Looking at Ancient "Elixirs of Immortality" Through the Daoist Formula Zhenling Dan
Daoism and TCM have deep roots; in China, the Yellow Emperor and Laozi are often spoken of together, and the TCM classic Huangdi Neijing is also an important Daoist scripture. Through every dynasty there have been no shortage of alchemical Daoists; these priests relied on their secret "elixirs of immortality" to treat people (especially the powerful), thereby earning economic reward and social status. So how were their elixirs refined? Could the "elixirs" they made really prolong life or raise dying patients from the dead?
Here I take Zhenling Dan as an example to introduce a Chinese Daoist elixir.
Zhenling Dan is a secret elixir formula included in the Daozang (Daoist Canon). It is said to have come from Wei Furen of Nanyue, the founder of the Shangqing school of Daoism. The Taiping Guangji contains a "Biography of Lady Wei," recording her story. Lady Wei, name Wei Huacun, courtesy name Xian'an, was from Rencheng, Shandong; she was born in the 4th year of the Jiaping era of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period (252 AD). It is said that from childhood she "loved the Dao, read widely among the hundred schools, was versed in the Five Classics of Confucianism, and was especially devoted to Laozi and Zhuangzi."
She once married Liu Wen of Nanyang, who was magistrate of Xiuwu. While living with Liu Wen at the county office, she began quiet cultivation; under the guidance of Taiji Zhenren An Duming and Qingxu Zhenren Wang Bao, she compiled an important Daoist work, the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Classic). Later she lived in seclusion on Yangluo Mountain in Henei and lived to 83. After her death, believers came to believe she had ascended to immortality and become a Zhenren (true person).
Lady Wei knew medicine; many Daoist alchemical formulas are said to have come from her hand. In China, a cultivated person skilled in medicine is easily deified after death. For example, the Medicine King temples built all over the country commemorate Sun Simiao, author of the Qianjin Fang; people in Shanxi still worship the great physician Fu Qingzhu as a god; and the Lady Wang worshipped at the top of Miaofeng Mountain in Mentougou, Beijing, was also a cultivated person who practiced medicine among the people. Lady Wei's deification was probably for this reason.
Lady Wei's Zhenling Dan is a formula for treating deficiency-exhaustion diseases; the Song dynasty official pharmacopoeia Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang included Zhenling Dan.
The composition and processing method of Zhenling Dan are: "Yuyuliang (limonite, calcined in fire and quenched in vinegar as many times as needed until it can be crushed between the fingers), Zishiying (fluorite), Chishizhi (halloysite), and Dinghou Zheshi (haematite, processed like Yuyuliang; note: i.e., today's Zheshi, ochre) each 4 liang. Take these four, break into small pieces, put in a crucible, seal with salt mud, let dry, calcine with ten jin of charcoal until red-hot, until the fire is exhausted; bury in an earth pit for two nights to remove the fire toxin. Dip Ruxiang (frankincense, separately ground), Wulingzhi (trogopterus dung, sand and stones removed, ground), and Moyao (myrrh, sand and stones removed, ground) each 2 liang; Zhusha (cinnabar, water-floated) 1 liang. Take the above eight ingredients in total, grind to a fine powder, make pills with glutinous rice flour boiled into a paste, as large as a small chicken head, and dry in the sun until glossy."
Zhenling Dan was in ancient times also called Zijin Dan; the Taiping Huimin Heji Jufang describes its characteristics and effects thus: "This elixir avoids using the flying and fleeing mineral and metallic herbs; it is neither excessive nor dry, seizing the harmonizing work of creation. It greatly treats men with exhausted primordial qi, the five consumptions and seven injuries, cold pain in the navel and abdomen, aching limbs, upper excess and lower deficiency, dizziness of head and eyes, vagueness of heart-spirit, declining qi and blood, as well as wind-stroke hemiplegia, inability of the hands and feet, contraction of sinews and bones, heaviness of the waist and knees, withered complexion and emaciated flesh, dim eyes and deaf ears, bitter mouth and dry tongue, tasteless eating, insufficiency of heart and kidney, slippery essence and nocturnal emissions, bladder hernial prolapse, dribbling strangury in the small intestine, frequent night sweats, chronic diarrhea and dysentery, vomiting with inability to eat, the eight winds and five impediments, and all deep-cold chronic ailments; taking it is as if by a spirit. It also treats women with insufficiency of qi and blood, uterine bleeding and deficiency-exhaustion, chronic cold vaginal discharge, and infertility due to a cold womb; taken, none fail to be cured. Taken regularly, it calms the heart-spirit, preserves complexion, warms the spleen and kidney, regulates the waist and knees, removes corpse-infestation and gu-poison, and wards off ghosts and evil noxious influences. Long-term use lightens the body and gradually enters the way of immortality."
This description has a strong Daoist color; we know that in China there have always been cultivated people taking elixirs, and even some emperors, such as Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Yongzheng, took elixirs, hoping they would grant immortality or ascent to the realm of the immortals.
According to this description, Zhenling Dan could almost raise the dead. Such a description is of course exaggerated; in the past, charlatan magicians, to make believers trust their miraculous cures, often used such language to describe the effects of their secret elixirs. In today's terms, this is all exaggerated and untrue propaganda.
But this formula is not without merit; it has the functions of stopping bleeding and enriching blood, and activating blood and resolving stasis, and has some effect on many diseases, such as functional uterine bleeding, intractable diarrhea and hematochezia.
The Chishizhi and Yuyuliang in this formula also appear in the Shanghan Lun. The Shanghan Lun has "Chishizhi Yuyuliang Tang," which Zhang Zhongjing used to treat xia-li (i.e., incessant diarrhea). Chishizhi and Yuyuliang are two mineral medicines; the main component of Chishizhi is aluminum silicate hydrate [Al4(Si4O10)(OH)8·4H2O], and that of Yuyuliang is basic iron oxide [FeO(OH)]. Both have the functions of stopping diarrhea and stopping bleeding; Yuyuliang also has the effect of supplementing iron and enriching blood in iron-deficiency anemia patients.
If this formula was truly handed down from Lady Wei, then it is a therapeutic formula already existing in the Three Kingdoms period. Zhang Zhongjing was also a figure of the Three Kingdoms period, which shows that at that time combining Chishizhi and Yuyuliang to treat bleeding disorders and diarrhea was known to many medical students.
Zhenling Dan is more complex than Chishizhi Yuyuliang Tang; besides Chishizhi and Yuyuliang, it also uses mineral medicines such as Zishiying, Zheshi and Zhusha.
The main component of Zishiying is calcium fluoride (CaF2), often mixed with trace iron oxide (Fe2O3). Traditional TCM holds that Zishiying has the effects of sedating, calming the spirit, and warming the uterus; modern pharmacological studies show that Zishiying excites the central nervous system and promotes ovarian secretion. Zishiying can supplement calcium, so it should also have the effect of strengthening sinews and bones. But as a fluoride, Zishiying has severe side effects with long-term use; it damages the teeth, bones, nerves, heart, kidneys and thyroid.
Zheshi is haematite, whose main component is iron oxide (Fe2O3). Traditional TCM holds that Zheshi pacifies the liver and extinguishes wind, downbears counterflow and stops bleeding, and can also treat tinnitus. Zheshi also supplements iron in iron-deficiency anemia patients. But haematite contains many impurities; long-term use is harmful to the body, and Zheshi may cause liver cancer.
Zhusha (cinnabar) is a highly toxic mercury preparation; TCM holds it has the effect of calming the spirit. The ancients commonly used cinnabar to refine elixirs, and Daoist elixirs especially favored it. The side effects of cinnabar are very severe and can be fatal; so in ancient times many people who took these elixirs did not gain longevity but instead shortened their lives.
Looking at these several components, Zhenling Dan has the effects of stopping diarrhea, stopping bleeding, enriching blood and supplementing calcium, so it can indeed treat diseases related to bleeding, diarrhea and anemia. In an age lacking modern blood-enriching agents, patients with deficiency-exhaustion diseases who took Zhenling Dan did indeed gain strength and improved quality of life.
TCM holds that chronic disease necessarily leads to deficiency, and chronic disease necessarily leads to stasis; therefore, in formulas for treating chronic disease, some blood-activating herbs are often used. Zhenling Dan's composition does not depart from this approach: Ruxiang, Moyao and Wulingzhi are all blood-activating analgesics. Removing stasis generates the new; using a small amount of blood-activating herbs can unblock the patient's vessels and improve blood circulation.
Modern pharmacological studies show that Zhenling Dan has an immune-promoting effect, promoting both thymic tissue and the formation of hemolytic plaques; the thymic tissue enlarged after taking Zhenling Dan is normal lymphoid tissue. This shows that Zhenling Dan can indeed improve patients' quality of life. But this formula contains many metallic and mineral medicines; long-term use easily injures the spleen and stomach, so those with weak spleen and stomach, or pregnant women, cannot take it.
When we study Zhenling Dan in this way, it is not hard to understand its formulation rationale and mechanism, nor to lift the mysterious veil from the "elixirs of immortality." Elixirs cannot, as they boast, cure all diseases or raise the dead, but they can indeed treat some diseases. With the help of modern science, we can also recognize the side effects of these "elixirs," and need not be overly superstitious about them.