Waidan

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Waidan
Seal script for wàidān 外丹
Chinese name
Chinese	外丹
Literal meaning	outside cinnabar
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin wàidān Bopomofo ㄨㄞˋㄉㄢ Gwoyeu Romatzyh waydan Wade–Giles wai-tan IPA uaitan Yue: Cantonese Jyutping ngoi6daan6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ gōatan Middle Chinese Middle Chinese ŋuɑiH-tɑn Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) [ŋ]ʷˤa[t]-s-tˤan
Korean name
Hangul	외단
Hanja	外丹
Transcriptions Revised Romanization oedan McCune–Reischauer oedan
Japanese name
Kanji	外丹
Hiragana	がいたん
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn gaitan

Waidan, translated as 'external alchemy' or 'external elixir', is the early branch of Chinese alchemy that focuses upon compounding elixirs of immortality by heating minerals, metals, and other natural substances in a luted crucible. The later branch of esoteric neidan 'inner alchemy', which borrowed doctrines and vocabulary from exoteric waidan, is based on allegorically producing elixirs within the endocrine or hormonal system of the practitioner's body,^[1] through Daoist meditation, diet, and physiological practices. The practice of waidan external alchemy originated in the early Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), grew in popularity until the Tang (618–907), when neidan began and several emperors died from alchemical elixir poisoning, and gradually declined until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).