Page 647 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

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langgan

Langgan is the name of a gemstone, sometimes identified as blue or green coral
or as malachite, and also the name of a tree that grows on Mount *Kunlun,
the Chinese axis mundi. It is best known, however, as the name of an alchemi-
cal preparation, the Elixir Efflorescence of Langgan (langgan huadan £tHf*
ft). The method to compound it is found in the Taiwei lingshu ziwen langgan
huadan shenzhen shangjing A1~HlIiif~t5CfU!Jf~ftffjL~L*~ (Divine, Au-
thentic, and Superior Scripture of the Elixir Efflorescence of Langgan, from
the Numinous Writings in Purple Script of the Great Tenuity; CT 255; trailS.
Bokenkamp 1997, 331-39), a text that was originally part of the *Lingshu ziwen
(Numinous Writings in Purple Script), one of the main *Shangqing revealed
scriptures.
The method is divided into four stages. In the first stage, after performing
the purification practices (zhai !f), the adept places the elixir's fourteen in-
gredients in a crucible, adding mercury on top of them. He lutes the crucible
with several layers of mud (here called Divine Mud, shenni fffJrftD and heats
it for one hundred days. Ingesting the elixir makes one's complexion similar
to gold and jade and enables one to summon divine beings. The next three
stages of compounding take place in meditation: the Efflorescence of Lang-
gan undergoes further refinement and is finally buried under the earth. After
three years, it generates a tree whose fruits confer immortality, as do those
of the tree on Mount Kunlun.
Combining *waidan and meditation, this method provides an example of
how Shangqing incorporated and modified earlier alchemical practices. While
the first section of the text is comparable in content, language, and style to the
*Taiqing scriptures, the language of the three latter parts reflects Shangqing
imagery. This suggests that an earlier text was expanded upon assimilation
into the Shangqing corpus, with the addition of sections describing processes
that can only take place as part of inner practices, and not in a laboratory.
Fabrizio PREGADIO
rn Bokenkamp 1997, 289-95 and 331-39; Pregadio 2006b, 58-59, 119-20; Robinet
1984, 2: 101-10; Schafer 1978b; Strickmann 1979, 134-36
~ Lingshu ziwen; waidan

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