Daoist Internal Alchemy:
A Deep Language for Communicating
with Nature's Intelligence
By Michael Winn
Table of Contents
When qi returns, Elixir spontaneously crystallizes
in the cauldron pairing water and fire.
Ying and yang arise, alternating endlessly,
the sound of thunder everywhere.
White clouds gather on the summit,
Sweet dew bathes the polar mountain.
Having drunk the wine of long life,
You wander freely; who can know you?
You sit and listen to the stringless tune,
You clearly grasp the mechanism of creation.
-Hundred Character Tablet of Ancestor Lu Dongbin (1)
Daoist internal alchemy is one of the most difficult aspects of Daoism for westerners to penetrate. This is partly because few Chinese themselves can grasp its essence. The alchemical literature is fascinating but maddeningly obscure. It wears two masks simultaneously, one promising mystical illumination and immortality, the other promising a spiritual science, a systematic approach to bridge the dark gulf between a fragile human mind in a mortal body and the vast eternal life of the cosmos. My thesis will necessarily wear both of these masks, veering between intimate accounts of my experience with alchemy and my attempt to find an objective ground for understanding daoist alchemy as a deep language available to anyone willing to learn to speak its silent patterns.
May the Dao Immortals smile within the hearts of all who read this.
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