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Returning to the Source还源篇

Also known as
Cuixuan Zhenren Huanyuan Pian (Perfected Cuixuan's Returning to the Source), Shi Xinglin Huanyuan Pian (Shi Tai's Returning to the Source)
Author / transmission
Shi Tai
Period
Late Northern Song · Compiled by Shi Tai (1022–1158), around the early 12th century.
Canon division
Dongzhen Section, Methods (Fangfa) category (Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection edition)
Collected in
Zhengtong Daozang, Dongzhen Section, Methods category, in juan 20 of the Xiuzhen shishu.
Category
Alchemical Texts
Fascicles
In one scroll, eighty-one chapters.

Synopsis

The Huanyuan pian (Returning to the Source) is a collection of internal-alchemy poems by Shi Tai (styled Xinglin), second patriarch of the Southern Lineage, comprising eighty-one pentasyllabic quatrains, matching the number of the eighty-one chapters of the Daodejing. In simple language the poems set out essential alchemical instructions such as 'the medicine is taken from the pre-celestial qi; the fire is sought in the essence of Supreme Change' and 'the single aperture of the mysterious pass is the key crossing of the three passes,' discussing the single aperture of the mysterious pass and the pre-celestial primordial qi, mastering qi through spirit so as to return to the root and source, and holding that the golden elixir is nothing other than this return to the root without recourse to any external thing. Shi Tai received the transmission from Zhang Boduan and passed it on in turn to Xue Daoguang; this work is representative of the early transmission of the Southern Lineage, plain and accessible in language, and has been regarded by later generations as introductory reading for beginners.

Key Ideas

  • The pre-celestial primordial qi as the medicine
  • The single aperture of the mysterious pass
  • Mastering qi through spirit; returning to the root and source
  • Plain, accessible alchemical instruction

Structure

Eighty-one pentasyllabic quatrains.

Editions

  • Xiuzhen shishu edition
  • Daozang jiyao edition

Full Text & Online Resources

Related scriptures

Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian), Restoring the Elixir and Returning to Life

Related figures

Shi Tai, Zhang Boduan
References
  1. 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
  2. 胡孚琛主编《中华道教大辞典》