The Three Treasures or Three Jewels are theoretical cornerstones in traditional Chinese medicine and practices such as neidan,qigong,and tai chi. They are also known as jing,qi, and shen.
Chinese alchemy is an ancient Chinese scientific and technological approach to alchemy,a part of the larger tradition of Taoist body-spirit cultivation developed from the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine and the body. According to original texts such as the Cantong qi,the body is understood as the focus of cosmological processes summarized in the five agents of change,or Wuxing,the observation and cultivation of which leads the practitioner into alignment and harmony with the Tao. Therefore,the traditional view in China is that alchemy focuses mainly on longevity and the purification of one's spirit,mind and body,providing,health,longevity and wisdom,through the practice of Qigong and wuxingheqidao. The consumption and use of various concoctions known as alchemical medicines or elixirs,each of which having different purposes but largely were concerned with immortality.
Neidan,or internal alchemy,is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical,mental,and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan,inner alchemy combines theories derived from external alchemy,correlative cosmology,the emblems of the Yijing,and medical theory,with techniques of Taoist meditation,daoyin gymnastics,and sexual hygiene.
The Cantong qi is deemed to be the earliest book on alchemy in China. The title has been variously translated as Kinship of the Three,Akinness of the Three,Triplex Unity,The Seal of the Unity of the Three,and in several other ways. The full title of the text is Zhouyi cantong qi,which can be translated as,for example,The Kinship of the Three,in Accordance with the Book of Changes.
The Wuzhen pian is a 1075 Taoist classic on Neidan-style internal alchemy. Its author Zhang Boduan was a Song dynasty scholar of the Three teachings.
Anqi Sheng was a Chinese immortal and wizard,said to be already over 1,000 years old at the time of Qin Shi Huang,the first emperor.
Fangshi were Chinese technical specialists who flourished from the third century BCE to the fifth century CE. English translations of fangshi include alchemist,astrologer,diviner,exorcist,geomancer,doctor,magician,monk,mystic,necromancer,occultist,omenologist,physician,physiognomist,technician,technologist,thaumaturge,and wizard.
The Baopuzi is a literary work written by Ge Hong (葛洪),283–343,a scholar during the turbulent Jin dynasty. Baopuzi is divided into two main sections,the esoteric Neipian (內篇) "Inner Chapters" and the section intended for the public to understand,Waipian (外篇) "Outer Chapters". The Taoist Inner Chapters discuss topics such as techniques to achieve "hsien" (仙) "immortality;transcendence",Chinese alchemy,elixirs,and demonology. The Confucian Outer Chapters discuss Chinese literature,Legalism,politics,and society.
Fabrizio Pregadio is a Sinologist and a translator of Chinese language texts into English related to Taoism and Neidan. He is currently affiliated with the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities,and is working on a project on the Taoist Master Liu Yiming (1734-1821) with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Liu Haichan was a Daoist xian who was a patriarch of the Quanzhen School,and a master of neidan "internal alchemy" techniques. Liu Haichan is associated with other Daoist transcendents,especially Zhongli Quan and LüDongbin,two of the Eight Immortals. Traditional Chinese and Japanese art frequently represents Liu with a string of square-holed cash coins and a mythical three-legged chanchu. In the present day,it is called the Jin Chan (金蟾),literally meaning "Money Toad",and Liu Haichan is considered an embodiment of Caishen,the God of Wealth.
Tao Hongjing (456–536),courtesy name Tongming,was a Chinese alchemist,astronomer,calligrapher,military general,musician,physician,and pharmacologist during the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589). A polymathic individual of many talents,he was best known as a founder of the Shangqing "Highest Clarity" School of Taoism and the compiler-editor of the basic Shangqing scriptures.
In Chinese alchemy,elixir poisoning refers to the toxic effects from elixirs of immortality that contained metals and minerals such as mercury and arsenic. The official Twenty-Four Histories record numerous Chinese emperors,nobles,and officials who died from taking elixirs to prolong their lifespans. The first emperor to die from elixir poisoning was likely Qin Shi Huang and the last was the Yongzheng Emperor. Despite common knowledge that immortality potions could be deadly,fangshi and Daoist alchemists continued the elixir-making practice for two millennia.
Langgan is the ancient Chinese name of a gemstone which remains an enigma in the history of mineralogy;it has been identified,variously,as blue-green malachite,blue coral,white coral,whitish chalcedony,red spinel,and red jade. It is also the name of a mythological langgan tree of immortality found in the western paradise of Kunlun Mountain,and the name of the classic waidan alchemical elixir of immortality langgan huadan 琅玕華丹"Elixir Efflorescence of Langgan".
Li Shaojun was a fangshi,reputed xian,retainer of Emperor Wu of Han,and the earliest known Chinese alchemist. In the early history of Chinese waidan,Li is the only fangshi whose role is documented by both historical and alchemical (Baopuzi) sources.
Chu is a Daoist name used for various religious practices including communal chu (Kitchen) banquet rituals in Way of the Celestial Masters liturgy,the legendary xingchu associated with Daoist xian,and wuchu representing the wuzang in neidan meditation techniques.
The Chinese term zhī (芝) commonly means "fungi;mushroom",best exemplified by the medicinal Lingzhi mushroom,but in Daoism it referred to a class of supernatural plant,animal,and mineral substances that were said to confer instantaneous xian immortality when ingested. In the absence of a semantically better English word,scholars have translated the wide-ranging meaning of zhi as "excrescences","exudations",and "cryptogams".
Golden Elixir Press is an independent publisher of books and occasional papers on Taoism and Taoist Internal Alchemy (Neidan). The press was founded in 2009. As of March 2019,it had published about two dozen works,some of which are concerned with other traditions,such as Hinduism,Buddhism,and Sufism.
Maming Sheng was a legendary Han dynasty Daoist alchemist and xian. He was a disciple of the transcendent and fangshi Anqi Sheng,who transmitted a secret waidan external alchemical scripture to him. Maming refined this elixir of immortality,but rather than take a full dose and immediately ascend to heaven,he only took half and lived for over 500 years as a secret dìxiān. Master Horse-neigh was a key figure in the Daoist Taiqing alchemical tradition. Furthermore,in Chinese Buddhism,Maming translates the name of the 2nd-century CE Indian Buddhist monk and polymath Aśvaghoṣa,so-called because when teaching the Dharma his words were intelligible even to animals.
Yin Changsheng was a famous Daoist xian from Xinye who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty. After serving more than ten years as a disciple of the transcendent Maming Sheng he received the secret Taiqing scriptures on Waidan. Several extant texts are ascribed to Yin Changsheng,such as the Jinbi wu xianglei can tong qi.
Shengtai is a Chinese syncretic metaphor for achieving Buddhist liberation or Daoist transcendence. The circa fifth century CE Chinese Buddhist Humane King Sutra first recorded shengtai describing the bodhisattva path towards attaining Buddhahood;shengtai was related with the more familiar Indian Mahayana concept of tathāgatagarbha ("embryo/womb of the Buddha",Chinese rulaizang that all sentient beings are born with the Buddha-nature potential to become enlightened. The Chan Buddhist teaching master Mazu Daoyi first mentioned post-enlightenment zhangyang shengtai,and by the tenth century Chan monks were regularly described as recluses nurturing their sacred embryo in isolated locations. The renowned Daoist Zhang Boduan was first to use the expression shengtai in a context of physiological neidan Internal Alchemy,and neidan adepts developed prolonged meditation techniques through which one can supposedly become pregnant,gestate,and give birth to a spiritually perfected doppelganger.
