Ancient Text of the Dragon and Tiger Scripture古文龙虎经
- Also known as
- Longhu jing (Dragon and Tiger Scripture), Jinbi Guwen Longhu Shangjing (Gold and Jade Ancient Text of the Dragon and Tiger Scripture, Upper Chapter), Guwen Longhu Shangjing (Ancient Text of the Dragon and Tiger Scripture, Upper Chapter)
- Author / transmission
- Anonymous
- Period
- Tang – Northern Song · Presented as the ancient scripture on which the Cantong qi was based, it was in fact composed around the late Tang to Northern Song, as a rewriting of the Cantong qi.
- Canon division
- Taixuan Section
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Taixuan Section
- Category
- Alchemical Texts
- Fascicles
- In one scroll (a thirty-three-chapter edition also exists).
Synopsis
The Guwen longhu jing (Ancient Text of the Dragon and Tiger Scripture) is presented as the source text on which Wei Boyang's Zhouyi cantong qi was based, but is in fact an elixir scripture compiled between the Tang and Song by adapting the wording of the Cantong qi. It uses "dragon and tiger" as a code for lead and mercury, yin and yang, and the Kan and Li trigrams, discussing the cauldron and vessel, the medicinal substances, and fire phasing in tetrasyllabic verse, touching on both the furnace and fire of external alchemy and the imagery of internal alchemy. Song-dynasty alchemists such as Wang Dao and Zhou Zhenyi regarded it as an ancient scripture and wrote commentaries on it, while Zhu Xi suspected it to be a late production. Although a work of pseudo-antiquity, it was an important text in the Song-dynasty popularization of the internal-alchemy term "the coupling of dragon and tiger," and is read alongside the Cantong qi and the Wuzhen pian.
Key Ideas
- Dragon and tiger as lead and mercury, Kan and Li
- The three essentials: cauldron and vessel, medicinal substances, fire phasing
- A work of pseudo-antiquity elaborating the purport of the Cantong qi
Structure
One scroll in tetrasyllabic verse; commentated editions divide it into thirty-three chapters.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition (with the commentaries of Wang Dao and Zhou Zhenyi)
Commentaries
- Wang Dao's Subcommentary on the Guwen longhu jing
- Zhou Zhenyi's Commentary on the Guwen longhu shangjing
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Zhouyi cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three), Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian)Related figures
Wei Boyang- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- Fabrizio Pregadio, The Seal of the Unity of the Three, 2011