Longevity & The Possibility of Immortality
An Introduction to the Two Mechanisms of Life Extension in Daoist Alchemy
Hello,
In this article, I will share some information about how Daoist alchemical practice leads to the extension of life and the possibility of immortality.
The language of Daoist alchemy is often complex and esoteric, but I’ve done my best to share it in a clear, grounded way, so that even beginners can begin to sense what’s possible.
Setting The Scene: The Human Body
A human being is composed of various substances that range from coarse to subtle.
The physical body is most coarse, beyond which exist the three internal treasures of essence, energy and spirit.
Essence is the coarsest of the three and exists closest the physical body, energy exists beyond it, and spirit exists furthest from the material world.
Each of the three treasures contain relatively coarse and relatively subtle aspects. The relatively coarse aspects are referred to as post-heaven; the relatively subtle aspects are referred to as pre-heaven.
So, for example, essence contains both post-heaven essence and pre-heaven essence, with post-heaven essence being coarser and pre-heaven essence being more subtle.
Within an ordinary human being, body and mind are largely sustained through post-heaven energies generated from food, drink and air.
However, as well as this post-heaven energy, we also run on a finite reserve of pre-heaven energy inherited from our parents at conception.
This inherited substance forms the constitutional basis of our vitality and determines the natural limits of our lifespan, strength, and resilience.
Over the course of a person’s lifespan, the limited amount of pre-heaven energy gifted from our parents gradually depletes, leading to ageing, decline, and eventually death.
However, in Daoist internal alchemy, a practitioner undertakes a process whereby energies are replenished, and transformed towards higher states.
There are two mechanisms whereby this takes place, the result of which is health, vitality, the extension of life and the possibility of immortality.
Mechanism One: Longevity
The first mechanism of energetic replenishment and refinement involves two key components, and culminates in longevity.
Component one is limiting the amount of essence, energy and spirit that is being used on a daily basis. This allows for the internal treasures to begin naturally accumulating within the body.
Component two is using the fire of awareness to heat the water of essence that is accumulating within the body, and therefore transform essence into energy.
More specifically, post-heaven essence transforms into pre-heaven essence (known as subtle yang), which then transforms into pre-heaven energy (known as true yang).
When pre-heaven energy has accumulated to a sufficient level, it begins to open an important circulation up the back and down the front of the torso. This is called the waterwheel, or the microcosmic orbit.
Through the microcosmic orbit, pre-heaven energies travel to the head region, where they merge with pre-heaven spirit. The two substances merge and travel down to the abdomen, where they coagulate to form the elixir.
After this, the elixir circulates through the microcosmic orbit, growing in strength and stability. The result is that all the energetic channels within the body open.
This is roughly as far as the first mechanism of energetic replenishment and refinement can take a practitioner in the alchemical process. I
Through the diminished leakage of the three treasures, accumulation of energies and opening of the channels, it is possible to attain a high degree of health, vitality and wellbeing.
However, to go beyond this point and attain the higher hanging fruit of the practice, we need to open the second mechanism, which we will turn to look at now.
Mechanism Two: Immortality
Mechanism one is only able to take us so far in the alchemical process because the pre-heaven energy generated through it is of limited quantity and limited quality.
So, to go further, we need to open mechanism two, which is more advanced.
Mechanism two involves entering into deep states of meditative stability, within which it is possible to directly gather very high level pre-heaven energies.
It is necessary to receive transmission of the One Opening of the Mysterious Pass in order to consistently and effectively enter this level of meditative stability.
The kind of very high level pre-heaven energy gathered in deep meditative stability is required to continue the alchemical process, which then moves into opening what is called the Central Yellow, or the Macrocosmic Orbit.
The Macrocosmic Orbit is almost universally misunderstood, because extremely few people ever reach the point of practising it.
It is via the Macrocosmic Orbit that the elixir transforms into the Lesser Reverted Elixir, into the Sacred Foetus, into the Greater Reverted Elixir, and eventually leaves the body as the Yang Spirit.
It is during the stage of the Macrocosmic Orbit that a practitioner achieves a variety of stages of what is referred to as immortality within Daoism.
One stage is referred to as Earthly Immortality, and it is the ability for the physical body to exist far beyond the maximum natural human lifespan of 120 years.
This begins to develop around the stage of the Sacred Foetus and culminates with attainment of the Greater Reverted Elixir.
The higher stage is referred to as Spiritual Immortality. It is the decoupling of pre-heaven spirit from the physical body, and the creation of a high-energy body that it can exist within instead. This is the Yang Spirt, and creation and formation of it is said to give freedom from birth and death.
When the physical body dies, the practitioner remains alive, existing through the new body that has been formed through cultivation.
Sources of Information
All information shared within this article comes from a traditional, Middle School alchemical lineage called Taiyi Xianzong, which holds the oral transmission of a 19th century master called Huang Yuanji. If you would like to know more about Daoist alchemy, feel free to get in touch.
Warm wishes,
Oscar
Great articule!
Oscar, do you mean “limited quality and limited quantity” in this translation?