Jīnyè huándān bǎiwèn jué 金液還丹百問訣
Explanations of the “Hundred Questions” on the Cyclically Transformed Elixir of Liquefied Gold
dialogue between Lǐ Guāngxuán 李光玄 (questioner) and Xuánshòu xiānshēng 玄壽先生 (master); Five-Dynasties period (907–960), neither party identifiable beyond the present text
About the work
A short alchemical yǔlù 語錄 (“recorded conversations”) in one juan, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 266 / CT 266 = TC 1:406), 洞真部 方法類. The text consists of an introduction (1a–3a) and a long question-and-answer dialogue between Lǐ Guāngxuán 李光玄 — a native of Bóhǎi 渤海 (1a) — and his master Xuánshòu xiānshēng 玄壽先生. The geographical references — Bóhǎi 渤海 and Xīnluó 新羅 (Sīlla; 1a, 3a) — establish that Lǐ lived before 926, the year of the destruction of the Bóhǎi kingdom (Xīnluó fell in 935); the same names, alongside the use of the Wúyuè 吳越 / JiāngZhè 江浙 macroregional designations, indicate a late-Táng or early Five-Dynasties date. The text’s mention of military unrest in the north — Lǐ is counselled by his master to leave Mount Sòng 嵩山 and pursue his alchemical quest on a southern holy mountain (Luófú 羅浮, Máoshān 茅山, Lúshān 廬山, or Tàishān 泰山 are named at 29b) — fits the same horizon. The work is listed in the Bìshū shěng xùbiàndào sìkù quēshū mù 祕書省續編到四庫闕書目 2.39a as Jīnyè huándān lùn 金液還丹論 in one juan, by Lǐ Xuánguāng 李玄光; a Xuánguāng xiānshēng kǒujué 玄光先生口訣 is quoted in [[KR5d0926|Dà huándān zhàojiàn]] 12b (preface dated 962), a witness to its early-Sòng currency. An abridged version under the title Jīnyè huándān nèipiān 金液還丹內篇 (a heading suggesting a now-lost wàipiān 外篇) is included in [[KR5c1017|Dàoshū]] 22.6b–9b; [[KR5d1045|Hǎikè lùn]] is a shorter version with rearranged order. The text emphasises at the outset breathing exercises and concentration on the dāntián 丹田 to protect the yuánqì 元氣 (2b), then advocates the elixir made from only two ingredients (lead and mercury, 5b, 15b); most of the body of the dialogue is sustained polemic against vegetal (24b) and mineral (13b ff.) elixir-ingredients. The work is heavily indebted to [[KR5b0922|Huánjīn shù]] by Táo Zhí 陶植 (d. 825), which is repeatedly quoted.
Prefaces
The opening introduction (1a–3a) substitutes for a separate preface: it sets the scene of Lǐ Guāngxuán’s encounter with Xuánshòu xiānshēng and frames the dialogue. In summary: Lǐ, of Bóhǎi (a kingdom now in ruins through northern unrest), having travelled south in search of a master, has met Xuánshòu xiānshēng and now in deference puts to him a hundred questions on the elixir; Xuánshòu answers in the form here recorded. The author observes the Táng taboo on the character zhì 治 by substituting lǐ 理 (occasional, e.g. 6b), corroborating an early date.
Abstract
Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:406 (§2.A.5, Alchemy), establishes the late-Táng / early-Five-Dynasties horizon (before 926) from the Bóhǎi/Xīnluó references. The text is a key witness to the Five-Dynasties polemic against operative waidan 外丹 ingredient-pluralism in favour of the streamlined two-ingredient (lead-and-mercury) elixir programme; this programme is grounded in Táo Zhí’s Huánjīn shù and helps shape the alchemical vocabulary that Sòng-period nèidān would inherit and re-interpret allegorically. The dialogue form, the geographical detail, and the bridging position between waidan and proto-nèidān make the work an important transitional document. Frontmatter brackets composition between the start of the Five Dynasties (907) and the early Sòng witness in Dà huándān zhàojiàn (962).
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein, “Jinyi huandan baiwen jue,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.5, 406. On the waidan-to-nèidān transition and the Five-Dynasties alchemical literature: Fabrizio Pregadio, Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China (Stanford: Stanford UP, 2006); Nathan Sivin, Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1968).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0278
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.5, 406.