The Schools of Female Neidan (Internal Alchemy) 女子内丹流派

The methods of female neidan (internal alchemy) are extremely rarely taught in the world, and only fragmented records exist in alchemical texts. To summarize their origins and development, they can be roughly divided into seven schools:

(1) School of Madame Wei Huacun of Nanyue, also known as the "Contemplation School". It reveres The Yellow Court Classic as its foundational text, emphasizing the practice of contemplating the deities within the body and accumulating vital energy to attain immortality, which can be practiced by both men and women. Its methods are recorded in Chen Yingning’s Lectures on The Yellow Court Classic.

(2) Chenmu School, also called the "External Alchemy School". It was passed down by Chenmu to Xu Xun and Wu Meng, with Xu Xun’s Record in a Stone Casket and Wu Meng’s Text on Bronze Talismans and Iron Certificates as its main scriptures. It teaches the refining and ingestion of the "Heavenly Primordial Divine Elixir" and incorporates talisman and spell practices.

(3) School of the Elderly Mother of Zhongtiao Mountain, also known as the "Swordsmanship School". The Complete Works of Ancestor Lü records its lineage, which focuses on achieving enlightenment through internal cultivation of swordsmanship, divided into two functions: "Dharma Sword" and "Dao Sword".

(4) School of Immortal Xie, also called the "Virgin School" because Immortal Xie (Xie Ziran) began practicing Taoism when she was a young girl of over ten years old. Young girls who have not yet started menstruation, with their bodies filled with primordial energy, can skip the foundational cultivation stage. The practice starts with grain avoidance, qi absorption, mind tranquility, and sitting meditation, following the method of "pure tranquility and non-action" to attain the Dao. It transmits the techniques from The True Classic of Great Clarity and Central Yellow.

(5) School of Real Person Cao Wenyi. It takes The Song of the Spiritual Source and the Great Dao as its ancestral scripture, with key principles including purifying the mind and reducing desires, preventing the spirit from wandering outward, focusing on qi to achieve gentleness, and circulating primordial harmony internally. This is a school of pure cultivation for women, though its methods can be used by both genders and are of pure orthodoxy. Chen Yingning’s Vernacular Explanation of The Song of the Spiritual Source and the Great Dao details its practices.

(6) School of Immortal Sun Buer. Also a school of pure tranquility, it teaches the method of "refining the form through lunar energy", starting with "severing the red dragon" (stopping menstruation). Works such as Sayings of Immortal Sun Buer and Poems on the Stages of Female Daoist Practices have been passed down. Chen Yingning’s Annotations on Sun Buer’s Poems on Female Alchemy records its techniques.

(7) School of Female Dual Cultivation. This school has complex practices, divided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. The lower level consists of secrets of sexual cultivation, including methods for nourishing yin and preserving youth; the middle level involves techniques of absorbing yang to supplement yin; the upper level contains formulas for dual cultivation and mutual attainment. Among its practices are the arts of harmonizing yin and yang passed down by the Xuenü (Immortal Woman), Sunü (Plain Woman), and Cainü (Picked Woman) schools; methods for regulating energy and preserving youth attributed to Xia Ji; and Zhao Feiyan’s technique of internal visualization. The Female Dual Cultivation School claims its alchemical methods were personally transmitted by Ancestor Lü, hence it is also called the "Lüzu School". Relevant alchemical texts include The True Golden Formula and Essential Words on Female Alchemy. Additionally, Collection of the Western Pond also records secret transmissions of female alchemy. Its core alchemical principles involve understanding the timing of energy transformation, distinguishing existence from non-existence, "sitting on the precious tortoise", "wearing the sweet dew", eliminating turbidity to retain fragrance, "the moon shining on a cold pond", "riding the ox to the moon to strike the golden bell", and "capturing the golden essence to lock the poisonous dragon", ultimately aiming to "save others while saving oneself, and achieve both internal and external merits". The line "No harm to either side, both realms preserved" from The Awakening to Truth also refers to the practices of this dual cultivation school.