Nathan Brine

The curriculum

Wang Liping's Dragon Gate system: the Internal Art of Penetrating to the Numinous Treasure and Wisdom Ability.

Lingbaotong zhineng neigong shu 靈寶通智能內功術

Overview

Wang Liping teaches internal alchemy (neidan) and the five Taoist arts: fate calculation, discerning appearances, divination, practices, and medicine. Internal alchemy powers the five arts. Its core has three parts.

  1. Yinxian Methods: the preparation
  2. Three Immortals Practice: the alchemy itself
  3. Celestial Eye Practice: alongside it, at every stage

The order is a trajectory, not a fixed sequence. The parts work as a whole. Master Wang advises not to plot the practice but to approach it in a state of wuwei.

Yinxian Methods

Yinxian fa 引仙法. Before we practise alchemy we prepare. These twelve methods regulate mind and body and enter stillness, and are used throughout the alchemical process. The first three are the core.

  1. Gather Mind and Sit Quietly
  2. Regulate Body
  3. No Seeing, No Hearing
  4. Gather Vision, Return Hearing
  5. Regulate Normal Breathing
  6. The Three Steps of Calming, Creating and Gathering Spirit
  7. Regulate True Breath
  8. Energetically Sealing the Body
  9. Inner Vision and Return Hearing
  10. Concentrate Spirit and Begin Quiet Illumination
  11. Listen and Follow Breath
  12. Nourish Heart to Bathe and Cleanse

Methods 1 to 7 restore our original healthy state. 8 and 9 repair energetic leakage. 10 to 12 build foundation. They are applied as needed, not in sequence.

Three Immortals Practice

Sanxian gong 三仙功. The main body of the alchemical work, and the oral teaching associated with Lü Dongbin's classic Lingbao bifa. It refines coarser energy into finer, as ice becomes water and water becomes steam.

Five stages

  1. Refining the body to conserve the qi (foundation)
  2. Refining essence into qi
  3. Refining qi into spirit
  4. Refining spirit to revert to emptiness
  5. Refining emptiness to join with the Tao

Three vehicles, ten gates, forty-five methods

Open a gate to see its methods.

The Practice of Human Transcendence

Furnace is the body. Medicine is qi. Fire is the heart. Water is the kidneys. Cultivates life force (minggong 命功).

1 Yin Yang Fusion
  1. The Yang Embryo and the Yin Breath
  2. True Embryo Breathing
  3. Fusing Kan and Li
2 Gathering and Dispersing the Water and Fire
  1. The True Qi Contained in the Original Union of Yin and Yang
  2. The Lesser Refining of the Form
  3. Celestial Youth
3 Copulation of the Dragon and Tiger
  1. Gather and Nourish the Reverted Elixir
  2. Foster the Transcendent Embryo
  3. Water and Fire, Kan and Li
  4. The True Husband and Wife
  5. Exchange the Qi, not the Form
4 Refine the Medicine for the Elixir
  1. Fire Phasing
  2. Lesser Celestial Circuit
  3. Fire Phasing for the Celestial Circuit
  4. Gather the Spirit to Nourish the Qi
  5. Gather the Qi to Nourish the Spirit
  6. Refine the Yang to Nourish the Spirit

The Practice of Earthly Transcendence

Furnace is spirit. Medicine is qi. Fire is the sun. Water is the moon. Cultivates life force (minggong 命功).

5 Flying the Golden Crystals Behind the Elbows
  1. Revert Essence to Nourish the Brain
  2. Initiate the River Chariot
  3. Copulation of the Dragon and Tiger
  4. Decrease Lead, Increase Mercury
  5. Revert to Youth from Old Age
6 Reverted Elixir of Jade Liquid
  1. Jade Liquid Refines the Talisman
  2. Bathing and Cleansing the Transcendent Embryo
  3. The Lesser Reverted Elixir
  4. The Greater Reverted Elixir
  5. The Seven-Returned Elixir
  6. The Nine-Revolved Elixir
7 Reverted Elixir of Golden Liquid
  1. Golden Elixir Refines the Talismanic Form
  2. Ignite the Alchemic Flame, Setting the Body on Fire
  3. The Golden Flower and the Jade Dew
  4. Greater Kan and Li
  5. The Method of Yellow and White

The Practice of Celestial Transcendence

Furnace is spirit. Medicine is inner nature. Fire is wisdom. Water is stability. Cultivates inner nature (xinggong 性功).

8 Refine Qi to Have an Audience with the Origin
  1. Transcend the Inner Courtyard
  2. Refine Qi to Complete the Form
  3. The Purple and Golden Elixir
  4. Scorch and Refine the Yang Spirit
  5. The Three Blossomings Accumulate on the Top of the Head
9 Inner Observation of the Exchange
  1. Collect the Yang Spirit
  2. Fire that Reaches to Heaven
  3. Exchange the Ordinary with the Transcendent
  4. True Emptiness
  5. Entering the Celestial Kingdom
10 Liberation from Form
  1. Enter the Formless
  2. Cast Off the Material and Transcend
  3. Transcend the Ordinary and Enter the Sacred

Celestial Eye Practice

The oral teaching associated with The Secret of the Golden Flower, practised alongside Three Immortals Practice at every stage. It opens the Celestial Eye, works with the light of the spirit (shenguang 神光), and cultivates inner nature. There are ten stages of four methods each. Wang Liping has taught the first four publicly.

1 Open the Celestial Eye
  1. Use Awareness to Transport the Spiritual Illumination
  2. Open the Celestial Eye
  3. Exchange of Kan and Li
  4. Three Lights Gather Naturally
2 Ancestral Opening Practice
  1. Return the Light and Collect the Ling
  2. Rotate the Sun and Moon
  3. Unite the Sun and Moon
  4. Ling Accumulates in the Mysterious Opening
3 Concentrate Shen in the Lower Field
  1. Close the Eyes and Return the Light
  2. Manufacture the Medicine in the Palace of Earth
  3. Regulate the Breath to Bathe and Cleanse
  4. Gather the Light into a Small Pearl
4 Turn Around Observation and Illuminate the Interior
  1. Spirit Leads the Small Pearl
  2. Transport and Transform the Five Phases
  3. Spirit and Ling Become One
  4. Gently Nourish the Dragon's Pearl

Supplemental practices

  1. Female Alchemy
  2. Seven Star Stepping, Nine Palace Bagua Stepping, Bagua Intention Sphere, and the Three Methods of Opening the Energy Channels, Meridians, and Channels in the Bones
  3. Method for Stealing the Essence of the Sun and Moon to Return to the Self
  4. Energy Balancing Practice (tree practice) and Standing Practice
  5. The Nature Energy Exchange Method (Taoist walking)
  6. Paired Practice

Where the courses fit

The six online courses teach this path from the foundation, in order. The glossary explains the terms.