Liu Yiming 劉一明 (1734–1821) is one of the main representatives of Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. He was an 11th-generation master of one of the northern branches of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage, and the author of a large number of works that present his teachings on Taoism and Neidan.
Read an article on Liu Yiming's life, works, and teachings.
(1) From Cultivating the Tao: Taoism and Internal Alchemy
These selections are quoted from:
People nowadays speak of the body and the mind, but they only know the illusory body and mind, and do not know the true body and mind.
Read this selection →The precelestial Yin and Yang are Being and Non-Being; the postcelestial Yin and Yang are the heart and the kidneys. The Yin and Yang of Being and Non-Being have no form; the Yin and Yang of the heart and the kidneys have images.
Read this selection →The main point is that this Opening is the utterly mysterious and utterly wondrous Barrier. Here life and death part from one another, and here the saintly and the ordinary separate from one another.
Read this selection →Essentially, in superior virtue one's body is intact and one's virtue is full, and the Yang of Qian ☰ has never been damaged. "Never been damaged" means that the precelestial Yang has never been damaged; it does not mean that the postcelestial body has not lost its integrity.
Read this selection →- "I Advise My Companions on the Way"
- "Doing" and "Non-Doing"
- The True and Illusory Body and Mind
- The Internal Companions
- "Laying the Foundations for Refining Oneself" (part 1)
- "Laying the Foundations for Refining Oneself" (part 2)
- Seeking Teachings
- The Great Undertaking
- Erroneous Practices (part 1)
- Erroneous Practices (part 2)
- Inquiring into the Principles
- Original Essence, Breath, and Spirit
(2) From the Commentary to the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality)
These selections are quoted from:
Those who fulfill both their nature and their existence, who have a body outside their body, whose form and spirit are both wondrous, who are joined in their reality with the Dao, are celestial immortals. . . . . Only the celestial immortals shed their illusory body and achieve a dharmākaya (fashen, the body of Buddhahood), go beyond creation and transformation, and are without birth and without death.
Read this selection →This innate knowledge of the celestial mind, this true knowledge of the mind of the Dao, can make one transcend the ordinary and enter sainthood, rise from death and return to life; therefore they are represented by the image of the Medicine.
Read this selection →(3) From the Commentary to the Cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three)
This selection is quoted from:
Fabrizio Pregadio
Golden Elixir Press
On the difference between "superior virtue" and "inferior virtue", and the reason why the gradual path of Neidan suits most human beings.
Read this selection →© Golden Elixir Press