(Cross-cultural roots of alchemical transmutation)
Mahaprajnaparamitashastra of Nagarjuna, was translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva over three centuries before the zenith of Arab alchemy which occurred during the life of Jabir ibin Hayyan, aka Geber around 760 CE. The discourse of Nagarjuna lists among the siddhi (miraculous powers) the transmutation of stone into gold and gold into stone.
(Circulation of the light as the central practice)
Circulation of the Light: “The work on the circulation of the light depends entirely on the backward-flowing movement, so that the thoughts are gathered together. …When the light circulates, the energies of the whole body appear before its throne. …You have only to make the light circulate: that is the deepest and most wonderful secret. The light is easy to move, but difficult to fix. If it is made to circulate long enough, then
it crystallizes itself; that is the natural spirit-body. In carrying out this fundamental principle you need to seek for no other methods, but must only concentrate your thoughts on it. When the light is made to move in a circle, all the energies of heaven and earth, of the light and the dark, are crystallized.
“…When one begins to apply this magic it is as if, in the middle of being, there were non-being. When in the course of time the work is completed, and beyond the body there is a body, it is as if, in the middle of non-being, there is being. …There develops the seed pearl. It is as if man and woman embraced and a conception took place. Then one must be quite still and wait. The circulation of the light is the epoch of fire.
The decision must be carried out with a collected heart, and not seeking success; success will then come of itself.
“…As soon as the heart stirs, there develops breath-energy. Breath-energy is originally transformed activity of the heart. …Since heart and breath are mutually dependent, the circulation of the light must be united with the rhythm of breathing. …Although the breath that flows in and out through the nose is not the true breath, the flowing in and out of the true breath takes place in connection with it.”
(The philosopher’s stone and alchemical medicine)
This philosopher’s stone created by artful diligence in the kitchen was to be crushed “into a marvelous powder, a gold
dust which ‘spread mistily like wind driven by rain’ through the five organs. The universal medicine freed its owner from all worldly miseries. New teeth would grow, dark hair would cover the old man’s baldness, and his sick wife would regain perfect health.”
“But this symbol of the fiery bolt, in exactly the same form, is the normal attribute of a certain aspect of Buddhahood, known as the BuddhaVajradhara, ‘Bearing the Bolt,’ who stands for that Supreme Illumination of which the Buddhas who appear in time and space are but the visible manifestations. Such a bolt may appear in the Buddha’s hand or engraved upon his chest, where it signifies ‘the weapon or substance of adamantean truth and reality, compared with which all other substances are fragile.’ The Sanskrit term vajra means both ‘thunderbolt’ and ‘diamond.’ As a diamond cannot be cut by other stones, so do all things fall before the bolt; they belong to the merely phenomenal sphere and can offer no resistance.
(Stages of the alchemical process: nigredo and albedo)
Negredo is the dark stage, the natural process of decay and putrefaction; the color is black. The old alchemists called it the raven’s head. It is not enjoyable and involves negative feelings unrelated to the happenings of daily life. Negredo imbues moods of depression, futility, failure, apathy, abandonment and the loss of clarity. The conscious operator knows this is the symptom heralding the decay of the first matter (old worldview).
Albedo is the bright stage; the color is white. Alchemists sometimes describe the prelude to the white stage as the peacocks tail because a full spectrum of colors appear heralding the emergence of the white queen.
That comes from the fact that when you think you must exclude feeling, just as when you feel you must exclude thinking…
When you study the expression or the eyes of intuitive people, you will see that they only glance at things—they do not look, they radiate at things because they take in their fullness, and among the many things they perceive they get one point on the periphery of their field of vision and that is the hunch.”
(Heart, breath, and the inner circulation of light)
“Master Lu-tsu said, The decision must be carried out with a collected heart, and not seeking success; success will then come of itself… Breathing comes from the heart. What comes out of the heart is breath. As soon as the heart stirs, there develops breath-energy. Breath-energy is originally transformed activity of the heart. When our ideas go very fast they imperceptibly pass into fantasies which are always accompanied by the drawing of a breath, because this inner and outer breathing hangs together like tone and echo. Daily we draw innumerable breaths and have an equal number of fantasies. And thus the clarity of the spirit ebbs away as wood dries out and ashes die. [The Chinese character for ‘breath’ (hsi) is made up of the character tzu, ‘of,’ ‘self,’ and the character hsin, ‘heart’ or ‘consciousness.’ Wilhelm] “So, then, should a man have no imaginings in his mind? One cannot be without imaginings. Should one not breathe? One cannot do without breathing. The best way is to make a medicine of the illness. Since heart and breath are mutually dependent, the circulation of the light must be united with the rhythm of breathing. For this light of the ear is above all necessary. There is a light of the eye and a light of the ear. The light of the eye is the united light of the sun and moon outside. The light of the ear is the united seed of sun and moon within. The seed is thus the light in crystallized form. Both have the same origin and are different only in name. Therefore, understanding (ear) and clarity (eye) are one and the same effective light.
“How to use the heart correctly during breathing must be understood. It is a use without use. One should only let the light fall quite gently on the hearing. This sentence contains a secret meaning. What does it mean to let the light fall? It is the spontaneous radiation of the light of the eyes. The eye looks inward only and not outward. To sense brightness without looking outward means to look inward; it has nothing to do with an actual looking within. What does hearing mean? It is the spontaneous hearing of the light of the ear. The ear listens inwardly only and does not listen to what is outside.
(Practical instructions for the inner circulation: inhalation and exhalation)
An excellent one, Taoist Yoga Alchemy and Immortality, by Lu K’uan Yu, is a profound training manual intended to develop Qi (chi), Jing (ching) and Shen energy in the practiser through physio-psychic breathing exercises.
The inhalation: Use your imagination and think of separating the subtle spirit of life-energy from the gross matter, the molecules of oxygen, as you inhale. Inhale gently through the nose with your tongue tip touching the roof of your mouth. Imagine the spirit separating from the air and arcing above your tongue filling the brain and traveling down your spine as you complete the inhalation. Spirit descending upon the air ignite the fire of life; energize imagination, inspiration and vitality. The spirit will pulse up and down your spine. Hold it at the bottom. Then exhale slowly.
The exhalation: Move your tongue tip from the roof of your mouth to the bottom front gums below your teeth. Then exhale slowly through your mouth while imagining the energy pulse you held in your groin region is steaming upward through your organs bathing them in warm moisture. As the exhalation ends the steaming “water of life” condenses into an energy cloud-body focused in the front of your mind—you’ll feel it as pulsations in the hemispheres of your brain.. Body rising through the earth fortify the water of life; manifest strength, determination, will-power and health. Body rises like warm moisture through
viscera inducing a pulsing sensation as it saturates various nerve plexi on its trip to the top. Body condenses in the field of imagination. With the next inhalation Spirit joins Body and the spirit-body circulates again. Practicing this simple Inner Circulation calms the body, reduces stress and focuses the mind. Progress is slow but steady with daily practice. The Inner Circulation becomes akin to nutrition. With proper nutrition a person functions optimally and considers this level of performance to be normal. Poor nutrition becomes manifest as below normal performance. Likewise the Inner Circulation occasions enhanced levels of personal functioning that are so gradual the operator considers them to be normal. The operator notices a decline after missing the Inner Circulation for a few days and returns to it, the same as returning to good nutrition, in order to regain optimum normal performance levels.
(The elixir, the crown, and the portal between worlds)
“The crystalline ‘dew’ described by St. John and the oceans above the heavens indicated in the opening verses of Genesis are not without their physiological correspondences in the human body. The Ocean of Eternity and the Milky Way—are these not again hints as to the crystalline ‘dew’ of the adepts? The amrita, or the ‘water of immortality,’ was obtained, according to the Vedas, from the churning of the great ocean. The word means literally, ‘deathless.’ Here is the elixir of life of the alchemists.
When these four fields activate a void point opens at the crown of the head. The void potential intensifies as the fields activate then extend from the head. If power is increased to the next threshold output the vortex fields configured by the Lateral ventricles unfold downward along the sides of the body. Then the void potential at the crown point on the head becomes extremely intense accompanied by a powerful sensation of emptiness. As the extended Lateral ventricle fields unfold sweeping downward the void point expands. Then the sensation of a vacuum powerfully pulling against the unfolding ventricle “wings” becomes so great that a shaft opens in the void point. It rises about one foot from the crown of the head. A brilliant ray of finely focused light sweeps out and It looks upon Itself. It sees Itself in your life, an eye for an I. And you are It, but It is more than you. If the Circulation can be maintained at that level one may see the shaft is a portal and the energy cycling through you is shaped like a tall thin donut. The vortex shaft is opened in the center of the donut which is in the long channel of the Inner Sea that courses through the spinal column. The wings of the Lateral ventricles, Supreme Ultimate and Immaterial Spirit hold the portal open. The field at the base of the skull stabilizes the portal shaft. And the floating Point between the eyes navigates the portal. This portal is the bridge between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm: between space/time and eternity. Through the floating Point one may navigate the bridge and thus the Universe as well.
(The cosmic egg, the void, and the origins of existence)
Beneath the surface of the cosmic egg qualities are fused akin to microcosmic plasma. This fusion is the transcendent mystery of the great mother Void Chaos. At the center of the cosmic egg is ONE Eternal Point that is No-Thing, the great father of All, from which your eternal essence springs.
Power erupts tremendously through the Point of absolute void. It rises through the gate and looks at Itself in the Microcosm. When It scans the surface of the cosmic egg all qualities that penetrate every thing can be known. And through this all things can be known.
Since No-thingness is the essential nature of It; this great mystery is absolutely unknowable. The first thing clinging to the NOthing is energy. Energy is absolutely subtle and as such does not exist outright but emanates Power which is pure persistence. Clinging to the pure persistence is pure substance. In this pure undifferentiated form the Power-Substance plasma surrounds the Point of NOthingness. Power and substance are Qualities of It. Qualities are subjectivities that gauge Power and feel Substance. Congealing at the Power-Substance plasma boundary is the surface of the Cosmic Egg. The surface is the interface between the undifferentiated plasma and the individualization of matter-energy matrices in space/time.
The Universe consists of the eternal dimensionless Microcosm and the relative space/time continuation of It in the Macrocosm. This mysterium conjuctionis comes about through the absolute emptiness of ultimate Entropy. When NOthing exists Entropy is absolutely empty. In this state Entropy absolutely desires to be filled with a yearning so complete that NOthing comes into Entropy. This seed of NOthing penetrates Entropy and since NOthing evolves the coming is completely contained in the evolving womb of Energy. This womb of Energy thus penetrated by the NOthing evolves Matter. In this way Energy and Matter exist as plasma evolving power and substance qualities from the coming of NOthing into Entropy.