Library

Until the Supreme Yang draws in the Supreme Yin, causing the Yin that has escaped to return to Yang. Therefore it is called Ling Sha (Cinnabar Spirit).

Method for sublimating Ling Sha: Place a new pot on a Xiaoyao stove. Thoroughly wipe the bottom of the pot. Apply gentle heat. Add two taels of Sulfur (Liu Huang), melt it, then投 (throw in) half a jin of Mercury (Shui Yin). Stir rapidly with an iron spoon to form Qing Sha Tou (Green Sand Head). If flames arise, spray vinegar to extinguish them. Wait until no mercury stars (unreacted droplets) are visible. Remove and grind finely. Place into a Shui Huo Ding (Water-Fire Cauldron), seal tightly with salt mud. Sublimate using natural fire below. The limit is twelve cups of dry water. Upon removal, if it exhibits the texture of bundled needles, it is complete. (Hu Yin)

Before entering the cauldron for sublimation, it is called Qing Jin Dan Tou (Green Gold Pill Head). After entering the cauldron, it is termed Ling Sha. (Geng Xin Yu Ce)

Taste and nature: Sweet and warm. It can urgently treat diseases of the five zang organs and hundred ailments, nourishes the spirit (Shen), calms the hun and po, tonifies qi, brightens the eyes, unblocks blood vessels, stops irritability and fullness, benefits the spirit. Long-term use opens the divine intelligence, making the mind agile. (Tang Shenwei)

Indications: Upper excess and lower deficiency, copious phlegm-saliva, dizziness, vomiting, cholera, regurgitation, cold pain in the heart and abdomen. It regulates the ascending and descending of Yin and Yang, achieves mutual assistance between Water and Fire, harmonizes the five zang organs, and assists the primal Qi. (Grind into powder, make pills with glutinous rice paste, take with jujube decoction or Ginseng decoction.) It is most capable of anchoring and suppressing, a miraculous pill. (Li Shizhen)

Sulfur is the essence of Yang; Mercury is the essence of Yin. Pure Yin and pure Yang combine, thus capturing the wonders of creation, regulating the ascent and descent of Yin and Yang, and achieving mutual assistance between Water and Fire, becoming a miraculous pill for rescuing critical conditions. However, it should not be taken for a long time. (Same author)

This medicine possesses the subtlety of coordinating Yin and Yang. It treats chronic regurgitation and all types of vomiting and reflux, as well as pediatric convulsive vomiting, with effects like magic. Sending it down with Yin-Yang Water is particularly excellent. (Su Dongpo)

Ling Sha steals the subtleties of Yin and Yang, utilizing them to anchor Yang and connect with Yin, expelling evil and nurturing righteousness, truly possessing divine efficacy. (Chen Shigong)

Specifically treats deficiency patients who cannot sleep at night, experiencing nightmares and palpitations with spontaneous sweating (Zhong refers to heart movement, agitation, and fear). Take two qian of Ling Sha ground, half a qian of Ren Shen (Ginseng), one qian of Zao Ren (Semen Ziziphi Spinosae), grind into fine powder, make pills the size of mung beans using jujube flesh. Before sleep, swallow five to seven pills with jujube decoction. For deficiency exhaustion leading to turbid urine that forms frost-like deposits on the ground: Use Lian Rou (Lotus Seed), Gan Ou Jie (Dried Lotus Rhizome Node), Long Gu (Fossilized Bones), and Yuan Zhi each one tael; Ku Bai Fan (Alumen Exsiccatum) and Ling Sha each two qian and half, grind into fine powder, make pills the size of wu-tzu seeds with glutinous rice paste. Take fifteen pills before meals with plain boiled water. Both aforementioned conditions stem from precarious primal Qi due to stagnation in ascent and descent.

For bleeding from the nine orifices caused by sudden fright, with a deficient pulse: Take thirty pills of Ling Sha Dan, administered with Ginseng decoction. Three doses cure this. This condition must not be mistaken for reckless bleeding due to blood heat treated with cooling herbs. Why? Because fright causes Qi to float, Hun and Shen to scatter, and Yang Qi to suddenly congest. With anchoring and suppressing agents, Hun and Shen return to peace, and blood naturally follows its vessels.

[Discussion] Sulfur adheres to Lead, thus Sulfur becomes Yang within Yin; Mercury emerges from cinnabar ore, appearing upon exposure to fire, which is Yin within Yang. Sulfur is indeed the movement of Yang; Mercury is also the movement of Yin. The Classic states: "The interaction of two essences is called Shen (Spirit)." By simultaneously taking the movements of Yin and Yang, allowing the two Qi to resonate and correspond, it can treat severe cases of upper excess and lower deficiency. Hence it is called Ling Sha. People know that Yang moves and Yin is still, but do not realize that both Yin and Yang possess movement and stillness. Qian Shuang (Lead Frost) and Qian Dan (Lead Red) have similar functions. Why is this pill uniquely named "Ling" (Spirit)? Perhaps because Qian Shuang (Lead mixed with Mercury, refined into sheets, fumigated with vinegar to form frost) belongs to one of the two palaces, with corresponding Qi. Qian Dan (Lead combined with Sulfur and Saltpeter, made into powder) is the combination of two Qi within the same palace. Only Ling Sha constitutes both two palaces (Fire within Water, Water within Fire) and two Qi (Yang within Yin, Yin within Yang). Specifically, due to the interaction of two essences, it can turn the mechanism of Yuan Qi in the upper and lower parts. Thus, only "Ling" suffices to name it.

In the method of sublimating Ling Sha, Mercury is the sovereign herb, and Stone Sulfur is the assistant. This likely takes the substance transformed from Yang within Yin as the main component, and harmonizes it with the substance transformed from Yin within Yang, enabling the two Qi to interact for ascent and descent. (When Sulfur and Mercury are processed into shape, it is called Dan Ji [Pill Base], capable of transforming the Five Elements and refining into Nine Returns. How could it not grasp the pivot of ascent and descent?)

Mercury is Yin within Yang, Kan within Li. Li gains utility through Kan, and the transformation of Li becomes divine. However, Li originally resides within Kan, just as Sulfur does. Yang fire originates from within the earth; thus, Li requires Kan to divine its transformation. Without combining with the Li within Kan, the transformative mechanism of Supreme Yang emerging from Supreme Yin would not flow smoothly. Therefore, there is more Mercury than Sulfur, allowing Yin to smooth out Yang. Using less Sulfur to harmonize Li is because the source of transformation lies therein. From this reference, the Yin within Yang in the human body is indeed a crucial meeting point for tonifying the Post-Heaven and treating emaciation. For conditions such as overflow bleeding arising from deficiency-generated fire, attention should be paid to this crucial point. If adjustment is made solely from the perspective of Pre-Heaven Primordial Yin, it may be too slow to address urgent matters, and may not hit the key aspect of the disease.

Furthermore, Upper Excess and Lower Deficiency generally originate from Yin Deficiency. The Classic says: "At forty, a person's Yin Qi halves; at sixty, Yin Qi declines significantly." Lower deficiency and upper excess, as treated by Ling Sha, represent the extreme of this state, where Yin and Yang are about to separate.

In the preparation of Ling Sha, eight taels of Mercury and only two taels of Sulfur are used, confirming its basis. Although this medicine is said to regulate the ascent and descent of Yin and Yang, and achieve mutual assistance between Heart and Kidney, Sulfur and Mercury are toxic and heavy/sinking. They are suitable for emergency rescue but ineffective for tonic nourishment. Contraindicated in stomach deficiency with vomiting, summerheat cholera, and lung heat generating phlegm. Any disease belonging to deficiency, rather than acute onset, is strictly contraindicated. (Chen Shigong)