道教中外丹與內丹的發展

The Inner and Outer Elixir of The Chinese Alchemists

道教的創立，雖然要算到東漢以後，但道教的根源，卻要遠溯到更早的時期。大致說來，可分做兩方面。第一，符籙及祭祀方面，這是從古代民間信仰和薩滿活動，推演而成的；第二，丹鼎方面，這是從醫藥長生術，以及對於朱沙及其他有色礦物質的迷信轉換而成的。符籙主和丹鼎是相輔相成的，並非屬於兩個不同的派別；丹鼎中的外丹和內丹，也是相輔相成的，也不是屬於兩個不同的派別。只是著書和實行的人，各有所偏重，而各時代也有所偏重。「外丹」是源於對於丹沙（或朱沙）的重說，可能追溯到很早，在新石器時代已有痕跡，到商周以後更廣泛的使用著。這也許丹的紅色代表了生氣，也就神秘的普徧用在藥劑之內。昕謂所「鍊丹」的丹也就是指朱沙。所謂丹鼎一項，當然也是以服食為主，運氣為輔。漢代著名的丹藥書「周易參同契」就是本來是「外丹」的書，後來才用內丹來解釋（也就是用靜坐運氣等方法，來比附「鉛」和「汞」。）從漢代以來，經過北魏，經過唐，許多皇帝服丹藥中毒而死，宋代就轉而傾向到內丹（運氣），以及祭祀，來求長生登仙。但是鍊丹一事，並未停止。直到明清兩代小說中仍偶然涉及金石仙丹的事，但已經不如唐代以前那樣的被人真的相信了。

The development of the early science and the early techniques in China was closely related to the witchcraft and the alchemy. On the other hand alchemy should be rendered as the heart of the Taoist religion, since the main exceptance of them was to accomplish the first step of immortal at heaven by the way of taken elixir to get longevity. For the purpose to find elixir many kinds of herb drugs and minerals were used. Cinnabar was treated as a profund material with magic power in longevity for the human being. In the Chinese language "dan" means cinnabar or elixir. Based on the etmology for Chinese characters, the formation of "dan" (cinnabar) was "a dot around with lines" showing a piece of cinnabar hidden in rock. Due to the dignified color of cinnabar, ancient Chinese chose it as a symbol of vitality or magnificence through thousand of years. The use of cinnabar could be traced back to the time of the new stone ages. To the time of the Yin-Shang dynasty we can find more decoration from the relics in Anyang to use cinnabar as red pigment. By this tradition cinnabar was always widely used in the later ages.