Human civilization always brings romance to itself. When technology reaches a certain height, people found a way to use silver to record images. After exposure to light, silver nitrate leaves shadows in a solution of Metol and Hydroquinone, and the excess silver dissolves into Sodium thiosulfate. This perfect chemical process ultimately preserves past experiences on precious metals, a dialectical combination of scientific rationality and romance.

When the safe light turns on, the darkroom becomes somewhat mysterious to those unfamiliar with it, like the small cabin of an alchemist. Dashen place the film in a pan, add used fixing solution, sandalwood, white sage, white liquor, wildflowers, green tea, soil, and ashes. The cigarette burns marks onto the film and eventually ignites the alcohol, causing all the substances to boil in this cauldron.

Through this developing ritual, Dashen obtained some black-and-white negatives full of marks, with images of me meditating. By projecting this negative back onto the studio's white background paper using a film projector, a negative image of me is created in the studio. He then sit back in the center, allowing the projection to fall on him once again, meditate within the negative film of himself that incorporates the five elements.

Preface In ancient philosophical systems, Yin and Yang harmonize all things; within the pulses of the universe, the Five Elements (Wu Xing) interweave in creation and destruction. This chapter serves as a secret manual on the art of harmonizing traditional photographic techniques with classical materialist pluralism. It aims to guide seekers in finding inner Yin-Yang balance at the moment when negatives and reality merge and to offer a guide to achieving immortality within the world of images.