One may waste time looking for the Holy Grail, or trying to go to the Western Paradise. One may spend years attempting to turn lead into gold. Or, like the first Chinese emperor, Chin Shih Huang Ti, they may seriously damage their health and shorten their lives imbibing elixirs to make themselves immortal. Chin's attempts at immortality led to insanity. The immortality he was searching for never appeared.
True alchemy means the return to the true self.
The common Buddhist metaphor of the emergence of a pure white lotus from the fetid swamp refers to the wisdom of this awakening. Actually, the swamp and the lotus are one. When we find that our true lotus appears automatically, we don't have to do anything. The recipe is very simple. First, keep a mind which is before thinking.