A Few Words on the Way of the Elixir

丹道片語

Hello,

The Daoist tradition tells us that it is possible to live without difficulty, confusion and disease. All that one has to do is diminish misalignment and unify with the Dao.

This is done by moving through a gradual process of purifying the mind and refining energies within the body.

This is the Way of the Elixir (dandao, 丹道), otherwise known as internal alchemy (neidan, 內丹).

---

---

It is not complicated — it is very easy to understand and very easy to practise.

It centres around a simple method called guarding the centre. Guarding the centre means placing and regulating awareness within certain “locations”.

Lower levels of practice involve guarding centres within the body. These are not the highest paths, but they are orthodox ways of easing people into the art.

On the other hand, the true centre is utterly formless, it is the Dao itself, rather than any one of its myriad manifestations. It is this alone that great masters guard.

We start with lower levels of practice, and once adequate clarity and stillness are present, the higher levels of practice become accessible.

And so, it is through the direct art of guarding the centre that our entire being transforms — body and mind shift beyond that which most believe is possible.

Steal the mechanism, walk through the one opening of the mysterious gateway. Add your name to the register of Buddhas and immortals.

This is the true Way of the Elixir, this is the true path to the cessation of difficulty, disease and confusion.

With the correct teaching, anyone can practise it.

---

There is no such thing as a great master who resides within complexity. The great Dao is utmost simplicity. 大道至簡.

“That which is complex and difficult to understand is false and deceptive.”

— Li Daochun 李道純 — 13th century founder of the middle school (zhongpai, 中派)

道炁長存,

Oscar