Yellow Elixir

Langgan huadan shangjing, ia-2a (trans. Bo en amp, Early Daoist Scriptures, 332.-33). On the Yellow Elixir see below in the present chapter. By early Tang times, Chinese alchemists had an even wider variety of methods to choose from when they prepared the mud, a selection of which is given in j. 7 of the Jiudan jingjue. 

Each 15 mL (one tablespoonful) of elixir contains dyphylline 100 mg, guaifenesin 100 mg, alcohol (by volume) 17%, citric acid, FD C yellow no. 6, flavor (arti-... 

It seems that Chinese alchemy is the oldest of the Eastern branches, and may even predate Western alchemy. (The Chinese word for elixir, chin-je, may be the root of the Arabic imic i.)The Yellow Emperor EhiangTi (2704-2595 BCE) is the legendary first alchemist in China, who learnt the art from three immortal women, who also generously saw fit to instruct him in the arts of love. Chinese alchemy inherited a number of facets from folk belief, such as the idea of a plant that, when eaten, will grant immortality, together with the mystic quest for spiritual illumination. 

The transmission ceremony of the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs reproduces the rite celebrated at the beginning of human history by the Yellow Emperor, when he transmitted the text to the Mysterious Master (Xuanzi). After the disciple makes an oath, the master receives tokens from him, and asks the Mysterious Woman (Xuannii, the deity who gave the scripture to... 

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)... 

The transmission from the Mysterious Woman to the Yellow Emperor marks the moment when the Nine Elixirs leaves the heavens and enters the human world, while the transmission from the Yellow Emperor to the Mysterious Master is the first instance of its transmission on earth. The ceremony celebrated at that time, described in the Nine Elixirs, is the model of the rite of transmission performed between master and disciple after the text became accessible to human beings. 

The revelation of the Nine Elixirs is due therefore to two divine couples, each of which consists of a female and a male figure the Primordial Princess and Laozi on the one hand (transmission in heaven), and the Mysterious Woman and the Yellow Emperor on the other (transmission on earth). The relation between the components of the two couples is similar the Primordial Princess is the mother and teacher of Laozi, while the Mysterious Woman, as we shall presently see, is one of several deities who granted teachings to the Yellow Emperor. Also similar is the relation between the two male and the two female figures. Laozi—or his divine counterpart, Laojun... 

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

The Nine Elixirs, which is translated below in Chapter 9, is one of the few extant sources to give details on the entire ritual sequence of the alchemical practice, from the ceremony of transmission to the ingestion of the elixirs. It consists of three main parts, respectively concerned with (i) an introduction about the revelation of the scripture, the benefits of the alchemical medicines, and various ritual rules (2) the methods for making two preliminary compounds, called Mysterious and Yellow (xuanhuang) and Mud of the Six-and-One (liuyi ni) and (3) the methods and properties of the Nine Elixirs, which are nine separate preparations—an adept is not required to make and ingest all of them, but only one—related to each other by the main phases of their compounding and by the benefits that they grant. ... 

Several other rules, dictated by the Mysterious Master (Xuanzi) who first received the Nine Elixirs from the Yellow Emperor, are listed in the commentary to this text under four headings the Five Interdictions [wuji), the Three Taboos (sanhui), the Four Calamities (sibai), and the Six Adversities (liuwei). The Five Interdictions concern days on which the compounding of the elixir and related actions should not take place. These are... 

In the Mysterious and Yellow, the Yin and Yang principles in their pure state are represented by the essences of lead and mercury, which are liberated by the adept when he heats the native substances. Then lead and mercury are repeatedly steamed in a bamboo cylinder, and finally are sublimated with aqueous solutions of realgar and cinnabar. Details on the last stage of the process, called the hundred steamings (baizheng), are found in the Secret Instructions on the Nine Elixirs. The Mysterious and Yellow is first... 

Divine Mud (shenni). In the methods of the Nine Elixirs, this mud is made of alum (fanshi), Turkestan salt (rongyan), lake salt (luxian), arsenolite yu-shi), oyster shells (muli), red clay (chishi zhi), and talc (huashi). The seven ingredients are pounded, heated for nine days and nights in an iron vessel, pounded again, sieved, and then soaked in a Flowery Pond (huachi). The crucible is luted first with this mud, then with the mud of Mysterious and Yellow, and finally is left to dry in the sun for ten daysd ... 

According to the received text of the Nine Elixirs, the main steps of each method are the following. The ingredients (see Table 4) are placed in an earthenware crucible, which is closed with another overturned crucible." The vessel is luted with the Mud of the Six-and-One and a mud of Mysterious and Yellow after it has dried, it is placed on the fire. At the end of the required number of days it is left to cool and is then opened. The elixir is collected with a chicken feather and is added to other substances. In some instances, it is said to be ready in other instances, it must be placed in the crucible and heated again. If the essence of the ingredients does not coagulate under the upper part of the crucible, the entire process should be repeated. 

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). ... 

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