Chapter 21 Section 3 The Popularity of Daoist Inner Alchemy and Immortal Belief

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Taoist Wai alchemy still had a certain status, and many alchemists and important alchemy works appeared.Wu Chu, a famous alchemist in the Song Dynasty, summed up the experience of alchemy in the past dynasties and wrote the book "Notes to the Alchemy", which is popular in the world.Famous writers Su Shi and Su Zhe both practiced alchemy.Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan" also has records of people making alchemy at that time. But in general, the belief in Waidanshu has undergone a fundamental crisis since the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, and it is on the decline.At the same time, the belief in inner alchemy, which had been slowly developing since the Sui Dynasty, caught up with this opportunity and spread rapidly. After entering the Song Dynasty, inner alchemy became more popular and gradually occupied the dominant position of Taoist cultivation theory.

During the Five Dynasties, Peng Xiao of Later Shu completely annotated "Zhou Yi Can Tong Qi" from the perspective of the theory of inner alchemy, which had a great influence on the development of the belief in inner alchemy and immortality at that time.During this period, the so-called "Zhong Lu Jin Dan school" was also formed, that is, a theory of inner alchemy under the banner of Han Zhongli and Lu Dongbin, which was highly respected by Taoists who practiced inner alchemy later.Han Zhongli and Lu Dongbin later became the "Eight Immortals" figures in Taoist legends.Lu Dongbin may have been a Taoist priest during the Five Dynasties period.Whether Han Zhongli is a real person is not clear now.

The theory of inner alchemy regards the human body as a furnace for smelting. It believes that there are essence, qi and spirit inside the human body, which are the raw materials of medicines. When they are smelted into "elixir" in the human body, people can become immortals.The specific methods of inner alchemy practice are similar to qigong exercises in many places.Many bureaucrats and bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty were keen on this way.For example, Su Shi in the Northern Song Dynasty studied with Taoist Zhang Yijian in Meishan when he was young. He not only liked to collect and transcribe things in this area, but also practiced himself to learn the technique of inner alchemy, fetal breathing and nourishing qi.The book "Su Shen Liang Fang" that has been handed down is formed by later generations attaching the articles copied and written by him to the back of a book of medical prescriptions written by Shen Kuo.In the Southern Song Dynasty, Zeng Zhen [zao Zao], known as Youzi, served as the governor of Qianzhou and Jingnan Prefectures, as well as the editor of Youwendian in the central department. "Biography Preface"), when he was old, he wanted to learn the way of health preservation, so he devoted himself to studying, collected the theories of various schools and schools of Taoist inner alchemy health preservation, and added his own opinions, and compiled it into a book "Daoshu".This book preserves many documents related to Taoism before the Southern Song Dynasty, which is of research value.

Taoist alchemy, no matter whether it is outer alchemy or inner alchemy, has been made very mysterious by Taoist priests.The teaching of alchemy is only carried out between masters and apprentices, and most of them are practice formulas, which are rarely written down.Even if it is written as a book, it is deliberately evasive, so I don't understand it.Inner alchemy works generally "borrow" a lot of terminology from outer alchemy, such as furnace tripod, lead and mercury medicine, cooking, fire, etc., and also use a lot of code words.It is said that if it is written clearly, it will easily be passed on to those who do not properly pass it on, and it will be reprimanded by God.Whether this is really the case, only God knows.

Zhang Boduan was the master of inner alchemy theory in the Northern Song Dynasty.His name is Uncle Ping, and his name is Ziyang.According to his own statement, since he was a child, he has studied the classics of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, as well as astronomy, geography, medicine, and the art of war.Zhang Boduan won the Jinshi in the imperial examination, but later lost his official position because of being implicated, so he was discouraged by the officialdom, so he concentrated on studying alchemy and wrote "Wuzhen Pian" and other inner alchemy works. Zhang Boduan's theory of inner alchemy regards the human body as a small world, the big world is a big furnace that generates all things, and the small world of the human body is a small furnace.To practice alchemy in the human body, one must understand the so-called rules of the formation of all things in the world.He said in "Enlightenment":

Dao generates one qi from nothingness, and then produces yin and yang from one qi. Yin and yang recombine into three bodies, and the three regenerate all things to prosper. This is the process and order in which Tao produces all things.If you practice in the opposite order, starting from the tail and then going to the head, that is, you will reach the original starting point "Tao", and you will be able to merge with the Tao.Tao is immortal, so if you become one with Tao, you can become immortal. In terms of specific practice steps, he advocated starting with adjusting breathing, which is called "cultivating life first" in the Neidan theory.Starting from the cultivation of qi and essence, and then to the gods, it is called life first and nature second.Zhang Boduan himself was not a Taoist monk, nor did he plan to establish a sect or organize a religious group.However, under the influence of his theory, the so-called "Jindan sect Nanzong" was formed.This Inner Alchemy Taoist sect is different from other Taoist sects in that it has no religious organization, no temples of its own, and no professional Taoist priests.Its continuation is carried out through the way of individual secret teaching of alchemy.It wasn't until later that some members of the Nanzong sect also learned the Taoist talisman school's divine thunder method, and applied to the government to establish an activity center, and gradually formed a religious organization.

In addition to Zhang Boduan Nanzong, there were other schools of inner alchemy in the Song Dynasty.Among them, the so-called Chen Tuan [Tuan Tuan] school had a greater influence.Chen Tuan, styled Tunan and known as Fuyaozi, was active in the Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty.He studied Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism since he was a child. He had great ambitions when he was young. It is said that the name "Tunan" means "to be king in the south".But Chen Tuan's luck was not good, and he didn't even pass the Jinshi examination.Later, he decided to live in seclusion. He first lived in Wudang Mountain for more than 20 years, and then went to Huashan Mountain.Later Zhou Shizong (Chai Rong, reigned from 954 to 959 A.D.) liked Huangbaishu (alchemy), and some people said that Chen Tuan knew it very well.So he sent someone to find him.Unexpectedly, Chen Tuan advised Shizong to pay more attention to the affairs of the people in the world and not to waste energy on Huang Baishu.Song Taizong was summoned twice.The legend comes from Chen Tuan's "The Picture of Wuji", which advocates that to practice inner alchemy, one must first work hard on the heart, and then refine the essence in order to transform Qi, refine Qi to transform God, refine the spirit to return the emptiness, and return to Wuji (Tao) to become immortal.Because Chen Tuan puts the cultivation of mind (sex) first, this kind of inner alchemy theory is to put nature first and life later.

The yin-yang fish pattern known as the Taiji diagram that has become the symbol of Taoism today is said to have some origins with several diagrams handed down by Chen Tuan and his student Zhong Fang to illustrate Taoist thought. The inner alchemy theory of the two Song Dynasties conformed to the trend of thought at that time, advocating the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Taoist Inner Alchemy has absorbed many thoughts on health care in Chinese medicine, and has accumulated a lot of qigong training materials. Of course, it also contains a lot of immortality and other exaggerated and absurd contents.