An Overview of the Stages of Taoist Elixir Cultivation

Hu Fuchen

The steps of the alchemical method of the school of pure solitary cultivation are generally divided into four stages.

The first stage is the preliminary work of laying the foundation, called the stage of laying the foundation through Taoist arts. Its main purpose is to make good the depletion of the body's physiological functions while beginning to open the paths of the Conception and Governing Vessels and the Three Passes, until the qi flows and all the meridians of the body are clear, so that essence is full, qi sufficient, and spirit vigorous, in preparation for the immortal art of inner alchemy (neidan).

The second stage is refining essence into qi, called the immortal art of the first pass (the hundred-day pass). This method takes original essence as its medicine and includes the steps of regulating the medicine, gathering the medicine, sealing the furnace, refining the medicine, and stopping the fire; it belongs to the work of the Microcosmic Orbit.

The third stage is refining qi into spirit, called the immortal art of the middle pass (the ten-month pass). This method first passes through a transitional step of entering the enclosure (called sitting in retreat or closed retreat), the “great death of seven days,” followed by “gathering the great medicine” and “nourishing the embryo,” entering the practice of concentration in non-action (wuwei).

The fourth stage is refining spirit to return to emptiness, called the immortal art of the upper pass (the nine-year pass). Refining spirit to return to emptiness is pure cultivation of nature and takes about nine years: in the first three years the spirit transcends to the inner court and is nursed and warmly nourished; in the last six years the spirit is trained to leave the shell, until empty space is shattered and one merges with the Tao and becomes an immortal. The immortal arts of the lower, middle, and upper passes take about a hundred days, ten months, and nine years respectively, though this varies from person to person. Following the Stages of the Superior Alchemical Method (Shangpin Danfa Jieci), they are briefly described below:

1. The Basic Process of Elixir Cultivation

1. Refining the Self and Preserving Sincerity

Its essentials are to restrain anger and stifle desire, and to be empty, still, constant, and sincere; to sweep away the habits of later heaven so that the true substance of prior heaven alone is revealed; to make the conscious spirit step down so that the primordial spirit appears; to cut off worldly ties and withdraw into seclusion. The alchemist gathers body and mind, concentrates the spirit and settles thought, returns to the ancestral aperture of the central palace, and nourishes the single point of numinous light that is one's original self, ever responsive and ever still. After two or three years, growing better the longer it accumulates, this prompts the opening of “the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass.”

2. Laying the Foundation and Cultivating the Medicine

Its method is to choose a place and enter the enclosure, with body, mind, and intention unmoving, gathering the Three Treasures of essence, qi, and spirit back into the central palace, illuminating with awareness at every moment and keeping to the center at every instant, borrowing the false in cultivating perfection. Using the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass to establish the foundation and store the spirit and qi, one practices the formula of embracing the origin and guarding the One. When this method is thoroughly mastered, one goes on to sitting in forgetfulness and inner vision and to the work of concentrating the spirit into the qi cavity. When the living Zi hour arrives, original yang arises and the mechanism bursts forth; amid the hazy, dim, and obscure, the one qi of prior heaven comes out of emptiness and nothingness. The dragon is born from Li and the tiger from Kan. At the moment of utmost emptiness and profound stillness, sink the primordial spirit into the qi cavity and let it breathe in and out of itself; gather the Ren water that has qi but no substance (the true yang within Kan), draw it with true intention into the central palace, and unite it with the true yin within Li.

3. The Intercourse of Kan and Li

Its method requires mind and breath to rely on each other and body and mind to remain unmoving, so that spirit and qi congeal. In utmost emptiness and profound stillness, one suddenly senses a wriggling at the bottom of the sea from which light shines through, like the new moon on the third day of the month, or like a grain of millet or a pearl, shining on the abdomen; this is the sign of metal qi first appearing. Then with true intention lead the medicine through Weilü (the Tailbone Pass), past Jiaji (the Spine Pass), through Yuzhen (the Jade Pillow Pass), into Niwan (the Muddy Pellet, crown center), traveling through the Nine Palaces; from the upper jaw it drips down the Magpie Bridge like ghee and sweet dew and returns along the red path to the qi cavity. Practicing the method of return is the entry work of embryonic breathing.

4. Gathering the Medicine and Returning It to the Cauldron

At the moment of empty stillness and dim obscurity, of abysmal silence and primal chaos, the alchemist suddenly hears a thunderclap like tearing silk; the dantian (elixir field) is fiery hot and the two kidneys feel as if simmering in broth. Then gather the medicine at the bottom of the sea and with true intention lead it around through Weilü; with a rumble of thunder it passes through the Three Passes and gathers in the Niwan Palace. At this moment wind arises in the Moon Cave, the moon is bright in the Crimson Palace, and a round light wells up between the eyebrows; without one's knowing it, the medicine descends from the Magpie Bridge down the Twelve-Storied Tower, cool as borneol and mint, refreshing heart and spleen, and is sent back to the Earthen Cauldron. This is the method of refining and taking the valley spirit, the work of taking from Kan to fill Li.

5. The Fire Timing of the Circulation

The alchemist refines the medicine by running the Microcosmic Orbit along the Conception and Governing Vessels. From the Zi hour to the Si hour one advances the yang fire, corresponding to the 216 stalks of Qian; excluding the 36 stalks of the bathing at the Mao hour, 180 breaths are actually performed. From the Wu hour to the Hai hour one withdraws the yin tally, corresponding to the 144 stalks of Kun; excluding the 24 stalks of the bathing at the You hour, 120 breaths are actually performed. Together with the 60 breaths of bathing and the 24 intercalary breaths, there are 384 breaths in all; hence the saying, “the number of breaths in the circulation (zhoutian) is subtly counted.” The alchemist must adjust this accurately in ordinary times; when facing the furnace and refining the medicine, one need only let mind and breath rely on each other and apply it naturally, never counting tallies and measuring sand or straining after it deliberately. When the work of the Microcosmic Orbit is complete, one obtains the jade-liquid returned elixir, makes good the losses and leakages of later heaven, and returns to a body of childlike purity.

6. The Intercourse of Qian and Kun

Having completed the fire timing of the circulation and restored the positions of prior-heaven Qian and Kun, the adept, in the great stillness of concentrated spirit, feels the mechanism burst forth: the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass opens wide, and suddenly all is empty, numinous, open, and bright, as one enters a state that makes heaven and earth one, dissolves self and other, and is dark and undifferentiated. At this moment prior-heaven qi returns and congeals into the great medicine; a single drop falls into the Yellow Court, and the whole body melts in ease and delight. One feels only something perfectly round and brilliantly shining, like a pearl on a jade plate—the golden-liquid returned elixir in which emptiness and numinosity alone are revealed.

7. Nourishing the Embryo for Ten Months

Spirit and qi congeal into the sacred embryo, also called the infant. One must cleanse the heart and wash away cares, illuminate silently and without gap, remain ever still and ever aware, like a dragon nurturing its pearl or a hen sitting on her egg, never letting the warmth cease; only then does the numinous embryo grow firmer day by day. Nourishing the embryo for ten months is the work of refining qi into spirit in the Macrocosmic Orbit. Its fire timing requires that the furnace stay warm of itself, dwelling all day in true emptiness; thoughts must not arise and intention must not scatter. Only when ten months are as a single day can the spirit be complete and the embryo transformed. Nourishing the embryo for ten months is the work of entering concentration. If the dantian becomes fiery hot, one may use visualization: picture a black ball the size of a bowl between the eyebrows and draw it into the spirit chamber, and the heat will subside of itself.

8. Moving the Spirit and Changing the Cauldron

The Niwan Palace in the head, also called the Heavenly Valley, is the home palace of the yang spirit. The numinous embryo is the yang spirit purely congealed from prior heaven; it is a person's Dharma body, the appearance of the infant, and it must leave its womb, moving from the qi cavity of the lower field to the Niwan Palace, where one practices the work of refining nature. The yang spirit can transcend the barriers of time and space, pass through metal and pierce stone, and appear or vanish at will. After the spirit has moved to the Heavenly Valley, the adept should sit upright with hands folded in non-action, abide in the correct position, settle it in stillness and steady it with wisdom, and continue with the nature-cultivation work of entering concentration.

9. Nourishing Wisdom in Niwan

Niwan is the clearest and most numinous place in the whole body, corresponding above to the Stabilizing Star (Saturn) in the heavens. The alchemist models himself on heaven and earth, uniting the true mind with the mind of heaven. He must dwell in the dust yet transcend it, entering the dust to be tempered: nourishing wisdom in stillness and refining wisdom in movement. The method is simply to make the mind dark and still; the formula lies in the one word “sincerity.” For one sincere in stillness the spirit becomes bright of itself; for one sincere in movement nature becomes clear of itself. Then there is no worldly feeling under heaven that cannot be let go and no principle of things that cannot be seen through; this is the nature-cultivation of attaining brightness through sincerity. At this point, stillness at its extreme gives rise to movement and concentration at its extreme gives rise to wisdom; the alchemist develops the latent powers of the human body and gains great wisdom and great spiritual powers.

10. Returning to Emptiness and Merging with the Tao

Inner alchemy practiced until the yang spirit leaves the body is not yet final: the body remains, and one cannot in the end escape birth and death. Once the alchemist possesses spiritual powers, he must not keep moving without returning, or use wisdom until the spirit is weary; rather, amid all movement, he should alone embrace the joy of quiet contemplation and self-contentment, just as “when the fish is caught, the trap is forgotten,” and practice the work of returning to emptiness in which there is no gap between self and things. Going a step further, he shatters empty space, forgets both the true and the illusory, merges with the Tao in what is so of itself, and realizes the spirit in the Great Void, sharing in the opening, closing, and cycling of heaven and earth, blending into the boundless, moving together with heaven and roaming with heaven in stillness—then the work of the celestial immortal is complete.

The steps of the pure alchemical method are recorded in detail and with clarity in the Shortcut to Great Completion (Dacheng Jieyao) and the Immortal Traces of Wu and Liu (Wu-Liu Xianzong). The Stages of the Superior Alchemical Method described here may be regarded as the general outline of the alchemical methods of all schools, not merely of the pure-cultivation school.

2. The Male Elixir Method of Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation

Next, following Qiu Zhao'ao's Essentials of Awakening to Perfection (Wuzhen Pian Tiyao), the alchemical method of the yin-yang dual cultivation school is briefly described:

1. Concentrating the Spirit and Settling the Breath

In the dual cultivation of man and woman, the art of heel breathing—concentrating the spirit and settling the breath—must also be carried through from beginning to end. Its formula is to let go of all ties, let mind and breath rely on each other, reach utmost emptiness and profound stillness, keep a single thought on the center, and practice the work of refining the body with jade liquid.

2. Moving Qi to Open the Passes

Its method distinguishes between opening the passes by accumulating qi and opening them by gathering qi; the former is slow, the latter fast. Opening the passes prepares for obtaining the medicine: to gather the medicine and move it upward, the paths through the passes must be clear. Opening the passes by accumulating qi is the work of turning the River Chariot in reverse to join the Conception and Governing Vessels. Opening the passes by gathering qi then uses the female vessel for fumigation and steaming, drawing out the jade stalk from outside, with the snake-infant holding and releasing, so that the channel is opened and the passes pierced.

3. Preserving Essence and Refining the Sword

When the original essence is firm, the sword's edge is hard and strong; when it is tempered in the right way, the sword's qi becomes numinous. The sword must be hard, penetrating, and numinous; with metal and water aiding each other and hardness and softness used in turn, bending and extending at will and responding instantly when called, one can know strength and weakness in going in and out, use lifting and drawing in to return the yang, and either practice cultivating the Tao lying on one's side or practice in the inverted position—both the ordinary and the reversed direction can be used.

4. Gathering the Medicine and Laying the Foundation

With a fine vessel and a good sword, one must, at the moments when qi stirs at the Yin, Shen, Zi, and Wu hours, gather the medicine and lay the foundation according to the Tai (Peace) hexagram of earth above heaven, acting in the manner of short before and long after, so that the people are at peace and the state is rich, and the body is vigorous and strong. Laying the foundation uses the later-heaven vessel, twice a day, as work of nourishing and warmly cultivating.

5. Returning the Elixir and Forming the Embryo

The formula uses the prior-heaven golden vessel. Wait until heaven answers with its star and earth answers with its tide, the lips red as if slapped and the pupils black as lacquer: when the “five thousand and forty-eight scrolls,” the White Tiger's first menses, is about to be produced, set to work at once. Like a magnet drawing iron, it passes secretly across the barrier; gather this true, unified qi of prior-heaven emptiness and nothingness, send it back to the Earthen Cauldron, and pair it with the flowing pearl. It is sweet and fragrant in the mouth and the whole body is intoxicated—this is the great golden-liquid returned elixir, once obtained, obtained forever. This qi originates in primordial chaos and vastness, arrives suddenly in an instant, and only this once; the three families meet and form the infant, and the elixir is obtained in a moment.

6. Warm Nourishment with Fire and Tally

This is the yin-yang school's work of extracting lead to add mercury and taking from Kan to fill Li, belonging to the stage of refining qi into spirit. Its method is similar to laying the foundation: one must use the yang fire and yin tally, extract the other's lead, and add it to one's own mercury. The heavenly lord (the heart) must be at great peace, with no mind toward the object before it. In three hundred days, performing six hundred hexagrams morning and evening, the number of the circulation is complete; in ten months the embryo is perfected, and when the infant appears one penetrates the spirit and enters sagehood. In this stage one must keep what is full and hold what is brimming, guarding against flattering yin and arrogant yang and reckless action that lets the elixir escape. One must be still more careful with the fire timing, guarding against danger and considering risks; when the work is complete, the elixir-chamber vessel is to be sent away kindly.

7. Embracing the Origin and Guarding the One

When the ten months' work is finished, the yang spirit leaves the shell, and one must practice the work of nursing and warm nourishment and of entering concentration and silent illumination. This stage of returning to emptiness and merging with the Tao is nature-cultivation in non-action. Its formula lies in cutting off worry and forgetting scheming, contemplating quietly in free and easy wandering, and being empty, still, constant, and sincere; then one can reach the state of the celestial immortal.

In the course of the yin-yang alchemical method, opening the passes takes three times seven days, refining the sword a hundred days, laying the foundation a full year, returning the elixir only a moment, warm nourishment ten months, and embracing the origin nine years. Inner alchemy is by nature the immortals' great Way of emptiness and nothingness; the zither and sword, cauldron and furnace in between are expedient means for building a bridge and borrowing a path. This technique is the old yin-yang alchemical method of a feudal patriarchal society; it may be known but not practiced, and becomes useful only after research and reform have removed its absurdities. The above is the male elixir method.

3. The Female Elixir Method of Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation

Next we describe the female elixir method.

Inner alchemy recognizes that women differ from men psychologically and physiologically. A man, yang outside and yin within, is the Li trigram; a woman, yin outside and yang within, is the Kan trigram. Men take essence as their foundation, women take blood as their root. So in the preliminary work of laying the foundation and in the immortal art of the first pass, the inner-alchemy methods for men and women differ. A woman first refines her physical form and then her original source: using the numinous fat of the breasts to transform her qi and constitution, she beheads the red dragon (stops menstruation), so that the breasts shrink like a man's, and then cultivates in sequence according to the male method.

Alchemists hold that for women the Golden Elixir begins with gathering the mind and nourishing nature, keeping the mind on the Danzhong point between the breasts (also called the Milk Stream, the qi cavity of female alchemy), refining blood into qi by the method of “refining the form with Great Yin,” and gathering the true qi of the Sea of Blood (the uterine region, corresponding to the lower field in male alchemy) and sending it up to the qi cavity (Danzhong) to refine the medicine, thereby completing the immortal art of the first pass.

Through the immortal art of the first pass, a man achieves non-leakage of semen and a woman non-leakage of menses. The key to the male and female alchemical methods lies in the one word “center.” Alchemists seek the “center” in the life cultivation that transforms the male and female constitutions, and they also seek the “center” in the cultivation of nature. The “center” is the pivot of the creative transformations of yin and yang.

Cao Wenyi's Song of the Great Tao of the Numinous Source (Lingyuan Dadao Ge) transmits a superior alchemical method, the inner circulation of original harmony, which men and women can both practice. Because women's physical nature is yin and soft, they attain the Tao more easily than men. In female alchemy, once embryonic breathing is achieved and the single aperture of the Mysterious Pass opens, passing from later heaven to prior heaven, three to five years can equal ten years of a man's work. The steps of female alchemy are set out below according to the Scripture of the Primordial Kun (Kunyuan Jing):

1. Quiet Nourishment and Transformation into Qi

When a woman sits down to practice, she lets go of all ties, purifies her mind and lessens her desires, keeps her mind silently on the Sea of Blood, and turns both eyes inward to illuminate the qi cavity between the breasts. With hands crossed, she cups and massages the breasts 36 times and draws in breath gently 24 times from the Sea of Blood in the lower field (a virgin girl need not use the massaging and drawing method). Then, still cupping the breasts with both hands, she turns the light back to illuminate the qi cavity steadily. Remaining thus silent, still, and natural until she reaches utmost emptiness and profound stillness, without her knowing it the vital mechanism is touched, and a wisp of clear qi rises from the Sea of Blood in the dantian to the qi cavity. She again concentrates the spirit to illuminate the qi cavity steadily; the original harmony circulates within and spreads through the whole body in a state of complete roundness. Only then may she rise from her seat.

2. Knowing the Time and Refining the Form

A woman's menses come once a month and are divided into Ren water and Gui water. When Ren water arises, the signal comes first; when Gui water arises, the tide arrives at once. After thirty double hours, when the tide is about to stop but has not yet stopped, the Gui is clear and the Ren appears. The alchemist should practice the work of transforming qi and nourishing the form when the signal arrives, and the work of refining the form and harmonizing the qi when the menses stop. During the two and a half days of menstruation, when the red dragon is at its most vigorous, she must not recklessly gather and refine; it is best to rest quietly with a settled mind.

The method of transforming qi and nourishing the form: calculate in advance when the signal will come; burn incense and sit in seated meditation. Exhaling, raise the intention from the dantian to illuminate the spirit chamber above; inhaling, return from the qi cavity to envelop the Sea of Blood below. After a little while she feels a wisp of clear qi rise to the qi cavity; lead it back down to the Sea of Blood, and the dantian grows warm. The qi transformed from blood stirs the true unified qi; quickly turn the light back to gather the qi at the bottom of the sea, lead it with intention through Weilü, past Jiaji, into Niwan, then through the upper palate; the tongue draws forth saliva, which is swallowed down the Twelve-Storied Tower to the qi cavity between the breasts, where the fluid is circulated and transformed into qi, spreading through the two breasts to all the vessels of the body to nourish the physical form. When the menses are about to stop but have not yet stopped, true yin suddenly stirs again, like a fish drawing in water; quickly follow the preceding method to practice the work of refining the form and harmonizing the qi.

3. Beheading the Dragon and Establishing the Root

The work by which a woman beheads the dragon is as follows. First, inwardly refine the qi between the dantian and the qi cavity, connect it with the qi coming from outside, and fuse them into one; swallow the saliva produced in the mouth together with clear qi down to the dantian, and circulate the breath along the Belt Vessel to cook and transform it, abiding quietly in naturalness. This is called the work of refining the form with jade liquid. Second, illuminate the Sea of Blood with intention and refine the fluid into qi; lead it along the Governing Vessel through the Three Passes into Niwan, where it transforms again into saliva that drips down through the Twelve-Storied Tower into the qi cavity; there the fluid is cooked and transformed into qi, which flows through the two breasts to the whole body. This is called the work of refining the form with golden liquid. Third, after the signal arrives but before the tide comes, gather the qi of the Sea of Blood into the qi cavity to refine and transform it; this is called the work of seizing the dragon's head. Fourth, at the moment when Gui is exhausted and Ren arises, refine the qi of the Sea of Blood, send it past Weilü, turn it up the Governing Vessel, and bring it down to the qi cavity to spread through the whole body; this is called the work of catching the tiger's tail. Continuing thus for two years for the strong and three years for the weak, the menstrual blood turns from red to yellow to white to nothing; the red dragon is beheaded, the nipples shrink like a man's, and the foundation of the elixir is first established.

(Editor's note: The above is only an introduction to traditional cultivation literature and is not health advice.)

4. Gathering the Living Medicine

After beheading the dragon, the woman continues with the work of gathering. The method is to reach utmost emptiness and profound stillness and concentrate the spirit into the qi cavity. Rising in reverse to the crown of the head is advancing the fire, and advancing the fire is gathering; descending in the ordinary direction to the abdomen is withdrawing the tally, and withdrawing the tally is cooking and refining. First gather and refine the qi of the heart and kidneys to prompt the arising of the outer medicine; then gather and refine the outer medicine to bring forth the inner medicine; finally gather the inner medicine and refine it until it congeals and gives rise to the great medicine.

When the adept, sitting in meditation, feels warmth in the dantian and the qi of the heart and kidneys is sufficient, she gathers it and sends it through Weilü, along the Governing and Conception Vessels into the qi cavity, and back down to the dantian. Adding to the work day by day, within a year signs of the outer medicine arising will appear. As soon as the adept senses that the medicine has arisen and the qi has arrived, she seizes the moment of its arising, gathers it together, turns the River Chariot to refine it, and then stores it in the dantian; only after long warm nourishment does the inner medicine arise.

5. Refining, Congealing, and Returning the Elixir

When the woman senses the inner medicine arising, she gathers it quickly without losing it and at once practices the work of refining and congealing. Inhaling, she draws down the true fire in the heart to nourish it; exhaling, she raises the true water in the kidneys to warm it. Advancing the fire before Zi and withdrawing the tally after Wu, she practices the fire timing of the Microcosmic Orbit, so that it gradually gathers and congeals.

During the refining, she settles the breath and moves the qi to extract lead, and applies fire to refine the form to add mercury. With breathing turning in rotation and the River Chariot conveying, and the fire timing of the circulation without error, the great prior-heaven medicine forms the purple-gold elixir; only then may she move the furnace and change the cauldron. The great medicine passes through Weilü, along the Governing Vessel, through Niwan, and descends to the qi cavity between the breasts, returning to its original prior-heaven position; this is called returning the elixir.

6. Union and Embryonic Breathing

When the work of returning the elixir is complete and the great medicine has entered the qi cavity, she first practices the intercourse of Qian and Kun, the method of uniting spirit and qi, and then nourishes the immortal embryo with embryonic breathing; this is the work of ten months' warm nourishment. The method is to lead the primordial spirit down into the qi cavity with true intention, where it and the original qi envelop each other and return to one; the intention leads and the breath moves, and they unite, fuse, and form the pearl embryo. Then she practices the fire timing of the Macrocosmic Orbit, like a hen sitting on her egg or a dragon nurturing its pearl, quietly nourishing the breath arising within the embryo. After that, later-heaven breathing is transformed into prior-heaven breathing and true breath into embryonic breathing, and the embryonic breath nourishes the embryonic spirit; in the great concentration of prior heaven, the breath is gentle and continuous, felt yet ultimately absent.

7. Nurturing and Bringing Forth the Spirit

After a hundred days, spirit and qi are in great concentration; then the true qi of the five zang organs enters the embryo with the breath to be congealed and refined, and after a hundred days the power of the medicine gradually becomes complete—this is the work of the five qi paying court to the origin. After another hundred days, the breath within the embryo is transformed away, qi transforms into spirit, the spirit is settled and the yang pure, the embryonic spirit is firm, and the work of refining qi into spirit is complete. After three hundred days the embryonic spirit is in great concentration; this is called the embryo perfected and the spirit complete, also called the concentration of complete extinction. At this point the embryonic spirit, the true nature of supreme harmony and original numinosity, must be moved up from the qi cavity to the Niwan Palace. The yang spirit coils in the Niwan Palace for several weeks, then breaks through the Heavenly Gate: rosy light shines three times, lightning flashes and thunder roars, and the infant emerges from the womb.

8. Merging with the Tao and Becoming an Immortal

After the yang spirit leaves the shell and the infant appears, it must pass through three years of nursing and nine years of eliminating yin before it matures. The newly emerged infant is young and tender, and there is fear it will lose its way and not return, so it should be let out and taken back at once, going out gradually farther and farther, until, refined to the point where it goes out in concentration and comes back in concentration, the infant is mature, gains great spiritual powers, returns to emptiness and merges with the Tao, and gradually reaches the state of an immortal.

(Hu Fuchen, born in 1945, holds a doctorate in philosophy and is a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.)