The Cuixu Pian 翠虚篇

Cuixu Pian was compiled by Chen Niwan during the Song Dynasty. Chen Niwan was the fourth patriarch of the Southern Sect of Taoism. Chen Niwan (?—1213), whose given name was Nan, courtesy name Nanmu, and literary name Cuixu, was a native of Baishuiyan in Boluo County, Huizhou (now Huidong County, Guangdong Province). He passed away in 1213 (the sixth year of the Jiading reign in the Song Dynasty) at Liangshan in Zhangzhou. Among his notable disciples were Yuchan, Ju Jiusi, and Sha Zhexu. Chen Niwan wrote works such as Luofu Cuixu Yin, Ziting Jing, Danji Yilun, and Jindan Gejue, which were later collected into Cuixu Pian.

All the contents in Cuixu Pian are about inner alchemy techniques. The author holds that despite the numerous volumes of books on the golden elixir, they all boil down to one key point: guiding people to find lead and mercury, collect them into the cauldron for refinement. The "Nine Circulations" process is nothing more than repeatedly returning and combining lead and mercury to make the refined elixir more pure.

Ziting Jing, Dadao Ge, and Luofu Cuixu Yin are all long seven-character verses. Ziting Jing expounds that the essence of alchemical classics lies only in lead and mercury. It advocates that "the one mu of land within the body is the homeland". By refining essence into qi, and condensing qi into spirit, one can achieve non-action and communicate with the spiritual world. Dadao Ge mainly elaborates on the idea that "true yin and true yang are the true way".

Luofu Cuixu Yin is an alchemical formula that Chen Nan gave to Bai Yuchan before his passing. It widely denounces heretical practices such as sexual cultivation, inhaling qi and retaining thoughts. It also claims that the cultivation methods described in Lingbao Mifa and Xishan Huizhen Ji are not the true way. It repeatedly emphasizes that the key to the golden elixir lies in the two words "lead and mercury", stating: "Only take the single ingredient of 'gold in water', gather it in the cave of the creation and transformation from nothingness，and urge all the meridians to return to their source. When the meridians stop and qi pauses, the elixir begins to form."

Chen Niwan claimed that he once met Scholar Lü (Lü Dongbin) at night and received a wonderful formula. It takes the great void as the furnace and cauldron, the sun and moon (represented by bird and rabbit) as the medicines, and disregards the separation of metal and wood, as well as the parent-child relationship of dragon and tiger. This, he said, is the true way.

In a word, Cuixu Pian played a prominent role and had a significant position in the transmission of the Southern Sect. Later alchemical books often quoted its theories, and its influence was relatively far-reaching.