Shendan Elixirs

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

Instructions on the Scripture of the Divine Elixirs of the Nine Tripods of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi jiuding shendan jingjue)... 

Third Elixir Divine Elixir (shendan). The ingredients of the Third Elixir are orpiment and realgar, two minerals respectively associated with Yin and Yang. They are first soaked in a Flowery Pond containing oyster shells, red clay, and magnetite, and then are placed in a crucible and covered with pow-... 

The text translated below is found in the first chapter of the Huangdi jiuding shendan jingjue (Instructions on the Scripture of the Divine Elixirs of the Nine Tripods of the Yellow Emperor). This and other works on the Nine Elixirs (see below, Appendix B) are referred to in my comments as follows ... 

The Taiqing jinye shendan jing, 1.15b adds Do not let there be scorches and cracks if there are any, tend them immediately with the Mud. The Flower of Cinnabar is the first of the Nine Elixirs. 

The name of this elixir can also be rendered as Cinnabar Flower, where flower denotes the sublimate and cinnabar is its color as said below, the elixir sometimes will be of a vivid scarlet color like cinnabar. The Taiqing jinye shendan jing, i.iyb-ihb, describes a similar method where cinnabar is refined with realgar and orpiment as the Mysterious and Yellow does in the methods of the Nine Elixirs, these two minerals incorporate Yin and Yang in the crucible. For another translation of this section of the Nine Elixirs see Ware, Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of a.d. 320, 78-79. 

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. 

The Third Divine Elixir is called Divine Elixir (shendan). First lute a double red earthenware crucible with the Mud of the Six-and-One, making it three-tenths of an inch thick both inside and outside. Then take oyster shells, red clay, and magnetite (cishi). 

As noted above in Chapter 3, there is no indication that the Taiqing jinye shendan jing—despite the Taiqing prefix in its title, which it shares with many other extant or lost texts—was originally part of the Taiqing corpus. The text, however, quotes passages of the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs con-... 

Moreover, one of the additional methods described in this wor is similar to the method for ma ing the first of the Nine Elixirs These similarities suggest that while the Taiqing jinye shendan jing is not an original Taiqing text, it is partially based on the Taiqing scriptures and particularly on the Nine Elixirs. 

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