The Taoist term for the golden elixir of immortality is Jindan, written 金丹 and literally meaning “golden elixir” or “golden cinnabar.” It can refer to the perfected elixir sought by Chinese alchemists and, more broadly, to the inner transformation pursued in Taoist meditation.
Early Daoist alchemy often imagined immortality as the result of preparing an external substance, or waidan, from minerals and other materials. Mercury and cinnabar were especially important, although some formulas proved poisonous. Over time, internal alchemy, or neidan, shifted the emphasis inward: the practitioner’s body became the alchemical vessel, and disciplined breathing, meditation, movement, and spiritual refinement replaced the literal swallowing of a mineral pill.
Jing, qi, and shen are the “Three Treasures” cultivated in internal-alchemy theory, not names for the golden elixir itself. Jindan may therefore describe both a literal alchemical ideal and a symbolic state of spiritual completion.