Editing Alchemy (section)

=== East Asia ===
{{Main|Chinese alchemy}}
Researchers have found evidence that Chinese alchemists and philosophers discovered complex mathematical phenomena that were shared with Arab alchemists during the medieval period. Discovered in BC China, the "magic square of three" was propagated to followers of [[Jabir ibn Hayyan|Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān]] at some point over the proceeding several hundred years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Needham |first=Joseph |title=Theoretical Influences of China on Arabic Alchemy |publisher=UC Biblioteca Geral 1 |year=1987 |page=11}}</ref> Other commonalities shared between the two alchemical schools of thought include discrete naming for ingredients and heavy influence from the natural elements. The silk road provided a clear path for the exchange of goods, ideas, ingredients, religion, and many other aspects of life with which alchemy is intertwined.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saliba |first=George |date=2008 |title="China and Islamic Civilization: Exchange of Techniques and Scientific Ideas" |url=https://edspace.american.edu/silkroadjournal/wp-content/uploads/sites/984/2017/09/China-and-Islamic-Civilization.pdf |website=American University |access-date=16 December 2022 |archive-date=23 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223213548/https://edspace.american.edu/silkroadjournal/wp-content/uploads/sites/984/2017/09/China-and-Islamic-Civilization.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Esoteric Taijitu.svg|thumb|upright|Taoist alchemists often use this alternate version of the [[taijitu]].]]
Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into noble metals, Chinese alchemy had a more obvious connection to medicine.<ref name="ASOCA">[Obed Simon Johnson, A Study of Chinese Alchemy, Shanghai, Commercial P, 1928. rpt. New York: Arno P, 1974.]</ref> The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the [[Elixir of life|Grand Elixir of Immortality]] sought by Chinese alchemists. In the hermetic view, these two goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the [[Panacea (medicine)|universal panacea]]; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than initially appears.

As early as 317 AD, [[Ge Hong]] documented the use of metals, minerals, and elixirs in early Chinese medicine. Hong identified three ancient Chinese documents, titled ''Scripture of Great Clarity, Scripture of the Nine Elixirs'', and ''Scripture of the Golden Liquor,'' as texts containing fundamental alchemical information.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |title=Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8047-6773-6 |page=3}}</ref> He also described alchemy, along with meditation, as the sole spiritual practices that could allow one to gain immortality or to transcend.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |title=Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8047-6773-6 |page=6}}</ref> In his work ''Inner Chapters of the Book of the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature'' (317 AD), Hong argued that alchemical solutions such as elixirs were preferable to traditional medicinal treatment due to the spiritual protection they could provide.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |title=Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8047-6773-6 |page=125}}</ref> In the centuries following Ge Hong's death, the emphasis placed on alchemy as a spiritual practice among Chinese [[Taoism|Daoists]] was reduced.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |title=Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8047-6773-6 |page=142}}</ref> In 499 AD, [[Tao Hongjing]] refuted Hong's statement that alchemy is as important a spiritual practice as Shangqing meditation.<ref name=":5" /> While Hongjing did not deny the power of alchemical elixirs to grant immortality or provide divine protection, he ultimately found the ''Scripture of the Nine Elixirs'' to be ambiguous and spiritually unfulfilling, aiming to implement more accessible practising techniques.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |title=Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8047-6773-6 |page=145}}</ref>

In the early 700s, [[Neidan]] (also known as internal alchemy) was adopted by Daoists as a new form of alchemy. Neidan emphasized appeasing the inner gods that inhabit the human body by practising alchemy with compounds found in the body, rather than the mixing of natural resources that was emphasized in early Dao alchemy.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |date=2021 |title=The Alchemical Body in Daoism |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/article/782220 |journal=Journal of Daoist Studies |volume=14 |issue=14 |pages=99–127 |doi=10.1353/dao.2021.0003 |s2cid=228176118 |issn=1941-5524}}</ref> For example, saliva was often considered nourishment for the inner gods and did not require any conscious alchemical reaction to produce. The inner gods were not thought of as physical presences occupying each person, but rather a collection of deities that are each said to represent and protect a specific body part or region.<ref name=":6" /> Although those who practised Neidan prioritized meditation over external alchemical strategies, many of the same elixirs and constituents from previous Daoist alchemical schools of thought continued to be utilized in tandem with meditation. Eternal life remained a consideration for Neidan alchemists, as it was believed that one would become immortal if an inner god were to be immortalized within them through spiritual fulfilment.<ref name=":6" />

[[Black powder]] may have been an important invention of Chinese alchemists. It is said that the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to find a [[potion]] for eternal life. Described in 9th-century texts{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} and used in [[fireworks]] in China by the 10th century,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-29 |title=Gunpowder {{!}} Facts, History, & Definition |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/gunpowder |access-date=2024-04-18 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> it was used in [[cannon]]s by 1290.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} From China, the use of [[gunpowder]] spread to Japan, the [[Mongol]]s, the Muslim world, and Europe. Gunpowder was used by the Mongols against the Hungarians in 1241, and in Europe by the 14th century.

Chinese alchemy was closely connected to [[Taoist]] forms of [[traditional Chinese medicine]], such as [[Acupuncture]] and [[Moxibustion]].<ref name="ASOCA" /> In the early [[Song dynasty]], followers of this Taoist idea (chiefly the elite and upper class) would ingest [[cinnabar|mercuric sulfide]], which, though tolerable in low levels, led many to suicide.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} Thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to the Taoist heavens, the ensuing deaths encouraged people to eschew this method of alchemy in favour of external sources{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} (the aforementioned Tai Chi Chuan,{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} mastering of the [[qi]],{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}} etc.) Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by [[Obed Simon Johnson]].<ref name="ASOCA" />