Huáng dì jiǔ dǐng shén dān jīng jué 黃帝九鼎神丹經訣
Instructions on the Yellow Thearch’s Nine-Tripod Divine-Elixir Scripture
Anonymous; Six Dynasties to Táng
A major alchemical compilation in 20 juàn surrounding the ancient Huáng dì jiǔ dǐng shén dān jīng 黃帝九鼎神丹經 (Yellow Thearch’s Nine-Tripod Divine-Elixir Scripture) — one of the cornerstone texts of classical wài dān 外丹 mentioned already by Gě Hóng in the Bào pǔ zǐ. The “nine tripods” (jiǔ dǐng 九鼎) refers to the nine separate elixirs taught in the scripture. Juàn 1 preserves the core scripture; juàn 2–20 are prolix commentarial and technical instructions (jué 訣) accumulated from Six Dynasties through Táng. Preserved as DZ 885 / CT 885 (Dòngshén bù, Zhòng shù lèi 洞神部眾術類).
Dating. Core scripture Six Dynasties; commentarial layers through Táng. Dynasty: 六朝-唐.
Translations and research
- Pregadio, Fabrizio. Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China. Stanford UP, 2006. Extensive analysis of the Huáng dì jiǔ dǐng scripture tradition.