Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan

Job 1 ESV6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”Question: Why does God who knows EVERYTHING ask Satan where he has been? Answer: It's for YOU to LISTEN. Look at what Satan says. The truth is that Satan has gone to every nation and culture throughout history and taught spiritual wickedness to the nations. There is no nation that isn't stained by His deceptions.I'd give negative stars if I could.A part of my testimony:I want to start by saying books like this are full of wickedness and really tap into the demonic realm. They can lead to demonic possession and all kinds of illness. I researched different religions leaving the Holy Bible for last because I thought Christians were hypocritical with all their gossip and ways. The problem was I wasn't looking at Jesus the Messiah, I was looking at His people in my own self-righteousness. Back to this book and others like it...I began to take on the practices in this book and opened my self up to demons. The Lord Jesus warned me in dreams to stop reading this and He even sent people in real life to warn me and get me to read the Holy Bible. I had a dream where I was falling into a bottomless pit (which is mentioned in the Bible). The Lord warned me with another dream of me being lowered into the Lake of Fire (where there is eternal torment). Had I known better from the start, I would have never gotten into this. God Himself condemns divination, witchcraft, sorcery, and any other spiritual practice that is not of Him. There is a eternal price to pay for rebellion against Him. In fact, right now He holds your very breath in His hands. I am warning you. Stay away from this. It allows unclean spirits to live in you and that's what give you your power. It ultimately comes from Satan (the Devil). If I could show you how many times the Devil and his demons have tried to attack me for knowing the truth about God, you'd be shocked. But God has protected me and shown me that His word (Holy Bible) is the truth. God does not lie. But the serpent, the Devil is the father of lies and the Great Deceiver. Stay away and learn about the God who made you for a personal relationship with Him. God bless you and may you heed my warning, whoever is listening.Revelation 22 ESV14 Blessed are those who wash their robes,[c] so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

It is a good book book but very hard to understand, author quotes a lot of poems from other works, but I am finding that no one wants to just directly be straight forward with a how to...to do...the author is very insightful in explaining and trying to say directly what is meant by the teachings, but I am still having difficulty in understanding the knowledge being passed on. This is definitely a book I will have to read a few times to begin to understand completely, only because I am still learning meditation and the purpose of it. I hope I will be able to apply these teachings with actual abilities and results in meditation, being that I actually want to learn my mind body spirit, and how to be a part of it's growth and shape who I am, what I can do, at will. So if anyone knows more direct approaches please send me a message or link. I like this book so far and kinda grasp it. It will take a few readings to get it.

This book is a translation of a modern text, originally published in the 1980s and 90s in China. In it the author gives a very detailed analysis of the process of Daoist inner alchemy. I have been a practitioner of Daoist inner alchemy and Qigong for about 20 years, and this is the type of book I wish I had when I first started learning. The descriptions are very detailed and broken down clearly into the various stages of cultivation. The translation is extremely well done and the author includes the relevant key Chinese terms in pinyin romanization and original complex Chinese characters for those interested in that as a reference.One thing to note however is that this is not a book for beginners. This would be appropriate for advanced meditation and qigong practitioners who have had direct transmission of these methods from a teacher. It would also be useful to professional doctors of Chinese medicine like myself to give them an appreciation for the differences in medical theory and Daoist practice. However, even for them it will be a difficult read without some direct transmission of the knowledge. For the right people though, this book is like a precious piece of gold. A must have.

This is a fantastic book. I will re-read again soon. It looks a Neidan, internal Taoist alchemy, from a western-friendly perspective and translates a lot of relevant text and commentary. It is a formidable subject done well. It is formidable because the Taoist texts are deliberately obscure. At one point, in the Maoist era, it was outlawed as superstition and unfit for the workers.The only problem I had with it was figuring out what I know about the Taoist Three Treasures of jing (essence), chi (breathe, and shen (spirit) and realizing that was what he is talking about. I had to look at the occasion phoneticized Chinese names to figure this out.The next time I will take notes because there are a lot of words that seem to mean more or less the same, and few of them mean technically what I thought they meant.

Prof. Fabrizio Pregadio, one of the world's leading Daoist scholars, offers in this translation with commentary, a very readable and clearly explained version of an extremely important inner alchemy work called "Can tong qi" (Pronounced "tsan tong chi" in modern accent). In a very readable introduction (pp. 1-63) the origin and content of the present text is examined, after which the text itself is translated, pp. 69-126. The most important contribution of Pregadio's work is found in the extensive notes, pp. 130 to 244, which are easily understood by the lay person, and serve as a wonderful source of learning for upper division university and graduate seminars as well.The book concludes with tables and figures (245-260), the Chinese text (269-285), two indices (286-301), and bibliographical references (303-308). A must read! Recommended for university courses as well as the general public!

I only give 3 stars, why, because as usual a lot of hints but no meat or techniques but it does have a lot of useful info though.....NOW, there is one book that has been available for over 40 years in English on Internal Alchemy that is unsurpassed to this day that contains all the actual practices ones needs in Daoist Internal Alchemy that leaves nearly all the unnecessary philosophy out, no talk of trigrams & the Yi Jing & so forth, just do this & that happens, when that happens then do this & so forth. A lot will complain one needs all the philosophy, well that`s bovine scatology as one will see after reading the book I`m referring to, and the book is ......Taoist Yoga, Alchemy and Immortality by Lu K`uan Yu ..... I have a 1970 hardback Rider Edition I`ve had for nearly 30 years, and NOTHING and I mean NOTHING comes even close to this book as a practical manual. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I implore you to buy said book, you will thank yourself for doing so & possible save a lot money when on courses learning "ancient secret techniques never before revealed in English" that`s been available from this book for 40 years, I suspect a lot of famous Chi Gong Masters (I shall mention no names but you can probably guess some famous ones) have taken or owe a lot to this book but have kept quiet about it .... so before you spend a fortune on other books, get the one I`m talking about, you will not regret it. I Promise ! I shall repeat this same review on all Daosit Internal Alchemy books I buy on Amazon until ones comes along that equals Lu K`uan Yus` book. Thanks for reading.

Loved this book, it was easy to read… Hoping to research more into it. And to find more books like this. Thankyou to the author.

A modern 20th century masters classic on internal Taoist Alchemy of Neiguan. If you are collecting Neiguan books this is one you should have.

Wonderful translation, with very lucid and lucrative commentaries by the author himself. Everyone interested in Nei Dan will be very pleased with this short, but empowering book.

I recommend this book for people that is interested in Alternative therapies. This book is guiding you step by step for people that is lack of knowledge in Oriental practices, good foundations.