Great Essentials of the Golden Elixir金丹大要
- Also known as
- Shangyangzi Jindan Dayao (Shangyangzi's [Chen Zhixu's] Great Essentials of the Golden Elixir)
- Author / transmission
- Chen Zhixu
- Period
- Yuan · Compiled by Chen Zhixu (1290–?), completed during the Zhiyuan to Zhishun reigns of the Yuan (around 1331–1335).
- Canon division
- Taixuan Section
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Taixuan Section (with the Jindan dayao tu, the Jindan dayao liexian zhi, and the Jindan dayao xianpai appended).
- Category
- Alchemical Texts
- Fascicles
- In sixteen scrolls (with an appended scroll of illustrations, a scroll of Immortals' Accounts, and a scroll on the Immortal Lineages).
Synopsis
The Jindan dayao (Great Essentials of the Golden Elixir) is a monumental work systematically summarizing internal-alchemical theory by the Yuan-dynasty alchemist Chen Zhixu (styled Shangyangzi), and is also the representative work of the union of the Southern and Northern Lineages. Chen Zhixu received the transmission of the Quanzhen Northern Lineage and also obtained the alchemical methods of the Southern Lineage, and so his work honors both Zhang Boduan and Wang Chongyang, advocating the dual cultivation of nature and life and taking the pre-celestial primordial qi as the mother of the elixir. The whole work discusses the Dao and De, essence, qi and spirit, the cauldron and furnace, the medicine, the fire phases, the returned elixir, and the shedding of the embryo through questions and answers, discursive essays, and diagrams, citing the Zhouyi cantong qi, the Wuzhen pian, and scriptures of the Three Teachings, with the Jindan dayao tu, the Liexian zhi, and the Xianpai appended, outlining the genealogy of transmission from Zhong-Lü through the Southern Lineage to the Northern Lineage. His alchemical method advocates dual cultivation with a partner of yin and yang (there is a doctrine involving husband and wife), which has been considerably controversial among later generations, but as the great synthesizer of Yuan-dynasty alchemical theory, its influence on Ming- and Qing-dynasty alchemists was immense. Chen Zhixu also wrote commentaries on the Zhouyi cantong qi, the Wuzhen pian, and the Duren jing.
Key Ideas
- The pre-celestial primordial qi as the mother of the elixir
- Union of the Southern and Northern Lineages; dual cultivation of nature and life
- A systematic discussion of the cauldron and furnace, the medicine, and the fire phases
- The genealogy of transmission from Zhong-Lü through the Southern and Northern Lineages
Structure
A main text in sixteen juan (divided into discussions of the Dao, of method, questions and answers, and so on), with diagrams, the Liexian zhi, and the Xianpai appended.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition
- Daozang jiyao edition
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Zhouyi cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity of the Three), Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian), Anthology of Central HarmonyRelated figures
Chen Zhixu, Zhang Boduan, Wang Chongyang- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- 卿希泰主编《中国道教史》第三卷
- 胡孚琛主编《中华道教大辞典》