The Tao of Gnosticism: Part three
This is the 3rd in a series of articles looking at the similarities and interesting parallels between the philosophies of Gnosticism and Taoism. In this post, I hope to try and concentrate on one subject, alchemy. I did state in the last post that I would be covering different issues but I've decided to cover alchemy first before I move onto bigger fish. Thanks to Tim for the heads up on some relevant Gospel of Thomas quotes and Jung's idea's. First of all, it's important to obtain a solid understanding of what alchemy is. When people talk of alchemy, the first thought that usually comes to mind is that of deriving gold from a variety of cheap metals. This is accurate according to some alchemical practices, but is not so relevant when it comes to Gnostic and Taoist alchemy. Wikipedia has this to say about alchemy:
"Alchemy is an early protoscientific practice combining elements of chemistry, physics, astrology, art, semiotics, metallurgy, medicine, mysticism, and religion. There were three main goals many alchemists sought for. The most renowned goal of alchemy is the transmutation of any metal into either gold or silver. Also they tried to create universal panacea, a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. The philosopher's stone was the key in these goals. This mythical substance, which could just as well be powder or liquid as a stone, had the ability to do both. The third goal was creating human life. Alchemy can be regarded as the precursor of the modern science of chemistry prior to the formulation of the scientific method."
Talking of the common conception that alchemy was mainly concerned with the transmutation of any metal into gold, Bernand Simon points out in his book, The Essence of the Gnostics, that:
"In fact, alchemists found it convenient to have people think this, because what they were actually searching for was the secret of life, or rather how creation began."
A 19th century alchemist, Mary Anne Atwood, said:
"Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the finding of the Sophia in the mind."
This relates to the Gnostic idea of discovering and cultivating the Divine Spark within ourselves through gnosis, special knowledge. The analysis of alchemy has come to take many routes of investigation, including it's inherent links within psychology; an idea pioneered by the work of C G Jung, most notably in his works The Secret of the Golden Flower and Psychology and Alchemy. We can gain a lot of insight into Jung's ideas from a fantastic essay called C. G. Jung and the Alchemical Renewal written by Stephan A. Hoeller. Hoeller begins the essay with:
"[...] A plaque in the small but exquisite museum devoted to the facts and legends concerning Dr. Faust tells us that, although alchemy has often been considered a pseudo-science based on the pretense that gold could be made from other metals, it is now known that, in reality, it was a spiritual art having as its aim the psychological transformation of the alchemist himself."
This presents us with a fascinating perspective on alchemy, one which Jung advocated and discussed extensively. Hoeller goes on to point out what Jung wrote about in TSotGF:
"[...] His studies disclosed that Chinese alchemy, just like the alchemy of the West, deals primarily with the transformational symbolism of the human soul. Although the ancient Taoists postulated that the quest for immortality was the central work of alchemy, their "Golden Flower" of immortality is not substantially different from the "Stone of the Philosophers," which is the supreme objective of Western practitioners of the Great Art."
These ideas will be discussed at the end of this post, along with a few others of relevance. As we can see, alchemy has a wide scope and this allows many overlaps in Gnostic and Taoist thought which in turn allow us to spot similarities in the practices of the two philosophies. To carry on with this discussion, let's take a brief look at the Taoist alchemists and the role of alchemy in Taoism. This nice introduction is from a site called The Golden Elixir:
"In China as elsewhere, alchemy is a doctrine aiming to afford an understanding of the principles underlying the formation and functioning of the cosmos. The alchemist rises through the hierarchy of the constituents of being by "exhausting" (Chin. jin or liao, two words also denoting "thorough knowledge") the nature and properties of each stage. He overcomes the limits of individuality, and ascends to higher states of being; he becomes, in Chinese terms, a zhenren or Authentic Man."
Chinese and Taoist adepts already realised what Jung had stated, in that alchemy was just as involved with the progression of the alchemist as an individual, as it was with the combination of elements and their resulting products/processes. Taoist alchemy takes the form of two seperate, yet intrinsically linked, branches: nei-dan (Internal elixir) and wai-dan (External elixir). Some may say that the methods of cultivating the internal elixir are not related to alchemy but they are missing the point that formation of the internal elixir is just as concerned with mixing and balancing, just not with external materials. The internal elixir approach deals with internal energy. Cultivating the internal elixir involves deep breathing, sexual disciplines and meditation. The external elixir approach is concerned with essence and involves diet and nutrition, physical exercise and herbal medicine. The external elixir approach is in fact so ingrained in Tao practices that they carry out most of the activities required to form it in every day discipline. The same applies for the internal elixir. Taoists do not really consider these two elixirs part of a seperate school of thought such as alchemy; they merely understand their potency in helping them to cultivate the way of Tao. A few parallels to Taoist alchemy and the internal and external elixirs can be found in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. The very first line reads:
"Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."
The Gospel goes on to say:
"Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you."
This sense of having to look inside yourself aswell as around you fits nicely with nei-dan and wai-dan, and the concept of the Tao being all around us, and inside us. The idea of internal and external elixirs were first explained in The Union of Triple Equation, written by Taoist adept Wei Po-yang in AD 150. Wei Po-yang wrote of the external elixir and how it involved refining pills from minerals and metals. Adepts from many dynasties experimented and there are many stories of Emperor's ordering their Tao herbalists to try and concoct the Elixir of Immortality for them.This is also taken from The Golden Elixir's great introductory text on Chinese alchemy:
"In order to transcend space and time -- the two main features of the cosmos -- the alchemist must take extreme care of their correspondences to the work he performs. Space is delimited and protected by talismans (fu), and the laboratory (danwu, lit. "chamber of the elixirs") and instruments are properly oriented.Among a variety of procedures that the sources describe in an often allusive way, and in a language rich in metaphors and secret names, two stand out for their recurrence and importance. The first is based on lead (yin) and mercury (yang). In external alchemy, these two substances are refined and joined in a compound whose properties are compared to the condition of primeval Unity. In internal alchemy, lead is a cover name for the knowledge of the dao (Pure Yang, chunyang) with which each being is fundamentally endowed, but is obscured (i.e., transmuted into yin) in the conditioned state. Mercury, on the other hand, represents the individual mind.The second most important method, which is proper to external alchemy, is centered on cinnabar (yang). The mercury contained within cinnabar (representing the yin principle contained within yang) is extracted and newly added to sulphur (yang)."
Again we see the fundamental concepts of Yin Yang embodied in the concoction of external elixirs. Gnostic-inspired alchemists often followed The Alchemical Opus in devising elixirs. This model is similar to many methods used in Taoist alchemy. According to the 4th stage of the Alchemical Opus (this information is taken from The Essence of the Gnostics):
"Bringing together the substance of sulphur which represents the sun or masculine and Mercury (as the feminine or Moon) there is a Mystic marriage which joins them together."
As well as the common ingredients of both Mercury and sulphur, both alchemical models take into consideration opposites and the concept of balance. What the 4th stage describes fits the concepts of Yin and Yang to a tee. Sulphur is described as representing the sun and masculinity (qualities that are attributed to Yang in Taoism) and Mercury is said to be the feminine or the Moon (Yin in Taoism is represented by women and darkness). The "Mystic marriage" which the Opus speaks of also fits very nicely with the idea of the primeval Unity in the Taoist external elixir mentioned above.In the Golden Elixir article, we are also introduced to the concept of huandan, or the Elixir of Return:
"The final object of external and internal alchemy is represented as the preparation of an elixir usually defined as huandan (lit., "Elixir of Return"). This expression, recurring in the whole literature, originally denotes an elixir obtained by bringing the ingredients back to their original condition through repeated cyclical operations -- an operation comparable to the process that the adept performs within himself with the support of the alchemical practice."
The use of cyclical variations to bring ingredients back to their original state is, as the quote mentions, also similar to methods of cultivating the internal elixir. It is, in essence, carrying out the eternal process of life; the adept is seeing life progress in front of him thus teaching him and helping him to understand more of how the Tao works. This fits very well with what I mentioned earlier on about alchemists trying to understand how creation began. Bernand Simon pointed out that alchemists (around the 18th/19th century) had found out the processes of creation:
"If energy is put under extreme pressure - heat, cold or density - it tends to become liquid, then solid, and finally gaseous. Reverse that process and you have the art of manifestation. The idea was that by creating the elixir of life the alchemist would live forever."
Simon is of course talking of the alchemists discovering the fundamentals of physics. The idea of huandan fits well with both philosophies and supports the ideas that life functions in a cyclical manner. Taoist's use their body as a home for their spirit. Through good health and longevity, they develop and finally enter their spirit when their body dies. They are then free of this world, and become One with Tao. Gnostics use gnosis in the same manner, to escape the cyclical oppressive rule of the Archons and return to the source; the Pleroma. There is also a reference to this kind of circle which can be escaped by becoming One with the source in the Gospel of Thomas, part 22:
"Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."
Both Taoist and Gnostic alchemical processes aim at creating life (the Tao) in microcosm. They both understood that lifes secrets are hidden in life, and what better way to discover them than to emulate lifes processes. Jung's take on this was that, in doing this, alchemists themselves went through psychological transformation. This fits in perfectly with gnosis, special knowledge, and the philosophies' shared ideas of the Self. The processes that the alchemists created were reflections of what was happening all around them, and right inside them. In understanding these processes, the balance and concepts that were required, the alchemist began to understand himself. Once again we come full circle back to the concept discussed in the first essay.
Maybe this is why Taoists continue to outlive, teach and bewilder any who try to analyse them from a Western viewpoint. Much of Tao alchemy has embodied itself in practices that all Taoists perform regularly day-to-day such as deep breathing, sexual yoga (with a few exceptions) and diet and nutrition.
For those who are interested in further reading on the topic, be sure to read Stephan Hoeller's full essay, C. G. Jung and the Alchemical Renewal. Jung explores some avenues that I haven't and his work is truly a masterpiece and an inspiration.
"Alchemy is an early protoscientific practice combining elements of chemistry, physics, astrology, art, semiotics, metallurgy, medicine, mysticism, and religion. There were three main goals many alchemists sought for. The most renowned goal of alchemy is the transmutation of any metal into either gold or silver. Also they tried to create universal panacea, a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. The philosopher's stone was the key in these goals. This mythical substance, which could just as well be powder or liquid as a stone, had the ability to do both. The third goal was creating human life. Alchemy can be regarded as the precursor of the modern science of chemistry prior to the formulation of the scientific method."
Talking of the common conception that alchemy was mainly concerned with the transmutation of any metal into gold, Bernand Simon points out in his book, The Essence of the Gnostics, that:
"In fact, alchemists found it convenient to have people think this, because what they were actually searching for was the secret of life, or rather how creation began."
A 19th century alchemist, Mary Anne Atwood, said:
"Alchemy is philosophy; it is the philosophy, the finding of the Sophia in the mind."
This relates to the Gnostic idea of discovering and cultivating the Divine Spark within ourselves through gnosis, special knowledge. The analysis of alchemy has come to take many routes of investigation, including it's inherent links within psychology; an idea pioneered by the work of C G Jung, most notably in his works The Secret of the Golden Flower and Psychology and Alchemy. We can gain a lot of insight into Jung's ideas from a fantastic essay called C. G. Jung and the Alchemical Renewal written by Stephan A. Hoeller. Hoeller begins the essay with:
"[...] A plaque in the small but exquisite museum devoted to the facts and legends concerning Dr. Faust tells us that, although alchemy has often been considered a pseudo-science based on the pretense that gold could be made from other metals, it is now known that, in reality, it was a spiritual art having as its aim the psychological transformation of the alchemist himself."
This presents us with a fascinating perspective on alchemy, one which Jung advocated and discussed extensively. Hoeller goes on to point out what Jung wrote about in TSotGF:
"[...] His studies disclosed that Chinese alchemy, just like the alchemy of the West, deals primarily with the transformational symbolism of the human soul. Although the ancient Taoists postulated that the quest for immortality was the central work of alchemy, their "Golden Flower" of immortality is not substantially different from the "Stone of the Philosophers," which is the supreme objective of Western practitioners of the Great Art."
These ideas will be discussed at the end of this post, along with a few others of relevance. As we can see, alchemy has a wide scope and this allows many overlaps in Gnostic and Taoist thought which in turn allow us to spot similarities in the practices of the two philosophies. To carry on with this discussion, let's take a brief look at the Taoist alchemists and the role of alchemy in Taoism. This nice introduction is from a site called The Golden Elixir:
"In China as elsewhere, alchemy is a doctrine aiming to afford an understanding of the principles underlying the formation and functioning of the cosmos. The alchemist rises through the hierarchy of the constituents of being by "exhausting" (Chin. jin or liao, two words also denoting "thorough knowledge") the nature and properties of each stage. He overcomes the limits of individuality, and ascends to higher states of being; he becomes, in Chinese terms, a zhenren or Authentic Man."
Chinese and Taoist adepts already realised what Jung had stated, in that alchemy was just as involved with the progression of the alchemist as an individual, as it was with the combination of elements and their resulting products/processes. Taoist alchemy takes the form of two seperate, yet intrinsically linked, branches: nei-dan (Internal elixir) and wai-dan (External elixir). Some may say that the methods of cultivating the internal elixir are not related to alchemy but they are missing the point that formation of the internal elixir is just as concerned with mixing and balancing, just not with external materials. The internal elixir approach deals with internal energy. Cultivating the internal elixir involves deep breathing, sexual disciplines and meditation. The external elixir approach is concerned with essence and involves diet and nutrition, physical exercise and herbal medicine. The external elixir approach is in fact so ingrained in Tao practices that they carry out most of the activities required to form it in every day discipline. The same applies for the internal elixir. Taoists do not really consider these two elixirs part of a seperate school of thought such as alchemy; they merely understand their potency in helping them to cultivate the way of Tao. A few parallels to Taoist alchemy and the internal and external elixirs can be found in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. The very first line reads:
"Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."
The Gospel goes on to say:
"Jesus said, "If your leaders say to you, 'Look, the (Father's) kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the (Father's) kingdom is within you and it is outside you."
This sense of having to look inside yourself aswell as around you fits nicely with nei-dan and wai-dan, and the concept of the Tao being all around us, and inside us. The idea of internal and external elixirs were first explained in The Union of Triple Equation, written by Taoist adept Wei Po-yang in AD 150. Wei Po-yang wrote of the external elixir and how it involved refining pills from minerals and metals. Adepts from many dynasties experimented and there are many stories of Emperor's ordering their Tao herbalists to try and concoct the Elixir of Immortality for them.This is also taken from The Golden Elixir's great introductory text on Chinese alchemy:
"In order to transcend space and time -- the two main features of the cosmos -- the alchemist must take extreme care of their correspondences to the work he performs. Space is delimited and protected by talismans (fu), and the laboratory (danwu, lit. "chamber of the elixirs") and instruments are properly oriented.Among a variety of procedures that the sources describe in an often allusive way, and in a language rich in metaphors and secret names, two stand out for their recurrence and importance. The first is based on lead (yin) and mercury (yang). In external alchemy, these two substances are refined and joined in a compound whose properties are compared to the condition of primeval Unity. In internal alchemy, lead is a cover name for the knowledge of the dao (Pure Yang, chunyang) with which each being is fundamentally endowed, but is obscured (i.e., transmuted into yin) in the conditioned state. Mercury, on the other hand, represents the individual mind.The second most important method, which is proper to external alchemy, is centered on cinnabar (yang). The mercury contained within cinnabar (representing the yin principle contained within yang) is extracted and newly added to sulphur (yang)."
Again we see the fundamental concepts of Yin Yang embodied in the concoction of external elixirs. Gnostic-inspired alchemists often followed The Alchemical Opus in devising elixirs. This model is similar to many methods used in Taoist alchemy. According to the 4th stage of the Alchemical Opus (this information is taken from The Essence of the Gnostics):
"Bringing together the substance of sulphur which represents the sun or masculine and Mercury (as the feminine or Moon) there is a Mystic marriage which joins them together."
As well as the common ingredients of both Mercury and sulphur, both alchemical models take into consideration opposites and the concept of balance. What the 4th stage describes fits the concepts of Yin and Yang to a tee. Sulphur is described as representing the sun and masculinity (qualities that are attributed to Yang in Taoism) and Mercury is said to be the feminine or the Moon (Yin in Taoism is represented by women and darkness). The "Mystic marriage" which the Opus speaks of also fits very nicely with the idea of the primeval Unity in the Taoist external elixir mentioned above.In the Golden Elixir article, we are also introduced to the concept of huandan, or the Elixir of Return:
"The final object of external and internal alchemy is represented as the preparation of an elixir usually defined as huandan (lit., "Elixir of Return"). This expression, recurring in the whole literature, originally denotes an elixir obtained by bringing the ingredients back to their original condition through repeated cyclical operations -- an operation comparable to the process that the adept performs within himself with the support of the alchemical practice."
The use of cyclical variations to bring ingredients back to their original state is, as the quote mentions, also similar to methods of cultivating the internal elixir. It is, in essence, carrying out the eternal process of life; the adept is seeing life progress in front of him thus teaching him and helping him to understand more of how the Tao works. This fits very well with what I mentioned earlier on about alchemists trying to understand how creation began. Bernand Simon pointed out that alchemists (around the 18th/19th century) had found out the processes of creation:
"If energy is put under extreme pressure - heat, cold or density - it tends to become liquid, then solid, and finally gaseous. Reverse that process and you have the art of manifestation. The idea was that by creating the elixir of life the alchemist would live forever."
Simon is of course talking of the alchemists discovering the fundamentals of physics. The idea of huandan fits well with both philosophies and supports the ideas that life functions in a cyclical manner. Taoist's use their body as a home for their spirit. Through good health and longevity, they develop and finally enter their spirit when their body dies. They are then free of this world, and become One with Tao. Gnostics use gnosis in the same manner, to escape the cyclical oppressive rule of the Archons and return to the source; the Pleroma. There is also a reference to this kind of circle which can be escaped by becoming One with the source in the Gospel of Thomas, part 22:
"Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom]."
Both Taoist and Gnostic alchemical processes aim at creating life (the Tao) in microcosm. They both understood that lifes secrets are hidden in life, and what better way to discover them than to emulate lifes processes. Jung's take on this was that, in doing this, alchemists themselves went through psychological transformation. This fits in perfectly with gnosis, special knowledge, and the philosophies' shared ideas of the Self. The processes that the alchemists created were reflections of what was happening all around them, and right inside them. In understanding these processes, the balance and concepts that were required, the alchemist began to understand himself. Once again we come full circle back to the concept discussed in the first essay.
Maybe this is why Taoists continue to outlive, teach and bewilder any who try to analyse them from a Western viewpoint. Much of Tao alchemy has embodied itself in practices that all Taoists perform regularly day-to-day such as deep breathing, sexual yoga (with a few exceptions) and diet and nutrition.
For those who are interested in further reading on the topic, be sure to read Stephan Hoeller's full essay, C. G. Jung and the Alchemical Renewal. Jung explores some avenues that I haven't and his work is truly a masterpiece and an inspiration.
posted by Dan at 10:58 PM
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