Yǎngshēng mìlù 養生祕錄
Secret Record of Nurturing Life
About the work
A single-juǎn early-Yuán anthology of yǎngshēng 養生 (life-nurture) and nèidān 內丹 (inner-alchemical) instructional materials, including the Yùxīzǐ dānfáng yǔlù 玉溪子丹房語録 (Recorded Sayings from the Cinnabar Chamber of Master Jade-Brook) and an oral-formula sequence (kǒujué 口訣).
Abstract
The opening section gives the Yùxīzǐ ‘s instruction: “Xīn níng yuē shén, níngshén guī qì yǐ liàn dān; qíng fù hū xìng, fùxìng guī gēn yǐ yǎng mìng.” 心凝曰神，凝神歸氣以鍊丹；情復乎性，復性歸根以飬命 (“When the mind is congealed, it is called ‘spirit’; congealing the spirit and returning it to the qì is the way to refine the cinnabar; when the emotions revert to the innate nature, returning the nature to the root is the way to nurture life-decree”). The text proceeds through the standard inner-alchemical doctrine of qiāngǒng 鉛汞 (lead-and-mercury) — lead and mercury are the foundation of “returning the cinnabar”; yuánjīng 元精 is the root of life-decree, and by preserving the yuánjīng the true lead is generated spontaneously; yuánshén 元神 is the source of innate nature, and by preserving the yuánjīng the true mercury is produced. Thereby: solidify the jīng to nurture the qì; solidify the qì to nurture the shén; lead and mercury, at their appointed moment, mutually invest; the suspended breath, fine as silk, becomes the alchemical huǒhòu 火候 (fire-phase).
The Kǒujué section sets out the distinction between the wàiyào 外藥 (external medicine — the yīnyáng wǎnglái exchange) and the nèiyào 內藥 (internal medicine — the kǎnlí fúcòu convergence). The Kǒujué is consistent with the SòngYuán nèidān tradition descending from Zhāng Bóduān 張伯端’s Wùzhēn piān 悟真篇.
Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 3: 1186, Vincent Goossaert) place the work in the early Yuán and treat it as an anthology drawing on multiple Sòng nèidān sources.
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: 1186 (DZ 579, Vincent Goossaert).
- Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed. The Encyclopedia of Taoism. London: Routledge, 2008.