Purification practices

Among the hidden knowledge in the Golden Dawn s synthesis of symbolic systems, alchemy was crucial. It represented a link to the past, to a world in which the processes of nature bowed to the spiritual power of purification practiced both by and upon the alchemist. 

If the ingredients are utterly pure, 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, this divine and wondrous method will never fail. Jiuzhuan huandan jing yaojue, 5a)... 

The compounding can be performed by three persons who share the same heart and love the Way, are devout and trustworthy, are not vulgar or lewd, and are firm in their intentions. If it is difficult to find three such persons, two may be enough. They should all undertake the purification practices, observe the precepts, and perform the ablutions.(Jiuzhuan huandan jing yaojue, 4b)... 

As shown by the passage quoted above, all those involved in the compounding of the elixir should first perform the preliminary purification practices (zhai). The consecrated place is built on a mountain slope near an eastflowing stream, and is designated as a pure chamber jingshe), a term that also denotes the room where a Daoist adept performs meditation practices. When one compounds the Nine Elixirs, the purification practices are per-... 

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 Flower of Langgan describes a similar ceremony performed at the end of the purification practices. At that time, the alchemist utters an invocation ... 

No further details are available on the purification practices, except that they involve burning incense (the five fragrances, wuxiang) and making ablutions (niuyu)d ... 

From the day on which you undertake the purification practices, you should discontinue the common human activities, so that you may devote yourself entirely to making the elixir.. . . [You and your companions] should not approach sickness and filth or see corpses. Domestic animals also must be carefully avoided. (Jiuzhuan huandan jing yaojue, 4b)... 

This talisman, also called Great One s Credentials of the Count of the Immortals Xianbo Taiyijian) or Eight-Inch Talisman (bacun is drawn in green on the crucible on the day on which one starts the purification practices, or on a jiazi or a jiayin day, while standing toward the east. An iden-... 

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 ... 

The elixir will be ready in one hundred days. If you ingest one ounce of it, you will become an immortal. If you do not yet wish to leave the world, and want to become an Immortal of Earth [dixian) or an Immortal of Water (shuixian), merely perform the purification practices and observe the interdictions for one hundred days. If [instead] you intend to rise to heaven, ingest it after you abstain from cereals for one year. If you ingest half an ounce, you will live a long life free from death. The ten thousand injuries and the hundred poisons will not harm you. You will be able to support your family and hold an official position all your wishes will become true, and nothing will be interdicted. Later, if you wish to rise to heaven, you can accomplish the purification practices and observe the interdictions, ingest an ounce, and fly away as an immortal. (Baopu zi, 4.82-83)... 

The seat (zuo) is the place where the divinity comes to observe the ceremony. The Jiudan iingjue, 20.3a, gives directions for setting up a seat for the Great One (Taiyi) see above, p. 82. After Lay the Scripture of the Elixirs, the Liquid Pearl, 1.3b, adds and the tokens for the covenant (mengxin zhi wu). On the ceremony of transmission in other Taiqing texts and on the preliminary purification practices see above. Chapter 5. 

First undertake the purification practices for seven days, and increase your purity with ablutions and the five fragrances (wuxiang). Do not pass by filth and dirt, or by houses where mourning is being observed, or by houses inhabited by women of the age of marriage. 

When you want to purchase the Divine Medicines for the elixirs, first undertake the purification practices for seven days, and perform the ablutions on a day marked by the character zi or chou. You should buy the ingredients on an appointed day and in a place governed by the Virtue of the Month (yuede). Do not bargain over their price. 

When you want to ingest the Medicine, undertake the purification practices, observe the precepts (jie), and perform the ablutions for five times over seven days. At dawn, burning some incense, kneel down and pay obeisance facing east. Ingest the Medicine in pills the size of large grains of millet, or of small beans. 

Before [you compound the elixir], you should perform the purification practices (qingzhai) for one hundred days. After that, you may lute and prepare the Divine Crucible, and then pound the ingredients. You should time the whole process so that the fire can be started at the dawn of the ninth day of the ninth month. 

On the day on which you undertake the purification practices, first toss five bushels of pure liquor (qingjiu) into a stream that flows near your dwelling. If there is no stream, you can toss the liquor into a well. This is done to pacify the pneuma of the earth diqi). Regularly drink some of that water during the purification practices. 

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 ... 

Bioprocessing. A problem associated with chemicals-through-fermentation is feedback inhibition by the product, which, of course, leads to decreased yields. Unfortunately, the concentration at which the final product is inhibitory typically is extremely dilute relative to standard organic chemical synthesis techniques. If the chemical is an organic acid, the common purification practice has been to precipitate the acid with added salt, which leads to an enormous salt waste problem. Though not toxic per se, its sheer mass creates a solid waste problem that is unacceptable. 

Frequently, in the production of rare and valuable substances, the material flow is too small to make continuous distillation for the purpose of separation or purification practicable. The intermediate or raw product is then accumulated and held in storage before being fed to the fractionation column in intermittent batches. 

The synthesis catalysts are extremely sensitive to sulfur, and it is necessary to reduce the concentration of all sulfur compounds to very low levels prior to the synthesis step. The preferred purification practice with natural gas or light hydrocarbon feed is to remove the bulk of the sulfur from the hydrocarbon feedstock in an absorption or adsorption unit and the final traces of sulfur in a nonregenerative zinc oxide bed (see Chapter 16). 

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