Taoist Alchemy: A Historical Overview (Free PDF)

Golden Elixir Press is pleased to announce the publication of The Way of the Golden Elixir: A Historical Overview of Taoist Alchemy by Fabrizio Pregadio (PDF, 60 pp., free download).








Chinese alchemy has a history of more than two thousand years, recorded from the 2nd century BCE to the present day. Its two main branches, known as Waidan (External Alchemy) and Neidan (Internal Alchemy), share in part their doctrinal foundations but differ from one another in the respective practices.




This essay outlines the main stages of development of the Chinese alchemical tradition, and the continuities and analogies that occur among the doctrines and practices of its main branches and lineages.




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Contents




Introduction 

1. Origins of Waidan 

2. The Taiqing (Great Clarity) Tradition 

3. Taoist Meditation and the Origins of Neidan 

4. The Cantong qi (Seal of the Unity of the Three) 

5. Waidan After the Cantong qi 

6. Main Neidan Lineages and Masters 

7. Neidan: General Perspectives 

8. The Internal Elixir and the View of the Human Being 

9. The Practice of the Internal Elixir