When Master Chia began teaching in America, he founded Tao Yoga. As his teaching evolved and after he began writing books to complement his teaching, he founded Healing Tao U.S. After gaining worldwide recognition while continuing to evolve and further develop his teaching resources, he founded the Universal Tao Center at Tao Garden in Thailand.

Note: The following is written in pinyin (favored by modern Chinese) except key terms Tao = Dao, chi = qi, etc. from the Wade-Giles transcription system. These have been used in all my books, videos, and CD’s as a link to the previously used terms popularized in English. The Seven Formulas are described after some background discussion. At the end, these are followed by a list of the Eight Branches of the Great Tao.

Background Context
The seven stages of Taoist internal spiritual cultivation that I teach were originally transmitted to me by my master, Yi Eng (or I Yun)—meaning White Cloud or One Cloud in English. He had achieved the breatharian state, living on chi alone for some years, while living in a cave on Long White Mountain (Changbaishan) in northeastern China. During the Japanese War, White Cloud walked to southeastern China, and settled in the mountains behind Hong Kong in 1949. I studied with him there in the early 1960’s while I was a student in Hong Kong. Master Yi Eng told me to teach Westerners what he transmitted to me. White Cloud left his body at age 96.

White Cloud’s “Seven Alchemy Formulas to Achieve the True Immortal Self” are similar to those mentioned in thousand year old texts known as the Tao Canon (1160 books of the Taoist ‘bible’). These formulas are attributed to Lu Dong Bin, one of China’s revered Eight Immortals and the ‘patron saint’ of Inner Alchemy. The core methods themselves are undoubtedly thousands of years older, passed down by strict oral transmission and held in deepest secrecy. It took many generations of masters to refine the great spiritual truths into seven practical alchemical stages. These Seven Formulas are the spiritual crown jewels of Chinese civilization.

 Even today, most Chinese students—and Chinese chi kung and meditation teachers—do not have access to these inner alchemy methods. On one of my trips to China, I visited a well-known monastery near Huashan, one of the most sacred Taoist mountains in China. I discussed some of these alchemical formulas with one of the Tao priests. We had had many discussions about Taoism. So, I shared with him my own practice and the structure of the Seven Alchemy Formulas. He was shocked. “These are very secret methods,” he said. “There are very few Taoists in China who even know about these practices.”

He said the reason for keeping secrecy is because the ancients kept it secret. He also said, “Those who do learn these practices usually take a vow of secrecy. They believe the knowledge should be kept hidden except for one or two worthy students.” This is the Chinese way.

Global Spiritual Science For All
We are in a time period where formerly secret esoteric mysteries from many cultures are being shared. Perhaps these Inner Alchemy practices are surfacing in the West because cultural conditions are not currently conducive to their release in China. Thousands of years of tradition have preserved the alchemy practices, but the heavy burden of tradition today may be too great to allow change.

These practices are needed to stimulate the birth of a new global spiritual science for the benefit of all humanity. That is why these teachings are being publicly offered to sincere seekers in the West for the first time in history—without groveling at anyone’s feet. If you feel spiritually attracted to them and feel worthy within yourself to receive these teachings, then you deserve the right to learn them. Why should any human be denied the opportunity of achieving true spiritual independence?

A parallel tradition of Western internal alchemy also exists, but it has largely been lost or fragmented. The Taoist Water and Fire alchemy practices are more body-centered and thus more grounded and appropriate for Westerners at this time. They emphasize the “below” realizing the “above” that is hidden within itself. White Cloud’s Taoist Water and Fire approach translates into the liberation of the spirit hidden within matter-body and also the rebirthing of deep earth consciousness. It is the feminine discovering that yang fire is its true inner nature. These practices penetrate and resolve the problem of the body that plagues so many meditators seeking perfect union with spirit.

All meditation methods are wonderful gifts. These Inner Alchemy Formulas are special kinds of meditative gifts that are dynamic, accept the sexual nature of the body and seek to refine the entire body into an elevated spiritual state.

Inner Versus Outer Alchemy
Internal alchemy in China is called neidangong, or “inner elixir skill”. It is not to be confused with external alchemy, an art which arose much later during the Han Dynasty (200 BC) and involves the laboratory manipulation of substances external to the human body. Laboratory alchemy is more accurately described as a spagyric art rather than an alchemical art. External alchemy is a much later offshoot of internal alchemy. This position is accepted by such prominent scholars as Mircea Eliade in his history of alchemy, The Forge and the Crucible. There is a misconception floating about that internal alchemy was invented as a later alternative—because Taoist adepts and Emperors died from ingesting mercury.

Many modern people fantasize about Taoist immortality formulas and use it to spice up kung fu novels or add spiritual romance to movies. Armchair philosophers of the Tao love to speculate about its meaning, and play with its arcane symbols and code words. But how many have understood that this is an accessible human science, or have really experienced its reality, its power to shape and embody reality?

Integrating Immortality
The Taoist concept of immortality does not mean you live physically forever. Immortality means you achieve spiritual integration of your authentic self (zhenren). This integration is accomplished through the practice of these ‘Seven Formulas.’ Your ‘authentic self’ thus becomes immortal because it attains the power to survive the transition of physical death and continues its life in higher dimensions.

This process requires integrating the physical body’s sexual essence ching (jing), the energy body (chi), and the spirit body (shen) into a functional state of total openness (wu) to the multi-dimensionality of the present moment. The spiritual power of manifestation hidden within the sexual essence is most critical to cultivating what is known as a “golden light body” or the authentic immortal Self. Without the sexual essence being properly cultivated, the crystallization of one’s spirit does not occur.

Cultivating this high level of harmony and balance requires a progressive training of the body’s sexual essence (jing), the mind (chi), and the spirit (shen) within a state of total openness (wu). The purpose of the training is to accelerate transformations that might take Nature many lifetimes to accomplish. Inner Alchemy is a precise step-by-step process, and each step builds on the next.  Using White Cloud’s structure, I have added my own refinements based on study with many masters and over forty years of practice and teaching.

Part of the challenge of training Western students is to get them past the Chinese language problems that prevent easy access to alchemical practice. There are also English language problems that confuse spiritual development with vague or even false concepts.

SEVEN TAO ALCHEMY FORMULAS OF IMMORTALITY

Note: These formulas are best studied with a live teacher in a supportive ‘group cauldron,’ but that is not always possible. Book, audio cassette, video, CD or DVD support materials for many of the practices mentioned herein are available from the Universal Tao Center. However, we encourage home study students to attend live retreats at Tao Garden or elsewhere with me. Or, with a Universal Tao Instructor who may be available to teach in your area.

Here is my summary of the most valuable methods to pass through these seven stages.

BASIC PRACTICES
Purification, grounding, and centering through various forms of chi kung. Examples:

   • Energizer, Empty Force and Deep Abdominal Breathing to open the tan tien

   • Six Healing Sounds to purify organs

   • Chi Nei Tsang Massage (deep organ detoxification)

   • Iron Shirt, Internal Breathing and Rooting to Ground

   • Healing Love to harmonize, spiritually guide sexual energy and recharge inner sexual alchemy

•Tai Chi Chuan, Ba Gua Chuan, other internal martial arts to refine and express outward chi flow using body movement

• Wu Chi Chi Kung (Primordial Chi Kung) to return chi flow to its origin in the Wu Chi (Supreme Unknown).

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 1

1A. Inner Smile radiates Heart Presence of one’s spirit body into the physical body-mind and the larger body of humanity and nature. It is perhaps the simplest and thus most profound practice of all, used to integrate outer life with inner meditation.

1B. Microcosmic Orbit is used to contain and store chi of the Energy Body. It is a dynamic meditation creating a balanced, yin-yang flow of perpetual golden light chi circling around the spine and chest. Also known as “small heavenly round” or “embryonic breathing”, this meditation balances the pre-natal chi (from Heaven) and post-natal blood (from Earth, body, and ancestors) and stabilizes all yin-yang chi flow in the meridians.

1C. Fusion of the Five Elements 1 is about harmonizing the five phases of chi flow (wu xing). Fusion 1 practice transforms negative emotions into positive, virtuous chi flow. It harmonizes the Five Shen, the biological-psychological intelligences of the personal self, using the transformative power of pakuas. In this practice these Five Vital Organ spirits, also known as the ‘Interior Gods,’ fuse their essence and natural virtue (de) into a pearl of original chi (yuan chi) in the belly cauldron, the tan tien (lower dantian).

1D. Fusion of Five Elements 2 and 3 uses the pearl to open more channels. The pearl activates the yin-yang pulsation of the eight cosmic pakua forces (I Ching trigram energy) that flow into the Eight Extraordinary Vessels of the human body. These deep energy channels form the blueprint, or matrix, of our personal Energy Body, which supplies the twelve regular meridians with chi.

When these eight psychic energy channels are activated, they collectively open the Macrocosmic Orbit (or “large heavenly round”) and can heal at a very deep level. This is faster and far more powerful than acupuncture or herbs for healing chronic illness. This practice opens deep awareness of chi field beyond the body, hence its reputation for awakening psychic powers (known as the eight Siddhas in a parallel Indian tradition).

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 2
Lesser Enlightenment of Kan and Li (Water & Fire): Inner Sexual Alchemy. This practice presupposes some skill in the Taoist external sexual cultivation art of semen retention for men and partial lessening of the menstrual cycle in women. The Kan & Li method of “spiritual self-intercourse” couples primal fire and water chi in the body. This dissolves the personal mind-body split (and its resulting diseases) by coupling and unifying all male and female soul fragments in the lower belly cauldron (the navel center), our center of gravity.

 When primal fire and water chi are “steamed” in the belly, it produces original chi that dissolves deep genetic patterns. It opens our Inner Eye and our ability to “see” inside our body and matter. This meditation creates a feeling of spiritual pregnancy, a deep body bliss known as the formation of the “immortal embryo”.

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 3
Greater Enlightenment of Kan and Li (Water & Fire): Sun, Moon and Planets Alchemy. It advances the previous level and integrates the five inner essences of the personal self with the five directional forces of the planetary self (north, south, east, and west meeting in the center of earth) at the solar plexus cauldron.

The powers of the Sun and Moon “cook” the planetary essences and are coupled to spiritually birth the “immortal child” or the greater elixir. It is the experience of our reborn inner self playing in the outer fields of reality. This dissolves the boundary between the adept and nature (including humanity) and dissolves many geo-mantic (feng shui) and ancestral patterns that need healing.

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 4
Greatest Enlightenment of Kan and Li: Planets, Star and Soul Alchemy. This third Water and Fire practice integrates the five body-spirit essences of the personal self and the five planetary forces of the collective Solar system Self (symbolized by the Sun) in the middle cauldron at the heart. This is ‘living astrology’ in which cosmic forces are interiorized inside the body, where they continue to function through planetary tones (music of the spheres).

It involves, for example, direct experience of and making friends with the planetary spirit of Saturn, the ruler of the earth element, the core unity of living matter and controller of the astrological forces of manifestation. Successful practice removes all fear of death and dissolves deep karmic patterns of resistance and struggle that plague humanity. This allows us to clearly receive and transmit our inner solar logos or Way of knowing, the maturation of our Inner Sage or Immortal Self.

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 5
Sealing of the Five Senses: Star and Galaxy Alchemy. This unifies the five shen, the five streams of personal consciousness that operate through our senses, with the five forces of the collective Stellar Self. The body of our stellar mind can be viewed in the four quadrants of fixed stars in the night sky, originally symbolized by heraldic animals (Black Turtle, Red Phoenix, Green Dragon, and White Tiger).

The fifth, the quintessence, is the Purple Pole Star in the center of the sky, with the Great Bear of the Big Dipper marking the progression of the seasons as its handles rotates like the arm of a cosmic clock. These personal and stellar essences are fused in the upper tan tien, the cauldron in the head. This is the process of our Inner Sage attaining the celestial level of immortality.

The pure open space connecting the three cauldrons is integrated. This stabilizes the celestial axis and activates what Lao Tzu calls the “Great Tone.” Profound peace and different spiritual qualities continuously manifest from this activated core and radiate sonically into our physical becoming. Our soul pattern expands its conscious destiny to include dimensions of life beyond the physical plane.

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 6
Congress of Heaven and Earth: Heaven and Earth Alchemy. This practice integrates the Early Heaven or formless Self with the Later Heaven (Earth) physical Self. The Self here identifies itself here with two dimensions that co-exist and co-create: the “formless form” of our being and the “substantial form” of our becoming. These two polar dimensions of our greater Self engage in cosmic sex. They couple in order to re-open the portal to their Original state, or “Pre-Self”. This pre-state or Primordial Heaven is called hundun, the primal chaos-unity that preceded the “big bang” of the cosmic egg cracking open.

The Three Originals (san yuan) of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity are gathered in the three body cauldrons as original ching (jing), original chi, and original shen. This three-tone harmonic chord is resonated with the fundamental or original tone of time and space. Consciousness then stabilizes in the axial center where our true multi-dimensional nature can now be embodied. This is symbolized by a tonal double vortex spinning faster than the speed of light within the void of space. Into this is fused our inner sage’s immortal presence, the quintessence of humanity meditating in the center of a cosmic torus (spiritual black hole). We must enter this portal to complete our journey of Return to the Origin.

INNER ALCHEMY FORMULA 7
Union of Human and Tao: This stage is the integration of the six previous levels of consciousness into the experience of living simultaneously in the present moment in all dimensions, from physical linear time to spirit’s eternal time. This state cannot be fully known or defined conceptually for others. Perhaps it might be conceptualized as the experience of living fully in the Wu Chi, the Supreme Unknown.

This is the true achievement of the authentic or Immortal Self, a permanent state of grace known as wu wei, effortless action, or spontaneous action without acting. Creation (of the manifest) and Return to Formless Origin seamlessly complete each other. Attainment of this seventh level is spontaneous, and happens when the inner will of our immortal sage within has reached complete alignment with the Tao. It may occur only by direct transmission from the Tao to the mature and receptive adept.

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EIGHT BRANCHES OF THE GREAT TAO

      Taoist tradition often described itself as having Eight Classic Branches emanating from the ninth, the axial trunk of the Tao. Different writers describe these eight branches differently. Here is one version:

1) Neigong, which includes the Seven Formulas of Inner Alchemy (neidangong) and other forms of meditation. The stillness within the stillness of the mind is the source that bursts into the movement of Life in the other seven branches.

2) Chi kung, which also includes tai chi chuan, bagua chuan, and all sacred dance and moving meditation as a body-centered path of unfolding Nature’s inner patterns.

3) Tao Philosophy, I Ching sciences: cosmology, astrology, numerology, physiognomy, palmistry, divination, and the application of these principles to any natural science

4) Healing and Medical Arts: acupuncture, tuiina, deep organ massage, moxa

5) Sexology: fangzhi (bedroom arts), medical and spiritual

6) Feng Shui: living (homes, offices) and dead (graves)

7) Five Element Nutrition and Herbology

8) Fine/Expressive Chi Arts: music, singing, calligraphy, painting, sculpture, storytelling (today—film and theatre)