Reverted Elixir

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) ... 

The Yellow Emperor received the Culminant Way of the Reverted Elixirs huandan zhidao) from the Mysterious Woman, who is a celestial woman. The Yellow Emperor compounded and ingested them, and thereby rose to heaven as an immortal.. . . The Yellow Emperor transmitted this Way to the Mysterious Master.. . . Jiudan jingjue, i.ia)... 

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 ... 

Second Elixir Divine Tally (shenfu). The section on the Second Elixir is divided into three parts that describe methods for making the Divine Tally and two other elixirs. All three methods are based on mercury, which according to the Secret Instructions initially should be refined nine times in order to expel its toxicity. In the first part of the method, the crucible is luted first with the Mud of the Six-and-One, then with a mud of oyster shells and red clay. Mercury is heated in nine cycles of one day each, and the crucible turned upside down at every cycle. The product of the sublimation is collected, added to carp s gall, and sublimated nine more times then it is added to Grease of Dragons to obtain the Divine Tally. This elixir can be heated in nine further cycles with the Mysterious and Yellow to obtain the Yellow of the Elixir Flower (danhua zhi huang), or can be added to mercury to obtain a Reverted Elixir huandan). ... 

The second part describes a method for making another lead-mercury compound, called Yellow Essence (huangjing), which can be added to an aqueous solution of magnetite and transmuted into gold. The third part describes a method based on mercury and the Mysterious and Yellow. After nine days of heating, the product of the sublimation is added to dog s or carp s gall, and then is kept on the fire for nine more days. With this method, one obtains the Reverted Elixir of the Divine Tally shenfu huandan). 

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. ... 

If you smear coins with the Reverted Elixir huandan) and use them to buy something, all those coins will return huan) to you on that very day. Jiu-... 

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, ... 

If you smear the eyes of a person or the walls of a city with the Reverted Elixir, the hundred demons will flee. Jiudan jingjue, i.iob)... 

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 common people are fond of wealth, and do not compound the alchemical Medicines. They believe in medicines obtained from herbs and plants, but these putrefy when buried, decompose when boiled, and burn when heated. If those medicines cannot keep themselves alive, how could they do so for humans They can heal illnesses and increase the pneuma (qi) but cannot make one escape death. Only a few can hear the essentials of the Culminant Way of the Reverted Elixirs. 

As is made clear in the Secret Instructions, 20.iia-i3b, the section on the Second Elixir consists of three parts that concern the Divine Tally, the Yellow Essence, and the Reverted Elixir of the Divine Tally, respectively. A fourth method, mentioned and very concisely described in the Secret Instructions, 20.i3b-i4a, does not correspond to any of those found in the texts on the Nine Elixirs. The current text of the Baopu zi, 4.75, states that this elixir is called Divine Elixir shendan) or Divine Tally. Three texts that quote Ge Hong s summary of the Nine Elixirs, however, have only Divine Tally see Jiudan jingjue, 2.2a, Shen-xian jinzhuo jing = Baopu zi shenxian jinzhuo jing CT 917), 3.1a, and Yunji qiqian (Seven Lots from the Bookcase of the Clouds CT 1032), 67.7b. 

Pounded, it transmutes mercury into an elixir called Reverted Elixir huan-dan). The sages keep this method secret, and the common practitioners (daoshi) cannot know or see it. Only those who are extremely penetrating can know it. 

The Perfected say that the Essence of Cinnabar (dansha jing) should be transmuted into the Liquid Pearl (liuzhu) and into Frost and Snow (shuang-xue), and that the Essence of Lead (qianjing) should be transmuted into a Reverted Elixir and into the Yellow and White (huangbai). 

Seal the crucible with the Mud of the Six-and-One, and, as in the initial method, leave it in the sun for ten days so that it becomes completely dry. Then place the crucible over the fire if it is humid this is not possible, as it would break when you heat it. Heat it again for nine days and nine nights. Then you can extinguish the fire, let the crucible cool for one day, and open it. Brushing with a feather, collect the sublimated essence (feijing) that adheres to the upper crucible. If it is of an intense purple color, it is the Reverted Elixir of the Divine Tally (shenfu huandan). 

The Fourth Divine Elixir is called Reverted Elixir (huandan). Take alum, ar-senolite, red hematite (daizhe), Turkestan salt, oyster shells, red clay, excreta of Dragons of Earth (tulong shi, worms), mica (yunmu), and talc. 

When a man ingests this elixir, he will never be hungry or thirsty. Even if he is one hundred years old, he will drink only water from a spring and will feed himself only on two dozen dates and chestnuts, or on a five-inch piece of dried meat of ox or mutton. Moreover, if you smear coins with the Reverted Elixir and use them to buy something, all those coins will return to you on that very day. 

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