True Transmission of the Golden Elixir金丹真传
- Also known as
- Sun Ruzhong's True Transmission of the Golden Elixir
- Author / transmission
- Sun Ruzhong
- Period
- Ming · Written by Sun Ruzhong, published in the forty-third year of the Wanli reign (1615).
- Canon division
- Outside the Canon
- Collected in
- Outside the canon (included in volume 10 of Daoist Texts outside the Canon)
- Category
- Alchemical Texts
- Fascicles
- 1 scroll (sixteen verse formulas and commentary)
Synopsis
The True Transmission of the Golden Elixir (Jindan zhenzhuan) records the alchemical formulas transmitted by Sun Ruzhong of the Ming dynasty, who states in his own preface that he received them from his father, Sun Jiaoluan. In sixteen heptasyllabic poems (on laying the foundation, obtaining the medicine, forming the elixir, refining the self, returning the elixir, gentle nourishment, releasing the embryo, the mysterious pearl, journeying to the Turquoise Pond, and other stages), it systematically expounds the so-called method of 'yin-yang grafting,' a form of dual cultivation, arguing that 'seizing Kan to fill Li' requires borrowing the medicine of a 'like-kind' partner, and rejecting solitary quiet sitting. It belongs to the Ming-dynasty 'Yin-Yang School' (the Eastern Lineage). After its publication the work had considerable influence, but was also repeatedly criticized by adherents of quiet cultivation as a heterodox path; in the Qing, Liu Yiming's Distinguishing Difficulties in the Cultivation of Perfection and the Wu-Liu School both denounced its errors. Scholars regard it as a representative text of Ming-dynasty dual-cultivation alchemy, and it may be read alongside Lu Xixing's Unofficial History of Fanghu to see the character of the Eastern Lineage.
Key Ideas
- Yin-yang grafting, drawing on a 'like-kind' partner
- A sequence of alchemical stages set out in sixteen poems
- Representative of the Ming-dynasty dual-cultivation lineage (the Eastern Lineage)
- The dispute between quiet cultivation and dual cultivation
Structure
A preface and sixteen poems, with appended commentary.
Editions
- Wanli-era block-print edition
- Volume 10 of Daoist Texts outside the Canon
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Unofficial History of Fanghu (Lu Xixing), Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian)Related figures
Sun Ruzhong- 胡孚琛主编《中华道教大辞典》
- 卿希泰主编《中国道教史》第四卷