Venturing in the maya, I had stumbled across the Master Key for Taoist Internal Alchemy. That sounds more interesting than it really is. The core teaching is actually very simple, yet requires a taste of samadhi to start unravelling. The book is translated by Thomas Cleary and published as The Inner Teachings of Taoism. This book contains an explanatory map of the different symbols involved. But in a way, it is superfluous: you can get the same teaching from Secret of the Golden Flower, or Tengu's Sermon on the Martial Arts. If you understand the reality of, "Earth dwells in the center, as the mother of myriad beings", this book might be for you. Namaste
Inner Teachings contains translations of two text. One is a redux, Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir written by the author of Understanding Reality. The other is a 1800 commentary on Four Hundred Words, meant to explain it plainly. Both Four Hundred Words and Understanding Reality are meant as an explanation of the original Master Key, the Triplex Unity. Cleary has yet to publish a translation on that. Net-rumor puts that work as early as 2003, probably even earlier than that. It might end up being his magus opus... There's also a fun folk novel translated by Eva Wong, published under Seven Taoist Masters. It explains the basics found in Inner Teachings in narrative form. If Inner Teachings is gibberish to you, you might enjoy Seven Taoist Masters. -Qaexl
If anyone is interested in Taoist alchemy I highly recommend they read the works of Mantak Chia, beginning with Awaken Healing Energy of Tao. Ever since I started using his microscopic orbit technique my constipation problem is gone and I achieve greater and greater levels of bliss when I meditate. The ultimate goal of Taoist alchemy is immortality, which sounds far-fetched, but the health benefits derived from dedicated practice are undeniable in my opinion.
Fair warning: Mantak Chia will work for some people but not for others. It sounds like it works well for Adumbra. I know others for whom it works well. Don't use Chia if: You obsess over things and ideas. Your notion of relaxing is to try harder at relaxing. Your notion of moving energy around is to squeeze things. You get headaches from shoving blood into your brain. You have difficulty admitting that you are wrong or you have failed. You are afraid of losing control and get nervous under pressure. You can't stop yourself from feeding the trolls. When people say things, you feel you need to correct them. You have a death wish. You reject fun, pleasure, humor, gentleness and love because you are "serious" about this practice. You think you are too skilled, talented, or rational for any of this to apply to you. You think I'm saying that I am better than you. People with these tendencies will not understand the reality behind the symbols and techniques Chia uses, let alone the Master Key from which those teachings derive from. You'll want to lighten up and have fun in life before diving into any of this. Namaste PS: This applies to Taoist Yoga, Robert Bruce's NEW Energy Way, psionics, RadKI, or any of the public-domain energy work methods.
