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The Master Who Embraces Simplicity 

Most Ancient & Revered Master of Longevity & Immortality

© Roger Jahnke O.M.D, published in The Empty Vessel magazine

It is a beautiful morning in the spring of the 3038th Year Since the Ascension of the Yellow Emperor, the year of the Dragon.* On a mist enshrouded mountain in eastern China, shaped like the spine of a sleeping dragon, Master Ge Hong** is climbing the path to his favorite spot for the morning practice of gathering and cultivating universal life force, the Qi. Within his own lifetime he is a famous immortal. He is a master of the Taoist arts of longevity, medicine and spiritual alchemy.

He has just ingested his strong morning tea of ginseng, tang kuei, three fungi (reishi, ganoderma and fuling), lycii berries, deer antler and ho shao wu. Today he will practice a form of self-cultivation called "absorbing celestial nourishment" which is a combination of gentle movements requiring balance and flexibility, visualizations requiring mind focus and the regulation of the breath. He will then stand quietly in deep meditation and merge with invisible forces and realms through ecstatic, transcendent flight. In the 20th century of the Roman calendar (nearly 2000 years later) these practices will be known throughout the world as Qigong.

Later Master Ge will return to his small dwelling on the southern slope of the "dragon's spine". There he will continue his favorite pastimes: preparing alchemical immortality elixirs, studying and writing about the masters of longevity and immortality and debating within himself about whether immortality is best gained from elixirs prepared externally, in an outer laboratory, or elixirs prepared within the body in a metaphorical inner laboratory.

From the mountain, called Precious Stone Hill in current times, Master Ge is surrounded by exquisite beauty. Nearby hills rise like islands above the morning mists. Except for the song birds, there is only silence. Centuries later, at the turn of what Western cultures call the 21st century, the constant drone of a modern city of well over 1 million people, the city of Hangzhou, will pervade the silence.

South of Master Ge's beautiful little mountain, in the year 1138 ACE the Song Dynasty will move its capital and imperial palaces. They will construct, by hand labor, the beautiful West Lake (Xihu) which today draws visitors from all over the world. Beyond the future sites of the lake and palace is the mighty Qiantang River, flowing from the legendary Yellow Mountains (Huang Shan), where the Yellow Emperor himself traveled to collect longevity medicines. The Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti, a key mythological Emperor from long before recorded history eventually discovered the secret of immortality and ascended from the Yellow Mountains on the back of a mystical dragon. This event marks the beginning of the Chinese calendar.

To the east in the future, the city of Hangzhou will grow into the "most spectacular city in the world," according to Marco Polo who visited in the 13th Century. To the west of Master Ge's practice place are the Ling Yin Mountains. Here the oldest village in the area, the Village of Heavenly Bamboo, has already been in existence for many centuries and several temples devoted to Guan Yin the Goddess of Unlimited Mercy, date far into prehistory.

Just sixteen years earlier, in 326 ACE, the Ling Yin Buddhist Monastery and Temple (Temple of the Soul's Seclusion) was established by an Indian monk who was inspired to bring Buddhism to eastern China. The Ling Yin Temple was spared destruction during the disastrous Cultural Revolution in the 1960's during a moment of luck or cultural intelligence by Premier Zhou, En Lai. At the close of the 20th century Ling Yin Temple is the largest and most visited Buddhist site in eastern China.

The Chinese have a saying, "If you cannot get to heaven, then go to Hangzhou." Some claim that Hangzhou, and its ancient predecessor, known as Ling An, is one of the great power spots in the universe. Only such a power place could have drawn the most renowned immortality master in Chinese history, Master Ge Hong, the ancient Guan Yin community, the immense Buddhist influence at the Ling Yin temple and the majestic Song Dynasty capital. Certainly, Master Ge's practice place and his laboratory for making medicines, is one of those classic Chinese sites with perfect Feng Shui. Natural features including mist, mountains, water and spectacular rosy clouds which gather near the mountain tops in the dawns and evenings all conspire to create a sense of mystery.

A Father of Traditional Chinese Medicine 

It is also a popular notion that Master Ge had a strong influence on the development of traditional Chinese medicine. In particular he influenced the aspect of medicine related to enhancing health and longevity, called "to nourish and refine the righteous". He is most renowned, however, for his work as an alchemist, constantly exploring immortality and elixirs from both internal and external sources.

Hangzhou is among the great centers of traditional medicine, with one of China's largest herbal pharmaceutical corporations (Hangzhou Number 2 Medicine Corporation), the Hangzhou College of Traditional Chinese medicine, the immense Hangzhou Municipal Hospital with its exclusive focus on traditional natural healing, the National Museum of Herbal Pharmacy, the Dragon Well tea fields and the Botanical Gardens of Herbal Medicine. The Qiantang River flows out of the Yellow Mountains and has for centuries carried herbs of medical, longevity and immortality benefit to the city of Hangzhou, which is thought to be one of the starting points for the Silk Road.

The idea that medicine should have health enhancement benefits in addition to disease curing benefits has been considered, historically, unusual and impractical in the European and American cultures. However in Asia, particularly China, a health enhancement and longevity basis for medicine has been the standard for many thousands of years. Master Ge has pursued this ideal to its logical Chinese conclusion in medicine: If you can enhance health you can a live long and healthy life and have the vitality to pursue the hidden meaning of human existence.

Immortality Master Ge Hong is the most remembered for his passion to pursue the ideal of "supporting the righteous" to its further, even more bold conclusion: If you can gain healthy longevity, you can refine and enhance the potential of the Body-Mind-Spirit to attain the status of "an immortal". In the West the word "immortal" has a single, shallow meaning, to live forever in one's current human form In China immortality is much richer, more complex and more possible.

There are five very different notions for "Immortal" and "Immortality" in the Chinese context:

Virtue Immortal 

The Virtue Immortal is a highly revered and virtuous person who is usually quite healthy and insightful. Citizens in a neighborhood or region consider such a person to be an "immortal". By being a model citizen of great "virtue", by fostering beneficence and virtue in the community, and by sustaining the availability of simple wisdom one fulfills the qualities of a Virtue Immortal. Even now in China, in certain neighborhoods, you can ask, "Is there an immortal nearby", and be directed right to his or her humble dwelling. On arrival you will find a kind elder who doesn't seem to worry about the details of life too much. Anyone has access to this level of immortality. There is no practical evidence that being a neighborhood¬s Virtue Immortal has any particular eternal value.

Legend Immortal 

The Legend Immortal, is one of the traditional immortals of the Taoist philosophical tradition, the "Eight Immortals." It is believed that these eight delightful characters, often depicted in paintings, sculpture and poetry as traveling together in an open boat on the sea of cosmic possibilities, are actual human beings who lived exemplary lives and graduated to Celestial Immortal status long ago. They are somewhat like canonized saints. They are archetypal figures who represent some of the great human qualities, much like the Greek gods and goddesses. They are legendary heroes and heroines of righteous action and beneficence.

Transcendent Immortal 

The Transcendent Immortal is an individual who has "realized", in their current lifetime, that he or she is a local embodied manifestation of a universal, cosmic or quantum resource. This individual is beneficent and spontaneously virtuous because of the profoundly deep awareness of the self as fully unified with the entire cosmos, fully woven into the fabric of the One, singular, unitary, cosmic being. With the realization that every being outside of oneself is oneself, this individual is immensely compassionate, humble and wise. Living, realized masters and profoundly enlightened teachers who are aware of the undifferentiated nature of unitary consciousness are Transcendent Immortals. In the Buddhist tradition, when this variety of individual dies, the soul may elect to return for additional earthly re-incarnations, as a bodhisattva. A bodhisattva is a compassionate soul who commits to revisit Earthly life until all beings have found peace and ascended into heaven. A Transcendent Immortal also may ascend to become a Celestial immortal.

Celestial Immortal 

Fourth, the Celestial Immortal, is one who has lived an exemplary life of right action, usually due to their understanding of cosmic unity. He or she has met the Celestial criterion and at death will ascend into heaven to reside as an immortal. The Celestial Immortal is considered to be a transcendent expression of the personal self, so personal characteristics are retained in the celestial realm. A Transcendent Immortal, following the completion of his or her local life, typically becomes a Celestial Immortal. The Taoist Celestial Immortal ascends into a layered multitude of heavens, did both the Yellow Emperor and Ge Hong.

Eternally Human Immortal 

Fifth, the Eternally Human Immortal, is some one who retains health and youth forever in their current human form - physical immortality. This variety of immortality was so alluring to the several emperors of China that much of their imperial reign was spent trying to find the elixir of immortality. The idea of living forever in the same physiological form as one resides within currently, is not even particularly attractive to most people. The quest for physical immortality has fell out of fashion after the Tang Dynasty when several emperors died from taking poisonous elixirs of immortality.

The Quest for Immortality 

In a much more modern and scientific sense, it can be said that it is impossible not to be immortal. Quantum science suggests that time and space are illusions based on the limitations of human sensory and intellectual capacity, that we actually dwell in a boundless and timeless quantum field. Every religion promises some sort of eternal life, through a combination of right action and devotional practice, "The spirit never dies or the soul is eternal". Whether one is admitted to heaven by grace or by working through Karma and reincarnation, everlasting life is guaranteed in all faiths. It is likely true that we are all, in one way or another, immortal. It could be said that some people are aware of and working with their immortality, while others are just not aware of their immortal nature.

Master Ge was, at least it appears so in his writings, very much interested in the path of physical immortality, the Eternally Human Immortal. In the "Book of the Master who Embraces Simplicity" (Baopuzi), he refers frequently to the benefits of using external elixirs. "Nine Crucible Cinnabars is the elixir that the Yellow Emperor took and arose into the sky a Genii (immortal). " Many interpreters insist that he was really a devoted inner alchemist. It is believed by these writers that he metaphorically encoded his formulas for preparing the inner elixir in the language of laboratory alchemy (external), to help keep the path to immortality clear for only serious adepts. "Drawing the light of sun, moon and dipper into the Hall of Enlightenment, they enter trances to refine their bodies. Gathering their life giving exudate from the golden beams of Paradise, they slow down the race toward old age and retain their youth."

It is certainly true that there was a strong tradition among immortality writers to use the language of external alchemy metaphorically to represent the actual practice of inner alchemy. Fire, from the alchemists laboratory stove is actually inner yang force. The medicine cauldron is actually the abdominal cavity of the human body. The "firing" process from laboratory alchemy is actually mental calm and the practice of inner cultivation.

Outer Alchemy vs Inner Alchemy

Whether the goal is healthy longevity or immortality there has been a debate in China for centuries as to whether the supreme elixir is best produced in an external laboratory or in a metaphorical internal laboratory. Ge Hong was an expert in both. The Nei Dan, inner elixir, tradition goes deep into the era of shamanism, long before written history. The Wai Dan, outer elixir, tradition began a few generations before Ge Hong and continued through the Tang dynasty (618 - 907 ACE). Six Tang dynasty emperors died seeking immortality through external alchemy elixirs that contained mercury and other poisonous metalic elements. By the Southern Song Dynasty (1126 ACE) the era of externally produced elixirs had come to a close and the Nei Dan tradition began to experience a magnificent revival.

Externally Produced Elixirs, Outer Alchemy - Wai Dan 

There is a gradient of external elixirs. This gradient ranges from simply eating a diet of nutritious vegetables and grains, up through medicaments or formulas that are super foods (supernutrients) like Ginseng and Ho Shao Wu to the alchemical level where agents like cinnabar, mercury and gold are utilized. There is a co-related level of expense for immortality resources. The materials to prepare a quality elixir were very costly. The cost to employ a master alchemist was high as well. Inner alchemy, as we shall see, does not have this limitation. Everyone can afford to produce the elixir of immortality that is produced within the human body; it is free.

The common people were able to access nutritional diets but they could afford only the least powerful of the pharamacological supplies like ginseng and deer antler. (note- unlike tiger bone & bear's gall bladder, deer antler is an annual renewable crop and is therefore not involved in the controversy over endangered species).

Only the extremely wealthy, with time and funds, could access alchemical knowledge and materials to produce high level elixirs. If one was wealthy enough, of course, an alchemist could be hired or the elixir can be purchased. There is a liability to this however. It was found that it was risky if the elixir alchemist was out of one's control. Quite a few died from taking immortality elixirs that contained poisonous heavy metals. Often the alchemist would claim success - claiming that the immortality seeker had abandoned the body and ascended to join the transcendental ones in the land of immortals, as a Celestial Immortal.

Even the great immortality specialists, including Master Ge, used the lower level elixirs of correct diet and tonic medical teas. Both of these prevent disease, cure disease, enhance health, strengthen the constitution, improve performance and potentiate healthy longevity. Immortality seekers historically used these nutritional strategies to strengthen themselves so they could tolerate the impact of the more intense alchemical elixirs which frequently included dangerous elements like mercury, metal oxides, carbonate of lead, tin and jade.

Most of the ancient classic herbal texts on healing and health enhancement (Shen Nung Ben Cao and Shi Liao Ben Cao) categorize herbs and medicinal resources in four classes ranging from tonic, nutritional resources to medicinal, poisonous resources. Chinese traditional medicine has developed a highly refined approach to nutrition where particular tonic class foods are targeted at enhancing certain organs and personal attributes. Lotus root, a delicious and commonly used food in China is reputed to strengthen weakened function of the stomach, tonify the spleen and liver, reinforce the spirit, increase vitality and prolong life. Ginger reinforces the digestive function, prevents disease and enhances deficient organ function caused by the lack of yang (warmth). Because all life and vitality is dependent on efficient digestion ginger is a longevity assurance food. Both Lotus root and Ginger are common foods of immortals and aspiring immortals. And they are common in Chinese dishes that are reputed to foster longevity and vitality.

Medicinal mushrooms, Ginseng and Ho Shao Wu are more likely to appear in longevity teas (actually called soup, tang) than in food. They are relatively available in Chinese pharmacies but they are much more expensive than ginger and lotus root. The health and longevity formulas that were taken as medicines, soups and teas, are at the heart of the aspect of Chinese traditional medicine referred to as "Support the Righteous" (also "Nourish the Vital Capacity"). This medical strategy whether it is targeted at healing disease, enhancing health and vitality or providing a foundation for immortality is based on nourishing the optimal, balanced function of the organ and energy systems.

Each organ has its favorite power food or tonic. Qi and blood each have a favorite herb and favorite foods as well. These are always included in general health tonics. The spleen, for example, loves Huang Qi (astragalus). The kidney's favorite is Ti Huang (rehmannia). The most famous tonic for the vitality or Qi is Ginseng. For blood it is Tang Guei. A classic general tonic, Ho Shou Wu, is reputed to sustain eyesight and mental clarity. These herbs do not enhance health by targeting and killing disease, like the medicine of the West. They empower the naturally occurring self-healing resource within, the "righteous".

Foods and herbs that are intended to enhance health and prolong life may not produce immortality but they are powerful health sustainers, and healthy longevity is one of the key precursors to the purposeful quest for immortality in both Virtue Immortals and Transcendent Immortals. These tonic foods and herbs will become a key thread, in Western societies, in the discussion of healthy longevity as well as wellness and performance enhancement.

The immortality elixir formulas, including the more dangerous metallic factors, are very questionable for producing actual, physiological immortality. Some such formulas were very dangerous. However, immortality alchemy was a remarkable advance in the science of practical chemistry as it emerged from its ancient shamanic roots. Similarly, the great alchemist Paracelsus (1500 ACE) in Germany was the foundation of modern European chemistry. The genuine forerunnner of more modern pharameceutical and industrial chemistry, alchemy also explored transforming basic materials like tin, lead and even jade into gold. Alchemy emerged in China nearly 1200 - 1500 years before it surfaced in Europe in the Rosicrucian and Paracelcian traditions.

Master Ge, in his Baopuzi lists 56 elixirs with various effects including transcendental flight, immortality, acquiring magical powers, creation of gold as well as healthy longevity and rejuvenation. Immortality elixirs are generally composed of mineral constituents, tending to precious, unusual and colorful in nature. Elixir preparation, it was believed, must be done in secret with high Taoist ideals. All exposure to negative influences or spirits must be practically and ritually avoided. Both a practical and a spiritual tone was to be created and sustained in the alchemy context. The Tools and Mateials of the Elixir Alchemist in External Alchemy In all forms of alchemy from both Asian and European an array of specific tools and implements were necessary to perform the preparation of immortality elixirs. The alchemical laboratory or site (sometimes called a kitchen) had particular equipment and necessary resources. An alchemical stove as well as an alchemical vessel called a cauldron or elixir container were the key implements in elixir preparation. Also necessary were the essential elements of clear water, hot fire, fresh air, earthen minerals along with the fifth Chinese element often called wood (vegetative essence, which corresponds with life force or biological quickening in the West and "aether" in Ayurvedic and Tibeten medicine).

In addition, revered elixir recipes from former masters of immortality or the direct, personal revelation of new insights of the immortality alchemist, were necessary as well. An elevated moral character, consistent with the ancient masters (immortals) Lao Tze and Chuang Tze also helped to insure security in the Taoist heavens. With absolutely correct resources and correct preparation an "elixir" could be produced that would create immortality with only one small dose.

The most renowned elixir component in the Chinese immortality tradition is Cinnabar, it is a mysterious mineral or mineral combination. In Shen Neng's Classic Materia Medica (shen nong ben cao jing), cinnabar is described: sweet taste, slightly cool, cleans all diseases of the five inner organs of the body, nourishes the spirit, calms the souls (spiritual and material), strengthens the Qi and brightens the eye. All evil influences and demons will be exterminated by its use, the light of spirit will become all pervading, old age will be completely avoided. If mutated, cinnabar turns to mercury. It is reputedly found especially in the deep ravines of the mountains. The immortal Master Ge proclaimed in his Baopuzi that cinnabar was the key resource for attaining longevity and immortality.

In modern time Cinnabar, known as Zhu Sha, is considered to be a mineral compound (murcuric sulfide, magnesium oxide and ferric oxide). In traditional Chinese herbal medicine it is used to treat insomnia, heart palpitation, epilepsy and convulsions. Its properties are sweet, cold and toxic. At different times in history cinnabar ranged from a natural compound found in nature to a highly refined compound produced in the alchemist's laboratory. And, as we will explore soon, cinnabar has represented, metaphorically, something that an individual can cultivate and refine within the body.

Ge, Hong was a cinnabar master. Of his "Nine Tripod Elixirs of the Yellow Emperor" eight are called cinnabar. One, floreate cinnabar, has the following recipe: The base is simmered for 21 days, then sinestral oyster, red clay and kaolin are added. The concoction is placed in an earthenware jar, pounded 10,000 times (think homeopathy, secussed), transferred to an iron vessel and heated over raging flames for nine days. It is then pounded another 10,000 times into a fine powder which when mixed with specially brewed vinegar becomes the elixir. Taking this elixir for seven days will transform the individual into an immortal. If the elixir is manipulated somewhat differently it is transformed into gold.

Master Ge received many offers to be granted positions in government. Part of his Taoist charm is that he refused to be involved in the complexities of society. However, it is reputed that he once accepted a post as a magistrate of an area in southern China because it was the source of particularly pure cinnabar. He and his wife, the story goes, moved to this area on the fringe of China's imperial territory. He collected cinnabar for his alchemical refinery, helped to create peace and tranquility in the region and returned to his home with the gift of cinnabar for his wife's father, who was also an alchemist with a particular interest in producing silver and gold.

Cinnabar, which contains mercury and often arsenic, is no longer prescribed in traditional Chinese medicine. The cinnabar elixirs frequently caused severe poisoning. In empirical science, the science of the tried and true, cinnabar was found to be of less value than many of the longevity and immortality seekers had hoped. So it disappeared from use. Mercury, copper and tin were found to be harmful as well, except in microscopic doses, and so they fell out of use as well.

Previous to the era of the quest for external alchemical elixirs of immortality there was a rich and growing body of knowledge about herbs and personal practices for those who were seeking healthy longevity, superior vitality and immortality. After the external alchemy era, which began during Master Ge's period and peaked in the Tang period, alchemy again evolved toward the notion that the seeker (the adept) actually produces the elixir within his or her own body, inner alchemy.

Internally Produced Elixirs, Inner Alchemy - Nei Dan

Given the dangers of seeking immortality through external means, it is amazing that the practice of taking externally produced immortality elixirs had a history of many centuries. By the Song period, the elixir was produced exclusively through inner alchemy. One legend about why Hangzhou was chosen for the Song capital suggests that the new emperor wanted to be near Master Ge's hermitage.

In actual historical time the era of internal alchemy has been a very lengthy one. Beginning long ago, deep in the shamanic era, the roots of inner alchemy are nearly indiscernible in the mists of pre-historic time. Internal alchemy was very prevalent in the Warring States period of Confucius, Lao Tze and Chuang Tze. In the era of Ge Hong, known, as the Six Dynasties period both internal and external alchemy were prominent. Nei Dan continues to evolve, particularly with the importation of Qigong into the West. New scientific evidence suggests that inner enhancement does actually occur through intentful personal practice and the remarkable breakthroughs in quantum physics links the personal with the universal.

Like external alchemy, inner alchemy is comprised of a gradient of formulas and activities. Unlike the external, because the elixir is produced within, the ingredients are not so limited to the wealthy. Cultivation and refinement practices do require two important resources that most Chinese have (except for laborers in former eras). The first is time. In China today nearly everyone takes the time between 5:30 am and 7 am to do some level of personal cultivation. Second, it is important to have a healthful diet of vital, nourishing foods. Most Chinese citizens have in recent times had access to natural foods because grains, beans and vegetables are easily produced in China. Highly processed Western style foods have typically not been available until recently. Most tonic herbs, to modify and enhance internal function, are not typically very expensive. Most herbal pharmacies have ginseng, longevity mushrooms, ho shao wu, antler and other of the super tonics available for little expense.

With time to practice inner cultivation and nutritious foods and herbs to optimize internal resources, the necessary ingredients for inner elixir preparation are in place. Practices such as body flexibility and strengthening through gymnastics and calisthenics, self-applied massage, breathing practices, chanting, visualization, meditation and prayer are also involved in internal elixir refinement. As in external alchemy, the first level of practice provides a foundation for the higher levels of inner alchemy. Right diet and the use of tonic herbs plus body movement, particular body postures, breath practice and self-applied massage all produce internal healing resources - the internal elixir.

Higher level practice - chanting, visualization, prayer and meditation produce an aspect of the internal "elixir" which is more transcendental yet still not toxic or dangerous. In Wai Dan the higher level aspects of alchemy were life threatening. In the higher Nei Dan cultivation one merges with the field of virtue and beneficence to become one with the pure field of quantum potential. This is the virtual state, wherein one is present in the entire universe while simultaneously present in one local body. Virtual, in modern terms means to have a presence but not be limited to a place, as in virtual reality. In Taoist terms virtual is linked to virtue, which is a field of being that all humans share with the "mystery" or Tao. One is virtually alive; therefore one is virtuous, unbounded and aware of one's eternal or immortal nature.

Internal alchemy replaced pharmcalogic alchemy, not just because it was safer, but because it is far less limited. The proponents of inner alchemy know that it is probably more effective in creating health, longevity and immortality. It is fairly clear that Ge Hong was very compelled to produce an external elixir. However, it is also clear from his writing that he believed very strongly that the medicine of immortality could be produced within. His writings contain ample methods for enhancing health and endurance of the body systems. These practices, declared Ge Hong, were practical methods for refining the body and enhancing health. Such practical methods were combined with transcendental, consciousness cultivation methods that worked to create non-local events, miracles, ecstatic flight and soul purification.

One of the most famous ancient forms of practice for enhancing the body, the blood and the vitality (Qi) was developed by the historic physician Hua To from the Han Dynasty ( 2nd century ACE), previous to Ge Hong. He copied animal patterns of movement and stated "who ever feels sick anywhere in the body should undertake the practice of one or the other of the animals patterns."

It is known that Master Ge Hong had a copy of a famous Gymnastics classic, Daoyin Jing, in his library. He also studied the massage classic, Anmo Jing. Self-applied massage methods are key components of the practice of sustaining and enhancing health of the body which, in inner alchemy, is referred to as the alchemical vessel. Ge, Hong refers to the wide spread use of Hua To's animal patterns in his Baopuze. He may have been referring to them in the following section.

"Whoever can guide his breath like a dragon, pull it in and circulate it like a tiger, stretch like the bear or swallow it like the tortoise, who more over can fly like the swallow, coil like the snake, stretch like the bird--he will live a long life."

Hua To's method copies five animals and Ge Hong lists seven including the mythological dragon and the favorite of many immortality masters, the tortoise. Master Ge may be reflecting on a different system, one which is even more directed at inner alchemy.

Many thousands of methods of cultivation have emerged over thousands of years. The more dynamic forms, Dong Gong, enhance the Qi and produce the medicine within by accelerating internal fluids and delivering oxygen. The more quiescent forms, qing gong which are meditation and visualization type practices, enhance the Qi, accelerate the level of immune potential and foster the production of healing neurotransmitters. In both forms, know today as Qigong, the ability to deeply relax and clear the mind are the most profound triggers of the alchemical process and the production of the elixir of healing and immortality.

The Tools of the Elixir Alchemist in External Alchemy

Cinnabar The production of the alchemical elixir of immortality in inner alchemy is the same as in external alchemy, except that in inner alchemy the production facility and the raw materials for elixir refinement are all interacting within the person. The individual is the alchemical laboratory (kitchen). The alchemical vessel is the body cavities. These areas for preparing the elixir are called "elixir fields" (Dan Tien) or medicine centers. The flame (fire) is in the lower pelvic area related to the Yang (hot) energy of the kidney (Yuan Qi) and is also known as the alchemical fire, fire of life, original (ancestral) Qi or the cooking activity of the alchemical stove. The cauldron for refining container is in the abdominal cavity.

The raw materials for the production of the inner medicine for longevity and immortality are the edible minerals and drugs from external alchemy, including good food choices and herbs (but not the poisons), the air of the breath, as well as the internally residing essence (jing, which is an analogue to DNA, neuropeptides, endocrine fluids, male sperm and female egg). Blood and body fluids are also stirred in to the inner elixir soup. From the middle Dan Tien caldron, the essence of the inner elixir medicine rises as steam (Qi) into the chest and is circulated in the body as the Qi of the energy channels (Zhen Qi).

In internal alchemy cinnabar is a metaphorical element of transcendental nature. Mental clarity, emotional calm along with imaginative, spiritual and virtual elements are purposefully cultivated and stirred into the elixir. Finally, cosmic or universal factors are blended in through cultivation practice to rarify the elixir. Energy and influences from stars, planets, sun, moon and earth are carefully mixed with the radiant energies of ascended masters, legendary alchemists, god's essence and the "mysterious origin". Access to improved health springs spontaneously from such practice. Longevity is its long-term outcome. And in the presence of the highest value of the Tao, virtue, such practice assures awareness of one's eternal nature - the foundation of immortality.

When the practitioner has the skill to coordinate the functioning of the alchemical equipment of the body, mind and spirit along with the alchemical raw materials from the body and nature under the influence of conscious intention (mind intent), the "elixir" is produced purposefully within. Inner alchemy is a process of attaining what the philosophers of modern physics might call immersion in the boundless quantum field of infinite potential. In both the Taoist and Buddhist schools of immortality practice, inner alchemy and the production of the elixir of eternal life are aimed at attaining a state of constant awareness of the self and the universe as one.

One of the most prevalent methods of inner alchemy is, in fact, called "Guarding the One". The "One" (also translated as Truth-Unity or Origin) is the singular, undifferentiated, boundless field of all possible essences, things and interactions. This is very likely the quantum field that Western culture is now discovering a full 2,000 years after the Chinese alchemists of the Han Dynasty (200 BCE) and the Old Master himself, Lao Tze (400 BCE). Guarding the One is common throughout the Taoist and Buddhist literature and has many descriptions and methodologies. There are numerous other inner alchemy systems, too many to mention. The goal, however, is always the same, to seek absolute awareness of oneself as undifferentiated from the entire cosmos, at one with the unity of all, completely merged with undifferentiated Origin.

Master Ge from his humble dwelling on Precious Stone Hill gives this prescription for producing the "elixir" through inner alchemical practice in Chapter 18 of his Baopuzi (The Book of the Man Who Embraces Simplicity):  Preserve the One (unity) and guard Truth and you can communicate directly with the highest forces. Lessen desire, restrain sensual distraction and Unity will abide. Guard the One, and you will be free of exhaustion.

In current time Even today there are people who wish for immortality. No one has succeeded at gaining immortality of the human body on the earthly plane. However, there is an argument currently that such a state can be attained through technology. Numerous people have had themselves cryogenically (frozen) stored so that they may be thawed out and given a newly developed "elixir of eternal life" (whenever that is actually developed) and live forever. There is an emerging trend that suggests that certain new nutritional supplements, known as neutraceuticals, will extend life and postpone aging.

The wisdom of using foods as medicine is still intact. The great longevity formulas of roots and mushrooms are still available. Qigong, the methods for cultivation continue to evolve and have been migrating to Europe and America. As the modern world looks for health, healing, longevity and even immortality the practices of Master ge Hong are still powerful resources.

In Hangzhou, now nearly 1700 years later, the Temple of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity is still intact. The Dragon shaped mountain, the well of alchemical water, a humble Taoist temple, the Master's practice place at the top of the mountain are all still there. A caution if you decide to travel there. China is changing again. The 20th century has been a filled with dynamic challenges. Hangzhou is an immense, modern city now. The thrill of visiting Ge Hong's neighborhood is not like it was then; too much has changed. The thrill of standing on that ground knowing what Ge Hong did, what he thought about, what he wrote, what he practiced and that his wisdom is only now beginning to have its beneficial effect on the chaotic modern world.

Master Ge, His Practice in the Dawn On this beautiful morning Master Ge doesn't seem to care about the future or the debate on inner and outer alchemy. He simply gathers purposefully the yin influences of earth into his energy circulatory system. This includes the influences from the herbs in his morning tea. He gathers in the yang influences of the heaven as well which includes using mind intention clear distraction.

Mindfully he mixes them, yin earth and yang heaven, within the alchemical vessel of his own body. He can feel the circulation of forces within, brewing the profound elixir - refining the combination of inner resources and outer elements into a profound medicine.

This elixir circulates within him for hours to sustain his body, calm his mind and cultivate his spirit. As he continues to refine the elixir within he begins to consciously direct it into the circulatory channels, into the organs and to the limbs. Trusting that the practice produces a powerful medicine he allows himself to fall into the arms of infinity and merge with cosmic unity.

Master Ge is not simply a man standing in the dawn. He is a local expression of the entire universe. He is the presence within a discrete being of what Taoist writers call "undifferentiated origin" or the "supreme ultimate". He is immortal because he is aware of his unity with what physicists have found to be the timeless and boundless field of infinite possibilities.

*The year 341 after the common era (ACE), from the Roman calendar, is 341 ACE. 1998 ACE on the Roman calendar, is the 4695th Year since the Ascension of the Yellow Emperor, the Year of the Tiger. 

**Also Ko Hung, both Ge and Ko are pronounced "guh". He was born approx. 280 ACE and he ascended 363 ACE (83 years), there are many opinions on these dates and the actual duration of his life).

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