Chinese alchemy
Chinese alchemy is a historical Chinese approach to alchemy. According to original texts such as the Cantong qi, the body is understood as the focus of cosmological processes summarized in the five agents of change, or Wuxing, the observation and cultivation of which leads the practitioner into alignment and harmony with the Tao. Therefore, the traditional view in China is that alchemy focuses mainly on longevity and the purification of one's spirit, mind and body, providing, health, longevity and wisdom, through the practice of Qigong and wuxingheqidao. The consumption and use of various concoctions known as alchemical medicines or elixirs, each of which having different purposes but largely were concerned with immortality.
Pao zhi or Processing is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, such as honey or wine frying and roasting with toxic metals such as mercury, lead, and arsenic.
Daoism had two distinct parts, the classical Daojia, which was mystical and stemmed primarily from Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the more popular Daojiao, which was the popular, magical and alchemical side of Daoism. In general, classical Daojia was more austere, whereas Daojiao was more practiced by the general populace.
Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by Obed Simon Johnson.
Process and purpose
By refining bases into gold and ingesting the "fake" or synthetic gold as a prepared pill, or jindan, alchemists believed that immortal life would be delivered. The idea that fake gold was superior to real gold arose because the alchemists believed the combination of a variety of substances gave the final substance a spiritual value, possessing a superior essence when compared to natural gold. Gold and mercury were the most sought-after substances to manipulate and ingest. These metals were believed to have an inner essence of longevity due to them being relatively chemically inert and resistant to weathering as opposed to common metals like copper and iron, and are thus hypothesized to transfer their essence to the consumer and extend life as a result.Cinnabar is a mineral with a reddish-brown colour and is the most common source of mercury in nature. The significance of its red colour and difficulty with which it was refined implied to alchemists its connection with the search for immortality. The colour was significant to symbolic belief as well, red being considered in Chinese culture to be the "zenith of the colour representing the sun, fire, royalty and energy." Cinnabar could also be roasted, which produced liquid mercury. This substance was ingested but it could also be combined with sulphur and burned again to return to its natural form of cinnabar, the solid seen as the yang to quicksilver's yin. In China, gold was quite rare, so it was usually imported from other surrounding countries. However, cinnabar could be refined in the mountains of Sichuan and Hunan provinces in central China.
Although the majority of xian elixirs were combinations of jindan, many other elixirs were formed by combining metallic bases with natural herbs or animal by-products. The rhinoceros' horn was commonly used in medicines and elixirs and was held to have fertility-increasing abilities. Elixirs could also have more lethal components like arsenic and sulphur as ingredients.
East Asian vs Eastern Mediterranean views
Both the Eastern practice and the later Western practice of alchemy are remarkably similar in their methods and ultimate purpose. To be sure, the desire to create an elixir of immortality was more appealing to the Taoists, but European alchemists were not averse to seeking out formulas for various longevity-boosting substances. The secret of transmuting one element into another, specifically base metals into gold or silver, was equally explored by both schools for obvious reasons.In the European outlook, the ability to turn relatively worthless materials into gold was attractive enough to allow medieval alchemy to enjoy extensive practice long after the Chinese form had been forgotten. Alternatively, transmutation was also a means of accruing the precious metals that were key in making life-extending elixirs, and were otherwise expensive and difficult to obtain. Alchemical knowledge in the East and West favored different opinions of the true form of alchemy due to different theological views and cultural biases, however these disputes do not lessen the integrity of alchemy's canonical nature.
Chinese alchemy specifically was consistent in its practice from the beginning, and there was relatively little controversy among its practitioners. Definition amongst alchemists varied only in their medical prescription for the elixir of immortality, or perhaps only over their names for it, of which sinology has counted about 1000. Because the Chinese approach was through the fundamental doctrine of Yin and Yang, the influence of the I Ching, and the teachings of the Five Elements, Chinese alchemy had its roots considerably more in obtaining a higher mental-spiritual level.
In the West, there were conflicts between advocates of herbal and "chemical" pharmacy, but in China, mineral remedies were always accepted. In Europe, there were conflicts between alchemists who favored gold-making and those who thought medicine the proper goal, but the Chinese always favored the latter. Since alchemy rarely achieved any of these goals, it was an advantage to the Western alchemist to have the situation obscured, and the art survived in Europe long after Chinese alchemy had simply faded away.
Origins
Despite much research, many scholars are still unable to marshal conflicting evidence in order to determine when exactly Chinese alchemy started. It was thought that China was making gold about one thousand years before Confucius' time, but this is contradicted by other academics stating that during the 5th century BCE there was no word for gold and that it was an unknown metal in China.However, despite the uncertain origins, there are enough similarities in the ideas of practices of Chinese alchemy and the Daoist tradition so that one can conclude that Laozi and Zhang Daoling are the creators of this tradition. In her article, Radcliffe tells that Zhang rejected serving the Emperor and retreated to live in the mountains. At this time, he met Laozi and together they created the Elixir of Life, by creating the theory that would be used in order to achieve the making of such an elixir. This is the starting point to the Chinese tradition of alchemy, whose purpose was to achieve immortality.
One of the first evidence of Chinese alchemy being openly discussed in history is during the Qin's First Emperor's period when Huan Kuan states how modifying forms of nature and ingesting them will bring immortality to the person who drinks them. Before Huan Kuan, the idea of alchemy was to turn base metals into gold. Conflicting research on the origins of alchemy are further demonstrated by Cooper, who claims that alchemy "flourished well before 144 BCE, for at that date the Emperor issued an edict which ordered public execution for anyone found making counterfeit gold". This suggests that people were well aware of how to heat the metals in order to change them into a desired form. A further counter to Pregadio from Cooper is the latter's contention that an emperor in 60 BCE had hired "a well-known scholar, Liu Hsiang, as Master of the Recipes so that he could make alchemical gold and prolong the Emperor's life." All of these conflicting origins considered, it is nearly impossible to claim any absolute knowledge on the origins of Chinese alchemy. However, historical texts of Daoist teaching include alchemical practices, most of which posit the existence of an elixir or the Golden Elixir that, when ingested, gives the drinker eternal life.
As there is a direct connection between Daoism and Laozi, some suggest he played a major role in the creation of Chinese alchemy. Zhou Dynasty philosopher Zou Yan is said to have written many of the alchemical books, although none of them have ever been found, nor have the existing ones been credited to him. The likeliest proponents of Chinese alchemy are as previously stated, Laozi, and Zhang Daoling as well as Zhuangzi. Each of these men are major icons in Daoist teachings. Although these three are credited with the creation of alchemy, there is no definitive proof to suggest or dispute that they were responsible for its creation.
Yin and Yang
The concept of yin-yang is pervasive throughout Chinese alchemical theory. Metals were categorized as being male or female, and mercury and sulphur especially were thought to have powers relating to lunar and solar respectively.Prior to Taoist tradition, the Chinese already had very definitive notions of the natural world's processes and "changes", especially involving the wu xing: Water, Fire, Earth, Metal and Wood. These were commonly thought to be interchangeable with one another; each were capable of becoming another element. The concept is integral, as the belief in outer alchemy necessitates the belief in natural elements being able to change into others. The cyclical balance of the elements relates to the binary opposition of yin-yang, and so it appears quite frequently.