Mortal Stages / Realms 1st Stage ⎯ Essence-to-Qi Refinement / Qi Refinement
⎯1st-3rd Order⎯
The first step, one ought to 'Refine Essence into Qi', namely Transforming Three into Two. In this case, "Three" stood for Essence (精), Qi (氣) and Spirit (神), and "Two" for Qi and Spirit. As a result, Essence would be refined into Qi in this phase, which allegedly lasted about a hundred days. For this reason, this phase was known as the "One Hundred Day Pass" (百日關). Sometimes, it was also called the "Initial Pass" (初關), which featured its elementary nature in a total process of refinement. "Innate Qi" initiated by mediation was channeled into the "Lower Dantian" for storage and mixing with Essence; the function of one's "Mind (神)" would lead to refinement of "Essence (精)" into "Qi (氣)"; the circulation of "Qi" around the Ren and Du channels would lead to a condensation and combination of Spirit and Qi. In Daoism, the whole process was called the Refinement of Essence into Qi.
In the cultivation of Feminine Alchemy (女丹), menses are compared to the "Red Dragon". Physiologically speaking, a fundamental difference between females and males is that the former has menstruation. The Daoist Pristine Cultivation Sect (清修派) believes that unceasing menstruation will result in failure in cultivation. Therefore, for a Feminine Alchemy practitioner, the first barrier to be passed is to stop menstruation, namely "Cutting the Red Dragon". Menses are compared to "red dragon" because it is red.
Therefore, "Cutting the Red Dragon" must be done at a right moment, at the moment when menstruation hasn't begun while its prognostics have emerged. The prognostics are also called "monthly prognostics", the signs of the forthcoming menses, such as waist and legs being aching, head and eyes sore being sore, and having no appetite, etc. At this moment one can take action. Two and a half days later, when the menstruation starts, the practice must stop. Another two and a half days later, if the menses look yellowish gold against "white silk", one can activate the Vital Breath to "cut the red dragon".
Then how can one activate the Vital Breath? We must first make clear the locations of the breath point. Unlike that of males, the female's breath point is not below the navel (Lower Dantian), but 1.3 cun (4,29cm) deep under the middle point of the breasts. According to Daoist medicine, this place is regarded as the breath point because it is the origin of menses. To "cut the red dragon" one must start with its origin. The following are the specific methods: first sitting in repose with one's eyes closed in order to stabilize the mind and breathing; then concentrating the mind to the breath point, holding one's breasts in crossed hands, rubbing them first slowly and then fast, lightly and then heavily either 144 times or 360 times, and in this process slightly puffing 24 times up from the Lower Dantian; next, still gently holding one's breasts in both hands, concentrating the spirit on them, and as time passes, the spirit and the Vital Breath will get abundant and the true Yang exuberant, menses cease spontaneously and the breasts feel filled up. The steps of "Cutting the Red Dragon" finished, the other procedures of female cultivation are generally identical to those of male Inner Alchemy cultivation.
"Body of Original Chastity" (元貞之體) is a term of Feminine Alchemy. "Chastity" means Purity, and "Original" means Initial. The whole term describes the state of a female practitioner of Inner Alchemy after "Cutting the Red Dragon". The reason for this description is that by cutting the "red dragon", the turbid Yin menses in a female's body have transformed into the pure Yang Qi, which results in a series of changes in the form, most fundamentally the change in the color of menses from red to yellow and from yellow to white. This white liquid is the essence of a female of original chastity. Being refined, it can further transform into the QI. To obtain a "Body of Original Chastity" is the necessary condition for a female to continue her cultivation of Inner Alchemy. Without a change in the nature of the Qi, the other steps are out of the question. Therefore, in Feminine Alchemy, the "Body of Original Chastity" is the sign of an initial art of Inner Alchemy and is of great significance.
Qi Condensation / Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment / Foundation Establishment, Core Formation / Core Formation = Equivalent-ish
2nd Stage ⎯ Qi-to-Spirit Refinement / Transforming Spirit
⎯4th-7th Order⎯
The "Initial Pass", namely, the "Refinement of Essence into QI" ought to be followed by the "Refinement of Qi into Spirit", which belonged to the "Middle Pass" (中關) in the "Work of Three Phases" (三步功). Since it used to take as long as ten months to complete, it was also known as the "Ten Month Pass" (十月關). In contrast to the "Refinement of Essence into Qi", which drove the Qi in
the human body to circulate around the "Microcosmic Orbit", namely, the Ren and Du channels, the "Refinement of Qi into Spirit" highlighted the "Macrocosmic Orbit", where the circulation of Qi went beyond the Ren and Du channels, rather involving the Twelve Channels and Collaterals in the body; the "Refinement of Essence into Qi " was known as "Transforming Three into Two", whereas the "Refinement of Qi into Spirit" was known as "Transforming Two into One", which featured a marriage between "Qi" and "Spirit".
The complete mixture of "Qi" and "Spirit" was known as the "Sacred Embryo" (聖嬰). It was a transitional phase from "Interfering Action" (有爲) to "Non-Interference" (無爲). Technically, "Qi" was circulating between the "Lower Dantian", and the "Middle Dantian" (中丹田), namely, the "Yellow Court" (黃庭). It took about ten months to achieve the complete mixture of "Qi" and "Spirit", a process known as "Nourishing the Infant" in Inner Alchemy.
Nascent Soul / Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation / Deity Transformation (Maybe Soul Transformation) = Equivalent-ish
3rd Stage ⎯ Spirit-to-Emptiness Refinement / Void Return
⎯8th-11th Order⎯
The successful conclusion of the Refinement of Qi into Spirit ⎯ the "Middle Pass" ⎯ leads to the Refine of Spirit Back to Void, the "High Pass" (上關) in the "Work of the Three Phases", which was popularly known as the "Nine Year Pass" (九年關), highlighting a period of time demanded in this phase of refinement.
In practice, however, the "Nine Years" was by no means an unchangeable standard. In fact, the specific time of refinement would depend upon an alchemist's personality, his capacity of understanding, his environment, and so on.
Different with either "Refinement of Essence into Qi ", which highlighted "Interfering Action" or "Refinement of Qi into Spirit", which featured a transition from "Interfering Action" to 'Non-Interference', the "Refine of Spirit Back to Void" stood for the highest achievement in the Refinement of Inner Alchemy, which was characterized by 'Non-Interference'.
In Daoism, "Non-Interference" was regarded as the speechless nature of Dao, which used to be symbolized by a circular shape. Inner Alchemists used it to describe the oblivion of self-existence in refinement of Inner Alchemy, or emptiness and void of Qi in human bodies.
The term "Nine Year Pass" suggested a principle of return from "Posterior Heaven" (Acquired / 后天) to "Anterior Heaven" (Innate / 先天) in the Refinement of Inner Alchemy. According to the principle, Yin and Yang form the Kan Trigram and the Li Trigram ought to form the Qian Trigram, the summit of Yang, which was represented by the number "Nine", a symbol of high completion in Chinese culture.
Spatial Tempering / Ascendant, Body Integration / Yin-Yang = Equivalent-ish
4th Stage ⎯ Emptiness-to-Dao Unification / Dao Requital
⎯12th Order⎯
As a technical word, "Refinement of Emptiness into Dao" was a symbol of the highest phase in the refinement of Inner Alchemy, an indication of the reverse way of thinking in Daoism and a reminder of "Breaking Attachment" (破執), a well-known concept in both Daoism and Buddhism. In general, the reverse way of thing dominated the whole process of Refinement of Inner Alchemy, a process covering the "Refinement of Essence into Qi", the "Refinement of Qi into Spirit", and the "Refine of Spirit Back to Void" (煉神還虛).
According to Daoism, even in a phase of Emptiness, when a man was attached, he remained in control of "Interfering Action"; only by breaking the attachment in his mind and the emptiness itself, would his nature come to oneness with the Great Dao. From the Inner Alchemy Tradition founded by Zhong Liquan and Lü Dongbing in the Tang dynasty up to the Inner Alchemists in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the "Refinement of Emptiness into Dao" was strongly stressed. Li Daochun, a famous Daoist scholar, referred to this phase as "The Breaking of Voidness and Emptiness" (打破虛空), which, he argued, featured obliviousness to all attachments, a spiritual state which would lead to a transcendence over both objective entities and a man's self-consciousness.
Grand Ascension / Scryer-Cleanser.Shatterer = Equivalent-ish