Chinese Alchemy And Daoism Analysis

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Chinese Alchemy had a special relationship with Daoism, forcing most of the study to center around elixirs of immortality that could be reverted through natural processes and the cosmos. The creation of all elixirs was recorded in a way where each step of the process was tied to a spiritual and cosmic metaphor. Elixirs were mixing chemicals together to achieve transcendence and fulfill natural practices. Understanding their formulas or recipes, as a historian or alchemist, requires a deep understanding of the way Chinese alchemist thought about nature and the changes happening around them. As seen by Nathan Sivin in Chinese Alchemy and the Manipulation of Time: “That belief was not at all unlike … the birth of physics in the West before the…show more content…
The alchemist argued that they were not disrupting any paths with their elixirs but rather accelerating the natural erosion and transcendence that would eventually happen if they were not to interfere. In the beginning, they were not accepted because their practices were a bit absurd. To Christians, their superstitions and ways were far too dangerous. Although completed stripped in Christian religion, Daoist culture and some rituals are still a significant part of Chinese culture. It is also seen heavily in…show more content…
Medicinal gold was a golden colored alloy they tried to make to serve the same purposes of gold. They really wanted to bring gold into their elixirs to create this immortally and hence, they thought production through a man made gold would help them achieve this. The second type of gold elixir was potable gold, which was basically drinkable gold. They thought if they had a drinkable elixir it would solve the issues that medicinal gold had because it was too strong on the stomach. Potable gold contained sulfur, some alloys and gold. One would mix gold with some type of liquid and wait until it would eventually all dissolve into a liquid. It was commonly mixed with materials that had cyanide, and it was later found that even the plants being mixed with them had cyanide in them. After doing a series of experiments, it was determined that there was really small traces of gold in potable gold and it was deemed
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