page_title: Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning
section_title: Ming dynasty
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning / History / Ming dynasty
caption_attribution_description: Woodcut illustration of 'Putting the miraculous elixir on the tripod' fromXingming guizhi(Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life) by Yi Zhenren, a Daoist text on internal alchemy published in 1615 (3rd year of the Wanli reign period of Ming dynasty). (Cataloguing incomplete) Wellcome Images Keywords: Daoism; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Internal alchemy; Qigong
context_page_description: In Chinese alchemy, elixir poisoning refers to the toxic effects from elixirs of immortality that contained metals and minerals such as mercury and arsenic. The official Twenty-Four Histories record numerous Chinese emperors, nobles, and officials who died from taking elixirs in order to prolong their lifespans. The first emperor to die from elixir poisoning was likely Qin Shi Huang and the last was Yongzheng. Despite common knowledge that immortality potions could be deadly, fangshi and Daoist alchemists continued the elixir-making practice for two millennia.
context_section_description: Ming dynasty (1368–1644) authorities strongly disapproved of immortality elixirs, but the Jiajing Emperor (r. 1521–1567) supposedly died from consuming them. The emperor was interested in the art of immortality and put great confidence in Daoist physicians, magicians, and alchemists. One named Wang Jin 王金, who was appointed a Physician-in-Attendance in the Imperial Academy of Medicine, convinced the emperor that eating and drinking from vessels made of alchemical gold and silver would bring about immortality, but it only resulted in his death. Wang fled but was caught and exiled to the frontiers in 1570 (Needham et al. 1976: 212).
  Li Shizhen's classic 1578 Compendium of Materia Medica discusses the historical tradition of producing gold and cinnabar elixirs, and concludes, "(the alchemists) will never realise that the human body, which thrives on water and the cereals, is unable to sustain such heavy substances as gold and other minerals within the stomach and intestines for any length of time. How blind it is, in the pursuit of longevity, to lose one's life instead!" (tr. Needham and Ho 1970: 325–326). In another section, Li criticizes alchemists and pharmacologists for perpetuating the belief in mercury elixirs.
  I am not able to tell the number of people who since the Six Dynasties period (3rd to 6th centuries) so coveted life that they took (mercury), but all that happened was that they impaired their health permanently or lost their lives. I need not bother to mention the alchemists, but I cannot bear to see these false statements made in pharmacopoeias. However, while mercury is not to be taken orally, its use as a medicine must not be ignored. (tr. Needham and Ho 1970: 325–326)
caption: Chinese woodblock illustration of a neidan practice "Putting the miraculous elixir into the ding tripod", 1615 Xingming guizhi 性命圭旨 (Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life)
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