Rasayana

(“method of essences”) Alchemical
school specializing in the use of certain
chemicals, particularly compounds
made from elemental mercury, in a
quest to transmute the body and render
it immortal. Some scholars have characterized rasayana as the Buddhist school
564
Ramsnehi
of alchemy, with the Hindu school
known as dhatuvada. The reported difference is that the latter relied solely on
the consumption of mercurials, whereas
the former used mercurials only to prolong life until the body could be transmuted through meditation, ritual, and
extramaterial means. Despite these differing conceptions of the end of the
process, the two schools overlap considerably on many other points. Both also
probably draw from a common alchemical tradition. For further information
see David Gordon White, The Alchemical
Body, 1996.