Insights from Daoist Alchemical Inner Nature Cultivation Practice for Human Health

‘Dual cultivation of life and innate nature’ is a specialized term in Daoist practice. However, many people misunderstand this phrase, mistaking it for a practice involving joint cultivation by men and women. In fact, what sets ‘dual cultivation of life and innate nature’ apart from the generic term ‘dual cultivation’ is that the former centers on the cultivation of both life and innate nature. As the old adage goes, “Cultivating only life without cultivating innate nature is the foremost disease of practice.” The ‘innate nature’ cultivated in internal alchemy refers to one’s mind-nature: the innate spirit within a person, their original nature. It can also be understood more broadly as one’s mental state, the function of the heart and brain. It not only extends lifespan, but also highlights the central role of the heart and brain in life functions, as well as the critical importance of spiritual cultivation.

Why does cultivation of the heart and brain drive life functions? Let’s start with the brain.

The most complex part of the human body is the brain, and it is the first organ to develop in the womb (it originates from the ectoderm). This means the spirit and flesh of life first unite in the brain. This explains why the brain grows far faster than the rest of the body during fetal development and childhood, and why physical aging often sets in before physiological brain aging. Starting at age 30, around 1,000 nerve cells are damaged every hour, and 30,000 to 100,000 brain cells die each day. Even so, by old age, only 20% of total brain cells are lost—a testament to the brain’s astonishing reserve capacity. This means physical aging does not start from the head down, but from the feet up. Death similarly creeps slowly from the feet toward the brain, finally ending in brain death. That said, the full cycle of human birth, aging, illness, and death is directly tied to changes in the brain.

Research shows that as we age, the chemical neurotransmitters produced at the ends of brain cell axons decrease, the brain’s ability to synthesize ribonucleic acid declines, lipofuscin builds up in the spaces between brain cells, and the walls of cerebral blood vessels harden due to lipid accumulation. All of these changes slow brain cell metabolism, lead to gradual weakening of brain function, or even sudden cognitive decline. The pituitary gland also regularly releases a substance called the “death hormone”, which suppresses thyroid cell function and blocks the body’s ability to use thyroxine, causing abnormal protein metabolism. All of these factors drastically cut into the brain’s reserve capacity. Endocrine disorders also have a major impact on aging. The endocrine system includes the pituitary, adrenal, thyroid, gonadal, and thymus glands. If any one of these glands malfunctions, it triggers a cascading disruption across the entire system, accelerating aging. Studies have already observed that declining gonadal function can starve the thymus of stimulation, causing it to atrophy and further speeding up the aging process.

The hypothalamus is a key regulatory hub in the human body. It regulates all the body’s endocrine systems through the pituitary gland, maintaining balance between internal and external environments. This means that disruptions to endocrine function and other physiological processes stem from the hypothalamus and pituitary gland losing their regulatory grip on the endocrine system. For this reason, the endocrine system is often called the neuroendocrine system, and the hypothalamus and pituitary are known as the brain’s “aging control center”.

Internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature, however, can activate and harness the brain’s reserve capacity, effectively slowing, stopping, or even reversing the brain aging processes described above.

Experiments show that the wisdom-developing process of internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature promotes the massive proliferation of membrane cells that support the growth of brain intellectual cells. This is a regeneration process that grows new neural roots in existing brain cells. At the same time, the practice improves overall endocrine function: plasma prolactin levels rise, corticoid levels drop, and other related changes occur. These shifts eliminate feelings of depression and tension, and slow the body’s rate of protein turnover. Notably, steady secretion of growth hormone inhibits fat breakdown and sugar consumption, shifting the body’s primary energy source from sugar to lipids. This accelerates DNA and RNA synthesis, boosts protein production, and supports normal bodily growth and repair. As a result, the body’s metabolism retains the hallmarks of youth: low fat stores, high protein levels, and abundant bodily fluids.

In short, this vibrant, endocrine-centered internal microenvironment is a direct result of internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature. This microenvironment has inductive and stabilizing effects on pluripotent stem cells: it encourages their low differentiation, cross-lineage potential, and slow cell cycles, and supports their ability to self-replicate, self-renew, and differentiate. In turn, this amplifies the stem cells’ immune role in repairing, replacing, and regenerating human tissue cells. This paves the way for treating age-related illnesses, chronic conditions, and even difficult, hard-to-treat diseases.

Why does internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature generate wisdom and encourage the formation of a positive internal microenvironment?

As we know, internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature is a practice of ‘guarding the One’ at the dantian by turning the light inward. The human body has three dantian: the point between the eyebrows (the ancestral aperture), Danzhong (the acupoint between the breasts), and the point below the navel (the qi cave behind the navel). As for “guarding the one”, the Tao Te Ching proposes guarding the gate of the dark female (the life gate; the Taoist canon’s Classic of Embryonic Breathing states: “Three inches below the navel is the Sea of Qi, also the lower dantian, also the Dark Female. Most people take the mouth and nose as the Dark Female, which is not correct.”). Some Taoist schools advocate guarding the ancestral aperture, and other variations. The Taiping Jing states: “The method of guarding the one is the root of all gods”, while the Guanzi·Self-Cultivation states: “Firmly holding to the one internally can lead to longevity”. This makes clear that “guarding the One” is a reverse movement of calm, single-pointed consciousness.

The Zhuangzi·Deliberate Cultivation mentions “nurturing the body”, “valuing essence”, “only guarding the spirit, guard it without losing it, and become one with the spirit”; the Zhuangzi·Unboundedness states: “The eyes see nothing, the ears hear nothing, the mind knows nothing; your spirit will guard the body, and the body will then thrive.” Modern practices that combine orifice guarding, breath regulation, and inner visualization are all expressions of this same reverse movement of consciousness involved in turning the light inward. This reverse movement of consciousness at the heart of internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature stimulates and lifts the long-suppressed subconscious, driving the body’s life functions via brain activity. This allows the body’s microenvironment to activate and refine the regeneration and reconstruction mechanisms of cells and the immune system.

Research has found that umbilical cord blood, bone marrow, brain marrow, bone marrow stroma, fat cells, and other tissues are all sources of adult stem cells. The glandular hormones produced by “guarding the one” at the dantian can effectively stimulate the immunological characteristics of stem cells. For example, guarding the Danzhong or the area behind the navel can mutually stimulate the thymus, gonads, and adrenal cortex to secrete hormones; thymosin then induces lymphoid stem cells to produce immunologically active T lymphocytes, gonadotropin may prompt adult stem cells to generate more pluripotent stem cells, and both thymosin and gonadotropin also slow the gradual atrophy of the thymus, as well as degenerative changes to the spleen and lymph nodes. As for guarding the brow point to stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete various hormones, this is the primary trigger for the production of hematopoietic stem cells. As a result of these dantian-secreted glandular hormones and the cultivation of stem cells, practitioners of innate nature cultivation exhibit life signs of returning to youth.

Recent research in China has shown that human neuron regeneration is driven by the presence of neural stem cells in the brain. International scholars have also found that normal human cells can divide repeatedly almost indefinitely, and that human diploid fibroblast populations contain a mutated “immortal cell” that can affect the limit of cell division. While these special cells are often destroyed by the body’s immune system, they continuously multiply and reappear with a certain probability. There are also reports from CCTV-10’s Science and Technology Light program stating that human aging and eventual illness stem from cumulative molecular and cellular damage. If these damaged cells can be repaired in time, age-related diseases and the challenge of longevity can be fundamentally addressed. Reports say researchers are searching the human body for “enzymes” with cell-repairing properties, and predict the first person to live to 1,000 years old will be born by 2036. Many believe the cell factors produced during internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature may lend support to this line of research.

So far, we have not yet discussed life cultivation, or xiu ming. What exactly is it? “Life” refers to our material body, which is also rooted in essence and qi. Taoists hold that cultivating only the physical body without elevating one’s innate nature or sublimating the spirit is a common pitfall for ordinary practitioners. The opposite pitfall is captured in this maxim: “Cultivating only the ancestral innate nature without practicing internal alchemy, the yin spirits will never attain sainthood even after ten thousand kalpas.” This refers to practitioners who only engage with practice from the angle of innate nature, who only contemplate principles in their study of realizing the mind and seeing their original nature, and who can easily debate the Tao and Zen with others, but whose physical temperament remains completely unchanged. If there is no genuine inner transformation, and one remains only at the theoretical level, one cannot attain the fruition of an immortal or a Buddha.

Life cultivation refers to the cultivation of kidney vital energy, using sexual arousal to stimulate life functions to “return essence to supplement the brain” (where essence generates marrow). This is a process of accumulating life energy: during practice, one swallows saliva in the mouth like a turtle; after practice, one urinates shortly after. Once the innate primordial essence (essence qi) stored behind the navel is refined and consolidated, the seminal essence released during intercourse no longer leaks, providing an energy source for all life activities in the body. If essence leaks, yang qi dissipates along with it; when yang qi is lost, the qi of the zang-fu organs is not replenished and the body is damaged. This makes cultivation of innate nature especially critical for preventing leaks. In fact, cultivating the innate nature at the ancestral aperture is also an energy supplement process, as the brow point and fontanelle can absorb true qi from the air during the meditative state of awareness, thereby effectively increasing the body’s innate qi. Prioritizing the entry of light into the brow point (gathering light in the brain) is the entry-level practice of dual cultivation of life and innate nature. This is why innate nature cannot stand without life, and life cannot exist without innate nature (they complement and root each other, activating one another). In truth, life and innate nature are not two separate things at all. This leads directly to the concept of dual cultivation of life and innate nature. Generally, guarding the Danzhong—especially the area behind the navel—counts as dual cultivation of life and innate nature. Guarding only the brow point (three inches below the Baihui acupoint), by contrast, is primarily cultivation of innate nature. High-level internal alchemy practitioners practice dual cultivation of life and innate nature at designated times; when cultivating innate nature, they remain devoted to it at all times, using only the turning-the-light-inward method in all interactions and activities. This method is deeply effective. The Buddha said: “Place your mind on one point, and you can accomplish anything.”

The hundred-day process of refining essence into qi (laying the foundation for essence), the ten-month process of refining qi into spirit (refining one’s innate nature), and the nine-year process of refining spirit to return to emptiness (forming the elixir to achieve the “body outside the body”) are extraordinary contributions of internal alchemy practice to the field of human life sciences. While achieving the elixir and becoming an immortal in ten years is a feat for heroes, the hundred-day foundational practice and ten-month refinement of the innate nature are accessible to all. Ultimately, there is no fixed method: every moment of life is Zen. All activities—from walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, to eating, drinking, using the toilet, and working with the body or mind—have their own practices. As long as you focus on a single point, and over time cultivate the habit or state of physical and mental “light ease, illuminating awareness, and purity”, you will attain stillness or samadhi. Long-lived elders free of distracting thoughts who have worked hard all their lives are all practitioners of “life Zen” in the “Gateless Gate” tradition. It is a pity that “ordinary people use these practices every day but are unaware of them!” This includes solitary walking (step practice), quiet sitting, Zen sitting, and other brain-quieting practices (turning the light inward at the brow point, concentrating spirit at the ancestral aperture, settling the mind in the dantian, inner observation with spiritual illumination). Even these are rare, as the saying goes, “thus the way of the noble person is seldom seen!” Whether you cultivate the body or cultivate the innate nature, the benefits you gain are always proportional to your power of samadhi (the strength of your mind).

The Laozi places unique emphasis on dual cultivation of morality and the Tao, holding that this dual cultivation is one and the same as dual cultivation of life and innate nature (the Tao corresponds to life, virtue to innate nature). It emphasizes: “He who repeatedly accumulates virtue will overcome all obstacles.” This is the state of “when constant virtue is sufficient, one returns to simplicity”—the highly natural, desireless, non-acting state achievable through internal alchemy cultivation of innate nature. This is a great attainment! Do you not see that those with virtue live long lives?

Full article: https://www.dadaojiayuan.com/daojia/158119.html.

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