Neidan Alchemy

The Taiqing scriptures are the first ones to be based on the view of the alchemical process described above in Chapter 4. This view is the main legacy that they left to the later traditions in the history of Chinese alchemy it survived beyond the decline of the Taiqing tradition, and even beyond the demise of tvaidan when neidan embraced it and renovated it. This chapter outlines the main changes in the history of Chinese alchemy that resulted in the eventual disappearance of the Taiqing tradition, and in the rise and growth of neidan. As we shall see, these two phenomena are closely related to each other, and actually occurred in parallel. 

Radical rejection occurs only when the reverse process happens, i.e., when some authors disapprove of different traditions that borrow features of the alchemical doctrines—for instance, their original technical terminology—and apply them to domains that are deemed to be incompatible with alchemy. An example is the strong criticism addressed by some neidan authors towards the sexual practices. 

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