Creating an Immortal Body in the External Void: The Alchemical Way of Wang Dongting 汪東亭 (1839–1917)

Abstract

This paper explores the teachings of Wang Dongting 汪東亭 (1839–1917), a leading master of the Western school (xipai 西派) of internal alchemy (neidan 內丹), who developed an innovative method of alchemical cultivation that focused on creating the immortal body in the external space outside of the physical body. Wang developed a concept of two Heavens and four yin-yangs, presenting the perfect immortal and corrupted ordinary worlds as two parallel universes existing simultaneously. The two Heavens express themselves as humans' two selves, an ordinary self and its physical body given to us by our parents, and the eternal "body of law." Wang maintained that alchemists must abandon the ordinary self and exclusively cultivate the body of law, achieving immortality by separating the body of law from the physical body and "teaching" the latter to exist on its own. According to Wang's method, alchemists form a new immortal body by unifying their genuine selves with external space. To do it, practitioners first focus on breathing outside the physical body, then naturally follow breathing, then forget about it and go into deep concentration, oblivion, and even sleep. They finally awaken in an actual dream of this new immortal reality. Practitioners not only create a new immortal body outside the physical one, but also make a choice between the ordinary world of death and the immortal world of life, aiming to leave our fallen world entirely, forget about it, and never return.