Neidan(Nei Tan)

“…resembling Metal, but not ordinary metal,

resembling Water but no ordinary water.”

Jintan Dayao c. 1331

North

←WATERWinter

West↓METAL

AutumnTiger

CenterEARTH→Mid-summer

EastWOOD ↑

SpringDragon

South

FIRE ↓Summer

5 Agents 五行

Correspondences and Cycle of Mutual Production

8 Trigrams

Mountain, Keeping Still

Water The Abysmal

Heaven, The Creative

Lake, The Joyous

Earth,

The Receptive

Fire,

The Clinging

Wind , The Gentle

Thunder, The Arousing

KenK’anCh’ienTuiK’unLiSunChen

The Two Realms

• Anterior Realm– congenital

– inherited from parents, ancestors

– e.g., qi in kidneys

• Posterior Realm– acquired

– natural elements (food) taken into the body,

– e.g., Grain qi in spleen

Anterior HeavenPosterior Heaven

S S

N N

Anterior Realm

Ch’ien

(constant)

Li (resonance) K’an

K’un

8 Trigrams and Yin-YangAnterior Heaven Arrangement

Li

Chen

K’un

Ken

K’an

Sun

Ch’ien

Tui

The Posterior RealmThe world out of joint:

Li (S)

K’un

Ch’ien

K’an (N)

Neidan Reversion

• Freedom and Necessity

• Pre-natal: Ch’ien over K’un

• Post-natal: Li over K’an

• Identify in body– True Yang, True Yin

– Vital mercury, vital lead

Distilling the Enchymoma

K’AN trigram—yang (vital lead) within yinTiger with boy

LI trigram --yin (vital mercury) within yangDragon with maiden

Cauldron (earth)

Bringing Forth the Fire

Post-natal Inversion

S S

Li

K’an

K’an

Li

N N

Reconstitutionwith True Yang and True Yin

S SK’un

Ch’ien

N N

K’an

Li