The Heavenly Palace of Supreme Oneness

The Heavenly Palace of Supreme Oneness ( 太一天宮 Taiyi Tiangong ), also called the Divine Chamber of Supreme Oneness ( 太一神室 Taiyi Shenshi ), is a Daoist term of Outer Alchemy. The Supreme Oneness, originally a divinatory term, was transformed into a philosophical term just as the Supreme Ultimate ( 太極 Taiji ), meaning the universal chaos and the world's beginning. In ancient China, the Supreme Oneness also had theological meaning. As early as the Han dynasty, it has occupied the position of highest deity. The chapter "Worship of Heaven and Earth" in the Records of the Historian  ( 《史記•封禪書》 Shiji Fengshan Shu ) says: the noblest among the heavenly deities is the Supreme Oneness, who has the five emperors as his assistants. The early Supreme Peace Tradition ( 太平道 Taiping Dao ) not only inherited the philosophical and theological meanings of the Supreme Oneness, but also combined them together. In accordance with the idea of the Supreme Oneness traveling through the Nine Palaces ( 九宮 Jiugong ) in Qianzaodu of the  Book of Changes , the Supreme Peace Tradition perfected the belief in the Middle and Yellow Supreme Oneness ( 中黃太一 Zhonghuang Taiyi ). Introducing the belief in the Middle and Yellow Supreme Oneness into alchemical practice, the golden elixir tradition proposed the conception of the Heavenly Palace of Supreme Oneness. The Heavenly Palace of Supreme Oneness actually refers to the Divine Chamber for Combining Cinnabar ( 合丹神室 Hedan Shenshi ) made of Supreme-Oneness mud asa container of medicine for processing in cauldrons. The Collection on Daoist External Alchemy ( 《庚道集》 Gengdao Ji ) records the process of placing sulphur and mercury into the Heavenly Palace of Supreme Oneness, which shows the importance of the Heavenly Palace of Supreme Oneness in the alchemical process.

太一天宮