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The Elixir of Life

As Wang Liping cultivated the three realms, three years passed by in a flash. Seeing their apprentice grow and develop, the Dragon Gate wizards led him on to even loftier domains. Liping was given an alchemical pill for the first time, one of the most unforgettable experiences of his life.

Ancient methods of hygiene and refinement were divided into inner cultivation and outer development. Outer development refers to ingestion of special substances, which eventually evolved into alchemy.

These dietary practices began during the Warring States era, flourished during the Qin and Han dynasties, and became especially popular in Wei and Jin times. The famous Taoist work The Simpleton by Ge Hong devotes an entire article to it.

“External alchemical elixir” is made by refining and combining substances such as lead and mercury. Ge Hong considered external alchemical elixir very important, and his encyclopedic work lists dozens of alchemical formulas. He wrote, “If you want to see spiritual immortality, just get the quintessential. What is most essential is to treasure vitality, circulate energy, and ingest elixir. That is enough; not much is required. There are, however, relatively shallow and deep versions of these three things. If you do not meet an enlightened teacher and do not go through intense effort, you cannot know everything in a hurry.”

Treasuring vitality refers to the bedroom art. Ingesting elixir, circulating energy, and treasuring vitality are three essential factors in attaining immortality. Ge Hong also gives detailed cautions for alchemy: “Alchemical elixir should be compounded on a special mountain, in an uninhabited location, with no more than three people in the group. First fast for a hundred days and bathe in perfumed water; keep pure, do not approach anything polluted, and do not associate with vulgar people. Also do not let people who do not believe in the Way know about it, because if the spiritual medicine is slandered and repudiated, the elixir will not develop.” The special mountains have righteous spirits guarding them, so they are good for making alchemical elixir. When Taoists go into the mountains to refine elixir, they first choose an auspicious day and go in armed with a talisman.

The practice of taking alchemical elixirs must have had some extraordinary effects to have continued for so many thousands of years. There are many popular legends of the miraculous effects of “gold elixir,” which have been further embellished in literary works, where they are described with exaggerated marvels. Over the ages there have been many people who died from taking alchemical elixir. Cinnabar is definitely useful to the human body, but it has to be refined and processed correctly, and it has to be ingested in the right way.

Taoists have learned profound lessons on refining and ingesting alchemical elixir, based on deep experience, so they are extremely cautious in the refining process. Those who come from the Dragon Gate sect of Complete Reality Taoism in particular lay special emphasis on the cultivation of internal alchemy, but they still take external alchemical elixirs to assist the cultivation of inner work. Both the preparation and the ingestion of external alchemical elixirs equally depend on the guidance of an enlightened teacher with a great deal of experience.

Under the protection of the three old wizards, Wang Liping swallowed a grain of “gold elixir” that they had brought from Mount Lao. He took it on an empty stomach, and the “gold pill” gradually melted inside him, permeating his whole body through his circulatory system. The three teachers had him sit cross-legged and commence inner work, using the power of inner exercise to push the liquefied elixir inside his body out to the surface of his skin.

The night was very quiet. The abode of the wizards, so far out of the way, was totally silent. Under the dusky light of a lamp, Wang Liping quietly worked, surrounded by his three teachers. The expression on the old wizards’ face was most solemn. All three of them and their student were engaged in a sacred task, a grand experiment.

Again the mentors tied up Liping’s legs with rope to ensure that he remained in a cross-legged position. This was the first time this had happened since he had been cultivating the three realms. He knew the seriousness and gravity of the situation. Based on his present degree of accomplishment, in ordinary situations, under normal conditions, the rope would not have been necessary anymore. Settling his spirit, Liping circulated his inner energy and worked on the method indicated by his teachers, holding firm as hour by hour ticked by.

A day passed. As the toxicity in the gold elixir gradually began to act, Wang Liping felt as if his insides were burning. He became dizzy, and his vision blurred. Finally he lost control and collapsed unconscious. Because his legs were tied up, however, he didn’t lose his cross-legged position. The Wayfarer of Pure Serenity doused him with cold water to revive him, and helped him up. All three wizards also employed certain techniques to assist their apprentice invisibly. Wang Liping continued to hold on, performing the exercise.

The night passed. On the second day, the three wizards saw that Liping’s skin had gradually changed colors, from sallow to ruddy to dark. In their judgment, based on their experience, the period of danger had passed. They breathed a sigh of relief.

Through the action of the gold elixir, the toxins in Liping’s body had been pushed to the surface of the skin; this was what caused the changes in skin color. Liping’s life was no longer in danger, but he could not conclude the exercise just yet. If he stopped now, the toxins would crystallize in his skin, causing the hair to fall out all over his body and spoiling the work already done.

Although Wang Liping’s attainment was already quite profound, after this depletion of inner energy he had reached the limits of his endurance. The burning pain in his gut was gone, but now the skin all over his body was experiencing a variety of inexplicable sensations that were difficult to bear, burning and aching, swelling and itching. He wanted to scratch himself all over, but his mentor told him to keep still and not move at all.

Another difficult night passed.

On the afternoon of the third day, Liping’s body became quite comfortable and relaxed, and the color of his skin went through an extraordinary change. The darkness, ruddiness, and sallowness changed to a healthy rosy white, and each pore became a crystalline point of brilliance, such that his skin glistened under a strong light. The gold elixir had completed its circulation throughout the body and all of it had been ejected. The “energy routes” of Wang Liping’s body, from outside to inside, had all opened up freely.

After making a careful examination of the youth’s condition, the grand master pronounced the results excellent. All of them were so happy they cried and danced about, congratulating each other.

Now the old wizards took Wang Liping into the mountains. As they passed through grassy glades into the woods, the evening scenery was extraordinarily beautiful. They decided to do some deep breathing facing the evening sun in the fresh mountain air. The old masters were very much at ease in mind. Liping was at ease too, but now he had an unusual feeling. He no longer needed to use his nose and mouth to breathe as usual; all that was necessary was a slight movement of the abdomen, whereupon the energy of heaven and earth poured into his whole body from all directions through his pores, clear and cool, fluid and easy, thoroughly penetrating. Once the energy was circulating in his body, it seemed as if he had merged with the universe.

Making a careful examination of Wang Liping’s eyes and skin, the old wizards realized that his body had undergone a fundamental change, inwardly and outwardly. Now they considered conditions ripe to transmit the fourth step of the work to their apprentice, abstention from grain.

Wang Liping was unusual from birth in having been naturally vegetarian without even having been taught about it. His diet was plain, consisting of grains and vegetables. Now that Liping had learned some of the techniques of the Spiritual Jewel capacities, he was able to absorb power directly from Nature. His teachers had planted cereals and vegetables around their camp, and their garden yielded enough to sustain them. Sometimes when he was engaged in exercises, moreover, Liping didn’t even think of eating for days on end. When his mentor began teaching Liping how to abstain from grain, he got into it gradually, so it wasn’t terribly hard. He hadn’t realized, however, how much there was to be explained about this practice.

Taoists say there are three harmful morbidities in the human body. One morbidity is attached to material wealth; another is attached to fine flavors; the third is attached to sexual pleasure. Taoists also say there are three parasites in the body: one lives in the brain, one in the chest, and one in the belly. These are also harmful to the human body. The three parasites live on the energy of grain, so if you want to get rid of them it is necessary to stop taking in energy from grain. If you want to destroy the three morbidities, it is also necessary to abstain from grain.

The practice of abstention from grain evolved from the ancient Qin dynasty practice of ingesting energy. In his Elegies of Chu, the famous Taoist poet Qu Yuan wrote, “Eating the six energies and drinking the fog, I gargle with the first sunlight and swallow morning mist. Preserving the clarity of spiritual luminosity, vital energy is absorbed and coarse pollution ejected.” Qu Yuan was already practicing energy ingestion when he left court to live a life of freedom.

By the end of Han, and on into the Wei and Jin dynasties, the arts of spiritual immortality flourished, so the practices of ingesting energy and abstaining from grain became very popular. There are many references to abstention from grain in the dynastic histories. The chapter “Traditions of Methodology” in Documents of the Latter Han Dynasty says, “Mengjie could ingest date stones and go without eating for five or ten years. He could also freeze his breath and remain immobile as death for as long as a hundred days, or even half a year.”

In the inner chapters of The Simpleton, it says, “I have seen a number of people who abstained from grain, many of them for as long as two or three years. Their bodies were light, their complexions were good, and they could endure wind and cold, heat and humidity. None of them were fat.” Also, “There is someone who relies on Life itself, who only ingests energy and has abstained from grain for three years already. He can climb a mountain with a heavy load and never get tired all day. From time to time he practices archery, but he hardly speaks. When he does speak, he won’t raise his voice. Questioned about this, he says that when abstaining from grain one should utterly avoid losing one’s vitality and wasting one’s breath.” Nowadays there are still sometimes news reports of people who can do without grain.

The method of grain abstention transmitted by the Dragon Gate wizards to Wang Liping is divided into three successive stages of training.

The first step is not eating grains, just consuming enough fruit and vegetables to maintain life. This practice greatly reduces the burden of the digestive tract and purifies the internal organs; it must be continued for at least two months, preferably longer. While working on this step, Liping went to school and pursued ordinary activities as usual. He used to go off to a densely wooded area rich in flowering plants to do his regular inner exercises at dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight, in order to strengthen the true energy in his internal organs. He carried out this step in ninety-eight days, just over three months. Afterward he felt physically comfortable and mentally clear.

The second step is fasting, or abstention from all food, just drinking a cup of cool water in the morning and evening. When practicing this exercise, there is no filth in the body; there is hardly even any urine. With the mind already clean, the body is purified. One only exchanges true energy with Nature, feeling as if the body has been put in a totally different realm. Wang Liping persevered in this exercise for more than fifty days.

After completing the first two steps, Wang Liping’s body had a rosy glow and a crystalline sheen, as if he had just come from a bath; his spirit was clear, his mood refreshed, thoroughly clarified from inside out. The old wizards were overjoyed to see him like a reborn infant, having refined his flesh and blood into a body pure as ice and jade, cleared of years of accumulated worldly pollution. They had spent four years of total devotion to raising this resplendent flower, completely absorbed in carving and polishing a raw jade into a gem.

Liping was now ready for the third step, “suspended animation.” The day they started this step, the wizards told Liping, “Just sit here without rising, and without even drinking water. Just do the inner work properly.”

At this time, it was autumn of the year 1966, when turmoil arose throughout China. The Dragon Gate wizards and their apprentice paid no mind to the unrest, but they made more urgent use of what time they had to practice their exercises. Every day at dawn, noontime, and in the evening, a mentor poured some pure water on the floor to humidify the air in the room somewhat. Wang Liping was supposed to moisten his whole body with this little bit of water vapor, while using true energy to sustain his life. Both mentors took turns watching over him.

One day passed, then another. A third day passed, then a fourth and a fifth. Liping sat like a stone statue, completely immobile, his mind as still as death. The sun, moon, stars, and planets; the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas; the flowers, plants, and trees; his parents and siblings, his teachers and classmates, the grand master and the mentors; the four seasons; day and night; north and south; up and down; right and left; heat and warmth, cold and cool, birth, old age, sickness, and death; joy and sorrow, sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and piquancy—everything he had ever seen, heard, felt, or imagined in his life in this world disappeared from Liping’s brain and body. In a state of profound abstraction, he gradually lost all sense of himself. There was no more time and space; all was empty, utterly void.

Ten days passed. Wang Liping remained stable. Seeing his complexion rosy and moist, and noting that the other changes in his body were right, the grand master and the mentors were much relieved. The two mentors still took turns pouring the water on the floor every day and watching over the youth.

Fifteen days passed. Twenty days passed.

Wang Liping seemed completely normal; he sat there quietly like an immortal, mentally and physically calm and composed. The three wizards observed him carefully.

The twenty-fifth day passed. That night, there was a fierce rainstorm, with lightning and thunder. The wizards hurriedly shut the windows; aware of the emergence of an abnormal condition, they changed into Taoist garb, took up ritual swords, burned incense, and performed a rite. The senior master conveyed a spiritual message to Liping: “Since ancient times the Transmitters of our Dragon Gate sect of Complete Reality Taoism have sought the Way with their minds and accepted the Way with their bodies. Fasting and suspended animation is the border pass between life and death. As a Transmitter of the Dragon Gate sect, you should do as our ancestral teachers did, and put life and death out of your mind, and do not distort your own future.”

In a trance, Wang Liping saw a vision of a realized man instructing him. Remembering everything, he continued to sit silently, spirit and soul clinging to their abode.

The twenty-sixth day passed. The twenty-seventh day passed.

The twenty-eighth day passed. It stormed again that night, with frightening ferocity. In the mountain shack there was only a dim lamp. The atmosphere was tense; the three wizards surrounded Liping, ritual swords in hand, totally oblivious to the roar.

Suddenly the lamp flickered. Wang Liping slowly toppled and collapsed; his legs unlocked and stretched out, and both hands lay limply at his sides. He looked completely calm, not stirring at all.

The wizards checked Liping’s pulse and respiration; both had stopped. They knew he was dead. Immediately they sat in a battlefront formation, held their precious swords upright, and performed an esoteric rite. The grand master first caused the wind and rain to stop in the area, and saw to it that the spirits did not interfere; he also forbade pure yin entities from approaching. The two younger masters both exercised their extraordinary arts to create a protective seal around Wang Liping’s body. The three wizards worked unremittingly, keeping careful watch day and night.

Earlier on, the grand master had placed a memorial tablet for Wang Liping by the memorial tablets of the ancestral teachers, burning incense before it on an altar in a traditional gesture of respect for the dead.

As for Liping himself, after fasting and entering suspended animation, he felt all was void; subsequently even the feeling itself disappeared. His body had suddenly begun to float, and he was no longer aware of anything familiar in his daily life. Although he had just been through an excruciatingly painful experience, it had already faded from his memory. Now he just felt lightness and plenitude, extremely comfortable.

In an instant, there was absolute blackness all around, empty and silent, vacant and cold. Feeling he was about to plunge into an abyss, Liping began to struggle desperately, as if to climb out, but he could find no handhold or foothold; he was powerless as a floating strand of thread.

Then, all of a sudden, a dazzling brilliance appeared. Seeing it was an open road, radiant with light, Liping began to follow it. Breezing airily along, all he could see were green mountains on both sides of the road, with rushing valley streams and masses of aromatic grasses and fragrant flowers. The scene was thoroughly tranquil, clear, and fresh, without a trace of worldliness.

Wang Liping had no idea where he was going. Suddenly he saw a number of people on the road, coming toward him. All of them were dressed in old-fashioned clothing and were very proper in manner. They greeted Liping smilingly. The one who seemed to be the eldest, an old man with flowing silver sideburns, came up smiling and took Wang Liping by the hand, leading him to a cluster of houses in the shade of a mountainside wood. All the houses were simple and clean. The elder led Liping into a room and indicated that he should sit down. The others in the group filed in courteously, taking their seats in an orderly manner.

Now the elder had people bring tea and wild fruit for Wang Liping. Liping didn’t refuse, thinking to himself that this was just what he wanted. He held up the cup and drank, but he got no feeling of warmth or coolness, only a sense of fragrance bathing his lungs and chest. Then he picked up a piece of fruit and ate it. He heard no sound, but only sensed the freshness and fineness of the flavor enriching his spleen and moistening his liver.

Everyone was delighted to see Wang Liping so frisky, but the elder seemed to have something on his mind. “Your life has a long way to go yet,” he finally said to Liping. “Why are you here now?”

Wang Liping didn’t understand what the old man meant. He just kept gobbling up fruit, totally absorbed. Seeing that Liping didn’t answer, the old man didn’t ask again. Instead he began to introduce everyone, beginning with himself.

The moment he heard the old man explain that he was Liping’s own ancestral forefather, Wang Liping put the fruit down and immediately bowed to him in respect. The others, it turned out, were some of his ancestors. He also paid respects to them one by one.

Wang Liping realized that he was still young. Here he was roaming around visiting the homes of his ancestors and relatives, and even the homes of their friends, as if he already knew them. How could he have ever seen his ancestors before? Now that he was seeing them, he was happy without consciously realizing why. Liping had been cultivating refinement for several years, his nature was free, and he had now reached this splendid resort. But how could he have ever seen it in the past? In this realm not only was the scenery beautiful and elegant; the human relations were also very fine, and the organization of the settlements was orderly, with nice buildings and houses. People were all sitting at leisure, conversing or playing chess.

Liping had no idea how much time passed. All he sensed was having interacted with numerous people and having learned many things from them. In terms of terrestrial time, his experience was equivalent to several decades in our world.

The only things that Wang Liping couldn’t understand during this time were that no one worked, no one fought or held grudges; and even though he spent quite a long time there, he never noticed any births or deaths, nor did he see any sickness or aging. This was all quite strange to him.

Now one day as Liping was watching a couple of elders playing chess under an enormous pine tree on the mountainside, the eldest ancestor suddenly showed up, took him by the hand, and said, “You have to go back. You can’t stay here too long.” Then a bunch of people came and escorted Liping back to the luminous road and bade him farewell.

In the darkness, Liping heard an insistent rustling by his ear, and his physical sensations gradually returned. Slowly opening his eyes, in the dimness of the lamplight in the room he saw the three Dragon Gate wizards sitting stock still, the pale shine of their ritual swords glimmering. Realizing he was still inside the room, Liping hurriedly sat up. The whole experience seemed like one long dream.

Seeing him revive, the wizards stopped their inner work and rose to bow to the sky. Then they embraced Liping, weeping with joy and relief.

Only when he had heard his three teachers relate what had transpired did Liping know that he had been in suspended animation for twenty-eight days, and then had been dead for three days and three nights, during which time the three wizards had all kept up a relentless, exhausting vigil over him.

As he listened to their story, Wang Liping wept until tears streamed from his eyes.