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Foundations of Internal Alchemy

A clear description of the Taoist practice of Neidan

Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan

Wang Mu
Golden Elixir Press, 2011
Paperback ● PDF

Originally written for a Chinese audience, this book provides a clear description of the Taoist practice of Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. The author describes the stages of the alchemical practice and clarifies several relevant terms and notions. The book is based on the system of the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality), one of the main sources of Internal Alchemy, and is enriched by about two hundred quotations from original Taoist texts. Read more....

News from the Press

● The Seal of the Unity of the Three is now available in a hardcover edition and in an abridged PDF version, entitled "The Essential Cantong qi".

● Recently published: Vol. 2 of The Seal of the Unity of the Three, containing a study of the Cantong qi and its textual tradition.

● New web page: Selections from the Daode jing on the Taoist saint.

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Pictures and Tables

● Pictures and Tables on Taoism

● Pictures on Taoist Alchemy

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The Golden Elixir ▶ Taoism ▶ Pictures and Tables ▶ Yin-Yang and Eight Trigrams

Yin-Yang and Eight Trigrams

See also an essay on Yin and Yang

Dragon and Tiger

Yin (black) and Yang (white). The two inner dots represent Yin within Yang and Yang within Yin. Around the circumference are shown the eight trigrams (bagua), which in this case represent different stages in the cycles of increase and decrease of Yin and Yang (clockwise from the lower left corner: zhen, li, dui, qian, sun, kan, gen, and kun). Source: Hu Wei (1633-1714), Yitu mingbian (Clarifications on Charts Related to the Book of Changes; 1706), chapter 3.