Mirror for Compounding the Medicine (Ruyao jing)崔公入药镜

Also known as

Mirror for Compounding the Medicine, Mirror for Compounding the Medicine (Ruyao jing)

Author / transmission

Cui Xifan

Period

Five Dynasties · Attributed to Cui Xifan of the late Tang to Five Dynasties, composed around the early 10th century; the present text is an eighty-two-line three-character verse, and there is also a prose version, the Tianyuan ruyao jing.

Canon division

Dongzhen Section, Methods (Fangfa) category (Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection edition)

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongzhen Section, Methods category, in the Xiuzhen shishu, scroll 13; the various commentated editions are in the Dongzhen Section, Jade Instructions category

Category

Alchemical Texts

Fascicles

In one scroll, eighty-two verses.

Synopsis

The Ruyao jing (Mirror for Compounding the Medicine), also known as the Cui Gong ruyao jing, is a set of internal-alchemy verse instructions composed by Cui Xifan of the Five Dynasties. The text is written in three-character lines, eighty-two lines and two hundred and forty-six characters in all, opening with "pre-celestial qi, post-celestial breath — one who attains it is ever as if intoxicated." It concisely summarizes the essentials of internal alchemy's medicinal substances (essence, qi and spirit), fire phasing (the twelve double-hours within a day), the celestial circuit (the upper and lower magpie bridges), and the formation of the elixir ("produced in Kun, planted in Qian"); lines such as "the lead dragon rises, the mercury tiger descends — drive the two things, do not let them run loose" are frequently cited by alchemists. Because of its concision, it is regarded as a model of the internal-alchemy "oral instruction" (koujue) genre; commentaries exist by Wang Daoyuan (Hunranzi) of the Yuan, Peng Haogu of the Ming, and Li Xiyue and Fu Jinquan of the Qing, and it is widely collected in the Xiuzhen shishu, the Daozang jiyao and the Daoyan wuzhong.

Key Ideas

• The distinction between pre-celestial qi and post-celestial breath
• The three medicines of essence, qi and spirit, and fire phasing through the twelve double-hours
• The upper and lower magpie bridges; the turning of the celestial circuit
• An outline of elixir practice in oral-instruction form

Structure

Eighty-two lines of three-character verse.

Editions

• Xiuzhen shishu edition
• Wang Daoyuan's commentated edition (Zhengtong Daozang)
• Daozang jiyao edition

Commentaries

• Wang Daoyuan's Annotations on Cui Gong's Ruyao jing
• Commentary by Peng Haogu
• Commentary by Li Xiyue
• Commentary by Fu Jinquan

Translations

• English translation by Thomas Cleary
• English translation by Fabrizio Pregadio

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Ruyao jing
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

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