In ancient China alchemy was part of the larger tradition of Taoist body-spirit cultivation that developed from the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine in the body. The alchemists tried to refine base metals into gold believing that immortal life would be delivered if the “fake” or synthetic gold was ingested.
Alchemists wanted to transform things into something more valuable such as converting copper, lead, iron and tin combined with cinnabar (a mineral with a reddish brown colour often found at deposits of mercury, or more lethal components such as arsenic and sulphur into gold. Taoist alchemy was concerned with transforming human beings so as to give them longer life and bring them closer to the Tao. They worked in laboratories, grinding, mixing and eating various substances together in search of the magical compound. Continue reading “Can you turn your ideas into gold (without a sweet-smelling corpse)?”
