doing,” fulfilling Xing is “non-doing.”

 

Liu Yiming,

Cultivating the Tao

 

DDJ38:

The man of superior virtue takes no action, but has no ulterior motive to do so. The man of inferior virtue takes action, and has an ulterior motive to do so. - Chan

 

DDJ11;

Thirty spokes are united around the hub to make a wheel, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the carriage depends. - Chan

[Rocky Lionmouth]

Nice reads, thanks Slim!

It's kind of weird to see an author refer to his own earlier work as reference woven in with other sources in this academic fashion, i haven't gotten to reading much more than the intro of his Great Clarity book, but this article is nice and easy to read. Usually litterature concerning taoist practices and source texts tend to make me a restless reader really rapidly.

[Ormus]

This is good work and it clearly give clues how Nei Dan evelved which negate some people here and belive it is older then DDJ and not vice versa.

 

We can see how diferent schools of Nei dan have diferent levels of transsmision.One like Liu I Ming see it as Higher Vechile and more spiritual and Zhao Bi Chen see it more on level of phisiology.Actualy Nei Dan like Wai Dan work on all levels and all bodys of man in the same time and here is perception and awarnes of Masters that make confusion that we are dealing with diferent methods.

 

Nanzong Pai is the oldest and most pure Nei Dan school,and Quanzhen didnt recive full transsmision much later and it is mixed with Buddhism concept which focused them to Emptiness and Void and false path of negation of physical body.

 

Ormus