'The Inner Teachings of Taoism is centered on a classic of Chinese alchemy written in the eleventh century by a founder of the Complete Reality School of Taoism. Originally known as Four Hundred Words on the Gold Elixir, the central text is a brief aphoristic work that uses colorful metaphorical language to summarize the essentials of self-transformation according to this school. Often regarded as 'reformed' Taoism, the Complete Reality School excluded superstitious elements and insisted on a practical basis for all its methods and activities. The aim of its teachings was the reunification of the fragmented self into the original whole, complete human being. The process of refining the self toward this end is the work of alchemy.' 'Accompanying the text is a lucid commentary by a nineteenth-century adept that unlocks the meaning of the alchemical symbolism, explaining cryptic images such as the 'gold elixir,' the 'jade furnace,' the 'firing process,' and 'true lead,' so that the
