The Huandan Fuming Pian 还丹复命篇

Its author, Xue Daoguang (1078–1191), whose courtesy name was Shi and literary name was Daoyuan, was a native of Jizu Mountain in Shaanxi. Originally a Buddhist monk with the Dharma name Zixian, he was known as the Chan Master of Pilin. Later, he abandoned Buddhism to follow Taoism. In the second year of the Shaoxi era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1191), he attained enlightenment and lived to the age of 114. A poem eulogized him: "Iron horses gallop into the sea; clay snakes fly up to the sky. The three paths to Penglai are not in the west." His works, including Annotations on Wuzhen Pian, Huandan Fuming Pian, and Dansui Ge ("Ode to the Marrow of Elixir"), circulated widely in the world.

Huandan Fuming Pian contains 16 five-character regulated poems, 30 seven-character quatrains, 9 Xijiang Yue (West River Moon) ci-poems, an additional seven-character quatrain, and 34 poems of Dansui Ge. Prefaced by Xue Daoguang in the first year of the Jingkang era of the Song Dynasty (1126), the preface outlines his journey of studying Taoism and the essentials of the Golden Elixir. He wrote that after years of studying Taoism without encountering true teachings, he obtained the oral instructions of a true master in the second year of the Xuanhe era (1120): "The origin of the Great Dao emerges from a single vital energy (qi) and transforms accordingly. It is metaphorically called the sun and moon, named the dragon and tiger, attributed to yin and yang, and embodied as heaven and earth. One clear and one turbid, metal and wood are separated at the gate of Wu and Ji; one nature and one emotion, yin and yang converge at the portal of life and death. Gather the undifferentiated energy of the two primal forces, seize the essence of the dragon and tiger at their initial union, guide it into the Yellow Chamber, and produce the supreme treasure. There are specific methods, pivotal mechanisms, and the wonderful functions of return and reversal—all the secrets of longevity are contained herein."

Following his master’s instructions, Xue composed 16 five-character regulated poems to correspond to the 16 liang (a unit of weight) of the Golden Elixir; 30 seven-character quatrains to match the 30-day cycle of practice; and 9 Xijiang Yue ci-poems to align with the nine stages of refinement. This work can be seen as Xue Daoguang’s personal insights and summary of inner cultivation experiences. It is included in Ten Books on Cultivating Truth.

Huandan Fuming Pian inherits Zhang Boduan’s Wuzhen Pian and discusses inner elixir theories, as well as key points such as gathering the medicine, regulating energy, and controlling the "fire" (alchemical timing). It argues that the ingredients of the inner elixir lie within the body, and true cultivation is achieved in a moment. A Xijiang Yue poem states: "A broken bamboo must be mended with bamboo; a declining person must rely on lead to be restored. Reflect—this is right before your eyes, yet people of the time fail to see it." Another poem says: "The elixir of immortality lies in your own garden; its effects appear in a short moment of practice."

Broadly, its teachings take the innate primordial energy as the root of the elixir, true lead and true mercury as the ingredients, the interplay of dragon and tiger as refinement, and focusing the spirit into the energy point as the initial practice. Huandan Fuming Pian holds that cultivating Taoism involves extracting purity from turbidity, as expressed in the line: "Flowers, smoke, willows, and alleyways—all are paths; turbidity and fragrance serve their purposes." Among its sections, Dansui Ge clearly elaborates on the elixir methods.