By Ilia Mozias (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Praxis-Knowledge 2 (2025)
https://doi.org/10.61149/BUEL5004
Abstract: This two-part study examines the Jindan zhenchuan 金丹真傳 (Perfect Transmission of the Golden Elixir), a Ming-dynasty alchemical text often associated with sexual internal alchemy. The first part explores the text’s composition, commentary tradition, and doctrinal foundations centered on the interplay of yin and yang. It outlines the history and basic principles of sexual cultivation, but questions long-standing sexual interpretations of alchemical symbolism – highlighting both the rarity of explicit sexual methods in the literature and the tendency to interpret metaphors too literally. In this light, the Jindan zhenchuan stands out as a text that may suggest sexual practices, yet ultimately points in a different direction.
The study also reassesses the identity of the text’s authors, portraying them not as heirs to a secret lineage but as educated elites unaffiliated with any established alchemical tradition. Their aim was less to transmit hidden teachings than to restore access to the sacred world of Daoist immortals. The Jindan zhenchuan is thus best understood as a religious text, guiding ordinary practitioners toward transcendence and union with the gods on Mount Kunlun. Its final three stages, unfolding entirely in the divine realm, mark its distinctive vision of alchemical transformation through divine assistance.
The second part explores the Jindan zhenchuan’s cultivation method, modeled on the structure of the immortal world as a guide for human transformation. Though involving others, the practice is non-sexual and based on a unique vision of the body. Through ritual and visualization, the practitioner creates a “communal body” with assistants, using the technique of “sex at a distance” and the instrument tuoyue to enable contact without physical touch. Entering deep concentration, the practitioner withdraws from the external world, allowing the spirit to generate the elixir of immortality within this collective space. Ultimately, the Jindan zhenchuan reveals a complex vision of internal alchemy – one that integrates ritual, community, divine aid, and a reimagined understanding of the body.
Keywords: Daoism, Jindan zhenchuan, internal alchemy, sexual alchemy, communal body, ritual cultivation, immortality and transcendence
