Page 630 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

chapter, while the second and third chapters reproduce the whole fourth
chapter of the Baopu zi. The recipe for the Golden Liquor is divided into
thirty short passages, each of which is followed by a commentary. Based on
the place names that it mentions, the commentary was written in the sixth
century, a dating confirmed by quotations of both text and commentary in
the *Xiaodao lun (trans. Kohn 1995a, 127-29).
According to the Baopu zi shenxian jinzhuo jing, the Golden Liquor is prepared
from powdered gold and mercury, which are placed in a bamboo cylinder
with saltpetre and realgar. The cylinder is sealed with silk and lacquer, and
soaked in vinegar. After one hundred days, gold and mercury dissolve and
form the Gold Water (jinshui 1Z:!j(, i.e., the Golden Liquor) and the Mercury
Water (hongshui ,K:;](), respectively. Both are ingested while facing the Sun;
one's body is said to take on a golden hue, and one is transformed into light
(guangming Jt flf] ) and ascends to Heaven, becoming an assistant to the Great
Man of Central Yellow (Zhonghuang zhangren r:p ti£ J: A) and the Great One
(*Taiyi).
In another stage of the process, a Reverted Elixir (*huandan) is obtained
by boiling more mercury in the Golden Liquor and pouring vinegar over it.
After thirty days of intense heating, the mercury takes on a purple color and
is then placed in an earthenware crucible. The Reverted Elixir is ready in half
a day. In the Baopu zi, the elixir obtained at this stage is called Amber Pill (wei.xi
junsheng ~~ §J~, or "black amber sesame" in James Ware's translation,
1966,90). One pound of Reverted Elixir placed on fire forms a Cinnabar Gold
(or Elixir-Gold, danjin j'j- if:), which can be used for smearing blades that will
"keep armies ten thousand miles away," or for casting dishes and cups. Those
who eat and drink from them will live as long as Heaven and Earth.
Fabrizio PREGADIO
m Meng Naichang 1993a, 67-69; Pregadio 1991, 574-78; Pregadio 2006b, 56-57,
1I4-18, 288-92 (trans.)

?:i jinye; waidan; Taiqing

jiudanjing

1L -JT #&

Scripture of the Nine Elixirs

The Jiudan ding is one of the few extant sources that describe a whole *waidan
practice, from the preliminary rituals to the ingestion of the elixir. Portions