Cúnshén gùqì lùn 存神固氣論
Treatise on Preserving the Spirit and Stabilising the Qì
About the work
An anonymous short single-juǎn nèidān 內丹 treatise on the foundational discipline of cúnshén 存神 (preserving the spirit) and gùqì 固氣 (stabilising the qì) — the two pre-conditions of inner-alchemical realisation.
Abstract
The text is organised under thematic headings. Lúdǐng dìwèi 罏鼎地位 (“Positions of the furnace and tripod”): the four-symbols cosmology turns on the wùjǐ 戊己 stems (Earth, the centre); the Zhìrén 至人 (Realised Person) takes the jīnmù xiāngxíng 金木相刑 (metal-and-wood mutual injury) as the locus of qì-reception, and the shuǐhuǒ shēngjiàng jìjì 水火升降既濟 (water-and-fire ascent-descent crossing-over) as the alchemical operation that sustains “the unceasing principle of generation”.
Yīnyáng diāndǎo 陰陽顛倒 (“Inversion of yin and yang”): yin and yang are mutually seeking objects. Lí 離 is fire — if it loses water, it parches; in extremis, only kǎn 坎 (water) can rescue. Conversely kǎn is water — if it loses fire, it freezes; in extremis, only lí can rescue. Hence the lí-palace receives blood and stores qiān 鉛 (lead) — yáng with yin in it; the kǎn-palace receives qì and stores gǒng 汞 (mercury) — yin with yang in it. Therefore the unenlightened student misidentifies the elements; the realised practitioner sees the inner reversal. Inner-alchemy is the KǎnLí diāndǎo (inversion of kǎn and lí) by which lead and mercury chase one another in spontaneous ascent and descent.
The work is one of the more cleanly philosophical short SòngYuán nèidān treatises. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 3: 1187, John Lagerwey) place it as a late-Sòng to Yuán anonymous nèidān manual.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Vol. 3: 1187 (DZ 577, John Lagerwey).
- Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed. The Encyclopedia of Taoism. London: Routledge, 2008.