Saturday, September 19, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Meditation and Inner Alchemy
Daoist meditation, fetal breathing, inner alchemy, sitting in oblivion, and Golden Flower cultivation texts.
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Texts
A Guide to the Center Within the Compass — Guizhong ZhinanA Yuan-dynasty inner-alchemy manual attributed to Chen Chongsu (Xubaizi), teaching the location and use of the body's 'Mysterious Female' and 'center within the compass' — with its complete Daozang source text.Commentary on the Scripture on Embryonic Breathing — Taixi Jing ZhuA short Tang-dynasty inner-alchemy scripture on embryonic breathing paired with its line-by-line commentary attributed to Master Huanzhen, plus the appended Inscription on Embryonic Breathing — with its complete Daozang source text.Commentary on the Song of Reverting Cinnabar — Yin Zhenjun Huandan Ge ZhuA Song-dynasty inner-alchemy poem, traditionally linked to the immortal Chen Tuan, paired with a line-by-line commentary spoken in the voice of the Perfected Lord Yin — with its complete Daozang source text.Direct Pointers to the Great Elixir — Dadan ZhizhiA technical Quanzhen inner-alchemy treatise, traditionally attributed to Qiu Chuji, mapping the body's passes and fields for the practice of neidan — with its complete Daozang source text.Fetal Breathing SongTwenty songs on fetal breathing (胎息) and embracing the primal one (抱一), with prose preface. Attributed to the Young-Truth Master (㓜真先生). A core neidan instructional text from the Daoist Canon (DZ 0827), teaching cultivation of the spirit embryo through internalized breath.Four Hundred Characters on the Golden Elixir — Jindan SibaiziA terse Song-dynasty classic of Daoist internal alchemy attributed to Zhang Boduan, unpacked here through the 1241 preface and running commentary of Huang Ziru — with its complete Daozang source text.Getting Through the Barriers — Tongguan WenLiu Yiming's 1812 book of counsel on the fifty barriers — lust, rank, wealth, temper, false knowledge, clinging to emptiness or form — that stand between the seeker and the Way, with its complete Chinese source text.Instructions for Discerning the True in Studying Immortality — Xue Xian Bian Zhen JueA Song-dynasty alchemical treatise attributed to the Daoist master Zhang Wumeng, distinguishing the true substances of the elixir art from the common minerals of the same name — with its complete Daozang source text.Instructions on Concentrating the Spirit and Cultivating the Practice — Taishang Dongzhen Ningshen Xiuxing JingjueA late-Tang inner-alchemy verse text, catalogued as the latter half of Zhongli Quan's Song of Breaking Delusion and Realizing the Dao, teaching the wordless work of concentrating the spirit and forging the golden elixir — with its complete Daozang source text.Pointers to the Mystery — Ziqing Zhixuan PianA Southern Song anthology of inner-alchemical discourses, a teaching dialogue, a rhapsody, and songs attributed to Bai Yuchan (白玉蟾, courtesy name Ziqing), founding patriarch of the Southern Lineage of Daoist internal alchemy — with its complete Daozang source text.Questions and Answers on the Golden Elixir — Jindan WendaA catechism of Song-dynasty internal alchemy, working through several dozen technical terms of neidan practice in question-and-answer form, with its complete Daozang source text.Song of Attaining the WayFifteen heptasyllabic quatrains testifying to stages of inner alchemical practice, with prose preface; attributed to Master Left Palm (左掌子), from the Zhengtong Daozang.Song of Breaking DelusionFirst English translation of the Song of Breaking Delusion and the True Way — a Classical Chinese neidan verse-poem attributed to Zhongli Quan, Perfected One of Radiant Yang, patriarch of inner alchemy. DZ 0270.Song of the Clear SkyA Quanzhen meditation poem by Qiu Chuji on the clear sky of original mind — the master who walked ten thousand li to counsel Genghis Khan. Good Works Translation.Song of the Mysterious PearlSong of the Mysterious Pearl — thirty stanzas of seven-character verse on the inner pearl of original spirit, the great medicine of neidan internal alchemy. The poem alternates warning (lose the pearl and wander through rebirth) with aspiration (attain it and ascend as a perfected one). Attributed to the Master Who Penetrates Mystery. First English translation from Classical Chinese.The Commentary on the Scripture of Concentration and Contemplation — Dongxuan Lingbao Dingguan Jing ZhuA Tang-dynasty Daoist meditation scripture with its phrase-by-phrase commentary, teaching the stilling of the mind through seven bodily and spiritual signs toward the Way — with its complete Daozang source text.The Divine Transcendents' Methods of Ingesting Elixirs and Minerals — Shenxian Fuer Danshi Xingyao FaA Daoist Canon manual of waidan external-alchemy recipes for ingesting cinnabar, realgar, and mineral stones in pursuit of transcendence, compiled by a Master Jingli — with its complete Daozang source text.The Elixir Instructions of the Assembled Perfected — Lingbao Zhongzhen Dan JueA classical Chinese waidan (external alchemy) formulary of eight elixir recipes for reviving the dying, curing wind-paralysis, and transmuting lead, mercury, and cinnabar into gold — with its complete Daozang source text.The Fetal Breathing ScriptureThe foundational Daoist scripture on fetal breathing — returning to the primordial breath of the womb. Companion to the Heart Seal Classic. First English translation. Good Works Translation.The Instructions on Binding Life — Taiqing Zhenren Luoming JueA short Daoist instructional text on visualizing the body's indwelling spirits — the hun and po, the viscera-gods, the three elixir fields — to preserve life, likely dating from the Six Dynasties period and attributed to the Perfected One of Great Clarity — with its complete Daozang source text.The Jade Emperor's Heart Seal ScriptureA Daoist inner alchemy scripture on the cultivation of the Three Treasures — spirit, qi, and essence — recited daily by Dragon Gate Daoists for centuries. First English translation. Good Works Translation.The Master of Heavenly SeclusionThe Daoist guide to divine transcendence in eight stages — from fasting and peaceful dwelling to sitting in oblivion and spirit liberation. Attributed to an anonymous Tang dynasty master, with a preface by Sima Chengzhen. First freely available English translation from Classical Chinese. Good Works Translation.The Mind Scripture of Clarity and Stillness — Taishang Laojun Qingjing Xin JingA Daoist meditation scripture, spoken by the Most High Lord Lao, that circulated as an alternate version of the famous Scripture of Constant Clarity and Stillness — with its complete Daozang source text.The Orthodox Lineage of the Golden Elixir — Jindan ZhengzongA Song-dynasty treatise on inner alchemy in which Hu Huncheng recounts his own search for the Golden Elixir and sets out, in prose and twelve mnemonic verses, the cauldron-furnace, the medicine, and the firing-phases of the work — with its complete Daozang source text.The Scripture of the Vast Origin — Taishang Haoyuan JingAn undated Daoist Canon scripture, in the tradition of the Yellow Court Scripture, in which the Most High Lord Lao teaches the visualization of the body's inner palaces and their resident spirits — with its complete Daozang source text.The Secret of the Golden FlowerThe foundational Daoist neidan meditation manual attributed to Lü Dongbin, teaching the method of turning the light back to crystallize the golden elixir. Thirteen chapters on the Heavenly Heart, original spirit, breath regulation, and the celestial cycle.The Treatise on the Essential Meaning of Ingesting Qi — Fuqi Jingyi LunA Tang-dynasty manual on ingesting qi (fuqi) attributed to Sima Chengzhen, covering visualization, talismans, exercise, diet, and healing across nine chapters — with its complete Daozang source text.The True Scripture of the Primal Way of Great Clarity — Taiqing Yuandao ZhenjingA Tang-dynasty Daoist treatise, transmitted from the Most High Lord Lao through a chain of adepts, on stilling the breath to restore the body's primal vitality — with its complete Daozang source text.Treatise on Consolidating Qi, Restoring Spirit, and the Nine-Cycle Gem Elixir — Gu Qi Huan Shen Jiu Zhuan Qiong Dan LunA Daoist Canon treatise on internal alchemy, joining an essay on consolidating qi and restoring spirit to a longer discourse on refining the 'Nine-Cycle Gem Elixir' in the vocabulary of lead, mercury, and the alchemical cauldron — with its complete Daozang source text.Treatise on Sitting in OblivionThe foundational Daoist meditation manual — seven stages of inner cultivation from worldly attachment to union with the Way. By Sima Chengzhen, 12th patriarch of Shangqing Daoism (Tang dynasty). First freely available English translation from Classical Chinese. Good Works Translation.True Sayings on Cultivating the Way — Xiudao ZhenyanA string of some seventy short aphoristic teachings on stilling the mind and refining the nature, preserved in the Daoist Canon under the ascription to Bai Yuchan — with its complete Daozang source text.Verses on the Secret Essentials of Embryonic Breathing — Taixi Biyao GejueAn anonymous Daoist manual of verse instructions on embryonic breathing, breath-healing, diet, and grain-abstention, catalogued in the Daoist Canon as DZ 131 — with its complete Daozang source text.Wang Chongyang's True Instructions on Inner Cultivation — Wang Chongyang Neixiu ZhenjueA ten-part manual of inner cultivation, its base text drawn largely from Sima Chengzhen's Tang-dynasty Zuowang lun, framed as instruction from Wang Chongyang and Zhang Sanfeng with extensive vernacular commentary — with its complete Daozang source text.