To Increase Fire

"To Increase Fire"( 進火 Jinhuo ) is a term of the science of the Golden Elixir ( 金丹 Jindan ). Just as its name implies, "to increase fire" is to put burning substances into a stove and burn them in the course of Refining Elixirs ( 煉丹 Liandan ). Comparing this course to that of Outer Alchemy ( 外丹 Waidan ), Inner Alchemy takes the spirit’s control of the breath to be "increasing fire". That is to say, at the Zi hour of a day when the Yang breath just comes into being, the practitioner guides his inner breath with his own original spirit back to the Elixir Filed ( 丹田 Dantian ). As such control of the breath and refinement of the Essential Matter ( 精 Jing ) take place at the moment when the one-Yang is just formed, to increase fire is actually to "increase the Yang fire". According to the Secret Formulae of the Reversion Elixir and Divine Instructions on Nourishing the Infant ( 還丹秘訣養赤子神方 Huandan Mijue Yang Chizi Shenfang ), to increase fire, one should enter a chamber to start Cultivation and Refinement ( 修煉 Xiulian ) when the one-Yang comes before the Winter Solstice, and during the period of fifteen days replenish and nourish the Essential Matter and the Vital Breath lost and damaged to make them abundant. In this process he examines and illuminates himself with mind and spirit, stabilizes his breathing with the Vital Breath, and turns every breath back to its origin. These are just the steps of increasing fire.

進火