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Daoist CosmologyAll cause and effect is due to the Dao, the Way. The Way can be explained as the reason or cause of everything which followed.

Before Dao there was: Wu-wu (Not Nothing).With Dao there was: Wu Ji (No Limit).From Wu Ji, evolved Hun Tun (Chaos).In Hun Tun, Tai Ji (Great Pole) became the first fixed point in space and time.

From Tai Ji came the Tai Yi (Great Change)Tai Yi went through two stages...1. Tai Chu (Great First)

has Xing (Form)2. Tai Shi (Great Beginning)

has Qi (Breath)

Xing and Qi combined to create... Tai Su (Great Primordial)

has Zhi (Substance)

The first substances has Yin and Yang. All things terrestrial and celestial fall into one of five groups,the Wu Xing (Five Elements). The five elements are...

1. Wood2. Fire3. Earth4. Metal5. Water

The five elements are usually in a state of flux. They can be arranged in a number of sequences, butthe two usually encountered are the productive sequence and the destructive sequence.

Productive sequence Wood burns, creating... Fire leaves ashes, creating... Earth contains ore, creating... Metal melts, creating... Water nourishes plant life, creating (back to Wood)...

Destructive sequence Wood draws strength from, destroying... Earth pollutes, destroying... Water puts out, destroying... Fire melts, destroying... Metal chops down, destroying (back to Wood)...

The five elements are also used to symbolize different things...

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Wood Direction: East Season: Spring Color: Green

Fire Direction: South Season: Summer Color: Red

Earth Direction: Center Season: None Color: Yellow

Metal Direction: West Season: Autumn Color: White

Water

Direction: North Season: Winter Color: Black

Daoist AlchemyChinese alchemy is basically an offshoot of Daoist alchemy. The main alchemy texts in China camefrom the Daoist Canon (Daozang).

There are two main branches of Daoist alchemy, internal and external.

External alchemy (waidan) is concerned with producing an elixir from physical substances. Internalalchemy (neidan) is concerned with producing an elixir (a mental state or knowledge) within anindividual.

1. External alchemy (waidan) Period: Tang dynasty and earlier

Most influencial: Chen Shaowei (8th century) Texts:

Huangdi jiuding shendan jing (Book of the Nine Elixirs) Baopu zi neipian

2. Internal alchemy (neidan) Period: Tang dynasty

Popularized by Shangqing (Supreme Purity) sect. Text: Huangting jing (Book of the Yellow Court).

Period: Song and Yuan dynasty Southern Lineage (nanzong)

Started by Zhang Boduan (11th century) Texts:

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Zhouyi cantong qi (Token for the Agreement of the Threein Accordance with the Book of Changes.

Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality) Northern Lineage (beizong)

Started by Wang Chongyang (12th century) Period: Ming and Qing dynasty

Most influencial: Liu Yiming (18th century)

In the Daoist cosmos, the primal Unity split into two complementary principles called yin and yang.Yin and Yang recombined to produce the cosmos that we have today. The purpose of alchemy is towork backwards and reveal the makeup of the cosmos.

The cosmos has two main features, space and time. The alchemist works in their limits and tries totranscend them. To transcend space, the alchemist must work in a chamber of elixirs (danwu) wherethe instruments are specially oriented, and protected by talismans (fu). To transcend time, cycles of heating must be perfectly calibrated so that the same work taking Nature thousands of years toaccomplish is duplicated in a short period of time. This allows the alchemist to access timelessness(immortality).

There are two main representations for yin and yang...1. External alchemy only.

Yin: mercury extracted from cinnabar Yang: sulphur

2. External and internal alchemy. Yin: lead

lead=knowledge of Dao in internal alchemy Yang: mercury

mercury=mind of individual in internal alchemyIn the first representation, the mercury is applied to sulphur nine times to yield Pure Yang(chunyang), a representation of the One before separation into yin and yang.

In the second representation, the lead is applied to mercury to obtain the compound representingOneness for external alchemy. For internal alchemy, lead represents knowledge of Dao, whilemercury represents the individual mind. Dao is Pure Yang but is yin in the conditioned state.

The main goal of Daoist alchemy is the "Elixir of Return" (huandan) which is sometimes called theGolden Elixir. For external alchemy, the final product is a representation of the Oneness, which issometimes ingested. In internal alchemy, lead (a representation of the knowledge of Dao) is the finalproduct.