The Seven Dao Alchemy Formulas
of the Immortal Self
By
Michael Winn
Note: This
essay is written in pinyin favored by modern Chinese (Dao = Tao, qi = chi, etc. The Seven Formulas are described in
detail at the end, followed by the Eight Branches of the Great Dao.
The seven stages of Daoist
internal spiritual cultivation I teach were originally transmitted to me by Mantak Qia from 1981-85. Chia received his transmission from a Daoist
Hermit named One Cloud, who had achieved the breatharian
state. One Cloud lived on qi alone for some years
while living in a cave on Long White Mountain (Changbaishan) in northeastern
One Cloud’s Seven Alchemy Formulas to
Achieve the True Immortal Self are similar to those mentioned in thousand year
old texts known as the Dao Canon (1160 books of the Daoist
“bible”). These formulas are attributed to Lu Dong Bin, one of
Even today, most Chinese students – and
Chinese qigong and meditation teachers – do not have access to these
inner alchemy methods. On a recent trip to Huashan,
one of the most sacred Daoist mountains in
But the abbot had finally opened up, and
taught a stage of Huashan inner alchemy to a group of
my Western students – the first time in Huashan’s
3000 year written history. So I shared with him my own practice and the
structure of the Seven Alchemy Formulas. He gasped in surprise, and was so
shocked he could hardly speak. “These are very secret methods”, he said. “There
are very few Daoists here in
When I asked him the reason for the great
secrecy, he replied, “because the ancients kept it
secret”. He then added, “Those who are lucky enough to find a teacher often
join the
We are in a time period where formerly
secret esoteric mysteries from many cultures are being shared. My belief is
that these Inner Alchemy practices are surfacing in the West because cultural
conditions are not currently conducive to their release in
These practices are needed to stimulate the birth of a new global spiritual science for the benefit of all humanity. That is why these teachings are being publicly offered to sincere seekers in the West for the first time in history – without groveling at anyone’s feet. If you feel spiritually attracted to them and feel worthy within yourself to receive these teachings, then you deserve the right to learn them. Why should any human be denied the opportunity of achieving true spiritual independence?
A parallel tradition of Western internal alchemy also exists, but it has largely been lost or fragmented. I was fortunate to have a high level spirit-body teacher (a Western Immortal) to train me in Western alchemy as well, from which I gained deep insights. The principles of the Eastern and Western traditions of alchemy are identical, but the Western methods are more “fire” centered, which translates into the dominance of matter by spirit. The “above” is used to control and transform the “below”.
I found the Daoist Water and Fire alchemy practices to be more body-centered, and thus more grounded and appropriate for Westerners at this time. They emphasize the “below” realizing the “above” is hidden within itself. One Cloud’s Daoist Water and Fire approach translates into the liberation of the spirit hidden within matter-body, and the rebirthing of deep earth consciousness. It is the feminine discovering that yang fire is its true inner nature. I am sharing them because I feel they penetrate and resolve the problem of the BODY which plagues so many meditators seeking perfect union with Spirit.
I myself once had this problem, of wanting to get out of my body so that my meditations would be more perfect. It was a rude awakening for me to realize my desire was not for transcendence, it was at core escapist. What was I escaping? The difficulty of staying here, of living in a body. I was escaping my failure to recognize and accept the spiritual nature of the physical body. I falsely believed if I opened my third eye and went out my crown, that my spiritual journey was complete. My kundalini was wide open, but I was only using it to go one way, instead of seeing its circular-cyclical nature.
I was denying how essential the body is to full enlightenment. I now make a distinction between those achieving “head enlightenment” and those achieving “whole body enlightenment”. They are very different experiences. All meditation methods are wonderful gifts. Alchemy is a special kind of meditative gift that is dynamic, accepts the sexual nature of the body, and seeks to refine the entire body into an elevated spiritual state.
Internal alchemy in
Many modern people fantasize
about Daoist immortality formulas and use it too
spice up kung fu novels or add spiritual romance to movies. Armchair
philosophers of the Dao love to speculate about its meaning, and play with its
arcane symbols and code words. But how many have understood this is an
accessible human science, or really experienced its reality, its power to shape
and embody reality?
The Daoist concept
of immortality does not mean you
live physically forever. Immortality means you achieve spiritual integration of
your authentic self (zhenren).
Your authentic Self is immortal because it
has the power to survive the transition of physical death and continues its
life in higher dimensions. This process requires integrating the physical
body’s sexual essence (jing), the energy body (qi), and the spirit body (shen) into a functional state of total openness (wu) to the
multi-dimensionality of the present moment. The spiritual power of
manifestation hidden within the sexual essence is most critical to cultivating
what is known as a “golden light body” or the authentic immortal Self. Without
the sexual essence being properly cultivated, the crystallization of one’s
spirit does not occur.
Cultivating this high level of harmony and
balance requires a progressive training of the body’s sexual essence (jing), the mind (qi), and the spirit (shen) within a
state of total openness (wu). The purpose of the training is to
accelerate transformations that might take Nature many lifetimes to accomplish.
Inner Alchemy is a precise step-by-step process, and each step builds on the
next. Using One Cloud’s structure, I
have added my own refinements based on study with many masters and decades of
practice and teaching.
Part of the challenge of training Western
students is to get them past the Chinese language problems that prevent easy
access to alchemical practice. There are also English language problems that
confuse spiritual development with vague or even false concepts.
Here is my summary of the most valuable
methods to pass through these seven stages.
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Seven Alchemy
Formulas of Immortality
as taught by Michael Winn
Preparation Practices
Purification, grounding, and centering through various forms of qigong (meditation as movement). Examples:
•Ocean Breathing to open dan
tien,
•Five Animals & Six
Healing Sounds to purify organs.
•Chi Nei Tsang
(Deep Organ Massage) to detoxify.
•Iron Shirt & Internal Chi Breathing
& Rooting to ground.
•Healing Love to recharge, harmonize, spiritually guide sexual energy.
•Tai Chi Chuan, Ba Gua Chuan, other internal
martial arts to refine and express outward qi flow
using body movement,
• Primordial Qigong
(spiritual tai chi) movement ceremony to return qi
flow to its Origin in the wuji (Supreme
Unknown).
1st Formula of Inner Alchemy
1a. Inner Smile to radiate Heart Presence
of spirit body into the physical body-mind and the larger body of humanity and
nature. Perhaps the simplest and thus most profound practice of all, used to
integrate outer life with inner meditation.
1b. Microcosmic Orbit to contain and store qi of Energy Body. It is a dynamic meditation creating a
balanced, yin-yang flow of perpetual golden light qi
circling around the spine and chest. Also known as “small heavenly round” or
“embryonic breathing”, this meditation balances the pre-natal qi (from Heaven) and post-natal blood (from Earth, body,
and ancestors) and stabilizes all yin-yang qi flow in
the meridians.
1c. Fusion of the Five Elements 1 is
about harmonizing the five phases of qi flow (wu xing). Fusion 1 practice
transforms negative emotions into positive, virtuous qi
flow. It harmonizes the Five Shen, the
biological-psychological intelligences of the personal self. In this practice
these Five Vital Organ spirits, also
known as the “Interior Gods”, fuse their essence and natural virtue (de) into a pearl of original qi (yuan qi) in the
belly cauldron (lower dantian).
1d. Fusion of
Five Elements 2 and 3. The pearl activates the yin-yang pulsation of the
eight cosmic forces (I Ching trigram energy) that
flow into the Eight Extraordinary Vessels of the human body. These deep energy
channels form the blue print or matrix of our personal Energy Body, and
supplies the twelve regular meridians with qi.
When these eight psychic energy channels are
activated, they collectively open the Macrocosmic Orbit (or “large heavenly round”) and can
heal at a very deep level. Faster and far more powerful than
acupuncture or herbs for healing chronic illness. This practice opens
deep awareness of qi field beyond the body, hence its
reputation for awakening psychic powers (known as the eight Siddhas
in a parallel Indian tradition).
2nd Formula of Inner
Alchemy
2. Inner Sexual Alchemy or Lesser Enlightenment of
When primal fire and water qi are “steamed” in the belly, it produces original qi that dissolves deep genetic patterns. It opens our Inner
Eye and our ability to “see” inside our body and matter. This meditation
creates a feeling of spiritual pregnancy, a deep body bliss known as the
formation of the “immortal embryo”.
3rd Formula of
Inner Alchemy
3. Sun-Moon
Alchemy, or Greater Enlightenment of
The powers of the Sun and Moon “cook” the
planetary essences and are coupled to spiritually birth the “immortal child” or
the greater elixir. It is the experience of our reborn inner self playing in
the outer fields of reality. This dissolves the boundary between the adept and
nature (including humanity) and dissolves many geo-mantic (feng
shui) and ancestral patterns that need healing.
4th Formula of Inner Alchemy
4. Planet and Soul Alchemy, or Greatest Enlightenment of
It involves, for example, direct experience
of and making friends with the planetary spirit of Saturn, the ruler of the
earth element, the core unity of living matter and controller of the
astrological forces of manifestation. Successful practice removes all fear of
death and dissolves deep karmic patterns of resistance and struggle that plague
humanity. This allows us to clearly receive and transmit our inner solar logos or Way of knowing, the maturation
of our Inner Sage or Immortal Self.
5th Formula of
Inner Alchemy
5. Star
Alchemy, or Sealing of the Five
Senses. This unifies the five shen, the five streams
of personal consciousness that operate through our senses, with the five forces
of the collective Stellar Self. The body of our stellar mind can be viewed in
the four quadrants of fixed stars in the night sky, originally symbolized by
heraldic animals (Black Turtle, Red Phoenix, Green Dragon, White
Tiger).
The fifth, the quintessence, is the Purple
Pole Star in the center of the sky, with the Great Bear of the Big Dipper
marking the progression of the seasons as its handles rotates like the arm of a
cosmic clock. These personal and stellar essences are fused in the upper dantian, the
cauldron in the head. This is the process of our Inner Sage attaining the
stellar logos, celestial level of immortality.
The pure open space connecting the three
cauldrons is integrated. This stabilizes the celestial axis and activates what
Lao Tzu calls the “Great Tone”. Profound peace and different spiritual
qualities continuously manifest from this activated core and radiate sonically
into our physical becoming. Our soul pattern expands its conscious destiny to
include dimensions of life beyond the physical plane.
6th Formula of Inner Alchemy
6. Heaven and Earth Alchemy,
or the Congress of Heaven and Earth. This
practice integrates the Early Heaven or formless Self with the Later Heaven
(Earth) physical Self. The Self here identifies itself here with two dimensions
that co-exist and co-create: the “formless form” of our being and the “substantial form” of our becoming. These two polar dimensions of our greater Self engage in
cosmic sex. They couple in order to re-open the portal to their Original state,
or “Pre-Self”. This pre-state or Primordial Heaven is called hundun, the
primal chaos-unity that preceded the “big bang” of the cosmic egg cracking
open.
The Three Originals (san yuan) of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity are gathered in the three body
cauldrons as original jing,
original qi,
and original shen.
This three-tone harmonic chord is resonated with the fundamental or original
tone of time and space. Consciousness then stabilizes in the axial center where
our true multi-dimensional nature can now be embodied. This is symbolized by a
tonal double vortex spinning faster than the speed of light within the void of
space. Into this is fused our inner sage’s immortal presence, the quintessence
of humanity meditating in the center of a cosmic torus
(spiritual black hole). We must enter this portal to complete our journey of
Return to the Origin.
(note: this course
is taught once every two years; the audio tapes are not sold to the public.
Live transmission of this subtle level I consider essential.).
7th
Formula of Inner Alchemy
7.
This is the true achievement of the
authentic or Immortal Self, a permanent state of grace known as wu wei,
“effortless action”, or “spontaneous action without acting”. Creation (of the
manifest) and Return to Formless Origin seamlessly complete each other. I
believe attainment of this seventh level is spontaneous, and happens when the
inner will of our immortal sage within has reached complete alignment with the
Dao. I am not yet qualified to teach this and frankly am not certain it is
teachable. It may occur only by direct transmission from the Dao to the mature
and receptive adept.
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Eight Branches of the Great Dao
Daoist tradition
often described itself as having Eight Classic Branches emanating from the ninth, the
axial trunk of the Dao. Different writers describe these eight branches
differently. Here is my favorite version:
1)
Neigong, which includes the Seven Formulas of Inner Alchemy
(neidangong) and other forms of meditation. The
stillness within the stillness of the mind is the source that bursts into the
movement of Life in the other seven branches.
2)
Qigong, which also includes taiji chuan, bagua chuan, and all sacred dance. Moving meditation as a
body-centered path of unfolding Nature’s inner patterns.
3)
Dao philosophy - I Ching sciences: cosmology,
astrology, numerology, physiognomy (face reading), palmisty,
divination, and the application of these principles to any natural science.
4)
Healing/medical arts: acupuncture, tuiina,
deep organ massage, moxa.
5)
Sexology: fangzhi (bedroom arts), medical and
spiritual.
6)
Feng shui: living (homes,
offices) and dead (graves).
7)
Five element nutrition & herbology.
8)
Fine/expressive qi arts: music, singing,
calligraphy, painting, sculpture, storytelling (today film and theatre).
Healing Tao