Resources on Waidan.

[Purple Clouds]

There seems to be a woefully small amount of available resources in comparison to Neidan. Feel free to share any books, articles, papers, etc. on the subject; whether that be herbal medicines, bodily exercises, or related rituals.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Purple Clouds

[thelerner]

I'd never heard the term before.  Seems a somewhat dangerous early form of Taoist Alchemy, very much of the physical side, ie mixing materials, heating them up.  I wonder if its the kind of stuff that got emperors killed, looking for immortality potions? Don't know.

 

Here's a thread about it, but it doesn't get too deep.

 

[Nintendao]

I remember seeing a recipe or two somewhere in Ge Hong's Baopuzi.

[Taoist Texts]

4 hours ago, Purple Clouds said:

bodily exercises

not waidan)

[MIchael80]

5 hours ago, Purple Clouds said:

There seems to be a woefully small amount of available resources in comparison to Neidan. Feel free to share any books, articles, papers, etc. on the subject; whether that be herbal medicines, bodily exercises, or related rituals.

Some simple waidan is in Jerry A. Johnsons neigong book.

there are not much authentic sources for waidan (which is just external alchemy) and those who have the kowledge keep it very secret...but that stuff is real even up to the philosophers stone (the external elixier)...there are some neidan schools that also do waidan but keep it very secret.

 

best

Edited February 21, 2019 by MIchael80

[beachbum78]

Talking about charged up specially made dan pills. 

 

You have to be from the same lineage as the recipe and in good standing. The ingredients must be properly prepared then ground down rolled up possible put into a cauldron. Then charged up by the master or the deity or a ancestor of the lineage to put years of cultivation into the dan pill. 

[wandelaar]

I know of some books and articles, but I would definitely advise against trying these things out as a form of medicine!  Waidan is only interesting today form a historical, philosophical and scientific viewpoint. References to the literature on Waidan can be found on Wikipedia. And indeed much less is written about Waidan than there is about Neidan.

[Purple Clouds]

12 hours ago, Taoist Texts said:

not waidan)

Dao Hongjing considered Waidan to be necessary if one is practicing Yang Sheng practices and aiming to attain immortality. Hence why I am okay with resources on that subject being included in the thread, as they often go hand in hand.

 

9 hours ago, wandelaar said:

I know of some books and articles, but I would definitely advise against trying these things out as a form of medicine!  Waidan is only interesting today form a historical, philosophical and scientific viewpoint. References to the literature on Waidan can be found on Wikipedia. And indeed much less is written about Waidan than there is about Neidan.

It should go without saying that I am not recommending or telling anyone to engage in the practice of Waidan. Please do not do this, it is dangerous, even more so without the guidance of a teacher. The same goes for Neidan in my opinion.

I started this thread for the purpose of discussing resources on the subject.

[Purple Clouds]

12 hours ago, MIchael80 said:

there are not much authentic sources for waidan (which is just external alchemy) and those who have the kowledge keep it very secret...but that stuff is real even up to the philosophers stone (the external elixier)...there are some neidan schools that also do waidan but keep it very secret.

Indeed. Chen Yingning supposedly practiced the art and he considered it superior to Neidan, a notable contrast to most Neidan masters historically. Though AFAIK he never wrote about the actual practices.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Purple Clouds

[mrpasserby]

The only slimier external alchemy practice that I know of is the use of white gold or *white gold powder, placed in a tea concoction.

*the ground up wrappings of Egyptian mummies are reported to contain white gold powder, that was suppose to be the in thing to drink in old English witch circles. 

 

[Taoist Texts]

9 hours ago, Purple Clouds said:

Dao Hongjing considered Waidan to be necessary if one is practicing Yang Sheng practices and aiming to attain immortality. Hence why I am okay with resources on that subject being included in the thread, as they often go hand in hand.

 

I see. Well here is his resource on Yang Sheng:

Extracts on Nourishing Spiritual Nature and Prolonging Bodily Life ( 養性延命錄 Yangxing Yanming Lu ),

https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=87845&remap=gb

IMHO yangsheng, similarly to TCM, is the opposite of waidan, and THJ only wrote on yangsheng for the benefit of the laymen.

[Nintendao]

On 2/21/2019 at 3:02 AM, Taoist Texts said:

On 2/20/2019 at 10:30 PM, Purple Clouds said:

bodily exercises

not waidan)

What about pee drinking?

[Nintendao]

Here is an excerpt from the book The Daoist Tradition: An Introduction by Louis Komjathy, 2013. it includes the Baopuzi recipe.

 

[Nintendao]

Science and Civilisation in China

by Joseph Needham
Volume 5 - Chemistry and Chemical Technology

 

Part III: Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: 

Historical Survey, From Cinnabar Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin (PDF, 53MB)

 

Part II: Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: 

Magisteries of Gold and Immortality (PDF, 57MB)

Edited March 8, 2019 by Nintendao

[freeform]

There’s a lot of ‘weidan’ still going on in Asia. Actually more often in the Buddhist traditions than the Daoist (in my experience). 

 

There are many herbal ‘pills’... herbal being a metaphor because they often contain minerals, precious metals and often powdered ‘relics’ - crystals recovered from the cremated remains of past masters.

 

There are various such preparations - they can open channels, completely replenish Jing and start quite profound internal processes. But they always go together with specific types of internal training.

[Fa Xin]

Please don’t eat lead

[freeform]

‘Elixir of Immortality’ Uncovered in 2,000-Year-Old Chinese Tomb

[Rocky Lionmouth]

On 2019-03-08 at 1:58 PM, Fa Xin said:

Please don’t eat lead

 

Good advice this.

Keep lead out of reach at all times.

 

Also don’t eat mercury or cinnabar.

Mercury is only useful to ingest if you have advanced syphilis and even then it’ll drive you just as mad as the syphilis would, but you’ll have less discomfort meanwhile. And then you die.

[Bindi]

The introduction from the book “Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early China” by Fabrizio Pregadio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 26 by Bindi