Elixir in Nine Cycles

Another elaborate account is found in the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles. Here the accomplishment of the alchemical work is preliminary to the adept s attainment of transcendence. Having ingested the elixir that he has compounded, the adept rises to heaven, and only then is he presented with the authentic alchemical medicine, namely the Golden Elixir (jindan) ... 

Scripture of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles [Jiuzhuan huandan jing)... 

The first of the two early waidan works included in the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) corpus is the Essential Instructions on the Scripture of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles of the Perfected of the Great Ultimate [Taiji zhenren jiuzhuan huandan jing yaojue). As we know it today, this work consists of... 

The Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles enjoins the master who transmits the scriptures to donate part of the received tokens to his own master, give another part as alms, and use the rest as ritual objects, never taking advantage of them for personal benefit." ... 

At the beginning of the purification practices, as is said in a passage of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles also found in the Thirty-six Aqueous Solutions, the adept should purify the ritual area ... 

The ritual nature of the alchemical work is also emphasized by a large number of precepts and taboos. The Nine Elixirs states that before compounding the elixir one should not approach filth and dirt, and should not enter houses inhabited by young women or where mourning is being observed. Moreover, one should not disclose one s intentions to the envious, those who talk too much, and those who do not have faith in this Way. The Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles gives similar rules ... 

Directions for building the alchemical laboratory, which is typically called Chamber of the Elixirs (danshi or danwu), are found in both the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles and the Flower of Langgan. According to the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles an adept retires to a mountain after he has received the method and has performed the purification practices. He builds the laboratory (here called Chamber of the Divine Stove, shenzao wu) and places the furnace lu) inside it, with an iron stand to hold the crucible. The adept should make sure that the Chamber does not touch the ground and is not built over an old well or a tomb ... 

Similarly, according to the Scripture of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles, one can smear objects with the Divine Pills (shenwan) so that they would come back to you upon leaving your hands. Even one of the terms used by Ge Hong to refer to the methods of the coarse and rustic practitioners, ... 

Just as they incorporate the apotropaic properties of the talismans, the alchemical medicines also integrate the healing properties of the herbal drugs. Several elixirs are said to restore energy and cure diseases, including convulsions (dian) and leprosy (lai)d The Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles is said to have therapeutic virtues and, like the Script of the Three Sovereigns, even restores life after death ... 

The scriptures on the Elixir in Nine Cycles and on the Golden Liquor, and the instructions on guarding the One, are all in the Five Citadels (wucheng) of Mount Kunlun. They are stored in jade caskets, inscribed on golden tablets, sealed with purple mud, and impressed with the badge of the Center (zhongzhang). (Baopu zi, 18.324)... 

If you want to compound the [Reverted Elixir in] Nine Cycles, first make a Divine Crucible (shenfu) holding three and a half pecks. Use earthenware crucibles from Xingyang, Changsha, or Yuzhang, four-tenths of an inch... 

Chenzhou and Jinzhou are in present-day Hunan. The mention of Jinzhou, a prefecture established in 686, shows that the present version of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles was re-edited after the late seventh century. 

This method of the Divine Elixir in Nine Cycles is the oral instructions (koujue) of Lord Wang. It is clear and easy to perform. If the ingredients are utterly pure (jinjing), and if you duly perform the purification practices, observe the precepts, and cultivate yourself dwelling in deep retirement and attaining to a state of clarity and tranquility (qingjing), this divine and wondrous method will never fail. 

Ho, and Needham, An Early Mediaeval Chinese Alchemical Text on Aqueous Solutions, except for the final section on ritual. Note that the characters gao qi yue ii] 0, found at the beginning of this section, do not introduce a quotation from an alchemist ( Gao Qi said. . . ), but are an error for zhaiqi ri 0 ( On the day in which you start the purification practices. . . ), as shown by quotations of the same passage in the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles and in the commentary to the Nine Elixirs ... 

Hong s Inner Chapters, where the accounts of the Triple zhi cancheng zhi and the Dragon-Immortality zhi longxian zhi f lll ) correspond to those found in the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles. Later, this section in turn was incorporated into the Shangqing daobao jing IS (Scrip-... 

---