Cultivation and Health
PracticesInner alchemy, visualization, movement, diet, and historical health terminology. This directory lists public entries assigned to this category, organized by knowledge entity and page.
- Inner alchemy
- External alchemy and diet
- Visualization and movement
- Breathing and firing phases
- Historical health practices
Cultivation and Healthentries
Baduanjin
八段錦, Eight Pieces of Brocade, Eight-Section BrocadeBaduanjin, often called the Eight Pieces of Brocade, is a group of traditional Chinese movement and breath-cultivation routines organized around eight sections. Historical sources record multiple seated and standing forms; the name does not guarantee a single fixed sequence or origin.
Eight-Trigram Cultivation Method
八卦行功法, Bagua Xinggong FaBagua xinggong fa is the name of a bodily cultivation routine described in a source associated with Li Qingyun. Its presentation links the method to the Eight Trigrams and to an older Eight Brocades tradition, but those lineage claims are part of the source's account.
Bashi (Eight Stones)
八石, Bashi, Eight Alchemical MineralsBashi, the Eight Stones, may denote a set of minerals in waidan literature, but the actual eight vary by work. Neidan commentators also explain the phrase symbolically through the body, qi, or the eight trigrams. Some named substances are toxic; these lists are not recipes.
Baihu Shoujing
白虎首經Baihu shoujing is a contested expression in internal-alchemy commentaries on the Wuzhen Pian. Explanations differ over whether it signifies primordial qi, an alchemical substance, or a sexualized reading of 'first' essence.
Baixue
白雪, Baixue in AlchemyBaixue has several meanings in alchemical texts: a reported white visual image, an inner-alchemy image associated with mercury or an elixir, and a name for an external-alchemy substance. Genre must be identified first.
Bigu
辟穀, Grain AvoidanceBigu, literally 'avoiding grains,' is a historical Chinese practice of restricting staple foods, often described alongside Daoist cultivation and longevity beliefs. It is not necessarily abstention from all food.
Biqi
閉氣, Breath RetentionBiqi is a historical term in Daoist breathing literature. Its interpretations range from deliberately holding the breath to letting breathing become quiet without force.
Bianhua Zhi Shu
變化之術, Arts of TransformationBianhua zhi shu refers to Daoist accounts of techniques or powers of transformation. Texts use it for changes in a person, in objects, or in the perceived order of nature.
Bu Lou Jing Jue
不漏精訣, Formula of Not Losing Essence, Conserving Jing in Daoist WritingsBu Lou Jing Jue is a historical label in some Daoist longevity and inner-alchemy writing for conserving jing, or vital essence. Associated statements about sexual behavior and health are not modern medical advice or guarantees of longevity.
Buqi
布氣, Bu QiBuqi can describe the spreading of qi through the cosmos or a historical claim that one person conveyed qi to another for healing. The latter is not evidence of medical effectiveness.
Choutian
抽添, Withdrawal and AdditionChoutian, literally 'withdrawing and adding,' is an internal-alchemy term for paired changes described in nature and in the symbolic refinement of the practitioner.
Cunsi
存思, Cun Si, CunxiangCunsi, also called cunxiang, is a Daoist term for mentally attending to deities, the body, or cosmic images. The objects and explanations differ among scriptures; no single sequence of exercises represents every cunsi tradition.
Cunxiang
存想, Daoist VisualizationCunxiang is a Daoist term for concentrated imagining or visualization. In general Chinese it can also mean thinking about or imagining something without a religious technique.
Da Xiao Zhoutian
大小周天, Great and Small Celestial CirculationsDa Xiao Zhoutian is a pair of later inner-alchemy terms. Accounts distinguish smaller and greater circulation through qi and shen, lesser and greater return, or body and cosmos; these are not one universal physiological route.
Great Medicine
大藥, Dayao, Great ElixirGreat Medicine, or dayao, is not one fixed substance in Daoist alchemical writing. The Chinese sources use it for essence, qi, and spirit; for a stage or result of inner alchemy; and, in some external-alchemy accounts, for an elixir. Its meaning depends on the author and method described.
Dazhoutian
大周天, Dazhoutian in Inner AlchemyDazhoutian is an inner-alchemy term for a large-scale cycle or phase. It is often related to Daheche, but texts differ in routes, timing, and symbolic emphasis.
Dandao (Way of the Elixir)
丹道, Dandao, Elixir WayDandao is a broad name for Daoist elixir traditions. Modern usage often emphasizes inner alchemy, while historical texts can also encompass external alchemy, elixir theory, and different accounts of xing and ming. It does not name one unchanging method or lineage.
Grades and Methods of Alchemy
丹品丹法, Danpin DanfaDanpin danfa denotes schemes for ranking and describing alchemical methods. The Chinese entry compares classifications attributed to different authors rather than defining one standard hierarchy accepted by all Daoist traditions.
Cinnabar
丹砂, Dansha, ZhushaCinnabar, called dansha or zhusha in Chinese, is a red mineral composed of mercury sulfide (HgS). It was important in historical external alchemy and acquired many symbolic names in Daoist texts. Older medicinal and immortality claims about it are descriptions of past belief, not advice to ingest it.
Dantian
丹田, Elixir Field, Cinnabar FieldDantian is a Daoist term for a bodily center in writings on cultivation and inner alchemy. Sources commonly distinguish upper, middle, and lower dantian, but give different locations and symbolic roles; a dantian is not a single universally agreed anatomical organ.
Dantou
丹頭, Inner-Alchemy DantouDantou is a term in Daoist inner-alchemy commentary. Some authors discuss it as a basis in language about inner and outer 'medicines'; another source equates it with jing, qi, and shen. It is not an identified pharmaceutical substance.
Danyuan
丹元, Danyuan in Daoist Body LiteratureDanyuan can name a heart spirit or a center in a Daoist symbolic body map. Texts place that center differently, so the meanings cannot be collapsed into one anatomical location.
Daoyin
導引, Guided Movement, Guiding and StretchingDaoyin is an old Chinese name for guided bodily movement, sometimes combined with breathing, stretching, or massage. Daoist traditions adopted and developed it, but it also appears in broader early Chinese health literature. No one sequence of movements defines all daoyin.
Dinglu
鼎爐, Cauldron and Furnace, DingqiDinglu can designate vessels used in historical outer alchemy, a metaphor for the locus of transformation in inner-alchemy writings, or a Daoist incense vessel. Its referent depends on context.
Eastern School of Inner Alchemy
東派, Dong Pai, Eastern SchoolThe Eastern School is a name for an inner-alchemy approach associated with Lu Xixing in the Ming Jiajing period. Its texts discuss yin and yang and paired cultivation, but the sources do not establish a continuous formal religious organization under that name.
Erba
二八, Two Eights in Daoist AlchemyErba, literally a pair of eights, evokes balance through the older sixteen-liang pound in alchemical writing. It may also denote a timely condition or an age of sixteen; its sense depends on context.
Twenty-Four Body Deities
二十四神, Twenty-Four Spirits, Twenty-Four ShenThe Twenty-Four Body Deities are figures imagined within the human body in Daoist visualization traditions. They are commonly organized as three groups of eight, associated with regions and organs of the body.
Fangzhong Shu
房中術, Bedchamber ArtsFangzhong shu, often called the 'bedchamber arts,' is a historical category of Chinese writings on sexuality, restraint, and longevity. Its place within Daoist traditions changed across periods and schools.
Fangzhong Medicinal Substances
房中藥物, Fangzhong SubstancesFangzhong medicinal substances are foods, herbs, and applied materials described in historical sexual-cultivation and medical texts. Claims about arousal, health, and treatment vary and do not establish safety or efficacy.
Lungs in Medical and Daoist Texts
肺, Lungs, FeiThe lungs are respiratory organs involved in gas exchange. Traditional medical and Daoist writing also use lung-related qi and Five Phases language, which should not be equated directly with modern physiology or used for self-treatment.
Fuqi
服氣, Ingesting Qi, Taking in QiFuqi is a historical Daoist breath-cultivation term, often glossed as taking in or ingesting qi. Sources also call related practices shiqi or xingqi. The names overlap, but particular texts differ in what they mean by taking in qi and how they relate it to inner cultivation.
Fushi
服食, Ingestion PracticesFushi can mean clothing and food in ordinary Chinese. In the history of Daoist cultivation, it refers to the ingestion of substances such as herbs, minerals, or elixirs in pursuit of longevity.
Guaqi (Hexagram–Season Correspondence)
卦氣, Gua Qi, Hexagram QiGuaqi relates hexagram patterns from the Yi tradition to seasons, months, and other calendrical cycles. Some alchemical writings later use this correspondence to discuss huohou, or timing and phases. It is a historical correlative model, not a demonstrated physiological law.
Guanyuan
關元Guanyuan may designate dantian or dazhongji in Daoist body discourse, the navel in one Huangting commentary, and an acupuncture-point name in medical literature. These textual senses should not be collapsed.
Hehe Sixiang
和合四象, Harmonizing the Four ImagesHehe Sixiang is an inner-alchemy expression for integrating four symbolic elements. The four may be water, fire, metal, and wood; the four directional creatures; or sets linked to senses and aspects of the person, depending on the work.
Breathing (Huxi)
呼吸, Huxi, RespirationHuxi ordinarily means breathing, the alternation of exhalation and inhalation. In Daoist and other cultivation writing it can also refer to deliberate breath-related practices, while literary Chinese uses the word in several figurative senses.
Huandan
幻丹, illusory elixir in inner-alchemical discourseHuandan, in this context, is an inner-alchemical term for a supposed attainment judged illusory by an author. It is neither a chemical substance nor a medical diagnosis.
Huangbai
黃白, gold-and-silver alchemyHuangbai is a term in external alchemy associated with the yellow and white of gold and silver, artificial lookalikes, and later symbolic interpretations. Historical claims do not establish that real precious metals were produced.
Huangpo
黃婆, Yellow Mediator, Yellow MatronHuangpo is a multivalent metaphor in Daoist alchemical writings. Inner-alchemy authors use it for a mediating role linked to central earth, intention, or body imagery; outer-alchemy texts may apply it to materials in a process.
Huangting
黃庭, Yellow CourtHuangting, often rendered 'Yellow Court,' is a Daoist term for a center or inner locus described in several ways in scripture and commentary. It does not name one fixed anatomical structure.
Yellow Sprout
黃芽, Huangya, Yellow ShootYellow Sprout, or huangya, is an alchemical name associated with a valued substance described through lead and transformation. Some texts also use it for primordial qi within the body. These historical meanings should not be mistaken for a verified elixir or a modern health product.
Huohou
火候, Firing TimesHuohou literally concerns the degree and timing of fire. In Daoist alchemy it can describe furnace management in external alchemy or the order and measure of symbolic processes in internal alchemy.
Huo Zishi (Living Zi Hour)
活子時, Living Zi Time, Living Midnight in NeidanHuo zishi is an inner-alchemical use of 'zi hour' for a perceived beginning of yang. The adjective 'living' marks a context-dependent opportunity rather than the fixed midnight period on a clock. Historical interpretations differ.
Jiaoli Huozao
交梨火棗, Immortal Pear and Fire Date imageryJiaoli huozao is a pair of fruit images in Daoist writings. They appear in accounts of immortals' medicines, images of inner cultivation, and alchemical names for mercury and lead. None of these usages identifies an ordinary fruit to seek or consume.
Jindan
金丹, Golden ElixirJindan, commonly rendered 'golden elixir,' has different meanings in Daoist external and internal alchemy. Its use must be read in the period and context of a particular text.
Jinding and Yuchi
金鼎玉池, Golden Cauldron and Jade Pool, Jinding YuchiJinding and Yuchi are paired images in neidan literature. Commentators may use them to discuss heart and body, self and other, or firmness and pliancy. The pair is not a fixed anatomical diagram or a practice schedule.
Jinjiang Yuli
金漿玉醴, Golden Liquid and Jade Nectar, Jinjiang and YuliJinjiang Yuli has two uses in alchemical literature: a legendary external-alchemy substance and a later metaphor for saliva. The uses should not be merged into a substance or taken as advice to ingest anything.
Jinjing in Daoist Alchemy
金精, Golden Essence, Gold EssenceJinjing is a variable term in neidan and related Daoist writings. Depending on the source it may symbolize original yang, refer to a fluid, serve as a code word for essence or qi, or name the kidney. It is not one measurable anatomical entity.
Jinye Huandan
金液還丹, Golden Liquid Returned ElixirJinye huandan is an internal-alchemy term whose 'golden liquid' and 'returned elixir' are interpreted differently across Daoist texts. It does not identify one uniform substance or procedure.
Jing, Qi and Shen
精氣神, Jing Qi Shen, Jing, Qi, ShenJing, qi and shen form a linked vocabulary for understanding life in Daoist cultivation. Often introduced as essence, qi and spirit, they describe interdependent aspects of a traditional account of the person rather than three separate modern anatomical substances.