Instructions on the Heart-Elixir Scripture of the Upper Cavern上洞心丹经诀

Also known as

Instructions on the Heart-Elixir Scripture

Author / transmission

author unknown (attributed)

Period

Tang · Author unknown, composed around the Tang dynasty; three scrolls. Its content covers ingestion, cultivation, and materia medica.

Canon division

Dongshen Section, Various Arts Category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongshen Section, Various Arts Category

Category

Medicine and Nourishing Life

Fascicles

3 juan

Synopsis

Instructions on the Heart-Elixir Scripture of the Upper Cavern (Shangdong xindan jingjue), in three scrolls, is a Tang-dynasty text combining external alchemy, ingestion, and health preservation. It records a variety of elixirs and ingestion formulas based chiefly on plant and mineral substances, detailing the seasons for gathering ingredients, methods of preparation, prohibitions in taking them, and their governing effects, and also discusses methods for combining breath circulation and visualization with elixir taking. Unlike texts such as the Instructions on the Yellow Emperor's Nine-Tripod Divine Elixir, which pursue purely mineral great elixirs, this work leans more toward formulas that could actually be taken for the purpose of extending life and warding off illness, reflecting the tendency of external alchemy in the mid-to-late Tang, following frequent incidents of poisoning, to shift toward herbal medicines and health-preservation formulas — a shift that ultimately led to the rise of internal alchemy in the Song. The name "Heart Elixir" likewise hints at a transition from the external pursuit of minerals to the internal refinement of the heart and spirit. The formulas recorded in the text can be compared with Daoist formulas in the Qianjin Yaofang, the Waitai Miyao, and the Zhenglei Bencao, and it is material for the study of Daoist pharmacology and the exchange of medieval prescriptions.

Key Ideas

• Combines external alchemy, ingestion, and health preservation
• Gathering, preparation, and prohibitions for plant and mineral medicines
• Tang-dynasty shift of external alchemy toward herbal health-preservation formulas
• The name "Heart Elixir" hints at a transition to internal refinement
• Comparable with Tang-dynasty medical prescription texts

Structure

Three scrolls, arranged in elixir formulas, ingestion methods, and instructions for cultivation.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Zhonghua Daozang edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT Search
• Wikipedia: Waidan

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