What Is Neidan (Internal Alchemy) – and What Not?

A Clear Beginning

by Prof. Dr. Dan KJ Vercammen

I’ll let you in on a secret: if it’s Chinese and it’s ancient, it’s never simple. Chinese culture is a hug

e and complicated thing, in which everything is interconnected. And so, the answer to the question “What is Neidan (Internal Alchemy)?” needs more than a few words. Not wanting to complicate things too much for this first post, I do simplify some things in this text. Indulge me.

Let’s start with the Chinese graphs: 內丹. Nei (內) refers to internal, meaning inside something or someone. Dan (丹) means cinnabar, a mineral that contains mercury and is used for producing the color cinnabar or vermillion and was used in experimental alchemical recipes. “Internal cinnabar” would be the literal interpretation of the Chinese characters and “internal alchemy” the more common interpretation. Nei is the opposite of wai (外), external, and there is also a waidan, or external cinnabar.

Why do we use “alchemy” to translate “dan”? A bit of history can explain. “Alchemy” is a word that was probably derived from ancient Greek and reached us through Arabic sources. It is used to describe the skill to transmute metals and the art of prolonging life or attaining immortality. The main types of alchemy we know about are Egyptian, Chinese, and Western European. Although there are some different views and different practices involved, they have a lot in common and therefore we can call the Chinese practices “alchemy”. When the Chinese actively sought ways to transform metal ores and other elements, they discovered that cinnabar was an important element. From historical written sources (such as the Baopuzi, the book The Master Who Embraces Simplicity, from the first half of the 4th century) we know that it formed part of experimental alchemical recipes. The practice of alchemy using mainly external means is referred to as danshu (cinnabar skill/techniques) or waidan (external alchemy).

However, alchemical experiments proved to be costly and dangerous. The recipes served to prepare potions or pills that were taken to deliver immortality. As the alchemists found out, certain ingredients, such as mercury and lead, are poisonous, and this accelerated the development of alchemical methods that refrained as much as possible from using external ingredients. Instead, alchemists replaced them by internal means (e.g. breath and hormones). These internal practices flourished from the late Tang and early Song dynasties (10th—11th centuries) onwards and gradually replaced the external version completely. Hence neidan was born.

Now, why do we usually talk about the golden cinnabar (金丹 jindan in Chinese) and not so much about neidan? It's a matter of choice. Jindan seems to be what the alchemists of old used themselves, neidan being the more modern variant. Jindan (golden cinnabar) also contains “jin” (gold), which is the substance both the experimental and the internal practitioners wanted to create and so, it expresses better what alchemy is all about.

In the course of its long history, Chinese alchemy has gone through different changes, creating several traditions, practices, and views in the process. When Chinese alchemy was discovered by Westerners, people wanted to compare it to the Western versions, but also wanted to adapt it to their own ideas and experiences. In general, this kind of attitude leads to not willing nor being able to grasp what the originals convey. Reasons? Some simple answers. First, you need to understand the different things you are going to compare thoroughly for your comparison to be valuable. Secondly, you cannot just rely on translations of texts to understand Chinese alchemy, because the alchemical classical Chinese language used in the texts and oral/practical transmissions is a very special type of Chinese. You need a great amount of explanation and cultural background information. Thirdly, even in China there are very few knowledgeable and experienced alchemists, by which I mean people who have gone through the whole alchemical process and who are not mere theoreticians or qigong practitioners. We see that we now have “new” (Western, Chinese, and other) interpretations that don’t match the Chinese sources and that many (even scholarly) Chinese studies of the alchemical literature and practices are mainly based on texts and not on actual embodied knowledge.

I’ll mention a few problematic interpretations to clarify what neidan is not and then tell you what it actually is.

Chinese, as well as other alchemy, is often regarded as the search for artificial gold (and become rich?). Only a non-alchemist can see things this way. Even the experimental alchemists didn’t want to make gold for the gold itself. They were looking for the key to understand the productive and creative possibilities of the universe, knowing that the one who understands and can use these powers holds the potential to live forever.

One of the most common misconceptions is that Chinese alchemy is Taoist. It is an established fact that Taoists were very important in the development of Chinese alchemy and hold it in very high regard, but it is also essential to acknowledge that Confucianists, Buddhist monks, and Chinese scholars in general contributed to the practices and written content of alchemy. One of the most influential figures in the history of neidan is Zhang Boduan, a Song dynasty Confucianist official, Buddhist master, and Taoist-inspired alchemist. His teaching led to the development of all other existing traditions, of which some are more Buddhist than Taoist, for instance.

Some so-called experts tell us that Chinese alchemy is self-cultivation. I consider this to be a very unfortunate denomination. Cultivation, yes, it is, in the sense that the practice helps the development of a new kind of functioning of the body, but it doesn’t cultivate the self, since practicing is about losing the self as a prerequisite to unite with Dao or reach Buddhahood.

Others believe that Chinese alchemy is a kind of meditation. Although meditative practices are part of neidan practice, it is not a kind of meditation. Instead, alchemy is about literally transforming the body and mind by deeply changing the way the body works. The practitioner who succeeds looks different and her/his body fundamentally functions differently. (S)he also thinks differently and feels differently, and partly this can also be achieved up to a certain level by serious meditative practice, but not as profoundly as through alchemical techniques.

Now, if it is not solely Taoist, not meditation nor self-cultivation, what is it then? It is a collection of practices coming from different spiritual (e.g. Taoist and Buddhist) and technological (metallurgy, medicine) origins that the alchemists themselves call “transforming through refining” (煉化 lianhua), because of the transformative refinement of physical processes it causes in the practitioner's body. There should be very concrete results if it is true alchemy: transformed breathing, a resilient body and mind, a kind and stable personality, a greater creative potential and enhanced intellect, to mention just a few.

In upcoming posts and in our courses we shall show you how it is done and we shall also warn you about how not to go about, since there is also such a thing as fake alchemy (幻丹 huandan), which only creates the illusion that things have changed.

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