Reversing Kan with Li

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Inner Alchemy
Terms of Inner Alchemy
Mind , Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life
Essential Matter , Vital Breath and Spirit
Great Reversion Elixir
Small Reversion Elixir
Integrated Cultivation of Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life
Three Flowers Condensing onto the Head
Transporting through the Three Vehicles
Meeting of the Three Parts
Refining the Mind through the Nine Cauldrons
Intercourse of Dragon and Tiger
Refinement of Essential Matter into Vital Breath
Refinement of Vital Breath into Spirit
Refinement of Spirit Back to Emptiness

Refinement of Emptiness into Dao
Reversing Kan with Li
Centering Merits When Yin And Yang Join
The Five Vital Breaths Oriented to the Origin
Rebirth from the Original Fetus and Bones
Basic Cultivation
Self-Refinement
Harmonizing the Breath
Obtaining the Elixir Drug
Collecting Elixir Drugs
Fire Phases
To Increase Fire
To Reduce Fire
To Nourish in Warmth
Bathing
Unfixed Zi Phase
River Chariot
Mysterious Pearls
Passages and Cavities
Cosmic Orbit
Feminine Alchemy
Cutting the Red Dragon
Refining the Form through the Supreme Yin
Body of Original Chastity

“Reversing Kan with Li ” ( 坎離顛倒 Kanli Diandao ) is a term of the science of the Golden Elixir ( 金丹 Jindan ). Kan and Li are two of the basic Trigram Figures ( 卦象 Guaxiang ) established by the Book of Changes ( 周易 Zhouyi ). According to the arrangement of the Post-Existent ( 後天 Houtian ) Eight Trigrams ( 八卦 Bagua ), the trigram Kan is situated in the north, a Yin direction in nature, while the trigram Li in the south, a Yang direction. However, in terms of the trigram nature established in the Book of Changes, Kan has a “boy middle” and is a Yang trigram, while Li has a “girl middle” and is a Yin trigram. It is obvious that the Yang trigram is not arranged in a Yang direction and the Yin trigram not in a Yin direction, but quite on the contrary. Besides, according to the Figure of Hexagrammatic Lines ( 爻象 Yaoxiang ), Kan, a Yang trigram, comprises more Yin Hexagrammatic Lines than Yang Hexagrammatic Lines (one Yang Hexagrammatic Line lies in the middle and two Yin Hexagrammatic Lines on its upper and lower sides), while Li, a Yin trigram, comprises more Yang Hexagrammatic Lines than Yin Hexagrammtic Lines (one Yin Hexagrammatic Line lies in the middle and two Yang Hexagrammatic Lines on its upper and lower sides). Here we also find “reversion”. Daoist Inner Alchemy ( 內丹 Neidan ) borrows from the trigram figures in the Book of Changes. It regards the descending of the heart-Yin and the ascending of the kidney-Yang as the harmony of water and fire. One goes up while the other goes down until they meet. This meeting, in nature, is to “fill up Li with Kan”, i.e., to take out the Yang Hexagrammatic Line in the middle of the trigram Kan to fill up the Yin Hexagrammatic Line in the middle of the trigram Li. Hence inner elixirs come into being, which lays a foundation for the production of Golden Elixirs in the Elixir Field ( 丹田 Dantian ).