Anandakanda 1.26

Chapter 1.26
[Apparatuses:]
That by which mercury is controlled is called an apparatus.
[1. Khalvayantra:]
The khalvayantra is declared to be of two kinds for operations such as grinding.

The mortar is made of iron, O goddess, or else it is made of stone.
A stone suitable for a mortar is blue, dark, smooth, hard, and heavy.

The mortar apparatus is declared to be of two kinds for grinding the face of mercury and other substances:
Sixteen fingers high and nine fingers wide,

twenty-four fingers long, with a pestle of twelve fingers;
or twenty fingers long and ten fingers high—

that is to be known as the dimension of the mortar, the best for grinding mercury.
A circular mortar is sixteen fingers wide,

four fingers deep, and made extremely smooth in the middle,
with a pestle flattened at the bottom and easy to hold at the top handle.

This circular mortar is very pleasant for grinding.
An iron mortar is also like this, made of steel or magnetic iron.

A small trough suitable for kindling fire should be made underneath.
Nine fingers in height, indeed sixteen fingers long, nine fingers wide, and likewise six fingers deep,
two fingers wide at the rim, extremely smooth, shaped like a trough or a crescent moon, and with a pestle ten fingers long—this is considered the apparatus called a mortar.

In this, five palas of quicksilver should be ground for purification.

One should purify in other mortars according to their respective suitability.
[Taptakhalva:]
An iron mortar nine fingers wide and six fingers deep,

with a pestle of eight fingers—this is called the heated mortar.
Having made a hearth shaped like the mortar and filled it with coals,

placing that mortar in it, one should blow with bellows at the side.
A paste ground in it and well combined with alkalis and acids,

when steamed, liquefies with great speed; there is no doubt about this.
If made of magnetic iron, that mercury will possess ten million times its virtues.

[2. Khavalabhīyantra (or Valabhīyantra):]
In an iron vessel within the apparatus, there are two rings on the sides.
A similar, smaller vessel has a compartment illuminated by the rings.

Placing it above the first vessel, one should place upon the small vessel
the swooned mercury, filling the large vessel with sour fermented gruel.

One should steam it thus for two yāmas to revive the mercury.
That is the khavalabhīyantra, producing excellence in mercury.

In a vessel made of fine magnetic iron, mercury becomes even more efficacious.
[3. Ūrdhvapātanayantram:]
Measuring eight fingers, perfectly round, flat at the bottom,

provided with a trough four fingers below the neck,
four fingers wide, deep, and firmly attached,

such a pot is sixteen fingers wide at the base,
and furnished with an ear-handle nine fingers wide.

Having placed the mercury in the first pot, one should place the other pot inverted,
concave above and provided all around with a firm rim.

In the rim and the trough one should pour water and kindle fire underneath.
This upward distillation apparatus was proclaimed by Nandin.

[4. Adhaḥpātanayantram:]
Above that pot one should place another turned upside down,
a flattened saucer with mercury smeared on the interior of its base.

Placing it into a muddy pit, one should kindle fire on the top.
This is proclaimed as the downward distillation apparatus.

[5. Tiryakpātanayantram:]
One should place the mercury in a tall pot fitted with a bent downward tube;
one should insert that tube into the belly of another pot.

Sealing properly with clay there at the mouths of the pots below,
one should kindle a fierce fire underneath the pot containing mercury.

Into the other pot one should pour sweet, cold water.
This oblique distillation is indeed described by the alchemical practitioners.

A triad of apparatuses has been stated for the threefold distillation.
Without distillations, quicksilver definitely incurs defect.

Why is it not freed from defects by three upward distillations alone?
Because of the twofold division, cooking, and the mutual combination of substances,

diverse qualities surely arise from placing it into different vessels.
As rice grains broken by mortar and pestle become free of water with mortar water,

so distillation is celebrated as the great purification, like rice processing.
[6. Kacchapayantram:]
In a wide-mouthed pot filled with water, one should place [the vessel]—

another broad and well flat [crucible]: in the middle of it, / having made a basin with saline catalysts, one should cast mercury into its center.

Having placed the saline catalyst above and below, and having carefully sealed it with an earthen saucer, / a calcination cycle is given according to propriety; that is described [thus]:

the apparatus named Tortoise is indeed that which is described for the digestion of mercury.
[7. The Intermediate Apparatus]
Having made a crucible of iron that serves as a round base,

measuring a span, constructed out of magnetic iron, / or born of wrought iron, two finger-breadths below the neck,

one should affix a two-finger-breadth ring in the middle area from the neck, / a ring as broad as a tamarind leaf that supports the lid.

The lid is inserted inside, crested, with closely fitted joints; / having made a vessel with a pierced hole in its base face-downward,

One should suspend [the upper vessel] over the crown by means of the apparatus, seal it, and dry it; / then around the neck of the pot one should apply the fire-restraining seal of the calcination pit.

Such is the apparatus called Āntarālika. / By means of this, one can digest sulfur and even a liquefied metallic essence prepared internally.

<8. Tāpikāyantra>
Having made a tāpī crucible out of clay, firm and measuring one cubit, / very sturdy, and provided in the center with a two-finger aperture,

one should place a khārī measure of magnetic iron over the substance, / and fill the tāpikā on all sides with clean sand.

Mounting it on a stove, adding the liquid of biḍa [salt] drop by drop, / one should then ignite a fire, with a flame the size of a big toe.

One may digest iron, mica, and all other [metals and minerals] upon the mercury. / This is declared as the tāpikā apparatus, easy to use for digesting [substances into] mercury.

<9. Garbhayantra>
Having placed the mercury and other substances in a pot, and repeatedly placing gold and the rest in a small vessel, / and having added sour gruel and salts above, one should cook it on a hearth; this is the counter-garbha apparatus.

<Garbhayantra>
Then one should very carefully seal the small vessel, the shallow dish, and the pot; / or having placed the substance in the pot with a shallow dish or in a small vessel, and sealed it,

and applying cloth and so forth to lute it, cooking [it] constitutes the garbha apparatus.
<10. Pālikāyantra>
A round iron cup having an upright handle bent at the tip:

this indeed is the pālikā apparatus, intended for digesting sulfur.
<11. Ghaṭīyantra>
[A vessel] containing four prasthas of water, with an opening of four fingers:

this is proclaimed as the ghaṭī apparatus, traditionally taught for replenishing [mercury].
<12. Iṣṭikāyantra>
Having made a round pit and placed a shallow dish there,

and having placed an auspicious brick there that has a central depression, / one should make a rim one finger high around the depression.

Placing the quicksilver in it, one should lay a cloth over the opening of the depression; / one should put sulfur there, and seal the opening with a shallow dish.

Luting well with clay between the shallow dish and the rim, / a heating pit called kapota [pigeon-scale], and no greater, should be applied with wild cow-dung cakes.

This is the iṣṭikā apparatus; with it one can digest sulfur.
<13. Vidyādharayantra>
Having placed a pot atop a small pot and sealed it thoroughly,

putting water in the upper pot and lighting a fire below: / this is the vidyādhara apparatus, intended for extracting cinnabar.

<14. Ḍamarukayantra>
The apparatus where an inverted pot is placed atop a pot and sealed: / that apparatus is named ḍamaruka, beneficial for the fixation of mercury.

<15. Nābhiyantra>
One should make a cavity in the center of a shallow dish; there [place] quicksilver with sulfur. / Around the cavity, one should make a wall three fingers high.

Then one should cover it completely with a crucible shaped like a cow's udder, / thoroughly sealing it with water-clay, properly described here:

<Water-clay>
Fine powder of aged iron slag mixed with a decoction of barbūra prepared like an electuary, / combined with powdered jaggery:

this indeed is called water-clay, truly impenetrable by liquids.
<Fire-clay>
And with chalk and salt-slag ground with buffalo milk:

this becomes fire-clay, truly capable of enduring the terrible heat of fire. / Sealed by these two clays, mercury is unable to escape.

<Nābhiyantra (cont.)>
Then, having poured in water, one should kindle a fire beneath. / This is declared as the nābhi apparatus by Nandin, the knower of truth.

By this means, smokeless, purified sulfur is digested into the quicksilver.
<16. Grastayantra>
A crucible entered inside a crucible, uniformly round from top to bottom,

and flat at the bottom, is declared the grasta apparatus by the wise; / it is proclaimed by the connoisseurs of mercury for the fixation of the lord of mercury.

<17. Tulāyantra>
Two crucibles shaped like eggplants; below their necks, indeed, / a straight tube measuring a span is attached with sulfur.

There, one should place quicksilver in one, and powdered sulfur in the other; / sealing the mouth of both crucibles, one should place them in a sand apparatus.

One should ignite fire beneath; this is declared as the tulā apparatus. / It is celebrated for digesting realgar, orpiment, and sulfur.

<18. Sthālīyantra>
Placing copper or other substances in a pot and sealing its opening with a shallow dish, / that which is cooked resting in a pot is known as the sthālī apparatus.

<19. Koṣṭhikāyantra>
Inside the cavity of a large vessel, one should carefully place clean sand / to the height of a span; then one should set therein

a well-fired earthen chamber, twelve fingers high, / six fingers wide, made very smooth inside,

and a five-finger lid, sharp-tipped and shaped like a bud, / neither smaller nor larger than the chamber, smooth outside from the rim.

And in the chamber one should deposit six palas of sulfur finely powdered; / then, having introduced an iron tripod and made it stable,

one should place upon it a small bowl of iron or made of magnetic iron; / in it one should pour pure quicksilver to the measure of twenty palas.

And one should imbue the borax, sulfur, and quicksilver with garlic juice; / and covering it with the aforementioned lid pointing downward at its tip,

one should make a junction-seal using lime, clay, jaggery, and so forth; / and when the junction-seal has dried, one should pour sand on top.

Then, sealing the mouth of the vessel, one should ignite fire beneath it; / in this way for three watches, whereupon the vapor produced from sulfur,

adhering to the lid, melts and drips down into the mercury. / And thus, having consumed sixfold sulfur, the quicksilver becomes reddish.

It produces all the special properties prescribed in the teachings. / This koṣṭhikā apparatus was indeed proclaimed by Nandin.

<20. Vālukāyantra>
Having carefully placed five āḍhaka measures of sand powder into a vessel, / when a mercury ball and other ingredients are cooked [therein], that is indeed the sand apparatus.

<21. Lavaṇayantra>
In the same manner, from the inclusion of salt, it is declared the salt apparatus.
<22. Dhūpayantra>
Having fashioned an iron vessel of eight fingers, eight fingers high,

with a support created two fingers below the rim, / one should place an iron rod horizontally across it.

One should place thin leaves of gold upon it. / One should indeed deposit beneath the vessel the fumigation substance described right here.

One should cover that vessel with another inverted vessel, / seal the joint with clay, and kindle a fire beneath.

By this means, the leaves are blackened and killed according to the stated procedure; / mercury moves swiftly and they melt into a solution in its core.

Fumigation of gold leaves with sulphur, realgar, and orpiment, / or with black sulphide of mercury, or with calx of lead, is proclaimed to be supreme.

For silver, one should fumigate silver leaves with calx of tin; / and one should fumigate appropriately with mercury and with secondary minerals as well.

This is declared to be the fumigation apparatus (dhūpayantra) for purifying substances used in digestion (jāraṇā).
<23. The Ball Apparatus (kandukayantra)>
Having poured liquid into a large cooking-pot and tied a cloth firmly over its mouth,

placing the substance to be steamed there and covering its mouth with clay, / one should kindle a fire underneath; that is the apparatus called the ball apparatus (kandukayantra).

<24. The Lever Apparatus (ḍhekīyantra)>
One should insert a bamboo pipe into an aperture below the neck of a jar; / making a sealed cavity out of two vessels of magnetic bell-metal containing water inside,

the mouth of the pipe should be joined to it and made firm as well. / Mercury, previously deposited in that sealed vessel with suitable substances,

heated by fire, falls from the tube down into that water; / only for as long as the entire receptacle becomes hot

does the distillation of mercury take place; this is the lever apparatus (ḍhekīyantra).
<25. The Moon-and-Fire Apparatus (somānalayantra)>
Fire above, water below, and the collection of mercury in the middle—

this is declared to be the moon-and-fire apparatus (somānalayantra); it digests mica and the like.
<26. The Tube Apparatus (nālikāyantra)>
Mercury placed within an iron pipe, inside a jar filled with salt,

sealed and cooked—this is called the tube apparatus (nālikāyantra).
<27. The Subterranean Apparatus (pātālayantra)>
Having sealed it well at the juncture face-to-face in a splendid jar,

with a mouth of eight finger-breadths and a length of sixteen finger-breadths, / sealing it well at the juncture with a coating of cloth and clay,

one should cause quicksilver and the like to distill downwards in that subterranean apparatus (pātālayantra).
<28. The Lamp Apparatus (dīpikāyantra)>
Placed within a tortoise apparatus (kacchapayantra), resting upon a small lamp that stands on an earthen pedestal,

that in which quicksilver falls down is called the lamp apparatus (dīpikāyantra).
<29. The Gaṅgā-Ocean [Distillation] Apparatus (gaṅgāsāgara[bhaṭṭī]yantra)>
Twelve finger-breadths in height and sixteen finger-breadths in width,

made of copper or of clay, very smooth, flat, and auspicious, / a vessel having a trough two finger-breadths in height below its rim.

In the trough one should place another vessel of the same size, well-joined, / inverted; at their juncture one should make a tube resembling a cow's muzzle.

Having placed the substance to be cooked mixed with liquid material in the lower vessel, / and sealing the joint with clay, one sprinkles water on top of the apparatus.

Mounting that apparatus upon a hearth, one should kindle a fierce fire beneath; / from it nothing else issues forth but the essence adhering to those various substances.

This gaṅgāsāgara apparatus is indeed known as the distillery apparatus (bhaṭṭīyantra); / it extracts the finest liquid essence of molasses, flowers, fruits, and the like.

<30. The Swing Apparatus (ḍolāyantra)>
In a jar whose interior is half-filled with liquid substance, / mercury suspended by a thread from a stick laid across the mouth,

one should steam it submerged within that liquid; this is known as the swing apparatus (ḍolāyantra).
<31. The Enclosure Apparatus (koṣṭhīyantra)>
Having made a four-mouthed hearth, one should set a jar upon it.

Placing the medicine therein and sealing the mouth of that jar, / this is celebrated by local practitioners by the name of enclosure apparatus (koṣṭhīyantra).

<32. The Womb Apparatus (garbhayantra)>
Three finger-breadths in circumference and four finger-breadths in length, / one should make a very firm earthen crucible with a round mouth.

Taking twenty parts of salt and one part of bdellium gum (guggulu), / grinding it very finely time and time again,

the wise practitioner, having coated the crucible firmly with clay containing half as much salt, / should steam it gently on the ground over a fire of dried cow-dung or grain husks.

For a day and night or for three nights, the lord of mercury turns to calx; / this is declared to be the womb apparatus (garbhayantra), which converts paste into calx.

<33. The Swan-Bake Apparatus (haṃsapākayantra)>
Having filled an earthen pan with sand, one should place upon it / another earthen pan, and cook there slowly with a gentle fire

along with the five alkalis, urines, and salts, then adding a solvent (biḍa); / that apparatus is declared as the 'swan-bake' (haṃsapāka) by the foremost alchemists.

<34. The Crucible Apparatus (mūṣāyantra)>
Having made two iron crucibles measuring twelve finger-breadths, / one should firmly seal the mouths of both crucibles by inserting a tube.

Purified quicksilver is to be placed in one and purified sulphur in the other; / water should be supplied beneath the quicksilver, and fire placed above the sulphur.

One should digest six times its weight of sulphur in this very manner; / this should be known as the crucible apparatus (mūṣāyantra), proclaimed by the adept Nāgārjuna.

<35. The Breast Apparatus (stanayantra)>
A vessel made of loadstone-iron, twelve finger-breadths wide / and eight finger-breadths long, O goddess, and a pleasant three finger-breadths beneath the vessel,

a deep vessel and a flat, auspicious lid made of iron; / this breast apparatus (stanayantra) is excellent for digesting mercurial pastes.

<36. The Snake-and-Peacock Apparatus (nāgamāyūrayantra)>
One should make a pair of eggplant-shaped crucibles out of zinc; / one should put quicksilver into one, and poison into the other.

One should place a mouth-tube shaped like a serpent at the mouth of the poison crucible, / and a tube shaped like a peacock at the mouth of the mercury crucible.

The wise practitioner should join the snake's mouth to the peacock's mouth; / he should firmly coat the three joints with diamond clay (vajramṛd).

Water is placed beneath the mercury crucible, and charcoal fire beneath the poison; / the snake-and-peacock apparatus (nāgamāyūrayantra) is indeed best for fumigation with poison, my dear.

<37. The Wheel Apparatus (cakrayantra)>
A pit one cubit wide and two spans deep; / in the center of the pit, an enclosure twelve finger-breadths wide

and two spans in height: in the enclosure one should fill pure / sand, outside of it a fire of cow-dung cakes, and inside the enclosure mercury, my dear.

This wheel apparatus (cakrayantra) is praised for the operation of incinerating quicksilver.
<38. The Sky-Roamer Apparatus (khecarayantra)>
In a good cooking-pot, a perforated crucible resembling a plantain flower

one should place face downwards and seal firmly with diamond clay (vajramṛd); / above it, another pot turned face downwards, well-sealed at the joint,

One should place vatsanābha poison into the crucible, and in the upper vessel
one should skillfully smear mercury; above the apparatus is the false mercury.

Cooking below with a gentle fire is the khecarayantra.
O beloved, it is generally supreme for the poison-fuming of perfected lord of mercury.

<39. Kāpāliyantra>
Having cast quicksilver and the rest into a pot, [and placed] an earthen saucer containing gold, silver, and the like,
inverted, having smeared the joint with clay, having brought sand up to the edge of the earthen saucer,

cooking with a gentle fire is indeed the kāpāliyantra.
<40. Vālukāyantra>
Having a hidden mouth containing mercury, and covered with an aṅgula's thickness of mud and cloth,

one should fill a dried glass flask up to three parts.
It is placed upon sand in a vessel a span deep,

and one should shroud it with other [sands] that fill the [remaining] part.
[One should cover] the mouth of the vessel with a shallow bowl, smear the joint with clay, and cook [it]

on a hearth until the straw resting on the back of the bowl burns.
This indeed is the vālukāyantra; one cooks mercury balls and the like [in it].

<41. Lavaṇayantra>
In this way, from the putting in of salt, it is called the lavaṇayantra.
And smeared inside with mercury, having smeared the mouth of a copper vessel

and the joint with the bottom of the pot with mud and salt itself,
having filled that pot with salt or with caustic ashes, one should cook it as before.

<42. Bhūdharayantra>
A crucible containing mercury, all its parts buried in sand within the apparatus,
one should cover with glowing cow-dung cakes; that apparatus is called the bhūdhara.

<43. Nālikāyantra>
One should make a thumb-sized opening in the side of a pot,
and an iron tube or a bamboo pipe equally thick

one should join into the hole; at the end of the tube one should place a small jar.
Having thrown resin such as that of the sarja tree into the pot, one should block its mouth.

One should kindle fire underneath; this is called the nālikāyantra.
<44. Puṭayantra>
One who knows the measure of fire, [placing mercury] inside a casing of earthen shallow dishes, in dry cow-dung,

should cook the mercury on a hearth for a three-hour watch; that is the puṭayantra.
<45. Pātālayantra>
Having placed a wide-mouthed pot in a pit containing water and cow-dung,

one should fill it up to the mouth, and place another pot;
one should fit a pot provided with five holes onto the mouth.

One should fill that pot with substances from which oil is to be extracted and seal
the mouth of the vessel with a shallow earthen dish; one should apply fire-treatment all around.

One should employ the oil that has fallen through the holes in the respective formulations.
This indeed is the pātālayantra; it extracts all oils.

One should collect wood, bark, seeds, flesh, bones, and bamboo shoots.
<46. Dhūpayantra>
Having thrown the dung of donkeys and other animals into a pot, and on its mouth a bronze vessel

filled with water, O goddess, one should ignite fire underneath.
The oil resting in the vessel of magnetic iron heals all ulcers.

This dhūpayantra, O goddess, has been proclaimed by Nandin.
<47. Adhaḥpātanayantra>
Having a long tube with holes, as thick as a round bottle gourd,

one should place the substances from which oil is to be extracted, such as seeds, into it, O beloved;
at its mouth one should place hair, and place it facing downward.

And in a jar having a hole, one should insert the tube into the hole of the pot;
one should apply fire-treatment inside the jar, and place a small jar below the tube.

The adhaḥpātanayantra is indeed the best in extracting oil.
<48. Another adhaḥpātanayantra>
Inside a broad bronze vessel one should place an even support.

Above it, a very strong earthen vessel of four finger-breadths
one should place; another vessel, heated, [one should place] on the first vessel.

Having placed [it], inside it [substances] immersed in sandalwood, black agarwood, and honey [are put];
likewise a second vessel, and also a third one of that kind,

having arranged one above the other, above that an earthen cauldron
one should place inverted in the bronze vessel; one should wipe the cauldron with water.

The adhaḥpātanayantra indeed extracts scented oil.
<Crucible>
A crucible is called krauñcikā, kumudī, karahāṭikā,

pācanī, and 'friend of fire'; it is desired by alchemists.
Because it steals defects, this is called mūṣā (crucible).

Its material should be clay as well as metal.
Even a single cowrie-shell emerged from the mouth of a crucible is better [for the proud]

than a hundred thousand attained through bowing to a wicked person—fie on that!
<Joint-sealing paste>
At the juncture of the crucible and the lid, one should smear well a sealing paste.

The sealing paste and the stopper make the joint tightly bound.
<Best clay for crucibles>
Clay that is pale-white, heavy, reddish-white, or barren-saline,

which withstands prolonged blast-heating, is celebrated as the best for crucibles.
In its absence, anthill clay or potter's clay is prescribed.

That clay which is pounded with burnt chaff, hemp, peacock feathers, or horse dung,
and with an iron rod, is indeed ordinary clay for crucibles.

White stones, burnt husks, peacock feathers, hemp cloth,
dung, and slag are to be joined appropriately into the crucible clay.

<Vajramūṣā>
Three parts of clay, two parts of hemp and dung, lead, burnt husks, stones, and the like,
and half a part of slag, broken into pieces, one should make a vajramūṣā for the extraction of essences.

<Yogamūṣā>
Clay derived from an anthill, endowed with burnt charcoal and husks,
combined with the appropriate biḍa, and smeared with the appropriate biḍa—

the crucible made of that is called yogamūṣā.
Quicksilver prepared with this becomes more endowed with virtues.

<Vajradrāvaṇamūṣā>
With plaster and earthworms washed, with hemp and burnt husks,
in equal parts, equal to crucible clay, mixed with female buffalo milk,

the crucible to be described has been proclaimed of many kinds.
The crucible fashioned with that is beneficial for liquefying diamonds.

From two watches of blast-heating, it does not melt from fire.
<Gāramūṣā>
Rich in six times as much burnt plaster, combined with slag, charcoal, and hemp,

a crucible made with black clays is declared a gāramūṣā.
<Vajramūṣā>
Cloth, charcoal, and husks in equal measures, and four times as much clay,

and plaster equal to the clay—made with all these,
it is designated a vajramūṣā; it can endure fire for a three-hour watch.

<Svarṇamūṣā (Varamūṣā)>
Endowed with the powder of the red group, and processed with water of the red group,
it is designated the varamūṣā and called the svarṇamūṣā.

<Coloring crucible>
A crucible made of clay, smeared with earth and mica,
is called a coloring crucible; it is employed for improving the color [of metals].

<Silver crucible>
Likewise, prepared with the white group [of substances], a silver crucible is described.
<Biḍa crucible>
Produced from clay mixed with the respective biḍa, smeared with the respective biḍa,

for the purpose of compounding for the body and base metals, it is called a biḍa crucible.
Afflicted by liquid, it withstands fire for four yāmas.

<Crucible revitalization>
When two substances have reached liquefaction in a crucible through the application of blowing,
their momentary lifting out is called crucible revitalization.

<Eggplant crucible>
On an eggplant-shaped crucible, there should be a tube twelve finger-breadths long,
upward like a dhutūra flower, very firm, with sealed joints,

eight finger-breadths [high] and provided with an opening; that is the eggplant crucible.
With this, one should extract the essence of soft minerals such as calamine.

<Cow-udder crucible>
The crucible that is shaped like a cow's udder, with a lid possessing a handle,
for melting and purifying essences, that is the cow-udder crucible.

<Shallow-bowl crucible>
The crucible described as made from a pair of shallow bowls sealed together
is proclaimed for steaming mercurial preparations such as parpaṭī.

<Baked crucible>
That which has the form of a potter's vessel, is firm, and thoroughly baked,
is called a baked crucible; it is used in cooking poṭṭalī and the like.

<Ball crucible>
Mouthless, shaped like a ball, containing the substances to be calcinated,
it is called a ball crucible, confining volatile substances.

<Pleasing crucible>
Shaped like an elbow at the bottom, gradually widening at the top,
as thick as a large eggplant, it is remembered as the pleasing crucible.

It is used for calcinating and melting iron, mica essence, and the like.
<Chest crucible>
A crucible shaped like a chest, whose depth, length, and width

have a measure of six finger-breadths, is named the chest crucible.
Burying that crucible in the ground, one should then apply calcination on top.

<Pestle crucible>
The crucible that is flat at the base, round, and eight finger-breadths high,
is named the pestle crucible; it is used likewise for mercury bound as a disk.

<Another vajra crucible>
Six parts of burnt charcoal, red ochre, black clay,
mortar, and charcoal dross: [this is] proclaimed as a vajra crucible.

Mortar, burnt husk, burnt anthill clay,
and hemp bark combined: such a crucible is regarded as adamantine.

<Blind crucible and open crucible>
The crucible is remembered as twofold: the open and the blind crucible.
The open crucible should be known as possessing the shape of a saucer;

and it is praised by alchemists for the carrying through of substances.
The blind crucible should be made resembling the shape of a cow's udder,

fitted with a lid, with its top slightly raised.
It is beneficial in coating leaves, in coloring, and in combining pairs.

That very crucible, provided with a hole and nine finger-breadths deep, is suitable for transmission.
<Ash crucible>
Two parts of sesame ash, combined with one part of brick:

this should be known as the ash crucible, beneficial for purifying silver.
<Another vajra crucible>
Husk and cloth burnt in equal parts, four parts of clay,

combined with glass stone: [this] is proclaimed as a vajra crucible.
<Characteristics of clay suitable for crucibles, bent tubes, and furnaces>
Clay is black, red, yellow,
and white in color.

The first is best, the last is worst, and the middle two are considered middling.
Having burnt dung of elephants and horses until it turns black,

one should grind vāśā, vajralatā leaves, together with anthill clay,
with vajra water until it turns white.

One should triturate with that; [with this clay] one should form the bent tube and the furnace.
Of anthill clay, iron dross, and white stone separately,

there are one part each; two parts of burnt husk; and an equal part of women's hair.
One should triturate all of that together with goat's milk

firmly for two yāmas; with that one should make a crucible and a crucible seal.
Having dried it and placed mercury inside, one should confine bell metal therein.

The vajra crucible and others are proclaimed for properly killing quicksilver.
Two parts of mokṣa alkali combined with one part of brick:

the crucible made of this is excellent for purifying silver.
Mixed with the red group, saturated with the red group,