Alchemy

Internal and external alchemy

Internal and external alchemy

Taoist physical practices, such as breath exercises, massage, martial arts, yoga and meditation are designed to transform a person both mentally and physically and so bring them into closer harmony with the Tao.

The writer Norman Girardot puts it like this:

Many of these practices are called internal alchemy (nei-dun) by Taoists.

Taoists also practice external alchemy (wai-dan), which involves diet and the use of minerals and herbs to promote long life.

Why call it alchemy?

Alchemists are people who want to transform things into something more valuable, such as converting lead into gold.

Taoist alchemy is concerned with transforming human beings so as to give them longer life and bring them closer to the Tao.

The first alchemists were seeking an elixir which could be used to turn cheap metal into gold. They worked in laboratories, grinding, mixing and heating various substances together in search of the magical compound.

Other alchemists went in search of a different sort of elixir; a pill, potion or practice that would make human beings immortal.

Creating this elixir also involved various combinations of ingredients and particular methods of heating, grinding and mixing, together with other rituals.

This became known as wai-dan (external alchemy) presumably because it involved adding something to the body from outside.

It was both a literal idea, since some people must have hoped to live for ever, and a metaphorical one in which the spirit was steadily purified and came closer to unity with the Tao.

Interior alchemy, which didn't involve external physical compounds, probably developed slightly later. For a long time both were practiced together (rather in the same way that some modern patients will use both drugs and meditation to deal with sickness).

Interior alchemy also seeks to achieve longer life, purity and closeness to the Tao, but the practitioner works on themselves without the use of chemicals to transform the elements within their body into purer forms that will promote the energy of life.

The texts retain the alchemical link by using the language of making an elixir and of chemical transformation to describe internal spiritual development.