The official of Siku Library said in the abstract written for the Book of Changes: "After Ge Hong's Biography of Immortals, Wei Boyang wrote three volumes of the Book of Changes and the Five Elements of Similarity. It's called Zhouyi, but it's actually meant by an elephant under the guise of Dan. Confucians in the world know nothing about Shendan, but mostly talk about it in terms of yin and yang, losing its purpose. In this case, most books borrowed the method of collecting nails, saying that it is important to stay away from fire, water, dragons, tigers, lead and mercury, and wait for the weak moment of yin and yang and five elements to advance and retreat. Later, those who talked about fire were all based on books. ..... "Tang Zhi" listed "supernatural spirit" in the category of five elements, which is inappropriate; Zhu Yizun's textual research on Confucian classics is listed in Zhouyi, but it is neither fish nor fowl. However, Wei Boyang, as Ge Hong said, is the purpose of this book. If it is foreseen that Chen Tuan later learned to confuse the Bible. The official of Siku neither agreed to bring Wei Boyang's Zhouyi Shentongqi into the Five Elements School, nor agreed to bring this book into Zhouyi, but thought that this book mainly talked about the merits of an alchemist. This view captures the center of the book and reflects its actual content. The theory of dragon and tiger lead and mercury discussed in this book has played a pioneering role in the history of Taoist alchemy, so most of the latecomers are ancestors.

The discussion on the theory of lead and mercury of dragon and tiger in Shentongqi is mainly concentrated in the ninth chapter, which says: "The fire story is true, easy to show and clear, the white tiger is the pivot, the mercury day is the pearl, the green dragon is with it, the east and the west are combined, and the soul is restrained." Ren Farong explained this in the interpretation of Zhouyi Shentongqi: "The white tiger leads the furnace, and the lower chord hides the abdomen. Under the furnace is the axis of burning fire, so it is said that' the white tiger is the pivot'. Qinglong mercury is hidden in the heart of the mud pill in the middle of the tripod. Mercury, like water, is like a round bead, rolling infinitely, so it is called' Mercury Day as a flowing bead'. In the tripod, the dragon mercury welcomes the white tiger lead in the furnace, and the tire is neutral. So' Qinglong and it'. " Ren Daochang explained here that the dragon meets the white tiger and condenses into Dan. It can be seen that the theory of lead and mercury in the dragon and tiger in "Avatar Gas" is to elaborate the theory of condensation in the inner Dan. Ren Daochang also explained the origin of this name. He went on to say: "Qinglong belongs to the Yang living in the palace, the wood and soul in the east, and the white tiger belongs to the Yin living in the palace, and the body, gold and soul in the west. After the intersection of dragon and white tiger, Ji Ji and Jin Mu naturally merged, their souls locked with each other, and things merged. At this time, lead and mercury met. Therefore, it is said that' the East and the West are combined and the soul is self-contained'. " It turns out that the relative statements of Dragon Tiger, Lead Mercury, Wood Fire, Jinshui and Li Kan are all from different angles, but their meanings are similar. Therefore, Zhu concluded: "Fire, water, dragon and tiger, lead and mercury are just name interchanges, but in fact they are only essence. Essence, water, sugar, dragon, mercury. Qi, fire, separation, tiger, lead. Its method is based on spirit and essence, and it is Dan. When Yang is at the bottom, it becomes water at the beginning and becomes Dan by fire. " The theory of dragon and tiger lead and mercury in Shenshenqi basically dominated the development of Neidan in later generations, and then another classic of Taoism, Wuzhenpian, developed this theory concretely and slightly. Among them, there is such a sentence: "Zhenlong Mercury came out from home to look at the house of Tiger Lead. Both things are always born of children, and the five elements must enter the center. "

Su Shi expounded his theory of dragon, tiger, lead and mercury under the background of supernatural powers, five-needle tablets and Taoist practice of inner alchemy. Let's take a look at the content of Su Shi's theory of dragon, tiger, lead and mercury and the characteristics of related thoughts.

Su Shi said in the theory of continued health preservation: "Zheng Zichan said:' The fire is fierce and people are afraid of it; When the water is weak, people play with it. "Wing wind talks about six emotions and twelve laws, and its fire and water theory also says:' The North loves goodness and is greedy for wolves. Love in the south is evil, and so is Lian Zhen. Lian Zhen is a gentleman, and he is a villain, because he is greedy for wolves. "Participate in the study of these two people, and say: fire is strong, water is weak, strong leads to righteousness, and weak leads to evil. Fire is the heart and water is the kidney. Therefore, the nature of the five internal organs is that the heart is positive and the kidney is evil. Kidney is evil, although wisdom kidney is evil. But a wise man often does not commit adultery, and his heart is just and his kidneys are smooth. People who are all right are stupid, but they are also right. However, those who are stupid and often go whoring are not in charge, but in politics. Knowing this, you can know the words of lead, mercury and dragon and tiger. " The heart is right and the kidney is evil, so wisdom is often immoral, and the kidney listens to the heart; Those stupid and adulterous people obey their kidneys. Longhu's theory of lead and mercury is also a theory that advocates controlling one's behavior with heart.

Su Shi said in this article: "What is lead? Anyone whose qi is lead, or who tends to fire, or breathes, or keeps blowing, is lead. Lung is solid, and the cashier knows it. Lung is gold, white tiger, so it is lead, also known as tiger. What is Mercury? Where water is called mercury, it is convenient to vomit pus and vomit blood, and it is convenient to sweat. All wet people are mercury. The liver is solid and stored in the warehouse. The liver is wood, and it is Qinglong, so it is called Mercury Dragon. The ancient real person said:' The five elements are reversed, and the dragon fires. When the five elements are out of date, the tiger is born in water. "The world doesn't know what it says, and the five elements are suitable, then the dragon is out of water, the tiger is out of fire, and all die. Heart is not official, kidney is political, lewdness is induced from the outside, lewdness is induced from the inside, arrogant, obscene, or decadent. It's water, Mercury. Emotions and sorrows are all from the heart. Joy follows, anger follows, sadness follows, and joy follows. The heart is inside and the gas is outside, which is also a fire. Mercury dragons are born in water, and lead tigers are born in fire. Who can come out and return them? Therefore, the way to die is also. Su Shi associated lead with lung and heart, and correspondingly mercury with liver and kidney, which is the same as Zhu's statement, but the connection with Taoist classics such as Shentongqi and Wuzhenpian is the opposite. The author has discussed this difference in other books and will not repeat it here. The central meaning of this passage by Su Shi is that the mercury dragon is out of divination, for water, and the lead tiger is out of divination, for gas. If "the heart is not official, the kidney is in charge of politics", then "lewdness is induced from the outside, and lewdness is aroused from the inside, which is dishonorable, indecent and decadent". To change this situation, we must make "the official of the heart is right, the order of the kidney is done" and realize the inversion of the five elements, that is, the dragon leaves the fire, the tiger leaves the water, and the dragon and the tiger mate and condense into Dan.

Su Shi added: "The real person taught him to go retrograde and said,' The dragon needs fire, and the tiger needs water.' What does it say? Confucius said,' thinking is innocent.' All thinking is evil, and no thinking is civilized. Who can make thinking not evil? Without thinking, uncivilized? This guy must have never thought about it. My husband is thoughtless, honest, like a teacher, and has never thought about it. However, he died without thinking. What does "think without thinking" mean? Is to get rid of all unnecessary thoughts. Su Shi believes that if we want to reverse the five elements, we must do what Confucius said: think without evil. That is, the heart should not be controlled by external temptations and selfish desires, and all thoughts and ideas should be "correct". This is thoughtless thinking. In fact, all thoughts and ideas are reasonable. This is positive thinking. And if we act according to this positive thinking, even this positive thinking is impossible in the end. This is "no thought". In Su Shi's view, it is the realm of Tao. Of course, this realm is associated with thinking without thinking, rather than blindly pursuing thinking without thinking, which is what Su Shi said in civil engineering. To achieve the inversion of the five elements, we must achieve the "innocent thinking" mentioned above. "Fundamentally speaking,' no desire, no demand' means that the self-mind is the master and the self-mind is established. This is the same as what Su Shi said earlier, "A wise man often does not commit adultery, and his heart is just and his kidneys are smooth". "People who are all right in heart are stupid, but they are stupid and often slutty. Their hearts are not official and their kidneys are in power. Taken together, Su Shi believes that only when the kidney obeys the heart can it be "innocent" and the five elements are reversed. Because the kidney takes orders from the heart, lead gas is not "the heart is inside, but the gas should be outside." "Whether the gas should be dominated by the heart, should, should not, then the gas is not driven by self-desire. In the same way, mercury water is not "English for decadence, not as good as human or rotten soil", then lead gas sinks, mercury water rises, lead and mercury intersect, and coitus is blocked, thus realizing the inversion of the five elements.

In his theory of continuing health preservation, Su Shi not only linked Confucianism's "thinking of innocence" with Taoism's cultivation kung fu, but also quoted Buddhist sentences, and his intention of integrating Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism was very obvious. Su Shi's integration is based on the similarity of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, that is to say, the key to the inversion of the five elements is to achieve Confucianism's "thinking innocence", Confucianism also emphasizes the ultimate realization of thinking innocence, and Taoism also believes that only in this way can the inversion of the five elements be realized. This point is well discussed in the Origin of Lead and Mercury in Longhu. After explaining the Confucian idea of innocence, Su Shi said: "There is no reason not to do something, there is no reason, so we should take a warning." If you quit your life, you will be born. If you go in and out, you will be born. If you go in and out, your heart will no longer burn. Fire leaves easy. Ye Li Ye Li. Compared with beautiful things, it has never been independent, and water is also its concubine, that is, it is not inflammatory, but subordinate to its concubine. If fire and water blend, it will produce an indomitable spirit, which will flow upward to the brain and benefit the mysterious spirit. If the nasal fluid is not salty, it will not cause the kidney, and this mercury dragon will also cause its own fire. "Here, the thoughts of the three religions blend with each other, and Su Shi enters Buddhism and adheres to the spirit of Confucianism's accession to the WTO. The thought of innocence is quoted from Confucian classics, which undoubtedly has Confucian characteristics; On the whole, it is also about the cultivation of Neidan, and the central idea permeates the content of Taoist cultivation; Among them, "inaction without cause, natural without cause" is directly quoted from Buddhist classics, so it has Buddhist thought. However, these words related to Buddhist scriptures have been misunderstood a lot. In the Collected Works of Su Shi edited by Kong, this sentence was punctuated as "like the horn of a tortoise and a rabbit, and it is a warning for no reason", and Zhong Laiyin fully accepted this sentence. The Complete Works of Su Dongpo, published in recent years, also copied this sentence, and did not realize that the key words in this sentence came from Buddhist scriptures, so it made a wrong analysis. For the understanding of "no mistakes, no cause", Master Dao Yuan explained in his book Jue Yuan that "no mistakes, no cause", which is called a complete empty view. It's not that you practice hard to fix it, because it's not. There are flowers in the void. How can I drive them away? You don't have to clean. You didn't clean up the flower of vanity. It doesn't exist. Just watch it empty. "Doing nothing" is practice, not your practice. Body and mind are empty flowers, life and death are empty flowers. There are no flowers in the air, not because you try to clean up the void and get rid of the flowers in the air. Flowers in the sky are born because of your sick eyes. After curing the diseased eye, you can't see the flowers in the air naturally. The phase of body and mind, the rotation of life and death, is born of your modesty. Now you know not only correctly, but also truly. If you empty your mind, how can there be a rotation between body and mind and life and death? Everyone says that Buddhism is too deep, because believing in Buddhism does not necessarily mean practicing; If you practice hard every day, you may not be able to practice. The trouble of ignorance comes from your delusion. Hard training is to break the troubles and ignorance, not to repair the circle. You didn't repair the circle. You will work hard to subdue your arrogance first, and then break your arrogance. Without arrogance, ignorance troubles are empty, and ignorance troubles are empty, because there is no ontology and no self. " Buddhist scriptures believe that human nature is empty, and this emptiness is not cultivated by us, but what it is. Su Shi believes that a clear understanding of this will help to keep the precepts. It can be seen that he used Buddhist ideas to treat our desire to easily exceed certain norms the day after tomorrow. In the final analysis, it is good for society, others and themselves to treat their greed and make their behavior conform to the norms. Su Shi's intention to help Buddhism and Confucianism here is obvious. In a word, Su Shi integrated the thoughts of the three religions in a short paragraph here, and used hundred schools of thought's thoughts for reference to construct his own unique ideological theory.

According to the above quotation, Su Shi believes that if the heart is not inflamed, it must be attached, because fire has the characteristics of attachment. "When the water is a concubine, that is, if it is not inflamed, it will come out from the concubine." Fire and water are in harmony, and the English will flow in the brain and overflow in the mouth. Non-decimal English flowing from the mouth is not salty, because it does not flow from the kidney, but from the fire. Su Shi said at the end of the article: "Mercury dragons come from water, flow in the brain, overflow in metaphysics, and must return to their roots. If the fire doesn't get angry, it must follow its concubine, so the fire is always at the root. Therefore, if you are not in English, you will grow strong with fire, reach all limbs, touch the skin and grow strong. In the extreme, King Kong's body is also. This leading tiger is also from the water. Dragon and tiger were born, and Neidan succeeded in learning. Therefore, going forward is a person, going back is a way, and the way is not. It can also be said that Immortal Technique will live forever. " Read it together with the sentences of related ideas in the book "Dragon and Tiger Lead and Mercury on Sending Children", and the meaning will be more obvious. Su Shi said: "It is still airlifted to Xiadantian, and it is often cultivated with care. After a long time, it will become lead. This so-called' tiger is born in water' is also. " It means that the English of nonyl and decyl flows into Xiadantian and turns into lead tiger, and the dragon and tiger intersect and condense into inner Dan.

Su Shi also expressed the same meaning in The Origin of Lead and Mercury in Dragon and Tiger. He said, "No one is immortal." When you leave the camp, you live, and when you leave the camp, you die. This is the only way. From the heart, the spine is the kidney, and what is the heart? Nothing is wrong, even if it is awkward. Its reason is arrogance, and it is light inside and heavy outside. So, you often do what you don't do. When the kidney is strong and overflowing, there is desire, although it is beautiful. The reason why Yao and Yan are important inside and light outside. From this point of view, the nature of the heart is positive and the nature of the kidney is evil. "It is impossible to achieve coitus by doing things against your will and indulging your desires, that is, being dominated by your own desires and not making decisions from the heart." Parting and dying is the only way. "So, the key to sexual intercourse is that the heart is the mainstay, not the kidney, not the' light inside and heavy outside', and there can be no situation where the heart is not official and the kidney is in charge. Su Shi explained how to achieve coitus and why not from the standpoint of Confucianism. The key is to establish the role of the heart. This will link the practice of kung fu with the usual behavior. We can't think that we can get rid of coitus as long as we practice within the specified time. We should realize that this has a lot to do with our usual behavior. Only by practicing and sublimating in daily life can we get rid of coitus. In the special practice of kung fu, it is possible to practice this kung fu well if you want to "think innocently", "die without thinking" and "now I am silent and have nothing to introduce". In Su Shi's view, thinking nothing is the common ground between Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, so Su Shi takes it as a way to integrate Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. It can be said that this kind of lead and mercury theory typically embodies Su Shi's thought of the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Of course, Taoism also attaches great importance to daily lessons, thinking that only in this way can it be possible to cultivate internal strength. Zhang Boduan said in Wu Zhen Zhang: "The most important thing to train yourself is to punish the repressed desire. Angry people, impetuous evil fire, bump into each other, even if they attack, they don't care about their lives, regardless of life and death. As big as Yamakaji, it is unstoppable. If you don't work hard to punish, exercise is a smokeless thing, which is the most real. " However, Su Shi emphasized restraining his behavior according to Confucian norms, which was not recognized by Taoism. Therefore, although their views on self-discipline are the same, Su Shi, who stands on the position of Confucianism, is different from Taoism in the specific code of conduct.

Throughout the whole article, Su Shi thinks that the key to alchemy lies in making the heart official and the kidney obedient, and not letting the heart fire and kidney Shui Piao. Self-sustaining surgery can change the direction of heart fire and kidney water and connect them from top to bottom. From the official point of view of his mind, this thought undoubtedly belongs mainly to Confucianism, but from its goal, the purpose of his cultivation is to achieve the effect of long life and long knowledge of Taoism. This satisfies our dream of longevity and youth, and it is very attractive to us. It can be seen that the integration of these thoughts with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism is very obvious.

Compared with doing special training, Su Shi believes that to achieve coitus, we must establish the leading role of the heart, which comes from the usual requirements. In other words, practicing internal strength is not only a special practice, but also closely related to ordinary people. If a person develops a sinister, greedy and irritable nature in daily life, he can't cultivate the internal strength of copulation. If you want to practice this internal skill well, you must gradually change your conduct in your daily life and practice, and then you can clear the way for this practice. Su Shi stressed the need to be free from distractions, silent and calm. "If you decide to live outside, your heart won't burn." Therefore, thinking nothing at the center of the cultivation process is the key to achieving coitus. As mentioned above, this special cultivation effort should be supported by usual cultivation, otherwise it will be an armchair strategist and accomplish nothing. Su Shi also pays attention to keeping inner peace and carefree in his ordinary life. In this way, Su Shi's practice of this kung fu is not limited to special exercises. At ordinary times, his kung fu is not only to cultivate body and mind, but also to practice this kind of kung fu anytime and anywhere, throughout his life. In a word, Su Shi thinks that to practice this internal skill well, two things must be done. First, establish the dominant position of the heart and make the kidney obey the heart. Second, if you want your heart to think nothing, your heart has nothing to draw from the outside, your heart is no longer inflamed, and water is your concubine, you must obey it, and you will feel the harmony between fire and water.