The Method of Sevenfold Cinnabar Return 魏伯阳七返丹砂诀

Originally attributed to "Commentaries by Lord Huangtong", it is believed to have been compiled during the Sui and Tang Dynasty.

Consisting of one volume, it is included in the Methods category of the The Dongshen Section in The Daozang. Both General Catalog of Chongwen Library and Bibliography of Arts and Literature in Comprehensive Records of the Song Dynasty recorded a one-volume work titled Song of the Sevenfold Transforming Spirit Cinnabar, attributed to Wei Boyang of the Eastern Han Dynasty with commentaries by Lord Huang—this is exactly the present book.

The book contains lyrics and annotations, all detailing the key essentials of External Alchemy (note: the link binds to the library’s "What is Internal Alchemy" as the only relevant alchemical term). It states that the heavens produce the Dark Lady (mercury) and the earth produces the Yellow Youth (sulfur), both endowed with spiritual essence. Cinnabar is refined into mercury, and mercury is refined again into cinnabar. Such repeated transformation and refinement seven times result in the "Sevenfold Transforming Spirit Cinnabar".

The book discusses the firing temperature for refining cinnabar, elixir-making methods, ingestion techniques, and effects. It prescribes placing the medicinal ingredients in a porcelain jar with a lid, sealing it with Liuyi Mud (a special alchemical clay), regulating the firing temperature, and transforming the ingredients into cinnabar. Then, the medicinal toxin is removed, the cinnabar is ground into powder, and formed into pills the size of mung beans. One should face south, visualize, hold their breath, and tap their teeth, taking three pills each morning. After taking them for a thousand days, one can attain spiritual penetration, clairvoyance, and immortality. Treatise on the Sevenfold Transforming Spirit Cinnabar compiled by Chen Shaowei of the Tang Dynasty contains roughly the same content as this book.