Arcane Principles of the Golden Elixir 太白经

The author of this text is unknown. It quotes Li Quan’s Commentary on the Yin Fu Jing (Scripture of Hidden Tally) and Shi Jianwu’s eulogistic poems from the Tang Dynasty, indicating it was likely composed during the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties period. The Index to the Subheadings of the Daozang attributes the work to Shi Jianwu. Originally consisting of one scroll, it is included in the Zhongshu (Various Arts) category of The Dongshen Section in The Daozang.

This text elaborates on the path of cultivating the Golden Elixir:

First, it recounts the origin and transmission of The Yellow Emperor’s Scripture of the Nine Tripod Divine Elixir, specifying ten types of people to whom the alchemical scripture may be transmitted, and ten types to whom it must not be transmitted.

Second, it argues that elixir refining requires "ten perfections" to succeed. The so-called "ten perfections" include: selecting an appropriate location, preparing sufficient materials, timing it correctly with a spiritual boy, using a proper stove, crafting cauldrons in accordance with regulations, recognizing true medicines and their harvesting seasons, (the seventh is missing), purifying medicinal ingredients, combining the Four Symbols and Five Elements for cauldron placement, and aligning water and fire with trigram timing.

The text also quotes Biography of Mr. Siming, expounding on the principle of combining medicines such as silver, lead, cinnabar, and mercury in the cauldron by invoking the theory of mutual generation and restriction among the Four Symbols and Five Elements.

Additionally, it cites Li Quan’s Commentary on the Yin Fu Jing and Shi Jianwu’s eulogistic poems, asserting that the essence of the Golden Elixir technique lies in "the Divine Water and Flower Pond." The so-called "Divine Water and Flower Pond" presumably refers to lead ore—during refining, one must extract Yellow Sprout and true lead from it, induce the resonance of Dragon and Tiger, and reverse heaven and earth. However, the text uses obscure language and does not explicitly state the methods or secrets of the Dragon-Tiger resonance.

The alchemical doctrine described throughout the work resembles both External Alchemy and the Yin-Yang elixir method of the Internal Alchemy school.