Revealing the Secrets of Daoist Alchemy

Zhang Bo-Duan (984-1082) is venerated as one of the pioneers of Daoist internal alchemy, while Liu Yi-Ming (1734-1821) - a master of the 11th generation of the Dragon Gate lineage of the School of the Fullness of the True - gained fame as a brilliant interpreter and the best commentator of this complex and esoteric tradition. The book contains a complete translation into Russian of Liu Yi-Ming's general treatise on the language of alchemy "Resolution of Doubts about the Language of Images" and a small but concise classical text by Zhang Bo-Duan "Four Hundred Characters of Golden Cinnabar" with a parallel commentary by Liu Yi-Ming. These works reveal the essential meaning of traditional images of internal alchemy and describe the entire alchemical process of producing "golden cinnabar" from a genuine understanding, in simple and accessible language. The worldview in traditional Chinese cosmology is examined in the introductory article, along with a general outline of the textual tradition of the "Cinnabar Canons," starting with Wei Bo-Yang (2nd century).