Golden Liquor

Continuity with the later history of tvaidan is also shown by the use of gold for casting vessels. Both Taiqing and other tvaidan sources record this use of alchemical gold. The received version of the Scripture of the Golden Liquor says ... 

Scripture of the Divine Elixir of the Golden Liquor of Great Clarity Taiqing jinye shendan jing)... 

Ge Hong s summary of the Scripture of the Golden Liquor Jinye fing) omits important details of the method. Some scholars have examined its chemical features, but not enough attention has yet been paid to the Scripture of the Golden Liquid of the Divine Immortals, by the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature [Baopu zi shenxian jinzhuo jing), which describes the same procedure in full. ... 

To receive the methods of the Nine Elixirs, the disciple throws golden figurines of a man and a fish into an east-flowing stream as tokens of his oath (shi) The same rite is performed to receive the method of the Golden Liquor ... 

The Scripture of the Golden Liquor says Throw a golden figurine of a man weighing eight ounces into an east-flowing stream, and utter an oath after drinking some blood. Only then you may receive the oral instructions. Baopu zi, 4.83)... 

Transmutation into gold is also mentioned in the received text of the Scripture of the Golden Liquor, which states that if you add yellow clay to the Golden Water and the Mercury [Water], and calcine them (duan) over an intense fire for one day, they will entirely transmute themselves into gold. ... 

The final sentence of this passage alludes to the fact that making the Golden Liquor does not require any heating. 

Ge Hong describes the method of the Golden Liquor and the benefits of its ingestion as follows ... 

As given in the received text, the ingredients of the Golden Liquor would seem not to match those mentioned by Ge Hong, whose list, found in the... 

The method for compounding the Golden Liquor is not reported in the Inner Chapters, but Ge Hong says that there is no fire to tend the mixture is simply placed in a Flowery Pond for a number of days sufficient to prepare the elixir. " This matches the directions given in the received text. 

According to the method for making Amber Pills from the Golden Liquor, boil the Golden Liquor with quicksilver for thirty days. Fill an earthenware bowl [with the quicksilver] and lute it with the Mud of the Six-and-One. Place it over a raging fire and heat it. In sixty double hours its whole content will transmute itself into an elixir. Ingest this elixir in pills the size of small beans, and you will become an immortal. Take a speck of it with a spatula, add one pound of quicksilver, and it will form silver. Baopu zi, 4-83)... 

Uses of the Reverted Elixir. The third part of the Scripture of the Golden Liquor concerns the uses of the Reverted Elixir. Placed on fire, it will form the Elixir-Gold (or Cinnabar Gold, danjin). This can be used for smearing the blades of swords that keep the other weapons ten thousand miles away (a phrase that also appears in the Nine Elixirs) or for casting dishes and cups. Those who eat and drink from these vessels can live as long as Heaven and Earth, for these vessels, like the fangzhu mirrors, absorb the essences of the sun and the moon. ... 

Elixir for the Nomination to Immortal. The fifth and final part of the received Scripture of the Golden Liquor concerns another elixir. By adding yellow clay to the Gold and Mercury Waters one obtains gold after one day of heating, and the Elixir for the Nomination to Immortal after two days. When one ingests this elixir, one will be able to retire to a mountain or a river and become an immortal. This is referred to in identical terms by Ge Hong ... 

If you add yellow clay to the Golden Liquor, place them in a bowl luted with the Mud of the Six-and-One, and heat the bowl over an intense fire, its whole contents will form gold. This is the first half of the procedure. If you heat this gold longer, it will transmute itself into an elixir. By ingesting this elixir in pills of the size of small beans, you will be able to enter a famous mountain or a great river and become an Immortal of Earth (dixian). If you powder a speck of this elixir into quicksilver, it will immediately become silver if you add one ounce of this silver to one pound of lead, it will all become silver. (Baopu zi, 4.83)... 

Comparison of the Scripture of the Golden Liquid of the Divine Immortals with Ge Hong s summary shows beyond doubt that this text contains the original Taiqing method for making the Golden Liquor. 

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)... 

The other man who comes from the east is Zhao Sheng, one of Zhang Daoling s two main disciples with Wang Chang. We have already met both disciples in Chapter 3 of this book as the putative authors, with their master, of the preface to the variant version of the Scripture of the Golden Liquor. 

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