Originally written for Chinese readers, this book provides a clear description of the Taoist practice of Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. The author outlines the four stages of the alchemical practice and clarifies several relevant terms and notions, including Essence, Breath, and Spirit; the Cinnabar Fields; the "Fire Times"; and the Embryo. The book is based on the system of the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality), one of the main sources of Internal Alchemy, and contains about two hundred quotations from original Taoist texts.

Table of Contents

Foreword, vii...

This book contains four essays on Internal Alchemy (Neidan) by Isabelle Robinet, originally published in French and translated here for the first time into English. The essays are concerned with the alchemical principle of "inversion"; the devices used by the alchemists to "give form to the Formless by the word, and thus manifest the authentic and absolute Dao"; the symbolic function of numbers in Taoism and in Internal Alchemy; and the original meanings of the terms "External Elixir" ("waidan") and "Internal Elixir" ("neidan").

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements, vii

1. The World...

Under an allusive poetical language and thick layers of images and symbols, "The Seal of the Unity of the Three" ("Cantong qi") hides the exposition of the teachings that gave birth to Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan.

Traditionally attributed to Wei Boyang and dated to about 150 CE, "The Seal of the Unity of the Three" is concerned with three major subjects - Taoism (the way of "non-doing"), Cosmology (the system of the "Book of Changes"), and Alchemy - and joins them to one another into a unique doctrine. The charm of its verses, the depth of its discourse, and its enigmatic...

The "Cantong qi" is the main text of Taoist Internal Alchemy (Neidan). In addition to Taoist masters and adepts, it has also attracted the attention of philosophers, cosmologists, poets, literati, calligraphers, philologists, and bibliophiles. No less than 38 commentaries written through the end of the 19th century are extant, and dozens of texts found in the Taoist Canon and elsewhere are related to it. The present book is the most complete guide available in any language to this vast literature.

The book is divided into two main parts. Part 1 contains a catalogue of extant and lost...

The "Ruyao jing" (Mirror for Compounding the Medicine) is one of the most famous texts of Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. Written in the 10th century and attributed to Cui Xifan, it describes the foundations of Internal Alchemy in 20 short poems of four verses. Because of its symbolic and cryptic language, it has been subjected to different and sometimes conflicting interpretations.

This book contains the first complete translation of the "Ruyao jing" and of the commentary by Wang Jie, who lived in the 14th century. Wang Jie - also known as Wang Daoyuan and as Hunran zi (Master of...