Orthodox Tradition of the Golden Elixir 金丹正宗

Originally attributed to "Hu Huncheng, the Metaphysics Scholar of Wuling". It was presumably compiled in the early Southern Song Dynasty.

Consisting of one scroll, it is included in the Tai Xuan Section of the The Daozang.

Orthodox Tradition of the Golden Elixir

This work expounds on Internal Alchemy (Neidan), holding that the innate primordial Qi is the foundation of the Golden Elixir, hidden in the mysterious pass, a single extraordinary orifice in the human body. Ordinary people dissipate this innate primordial Qi due to the confusion of their five emotions and six desires, while Taoist practitioners return from the acquired state to the innate state, thus becoming immortals.

Its cultivation practice is divided into three essential steps: establishing the cauldron and tripod, gathering the medicinal ingredients, and conducting the fire timing. "Gather the innate primordial Qi as the medicinal ingredients, guard the mysterious pass as the cauldron and tripod, and take the wonderful function of the primordial spirit as the fire timing." At the initial stage of practice, one must first cut off all thoughts, be free from attachment and contamination, forget both the self and external things, concentrate Qi to attain softness, and reach a state of utter stillness and motionlessness. Only then can one focus and stabilize the true breath and true Qi within the mysterious pass, keeping Qi and breath inseparable and united as one—thus the medicinal ingredients enter the cauldron, and the fire timing can be initiated.

Thereupon, following the innate fire of the primordial spirit’s natural operation, one circulates it outside the mysterious pass; through gradual refinement and condensation, the sacred embryo is formed. This book thoroughly abandons the numerous complicated terms and metaphors in the alchemical scriptures of previous scholars, summarizing the alchemical method into the three essentials of establishing the cauldron, gathering the ingredients and conducting the fire timing. As for the fire timing in elixir refining, it completely discards the analogies of the Heavenly Cycle and hexagram images used by predecessors, only emphasizing the natural ebb and flow of Qi through the wonderful function of the primordial spirit—this is its unique characteristic.

Appended at the end of the book are twelve four-character short odes, which chant and expound on the cauldron and tripod, medicinal ingredients, fire timing, foundation establishment, ingredient gathering, refinement, extraction and supplementation, embryo formation, bathing, embryo perfection, gentle nourishment, and embryo separation respectively, summing up the essential gist of the entire work.